Practical Graces

I have finally had my most embarrassing cultural/language blunder and it was only a matter of time. And through this blunder I learned and was challenged by His practical graces in our everyday lives.

So I went to my favorite restaurant right outside of the gate near my building. I walked in and ordered the exact same dish I get every time, called jia chong dofu (basically a tofu dish). I ordered and then the waitress came back and said the worst words I could’ve heard at that moment: meiyou (we don’t have that dish).

She then hands me a menu that is written in all Chinese characters, (of which after 7+ months I still cannot read, what so ever.)  There are no pictures which is often my saving grace at other menus. At this point I slightly start to freak out because I want to eat there, it’s crazy crowded, and I don’t read or speak Chinese. My heart is racing and I must think really fast, if I want to actually keep my seat and eat at this restaurant. I proceed to call my team leader, (who speaks wonderful Chinese) but then decided against it because that would take too long and it would just be a hassle, plus there was no guarantee she would answer. I then try to type something in my translator app, but that doesn’t seem to translate very well and the waitress looks even more confused. Finally, I remember that my team leader had texted me a list of dishes that I was going to pick up for her, another teammate, and myself which included the dishes that we wanted in Chinese so I could just show it to waitress. I find the screenshot of the order and realize that I don’t actually know what it says and I don’t remember which dish I had ordered for myself, but I was 80% sure it was the other tofu dish that I wanted.

I finally order and after maybe 15 minutes my food comes, well I thought it was my food. I was by myself at the time so I sat at one of the tables and another guy who had come by himself sat opposite of me. The lady brought the plate of food that looked like the exact tofu dish that I thought I had ordered. He and I raised our hands at the same time and he allowed me to have the first dish, expecting that his plate was coming next. Then the waitress comes back with a different plate of food and then lots of Chinese is spoken, and people start looking at me and then I realize what happened. I didn’t order what I thought I had, and the plate of food I was eating wasn’t mine-it belonged to the gentleman sitting across from me.

Needless to say, I was SO embarrassed. I heard some people snickering to themselves and I literally wanted to crawl in a corner. Fortunately, I was sitting across from a very kind man who kept saying “Meishi” (it’s ok)  after I repeatedly said bu hao yisi (my fault) and doubuchi (I am so sorry). The man I sat across from was very kind and didn’t make a big deal of the situation and was gracious in accepting the plate of food that I had ordered, despite the fact that I had taken the food that he had actually ordered. He was incredibly gracious about the situation and even engaged with me in some small talk, in English.

This situation taught me a lot of things, but it taught me most about the practical graces that The Father allows us to receive and about the many opportunities we have to show practical grace to others. In general, most Chinese people are fairly kind to foreigners and are patient with us as we struggle through a basic sentence in Chinese. But of course, everyone here is not that way, and I have had my fair share of run-ins with those people who are not as kind or patient with foreigners.

If I’m being honest this man handled this situation far better than I probably would have. If I’m being real I probably would have been really annoyed, irritated, and upset that I didn’t get the order that I wanted. But the gracious response of the kind man sitting across from me reminded me of the importance in taking advantage of opportunities to show grace to others, just as an outward expression of the amazing grace I have received in The Son.

That man doesn’t realize it but he challenged me to show grace to others when I have the opportunity, he challenged me to be patient and empathize with foreigners in the US, and he challenged me to simply not sweat the small stuff. Overall I’m thankful for this language blunder, because in it I got to experience the practical grace that The Father shows us each and every day.

Picture of the Week: 

This is the dish that I always order at this specific restaurant (basically it's tofu over rice)