(no subject)
Tonight I had dinner with very wealthy men. This is no stretch of my imagination - these are fellows that my uncle knows through business who were drinking each other under the table with toasts of "may your business continue to prosper." And everytime you toast, the polite thing to do is to drain your cup. IT's also polite to toast everyone at the table at least once, and every once in awhile someone will toast a whole group, as in "A toast to the health of So-and-So's family" (who were seated at the table), or "A toast to our hosts, thank you for the meal and the company." There's a math formula for how many times you end up drinking, something with an exclamation mark that I can't quite remember, but everyone got redfaced. I was hoping to get away with not being toasted, but no, the first one came in the form of: "A Toast to - what's her name? [quiet discussion with my uncle about me that sounds like rumbling with the occasional "really? America you say?" thrown in] A Toast to Jen! Welcome to China and have a good time while here." Everyone also noted how I seemed to be a professional drinker ("you can tell just from the way she holds the glass, she drinks as if it were water"). I'm not, but I'm considered young to be able to drain the cup with each toast, especially since I'm a girl. Most girls will sip and wince at the taste of wine.
The meal was fancy and included several complete courses and our wine was quietly refilled after each toast by softstepping waitstaff who changed our plates and cleared dishes away with professional silence. It was a little unnerving. Although I did get to eat this absolutely delicious fish that I doubt I'll ever know the name of, and get to try the regional specialty - goose feet. There was also a yummy odd tofu dish that was served like a dessert custard with sauce poured over it.
They discussed several things, including the gas shortage in China - shortage as in there is none. One of the men at the table told a story of how he started yelling at an employee of his for not showing up after several hours when he'd been sent on a small errand that shouldn't have taken long at all. The employee explained that he'd gone to 20 different gas stations trying to get gas, but the stations were all out. It was odd sitting at the table with these men - they make loaded decisions each day that involve tons of money and the welfare of many many employees. And apparently they'd made good decisions, because they were powerful and accustomed to it.
Many of them chewed betel nuts, which is a little like chewing tobacco and eventually permanently stains your mouth a dark orange. After chewing betel nuts for awhile, your mouth looks like you've been gnawing on rust. Someone told me once that in India dark orange brown teeth is a sign of wisdom, because it means you've been chewing betel nuts for a long long time.
Fun sign at the HK Airport:
When we got off the plane and onto the escalator, there was an enormous printed banner that said "Relax. The train will be here in 3 minutes."
We drove to the Hong Kong-China border, rather than taking a plane into China from HK. Our driver was PIMP. He was going incredibly high speeds on this road where the lanes were so narrow that trucks (if they ever decided to stay in their lanes)would have had less than a foot of leeway on either side, sitting dead center. He was also swerving around these huge tour buses in our tiny minivan, weaving in and out and squeezing through the narrowest gaps between them. Everyone in China drives like a jackass, and no one will give you room to merge. While we were approaching a tollbooth that must have had at least 8 lanes, I saw a woman driving perpendicular to the lanes going all the way from one end to another, inching along slowly like nothing was the matter. It was AMAZING.
The other big event of the drive was that i saw a road sign on the highway that read (I swear to god) "The Second Labour Camp" with a little arrow pointing to an offramp. I'm not sure what to make of that, but I presume that the term "labour camp" means something other than what it connotes in english.
The meal was fancy and included several complete courses and our wine was quietly refilled after each toast by softstepping waitstaff who changed our plates and cleared dishes away with professional silence. It was a little unnerving. Although I did get to eat this absolutely delicious fish that I doubt I'll ever know the name of, and get to try the regional specialty - goose feet. There was also a yummy odd tofu dish that was served like a dessert custard with sauce poured over it.
They discussed several things, including the gas shortage in China - shortage as in there is none. One of the men at the table told a story of how he started yelling at an employee of his for not showing up after several hours when he'd been sent on a small errand that shouldn't have taken long at all. The employee explained that he'd gone to 20 different gas stations trying to get gas, but the stations were all out. It was odd sitting at the table with these men - they make loaded decisions each day that involve tons of money and the welfare of many many employees. And apparently they'd made good decisions, because they were powerful and accustomed to it.
Many of them chewed betel nuts, which is a little like chewing tobacco and eventually permanently stains your mouth a dark orange. After chewing betel nuts for awhile, your mouth looks like you've been gnawing on rust. Someone told me once that in India dark orange brown teeth is a sign of wisdom, because it means you've been chewing betel nuts for a long long time.
Fun sign at the HK Airport:
When we got off the plane and onto the escalator, there was an enormous printed banner that said "Relax. The train will be here in 3 minutes."
We drove to the Hong Kong-China border, rather than taking a plane into China from HK. Our driver was PIMP. He was going incredibly high speeds on this road where the lanes were so narrow that trucks (if they ever decided to stay in their lanes)would have had less than a foot of leeway on either side, sitting dead center. He was also swerving around these huge tour buses in our tiny minivan, weaving in and out and squeezing through the narrowest gaps between them. Everyone in China drives like a jackass, and no one will give you room to merge. While we were approaching a tollbooth that must have had at least 8 lanes, I saw a woman driving perpendicular to the lanes going all the way from one end to another, inching along slowly like nothing was the matter. It was AMAZING.
The other big event of the drive was that i saw a road sign on the highway that read (I swear to god) "The Second Labour Camp" with a little arrow pointing to an offramp. I'm not sure what to make of that, but I presume that the term "labour camp" means something other than what it connotes in english.