Schell of a Man

Hello all! Sorry for the brief silent treatment. I wasn't mad; I was just hosting a guest. As most of you already know, my good friend Jessica Rosenberger was recently here in Shaoxing visiting me. She stayed for nearly two weeks, and just left on Thursday (the 10th). It was a great time, and fun to have someone else to show around town. (It made me feel like I finally know what's going on...at least a little). There is much to tell from the last couple of weeks, so I will do my best to get you caught up. I may not go in chronological order though, but instead follow my muse as she inspires me. Hope you can follow.

Last Monday, we had a large dinner to celebrate Jess' visit. Besides her, my roommate Bryan (formerly known as Howie), and myself, the dinner was attended by two other foreign teachers, Wendy and Janet (who I work with), as well as three of my favorite students: Shana, Elaine, and Jay. Jay is my assistant but I hadn't seen him in over a month. I can't complain, however, since he is a very popular and busy man (he was just elected president of the Student Union for the whole college--or perhaps it's Chairman, I forget).

Anyways, we all met at the main entrance to the college and walked to a nearby restaurant we had eaten at one of our first weeks here. Unfortunately, the restaurant was full, but Shana knew the owner so he offered to send us by van to a different restaurant he owned a few blocks away. So we all piled into a van and were chauffeured a couple of blocks away to a nearly-empty restaurant. We were shown to a private room in the second story of the shop where a large table with a gas burner in the center awaited us. This kind of restaurant is called a "Hot Pot" restaurant; they originally came from northern China where it is much colder. Here is the premise of a hot pot restaurant: you have a table with a gas burner in the middle. You are given a large bowl with broth and soup bones in it. The bowl is placed on the burner to cook. In the meanwhile, you, the customer, purchase other raw foods to be cooked in the boiling soup.

As I may have mentioned, at large dinners in China it is traditional to order more food than anyone could possibly eat. So when in Rome... Needless to say, we filled the table around the pot with small plates of dumplings, quail eggs, cabbage, mushrooms, fish and pork balls, lamb and beef, potatoes, cauliflower, wantons, and more. Using chop sticks or spoons, everyone puts a little of whatever they want into the soup to cook for a little while, and at the same time pulls out food that is ready to be eaten. It is the most communal eating experience I've had so far. The taste of the whole soup changes as you add different foods, and it’s interesting to see how the dish slowly evolves. Along with soup, you are given two sauces to dip food in: sweet fermented beans and spicy chili sauce. They are both quite good, especially when mixed together.

Conversation was good on the whole, sometimes hit-and-miss, as it always is with the language barrier. But it was fun to have the students there. The meal lasted about two hours and we all ate more than we should have (which also seems to be a tradition at most Chinese meals). It was hard to resist with all the delicious foods, and every time the broth got low in the pot, a server would come around and pour in more water. It was like a challenge. We finally pried ourselves away from the table and paid the bill (let's just say it cost less than $20 to feed eight people more food than they ever needed. Not bad). They offered to get the van to take us back to the first restaurant, but we opted to walk.

On the way back to campus, Bryan stopped to get copies of a test made for his class the next day. While he did that, Jess, the students, and I poked around a small "fashion" clothing shop next door. (As you can see, I tried on some "fashionable" clothes but don’t think I pulled it off). The students also decided to buy us gifts there. They bought me a small wristband and Jess a little silk dress-thing that you put over a bottle of wine (or something like that). It was a really nice gesture. They then walked us nearly all the way to our apartment. We had better conversation on the walk than during the meal. It was nice to spend some time with them outside of class. Overall, a very enjoyable night.