Hotpot

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We arrived at the hot pot restaurant and raced over to get a good seat. It ended up with most of the boys on one table including about 5 Chinese students and then the rest of the Aussies on the other table; that left the third table with all the Chinese girls and Wren. We all sat around and waited for the food to come to our tables, we made friends and cracked jokes with all the Chinese students and had a ton of laughs. We all introduced ourselves and continued making jokes across the table as we got to know each other. What really surprised some of us was when we realised they were exactly like us.

When the food got there it was just a pot of stock and oil over a flame on the table and we just threw food in like meat and different types of cabbage and let it cook for labout 15~20 minutes. While we were doing that we got to learn about some of the Chinese kids' backgrounds and what each other liked, things like playing games (involving soft drink) and other things like dares and stupid stuff teenagers like doing. In one game the person who lost had to do a dare the group agreed on, not including the person that lost - for instance a couple of us had to try eating a rabbit's head including its tongue.

One of us had to massage one of the Chinese girl's shoulders, and one of the Chinese boys had to drink half a bottle of sprite and he still wanted to play. When the food was ready we ate and it was pretty good but still looked a little uncooked. The type of meal and the place we were at was known as 'hot pot' and we had a great night.

It was the first time we really got to know our Chinese exchange students and we had heaps of fun with them. I am sure there are plenty more good times to come.



by Merlan

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