The Formal Dinner

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Here is something I wrote elsewhere about one of my experiences in China. I was going to rewrite it just for my gentle readers, but because I am currently house sitting, I have expended all of my extra creative energies trying to figure out how to out maneuver a large clingy dog. So, I am sorry to say, you get a hand-me-down post today.

I was trying to eat with my left hand. With chopsticks.
This wasn’t just a whim to test my skill. My right hand was holding 14 month old Kyle on my lap at an angle that would make it more difficult for him to reach towards the boiling pot of food which was part of each place setting. Three waitresses and the principal’s assistant hovered around Kyle, feeding him, wiping his face clean, picking up things from the floor, and trying to figure out what to do with the water bottle lid that made it into his mouth between each bite. With the honored principal, the even more honored guests, the assistant, and a government official, here I was sitting at the table with all of the most important people, trying to figure out proper etiquette for formal dining with a baby.
I suspect that as long as I had the baby I was probably exempt from just about every rule. But Kyle’s parents, the highly honored guests, had a great deal more to worry about like whether their speech was long enough and had enough flowery praise or whether they needed to offer a few more toasts and whether they really should drink all of the stuff put in front of them and whether they would offend anyone if they “accidentally” missed eating the eye in the duck head that had been given to them as a special honor.
I prefer trying to maneuver chopsticks with my left hand.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hey Rebecca,
I stumbled onto you site. What cool pictures of China. I remember when I was in Beijing. It was amazing. I still can't get over the Forbidden City, The Great Wall, and the tombs (I think I sat by the same elephant). I was there with the Fuquas and they draw a crowd too (but, probably not like the baby). Paul Spears
5:15 PM
slowlane said…
I'm glad you found my blog!
I have to smile just thinking about the attention the Fuquas must have gotten.
10:59 PM
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