Having an International Student from China has taught me many things, like for instance, did you know that China and Los Angeles are 15 hours apart. Neither did I until I tried to sleep in a house with a boy who was wide awake. 11pm for me was middle of the day for him. He didn't get to sleep until somewhere around the 5am mark. He was quiet and stayed mainly in his room, I heard him a couple of times go to the kitchen, cough, things like that.
My 2 cats were a source of frustration to my attempt to sleep. They recognized that something wasn't right, the downstairs bedroom that is always closed is now open, and there is a person in there that they had never smelled before, so they kept jumping on me, standing on me and meowing at me so that I was fully aware of the intruder in our home. Thanks a lot dear sweet cats, you will just have to adjust to the new person in our home. He will be here for a while and I can't take 11 months of the feline informational bulletin.
We finally woke him up about 1pm (a little cruel for a kid that just spent 15 hours on a plane and endured the biggest culture shock of his life) but he has to start adjusting to the time zone that he is in. I immediately thought of the movie Sydney White. There is an exchange student from Africa and his days and nights are messed up so they start setting his clock back one hour a night until he is on track with the rest of the fraternity members. Silly movie but good lesson on International Students. Who knew that would ever come in handy. So we woke him up and got him up and moving around.
That night after I got off work, we went to dinner. Marie Calendar's is down the street from my house and their menu has pictures on it so I thought it would be a safe choice. I did not choose Chinese food, let me tell you why. Being raised in the south, I am used to a level of southern cooking that you just can't find anywhere else. People here in California are always saying, oh, I know this great southern food place. It is never "Great Southern Food" so I have tried not to do that to people. Plus I don't know where the authentic Chinese food restaurants are and I highly doubt that Panda Express is going to curb his cravings for home style food. I digress. . .
We are seated at Marie Calendar's and the searching the menu begins, conversation was strained and awkward but he is putting more words together. I still can't predict what he means, but that will come with time.
I notice that he picks up the silverware that is neatly rolled in the napkin with the little white band around it to keep it from coming unraveled. He peers into the top where he sees the fork and knife but then puts it back down. The waiter comes over and takes our order and a few minutes later they bring bread for the table.
I cut it up for all of us and he looks confused. I take my napkin/silverware roll and remove the white tab that is holding it together and discard it, he watches me very closely and nods, understanding what to do now. He tries the bread first without butter, then dabs his knife in the butter like he saw my husband do, he tastes the butter but shakes his head no. He clearly doesn't like the bread but being a respectful boy who doesn't want to offend his host family or the culture of the restaurant, he eats the slice that I have given him.
His sandwich comes to the table with French fries. My husband told me that he had taken him to In N Out for lunch so we knew French Fries would be a winner. Again, typical teenager. The sandwich is being held up with a toothpick. He touches the toothpick then takes his knife and peers into the sandwich to see if the toothpick is part of something. My husband catches on that he doesn't have a clue what to do with it so he picks up the toothpick from his sandwich and tosses it next to the plate. Again the same nod and the look of understanding. He plucks his toothpick off and places it on the edge of his plate and begins to eat.
Wow, I had never thought of those type things that are culturally so insignificant but to an outside culture can seem daunting. We made small talk and he told us where he was from. I asked if he had any questions about our family but something was lost in translation and I heard the familiar "What?" I dropped the subject and we finished our meal in silence.
Overall I would have to say, the first 24 hours went as smoothly as possible.
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