Teaching Germans

Last week i was coming home on the bus, when i saw one of my German colleagues. I sat with him and we chatted on the way. He lives near my place so we walked together after getting off the bus. Near my house i offered him tea which he gladly accepted. It is said that Germans think it rude to reject an invitation or a gift. So be careful not to reject an invitation or a gift from a German, unless there is a good reason for rejection.

Anyways, we went to my place and i found some cooked food (a long story) there. So i changed my invitation to a dinner invitation. The food was potatoes with "phalian" (long green vegetable). We eat it normally with "roti" (bread). So i thought of teaching my German friend how to eat a dish with bread. Germans eat a lot of bread, but they always eat it stand-alone, i.e. they take bites out of it among bites from other dishes, So i explained to him how to use a piece of bread as a spoon to scoop out the curry in the dish and eat it, and all that without any cutlery. He tried and, to my surprise, succeeded in just a couple of attempts. He liked the food very much and was later served with our tea (dudh patti).

US increased its Earthquake aid to more than three times at the International Donor's Conference held Saturday in Islamabad. Kofi Annan is visiting Pakistan for three days urging the nations to do more (only half the needed amount had been pledged). UN is sending two Hollywood stars, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, as goodwill ambassadors to Pakistan's quake hit areas. Pakistan and India have opened the dividing line between the two disputed Kashmirs at five points to allow people to share the grief of their relatives.