Farewell Tour

It was a busy weekend of eating lots of food and saying goodbye. Friday night was a dinner with collegues at a "Hot Pot" restaurant which is very popular in China. Dinner was followed up with some kareoke. Lots of fun was had by all. Enjoy the pictures.

It's typical of most establishments to bring the workers out at the beginning of their shift. They line up military style and normally conduct some sort of exercise or even a song. Their manager/corporal also uses the attention to provide instruction for their shift. In this picture, can you find the new chef that forgot to wear his uniform?

So, as you might have guessed, "hot pot" involves a pot of boiling water. This particular pot was split into 2 halves. A spicy half and a non-spicy half. All the material ordered is raw and you cook it in your pot. We had lots of meats inluding pork, lamb, and beef. Tons of vegetables were also thrown into the cauldron.
Ok, so this picture definitely needs some explanation. That would be Adam on the right. Adam is one of 5 total expats at our factory. He arrived about 6 months after me and we have become good friends. We have completely different interests but share similar senses of humor. And when you've got someone that likes to laugh sharing your china experience, it makes for lots of fun. Anyway, Adam's singing kareoke to a Led Zepplin song of which I had no clue how to sing. So, I "contributed" by playing my air guitar. I love this picture because you can tell how seriously Adam was about giving a good performance. On a side note, Adam is the same guy that provided me the "fishing with dynamite" video that was posted here in the past.
Adam and Xiaona. Xiaona has been the biggest help to us in Shanghai. From the original pickup at the airport to grocery shopping to cell phone service start-up, Xiaona has always been there to help us. She is one of the sweetest people I have ever met. She has a tender heart and a desire to help. She also has a twinge of sarcastic humor in her which I had a lot of fun with. She visited our home for dinner a few times.
Notice that I'm flashing my gang symbol from the northside of Holland. Fortunately, there were no Holland southsiders at dinner that night. There would have been trouble. From left to right: Charlie, Maggie, yours truly, Luo Aicheng, Jiao Qingmei, Ma Xifang, Zhao Jianqing.


And that was Friday night. It was very loud and lots of fun.