Fireworks and an unexpected celebration of a bloke going to university

Lu Wen called me to say one of the bosses from yesterday's meal was inviting me for a meal tomorrow. Just when I thought such advance notice didn't happen suddenly it happened. But I'd promised A Wu I'd invite Baksec Zhai for a meal tomorrow (obviously I hadn't called him so much in advance) so said I'd probably not be able to make tomorrow. Ok then, it would be the next day according to Lu Wen. This I believe even less. Nobody seems to have the capacity to arrange things 48 hours in advance unless it involves plane tickets.

I skipped lunch but had tea at Waipo's, then a bit later as the kids were out with Chuan Chuan decided to go on a bike ride to see what that would bring me. I rode to a couple of places I wasn't too familiar with and then suddenly out of the blue there were fireworks nearby. When I found the source of the fireworks I found about 50 people, mostly shirtlesss blokes sitting around tables eating and drinking. I was interested in what the celebration may be and so I asked a couple of ladies sitting at one of the outside tables. Ah - it was the owner's son who was soon going to university - that was the reason for the massive fireworks display and feast. Suddenly I was bidden to have a bite to eat and have a drink with the father and had my hand held as I was brought into the mileu of blokes.

First I was made to sit at the table of the bloke who was going to university later that week. He seemed so pleased to see me, as were the others at the table, and of course I offered him a gan bei. Then they quickly latched on that I knew how to cai ma, which brough literal gasps of awe. So of course I had to prove this and immediately beat the first kid I played. This led them to break out into applause which of course I lapped up but worried about taking some of the limelight from university boy. I needn't have worried though - I cai ma'd him, then every bloke, then we broke into two teams around the table and I didn't drink a glass.

The best picture I could get of the kids' tables but about as accurate as it seemed

Moving on to the elders' table I felt a little more at home

But they the dad came again and it was decided I should now sit at the elders' table. Gosh they made the kids look sober, but I had a very fun time talking with them and also cai ma'ing for good measure. One bloke was wearing a buttoned up brown shirt with a collar and I reckoned he must have been the magic man for the evening. He was particularly drunk where you could tell his eyes were not focused, but he insisted in a couple of gan beis and cai ma too, despite being otherwise impossible to understand.

I did check the beer - it was "Suntory" - 7.5 degrees, or 3.1%, so not the weakest. The other day I took advantage of some time to myself and tried to sort out once and for all the relationship between "degrees" and percentage when it comes to beer. For wine and spirits it does seem to be a one-to-one relationship, but totally muddled for pijiu. I spent more time than is decent making notes of the degree/percent relationships from some of the beers on offer and found that even though Li Quan 7° is 3.1% and Snow 8° is 2.5%, at least within brands there was some consistency, i.e. a higher degree has not (so far) resulted in a lower percentage. I'll need to add to this spreadsheet but here is the first draft that one day I may show to a local to try to fathom some explanation.

Brand	7°	7.5°	8°	9°	9.7°	10°	11°	11.2°
Li Quan	3.10%					3.60%
Snow			2.50%	3.60%
Blue Riband						3.60%	4.30%
Qingdao			3.10%
Melchers Dutch								5%
Budweiser					3.60%
Suntory		3.10%

I spent a good hour there in every sense but made some child-related excuses and left around 9.30. As the kids weren't around I decided I'd have a quick drive to the bloke I'd met yesterday who brought beer to the bosses. He and his family-in-law were there and indeed drinking beer and I was welcomed in like a long-lost family member. The "father" had had a few clearly and was using his best English to try to communicate with me. They were listening to music and he put on his favourite "Yesterday Once More" by Carol Carpenter I believe. I noticed that my friend, who I now realised was Zhang Hua, was wearing a cool football top in a slightly darker that City blue (though hardly different from this season's abomination) and I told him I liked it. That was enough for him to start asking my size and favourite number. Ok I sort of knew I'd be offered one and I did my best to say I'd pay for it but they would hear nothing of it; it would be ready in a couple of days. At least that would mean I would have to go back, which I'm guessing is what they really wanted. After that and a couple more gan beis I called it a night.