The Happy Hosts

Our family played host to Dave’s coworkers this weekend for a chili dinner. Initially meant to be an American-style BBQ at the community grills, we could not effectively communicate with our management to book a grill and picnic table. So we moved inside. A better choice anyway, as the sky drizzled and the wind blew most of the day. We fixed a big pot of chili, a hot pan of homemade corn bread, and a box of brownies.

Guests arrived right on time – 11:30am. About 15 of Dave’s coworkers came, their arms loaded down with presents. They brought clothes for the girls, snacks and beer for our house, and steamed buns to add to the meal. The steamed buns were the perfect complement to hot chili, but I’ll admit that the rest of the snacks remain unopened.

They also brought two bags of ice-cream. Asian ice-cream comes in single-serve containers, and in un-American flavors like green tea (rather bland) and peanut (yum!).

Everyone seemed to enjoy the chili, and raved over the brownies. The cornbread went almost entirely untouched. So now we have plans for treating the office with batches of homemade cookies, fudge and brownies occasionally.

In retrospect, we realized that the meal we fixed was distinctly un-Asian. In a Chinese restaurant, food comes out as soon as it leaves the burner. Everyone eats family style – most tables have a large lazy susan in the center to enhance sharing. A host orders more dishes than people, and you take a few bights of everything on the table. As American hosts, we made one large pot of stew and provided a few small things on the side. People ate small servings of chili, and kept nibbling on everything else – as is their custom. Next time we’ll add more to our feast.

But we all enjoyed a lovely afternoon. S—loved the attention, Dave enjoyed spending time with his coworkers in a setting outside the office, and I asked and answered questions in a pleasant conversation. The more I settle into a routine, the less I run into local Chinese people, so these conversations were a real treat.

Sunday night we played host again, this time to Sheila and her family. Our agent has also become our neighbor and friend, and her three daughters have become L—‘s favorite people in Shanghai (2 of the 3 are the aforementioned babysitters). They came over for tacos, and we all enjoyed some lively conversation and playing with toys.

We went to bed thoroughly exhausted after all of the cooking, cleaning and entertaining. And feeling a bit more like we fit-in in our new home.