Mild Amusement

At work, we tend to hear about cultural differences a lot, since we work with people from lots of different parts of the world. Even if you've never actually had someone tell you this, you probably understand this on a gut level. People from different cultures eat different foods, have different customs, and even ask about different things when it comes to small talk . Now, it's all well and good to understand this on a theoretical level, but it gets far more interesting in practice. I remember the first time I visited the Philippines, some of my coworkers there asked me about my love life within an hour or so of meeting me. They were especially interested to hear about the Filipina Mild-Ex, since that was one of their people. It was all sorts of interesting, and pretty amusing all the way around. More recently, I had some foreign coworkers discuss marriage. One of the guys got engaged recently, and all of the married guys were giving him a hard time. In fact, one of the ma...

A while ago, a buddy of mine invited me along on a hike. A bunch of her other friends were there, and they seemed nice enough, so I made friends with a few of them, as well. Fast forward a couple of months, and the new-found friend asked if I wanted to have dinner with her and the hiking buddy. They wanted to go to a ramen place that was supposed to be really good, so I happily accepted the offer. Little did I know the laughter that would result from this. Shortly after I agreed to go, my hiking buddy commented that she could provide some company on the ride back across the bridge, since she had to come back the same way I was going. A couple of days later, she asked if I would mind giving her a ride back home after dinner. Now, let me be clear: it was all very innocent and given that the we were heading in the same direction, riding together made a lot of sense. Let me also be clear about this, though: I am a smart aleck and I couldn't pass up the chance for some friendly ribbin...

A few weeks back, I made plans to meet up with an old friend over the weekend. We were trying to figure out when schedules would align, and we finally settled on mid-morning on a Sunday. Given that, I figured that brunch of some sort would make sense. She agreed, and she even invited me over to her new condo so I could see the place. I didn't want to impose, but she insisted, so I consented to this plan. Now, I don't generally like to make life harder for my friends, so I figured I would help with said brunch. I brought a bottle of champagne as a house-warming of sorts (also, mimosas with brunch are not unheard of), and I arrived with rolled-up sleeves. I wasn't about to make her slave away in a kitchen in exchange for my company. I'm not nearly that entertaining. Before we actually got down to preparing the meal, we had to figure out what we wanted to eat. There were plenty of options: eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, waffles, a fruit compote, and miscellaneous fixi...

A while back, an old friend from out of town suggested that a bunch of us meet up for a meal. It'd been a while since I'd seen some of these folks, so I was quick to agree to this plan. Now, we all grew up together, but we don't all still live in the same city. We're still in the Bay Area, but not in the same city. Ultimately, this would make things very, very interesting. First of all, we had to figure out when we were all free. Frankly, this always feels a little bit like herding cats. I don't think it's necessarily these people that make this task hard, since I've definitely racked up a few interesting stories about coordinating social events with others involved. Still, it took several emails back and forth to settle on a date and time. At one point during the process, I even got yelled at for not responding to the email thread fast enough. Still, we ultimately settled on a date and sorted out what everyone was going to bring. It only took about 80 em...

Do you remember how I switched to a new dentist and ended up liking the place? Well, I still like the place, but after my last visit, I may have to watch myself just a tad. They've got jokes there. It all started with a routine check up. Luckily, my teeth are fine and I don't have any cavities. In fact, I have "nothing on the watch list." I happen to know that that's a good thing, because I specifically asked what that meant (I got curious). Both the dental hygienist and the dentist both reassured me that this was a good thing, so I figure I'm good. They did, however, laugh at my curiosity just a tad. A little while later, the dental hygienist told me that I had to change the way that I brushed my teeth. My usual way looked like it might cause damage to my gums, so she started quizzing me about my technique. I've pretty much been brushing my teeth the same way since I was kid: making circles around my teeth and gums. Her response was the beginning of ...

You know how people in other parts of the world eat far different things? For example, I dare you to find beef anywhere on McDonald's menu in India . The same holds true for different regions or parts of the same country for a large enough country. A coastal region is going to have far more seafood in its repertoire than a land-locked one, and different cultural influences are going to affect the seasoning that the people use. I don't think any of this is particularly surprising for any of you, but just keep all of that in mind for what comes next. I was in Hawaii fairly recently, and my friend and I were looking for a place to eat dinner. We knew exactly where we wanted to go (said travel buddy had been wise enough to look it up ahead of time), but we had a few hours to kill so we had decided to walk around. We didn't really have anywhere to be, so it made sense to take a leisurely stroll. Heck, we found a night-time open-air market, so I'd like to think it was a wi...

Darn near everyone who knows me calls me "Sam." It's how I sign emails, it's how I introduce myself to people, and when I hear that name, I look up. That's not actually my first name, though. I was born as a Samuel, and that's the name that shows up on all of my official documents. So why do I go by a different name, you ask? Well, there's a story behind that, folks. I wasn't born in the United States, and Spanish is my native language. However, I moved here in the middle of what became my kindergarten year, so I had to quickly learn a new language. Still, it took a little bit of time before I picked up the new language. So, for a little while, I was introducing myself as "Samuel," spoken with the accent of a brown person. I don't actually remember doing so, but I'm certain that I must have. That's because my teacher and classmates, bless their hearts, wanted to help me fit in, so they did their level best to try to pronounce my...