Today was our last full day in Harbin. Now that the games are all finished for the girls we get to just hang out and take in our last full day in China. We all slept in late and missed breakfast. Not that it matters since breakfast in China is by far the most disappointing meal. We went to Wanda plaza once again so a few of the girls could pick up some last minute gifts and snacks for the plane ride home. After shopping we all piled in cabs and headed over to the girls rink where the men's final was being played. They moved the men's medal games to our arena since it seats twice as many people as the new arena they just built. Russia played Canada in a really exciting, physical game. Russia ended up winning 4-2, but the game was tied until the last 5 minutes. After the game we all piled in to the bus to head to the hotel to pack and get ready for dinner. All of the officials were invited to the closing ceremonies, but instead we decided to all go out together for a big night of eating and drinking. A few of the guys had found this Chinese barbeque that they said was awesome so we all decided to give it a try. This brings up one of my frustrations in China - being a woman. They do not treat women the same way Americans do. In China women are supposed to be subservient and listen to the men. The Chinese men would make things difficult when we tried to do things on our own. An example would be the cab rides - if we tried to point the driver down certain streets he would get very angry - there were several instances where we almost got kicked out of cabs for doing this. This cultural difference made it much more difficult for us girls to explore the city on our own and discover places like the barbeque.
Now that I'm done my rant about the cultural difference, back to the barbeque. There were about 30 of us seated at the longest table I have ever seen. As soon as we sat down they brought out several giant milkcrates - all of which were filled with huge (probably about 32 oz) bottles of Harbin beer. They handed one to everyone whether you asked for it or not and throughout dinner continued to bring you a fresh beer as soon as you finished yours. After the beer they started to bring out different food items on skewers. I'm not exactly who ordered everything but I do know I never even saw a menu, the food just started to come out. Some of it was identifiable and quite tasty - there were chicken wings and legs which were very good. Then there were other things that were identifiable and not meant to be eaten (silk worms on a stick, pigs heart) or things that were just plain not identifiable (hot dog looking things). It was interesting to say the least. Stacey had been out to many Chinese "mob dinners" throughout the two weeks so she had warned us that a big thing for the Chinese is to toast and they would do so every five minutes. She was right on the money on that one because every few minutes someone at the table would raise their glass and just say "hhhheeeeeyyyyyy" to which everyone else would raise their glass, repeat and take a drink. Good thing the glasses were tiny or we'd all have been on the floor. Some people were on the floor regardless of that.
The entire dinner, beer, food, service (no tipping in Chinese culture) only cost 1100 yuan, or about $175. I don't even think you could buy McDonalds for 30 people for that amount of money in the US, let alone dinner and drinks. The entire meal was paid for by the tick fund and we still had money to spare. The tick fund is similar to the cancer fundraiser we do at nationals - every time you fall or do something stupid you get a tick - a tick costs you 10 yuan. I only had to put in 40 yuan, which compared to most was pretty good. Some of the guys had 15 ticks!
After dinner a few people made a McDonalds run for those who hadn't eaten much at the restaurant. I had a thing of french fries. I honestly can't believe I ate McDonalds 3 times while in China. I don't think I've been to McDonalds that many times in the last two years. After food we all just hung out in the hotel and drank what was left of our beer stash. Some people had to catch their shuttle to the airport at 4:45am so we stayed up as late as we could for those people so they could crash on the plane. My shuttle was at 8:30 so I at least got a few hours of sleep. It was a great, really fun way to end an awesome trip. I have some new friends and memories that will last a lifetime.
I posted some pictures from dinner on my site (www.picasaweb.google.com). I'll update once from the plane and once I get home. Goodbye from China!
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