My boss Larry wanted to throw a welcome party for Denny and I by taking us and our co-workers out to dinner. The dinner became more of a “Welcome April” because Denny missed it due to a migraine. It’s at this party that I really experience China.
10 Chinese people, 9 women and 1 man, my boss, around a huge circular table in a Chinese restaurant
I was surrounded by ten Chinese people, three who could speak a little Chinese. One person that I could understand better. The night consisted of many Chinese dishes I had never tried (many seafoods), beer, beer game and Chinese conversations.
The food was rather okay. I have been pampered. I am realizing that Americans don’t know real seafood or at least I didn’t. Whenever I cooked fish for my husband and I got it package and ready to cook, deboned and all. Qingdao is known for their fresh seafood, meaning the seafood comes just killed and fish body cooked. I need a native to show me how to eat a fish without having constant bones in my teeth. Is there 101 knowledge on how to eat seafood without getting annoyed with bones? Even if I do learn how to eat seafood fresh I will have to combat the local Chinese seafood market imageries.
The seafood market across the street from our old apartment, fresh sea food caught daily from the Yellow Sea in Qingdao.
They don’t refrigerate their seafood. These pictures are of the dead seafood but many of the food items in the market are alive when bought.
I was surrounded by my new co-workers that I will be with for at least a year. All of them were female, minus my boss and the other foreign teacher who couldn’t make it that evening. I learned whether you want beer or not, it is customary to have beer with your boss. One of my co-workers told me in China if your boss wants you to drink you have to. I’m not a big drinker and didn’t want any so I told my boss that and I could tell he was disappointed but I felt like there was an unwritten rule I could politely refuse the invitation. I think it was okay that I declined because I’m American but my fellow Chinese co-workers couldn’t. It saddens me this is the case.
I’m not one to know much about beer games but either my boss came up with this game or it exist among drinkers. There were eleven toothpicks. One person would sort a number 0-11 in there hand and we were to guess what the number was, if you guessed it correctly then you had to chug your glass. Thankfully for me my chugs contained water. Go hydration!!!!!
With the other foreign teacher and my husband absent I was given the opportunity to observe a Chinese dinner with real Chinese laughter and discussions. I had no idea why they were laughing sometimes and yes at times I was frustrated and lost but it was a special time that I got to experience real China and their culture. It was a memorable night with many cultural insights.
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