Say hello to Grandma!!!!!
Introducing the first in the "Character profiles" Series is Grandmother real name Yone Sakaki she is 72 and still works a full day. 6 days a week. In Japan there seem to be a lot of old women out in the fields but not many old men. One day I shall ask why. In Japanese culture old age is welcomed not feared, the elderly are valued for their wisdom and experience not just marginalised until they become invisible.
From the moment I walked through the door Ubachan (grandmother) had been giving me strange looks. The poor chopstick control made matters worse and generally she doesn't seem to be interested in anything I have to say.
That was written on Tuesday
Now (Thursday 8:15pm), things are looking up. Yesterday I had a breakthrough. I finished every tiny damn speck of rice from my bowl and held it up triumphantly! I am now a chopsticks master and have proven it by eating every grain of rice from a bowl (and at one point I had to eat a large swiss role with chopsticks!! It is amazing what yo can learn in one week!!! Anyway the world cup style waving of my bowl made Ubachan smile and later on in the day she came round with her (slightly crazy) friend and gave us asparagus biscuits. What a nice gesture! Now I can look her in the eye and heartily say "good morning" (Ohio gosimas) without her looking at me like I am some insignificant little twerp.
In other news we went out to a Japenese restaurant last night. I had pork things wrapped in batter and shrimp things wrapped in batter and a mortar and pestle to make my own sauce in. All very exciting stuff!
A veritable feast I'm sure you'll agree!
Mr Sakaki and Son eye up the sushi!
2 comments:
Glad you've mastered the chopsticks at last. Well done!! You will have to teach me how to use them when you get home.
Say hello to Grandma!
Are you eating raw fish yet? looks like I can see some of that on the table. Started on that karate yet?
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