Random Dinner

On my way to tutor Michael tonight I stopped in a random restaurant on Huhai Lu.  With no open tables left, except for parties of 8, I was paired with a middle aged women.  At first there was a 3 minute awkward silence.  I finally broke this by asking her what her favorite dish was.  We began talking and she started to teach me how to read a menu with Chinese characters.  Although I don't remember much it was helpful at the moment.  She told me what she thought I would like since I told her I was in the mood for chicken.  We continued to converse we waited for our food and she told me how she was a piano teacher and I told her about my teaching.  She thought it was very admirable of me to come here to teach these children, but also couldn't believe I didn't speak Chinese.  Her gyoza or dumplings arrived and she immediately offered me one.  I accepted and wanted more but didn't ask.  Out of the corner of my eye I saw something mysterious being delivered to the man next to me.  This meat was mysterious in many ways.  One thing weired was that he was sipping marrow out of it with a straw, another was that he was holding the bone with his left hand that was clad with a glove the restaurant had given him.  I instantly asked what in gods name is that.  She said, "Ohh soo good, Pigs elbow."  The restaurant supposedly serves a great elbow but I had never seen such a thing.  Finally my dish came out and it looked fairly good.  I took a bite and it was the exact opposite of my thoughts.  It was terrible, some sort of weired chicken cartilage mixed with potatoes and green peppers.  The dish as a whole wasn't bad, just the chicken.  I started picking it out and gave it to her.  She was laughing but also felt bad a little.  Eventually she had to run to go to a class but she left 4 gyoza for me which was quite nice.  To get a waiters attention to get your check you really have to yell, "FU-YU-IN."  I still have trouble doing this because I feel incredibly rude.  It would be like me yelling, "WAITER GET OVER HERE."  The table next to me had no problem helping me out when they saw me trying to flag her down.  They smiled and were very nice.  Another typical day in China!