Me Versus an Octopus

So there I was, sitting at lunch in a seafood restaurant by the ocean. A variety of food was set in front of me and my host family, and I had tried all of it - except the purple, eight-legged little bugger sitting smugly in its bowl, just staring at me.

It glared at me, and I looked back. I could feel it daring me to pick it up and eat it. Silly timid American, it seemed to say. She won't go for me. I'm safe.


That's what you think, I mentally said to the octopus. I decided to prove it wrong. I picked up my chopsticks, grabbed the octopus, and bit down on one of its sucker-ridden little legs, fearing the worst.

Actually, it wasn't bad. The suckers had a weird texture, and so did the inside of the head, but I downed the whole thing. It wasn't that different from any other ocean creature. And I felt brave for risking it!

American: 1, weird food: 0.

Besides that, here are some other things I tried today:

1. Zombieism - I ate shrimp brains. They were... umm... interesting.


2. Watching typhoon waves - there's a big typhoon headed for the east coast right now, and my family and I went and watched the waves it's creating in the ocean. It's still pretty far away, but the waves were big all the same. I wanted to shoot myself for not bringing a camera!

3. Riding a bike - I failed. But I'll get better!

4. Downing 6 cups of black tea - mmm, mmm, good.