Booze or Water?

Do you know that in China, beer is cheaper than bottled water?

I am pissed that I don't drink beer. Can't stand the stuff.

I wish I did like it. A huge bottle costs less than $1. Bottled water sometimes costs up to $3 which is quite a lot in China.

I did drink wine in China. It was quite good. I do like one custom - keep the guests' glasses full. AMEN! We attended a welcome dinner at the Beijing Institute of Technology. We were given beer, wine, water, anything we wanted. None of our glasses was ever empty. I felt pressure to keep up. I thought it might be rude not to drink what was poured in my glass. After a while, I thought I would be wasted and staggering back to our hotel. Thank God I stopped drinking. But the pressure..... I understand that in years past, it was customary to continue to drink and eat as long as it was poured and provided. Many business associates ended up shit-faced. No wonder.

Another custom I want to take with me is the lazy susan in the middle of the table. No more having to hassle other guests to have food passed. Simply turn the turnstile in the middle and deliver the desired dish right to your setting. Wonderful. I want one for the dining room. I have seen them on patio tables, but never in the house. I will have to get Jamie to make one. He's an engineer, how hard can it be? Hell, I could stick a slab of glass on some sort of mechanism and probably do it myself. But that's one of the things fiances are for.

We got whiskey at one lunch - lunch. I don't drink whishey either. Turns out I drink wine and that's about it. That's quite enough because I drink enough wine for several displaced Chinese folk. I guess the whiskey could have put hair on your chest.

I don't need a hairy chest.