So many new types of food

I joined the 6 other Senior 1 English teachers for a staff meeting this morning. This is not your typical BC teachers type staff meeting. I was informed that we were going out for tea and would be engaging in teacher talk at the restaurant. Little did I know that having tea also involved having a full course meal at 8:30 in the morning. I should not have had that bowl of porridge before I left my place. First I have to let you know that it is the Chinese culture to sit at round tables with an elevated turn table in the middle. The food is placed on the turn table and you turn the table until the desired dish is in front you. Serving spoons! What are serving spoons? They are unheard of, everyone just uses their own chopsticks to dish up the food into your little bowl. So bring on those chopsticks, actually I am getting quite coordinated with the chopsticks. Noodles are still a challenge, especially if they are in served in a liquid because then they are extra slippery.
This time I tried the chickens feet. They were very bony and had very little meat on them. I think I would prefer a chicken drumstick any day over chicken feet. I also had fish and pickled egg rice porridge, fried dough, cows stomach (very rubbery, it took me 5 minutes just to chew it into pieces that were small enough to swallow), durian*, and several different types of dumplings. Did you know that when eggs are pickled they turn completely black, but they still taste the same as a hard boiled egg? Oh, yes we did discuss some school related issues although it was all in chinese, but somehow I was talked into judging the printing competition.
I was so full that I skipped lunch and it was a good thing because I was invited out for dinner again. This time we went to the Chinese version of a fondue. The restaurant was huge and like a maze with corridors, rooms and balconies that lead all over the place. In the center of the table was a large hot pot that was bubbling away with congee**. The servers would come to the table and add different serving plates of various foods to the congee. Several minutes later the server would return to dish up the cooked food. We had meat balls, pig intestines, clams, individual whole fish, and lettuce. We also tried a couple of dishes, lotus root, rice noodles, and fried dough, that did not end up in the congee hot pot. With all this food I am definitely going to need to get some exercise tomorrow.

-----------------
*durian |ˈdoŏrēən; -rēˌän| |ˌdʊriən| |ˌˈdʊriˌˈɑn| |ˌdʊərɪən|
1 an oval spiny tropical fruit containing a creamy pulp. Despite its fetid smell, it is highly esteemed for its flavor. (I was told to taste before I smell and yes it did have quite the odor)
2 (also durian tree) the large tree that bears this fruit, native to Malaysia.

**congee |ˈkänjē; kô n ˈ zh ā| |ˌkɒndʒiː| |ˈkɑndʒi|
(in Chinese cooking) broth or porridge made from rice.