Gan Bei!

Last night was Langston's annual banquet. It is equivalent to the company Christmas party, so to speak. It was a blast!

We were warned beforehand, that business culture in this region of China is different than, obviously, that of the US. Here, the school of thought is that you want to see whoever you are going to do business with drunk, because, if you seem them drunk, then you know who they really are. Clearly, it wouldn't be politically correct to get drunk with your boss at a work function in the US. The means to getting to see your 'real' business partner, is 'Gan Bei!', or "dry the cup". Essentially, this is the same as cheers! Someone would call Gan Bei and everyone would finish their cup of beer, or wine, (or orange Fanta if you still can't drink because you had mono..) and refill for the next Gan Bei. Now, all this to be said, no one was near belligerent! The cups are a larger shot glass that is shaped like a wine glass, and you would pound your cup on the glass lazy-Suzan on the table, call Gan Bei, finish your cup, and tilt it showing that you truly had dried your cup. It was the first time I had ever taken 'shots' of soda! :)

Besides experiencing the Gan Bei tradition, the food was amazing. Everything was served family-style, as most dishes are here. We had everything from broccoli, to Beijing duck, to candied sweet potatoes, a few different kinds of meat that tasted good but I have no idea what they were, to dumplings, to maybe it was seaweed we think, to a whole fish, to soup. There was so much food, endless drinks, and all of the Chinese staff to keep us entertained.

I knew that I was experiencing an office party different than any I had been to before when money was being raffled off, and the president started off the first round of karaoke! After all of the set prizes were distributed to the respective winners, we were told that each person there would get 100 yuan, or close to $20! I was getting paid to get to experience this Chinese tradition and eat good traditional banquet food...I can do this!!

All of it put together, it was so fun. All of us enjoyed getting to experience the annual banquet, and are wondering how we can get invited to more!