American earrings?

(Picture: Four generations) We went to mom's grandparents' village. This is the first time I see them, and for my mom's mom's parents it is a big moment as I am the first grandchild's child. Everybody came to see us. We sat on the balcony one afternoon, looking at donkeys, tractors, trucks passing by as mom's grandparents house is by the roadside. It is the tomato picking season, so villagers go pick them and truckers come to buy them. For almost all of the people who came to see me it was the first time to see a child with hearing aids. So, one old relative, about 75 years old asked 'are these American earrings?' As mom's parents are from the same village, it would be easy to track the recessive genes mom has --which caused the hearing loss. Interestingly, the village has no history of hearing loss, except two people who are not related to mom. (but the village has a history of cancer-recently a far relative died at age 38, thyroid, brittle bone disease). The village has more houses empty, there was only one house with light at night up towards the hill among 10 houses. People either died or left and started living with their children in the city. Among the people who came to visit us the youngest ones were around the age 40, who were farming. Everyone else was around grandparents age or older.