Chuarfest at the Beach

Every Chinese class has a class monitor, and our monitor is a 40-something Japanese man who is very social and very enthusiastic about organizing activities. So far we've had lunch, dinner, and sang karaoke together. About time for a beachside BBQ, or since we're in China, a chuarfest (chuar being a roasted meat skewer, the character for which resembles what it signifies: 串).

Along with the standard of mutton chuar, we also did shrimp that were still jumping and twitching while being skewered, and some kind of skinny fish that I never actually tried eating. Here are the highlights:



This is most of my class, plus a random Korean and Russian. Some swimming occurred, if you're wondering why one guy on the left has no pants on. Yup, rocking the briefs, no shame.



See the shirtless guy next to me? His official nickname is "Russian Man" (although he doesn't know this.) Read this post by Derek, an interesting fellow I met in my hostel in Beijing, to get a hilarious and dead-on description of Russians in China! Key words: mullet, tracksuit. Laughing matters aside, I will say that Russian Man's Chinese beats mine in all aspects except pronunciation - I'm impressed.