Tacos and Beer Pong

This post is a little late, but I still think it is worth sharing because it was such a fun night.  Several weeks ago we invited Joel's team from work and a few other friends over for dinner and  to hangout.  No one from Joel's office had tried Mexican food before so I undertook the job of making Mexican dip (7 layer) and tacos.  At home this is our go to meal for casual get togethers.  It is easy and inexpensive.  Here, neither one of those words apply.  It took me several days and cleaned out my wallet to find all the ingredients we needed.  Luckily the western store that is close to us here is very good and has a ton of stuff from home, as someone told me our first week here...you can get anything for a price.  So, I was able to get most things and while the taco shells were stale and we had to use minced chicken instead of the usual turkey at home I would say that the dinner turned out really well.  Everyone really seemed to enjoy the food, we barely had any leftovers.  Joel had to walk everyone through the ingredients (with Adam interpreting) and all the different items you can make out of the fillings plus the shells, tortillas and tortilla chips.  Lots of yummy combinations.
Video of Joel explaining Mexican food
He then demonstrated by making the first taco and then set everyone free to make their own combos with the things they liked.  I think the refried bean and the tortilla chips were the biggest hit.  I was asked several times where to buy the chips.
Joel making a taco
Joel is a little embarrassed by this video but I think it is hilarious.  The whole time we have been here all our Chinese friends have been helping us to try new things and explaining food and cultural things to us and it was our turn to teach them something new.
After everyone had their fill of tacos and burritos and nachos we taught everyone how to play beer pong.  The Chinese love ping pong here.  It is always on TV and there are big tournaments and special paddles and balls to buy.  So when we told them about beer pong they were very excited.  Summer, the only girl who was there from Joel's office beat everyone.  I think this is a game we will be playing with everyone again.
Beer pong video