I was absolutely starving. But I was excited. It was my first time eating with a bunch of Senegalese girls. The aromas of meat and rice cooking made my stomach growl.
Before lunch was served, one of the girls asked me, "Do you eat with a fork or hands?" I laughed and replied, " A fork, of course."
When everyone sat down in a circle with their shoes off I was astonished to see some of the girls wash their hands and sit down and start scooping up rice with one hand and squishing it into a little ball like sushi.
I felt my stomach do a few turns like on a rollercoaster. I, for one, do not like to touch food with my hands. I took a deep breath, smiled and thought to myself, "they weren't kidding!" So I started digging in with my fork.
Seeing as everyone around the table was silent, I started talking to get some conversation going.
"What are you doing?" my friend asked me gently. "We don't talk while we're eating."
"Oh," I replied. So I refrained from speaking further. Moments later, I found myself humming and singing.
"What are you doing?" my friend asked again. "Are you singing?"
"Uh, kind of," I replied cautiously. "We don't sing when we eat," my friend informed me.
Well, I gave up making any other sounds and decided it would be best to focus on eating. I reached over and started poking around the food on the center of the table to choose my next item to taste.
"Heng-zi!" my friend whispered at me again. "You only eat what's in front of you, which we serve you."
"Oh," I replied sheepishly. I'm off to a great start, I thought. I realized I managed to commit three cultural faux-pas in 10 minutes.
I didn't realize that eating dinner with my university peers from another country across the world would have so many guidelines that I was not aware of.
That being said, here are some tips to help you have a fun time when you're traveling internationally.
- Women: Don't smile at men. They might think you want to marry them.
- Shake only with your right hand. Left hand has other purposes.
- Pack an unequal amount of toilet paper compared to clothing. You'll be needing more TP than clothes.
- Always keep on hand Purelle, a hand sanitizing product. You'll find it more valuable than water at times.
- Learn how to say, "Where is the washroom?" in as many languages you can. It WILL come in handy.
- Exercise before you go. ie. Learn how to squat without losing your balance. You'll need this to successfully relieve yourself in some cases.
- Learn how to bargain. The price you see isn't what you get and you don't want to be paying 10 dollars for a pen that's worth 20 cents.
- Learning how to say "don't cheat me!" in the native language with a stern facial expression. It may come in handy in your shopping excursions.
- Be curious. Be interested and open to learning about the culture of the countries you're visiting. Ask lots of questions, talk with the local people.
Heng-zi was born in Hong Kong and now lives in British Columbia, Canada. She has spent her past summers in Peru and Senegal and has spent Christmas break in Honduras doing relief work. This summer she's going to the multicultural city of Toronto. Copyright © 2002 iamnext.com May not be reprinted without permission.
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