Well, to be honest, it had little impact on the rest of my day, but it sure was different way to start the day. There I was, sitting at my desk and minding my own business, preparing for my first lesson of the day, when one of the ladies in the staffroom came up to me, and asked me if I'd eaten <word I didn't understand>. When it was obvious that I didn't understand, she explained that it was a bug. I decided that I must have misunderstood, and came over to have a look. I hadn't misunderstood. There was a great big box filled with grasshoppers, and a group of ladies was enthusiastically hoeing in. I was assured that they were sweet and delicious, and was given one to try.Needless to say, I wasn't entirely convinced. OK, so I wasn't at all convinced. However, I observed that several of them were eating these grasshoppers with obvious enjoyment, and no ill effects. The principal was handed one, and gulped it down with relish. The vice-principal refused, though he's known to be a fussy eater. I looked at my grasshopper, and then decided not to look too closely. I brought it to my mouth, and chickened out. Repeat by about five. Since I couldn't make myself bite into it, I decided to try licking it instead. Attempt one, attempt two... Nope, couldn't do that either.
By this time, the bell for the start of lessons had been and gone, and I was still standing in the staffroom staring at my grasshopper, and had four flights of stairs between where I was and where I was supposed to be. I gathered up all my courage, and bit off a leg. It actually was sweet, sweet and crunchy, with not much flavour beyond the sweetness. I think they were honey roasted, or something similar. If I hadn't known what I was eating, I might have thought it just a crunchy sweet. However, I did know what it was, and even though I now knew it tasted ok, and logically I knew there was nothing to worry about, a little voice in my head was screaming that I was going to die from eating something obviously contaminated. Nevertheless, I sccrewed up my courage again, and took another bite of leg. Still ok. I took another couple of bites, and managed to bite off, chew and swallow the back half of the grasshopper. Still no flavour but sweetness. However, by this time my courage had failed me. I had eaten half a grasshopper, I didn't have to eat the head too, did I? Besides, I was late for class. I wrapped the other half in a tissue, threw it out, and ran for my lesson, where the teacher had not yet finished making announcements.
Note: sorry about the quality of the photos, I only had my phone.
No comments:
Post a Comment