Going to make this a quickie blog post, since I have work tomorrow (Sunday!) because of the Mid-Autumn Festival. Today I was invited to a Chili Cook Off by my new friend Paul, as you can see from the pictures above. It was so much fun being surrounded by rowdy Americans sporting their college gameday shirts — day drinking and chanting galore. One of the chilis featured Jim Beam, chocolate, Vegemite, cumin, lime juice, and Frank’s Red Hot Sauce. And the proprietor kept offering shots of bourbon to everyone.

Overall, it was a fun experience and a reminder of just how international Shanghai has become in the past decade. If I ever need to feel at home, there is definitely something going on that will serve as a substitute.

I’m sad, though, that many USC games will be on at 4 am on Sundays my time! On weekends where I don’t have work, I will attempt to suck it up, go out on Saturday night and stay up until the game ends. Tonight, not so much. Beat the Gophers!