白酒 Dinner

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Everyone at different points of their lives finds themselves to be part of many communities. Be it your family, your ski buddies, or your religious peers, we all usually gravitate towards people that we share something in common with. Well, recently I've fell in with an interesting community of ex-pats that are awesome to say the least.

我的好朋友们

I feel at home in this community because we are all sharing a very unique experience that even my closest friends and family back home can't really grasp. (No offense guys...I still love you!) We all have some interesting commonalities:

• We all enjoy living in China. There are so many ex-pats who live here but hate it. Seriously, if you hate it that much, go home!
  
• We are all here long term. Most of us have been here for a while and none of us really know when we're going home. The shortest amount of time anyone's been here is 4 months (Shakiri's brother) and the longest amount of time is 9 years (Agostine. You're a champ!)
  
• We are all multi-lingual. We all speak different degrees of Chinese. The important part is that we all make a concerted effort at the language. Back home I'm a bit of an anomaly with my languages, but with these guys I'm pretty run of the mill. Most everyone also speaks Spanish as well.
  
• We are all strangers in a strange land. Living in a foreign culture has its challenges and its rewards. We are all dealing with these every day.
  

The origins of the 白酒 Dinner

Back in July, my friend Chris (actually, we all refer to him as Middle Chris because there are three Chris's and Chris is the most towards the middle in terms of height) took the HSK (a test of Chinese language abilities) and did much better than he had expected. He was very excited and decided to treat everyone to dinner. At dinner, a bottle of 白酒 was ordered. A good time was had by all and it was suggested that we should make this dinner a regular thing. It was decided that Sunday night would become 白酒 dinner night.

What is 白酒?

白酒 /bai2jiu3/, literally translated as "white alcohol," is a very strong (80 - 120 proof) spirit made from sorghum that is the drink of choice for most Chinese people. It is almost always drank straight and at room temperature. 白酒 has a distinct taste that lingers on anything it touches, including clothes and table clothes. Anyone who has ever drank 白酒 knows that you burp the taste long after its been drank. I can't tell you how many times I've gone into a restaurant bathroom that was filled with the unique 白酒 odor because of some unfortunate soul who had the misfortune of imbibing in a few shots too many. The price of a bottle ranges from 3.5 RMB (the dreaded 二锅头) to upwards of several thousand RMB (the most expensive that I've personally seen on a menu was 14,000 RMB). Most foreigners hate the stuff, likening the taste to that of gasoline or rubbing alcohol. I, personally, have acquired a taste for it and enjoy the merry and carefree drunk that it brings.

The rules of 白酒 dinner

1. One person buys the 白酒 and the price of the food/beer/additional bottles is divided evenly among those present.
2. The person who buys the bottle also picks the restaurant.
3. The above noted responsibilities rotate evenly throughout the community.
4. The restaurant must be Chinese.
5. The dinner is to be celebrated in a 包间* (see description below) unless previous approval is granted by the community.
6. Unless the person hosting the dinner chooses to let a friend do it, it is their responsibility to order the food.
7. 白酒 dinner is a weekly event. It is acceptable to have more than one per week. However, it is unacceptable to have less than one a week.
8. Any beer ordered must be cold, unless that option is unavailable.
9. You may not pour your own glass of 白酒, unless you have already poured someone else's glass first.
10. A cheers is required for each shot of 白酒。 The topic of the cheers should be related to the conversation that was taking place prior to the suggestion to drink.
11. Under no circumstances can you drink alone.


*A 包间 /bao1 jian1/ is a private room for eating, singing, mah-jong, or whatever else one can think up. Most every Chinese restaurant has at least one. The quality ranges from a simple round table in an attic-like space above the main area, to a luxurious room complete with hot towels, fine art, and flat screen TVs. We enjoy all ranges.

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Comments

[Emily Fok]

Personal Computing
Nice blog! =) ... Keep it up!

[c]

Amazing.

[Roy]

Family sponsors
What, no mention of family sponsor of the Bijo dinner?

[Samuel Abram]

re: }R
Telling what I know about Kanji, in Japan, one of the pronunciations of }R is "shirozake," which means "Sweet White Sake." According to Wiktionary, }R(i.e. Shirozake) is served at a Japanese girls' festival. The more you know!

[ChineseAmerican]

your blogs
Your blogs make me laugh :)...keep it coming!