Third Day in Changchun

So the family is back in Changchun. I've taken a bit of a break from writing in the blog which is unfortunate cuz every day is an adventure in this place. So, here's to Friday. I got to go the local police station this morning to get forms for releasing our shipment of goods from customs when it arrives (no one knows when that will be). Yes, you need to go to the police station to sign a form in order for them to give you the form to fill out. The one officer who can approve handing out the form was not there and the woman behind his desk playing spider solitaire was not authorized to give us the form. So we waited. I asked my guy how often this happens and he said every time. He told me I should be happy that we would only be delayed a few hours. Sometimes the official goes away on 'training' for a week and no forms are issued. Apparently commmunism has not quite perfected the process of form handing out. I wanted to take a picture of the spider solitaire woman, but I thought taking a picture of a comuputer screen in a police station of a communist country might not be seen as the humorous moment I was taking it to be. In the afternoon I got an e-mail that I would need another 2 passport sized photos of everyone in our family. This would make the 5th time I have had to do this. I'm not sure why everyone needs 2 pictures of everyone in our family, but apparently every agency in China would like 2 pictures of every stout in the country. At night we went out for a work dinner with the whole family and 3 JCI colleagues to the hot pot. This is a restaurant where you get a little separate room with a giant table (we bring 6 to any party which makes the need for the table to be large) with a giant lazy susan. Everyone gets their own pot of water with spices over a bunson burner and then you start ordering stuff to dunk in the pot. We passed on the black fungus and sea cucumbers. And the spinal chord. We went with the pork, beef, and lamb along with potatoes, tofu, and salmon. It was all very good. Two odd things: #1 the Chinese do not seem to have any type of normal cadence to a meal. In the US it seems normal to sit and chat over a glass of water/wine/soft drink while looking at the menu until everyone is set to order. Then the food all comes and you eat. In China, as soon as you sit down the menu is put in front of you and you need to start ordering. I tried to tell the waitress that we should wait for the 3 other members of our party, but she either didn't understand me or didn't care. So Dee and I are ordering stuff without having a clue for what we're going to do with it when it comes. By the time the 3 guys arrive, we already have food on the table and we're trying to decipher exactly what is in the little sauce bowls in front of us. Then food continued to come willy nilly until it was done. (someone ordered raw beef that didn't go in the hot pot. Odd, but tasty) #2 There is always something that catches you unaware. On the menu there was a special page devoted to 'noodle man'. The waitress asked us how many servings we wanted so we said 6. 30 minutes later in walks the noodle man. He starts with a short, thick strip of noodle and proceeds to do his dance with the noodle in order to thin it out. After doing his dance, he dumps it in the persons hot pot to cook. Then he repeats the process 5 more times. I can tell that I have not been in China too long as I am still surprised when a grown man comes to my table and does a noodle dance.