How to celebrate, Chinese-style...

Yesterday marked the last day of Chinese New Year festivities, and accordingly, the school wanted to take us all out to lunch to celebrate; it was also sort of a welcome luncheon for the three new foreign teachers. We didn't really know what to expect,--we had only heard that there would be a "toast to [y]our health". Granted, I've had dinners with large groups of Chinese folks before, so I know that toasting and drinking in general is a very formal process. But it was lunch--how much of this toasting would be done in an afternoon?--as opposed to evening time, when most folks in the US, unless they're alcoholics or there's some big sporting event going on, start to imbibe and really party. We got gussied up and headed down to the main administration office. At first it was just Roar, Cecilia, Rebecca and me, but pretty soon the whole building started to fill up with all of the teachers from the school. Also, all the guards, some of the cooks, some children of teachers, the principals, the president, the headmaster, etc. So there was quite a large group of us--probably around 100 people. The school rented a bus for us to take to a restaurant, so we all piled in and sat on laps to head over to the restaurant.

We walked into this restaurant that was incredible! It was in a hotel and huge; with all of these really cool lamps and big, plush leather couches and sculptures everywhere. We had an entire floor (like a huge banquet/meeting room) reserved for us. We walked in and sat down at our respective round tables--we got to sit with the other (Chinese) English teachers from the school. There were about 10 people assigned to each table, and at first I was annoyed because they wanted Rory and me to split up and sit amongst the other Chinese folks. I guess I just don't like people telling me/us where to sit, because we're adults and because I feel more comfortable (especially at this point) with Rory by my side. But it ended up being fine; we sat across from each other and that allowed us both to get different views of what was going on. The whole thing was almost an out-of-body experience--I can't really describe it. There was a giant lazy susan-type thing in the middle of the table, and there were little plates of beef and lotus root and tofu and peanuts--the appetizer portion of the meal. But each table also had a bottle of red wine, a bottle of coke and two bottles of Baijo (sp?), this clear Chinese liqueur that I had previously experienced back in the U.S. This stuff is potent. Cecilia told the waiters that we didn't want the Baijo, so they promptly took it away and provided us with just red wine. Ultimately a smart move, but I still wouldn't have minded tasting this funny drink in the context of a celebration/welcome luncheon. But until I'm prepared to get falling down drunk (yeah, maybe a few years ago), I'm sort of barring myself from Baijo in any sort of formal setting. The waiters even came out and laid down entire packs of cigarettes along with the drinks. That was definitely a first, too. Here, want a cigarette? Want 20? Want 60? Too funny!

The president of the school stood up and gave a toast to everyone--Bill, a Chinese English teacher, translated for me--we were wished good luck in the new year, along with all the standard celebratory well-wishings, like good health and prosperity. While we spun the appetizers around for everyone to share, we were taught the finer points of Chinese drinking customs. I'd sort of heard it all before, but I didn't realize that it's such a serious endeavor. When someone comes to your table to cheers you, he or she will say "gan bei" and then you have to drink EVERYTHING that is in your glass. After you do, you have to tilt your glass towards the "toastmaster" (for lack of a better word--I guess in yesterday's case I can also say my "boss(es)") and show him or her that you did, indeed, finish your drink. If you don't finish it, the toastmaster will watch you as you drink the rest. This happened to a little Chinese woman at our table--the president of our school made her chug an entire glass of red wine. Wow. So, yeah, we did a little bit of drinking; don't worry, we had maybe 3 glasses of red wine over the course of 2 hours. But the tables that had Baijo were a different sort of scene. Whereas our table was pretty tame--we were all sitting down, just taking it all in--the tables around us were full of grown men, standing up in circles around their tables, toasting and drinking this Baijo like it's water. I looked over and saw the "important" table (with presidents and stuff) full of empty bottles and red faces. Wow. Everyone was shouting at each other, and to a foreign ear it sounds like a big argument, but really it's just enthusiasm. It's funny to watch--just when you think someone's going to get punched in the face there's a big, hearty hug. Good stuff.

This was all going on throughout lunch and the presentation of dishes. There was some fresh fish, presented whole with some sauce on it. It was so good. I have never really been a big seafood fan, and I sort of lost any desire to eat it after being in Korea, but here, we're right on the water, and the taste difference between fresh fish and not-so-fresh fish is pretty unbelievable. There was another dish that had beef tendon (I passed), a dish with squid and beans (I passed), a dish with Japanese tofu and shrimp and some buttery sauce (awesome!), escargot (which we both actually ate and enjoyed--who knew?), clams, mussels, bbq chicken nuggety things, fish sticks (a la van de kamp's, but authentic!), tomatoes, cabbage and mushroom, noodles, you name it. The seafood items were actually our favorites, that's so funny! Wow, people's taste(s) can really evolve, huh?

