Like mother like daughter

Every once in a while I will see someone from a foreign country doing something silly – wearing a hat the wrong way or wearing a t-shirt that doesn’t make sense. I always think, “that must be how they do it in their country.” This was an excuse I gave to Jessica when, in Pittsburgh, she walked out of the house with mismatched shoes. “Tell everyone that’s the style in Hawaii!” She did; it worked.

My mom told me an interesting story about her first trip to Asia in the ‘60s. The new trend in the US was to put your hair up in a bun and secure it with chopsticks. For some reason, she thought this might also be fashionable in Asia. Apparently random people would run up to her on the street to explain that chopsticks were used for eating – not for hair. She was Ariel with her dinglehopper.

I recently found out that I had a similar problem. One of my first days here I bought a cute coin-purse! It’s necessary to carry one here because most money used is coins (seriously – they have a $5 coin)!

Anyway, I did wonder why the coin-purse looked a little funny on the inside, but I couldn’t think of anything else it could possibly be used for.


The other day, I was standing with a Japanese friend when I got out my coin-purse to buy a box of strawberry milk out of a vending machine.
“Shaina!” she exclaimed, “Do you know what that’s for?”
“It’s not a coin-purse?”
“No! It’s a portable ash-tray.”

I guess I should have known. No! How the heck could I have known that people here use portable ashtrays! Although, I understand why they need them. I haven’t had a breath of fresh air in 2 weeks – everyone smokes everywhere. Also, there are no garbage cans – none – not even in restaurants. With that many cigarettes, no trashcans, and clean streets – obviously people are using portable ashtrays.

I now take pleasure in seeing the uncomfortable faces of the Japanese when I pull out my ash-try to pay for my ramen.