Surprising differences in culture

I've been having a great time in Spokane. I found that there are surprising differences in culture between Japan and the U.S. throughout my time in Spokane.I'll write about my two unusual experiences. The two things were so unforgettable and made me depressed.

First, almost of Americans are intrepid. Unlike me, they don’t think seriously about change. For example, when I went shopping recently and paid money, a clerk didn’t give me my change. I knew the change was only about 50 cents. In addition, I saw a case which was full of a few cents. I didn’t know the case, and then the clerk said to me “You can take your change from it.” I just thought “Oh, this is a kind of American style.” I couldn’t understand it. In Japan, I think Japanese people think exactly about change. I always get my exact change. I don't feel good if I can’t receive all of my change.

Second, this experience happened only one time. One day I left my stuff behind on the STA bus. After I got off the bus, I noticed it and called the bus shop from a pay phone in a minute or two. A person who answered said to me “We’ll check the stuff on the bus, so call the bus shop tomorrow.” I hoped I would find my stuff finally. The next day, I told my teacher about my stuff, and she called the bus shop immediately. Unfortunately, the stuff was still lost. After a week, I went to the bus shop and asked about my lost stuff. I tried everything I could, but my stuff never came back to me. If I had lost my stuff like this in Japan, I would get it back because the bus shop would call a driver of the bus which I used. I would find my lost things finally.

These two experiences made me think that I must not think casually about my life in Spokane like Japan. I think I'll discover more different things about culture than I know at this time.

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