How to be Generous

A favorite part of my work day (this is Brian) is lunchtime because I always find myself truly immersed in the culture of Saipan.  I work with Albert (who is from the Gilbert Islands) and Janet (who is Carolinian), and every day I join one or both of them, along with an ever-changing group of their friends and co-workers who happen to join us that day - its great.  I ask questions, they ask me questions, they promise to take me fishing or to local BBQs, we laugh and enjoy our break. 

Today, I was having lunch with Janet and I bring out my standard ham sandwich and baby carrots, while Janet brings her "Chamorro" lunch - steamed veggies, some sort of cooked meat, and white rice.  Janet seems like she needs to get something off her chest and finally asks "Do you ever eat a full lunch or just that?"  I kind of laugh (my lunch choice has been brought up before here) and tell her this is it, just the sandwich and carrots.  Janet asks me "Why don't you ever have rice with your lunch?"  She then explains that in Saipan, a meal isn't truly complete without rice, and that my "lunch" is more of a snack, if anything at all.  I ask more and find out that, according to Janet, every meal of the day includes rice.  She is shocked that I only have rice maybe once a day for dinner, if that.  I promise her that I'll get my act together and add more rice to my diet.  She then offers part of her lunch to me, a practice that has become second nature to me.

It was my first day of work over a month ago when I learned how lunch works here.  I brought my trusty ham sandwich and baby carrots and sat at our conference table to eat quietly and read the paper, which is what I've always done at home for lunch.  In walks Albert and Chris, a young Chamorro guy on probation and assigned to our office for the week to dust, vacuum, whatever else we needed.  Albert brings out a lunch similar to Janet's above and Chris takes out a Spam-like can of cut up hotdogs in water and a small tupperware of rice.  Its clear that Chris is very poor, and is probably doing much worse as a result of the failing economy, failing government, the fact that he's on probation, etc.  Nonetheless, he and Albert immediately begin offering every last bit of their lunches to each other and to me - it almost seemed rehearsed - "you take it, no you take it" while pushing lunches back and forth.  Caught off guard by all this, I suddenly find myself eating some of Albert's lunch and a few pieces of cold mushy hot dog.  After the flurry of pushing food around the table dies down, I realize I hadn't offered anything and look down at my half-eaten sandwich and baby carrots.  I then awkwardly offer my lunch to Albert and Chris, and the three of us chew quietly on our baby carrots.