In China the value of friendship is measured by how much Baijiu you can drink.

So there I was. In a t-shirt and cargo shorts in arguably the nicest private dining room I’d seen since I got china, watching my Waiban frantically order food. I had remembered to take off my hat, and put down my hair…never mind that I put it back up 5 minutes later, after deciding it resembled more of a Christmas tree than a hairstyle. People began to enter. First was a head teacher, then a teacher from the power and energy department, then some officials from the school, and finally the party officials from the government foreign affairs office. At their entrance everyone stood and therefore so did i. Observation was going to be my best tool in this I could already tell, only 3 of the people spoke decent English. This was indeed my first “holy crap I’m in china” moment, then TO MY GREAT RELIEF, in walked Tyler; My fellow teacher and sort of Chinese speaking partner in crime. Between him and what I could remember from online research I do not believe I made any major faux pas. At first I did not drink baijiu with anyone but was then pretty much coerced by the teacher from the power and energy department. It wasn’t that bad but I have no idea how the rest of the people were taking upwards of 10 shots of it. Though about five minutes later it was obviously having quite the effect, especially on the vice president of the foreign affairs office from our school lmao, he was crazy. So after countless toasts, blessings, and presenting gifts to the directors from the government foreign affairs office the almost nightmare was over. What started out horrifying had turned out fine, though the drinking and nervous atmosphere really made me desire a shower O_o