Kung Fu Panda and Kong Chef's Table

The photo services crew (Val, Alysha, Chris & I) were in for a night of fun after training with our new Chinese friends. We had asked them last week about Noodle Loft-- due to our quest to visit it-- and they were so excited. Yesterday, when I arrived at work, Lake (his English name) informed me that he had eaten at the Noodle Loft the previous day and it wasn't that great. He had found another noodle place to eat instead, Master Kong Chef's Table! He also bought tickets for us to see Kung Fu Panda at the cinema.

After work, we took the subway to the restaurant where we enjoyed delicious beef and noodle dishes as well as some interesting desserts. My favorite dessert was the mango ice cream and peanut ice cream; least favorite (the Chinese love it) was a red bean and green bean iced dessert with mango and the little gelatin balls that are found in bubble tea. Interesting. The girls at our table were so cute and fun. We had a blast!

Before we left, we were given red envelopes with one yuan inside, which is a gift of good luck, according to our new friends. Red envelopes with money are traditionally given on special occasions like weddings or Chinese New Year. What a sweet gesture!

There wasn't enough time to go back to CUC before the movie so we headed there and played games in the arcade. We raced cars and tried to win a panda out of one of those elusive claw machines. Amanda, a Chinese volunteer, and I tried DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) for the first time. What a disaster. I can safely say I will never attempt a repeat performance. But at least I tried.

Kung Fu Panda was great, and I am happy to be able to have seen it while in China. It was really neat to see how many of the cultural details really are (somewhat) like the country, and I know that firsthand now. Most notably, the differences between the theater here and at home are that they serve sweetened popcorn (it was a strange sensation when my taste buds were expecting butter and salt!) and the movie sound is much quieter. The seats were really comfortable, too, but I will say that I can't wait to eat some buttered popcorn at my next viewing experience at home.

We were so thrilled to have had this experience with our photo services comrades, and they seemed equally as excited. They told us after that they would not have had dinner and a movie in the same night if it weren't for us. We felt guilty for them being so generous, but hopefully we'll have an opportunity to return the favor sometime soon. It is so fun to make new friends at work, and to learn more about Chinese culture from people our age.

It was a great ending to an interesting day. At the venue, we learned more about where we would be stationed during the events and what would be happening where. It's important for us to know where photographers can and can't go as well as who can go where (Pool photographers have the run of the house, pretty much) but more about this later. We were able to see some Chinese track cyclists practicing, which was awesome. It made me want to buy a bike when I get home, for sure, and gave us a taste of the speed we would be seeing at the Games.