“Haiti Post-The Suresh’s Part Deux?”
“stefAnnie, i want to take you out to lunch today.” president of company says. “HOT food.”
“hot?” i’m thinking maybe it’s really warm, or popular food. ‘hot’ in a Paris Hilton kind of way.
“very spicy. the only real chinese food is spicy food.”
at this point my face must have crumpled in fear or something because he started telling me that i had to try it whether i liked it or not.
somewhere in between me dodging the chili peppers and tearing up and sweating, the boss was promted to tell me the following story:
‘in the 80s i worked in tanzania. my boss worked for the embassy there, - he was from Hunan province. he would not eat anything unless there were red peppers on it. i used to be like you. i used to hate spicy foods. but when your boss likes it, you learn to like it.’
he piled my plate with more perfectly good tofu covered in chili peppers and another spice that in english translates to ‘alarming seed’. it’s quite alarming.
in the end i survived. it was no haiti part deux, where my best friends became a bucket and the bathroom floor. and i got to hear that and many other great stories slash advice from the president. in the end it was quite lovely.
we talked and he said that if i was staying til the 26th he would take me to a restaurant that specializes in food from the Fujian province - which is where i’ll be living til next year. he’s travelling from today until the earlier date that i would leave, and while that sounds like a great 2 hours, the extra 4 days of coming to the office that it would require don’t seem to make it worthwhile.
also i’ll have 6 months to eat this type of food. okay fine, 5.
on a similar note i am sooooo soooo happy i’m not studying/living in Hunan or Sichuan Provinces.
