Sunday 14 December 2008

Bamboo with a problem

I have been in Hangzhou for a few days - at a conference about Foreign Teachers in China, which was very interesting in some ways. I got to stay in a "top" hotel, met a lot of foreign teachers, sat through quite a lot of drivel, ate a lot of Chinese food, and had a tour around Hangzhou. I have many stories to write.

But I will start with this one. Today we were seated in a lovely restaurant - 8 foreign teachers and our "tour guide" whose English was not very good. As the plates of food appeared on the rotating table top, we would ask her what they were - she had ordered them, so it was fair to think she knew. Which she did.

One plate of dark vegetable looking food arrived and we asked her again "What is this one?" to which she replied "Bamboo Shits". As clear as day. It took a second or two before we were trying to stop laughing out loud, but one explained that she probably should say "bamboo shoots" and we explained what "her" word meant. We all had a good laugh about that one!

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