Adventures in Guangzhou!

For starters, there were over 400 people who attended this event! Every current teacher was invited, as well as all retired teachers in the area--we took over an *enormous* social hall in one of the fancy restaurants. Sidenote- all the fancy restaurants seem to have television sets in the dining areas, that are all turned on during the meal. Why is this? Anyway, since there were so many people it was more or less impossible to get everyone to arrive at the same time. There were actually groups that filtered in over the span of 45 minutes or so, making it unclear to me (at least initially) when the thing was going to start. Once it seemed like enough people were there, a man got up to make a speech. Steven and I got comfortable because one of the other English teachers told us to expect long, boring speeches over the course of the night. Luckily, before I even found a comfy position, applause rang out and the guy sat down! It was a quick "hello, thank you, and enjoy" all rolled into one compact speech--American dignitaries could learn a thing or two from this. At this point, the waitstaff went to work trying to bring a multitude of dishes out to approximately 45 tables at the same time. They began to bring around drinks as well and once again I was bracing myself for a marathon of "baiju" drinking. I dodged the bullet again though because they were pouring Zhujiang, my favorite local beer! Excellent, because now I knew I could hang with the big boys for the scores of different toasts. Anyhow, the food was excellent--even better than the last banquet. The best dish, by far, was some type of spicy curry frog served with pumpkin. Sounds a bit odd but it was *amazing*. I'm not sure I'd order it from a one star restaurant, but it this place was really good.

After people got their fill of food they began the toasting. Usually this starts with a toast for the entire table, followed by people walking around to the other tables to toast other friends and high-ranking school officials. Not to be outdone, I made a concerted effort to toast several of those teachers that have gone out of their way for me. I toasted "David," one of my favorite guys to play basketball with. I toasted the computer guy. I toasted "Howard," one of the heads of the English Dept. We were even introduced to the pleasantly inebriated Principal of the school who spouted off a few mandarin sentences before downing his glass of cognac. Naturally, we followed suit and toasted the man right back. I really enjoy the toasting custom here because it gives you a chance to think about all of the people who are important to you and all those that have helped you. If it were socially appropriate, I would have poured out a glass for all of my friends and family spread out over the rest of the world right now. I did teach several people to say "l'chaim" which they seemed to enjoy. They shouted "ganbei!" and I responded with "l'chaim!" Then we would reverse it. By the end of the night, most people seemed to have a nice buzz going. Once again, they brought out the watermelon and the whole thing shut down almost immediately. All in all, an excellent night.

The next day I got up early and met up with the Yale-in-China crew for dim sum. I'm not sure I ever had authentic dim sum in the U.S. so I didn't have too much to compare it to, but this stuff was really good. It's a little weird to me to have so much meat early in the morning, but I'm as carnivore as they come so I adapted quickly. I was lucky enough to have several guides show me the ropes of dim sum which was helpful--I would have had no idea what to eat otherwise. The Yale kids all speak very good Mandarin which puts me to shame and makes me want to learn immediately if not sooner. Anyhow, we stuffed ourselves silly and then went walking around the city. The highlight of the day was definitely Shamien Island, a small island accessible by footbridge from both sides of the river. This island was inhabited at some point by the French, the British, and several other western influences, making for a much different architectural landscape than the rest of the city. There are cute park benches, cool houses, quiet coffee houses, and some old "antique" shops. There are cars on the island but it's so much quieter than the rest of the city and has a very peaceful vibe to it--my kind of spot. After that, I took advantage of the superior bargaining skills of Diana Lin, and bought a cellphone! That's right--I am officially mobile. My number is as follows: 137-1936-2459. If you're calling from the U.S., you throw in 011-86 before that number to get me. Feel free to call anytime, just remember that it's a 12 hour difference :)

I capped off the day by going to get really good noodles with Diana, Kelly and Andrew (the Yalies) by Sun Yat Sen University where they all teach. The University campus is really nice and also situated in a really cool part of the city. I have grand plans to go back and use their fields for frisbee and soccer, whether they like it nor not. When all was said and done, I was thinking during the subway ride home and realized (maybe for the first time) that it is a huge honor and privilege to be here for the year. There is so much I want to see and do and, despite being a hot, dirty city, there are some really cool spots just waiting to be discovered. PiA really is an amazing opportunity and I plan on taking full advantage of it...