Dining Etiquette Experience (Community)

Speaker Debbie Darling presenting Dining Etiquette

On Monday, December 5th, I had another volunteer opportunity for a local leadership club. This time I helped put the "Dining Etiquette" workshop together by properly setting up the fancy table. I carefully ensembled the china plates and soupbowls on top of the other; knives, big spoon, and small soup spoon on the right of the plate; big fork and little salad fork on the left of the plate; and champagne and water glass on the right diagonally from the china. With the display set up I was ready to call up the workshop audience to have a seat and settle down on the table. The presenter, Debbie Darling, immediately arrived to make her informative dining etiquette speech. First, she allowed me to make my announcements, which were about upcoming events such as the Spring Banquet committee meetings and Leadership Club T-shirt fundraiser. My announcement speeches enable me to develop my public speaking skills, so I am more comfortable talking in front of an audience. As I finished my speech, I sat down on my seat and participated in the workshop. I learned valuable lessons about dining etiquette. For example if given the opportunity to be interviewed in a dinner setting, it is recommended to eat a little before the interview This action prevents you from ravenously eating the meal instead of focusing on the interview. We learned about the presentation of the dinner set (be it wedding or interview settings). In addition, we learned what the utensils are used for such as little fork for eating salads and big fork to eat the main entree; little spoon to eat soup and big spoon to eat pasta; and tall glass is for champagne and short glass is for water. Overall, the workshop is a fun and wonderful class because you can learn about the unknown intricacies and mannerisms of dining etiquette(and test those out!).

Introduction to Leadership Workshop (Community Enlightenment)

Ms. Juanita Razo speaking about leadership

Today, I volunteered to help out a community leadership club by leading a workshop called "Introduction to Leadership" with speaker Juanita Razo. In this workshop, I learned many things that I never believed existed for the topic of leadership. At face value, the Introduction to Leadership Workshop may seem like a review class for many of us. Being exposed to knowing people like Martin Luther King Jr., Ghandi, Nelson Mandela, and parents, we have general ideas of what leaders are about. However, this workshop sheds light to another definition of leadership: interdependence. Many of the participants believed that being a leader is about being the one to take the initiative and is the executive decision maker. This asset is true to an extent, but Razo said this is not the case. According to Razo, leadership’s true definition states that it is a process in which goal-driven individuals collaborate for the ultimate objective. Many of the participants were stunned by the unexpected, enlightening definition; they then understood and accept leadership at another angle. We then discovered that there was a fine line between the characteristics of a manager and those of a leader. As University of Southern California’s authors, Bennis and Nanus (1985), quoted: ‘Managers do things right and leaders do the right things.’ Many of the workshop students agreed that managers are the people who set the rules down, but the shocking thing is that they do not have to be leaders. Leaders, in contrast, are the ones who must have management skills and follow the rules in order for the group to be successful. One necessity that Razo wanted us to take from the workshop was gaining leadership is a lifelong process. She referred that 20% comes from you, 20% comes from SLI workshops 60% comes from trial and error scenarios. This process is the driving factor in discovering our own leadership potentials and philosophies.

Down-to-Earth Chinese Food

Northern China beef noodles

This afternoon, my family and I wanted to try some authentic Northern Chinese cuisine while we were visiting the La Puente area. We ended up in a spotting an interesting restaurant name called Earthen Restaurant (Northern Chinese restaurant). I walked into the restaurant, thinking I would find a lot of veggie dishes. I was wrong. Upon opening the door, I was greeted by a waitress holding a savory beef noodle soup covered in veggies. My mouth was watering upon seeing the delicious bowl of noodles, and I immediately ordered that when we got to the table. We waited for 15 minutes fot the bowl to arrive. As soon as the steaming noodle soup arrives. I automatically took a small bowl-full of noodles and beef and savoringly ate them. The noodles were sort of thick and soft in texture; the veggies were purely ripe, crispy, white, and green; and the beef was juicy, soft, and plumpy. Accompanied with a unsalty beef soup base, the combination of that meal was outstanding!