When you're a bean on a mission (especially on a foreign mission), you are especially vulnerable to pranks from more seasoned missionaries. Gaskill was my trainer, and was awesome in many ways. But he was not above having a little fun with his bean. (One might argue this was part of what made him awesome.) But, when I came out of a house and mounted my bike, after having been compelled to consume four helpings of food (very good food), I was reassessing my inital judgment of "Gas". He didn't tell me this rule of clearing your plate. He did, however, emphasize during the multiple rounds of servings that if I didn't eat the food the host kept heaping on my plate (and not his), I would be committing a severe faux pas. Since I didn't want to be rude, I kept eating until I was about to barf. (This dinner, by the way, was after we had already eaten dinner at our own apartment, not knowing that our visit with a friend would result in yet another meal.)
So there I was, sitting in Ishiki kyodai's home last night with several members of the Shuri Ward eating dinner. I well knew of the Clean Plate rule (in fact, I had recited it many times to friends as a funny - but true - story, over the years). However, remembering the rule as a matter of cultural academics, and remembering to apply it in practice are two different things. I cleaned my plate, and Ishiki shimai kept piling it on, insisting I eat more. After three plates, it occurred to me that I was violating the Clean Plate rule. So, I thought I would leave just a little food (two or three bite's worth) remaining on the plate (the way to escape the Clean Plate rule).
You see, I always had a sneaking suspicion that there really was no such thing as a Clean Plate rule. That somehow I was the victim of some vast conspiratorial conspiracy against gaijin. There was some doubt in my mind as to whether or not the rule actually existed, because it seemed so odd.
So there I was, finishing off my third helping, and I consciously decided to leave two or three bites of food on my plate, and just sit there and chat with folks. Sure enough, no one tried to push anymore food on my plate. Now, it could have been a coincidence that they just stopped pushing food on my plate at the same time I left some food remaining, but who knows? I, in the meantime, remain a believer in the Clean Plate rule.
Shuri Ward got split in two, Shuri and Yonabaru. So, when I went to the Yonabaru Ward with the in-laws for church, there was little surprise that I'd bump into a few people I'd recognize. And, it was no surprise that the Bishop announced my attendance from the pulpit, indicating that I had served in the Shuri Ward 16 years - holy cow! 16 years! - earlier, when the Shuri Ward didn't have it's own building, but met above the Okii Mart.I didn't realize this at first, but the Bishop had gotten back from his mission shortly before I arrived on Okinawa for mine. He remembered me, and after he filled in some of the gaps, I remembered him. He and I (today) got along great. I could see us hanging out together. There were a few others who remembered me vaguely, but most of them enjoyed reveling with me in the past about the good ol' Okii Mart days. It was a lot of fun.
Shuri Ward met next, and Miwa and I stuck around for the first part of that. What I was hoping to see, I saw. The Kinjo's. Kinjo shimai saw me first and had a stunned look on her face. I introduced myself, figuring she wouldn't really remember me. I was a bean then, and couldn't speak the language, so I didn't really have much of an opportunity to leave an impression. But she remembered me, and so did her husband. They had moved from Okinawa, but returned some recent years ago.
Miara kyodai was there and some other people that looked familiar. I bumped into one shimai who knew another shimai I was thinking of. You see, my haircut cycle dictates that it's about time I go in and get cleaned up. And there's only one sanpatsuyasan in Okinawa I would trust my melon with - Yonamine shimai. And the shimai I was talking to in the Shuri Ward knew Yonamine shimai, and had her phone number. I'll be calling Yonamine shimai for a haircut tomorrow.
All the activity at church, and socializing at dinner left my brain a little...what's the term...saturated. I knew I was toast when Ishiki kyodai said the words "ni ju ichi", and I heard them, knew I knew what they meant, but couldn't summon the energy in my mind to actually spit out a translation. My brain shut down.
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