Hotpot with Friends

Later that day, Buboli and I met up with a group of his friends at a restaurant in Beijing that served Sichuan, Chengdu-style food. I’ve felt pretty lucky throughout this trip that my friends have been able to handle the ordering for me. I don’t have to worry so much about understanding all the different types of food and can just eat what’s in front of me without needing to worry about pronouncing it or ordering something nasty. Since everyone shares the food in the center of the table, it also avoids scenarios where I might only want to have a small taste. This didn’t happen too often though as the food was pretty amazing throughout the trip.

I sat next to Ming, who spoke very good English with almost no accent. I was pretty impressed that he could have that level of English without living in an English speaking country. There was also David, who seemed completely obsessed with plants and his studies in a cute nerdy way, and Baiyen (Will), who was very kind and we met up with later when we went to the Summer Palace. It’s always so hard to remember peoples’ names because they tell me their English name once, and then I never hear it again in the conversation since their Chinese name sounds completely different. Hopefully everyone I met forgives me because I definitely wasn’t able to remember all the names.

The food was incredible, but I also was still very full from everything else we had eaten that day. One cool dish was a jelly-like substance with raisins in it. I would probably order this pretty regularly if it were an option in America because it had a nice balance of substance, texture, and sweetness without being a sugar filled dessert. Between the great company and the unique flavors, I felt like I was truly getting to experience the city through a local lens.Read more