People often say "my house is my fortress", but sometimes they mean completely different things by these simple words. Especially when people who are not quite familiar with their traditions or beliefs come over to their house.
For sure, traditions are simply wonderful, but there are particular situations when what is completely familiar to one person seems absolutely strange and weird to another. This, by the way, concerns not only traditions, but also religion and culture.
There is a popular thread on Reddit where people discuss the strange things they had to do in other people's houses in order to comply with the owners' cultural or religious requirements. The thread is quite extensive - to date it has over 33.4K upvotes and over 16.0K different comments.
Bored Panda has compiled a curated list for you with the most interesting and weird things from this thread. By the way, we also have our own tradition - everyone who reads the list must vote for their favorite items, and even better - leave a comment. So, traditions are traditions - they need to be obeyed, if you know what we mean...
More info: Reddit
#1 Refusing Someone's Hospitality
When I was in primary school, I made a new friend from Hong Kong. One day she came over to my house for a play date, and when her parents came to pick her up in the evening, my parents invited them all to stay for dinner at ours. They were new immigrants to Australia and I guess my parents thought they might not have many friends or family here. Anyway, they politely declined and said they didn't want to impose. My parents insisted it was no imposition at all, but they again declined saying they "didn't want to be rude" and intrude on our family. We were kind of taken aback, but just assumed maybe they had their own dinner waiting at home and were too polite to say so we saw them off. My friend later explained that her parents thought my parents weren't being genuine, and were only asking out of politeness and the fact that our parents didn't press the issue further was proof that we didn't really want them there.It's not "weird," but I thought it was an interesting contrast even as a kid. In the West, when someone offers you hospitality, it's seen as a genuine and voluntary gesture, and it'd be rude to turn it down. Whereas in some cultures, the offer of hospitality is seen as a compulsory courtesy but not necessarily always genuinely meant, so it's impolite to accept it immediately. In the West it would be impolite to keep insisting after someone's already declined an offer, but in other cultures you're expected to press the issue a bit and keep insisting to give them a chance to accept if they want to without appearing rude.
Image credits: romilliad
#2 Overly Friendly Work Outing
I used to have a job that rented a lot of houses and properties in Southern California. Part of my job was meeting with property owners and to close a deal with them. One day I go to this man's house in laguna Beach, as in his house was ON the beach. I was meeting with an insanely wealthy but also insanely nice Asian man who I had met a couple of times before and we had somewhat of a work type relationship. As i begin to bring up the deal to be made, he suggests we walk to the beach first, (I was ready to get home, it was Saturday) so we start walking, talking about life etc. He then proceeded to hold my hand, interlocked finger style, for the whole walk. I was originally wielded out by it but when I brought it up to a coworker he said it's just a part of their culture. He also made me wear his personal house slippers to be allowed entry into his home. Just cultural differences but it still cracks me up that the most romantic beach walk I've ever had in my life was with an 75 yo something man millionaire.
Image credits: blowhardyboys86
#3 Raising Children In Ultra Religious Way
I didn't personally experience this because I left the one time they tried to force me but my friend's parents mainly her super ultra Christian preacher stepfather made her shower with a bathing suit on because he believed the only time you should be naked is when changing or to reproduce/when a man wants sex otherwise you'll be too "tempted by your own lust." and "nakedness invites the devil in." This poor girl hadn't bathed naked in years and we were in middle school. She never smelled cause she would rub soap through the bathing suit but she had yeast infections all the time if I remember right.I started inviting her to my house as often as I could just so she could properly shower. Unfortunately her life hasn't been easy. We haven't spoken in years but I think about her sometimes. Her parents were raising her to be the "perfect" Christian housewife. They monitored everything she did. She developed a horrible eating disorder because they told her no one would love her if she was even chubby and that she was "letting the devil win" if she ever indulged. She was expected to "take care of the house" despite being the youngest child as according to them god designed women to be housewives. They refused to let her attend sex ed and basically told her when the time comes her futures husband's pleasure is the only thing that matters, that he will teach her what to do. They refused to even let her use tampons because they believe it would "deflower" her. She was always happy to be able to use them instead of bulky pads, I gave her the locker combo for my locker and showed her a little baggie of tampons she could get whenever she needed them. She was scared her controlling parents would check her locker and find them (they did regularly check it, her mom was a coach at the school) so they stayed in mine.
