Goin' topless

So today was another good but tiring day at school.  I only had one class today, my 0 level class.  (Sounds bad, I know, but it just means they are the ones that need the most help.)  We did a group work activity and they did really well!  I was totally impressed!  They worked together and presented their results with very minimal prodding!  Yay! 

After that I had office hours and tried to do some more prepping.  Am still getting emails and suggestions and supplemental materials from all sides.  Nice to have so many helping hands but it's a lot to wade through.  Finally around 6 we decided to go home.  Unfortunately it was also the time everyone else was going home.  After watching 7 or 8 buses go by with people trying to wedge themselves in the doors, Beth and I decided to just grab dinner at a place nearby and head home when it would be less crowded. 

We went to a place another teacher had shown us earlier in the week.  I call it Jack's place, because he told us that his friend Jack really loves it.  (It's where I had the bitter melon and egg.)  Like many restaurants here, the best stuff is hanging in the window - top photo.  So Beth and I sat down and perused the English menu, which did not include any of the dishes I'd had previously.  We had some complications, but finally managed to order.  I hit the ladies room and had my first experience with a squatting toilet.  I didn't take a photo, but it's just what it sounds like.  The "toilet bowl" is like a shallow basin in the floor.  Still flushes, so I don't see the point.  Just saving ceramic?  Anyway, I came back to our table and after a few minutes noticed the disconcerting sight at the right.

This was the man cooking our food.  I could see him through the door to the kitchen from our table.  In his defense, I'm sure it was incredibly hot in that kitchen, but it seems neither safe nor hygienic to cook in such a fashion.  You actually see men going shirtless here quite often.  Not usually in restaurants, but very often the guys doing manual labor outside or in small shops.  Not that I blame them, but it's just a little different. 

Our food was tasty - we got congee, which is rice porridge.  It had thousand-year-eggs in it.  I posted these one of my first days here.  They're less creepy in porridge because you can't see them and they tasted pretty good.  We also had choy sum, our go-to vegetable and a yummy shrimp, celery and cashew stir-fry. 

When Chris initially took us to Jack's he was really disappointed, because the place next door was closed.  The way he gives directions to Jack's is to tell people that it's next to the place with the guy inappropriately straddling a bamboo pole.  We completely underestimated what he meant.