Differences

It's funny how after being abroad for awhile, the little differences between countries don't really stand out much any more. I remember coming home from Korea, and every once awhile I would tell someone about how something is done there, and be really thrown off by their reaction of surprise. When you live abroad, the first few months are spent being really aware of the things that are different, but after time it all begins to feel normal for you. And when coming home and doing the reverse adjustment, a few things stand out, but not nearly as much because you had previously accepted them as normal. But it was always entertaining to share the differences with people at home - especially the things that I had gotten so accustomed to that I didn't notice them anymore.

Now, think about it the other way around - what are the things about American culture that a foreigner would find strange? That part is not always as obvious. The English textbook that is used in one of my classes has a Culture Note in each chapter, where they explain some things about America that are unfamiliar to Japanese. And it is fun, because once you really think about it, sometimes one seemingly small thing can really shape American life a great deal. When we come across the Cultural Notes, my Japanese co-teacher will have me explain a bit about each one from the perspective of a native, and I have to resist the urge to tell them every little detail about how it makes like different than in Japan.

The Culture Note today that prompted this blog was about tipping at a restaurant. Tipping is not done at all in Japan. (And in most of the rest of the world actually.) So the book explained that when eating at a restaurant in the US it is customary to leave a tip of about 15%. So I explained the whole To Insure Promptness acroynm (which I once heard is actually not true, but whatever), and I added up a sample restaurant bill on the board to demonstrate that when eating in America, you have to take other things into consideration when you order - not just how much the food will cost, but also the tax and tip. In Japan, the price you see on the menu is exactly the price you will pay when you leave. It is really nice actually and makes it much easier.

Then I started thinking about all the other little implications that this has for American culture and are simply a part of life for us. Think about it -- the most obvious is all of the rules and considerations that go into determining how much you will tip - it is really not just a simple 15% most of the time, but a number determined by the level of service, the person's personality, your financial situation at the time, whether you are trying to impress your dinner date by tipping well, and how much cash you happen to have in your wallet.

And then there is the thing about tipping with cash when you pay by credit card, so that the person does not have to get tax taken out. This would be especially unfamiliar to a Japanese, because they almost never use credit cards here.

And how about the confusion that often ensues when a larger group tries to pay separetely and everyone has to estimate how much they actually owe. The person that is best at math often gets stuck with the task of sorting it all out, while everyone tosses a pile of money at them and says `I think I should get some change...` And how when we were all broke-ass teenagers, the bill always came up short, but once we grew up we usually ended up with too much money.

There is the tradition of offering to pay the tip if the other person pays for the meal. Sort of common etiquitte actually.

And for a waiter or waitress - the culture of tipping is even more significant ... The fact that the tips are necessary to make a livable wage is sort of silly when you think about it. And everyone has had a friend who was a waiter or waitress and therefore always had mostly one dollar bills in their wallet.

So these are all things that started popping into my mind during class, but of course there wasn't time to explain them all. But it is fun to think about all of ways in which one little difference can come to affect so much...part of why I love living abroad so much. . . .