CHOPSTICKS

I have been in China almost 8 months and I STILL suck at using chopsticks.  I never hold them correctly.  I always struggle using them and trying to pick up my food.  I carry around regular western utinsils in my purse so I have a spoon and fork on hand when my chopstick frustration is more than I can handle.  I have a similar issue with holding my pencils and pens when I write.  From the time I was in kindergarten I never held my pencil properly so even now as an adult, I continue to get comments from others about it such as "Why do you hold your pencil like that? It's so weird." and "How can you write holding your pencil that way?"  But my writing is fine and completely legible so I suppose in the end it doesn't really matter how I hold it.  It's the same with chopsticks I guess.  Eventually the food gets to my mouth so as long as that happens then who cares how I hold them right?  Anyway, one of my friends here took pity on me and bout me some "training chopsticks."  They are the kind that the little kids use when learning to hold them for eating.  My training chopsticks are purple and have a panda at the top keep the ends connected.  I've tried using them and sometimes they work okay but I still can't use them very well.   Sigh.