Hanging with the roommate

So I got to spend some time with Varys, my roommate, and a couple of his friends. I feel like we do not spend as much time together as we should, being roommates and all. Usually one of us (me) is in classes, and then after that we just kind of hang out in separate groups. I started to feel bad about it, so when he said he had a few friends he was going to hang out with and asked me if I wanted to come, I jumped at the chance.

We went to a hotpot place near the campus. For those of you who do not know what hotpot is, you basically order what you want and how spicy you want the food. They bring out a broth and put it on a hotplate in the middle of the table, and you basically dip what you want into the hotpot. Overall, pretty good. Today's hotpot contained bamboo, potato, some small dumpling-like balls of meat...oh, and bullfrog.

Weird food of the day - CHECK.

Anyway, Varys and his friends were very interested in my culture. One thing I have to note, as a New Yorker, is that Linsanity has swept China by storm. If you are not a sports fan, Linsanity is the term given to the ridiculous streak of great games Jeremy Lin has been having for the New York Knicks. These guys keep me updated about how he plays every day; I don't even need sports sites or newspapers anymore. I have mentioned before that basketball is one of the main interests of the Chinese, but listening to them throw out stats like it was nothing is impressive.

I have to say that I had a lot of fun while hanging out with Varys and his friends. They are very nice people, and we had some interesting conversation (if a little difficult for some with limited controls of the other's language). His friends want me to drop by their English classes, if just to meet the teacher and the other students. At some point, I hope to take them up on that offer, and I would definitely have lunch with them again.

During the lunch, there was a moment which caused me to laugh hysterically. I have permission from these guys to retell what happened. We were talking about Nanjing Road, one of the busiest shopping streets in the world.  I have walked down it once, and the amount of stores there is boggling. There are a lot of high end stores along this road, and it is home to one of the largest Apple stores in China, and possibly the world. This place is huge. Anyway, we were talking about the store, and I mentioned that I did not have a lot of apple products. Varys mentioned that Apples were very popular, but that there was a big divide between those who liked Apple and those who hated it. Varys and his friends were on the anti-Apple side. He then asks me if I know Jack, another Chinese roommate who lives a few doors down from us. I say I do. These were the next words out of his mouth:

"He is totally an Apple dog. He says all of our stuff is garbage."

I was amazed. I had never really heard Varys say anything bad about anyone, and I knew he and jack were friends (they often played video games together). And yet, here he was, bashing the guy with a huge smile on his face. I couldn't help but laugh. They joined in, and I realized it was OK.

I may never understand the culture completely, but I know I will have fun with it regardless.