Full grown, well-dressed, professional-looking adults digging to their knuckles for good green nose-stuff. Wiping it on tissue, but definitely doing the dig. And not too discreetly.
The worlds' tiniest napkins at every table- cafes to fine dining. But every meal has wet wipes provided as soon as you sit down.
Warm water served with meals. Really- I watched them hot it up before bringing it to us at dinner this evening.
Many of the girls at Claire's school wear cat-ear headbands. Perhaps because there isn't much room to have their own pets, they become the pets. This is not the same observation as the incomprehensible obsession with Hello Kitty.
We are the quickest diners at every meal. Always. Even when we try to slow down, visit with one another and pace with the locals.
Carpooling is never particularly simple- coordinating multiple busy schedules with multiple drivers, but I've never had to deal with the question of sharing carpool when the kid has a chauffeur. Does one still ask about carpooling? I'd guess not but golly - we have two kids on our (3 apartment) floor who go to the same school at the same time. Share their driver perhaps? Stay walking, more likely.
Every day at the hotel with our clean towels we get new slippers. I've used just one pair since we arrived and there's about 12 pairs piling up. Perhaps a prompt from housekeeping to change them out and not be such a barbaric American? Housekeeper probably goes home telling stories about the filthy CA woman who never changes her slippers.
Folks here are prompt. I'm always on time, I'm just wired that way. But when I get to places on time, my appointment contacts are always waiting on me. It's divine!
I never realized how delightful it is having a bidet with a water temp adjuster. (PS Not a single flood yet and no crawling under the potty to turn it off!) Still not the greatest fan of the damp derriere- just don't quite get the attraction if there's nice, fluffy Charmin available. But if you're gonna bidet, cold water is not the way to go.
Private school reality is very, very different from CA public school. I got an emailed heads-up that the kids were going to the movies tomorrow; no fees, no permission slips. Just a description of where they're headed and why and email to contact if any questions. Huh. I get the no-fees since that should already be covered with tuition but I love the presumption here that the professional educators can actually take care of my kid whether in class or elsewhere & to trust their judgement on selecting appropriate subject matter for outings... wow.
I'm curious to see how Claire rolls with her birthday party this weekend with her new friends. One interesting difference is the inclusion of the child's favorite charity in the invite- encouraging a directed donation over a birthday gift. Golly, I wish I new the kid/circumstance better to understand if it's a (possible pretentious) adult perspective or if that's really how it's done here (or both!) And it'll be fun to get a peek into how a local family apartment actually looks since I've just seen empty models.
Christmas decorations don't come down. The decor gets swapped out end of December for New Year's Eve then gets swapped again late January for Chinese New Year which is in mid-February. Hotel lobby entrance got spruced up today!
So lots of new cultural things to process and adapt to, or at least tone down any glaring mismatches. And snicker quietly to ourselves.
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