Awkward Convenience Store Moment

My whole life had prepared me for this moment. The moment I travel to Japan. With only years of experience watching Japanese anime/shows under my belt, I have acquired the knowledge of how to say basic phrases in Japanese. They however, did not prepare me for a trip to the convenience store. As someone of east Asian descent, I am often mistaken as Japanese by people in Japan. You can probably guess what happened as I tried to purchase an onigiri (riceball) for breakfast at the local convenience store. Right as I step up to the counter, I was greeted. I do a little head nod and say good morning in Japanese back, praying that the rest of this exchange continues in silence. Nope. Didn’t happen. The entire time I was bombarded with a flurry of words (which I still do not understand to this day) and the only thing I could do was just nod to show I was listening. As I was paying for the onigiri (thankful that the price showed up in the register screen for me to see), I was saying sorry in Japanese. There are a lot more coins in Japanese currency than there is in U.S currency so it took me over a minute to get my life together and sort out the necessary change. When I apologized for taking a long time, the cashier just stared at me, waiting for me to place the money down. I grabbed my onigiri, said thank you (which made him also do a little bow and say thank you), and left. Needless to say, it was a slightly awkward experience.
“Promise” in Japanese is 約束する (Yakusoku suru). I learned the word from one of the Meiji supporters when I promised him that I would come back and visit Japan one day. It is one of my favorite phrases in Japanese including お腹が空いた (Onaka ga suita) which means “I’m hungry.