Friday, January 24, 2014

In Which Connor Finally Feels Better And We Encounter A Sticky Situation

Connor felt better today!  I'm extremely excited about this.  He's also excited, and celebrating by never, ever going to sleep again.  I am slightly less enthusiastic about that development, but hey, I'll take it  if it means he's feeling better.  He's still tired and has that nasty cough, but he had a lot more energy today and his temperature didn't go over 100 degrees.  I'm pretty sure the worst is over, and I'm so, so glad he's on the mend.

Since I had respite care today and felt comfortable leaving the kiddo since he was feeling better, Eden and I went out for some special time together.  We hit the bookstore and then ate at a Japanese restaurant, where I discovered that despite her initial insistence to the contrary, she has no earthly idea how to use chopsticks.  She gave up after the first bite and used a fork to eat her nigiri and maki instead.

 This isn't really surprising, as Thai people use a fork and spoon to eat-- the only time chopsticks are generally used in Thailand is when Chinese food is served-- but I believe the waitress found it rather amusing that the very, very white person (I practically glow in the dark) was obviously comfortable with them and the Asian person at the table had no clue.  I think it's a good skill to know, especially as Eden has expressed interest into going for a business degree and may someday have to know business lunch etiquette, so we'll have to work on it at home.

There's also the unfortunate fact that since Eden is a first-generation immigrant from an Asian country, people are going to automatically assume that she has mad chopstick skills.  This is one of the stupid little stereotypes that nobody really thinks about but definitely exist.  I think it's ridiculous, but there's not a whole lot I can do about it.  While it goes against my grain, I think that it will probably be easier to just teach her how to use them rather than put her in a position where she'll have to explain that not all Asian cultures use chopsticks to her friends every time she goes out to eat a cuisine where they're appropriate.  That might get old really fast.

In the end, basically this is an excuse for me to eat a lot more sushi, so hey, I'm not going to complain  too much.

~Jess

1 comment:

Lin said...

My kids by starting out a meal with chopsticks and then switching to a fork. You don't get so frustrated, but you build the skill slowly.

I find that eating with chopsticks is great for weight loss! You have smaller bites and it takes longer to get there. Sorta slows us down a bit.

 
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