I ended up having to teach her sex Ed and encouraged her to eat more. The encouragement didn't work that great so instead I would bring her smoothies loaded with as many vitamins and calories that I could hide in it. I'm talking I using heavy cream instead of milk type thing. She had it in her head that smoothies couldn't possibly have a lot of calories. I know it's not right to purposely deceive someone into eating something but she was literally fainting from just walking because her body was so weak. I was a kid who didn't have any other resources to help, she did seem to get a little better once I started giving her the smoothies.
She ended up lashing out at her parents, having risky sex, and ultimately ended up in a car wreck that caused pretty extensive brain damage. The wreck killed 2 other people, my old friend was still in highschool and a teacher had been driving while texting on the way to school. Her seat beat failed and she went through the windshield but somehow survived. She had a long road to recovery but has gained most function back from what I've heard. Her childhood was tragic and very damaging but I love seeing the cute pictures of her with her girlfriend living far away from her awful family. We drifted apart when I moved away.
Image credits: River_7890
#4 Asking People To Do Some Work Instead On Shabbat
When I lived in Antwerp (Belgium), I once was stopped by an elderly, woman on the street. She was asking for help inside her house. Guiding me through a house where the temperature was way too hot, she stopped at every radiator and asked me to turn them down. In the end we went to the kitchen, where some jewish women and children were watching me silently while I was putting all the burning gas stoves on a low heat. Then she showed me out, thanked me and closed the door.In Antwerp there is a big community of hasidic jews, I can imagine this was during sabbath.
Image credits: laurens-t
#5 Refusing Getting Gifts And Giving Them To Everyone
I had a good friend who's family were wealthy and very big on some weird sort of gift giving.Basically there were two things:
1. You could not give them a present, no gifts at birthdays, Christmas, etc. If you gave them a gift they would either politely refuse or donate it
2. You always received a gift if you went to their house, even if it was for an afternoon.
I remember going to my friends house when I was 8 or 9 (1998/1999) and them giving me a playstation and each time I went over they'd give me a new game, which continued until they gave me a Nintendo game cube. Very weird, and it wasn't because I was poor, we lived in the same area etc.
This recently repeated itself when I visited my friends house (now lives with his own family) and when I was leaving his wife was trying to give me a bottle of scotch and my daughter a f*****g Nintendo switch.
Edit. They were middle eastern, not really sure what religion, his dad was a property developer and investor, this was in Australia Sydney. It just felt awkward after awhile.
Edit 2. Told my mate about this and he answer some of the questions for you all:
1. His family are part of the house of Saud but are not in the part that has any power or line of success unless like the other 10,000 people die. His last name isn't saud so this was news to me, but he made it clear it means nothing unless you are part of the inner circle.
2. The gift giving thing was/is part of their family custom and they weren't/did not expect you to refuse.
3. The didn't accept gifts because they just purchased anything they wanted and they made their children do chores to earn items so they had an appreciation for money.
4. The gifts while expensive for most didn't really register, as spending a few hundred bucks wouldn't make a dent, they also regifted tons of s**t, he said they probably had like 30 playstations in their cupboard.
5. His family also didn't want kids to be jealous of their son, because being a Arab in Australia was already pretty s**t.
6. He has a cupboard like his parents house, he doesn't have gaming consoles normally, as when he gets those he normally sells them, because hey why not.
