Roomies

After two months, yesterday marked the first time that my three roommates and I went out as a group.  We've all got pretty divergent schedules, so it's a noteworthy occurrence when we're all in the apartment together (while awake), let alone actually being able to go out together.  It's sort of how life in Shanghai is for expats, I think -- people bounce around between work, various commitments, and friends.  So it was nice to be able to actually spend time with the three roommates at once, underlining how different we all are and how swimmingly we get along.

We decided to capture the occasion with a group picture at the bar, in case it never happens again:

So there you have it, Team 539 Xinhua Road #3A.  From left to right: me, Serge, Pam, and Franco.  I imagine that Serge probably wouldn't be too pleased that I'm sharing this picture with the world, given his shit-eating grin and the remnants of what I would imagine is some of his beer.  In fairness to him, we had all had our fair share of refreshments at this point.  The night would end with some street barbecue.  These guys park big carts of food outside bars and clubs, await the hordes of drink-saturated revelers, and cook up skewers of chicken, mushrooms, asparagus, bread, you name it.... it's cheap and delicious.

Anyway, I feel like this picture may prove to be one of those shots that I can look back on in ten or twenty years and smile.

Happy (belated) birthday to the one and only Judith Aisen, and happy almost-Halloween to everyone else.