Choking down squid and burping up fish eggs... After today I have a new understanding of Philippians 4:13 - I can do all things through Christ, who gives me strength. So today was graduation for the ninth graders. I was a bit concerned about today, considering events like this always make me feel especially out of place. I'm not quite a "teacher", and I'm definitely not a "student," so during events like this when roles are really defined, I have not much of a place and feel very isolated. So I was nervous. But though my nerves were tense over the ceremony, nothing, I repeat, NOTHING could have prepared me for lunch. I was told about a month ago that we would have a "special lunch" for graduation and was asked (yes, it's my fault, I had an out) if I wanted to participate in this lunch with all the other teachers. Well, like I said, I often feel out of place, so I usually jump at any opportunity to be "part of the group." Bad mistake. Lunch arrived around 12:45, in very largish-looking covered bowls. I knew it would be sushi, but I was told it was a special sushi (usually this means, you know, more delicious, so...I don't know, I guess I was expecting a miracle). Well, apparently "special" just meant "truck load of". When I took the lid off of the bowl that was set before me, ever so kindly, by a fellow teacher, this is what I found: two pieces of squid (by the way, everything I mention here excepting eggs and rice was, in fact, RAW). Anyway, as I was saying: 2 pieces of squid, one mushy, one rubbery, 2 pieces of undercooked shrimp, a slab of fishy-tasting, sweet egg log, two pieces of tuna sashimi (raw tuna), a couple other slabs of raw fish that I would have rather avioded, the hottests wasabi sauce you can imagine, hot mustard, a bed of rice mixed with vinegar (which, by the way, I really don't like), and my personal favorite: three kinds of fish eggs (again RAW): white ones mushed together in a crunchy lump, tiny red ones that had the consistency of poppyseed, and ones the size of tiny grapes, which burst in your mouth when you bit on them, spilling salty hmmm, well, we'll just say "yucky stuff" all over your tongue before you grind up the partially developed baby fish inside. Yummy. Suffice it to say, there was A LOT of praying through this meal. I felt sooo victorious when I shoved the last bit of raw tuna slab and rice into my mouth and successfully swallowed them without gagging. It was truly a miracle. The only problem was, I kept burping up fish eggs all afternoon...