The past few days have been filled with food (non-Chinese), language (yes, Chinese), and culture (shopping). I started my weekend at Shirokiya, an all-you-can-eat-and-drink Japanese restaurant near the trendy HuaiHai Rd. Eric, Nathan, and I had fasted all day in preparation (after all, 148 yuan can go far in China, so you'd better eat your money's worth). We essentially ordered at least one of everything on the menu, not having the slightest idea what we were soon to be eating (I have perfected the "zhege"-and-pointing technique). We were less adventurous with our choices of beverages, though the liquid volume consumed certainly did not diminish. Just as we were realizing that we had had our fill of raw shrimp ("no, it's supposed to ooze out of its shell like that!"), the waitress informed us that she could
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