Another one bites the dust

Claire is leaving China. This is the second major blow in 2008, Caroline Catts left earlier this year. And well, Caroline and Claire have both been here as long as I have. Claire was also a 2001 CET alum, on the trip a semester before me. It's hard when an old China hand leaves. One of the hardest things about living in Beijing, is how people often 'pass through' and you don't bother getting to know people unless they will be here for more than two years. So when an old China hand, that has been here for nearly 6 years leaves - its like a family member moving away.

She's heading back to the US for grad school, but I have a feeling she'll be back. With her Beijing-hua and lactose intolerance, she's destined to live in China!!! Plus, China is home of the 3 RMB 22 oz beer.... which I believe, Claire is a fan of. At least that's what it looked like last night at her going away dinner. Claire kicked off the festivities by putting on a show for the Chinese diners, who could not get enough of the weird foreigners way of drinking beer.

We had dinner at Fei Tang Yu Xiang, which sounds phonetically like it could be translated as 'extremely painful spicy fish restaurant', of course, it is Sichuanese. Interestingly, I wasn't allowed in when I first arrived, unless I could tell them who had made the reservation and under what name. After making me call Claire (outside the front door of the restaurant) we determined, we in fact did not have a booking at all. In which case, they showed me right in! Gotta love China. Customer service may not be their forte, but spicy fish and stir fried bullfrog is, apparently. The fish was delicious, and needless to say, they put us at a table in the middle of the restaurant, and didn't give us a private room. I warned them we were going to be loud, and well, it turned out to be a learning experience for all. Our fellow diners were impressed with our beer stand, and started ordering them for their table too. At Euro RSCG, we call these people prosumers, not necessarily the first to do something, but the ones that make a trend catch on. It was quite the night.




By the way, this is what we had for dinner. Caroline Kilmer took this pic of Claire on their trip to Sichuan a few weeks ago... We ordered the same last night, which would explain why we needed so much beer in the first place!