Boy was I wrong.
It all started about a month ago, when I stumbled across this picture on the Internet:
This obviously has nothing to do with China, but it's awesome nonetheless for anyone who has played Settlers before, or even if you haven't but know what it looks like. Fear not -- for those luddites out there who haven't ever seen a Settlers of Catan board, you can below, and will then be able to appreciate this....The Pizza of Catan. In other words, it's a Settlers board made out of mini pizza muffins. The pieces are made of red, yellow, and orange bell peppers. I have no idea who is responsible for this masterpiece, but it's amazing, and I certainly hope they ate it after finishing the game.
Anyway, seeing this picture got me reminiscing fondly about Settlers. I sent the picture to virtually everyone I know who plays the game (so the only people who will be seeing it for the first time here will likely be unimpressed, and, perhaps, have cause for doubting my sanity). After mentioning it in passing to a new friend here, she lit up, exclaiming excitedly that she not only loves Settlers, but has a set with her in Shanghai. A few nights later, less than three weeks into my new life in China, I was sitting at her dining room table, with two other friends, playing Settlers and eating (I kid you not) pizza bagels.
Flash forward to last night. A Chinese friend whom I met through Serge (my Canadian/Armenian roommate) invited me over to his house for some home-cooked dinner, and to play cards. I've played cards with this group before -- in addition to just enjoying a friendly card game every now and then, I'm also eager to take advantage of any opportunity to hang out with Chinese folks, so spending time with this bunch is a win-win. To top it all off, they're a really great group of people, guys and girls, ranging in age from about my age to probably 30 or so.
A few minutes after getting to Huck's place, I saw the unmistakable big red box, sitting on his bookshelf. Who knew Settlers was produced in China, of all places? After grabbing it and shoving it in Huck's face saying, "HOLY SHIT YOU PLAY SETTLERS?!", I learned that not only is it his favorite game as well, but most of his friends love it as well, AND Huck once played in a Settlers tournament (yes, they exist) in Australia and won several hundred bucks! After that, there really wasn't any question that we'd take a brief detour from the evening's original agenda to play a game. We didn't end up finishing it, for reasons of time and the inability to include the whole group, but below you'll see evidence of my second career Settlers game in China, and the first ever playing with a Chinese set. For those interested, the game is called 卡坦岛 (ka tan dao, which basically means "Catan Island").
Despite the excitement from playing Settlers, the game wasn't the most noteworthy part of the evening. Nor were the poker game, the great company, or the fact that the majority of conversation for the entire night was in Mandarin -- all of which individually would otherwise have been reasons enough to convince me to come to Huck's house. I arrived expecting a simple, home-cooked meal for dinner, looking forward to seeing what "normal" Chinese people cook for themselves and their friends when they're at home. What I got was by a long margin the best food I've had since coming to China. Huck has apparently been cooking since he was five, and boy does it show. Dish after dish came streaming out of his tiny kitchen, from eggplant in vinegar sauce, to bitter cabbage with garlic and oil, to double cooked pork, to spicy crusted seafood with sichuan pepper, to bullfrog stew. Yes... I ate bullfrog. I'd be lying if I said it was my new favorite source of protein, but literally everything Huck threw at us was delicious, including the frog. Looking around the room as I stuffed as much food into my mouth as my poor-chopsticks skills would allow, I realized that none of the other guests were nearly as impressed as I was. It was just normal. Huck cooks for them all the time, and they're all just used to how good his food is. After dinner, Huck told me they do this at least once a week, and that I was always welcome to return.
To top it all off, one of the guys brought his wife and toddler to the meal. The kid, Tony, was probably around 3 or 4, and I don't think he stopped making noise for more than the time it took him to swallow his food (and sometimes not even then). At one point, he started hiding behind a couch and giggling every time I peered around it to look at him (I've already come to terms with the fact that I'm funny-looking in general, but particularly to Chinese people, and even more particularly to Chinese children). Here's a quick shapshot of young Tony, one that I was lucky to capture because he never was standing in one place for very long.
All in all, a great night of cards, company, Chinese, and Catan -- one that I think and hope will happen again very soon.
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