When in Rome

Both "The Last Samurai" and "Dances with Wolves" tell the story of a white boy, transplanted into an ethnographically foreign culture, and becoming more skilled and more integrated than the locals.

I'm on holiday in America at the moment and the same thing hasn't happened to me.

I think I've got the skill of eating an American breakfast down to a tee. I can leave a low denomination note for someone who has poured me a drink, and I used the phrase "Costco gas station" successfully in conversation, but there are many skills that I don't think I'll ever master:

• Not flinching at the price of basic groceries like bread and fruit.
• Adding up the price of items you wish to buy and then multiplying by 1.095 to get the final price.
• Handling money. All the notes are the same size and colour, the 5c is silver and BIGGER than the 10c FFS.
• The bizarre and arbitrary "waste some clean water" phase of washing up that occurs between washing and drying

When in Rome, if the Romans are doing it all wrong, then educate them.

Richard "Objectionable Foreigner" B