Pizza Anyone?

Andrew ordered pizza for his team last week. Since he doesn't speak Chinese he asked the administrative assistant, Cherry, to call. 

He asked her to order these pizzas:

1)      Cheese

2)      Meat & Veggie

3)      Veggie

When the pizzas arrived they got:

1)      Italian Sausage, hot dog, chicken, mystery meat, corn green peppers, pineapple

2)      Mushroom, tomato, peppers, corn, pineapple

3)      Squid, crab, fish, shrimp, oyster(?), peppers, tomato, pineapple

This is a picture of #3; if you look closely you can see the tentacles as well as crab and shrimp:

I think you can guess which one he didn't eat…

Pebble Beach

Andrew and I were interested in taking a hike a few weeks ago and a friend suggested a place for us to go. We didn't exactly find the area she suggested, but ended up at Pebble Beach. In the winter the beach is desolate, but I'm told in the summer I'm told the beach is packed with umbrellas and the water is a sea of neon flotation devices. I understand a lot of Chinese don't wear swimming suits, but rather clothing that covers all of their skin and sit under umbrellas to avoid the sun. I'm also told that many can't swim so adults wear floaties around their arms and tubes around their waists, similar to toddlers in the U.S. I'm looking forward to going to the beach in the summer. I guess I'll need to leave my swimming suit at home and bring my arm floaties.

The beach & a couple fishing boats.

It was a bit chilly.

Discoveryland, a small amusement park.

We're unsure why they decided to ruin this nice walkway by pushing the road onto it.

Many small fishing boats in the bay.

Traditional Chinese Dress & Karaoke

Andrew and I were invited to an iMandarin Show/Lantern Festival Party which was hosted by the company we take Chinese lessons with, iMandarin. The invite explicity said "dress up in traditional Chinese style. Being the rule followers that we are, I had a traditional Chinese dress made, called a qi pao, and Andrew wore a traditional Chinese jacket."

We didn't know what to expect of the party. It was held in the afternoon from 1:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. and the invite said drinks and snacks would be served.

The day of we realized that the party was held at a karaoke bar, which in China, are called KTV. Andrew and I with our friends Leon & Kevin, arrived a little late and soon discovered, after walking through the stage area while a Chinese person sang karaoke, that besides a handful of iMandarin employees we were the only ones wearing traditional Chinese dress. I guess we are the only ones that follow the rules... This was my first time visiting a karaoke bar in China. I discovered the Chinese take their karaoke very seriously and since I'm not much of a singer, I don't think I'll be frequenting KTV bars.

Leon, Kevin, me & Andrew in our traditional Chinese dress.

Andrew begging to leave after we just sat down.

The craziness that is KTV. The foreigner on the right actually played his violin.

This Japanese man sang a song. (I don't think he realized his pant leg was up.)

An iMandarian teacher (also not in traditional dress) singing a Chinese pop song.