Long Island stories

At least once a week, there is a situation that leaves me scratching my head.  It will seem odd to me, but when I look around, no once is batting an eye.  My saying here has been "All I know is that I don't know" or "All I understand, is that I don't understand".  Here are some examples:

 ~Alison's sweet 16 is approaching and I've heard stories of what a Long Island 16th birthday looks like.  Once, Alison went shopping with a friend; she needed a dress for a sweet 16 party.  She needed something fancy and black because everyone was supposed to wear black.  Apparently these parties are basically weddings, but with a theme.  Halls are reserved, elegant dinners are planned and elaborate dresses are purchased.  Several people have told me that parents will take out second mortgages to pay $30,000+ for these parties.  I've also had several people tell me that they did something "simple and cheap" but the story that followed was anything but simple or cheap.  One mom even told me that her simple and cheap plan to escape the giant party expectation was to go on a trip...to Greece!  I don't think Long Island actually know what those two words mean.

~Speaking of weddings, they also are the opposite of cheap.  But not just for the bride's family, for everyone!  If you are invited to a wedding, you are expected to gift $100+ per person that attends the wedding...in cash!  Yes, everything in NY is cash.  A friend told me that basically it covers the cost of your plate of food.  Except the money goes to the couple and not to parents who paid for the food.  A friend of mine was recently in a cousin's wedding (which, by the way, you DO NOT miss a family member's wedding for ANYTHING.  This particular friend has a daughter that was having heart surgery that had to wait until after the wedding!).  She told me about how much money they had to spend on getting hair done, nails, gifts and events before the wedding.  I felt broke just listening.

I guess a lot of my stories involve money. 

~Alison went to the 'youth social' for co-op.  The social event is hosted at a friends' home...they read a Charlotte Mason book, discuss it and then do some kind of healthy activity.  To me, this is the opposite of how teens want to be social.  They bond the best over silly games and junk food.  But, in light of trying to be a good sport in a new city, Alison goes.  But to go, she had to RSVP (you must reserve your spot in everything) and bring $5 in ones.  Why?  Nothing in that sentence makes sense to me.  There's not that many kids in Co-op and they're just reading a book, so why RSVP?  And why cash?  And why 1's???  Who has ones???

~The church organized a women's sushi night.  My Kansas brain reads that event as "the women's ministry is organizing a fellowship night and will be buying a bunch of sushi, you just need to show up and talk to people".  My Kansas brain was wrong.  This really meant, "everyone is meeting at Sarah's house and ordering their own sushi meal and then paying cash for said meal".  Noted.  Always have cash.  And if something seems like it will be easy, it won't be.

~Long Island words that I will never be able to say like them: coffee, daughter, radiators.  And you will hear them say "yea, yea, yea" at least once in a conversation.