“Which One Am I Ordering Again?”

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As I walked into the little Japanese restaurant, I felt a bit out of my element. Not often being one for trying new things, I had accepted that I would probably just sit this one out and eat at home. But my enthusiastic friend opened her menu and started telling me what items looked really good. As the waitress came up, I panicked: I had no idea what these foods were, much less how to pronounce their names. In a final act of hopelessness, I looked at my friend and asked, “Which one am I ordering again?” She gestured to the item on the menu that we had discussed. I seized the opportunity and pointed frantically. “This one, please!” I said quickly.

I might have felt embarrassed, but at this point I had moved on to worrying about eating the food. When it arrived, I clutched my chopsticks and fearfully poked the unknown ingredients of the soup. “It’ seaweed,” my friend told me “reassuringly,” as I continued to move around the dark green bits out of the way. As I took my first bite, though, I realized that my fears were irrational. It was delicious!

As I walked out of the restaurant, my friend cheerfully saying goodbye to the staff in Japanese, I realized that not only had I faced a “fear” I’d been avoiding for years, I now know a place with a great ramen dish (its name starts with a “T,” I think).