Class Outing: Chinese Dining

The other day I went running. Normally I run down the alley to the larger street and take a left. Then I run until I’m tired and ready to turn back. On this particular day I was off to a good start when I came upon a large line of traffic. Rather than trying to dodge in and out of the cars to get to the other side of the street I decided to turn. I thought eventually I’d come to another cross street where I could loop around and get back to the hotel.

Not so much.

I ended up running through a rather frightening neighborhood. Lots of people sitting on their porches eyeing me with skepticism, wondering what this crazy white girl is doing running on their block. The kids were playing with trash in the muddy, mucky river. And the men made nasty comments in Spanish. I didn’t understand, but I could tell by the creepy glint in their eyes.

Finally I hit a dead end. And had to go back through the whole process. That was a long run.

Today’s Exploit:

Last week someone from my class was able to organize 16 of 21 of us to go out to dinner. The final selection for the restaurant was a Chinese place down the road.

After a small mishap where the organizer was left at the hotel, and three more people joined us, we were seated in a private room. With one large round table and a very large Lazy Susan in the middle, so everyone has access to all the dishes when they’re served.

Then we were told we must spend at least $150. After the initial shock of the number, we gradually realized that we had plenty of attendees to facilitate this, and got down to the business of ordering.

We have two people from China in our class, so they were explaining dishes, and taking orders that everyone was shouting out. Eventually we had what they deemed enough dishes, and they took the order to the wait staff.

Meanwhile I was trying to stave-off a migraine from flickering lights and far too much noise and claustrophobia from 16 people packed around a table meant for 10.

The loud Brazilian ordered Chinese beer, and became even louder. The two Chinese students blossomed in this setting, and were very happy and helpful and funny. And everyone had a good time.

Then the food came. And madness ensued. I’m pretty sure 4 people tried to climb across the table to get the first bite of food. Finally we had enough that nearly everyone could access food at the same time. That’s when silence fell

Every once in a while someone would come up from the depths of their plate to notice how good Mei and Danny are at using chopsticks. Or to ask for another beer. Or to look for another dish.

When the last person had slowed down to picking at a few remaining morsels we surveyed the carnage. Only a few pieces of lettuce and some peppers were left of the 23 dishes we’d ordered. Danny was so pleased and spent the next 23 minutes telling us how happy they’d be that we finished the food.

So we split up the check and filed out the door where the entire group proceeded to desert the drivers to walk back to the hotel or over to the ice cream shoppe.

And now I must be off to take some more notes.

Good bye.