The first time I went to a Japanese restaurant my friend (who is Japanese) saw me unwrap the black stuff from the sushi rolls and was like "No!"
Then I felt like
But he said "It's cool you can eat the entire thing without having to unwrap the sushi roll".

One time when my husband and I were in Turkey, we rented a car and traveled along the western coast. Was in a village and witnessed a fender bender. It started a brawl. The drivers got out and started fighting, spectators started fighting. We began to videotape the scene, only to have everyone looking at US!
Put the camera away and got the hell out.

In Japan I...

...expected an answer when I asked questions.
...did not ask people their age and marital status the first time I met them.
...did not immediately think of getting towels for all my neigbours when I moved into my apartment.
...actually drank from the pop can after I'd bought it from the vending machine.
...left tip at a restaurant once.
...took off my suit jacket at work since it was 35 degrees celsius and no air conditioning.
...sometimes looked at other people while on the subway.
...thought I could take a five minute break at work once during a work day.

All of the above was considered very strange by the Japanese.

Was staying at the Playa De Cortes in San Carlos, Mexico. Went for a 10 mile run along the coast in a remote area. Encountered some guy walking naked on the trail. Cut my run short.

Was in St. Petersberg, Russia. Our driver was taking us someplace and a black cat crossed our path. He turned around and went the other way to undo the curse. Black cats are universal. It didn't help. Later in the day, some guy wanted to exchange $$$ for American dollars. (my hubby traveled all over the world and is not naive. I said don't deal with him) He screwed us out of 100 dollars.
[Edited 5/22/07 17:57pm]

In the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, I left my package of tourist purchases in the taxi.Realized it when we returned to our hotel. My husband went back across the Nile to retrieve it. Was propositioned by several young boys who thought he was there for sex.

Does having a summer school class with a transexual and a drag queen count?





seriously, does it count?

xplnyrslf said:

woah.

The first time I went to Boston, I felt nauseous.

there was a while when i was in iceland when i was sober. i didn't tell anyone, but i think they found out.

For one year, during college,
I went to go study abroad.
In my first day,
I sat thru almost an entire session of Transfiguration before I realized that I was supposed to be in Defense For The Dark Arts.
Not only was my face completely red with embarrassment,
but also,
I could feel everyone staring at me as I walked out.
Though no one said anything,
I'm sure that they were all thinking the same thing:
"Goddamn muggles. "

I once threw away some garbage up here in Canada and almost got my @#%!! kicked. Canucks recycle... with abandon.

I eat things with my hands, like french fries and pizza. I've noticed no one in europe eats anything with their hands.

In Paris, for lunch my wife once had lentil soup; I had steamed mussels with fries and a glass of apricot nectar. We were berated all weekend by our friends there. Apparently, lentil soup is an "evening" food, and the appropriate sccompaniment for mussels and fries would have been a lager.

We let our friends feed us from then on.

And don't ever try to initiate a hug, handshake or other physical contact with an Orthodox or Chasidic Jew... especially between Friday at dusk and Saturday at dusk. I've been there.

You might get your feelings hurt.

Lammastide said:

Screw THAT! Lentil soup in the Middle East is always OK for lunch. They're so friggin' ethnocentric in France the country defines the term. What they do and how they live is always THE BEST. Not so by my standards. Their wine sucks too.....
[Edited 5/22/07 21:36pm]

A friend of mine from South Korea decided to visit my part of town since I told him I live close to what is known as Little Korea Town it's a big part of the neighborhood were a lot of Korean businesses are. So as a thank you for showing him where he could buy some foods and products he missed so much he bought some stuff for me as a gift. We went to a Korean supermarket and I watched him casualy start putting snacks and cookies into his cart and I was thinking "Wow! he must be missing his country's snacks and cookies big time". So he pays for the snacks and we head to his car, and drops me off infront of my house and as I am getting off he hands me two bags of snacks and cookies and says, "These are for you" I am like "No!I can't take this! it's yours!"
He really insisted that I take the snacks and he says he is glad that I took him to those stores since he was really missing his country. By the way the cookies he bought were called Choco Pie and they come in a white and red box and they are cookies with marshmellow in the middle and covered in chocolate.

xplnyrslf said:

Lammastide said:

I was going to post the same thing! In Newfoundland I threw away things as usual to watch them turn around and fish out my paper plate and napkin and pitch them in the fire place for a later time.... Fetch my banana peel and other scrapes and pitch them over the far railing for the wild animals and such. Never saying a word.... I learned to emulate quickly.