Warm Huanyings and Pet Peeve(s)

Yesterday was the first day in the office. Kicked off w/ a tasty Chinese breakfast in the new(ish) cafe - congee + pickled things, eggrolls, fried rice, etc. Everyone is warm and welcoming, which makes me a little sheepish that I wasn't a more gracious host to visitors when I was back in the Bay Area. I shall resolve to be better when I get back. Anyway, it was rather uneventful as people were trickling back in from their 1-week National holiday, and I was supposed to be "settling in."

I'll get to the interesting stuff. After work a handful of us walked a couple blocks to Wahaha Restaurant, a place specializing in Shanghai and Hangzhou cuisine in the heart of the Wudaokou district, for dinner. Pretty fancy schmancy decor and set-up, but for RMB343, we dined like kings on:

• Lotus root stuffed with sweet sticky rice

• Traditional "pork in pot," some of the fattiest, most succulent soy sauce-drenched pork you ever tasted. We Americans protested at all the fat, and our Chinese brethren encouraged us to try just a bit. It was delicious of course, but I almost fainted when I saw the oil starting to congeal on my plate.

• Beef slivers stir fried w/ green chilies
• Boiled dumplings
• Stir fried broccoli
• Bread-y dumpling-like buns (no idea what they are called)
• Some steamed fish that was labeled "yellowtail tuna" on the menu but was delicate and flaky, almost like butterfish, and oh so flavorful

Then sat around chatting about typical marriage ages in the US vs. China (30-35 and 25, respectively), where we've traveled and where we'd like to travel.

Lastly, a pet peeve. When people pronounce Beijing with a "zh" sound, as if they were speaking French (the "j" sound in "je ne sais pas" for instance). It's not French, and it's not "Beizhing," peoples! It's a harder "j" sound than "jam" even, maybe more like the "g" in "geriatric." Anyway, this is perhaps more annoying than people who pronounce Sichuan as "sheshwan," which is a little more excusable since many restaurants spell it "Schezwan." Sorry if I'm splitting hairs, but I had to tell someone =)