Gambei!

Tonight was another Wunan dinner for the entire faculty. This time, it was at a very nice hotel about a 15 minute walk from the school and for the celebration of Christmas and the New Year "Xin nian kuai le!". I wasn't really looking forward to it since I am starting to get a cold, but ya know, you do what you gotta do.
I walked with some of the Chinese teachers there, and even did a little "window shopping" with Tina and Leann. No joke, Tina called me to invite me to "window shop" with them. SO cute. They asked me all about where I get my clothes, what kind of clothes I like, etc. It was fun. We then made our way back to the hotel where the dinner was. The entire restaurant was full with all the teachers and staff, as well as those from the branch schools.

To skip to the interesting part,
First , there were dishes such as duck tongue, octopus, wasabi shrimp (totally good), snails and "chou doufu" translated to "stinky tofu". I have never had it... and I never will again. It was so gross. I did not try the duck tongue or the snails, which were huge by the way!

Second, on to the title of my blog.
"Gambei" literally means "bottoms up" where you are supposed to finish your glass of alcohol. It is basically Chinese tradition to "gambei" your drink when someone says it, but mostly people don't, unless everyone has alcohol. Well, it was only Gene (another foreign teacher) and I with beer at the table. Per the usual, people are coming to the table every 5 minutes toasting the entire table. So, you are drinking A LOT and going to the bathroom A LOT :) As we had sat down after about the 5th visitor to the table, Shirley, one of the Chinese teachers starts to tell us about the "real" way to gambei. I had heard this before, but I never really gambei-ed because I didn't want to seem like... well.. an alcoholic/crazy American partier! But really, they don't see it that way! They see it as respectful. Soooo, Shirley challenges Gene and I to gambei a glass of beer.
You know I was up for the challenge.

Yep- I gambei-ed that glass.
Only in China do your coworkers cheer you on while you chug a beer at a New Years dinner celebration and then ask, "Do you want to get some more beer and do it again?"
Needless to say, I was feeling pretty good after dinner.
I love China.