7. He isn't accepting applications for new friends.
Image credits: Deadlybutterknife
#6 Only Males Are Allowed To Sit On The Furniture
Not sit on the furniture because only the males were allowed to. Kneel facing the wall while the 3 males in the house stood behind me and prayed in a cadence that got louder and louder until they were screaming about how to wear makeup is to create attraction, to create attraction is to create lust and to create lust is to SIN. I was 18 and wearing makeup. Legit I thought I was about to be beheaded.
Image credits: TomatoOnToothpics
#7 Eating Dessert On The Back Of The Plate
Went to a friends house for dinner a lovely meal. The whole family cleaned their plates of food then turned them over and ate dessert on the back of their plates like it was the most normal thing in the world. I copied them just to be polite.
Image credits: Argybargyass
#8 Forbidding Playing Witches
I was kicked out of a elementary school friend’s birthday party because another friend and I played “witches” in her treehouse. She was Southern Baptist. There was a literal cauldron in her treehouse, I stand by my decision.
Image credits: erineestevenson
#9 Guests Have To Wait Until Hosts Have Lunch
I remember going to my swedish friends house.And while we were playing in his room, his mom yelled that dinner was ready. And check this. He told me to WAIT in his room while they ate.
That s**t was f*****g wild.
Image credits: Wowimatard
#10 Not Letting Other People's Kids Use The Toilet
In secondary school, my best friend’s family were very devout Christians. For some reason, her mother would not let me use the toilet in their house. Their porcelain thrones were for Christian a***s only. Hardly Christ-like if you ask me.When my friend moved away, we would write to each other, and her mother read all the letters. She told me I couldn’t sign off my letters by saying things like “Lots of love!” or “Love you loads!” because it was lesbian. Uh, okay, Susan, take a day off.
Image credits: OhCleo
#11 Paying For Meal While Visiting Your Friends
I went over to my friends house to play D&D in high-school, and my friends mom mad lunch for the 7 of us. It was really good. We were just playing D&D and eating tacos, and after we all finished the lunch, everyone started pulling out cash. I was super confused.My friend turned to me and asked, "Do you have your $5?"
So apparently we were supposed to pay for the meal. I was incredibly embarrassed. One of my other friends ended up paying for me. I never played D&D at that house ever again...
Edit: This happened in SoCal. They were just a standard American household as far as I was aware. The food was homemade. D&D is Dungeons and Dragons. It's a role-playing game. Also, I can confirm that my friend was not taking the money. I literally saw him give it to his mom.
Image credits: Songovstorms
#12 Going To Sauna With Other People Without Any Clothes
When meeting my Finnish fiancées’ family, I was invited to a sauna with her brother. No clothes allowed. 10/10 would sweat with my boy again
Image credits: MadRadInnit
#13 Challenging The House Host To A Sword Duel
As a Greek, i had to challenge the house host to a sword duel because he was a Turk and i had the moral obligation to do so
Image credits: captain_snake32
#14 Exchanging Christmas Gifts But Leaving The Host Without Anything
I don't play with this group anymore, but had 3 "friends" who would regularly come over to game. I was the first of us to own a house, so it made sense for me to host.One Christmas, the group all brings Christmas gifts for each other. They didn't tell me they were exchanging gifts at my house, and no one got a gift for me either. I was sad because I realized then that I wasn't their friend but rather a tool for them to play D&D.
Image credits: Panwall
#15 Having A Quiz On "The Word Of God"
My family is Catholic, Im not. They believe in God but really only go to church once in a while and just wanted me to believe and be a good person as the bare minimum. I'm not religious but I humor them.Anyways, once when I was younger, There was a kid whose father was friends with my father and my dad and I got asked to come over for dinner. Sounds fine. There are other people there for dinner too. My dad and I thought it was weird. Prolly a dinner party and he forgot to mention.
Meet the guy's son. Cool kid at first glance. Massive gamer, has modern consoles (for the time) gaming PC, had a Scar L airsoft rifle. We hit it off. Same with the other kids.
