I wore a little character on my head, like a bamboo copter 🐧

This is from the time I was studying English in Baguio.

What really felt foreign to me was the hairpins people wore on their heads. Like Doraemon's bamboo copter, they stick a little character flat on top of their head.

On weekends, when you went into the centre of town, there were people wearing them and looking like they were having a great time, and I thought this culture was really interesting, and cute.

So I wore one too, inside the language school, even during my English classes.

In the end it broke, and the neck snapped clean off.

Looking back now, I think there is no way the people around me did not find me at least a little strange for wearing that.

But because I had that strap on top of my head, people could spot me from far away and say "there he is," and there were people at the school who became my friends because they complimented it, so I am grateful to that strap too.

Back then I was about 19, and I could do it without caring at all what other people thought. If it were now, I think I would be too embarrassed.