College dinner

With the semester coming to an end, my college held its semi-annual dinner for its sports teams. Being part of the the New Asia rowing team, I naturally paid the ridiculously cheap 10 HKD for the dinner and tagged along.

Located in the staff cantine at New Asia college, the scene was set for a feast. All colleges seem to have a regular and a staff cantine, with the latter serving food of better quality, but slightly more expensive. I had never been before, but 12 or so round tables were laid with bowls and cutlery for at least 80 people. From here on, it was one peculiarity after the other.

Firstly, the dinner time was set for 18:30. I show up at the stroke of half past, find my seat at the rowing table and patiently look around. No more than 10 people were present, and there was no indication that something was going to happen. The New Asia bigwigs (president, various coaches) didn't show up till 19:15, and it wasn't until 19:30 that everybody stood up and sang the New Asia song. The song was accompanied by a classical piece, mostly resembling La Marseillaise, and the pompousness and grandeur seemed completely out of place with 70 Asians quietly mumbling along.

Finally some waiters appeared. They brought large jugs, resembling ice tea, and with the weather being 95% humidity and 28 degrees, it was exactly what was needed. The jugs, however, contained coke, which had completely lost its fizz, so it was basically overly sweet suger-water, and after half a glass the sugar coating on my teeth deterred me from another sip. In the meantime, a middle-aged man, neatly suited up with a tie and sweating uncontrollably, took the microphone and proceeded to give a 15 minute speech.

Then came the food. In Asia, you know a banquet will be good, and there was an over-abundance of rice, noodles, chicken, pork, fried fish, squid, broccoli, spinach, a green chinese asparagus, and sautéed beef. Being a sport event, the meal was frequently interrupted by acknowledgements and rounds of applause for what people told me were VIP's (which, I later found out, they meant to be MVP's, not exactly the same), as well as charades and a (seemingly) hilarious role playing event involving reading from a jumbled up script. After the compulsory photo shoot, we were out of the door at 21:30.

All in all it was a great experience; cheap, delicious food and, thankfully, two other exchange students at the table who row in my boat. The main problem, and also the most interesting aspect of the evening, was that everything was in Cantonese. Even the programmes and the entertainment had no hint of an English word. For these reasons, it is hard to blame foreigners for grouping together - the Asians do it themselves. They obviously feel much more relaxed speaking Cantonese, and they seemed to really enjoy themselves, but for me and my two mates, we all agreed that it was a one-off thing for us. Shame.