Then in the middle of playing, the guys son turns off the TV and ps3 and starts telling us, "alright guys, gather around and we're gonna do a quiz on the word of God and talk about why you should be saved by praying to him and following his teachings."
I'm like "nope.jpg" and fake a stomach ache to get out of it. Go to the bathroom and the guys son tells me "hey don't want you feeling left out." Then proceeds to slide me the packet; yes packet, and a pencil from under the bathroom door and he tells me "make sure before you come out, you finish it and turn it in so I can check it."
Luckily, my dad faked a call from my mom saying she wasn't feeling well and went to grab me. We both got out hella quick. Turns out, it was all some sort of recruitment thing going on for a church of this specific sect of Christianity or something. My dad felt off after being told that he was going to be taught the true values of God and he was expected to force/teach these values to his family. At the time, it all felt like a fever dream.
Never could find that kid on FB or any other social media. So maybe he never existed at all haha.
Image credits: Insanefox32
#16 No Snacks In The House
Late to the game, but here goes.I had a friend growing up whose parents didn’t allow any snacks in the house. Every time he invited me over to spend the night, I was expected to bring boxes of snack food because it could be allowed if brought in by an outsider.
And yes, his parents would partake, too.
So there was junior high school aged Higestache bringing boxes of snacks for an entire family to have a ‘cheat night’ at my expense.
Image credits: higestache
#17 Delivering Bags Of Food To Poor Families
I grew up in a highly Mormon area, so most of my friends in school were Mormon, and I was occasionally invited into their more intimate Holiday celebrations for example.One year, they gave me bags of food and drove me to a random house, then told me I had to go in and Deliver the bags to the people inside (A big family who currently have no means of financial support) as a secret Santa.
It was a wonderful gesture, but I felt really awkward being asked to do this in a stranger’s house, but they asked me to do it for the expressed reason that I was a stranger, and they wouldn’t know who had donated the food.
Image credits: sezah
#18 Forbidding Even Little Boys To See The House Owner's Wife
I was prohibited from going to the lobby of the house or get out of the room without giving a warning first because I was prohibited to meet the wife of the host since I am a man. I was 10 years old by the way.
Image credits: ward_-_
#19 Not Being Allowed To Talk In The Car
Okay, this doesn’t really compare to a lot of these other stories, but after my first year at university I went to visit a new friend for a weekend over the summer. Her parents lived about 45 minutes away from my parents, so we thought it would be fun.Her house was a partially hoarded mess, which honestly wasn’t the weirdest part (my parents were borderline hoarders themselves). The house had 3 bedrooms upstairs for their family of six. But none of the kids’ bedrooms had doors - all removed off the hinges. My friend thought it was no big deal, her dad had taken them off ages ago, etc. not as some sort of punishment or anything like that. This is in a house with 3 teenaged/or college aged girls. I was totally creeped out by it.
The other weird thing was when 6 of us (me, friend, a couple of siblings and her parents) loaded into the car to travel to some event that was a pretty long drive away (maybe an hour?) and I started chatting to my friend. She looked at me shocked, like I had committed a mortal sin, and quietly whispered to me that you’re not supposed to talk in the car. Ever. Everyone but Dad, who was driving, obediently whipped out a book and started reading. They offered me one but my carsick a*s couldn’t handle that, so I just stared out the window. It was so bizarre. Again, she acted like she had no clue this was weird and unique to her little family.
(The more I reflect on it and the things she told me over the years, the more it feels like she grew up in an abusive household ruled by a man who imposed weird, controlling rules upon the entire household that no one challenged. Dad was the brilliant, benevolent leader.)
Image credits: Nonny70
#20 Must Have Ice Cream After Dinner
Must have ice cream after dinner, even a spoonful was enough. My friend invited me for a sleepover and his dad took out a small bucket of ice cream, turns out they have a separate freezer just for ice cream. Friend's mom didn't want any so she just took a spoonful from her husband. His dad would offer me ice cream whenever he can. We went for a drive and his dad saw a Dairy Queen we went there and spent an hour inside trying every kind of ice cream they had.His mom wasn't any different but it was with making sure the meal was balance, doesn't matter if you ate a dozen fried chicken but you better eat a lot of vegetables with it.
