Jet-lagged Tianamen

So when you arrive in a new country, one that is - oh - fourteen time zones away from your home base, that natural thing would be to sleep. Ah, mere mortals indeed may have done just that, but not SuperVic.
[based on the the intro above, you may be able tell that I am a delirius from jetlag still]

We arrived at dinner time. Our Professor - Frank - began leading us on a walk from our hotel towards Tianamen Square because he was sure there was something to eat around there.
I saw lots of things at Tianamen ....
- white Christmas lights on major government buildings
- Chairman Mao.....wow that's a big portrait

But one thing that our brave troup of four student superheroes did not see was a place to eat. So we began to walk back to our hotel to stop at - guess where - the restaurant right across the street.

At that restaurant, we brave four and our Prof sat down to read a daunting menu. After using my (severely limited) Chinese skills to request English language menus, we were a little shocked to discover the real substance of some dishes that looked real good on the Chinese menu. A brief selection here:
- various types of intestines (hey, if you eat chitterlings, you are not allowed to make an ugly face right now)
- lamb testicles in various sauces
- soup of vitality which included assortments of animal testicles

We selected some relatively safe options:
- potatoes & beef dish
- wheat noodles and bean curd hot pot
- lamb soup
- garlicy chicken dish

Then we turned our attention to some great performances on a nearby stage (sometimes your restaurant has to have a stage!) The string instrument dude was pretty good, playing some song reminiscent of "Devil gone to Georgia" on a classical Chinese instrument. The singing was fantastic....there was this one guy who bellowed such a heckuva baratone voice with such passion that - while we had no clue what he was passionately singing about - we were all clapping like crazy when he finished cuz he just made you feel it. Then there was the woman who danced with plates on her head - really cool.

Then came the random moment. When travelling we all have them, you remember the last time you were at a place and realized "wow I am a foreigner because I do not know what is going on?"
That moment came for me there at the restaurant. A woman in elaborate red costume, rushed to our table with two other costumed waiters. She presented me with small cup of liqueur. At first I had one of my "freeze from surprise" moment. But no matter what culture you're in, or what language barriers you face...you can eventually figure out when someone is offering you a drink. So...down the hatchet and then I was presented with a white silk scarf. Afterwards, the woman went to the stage and sang me a song.

One of my avenger teammates - Bi - said "Well Victor, you never know ... you might have just married that woman." Frank-the-prof asked "Well why do you think Victor was selected for this" and of course I self-servingly chimmed in that "Well Frank in Chinese culture it is tradition to recognize the most handsome man in the room with a silk scarf." There were exactly 2.1 seconds when I had Frank going, and then we all laughed out loud.

Ahhh and the day was not over. I caught up with Pushkar-The-Great's great friend-since-3rd-grade Jacob Skokie, Illinois middle school (the exact time that Pushkar came to the middle school is currently under review, while Mr. Pushkar claims he arrived at the middle school in 2nd grade, Mr. Jacob insists that he never saw the guy until at least the 3rd grade. PBS will investigate...)

Jacob-The-Wise is a street savy dude who has spent this semester in Beijing. He is the one who e-mailed me detailed directions of what to say to taxi drivers in Chinese. He has enabled me to impress my group and prof too.