Chapter 2

The Cultural Experience...Of Eating at a Chinese Restaurant

Chinese banquet typical table layout Source: http://www.chinagestion.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/comida-china-1024x768.jpg

This story is kind of embarrassing, but luckily it didn’t happen to me! We were celebrating my brother’s high-school graduation, and for that purpose, the kids’ parents had decided to go for dinner to a delicious Chinese restaurant, famous for serving the best Chinese banquets in Puntarenas.

   

Chinese banquets are characterized for serving lots of dishes, they generally including white rice, vegetables, fish, chicken, duck, steak, pork and shrimp. They also serve fruit at the end as dessert. All of the meats are generally stir fried, boiled or cooked with vapor, and mixed up with different sauces. Traditionally, food is served in big platters or bowls, which are passed around the table so that all the guests serve themselves the desired helping.   

Sweet and sour pork
Source: http://www.womentribe.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Sweet-And-Sour-Pork-300x225.jpg

But, one of my brother’s classmate’s mom wasn’t aware of this, and she thought that the bowl of sweet and sour pork that was on the table in front of her was only hers.  She took the whole thing and placed on top of her plate. Then, she grabbed the very big serving spoon that came alongside with the bowl and started trying to eat with it directly, as if it was part of her cutlery. Obviously, she could not fit the spoon properly in her mouth, and it was very awkward because the other families on the table couldn’t find the words to tell her she was doing it all wrong… some of them even looked angry because they had wanted to try the sweet and sour pork too…

At the end of the soiree, while everyone was getting up and ready to leave, I overheard her whisper to her husband:

-Darling this meal was delicious, but chinese people are definitely extravagant about their food! How did they expect me to eat all of that pork? And to make things worse, they gave me that horrible spoon!-

In this case, nobody dared to help my brother´s friend’s mom. How to tell her not to eat directly from the bowl, and not to use that spoon without embarrassing her in front of everyone? 

Firstly, if she had been aware of the traditional way of Chinese banqueting, she would have helped herself and passed the bowl to the next person. Also, she wouldn’t have even tried to eat with the serving spoon. Secondly, if the events had taken place in a more intimate environment, and the people that were sharing her table had been closer friends, it would have been easier to tell her not to do what she did and she probably wouldn’t have gone through that uncomfortable situation. To this day, I have no idea if she is aware of the mistake she committed that night.  

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Xibaxaland: A Country of my Own

Xibaxaland is famous for its music and the warmth of it's peopleSource: http://mibauldeldecoupage.blogspot.com/2011/11/i-love-music.html

Xibaxaland would be a very melodic country to live in. It´s inhabitants would be well known all around the world for their cordiality and their friendly ways. Xibaxalanders would also be famous because they sing and listen to music all day long, they would do it as soon as they wake up, in the shower, while they get dressed, when they go to work, even classes in schools are sung!

Their national animal is the nightingale, and their national symbol is a treble clef. But they have a cultural issue… they love music son badly, that they haven’t been able to pick a national anthem.

The song of the Nightingale has been described as one of the most beautiful sounds in nature, inspiring songs, fairy tales, opera, books, and a great deal of poetry.
Source: http://www.silverpebble.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/nightingale_300_tcm9-1423411.jpg

They are also very theatrical, so they use the same words and signals that we use but, they exaggerate their hand and facial gestures to communicate. It is also common that young people cover up their faces until they become of age, so they use masks with different facial expressions to show their feelings. The only moment when an underaged person shows their face in public is to flirt, but they have to make sure that they are not seen by adults, or they get punished: they cannot listen to music for a whole week!

Xibaxaland’s eating protocols are very simple and relaxed. There are very few rules, for example the owners of the house never sit at the header of the table, because they only have round tables! That way everybody is at the same “level”, and it’s easier to look and communicate with the other guests.  People can eat using forks and knives or spoons, whatever they feel more comfortable with; they just have to make sure not to finish their serving before the first person that started eating. And when everybody is done, they sing together to thank God for their delicious meal. 

Visit Xibaxaland... and let us rock your world! 

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