I thought that they probably grew up poor and ice cream was a luxury his dad never had and maybe his mom wasn't able to eat much.
My paternal grandma was unwilling to let a guest go home without eating anything.
Image credits: illogicalfuturity
#21 Praying Before Eating For 5 Straight Minutes
When the host has been saying grace for 5 straight minutes and we're all still holding hands in a big circle as if we're trying to summon a spirit, it feels pretty weird.
Image credits: Bizarre_Protuberance
#22 Asking The Ambulance Doctors To Take Off The Shoes While Attending A Person In Cardiac Arrest
I work for the ambulance service and I was asked to take my shoes off before attending to their mother in cardiac arrest. Politely reminded them that there was a time and place
Image credits: phoenixfeet72
#23 Drinking Only Milk For Dinner
Drinking only milk for dinner.Don’t get me wrong, I like milk and will freely drink it at times but one time at my high school girlfriends house I had dinner. I was helping set the table and her mom started to pour milk in all the glasses. Not wanting to be rude and ask for soda or something I simply said “I’ll just have water”. She replied with “the Bible says milk is served with supper”
No clue if this is a thing or not. It was the first and last time I’ve ever heard it but the memory has stuck with me 20+ years later.
Edit 1: sorry to all the people who got scammed thinking it was a story about drinking only milk without food. There was food (don’t remember what) but I see how the first line can seem otherwise.
Edit 2: thank you everyone mentioning/ quoting the McPoyles. I’ve never heard of them and have only seen a few episodes of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Now I have something new to watch.
Image credits: HereticGaming16
#24 Celebrating The Scottish New Year
My friends father was a Geordie and his grandad was Scottish. Each hogmanay it was my job to leave their house and re enter bearing a gift of coal. This was my task as I was the only one there with dark hair.So that's a thing.
Edit: spelling of Hogmanay.
Image credits: GabberZZ
#25 Eating Oranges With Skin
i am reminded of the story on Reddit where a girl went to her boyfriend's parents' house to meet them, and they had a ritual where they gather around a table and savagely consume an entire orange, skin and all. She didn't do it, and she upset the entire family. I think it's my favorite story from Reddit.
Image credits: frauleinsteve
#26 Discussing A Girl's Worth In Cows And Dollars Before Her Marriage
I used to mentor a girl from Uganda. I walked in on her family discussing the marriage of their daughter (older sister of my mentee) to the son of the other family. They were debating how many cows and dollars she was worth. Women are not allowed to be in the room when it the trading happens. It was my first day as her mentor and I walked in the front door and suddenly I was smack dab right in the room with a bunch of huge guys that were having the discussion of this girl’s worth. It was bonkers.
Image credits: KDWWW
#27 Reading The Bible Almost Constantly
I once went to have dinner with a girl from uni who came from a super nice but very religious family. Her dad turned out the be the pastor. Absolutely no problem being silent while they’re praying before dinner, however after dinner the whole family got their bibles out, and asked me politely, which my favourite verse was so we could read it together. Eh…?
Image credits: Qihai7
#28 Thinking That The Peace Sign Means A Broken Cross
I went over to a friend's house for a sleepover and when I changed into my pajamas her mom started demanding I put something else on and throw my pajamas out. I was really confused, she was yelling about how my pajamas were sinful and bore signs of the devil! I ended up just calling my mom to take me home because I was so uncomfortable, but that woman just kept scolding us for allowing me to wear satantic symbols.The symbols on my pajamas? Peace signs. She said they were broken crosses, so clearly a sign of the devil.
