Today was NOT Chinese New Year, but I celebrated it (for the first time) with some friends. We had hot pot, which is a communal soup that is cooked while you eat. So the base is set up on the table with the veggie and meat on the side. You add what you want to eat and take it out when it's done cooking. It was really good. There was also some Chinese alcoholic drink that is made of sorghum. It smelled disgusting. I have to wonder how people can claim that your taste buds are connected to your sense of smell when there are so many foods that smell disgusting that people enjoy. As for parts of the soup, they included veggies like bok choy (green and white), mushrooms (portobello and some mushrooms with really long stems, large and tiny, that I don't know what they are called), potatoes, bean sprouts, seaweed, tree ears (a fungus that grows on trees, not sure what the name is in English but the Chinese name translates to tree ears) and other similar things. We had lamb and beef in thinly sliced pieces, shrimp and fish balls, tripe, chicken hearts, and tofu. There was a lot of things to try. I did not like the tripe (the taste was fine, it was just way to chewy for me) and I did not like the chicken heart (it was a weird feeling. It felt like I was chewing a heart, but that may be because I knew what it was). There was also pork slices, but everyone was kind enough to agree not to use it since I am really don't like pork. There were some dumplings with pork (I tried it, just to make sure, but I didn't really like it) and we put some really long/thick noodles in at the end, too. Those were really good, though hard to get OUT of the pot.
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Chinese Hot Pot
To the left you'll see some of those mushrooms with a long
stem in a mug. |
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While we ate, we watched the Chinese New Year TV program from 2009, which included a musical performance by Jackie Chan. Although I like Jackie Chan, he was definitely off-key.
The show had some other cultural performances, dances, singing, and some comedy skits. I didn't understand a word. Well, that's not exactly true. There were some parts where English was spoken (one skit included an American tourist asking for directions at the Beijing Games), and I also learned the word for thank you, which I later recognized on the show. It was fun.
We concluded the night with dessert while watching some SNL skits. It was fun.
In other news of the weekend, I found out where my second post is going to be! After Mexico, I am headed to Kiev, Ukraine! The more I think about it, the more excited I become. It's going to be a great post.
Last night I went to a party with a friend. The party was of some people that we work with, but were ones that I didn't really know. It was interesting, but I don't do real when I don't know anyone and there is so much noise that you can't hear. I have a heard enough time hearing people as it is without having to filter out loud music and loud talking. After the party (we were only there for maybe an hour and a half) we went to some clubs. I had no idea what I was getting myself into . . . which can mean trouble. I don't generally consider myself to be a hick, but if I wasn't, I think I wouldn't have been caught off guard.
We went to this one club in DC, and there was a huge line of people. They were making people wait until others came out to let people in. I was with my friend, my friend's friend and my friend's friend's friend (that means there were four of us total). The last of the four listed above was male, the rest of us were female.
Anyway, I should have realized that a club that literally had to wait for people to come out to let others leave would probably be too crowded. I felt like I was dancing on a crowded Russian bus! No matter where you moved, you were getting bumped into and you were bumping into others. I guess the point I'm trying to make here is that you just had to decide which people you wanted to be dancing up against: those people that you know, or those that you don't. I kept having these guys try to dance with me, which basically means putting their hands on you. I think that type of dancing is really just an excuse for guys to be able to grope girls, but then again, you tend to get groped (though generally not intentionally) on crowded buses, too. There wasn't anything too bad. One guy grabbed my hand and tried to pull me away from my group. Luckily, the guy we were with was pretty good at protecting us. He kept telling me to let him know if any guys were bothering me. The worst that happened was probably the guy that came up to me and put his hands on my waist. That, and the fact that my body was pressed up against somebody the entire time we were in there.
After a while, we left and went to a different club that was a lot better. There was more room to dance, which I liked better.
Let's just say that I've had a really interesting weekend!
