Strange lunch

Today I went with some colleagues to The Bookworm, a charming English-language bookstore/library/restaurant in Chengdu. It was my 3rd time there, but the first time I went for something other than a special event. It was a lunch to remember.

My salad and sandwich were good, as expected. The food was not the issue, though. It was the "show." As a backdrop to our after-church lunch, we were witness to a gathering. A gathering of men. A gathering of mostly European, rugby-playing men. A gathering of European, rugby-playing men all wearing showy red dresses. Red dresses that didn't leave much to the imagination. And they were loving every minute of the attention they were generating.

Come to find out, there may have been some kind of fundraising event associated with this, but still that doesn't make up (in my mind) for the sight of very very large, hairy men in skimpy dresses strutting through the restaurant during lunch.

And perhaps that wasn't the strangest part.

As we were getting ready to leave, our exit was blocked by a ladder outside. A man was posting a banner, advertising an upcoming meeting. Of the "Sichuan-A Esperanto Asocio." So, despite the fact that the wannabe-universal language is hardly a mainstay in China, we happened upon the meeting of an Esperanto club in China. Who'd have thought.

If anyone can translate Esperanto, please let me know when their next club meeting is. (just kidding!) Hey, does Babelfish translate Esperanto?

-alan