Image credits: usernameemma
#29 Celebrating Christmas Like A Birthday Party
I grew up in the crazy religious house and since Santa Claus was secular, he was completely removed from anything to do with our Christmas. Instead we celebrated Christmas like an actual birthday party complete with cake and singing happy birthday to JesusEDIT: For all the people correctly describing Santa Claus as St. Nick (religious figure), my family believed Catholics were going to hell because praying to Saints is akin to praying to an idol or false god. Secular was probably the incorrect word, but they definitely saw St Nick and the Santa Claus character as a threat to "real" Christmas.
Image credits: OccamsComb
#30 Waking Children Up By Tickling Them On The Neck
Got woken up by my friend's mom, tickling me in the neck like I'm a little kid. Happened during college. It was weird at first, but then my friend warned me that's how his mom woke him up every day.My friend is an only child, and before he was born, his mom went through one miscarriage and two deaths due to sickness and accident.
Edit: Also, another friend of ours has a homophobic uncle. She told me to act straight. At the time, I only came out of the closet to a few of my friends, so I was scared.
#31 A Sleepover With A Friend That Always Sleeps Naked
I don't know if this counts as someone's culture. But when I was a kid, I had a sleepover with a friend that always sleeps naked. And I decided to sleep naked with him lol. Nothing sexual, just thought it was weird.
Image credits: LightFist18
#32 Considering It A Sin For Boys To See Young Women
i had a neighborhood friend that i played on the street with and at school sometimes. her mom and dad always told me i wasn’t allowed to be in the same room as my friends older brothers because seeing young women was a sin for unmarried men. i was 10 at the most. the youngest of her older brothers was 16. when i was asked by my friend to sleep over for her birthday i was told by her and her mother that i needed to remain in my friends bedroom. her mother would bring us food and drinks and take us to go to the bathroom whenever it was safe. i told my sister about it the next day and she told me i wasn’t allowed to go near their house or my friend again. to this day i still don’t know if it was actually due to culture/religion or if maybe they just had a really f****n weird family.
Image credits: haesslichryn
#33 Not Allowing One's Wife To Take The Car Keys
I worked for a rental car company in an Orthodox Jewish community. A customer rushed in on a Friday evening and asked to be driven home immediately because if we didn’t make it to his house by sundown he would have to get out of the car and walk the rest of the way due to the Sabbath (he used an app on his phone to tell him the exact time of sundown each day). I didn’t have a driver available to I just told him to go home and I’ll come by his house later to grab the car.A half hour later I arrive at his house. Husband is nowhere to be found, and the following scenario ensues with his wife:
“My husband left the keys on our bedside table and I’m not allowed to touch them. Can you come in and grab them please?”
I awkwardly follow her into her bedroom and grab them from the bedside table.
“Can I ask one more favor? Do you mind unplugging the house for me?”
I then follow her into her basement and enter a room where there are literally 15-20 different electrical cords coming through holes in the the walls and ceiling, and through a tangled series of different outlet strips are all consolidated into one master plug going into a standard wall outlet. She points at it and asks me to unplug it. I do. She thanks me. I leave.
I had a lot of wild experiences in five years working that job. This one was definitely top five.
Image credits: MoTown83
#34 Ordering All The Guests To Drink Coke
Dated a Lebanese guy.. On Christmas we had to drive around and visit all the aunts and uncles and sisters and brothers and so on.. At the first house I was offered a glass of coke and I kindly refused (coke makes me bloated and I wee a lot). I was told by my boyfriend that's it's rude. I had to finish each coke at every house, and if I finished it too soon, I would get a refill. I almost died that day. Also all the woman were mostly standing in the kitchen, did not really mingle with the men.#35 Drinking Alcohol As It Is Considered Rude To Say No
drank 6 shots of homemade pálinka (strong alcohol from hungary) becuase I was told it was rude to say no before I came here, and a few other drinks because I wanted to try new things.got so sick
#36 Not Being Allowed To Say The Word "Devil" Aloud
You weren’t aloud to say the word devil in my ex best friends house because her grandma was like super religious. Like one time her grandma was in the kitchen and we were sitting in the living room and I said we should make deviled eggs and she was like “SHHHHHhhH you can’t say devil around my grandma so we call them angel eggs!” And I was like damn ok? another thing was that her grandpa had a camera in her and her sisters room that would face the street but he also made them have it face to look in their room sometimes
Image credits: HadenTheGayBoi
#37 Telling The Guests To Kiss A Statue In The Hallway
My friend and I told our other friends that you had to kiss a lion statue in their hallway when entering my friend's house the first time and said it was a cultiral tradition.Nope. You didn't have to kiss the statue.
