Out in Longgang is an art district so we decided to go there for the day since we hadn't been before. We took the new Longgang subway to get there! The place was really cool and there were a number of stalls that the painters were actually working on their master pieces. There were a lot of replicas as well. And it was interesting because you could walk past other stalls and see people painting on big canvases that had paint by numbers on them to replicate a famous painting. I'm not sure if I would consider that art or not...
Cliff, Leah, Andrew and I headed out for Longgang to spend the night at Jess and Marie's. We went out for a Chinese dinner at a place the girls had been before. In typical "American at a Chinese restaurant" style, we got a picture menu and pointed at a few of the items, not quite sure what all we were getting. One of the dishes we were pretty sure was sweet and sour pork. When the waitress came and sat down the food she said the name of the dish. Andrew's eyes widened and he looked around at us and said "I'm pretty sure she just said this was dog". We called the waitress back over and asked her to repeat the name. She was saying "Go something something" and Andrew said Go was dog. We all decided it was a good thing because we all needed to try dog at least once before we leave and if this was it then we could get the experience out of the way. We each had at least one, but there were still a few pieces left over when we finished which would not be the case if it hadn't been dog, because it was actually pretty good. Just to make sure, I wrote down the characters of the dish so we could look it up at home. Everyone was sure it was and we all talked about the fact that we had finally knowingly ate dog. When we got back we got out the dictionary and found that the dish was called Guo Bao Rou. Yea...Gou is dog...not Guo....We ate a "batch of pot cooked meat", probably not dog. So now we have to go out again into the world and eat something we think is dog...
After Hong Kong I had to go back by myself because my contact teacher invited Fuat and I over to see his new apartment and go out to dinner. His apartment was really nice and I was happy for him that he's settling in. He's getting married in a couple weeks so he's all excited about his new living situations. Fuat and I even got to help him hang up his lucky door signs. Every apartment in China has these pretty much. So now we all have luck. The evening was fun and Fuat and I got a good chance to hang out and chat for awhile so that was nice. Two of my students who live in the neighborhood also joined us which was fun.
Happy New Years!!! For the big night, Cliff, Andrew, Jessica, Marie, Ben, Greg and I (the family) headed out for the great city of Hong Kong. We had been told that it was an awesome place to be for New Years and we wanted to be a part of the action. After dealing with some Visa stuff for our upcoming January vacation and checking into our hotel we were ready for the excitement. One of Jessica's college friends, Connie, lives in Hong Kong so she joined us for the evening as well. First we went and grabbed dinner at an Irish pub. It was mouth watering. I had a turkey melt sandwich. One of the few sandwiches I have had in China (the American staple food hasn't quite reached the East yet). Afterward we headed to find the rest of the CTLC partiers. When we reached the meeting point (20 minutes late) no one was around. So we decided to go out to the piers and see if we could find anyone/get a good view of the fireworks. There wasn't anyone there, but we weren't going to let that disappoint us. The boys went on a beer run and the girls went to try and figure out the best vantage point for viewing the show. In the end the boys actually were the ones to find the best spot. We had told them to meet us at one of the piers when they got back which was holding a big party on the top level, but you had to pay 350 HKD to get in. They couldn't find us so two of them went up to the party and asked if they could go in to look for us. The guards let them in and eventually the boys realized we weren't there so came back out again and found us. Well, the top of the pier was by far the best spot for the fireworks so we decided to see if we could all just get past the guards at the party. Sure enough, they let us all in and we promised we wouldn't drink anything. What they didn't know is that we brought all of our own stuff and ended up getting free sodas from the bar. The party was fun, it was good music and mostly foreigners. Our group found a spot and just hunkered in for an hour an a half to wait for the countdown. The moment finally came and the whole bay lit up with fireworks. We were right under the final building of the show and the fireworks started shooting out from the sides of the building! It was a great sight and I had good friends around me, it was perfect. After midnight we tried to find our way back to the rest of CTLC but it was going to take over an hour just to get to the area so instead we hiked it back to the hotel. In the morning we all got up and went to get breakfast at the Flying Pan - a 'to die for' American breakfast place. Again, perfect. We all sat around the table together eating pancakes and bagels, you couldn't ask for more.
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