On the 31st of January, a rather large number of 50 youths (and a small group of very interested parents) attended a talk on daily etiquette conducted by Jessica Lai. The theme of the session was “Excuse me, do you mind?” and various topics from personal grooming to how fish knives are meant to be held and used were covered.
The event began with Alex, the emcee of the day, welcoming the crowd to the talk and introducing Jessica as the speaker. She immediately launched into the topic “Personal Grooming” by teaching us how important it was to stay hygienic. We learnt the proper way to scrub ourselves clean, beginning with how to shampoo our hair and ending with tips on avoiding stinky feet. Who knew that God had blessed us with self-cleaning ears or that we should soak our hands in water to clean dirty nails? It was a definite eye-opener to most of us on self-health care as we learnt certain habits could actually be harmful to our bodies.
Jessica then proceeded to tell us that our personal appearance was very important as people usually take first impressions into account of someone’s overall personality. She explained how we should carry ourselves, especially if we wanted others to have a good “perception” of us. Besides the correct way of greeting others and passing items, we were also taught how to sit in the correct manner, walk in a poised and confident fashion (that did not mean “like a runway model”) and behave respectfully before elders, which was probably one of the most important things youths should learn.
After a five minute break, we returned to the session to be educated on yet another topic: table manners. Before the session began, Jessica invited us to watch two skits which showed us the difference between the do’s and don’ts when going out for fine dining. We also viewed a couple of videos (acted out by a few graduate team members) so we could identify what definitely shouldn’t be done at a dining table.
Jessica then went into the finer points of the correct way to eat. This included handling chopsticks (Did you know that both ends of a pair of chopsticks can be used? One to eat with and one to collect food from the main dish.), the different sets of cutlery to be used for different dishes and even differently-shaped wine glasses for red wine, white wine and champagne, each of which had to be held in a different way to maintain the quality of the wine. We were also enlightened on how to recognize our own wine glasses and bread plates when seated at a round table.
The talk ended at three with the SIC Junior Youth Ministry extending their thanks to Jessica and light refreshments served. The boys were ushered out first as Jessica concluded the event by discussing a few personal matters with the girls. But rest assured, the boys waited for us before beginning their tea, proving they learnt one of the most important lessons: Ladies First!
