The Imagined Life

Chopsticks have now become my friend. No wonder there aren’t really any obese people here-you cannot eat food that quickly with chopsticks, so your body actually has the time to realize its full! What an amazing invention, and so effective. You also look so elegant and graceful, and around other Westerners, you feel pretty good. But, they have also provided many other issues. I feel as though I’ve turned into a slob and that my mother would not be proud of me. Because I’m a chopstick newbie, I must pick and pull, and lots of times food ends up on the table next to my plate! Some foods you just CAN’T eat with chopsticks. Tell me, how does one eat a drumstick with chopsticks? Try it. You almost feel like you could start a band, you’ve got so many tools. Also, think about eating a tough piece of pork. It hangs from my mouth because the chopsticks have no power to rip the meat from my teeth. So, my next question is, “Do I use my hands?” I don’t know! I do, but I feel really bad about it.

Lancaster County is such a wonderful place. It was a great place to grow up, and it is always a pleasure to come home to. Lucky for me, I have had long summer breaks ever since I graduated from college, so I get the chance to spend a delicious month or two in my home town. There's just something about the summer time in Lancaster; it conjures up all of the old memories: bonfires, fast motorcycles, camping trips, hiking, swimming in lakes, drinking Mike's hard on friends' back porches. I'm used to living in dusty, loud cities for the past few years, and so when I get to visit home, I like to go for a nice long walk to reintroduce myself back into life. When I first got back to Lancaster, I found a wonderful walking spot over a covered bridge and in between cornfields, and I couldn't help smiling as I watched the green hills and the sun setting behind the silos. I could breathe in as deeply as I wanted to, and this time it was tinged only with grass and cow manure and