#38 Eating Gefilte Fish
Eat gefilte fish, the ready-to-serve kind that’s in some sort of gelatin. That and the rest of that evening Seder was culturally enlightening, but to 18-year-old me back then it was weird. As an Asian I was used to fish cake type stuff, but the gelatin threw me.#39 No Talking About Other Gods And Even Mythology
When I was in elementary school I had a friend who was Mormon, and I had trouble discussing mythology or simply a few works of fiction since he said talking about other Gods was against his religion. We were 7 or 8 at the time. I dunno how true that is, but I felt pretty bad about it regardless#40 Considering Computer Games To Be The "Devil's Fun"
We got yelled at for "playing that devil game again!"We were playing Mario kart. And Bowser kept freaking his mom out. So we muted it and all was fine from then on.
Meanwhile his little brother was literally playing Diablo 2 at the time in the same room. But he already had it muted so it wasn't a problem I guess.
Image credits: Qix213
#41 Placing Religious Symbols Everywhere
My ex boyfriend was first language French Canadian from New Brunswick. We went to visit his Grandmother and none of them spoke English. They were very devout Catholics and I never seen so many crucifixes and Jesus pictures on the walls. I dont speak French so it was awkward. Im an athiest. They put out tea and cookies and I took a bite of a cookie without thinking. His family was pissed as they say grace for everything. I could vaguely make out how mad they were and the rest of the weekend I was called, "les Englais". I went and dropped a deuce in her toilet the whole time being stared at by the Jesus picture on the wall in the bathroom. Was f*****g weird.#42 Not Eating While The Parents Are Away
I was on holiday and spent a day with a friend in Japan and he told me to come back to his place for dinner. We grabbed some takeaway burgers and went to his house.When we got there his parents weren’t home so he said we couldn’t eat until arrived; fair enough I thought he must have got burgers for them too.
2 hours later they arrive. They have a quick chat in Japanese and then I asked if they wanted to eat with us. He asked them that, they looked confused and responded to him. I asked him what they said and he said “they said it’s ridiculous that we waited for them before eating”.
#43 Covering Everything In The House With Plastic
I had to sit on furniture that was covered in plastic. My boyfriend, at the time, had a friend whose parents invited us all over to their house for a party.The mom was a clean freak or something because every piece of furniture was covered in plastic. It crinkled strangely when you sat on it. There were also plastic runners everywhere so the carpets wouldn’t get dirty. We were all afraid to drop any food crumbs — it felt like we were in some kind of museum.
Image credits: macaronsforeveryone
#44 Removing Shoes And Bowing To "Grandparents"
Went over to my Laotian friends house when I was little and upon entering his house he said I had to remove my shoes and bow to his grandfather. When he said “grandfather” he pointed to a fish mounted on the wall. Thinking it was some kind of reincarnation thing I did it and was instantly berated and laughed at by his whole family.#45 Spending The Date Naked In The Nudist Colony
I guess this qualifies as "culture":My sister was dating a man that had been raised in a nudist colony. He took her to meet his family at their house at the colony. She was a tad surprised when his mother immediately says "there is a hook on the bathroom door for your clothes." My sister proceeds to spend the entire evening naked with his folks. Her BF had told her before they went that it would be her option but I guess his parents didn't think so.
Image credits: asphyxiationbysushi