The concert!... and the Asian Pearl

I'm really tired right now so I hope I can do the stories of today justice.

The 10 Piano Concert went well. The K. 545 was a little rushed but still good, Tyler's group did awesome at the Happy Farmer, and Nathaniel was the best bower on stage. Saying goodbye to Hannah afterward was the hardest part. Lindsay especially will miss her roommate, I think. I'm glad I get to hang with the Drapers a little longer.

Shannon, Scott, Tyler and I also went to the banquet at Asian Pearl Restaurant after the concert. It was a super nice place. Shannon, Tyler and I got a little nervous when we walked in and saw an aquarium filled with a variety of sea creatures, all obviously on the menu for whoever asked for fish or crab or lobster (or whatever). We were even more concerned when we saw the labeled pictures on the walls highlighting certain dishes available at the restaurant. The most notable one was the intestines of some animal I can't remember (Shannon says goose). We found our table and joked about what we were about to eat until the banquet began.

Our fears were put to rest when the servers brought out a huge plate of something very similar to chips and orange sauce. Next came eggrolls (when the server brought them to our table, Tyler said loudly and happily, "Yum! Taquitos!" to which we replied, "No," after which he guessed, "Tamales?"), then candied shrimp and walnuts, a small cup of soup with shrimp and hickima (jicama) and green peppers (Shannon said, "Great, now we get to eat shrimp that's floating!" She's not a fan of rubbery textures), rice, orange chicken, beef and broccoli, tofu, fried rice, noodles and small sea animals including more shrimp and palm-sized octopi, with orange slices for dessert. With the exception of the orange slices, the food got less Americanized the farther through the courses we got. There was SO MUCH FOOD. My favorite was the candied shrimp; I was full by the orange chicken. I did eat an octopus (tastes just like shrimp, but more rubbery) just so I could say I've done it.

But the night wouldn't have been complete without a small humbling experience for me and a noisy wedding in the room next door (Scott got the giggles over the live Asian rock music they were playing). It was really hard to hear all the speeches and stuff at the end over the other party, but really by then I was too tired to care. Shannon felt bad for the Japanese teachers and everyone who put a lot of work into the concert, though, and I see her point.

The humbling experience came when one of the servers offered us styrofoam containers to take some of the food home. Tyler and I really wanted to bring home an octopus to show Lindsay, Nathaniel and Matthew, but there weren't any left on the plate on our table. Tyler glanced over at the table beside us and saw they had two octopi. It seemed perfectly natural for me to go to that table and pick the octopi out of the noodles for our container - everyone was done eating over there, after all. Unfortunately it didn't occur to me to ask permission before I helped myself to their serving dish. Two ladies I either didn't see when I took the octopi or walked up a heartbeat after I did it were kind of offended.

"Excuse me," one of the ladies said, causing me to turn and see them for the first time. "That's our table. We were going to take some of that home. Weren't you sitting at that table there?"

I was pretty embarrassed. I also felt pretty bad. "I'm so sorry," I said. "I didn't mean to - do you want them back?"

The ladies looked at me like I'd sprouted two heads. "No, that's okay," she said. "Keep them."

I apologized again to one of the ladies right before we left because I still felt bad. She knew exactly what I was referring to when I said, "Sorry again."

"Oh yeah. That was kinda weird," she said. I tried to explain but I have a feeling I'm still on their bad list because she didn't respond. Good thing the charges aren't more serious than stealing octopi. Shannon thought it was funny. Nathaniel and Lindsay were sufficiently impressed. So at least I didn't do it for nothing.