Dinner and a Conversation

Tonight our new colleague insisted that we venture into the unknown and find a restaurant that was not at the hotel. Goodman and I, realizing that is was his first night in the Country, agreed. He was allowed a little bit of remaining spirit.

So off we went to find local cuisine and a good time. (Not THAT kind of good time.) And so we came across a "hot pot" restaurant. This is the type of restaurant that scarlet and Bill ate in when they fought in "Lost in Translation" and then later said that it was a stupid restaurant because you had to cook your own food. NOT STUPID AT ALL!!! It was FUN!! We got food and cooked it and ate it, including raw dumpling that had to be boiled to perfection to be scrumptiously eaten. Yummy. The food was brilliant, but the conversation got very interesting when one of the waiters (I think we had about nine between the three of us) started to talk to Goodman and Goodman assured him that I spoke Mandarin, so I had to whip out my "I speak a little Mandarin" and "I am an American" phrases to impress him. Then I impressed Goodman when I added "But I don't speak very well." The young waiter was quite impressed and began to speak to me in Mandarin, expecting that I understood every word.

I now understand just how stupid it is when we speak English very slowly around people who do not speak English. I CAN'T UNDERSTAND MANDARIN NO MATTER HOW SLOWLY YOU SPEAK IT!! For the rest of the night I was having conversations in different languages with all of the wait staff, with Goodman as a trusty translator. There were a few things that he told us he would not translate, which we then forced out of him. I will not repeat it here...

All in all, it was a fantastic and fun night. No matter what else happens (and I am also choosing not to speak of this) I am glad that our companion has joined us if only for the adventurous side that brought us out into the real world, the real Chinese world. What a wonderful evening.