Hand Shaking And Hand Touching Alternatives During The Wuhan Crisis

Hands - apparently we all touch our faces ten times an hour. Shakes hands with somebody else, take a plate or spoon or pair of chopsticks, then touch the lift button on the way home - what can you do to avoid contamination?





Shaking Hands

.Let's start with shaking hands.

As President of Braddell Heights Advanced club I am expected to shake hands with members and visitors. That could be 8 to 10 or more people. .. 

At Emmaus Club I mentioned namaste.





Raymond demonstrated a Chinese greeting.

Then as Toastmaster of the Day, during an evening, I might shake hands with ten or more people, twice, as they enter the stage and leave it.


Namaste greeting in hotel.

Namaste
With the Wuhan coronavirus threatening the world in February 2020, I decided as toastmaster of the day at Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters International club, to give up our usual system of shaking hands to welcome guests and each time I enter and leave the stage. Instead I used the oriental Namaste greeting, a nod and pressing both hands palms together.

I then followed this by clapping my hands to encourage the audience to do the same to welcome the speaker onto the stage.

This worked well. I remembered every time.

The previous day I had visited Emmaus Catholic Toastmasters club, where I was the General Evaluator, commenting on the whole meeting. I had remembered to avoid hand shaking most of the time.

I was not able to stop others trying to hand around plates, and chopsticks. At the break time we had lo hei, which is a Singapore custom involving a communal plate of food.

You can buy it from supermarkets at assorted prices. The price varies according to the size and contents. The ingredients are various colours of vegetables, added sauces or spices. Depending on whether it includes fish, such as the more expensive smoked salmon, other fish, or is purely vegetarian and vegan.

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See later post on this subject. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Coronavirus Precautions In Singapore

Singapore flag.

Chinese new Year is over but people are still celebrating Lo Hei, gathering around a communal plate and tossing mixed vegetables and fish in the air for good luck. It is a Singaporean idea.

I notice helpful helpers passing around chopsticks. I preferred to take my own plate and chopsticks, rather than one handled by somebody else.

I twice declined to shake hands and did namaste instead.

Finally, I forgot. However, afterwards I washed my hands.

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Wedding Delights and Disasters In London and an Orthodox Jewish Wedding in Israel - my faux pas

UK flag

I remember my wedding in London, UK, when I was in a long white dress and my father galloped so fast along the aisle to the ceremony that I nearly tripped over the front of my dress.

In theory, when you are merely a guest, everything should run smoothly, just lots of eating and drinking and admiring the bride and watching quaint customs. The romantic canopy for the couple.It is called a huppah. I know all about the couple standing under the canopy and the groom breaking a glass underfoot.

Huppah, Vienna, Austria, 2007. Photo by Gryffindor, from article in Wikipedia on Jewish weddings.

For the fourth time in my life I am invited to an Orthdox Jewish wedding.It brings up memories of all the hiccups and surprises.

Flag of Israel

ISRAELI WEDDING
Wedding of bride, A..., in Tel Aviv, Israel.

I assumed that a wedding after 6 pm it would be religious and like London, formal clothes, long skirts and hats. However, most Israelis are modern, like most American Jews. The wedding was outdoors with the couple under a canopy, yes. Hot weather, growing cooler. Adults and children in shorts and men in short-sleeved shirts. An evening garden party. I looked a bit over-dressed. Clothes were the least of my worries.

I was just happy to be there in time. Luckily it started late.

I had been stopped at the airport on entering Israel by security who wanted to know, 'Why are you here?'
'To attend a wedding.'
'What is the name of the bride?'
'I haven't a clue. I know the family of the groom. The invitation was all in Hebrew.'

Eventually, after some delay, security matched me up with other family members who could supply the name of the bride and the address of the event.

UK wedding
You would think a wedding in London would be easier. The wedding of a bride, R......., in London, England. Known her for years. She was at nursery with my child. Her mother was my travel agent. What could go wrong?

I went to the synagogue. I went inside. I went to speak to the bride's mother. She told me to go and see the bride in the waiting room before the wedding ceremony.

She was seated on a low sofa surrounded by the voluminous skirts of her long white dress. She did not stand up.

I congratulated the bride. She did not reply but muttered in Hebrew. She waved her Hebrew prayer book at me.

Eventually she stopped reading. She explained she could not reply to me because she was reading her obligatory or customary per-wedding prayers in Hebrew from a prayer book.

I need to brush up on my Hebrew. I can say Mazel tov, good luck (literally luck good, adjective comes second).

Duolingo
To learn Hebrew you could try Duolingo or Tinycards.

Recently I received information about another forthcoming wedding.

I made a list of my thoughts on the next wedding but did not want to overwhelm the bride, so I have made notes and have recorded them so I can have something to say to her when we meet before the wedding which is not until a year or so away.

GUEST LIST

I would like a guest list including names of rabbi, best man, relationsiip, also photos so we can recognize people, especailly VIP granny or aunty, brothers, from overseas we have never seen before. 

INTRODUCTIONS

WHAT TO SAY

Add a word or two about each guest, eg professions or hobbies or home city, especailly of anybody with whom we have something in common so we can speak eg about journalism, teaching, living overseas. 

WHAT NOT TO SAY

Also I need to know who is sick/terminall ill/bereaved/ widowed/ so I don't ask a widow, 'Where is your husband?'

On the guest list is a friend whose son, a journalist, died a year ago. The young man was our son's schoolfriend.

It is a serious situation. A friend of mine, Y, was unexpectedly widowed when her husband died of a heart attack the month before her brother's second wedding. My friend opted to attend the ceremony, where she would just be standing silently watching, but not the reception so she did not have to speak to anybody and did not cast a dampner on their jolly evening.

WEDDING FAUX PAS

On a lighter note, at my wedding I introduced two young men who lived in the same city. They seemed very surprised to be introduced.

I asked, 'Do you know each other?' 

The older one revealed, 'Yes, very well. We live in the same house. We are brothers!'

Author

Angela Lansbury

Author of: Wedding Speeches & Toasts; How to be the Best Man.

Good Manners And Social Etiquette With Angela Lansbury - Shaking hands and eating around the world

Greeting and eye contact.
When to shake hands?
How to avoid shaking hands?
What if your hands are greasy with food?
Wearing a napkin at the dinner table?
Signalling that you will return?
Cutlery.
Asking the waiter's advice.
Saying goodbye and thank you.