Welcome Dinner

Yesterday was Adam's first day of work at the plant, so naturally, there was a big welcome dinner that evening and I was invited too. As I'm waiting in the hotel lobby for Adam to come pick me up, this large man wearing a Hawaiian shirt starts talking to me in Chinese and even though I told him (in Chinese) that I don't speak Chinese, he kept saying things! I just smile and watch as he "nonchalantly" takes a picture of me with this cell phone. Ah, to be the only white girl in town!

On our way to the restaurant, Adam's co-worker who was driving us there tells us that Chairman Mao (he actually called him Commodore Mao) was from the Hunan province and so traditional Hunan food is popular in China. The restaurant we were going to served Hunan style food and it is very spicy! Not my cup of tea, but I ate it. The dinner was served family style where all the food is put on a big round table with a lazy susan on it so the food keeps coming around and you can pick off of it as you choose. The only things that weren't spicy were the fried rice and these chunks of pork so those were my favorite. There was also fish, beef, various vegetables, more pork, pork on a stick, and these crunchy things that looked like meat but definitely weren't. Nobody could say what they were in English. Only a couple people could speak some English anyway, and it was kind of nice not to have to be a part of every conversation.

The welcome toasts were plentiful. I've never felt so welcomed in one night! They went easy on me because I'm a girl, but they made Adam fill his glass before every toast and drink it all. Haha. Towards the end of dinner, everyone designated English names for themselves. And because there was a guy who wanted to go by Sam, I said I would be Sami, which I like anyways. There's a possibility I might work there as a designer but we'll have to work that out later because Smudgie would need a babysitter until he's fully potty trained. Apparently having a maid is incredibly common and cheap so we might hire one to work half days.

Also, this might be too much information, but I used my first squat toilet at that dinner so it was definitely an authentic Chinese experience.