Chopsticks and Spoons

In terms of fitting in, having spent 5 weeks in China, one thing I thought I was totally covered with was my use of chopsticks. I will be fine without forks, I'd laugh.

When I got to my first lunch (rice, fried chicken patty, kimchi, soup, and strawberries) because it included soup, of course I grabbed what was offered for utensils--chopsticks and a spoon. The next day, same thing. And the next (even when I went to E-mart to finally buy household things, the cheap packs were for 2 sets of chopsticks and 2 spoons, the expensive pack held 1 knife, 1, spoon, and 1 fork). But, soup or no soup, spoons were included. No one who tries to fit in does something uncommon, so I would take one and leave it unused. It just seemed like the odd guy out.

Finally, yesterday several teachers were eating around me began commenting to Jin-sook (main co-T). Used to this, I wait for them to stop and watched for her 1 of 2 faces: the quizzical(they have a question)look, or her extra large smile (they've paid me a nice compliment). "They say, you use chopsticks, ah veddy good. Better than us," she says smiling.

As I watched, it became clear that the chopsticks were mostly like a (well-mannered) person in the US would use a knife to aid the fork--they pushed things onto the spoon.

So, I either look like a poor-mannered migook, or the spinster who's eaten too much Chinese take-out. Of course, no one showed a snazzy prezi on that.