Part 2

This is being written on April the 10th 7:30am

And food….

I have had two meals so far, both involving chopsticks. I have never used chopsticks and thought it would be fairly easy to pick up (get it ’pick up’ ha ha ha). But as it turns out it isn’t! My first meal went down OK, It was Chinese noodles in a soup (ramen). We were eating in a public place with people all around us and it was very difficult not to splash them as my manic chopstick style spun noodles all over the place, however I think I managed to do alright. This then must have given me a false sense of confidence because my family meal was a mess… How do you eat a big solid fish (haddock) with chopsticks??? It is too big to pick up whole and trying to scrape the meat off with one chopstick is just uncivilised. Rice was also a pest, in Japanese culture the faster you eat your food the better. I was being very slow. The mother who speaks very little English, subtly put a spoon by my rice bowl to try and help, but I wasn’t going to be beaten so I soldiered on until she then put a fork by my plate, I could sense her growing frustration but I wanted to show commitment. I was still struggling with a piece of browny grey stuff when a knife came along. Finally I gave in and everyone (who had now finished) had to watch me eat my nice fish with a knife and fork. I failed.

Anyway today I have the day off so I am going to (in Mr Carless’ words) “Have a sniff around”