June 27, 2007
Dalian (CHINA)
POAC Conference and Laughs All Around at Hot Pot
I have been busy at work lately as I prepare for next Monday's "progress report" presentation. It isn't that big of a deal, but I will be delivering the preliminary results of the work I have done thus far. Being the rubbish research scientist that I am, this could pose a severe problem. Fortunately, I was either blessed with or developed an extraordinary talent to feign intelligence. Here's to hoping the camouflage continues working.
There is a massive international conference being held at LiGong Daxue (理工大学）this week called POAC (Polar Offshore Arctic Conditions), and it is being hosted by our head research scientist, Professor Yue. He recruited me to attend various ice-breaking sessions and other get-togethers with the many scientists, professors, and company representatives. I am having a great time with it all because I can chat with people from all over the world, and as a lowly undergraduate student I am excused from all the technical talk.
As
repayment for my efforts, Professor Yue sponsored a
dinner outing for the REU students and our affiliated
Chinese graduate students. We decided to eat dinner at a
hot pot (火锅)
restaurant, which always means several things: 1) Spicy
food 2) No table manners 3) Loud chatting, and 4) Lots
and lots of beer. It should go without saying that this
is my favorite style of eating in China.
The two pictures above show what the table looks like when the cooking starts - it is a free-for-all where the only rule is to keep putting in food when you take something out. I suppose another rule is to warn your friends when they are eating meat that hasn't been fully cooked, but this rule is often ignored. It adds to the excitement - especially when people start getting drunk.
Speaking
of excitement, I decided to try something new tonight
and sampled two large fish eyeballs. This meant I
plucked them straight out of the fish head, cooked them
in the water, and then plopped them in my mouth while
the entire table watched dumbfounded.
This was the first time I have gone out with my two graduate students, Baolin and Dayong, so we made sure to "Ganbei!" (干杯, or drink a toast) every chance we had. It wasn't long before Dayong's face was as red as a cherry and the laughing ceased to stop.
Soon
we began playing a drinking game whereby you choose a
special number, say 7, and then some one starts a count
with whatever number they wish. The counting goes around
the table, but whenever either a multiple of 7 or the
number itself come up, one cannot say the word and must
bang chopsticks on the table. Failure to do so results
in downing a glass of beer. We all caught on quickly,
but I felt bad for the Chinese because they had to
maintain the count in English. This turned out to be a
particular problem for Baolin, my graduate student, who
seemed to drink every time we got to him. The picture to
the right shows the result of his efforts at the end of
the night...
Both the throw-up and eyeballs are lovely, I know.