Spam

So before I moved to China I always thought that my Uncle Cole was the only person alive that I knew of who enjoyed Spam... my mom told me what Spam was one day growing up and I always thought how disgusting the thought of eating it would be. I then responded with "Whoooo would eat such a thing?!" Well little did I know, that according to my mom, her brother did indeed enjoy a fried piece of spam back in the day. Therefore, forever and a day, I always, unintentionally, associated Spam with my Uncle Cole (if you're reading this Uncle Cole, very sorry... obviously I have great love and respect for you even though you were known to eat Spam). SO you may be reading this thinking why is Whitney talking about Spam?? Good question and one I wish I did not have to 1) write about or 2) dignify with an answer.

My family tried to serve me SPAM. YUP. With all the things in the world to eat, as well as their guidelines of my diet requirements in terms of meat, they thought Spam would be ok? To make them happy I took a bite of the spam and that was about as far as I could go. It was something I never wish upon anyone, so if you happen to have to eat it in your future remember to stay strong. I asked my family in Chinese (slowly but surely I am learning Chinese)... "Is this meat?" since they know to only serve me chicken... and they, I kid you not, look at each other, look at me, and both at the same time, start insisting in Chinese that it's chicken. Please remember that insisting sometimes appears to be yelling with enthusiasm so it wasn't a quiet moment at the dinner table... it was a lot of pushing plates, scooping large amounts into my own bowl, and a lot of nodding and "Ok!".

Now I accept the fact my family here looks at me like a baby panda - I have embraced it and through all the annoyances that have or will come, I keep reminding myself "Baby Panda.. I am a baby panda", but this was not a moment in which I would allow the rationalization to over come. Sometimes you just have to say "NO!". So with a million thank you's and "no really I will just eat the cucumber salad and lentil soup" they finally gave up and realized the wool would not be pulled over my eyes. I am happy to say that Spam will not be making a return appearance on our dinner table. A small triumph, but these days, with so much happening out of my control, I'll take what I can get.

Whitney 1 - Spam 0