Last night, I went to dinner with 2 couples. We had arranged to meet for dinner entirely through emailing. In one email, friend X asked friend Y whether Y would be bringing her boyfriend (so that X's boyfriend won't be feeling awkward!). Friend Y replied and said "yes". At that point, I should have said, "Thanks for organising the dinner. But I really don't feel up to it. Why don't you guys go ahead without me". But I kept quiet and went along with their plan.



I knew that it was going to be awkward. Half an hour before I was supposed to leave the house, I nearly called up friend Y to say that I wasn't feeling well and that I won't be able to make it to dinner. But I went in the end.



During the dinner, awkward moments recorded as follows:

• Couples talked to each other


• Couples shared their first experiences meeting their partners' family
  

What did I do to occupy myself during those awkward moments? I looked at paintings on the wall and took pictures of my food. See pictures below:

I ended up going home feeling slightly traumatised.

Excuses to use if I am asked to join them for dinner in the future:

• Sore throat
• Headache
• Not in town
• My goldfish (the one in my imagination) has died
• My flatmate is unwell ... need to stay at home

I attended a workshop on deafness and mental health today. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was very practical and informative. 2 take home messages for me:

1. It is not politically correct to use the term "hearing impaired" for people with profound hearing impairment. The term to use is deaf.
2. Deafness is a distinct culture with its own values and language.
3. 90-95% of deaf and hearing impaired children were born to hearing parents. Shockingly, about 90% of these hearing parents did not learn Auslan (i.e., Australian sign language)!

AND I had learnt to introduce myself in Auslan!