Stories indexed with the term ‘cultural differences’

Called my girlfriend Nina to see if she would play hooky with me one recent Sunday afternoon. Alas, she’s off with her latest beau somewhere, no time for me. So I sit on the sidewalk outside Sweetwaters café downtown, soaking in the sunshine on this glorious spring day. My laptop sits unopened at my side.

Instead, I steal my friend Rich’s New York Times and I guiltily and gleefully read the entire thing, from arts all the way down to business and even, ugg, politics (which I generally try to avoid). Just one day to stop. One day to sit in the sunshine. One day to visit with all the friends who walk by – Kenji-san with his big brown dog; Diane with her latest middle-aged man from Match.com; Arthur with yet another joke from his old Jewish uncle. There is nothing like the beginning of spring in the Midwest. [Full Story]

My family went to an art exhibit opening and reception last summer at Wailoa Art Center in Hawaii. Afterwards, my son – “Little Brother” – pouted all night because he saw me kissing the artist, “that man.” He cannot kiss me ever again, he says, and he rubs and rubs his skin with his shirt, to wipe off every last kiss that I give him.

I try to explain that, actually, I was kissed by the artist, that sometimes people kiss hello on the cheek just like others shake hands. But he will have none of it. This is not the first time we have had this conversation, but what am I supposed to do? The artist, the man in question, is over 80 years old! That is a really funny (and completely irrelevant) distinction when you think about it from Little Brother’s point of view. He is four years old, and I am ten times his age; I would gain nothing by pointing out that the artist is (only) twice my age. So I explain that in Hawaii, it is part of the culture to hug and kiss hello, that even my parents now hug and kiss hello (although this took them a few years to get used to). [Full Story]