As we were finishing up the last of the food, we noticed a karaoke-type station set up at the stage area in the room. There was a really awkward-looking dude preparing to sing (McGeorge family--he looked like a Chinese Dennis Altheuser). He was obviously intoxicated, as were most of the men in the room, who at this point were having a hard time walking straight. So he busts out some Chinese song and is just screaming his head off, but everyone loved it. It was so funny--he was pumping his fist and nodding his head like he was Mick Jagger (minus rhythm). After he sang, some little Chinese lady sang. I don't really know how she did, because while she was singing, I was being forced to choose a song to sing. Rory and I both agreed that we're not wasting any opportunities to be "in the thick of it", here in China, you know, so we were like, what the hell? Of course we'll do some karaoke. So I picked my old standby--"Blue Bayou" by Linda Ronstadt. So the song starts to play, and I can see the words on the screen, but my god--it was so high! I wasn't prepared for that, but I suffered through it, practically screeching, wondering if all the songs were in the key of some traditional Chinese opera, where all it sounds like is high-pitched whining. Don't get me wrong here--I actually really want to learn to sing some of these traditional songs--I just didn't think my first attempt would be singing a Linda Ronstadt song in front of all of my co-workers at really important function. The awkward drunk guy came up on stage with me, so I put my arm around him and started singing to him and to all the little kids in the audience, who had now gathered at the stage. The president of the whole school was sitting right in front of the stage, so I walked up to him, plopped down on my knees, grabbed his hand and pretended that I was lovingly singing to him. It was really funny, and I think that everyone got the impression that us foreigners are in it to win it.

So then it was Rory's turn--he did his old standby, "New York, New York"-- and in pure Rory fashion, it was hilarious. I think that everyone there wanted to be our new best friends. Drunk awkward guy was just in love with Rory. He kept saying "Number 1, number 1" and just wanted to be next to him. After Rory finished, D.A.G. got up and sang another song while we all prepared to head back to the bus. We didn't get on the bus because they had a special car come to pick us up, but as we were walking out of the dining area, D.A.G. grabbed Rory and gave him cigarette and wanted to light it for him. He just looked at Rory like Rory was Brad Pitt or the president or something.

We went outside to wait for our car, and the little boy who is always hanging around the dining hall was outside. There is an older fellow who is sort of the fix-it man around campus (he fixed our washer AND our lock today, actually), and I get the feeling that the little boy is his son. They were goofing off together outside, pretend beating each other up, running around, using people as diversions, when Rory grabbed the little guy and told him how strong he was. So the little guy did a few pretend punches in Rory's direction, and it was really cute. Then the dad got behind the little guy and depants him. It was so funny! He was still trying to punch, even as he was trying to pull his pants back up over his boxer shorts.

We went back to our room and took a nap before dinner. After dinner, we came back to the room to blog and the weather just started to get freaking crazy! It had been raining heavily all day, but it kept getting progressively colder and colder, and with the cold came the wind. Soon it turned to sleety snow stuff, and before long the ground was covered. There was so much wind, and it was storming so much that the whold campus lost power twice. But it was no big deal--soon we heard the (now familiar) sounds of fireworks. We looked outside, and at all these different spots far off in the city, you could see different patches of fireworks. It was quite a display. We looked below our window, down 5 floors, and saw a few people trying to ignite their own fireworks, but it was simply too windy. I've never been in wind like this--it takes your breath away just to be out in it. It's actually pretty cool. We came back in from our porch and watched American Idol (how cool is that? It's the newest season, even), and we started to hear what sounded like cannons! So we looked outside again, and there was a huge fireworks display going on near the front entrance of the campus. We ran outside to watch, but we got there just as it was finishing up. Evidently there were a lot more fireworks to ignite, but it was just too windy to light anything. So instead we watched a little guy with a sparkler.

Later we heard the cannon sound again, but it was just the door at the end of the hallway. It hadn't been shut all the way, and every time the wind got to it, it pushed the door open and then slammed it against the frame. So I went and fixed it, and hopefully everyone on the floor slept a little better without the noise.

What a fun day! The luncheon was just mind-blowing; watching adults--our superiors, who command our respect on a day-to-day basis--getting absolutely hammered and singing karoake is priceless. Too funny!

Thanks for all the comments--we really enjoy letting everyone know what't going on over here on the other side of the world.