Rice: A case study in different perspectives

Rice. My favorite food since I was a little kid. Despite the fact that my parents preferred potatoes and pasta. My mom joked that she knew I was hers because I was born at home so I couldn't have been switched at the hospital, but she couldn't understand where my obsession with rice came from. People eat rice here in Moldova, so it's readily available at the stores here, but they prepare it differently than I am used to. Moldova has some sushi and Asian food restaurants in the capital, but here in my town there are no Asian food restaurants, so if you want something you have to make it yourself. I am very fortunate and thankful that rice, nori, and soy sauce are available at the grocery store in my town, though! And I was able to find sweet chili sauce and lime juice at a grocery store in the capital. So today I had decided that I would make rice and put a mixture of soy sauce, chili sauce, sriracha sauce, lime juice, and green onions on it. I had started boiling water when my host mom came out to see what I was doing. She thought my rice needed more water, so she poured some more in (oh! but...), and then after a few minutes she added even more (wait, but...!). Oh well, I thought. I will see what happens. Turns out what I thought would happen did: gelatinous rice. Not quite what I was hoping for. However, I explained to her that it wasn't how I wanted my rice and we agreed that we had different ideas about how the rice should turn out, but there was no problem. I made new rice (which turned out great!) and I offered her the first batch. She added butter and sugar to it, and said it was delicious! One thing that I've experienced while living in Moldova is that often my host family/counterparts/local friends and I have different ideas or understandings about how something should turn out that we don't realize at first. Not better or worse, just different. It's interesting to find out what the other person had imagined, and try to explain what I had imagined. In the end, we learn new things from each other, so I consider it a good learning experience. Sorry, there are no photos of my rice because I ate it immediately when it was finished! :D

*Edit: just as good the second day!!