Where are You From?

The following is an excerpt from some dialogue I had on the flight back to California.

Me: [absent-mindedly hands empty can to flight attendant, with both hands]
Flight Attendant: Where are you from?
Me: Well, Northern Virginia, but I’m flying back to college.
Flight Attendant: Is that where you’re from originally?
Me: Yeah, and the rest of my family.
Flight Attendant: Oh, I was trying to say more tactfully… you’re not Korean, are you?
Me: [finally gets it] No, I’m Chinese.
Flight Attendant: Because the hand thing…
Me: Oh, that? It’s an East Asian thing that you hand things to your elders with both hands.

Ha. I should have seen that coming. Ok, this proves I’m either so integrated or so Berkeley-ized that I don’t understand these things anymore.

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