礼拜六的聚会－ Saturday Night Meetup

Ephesians 5:18 says: "and do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the spirit." If you've ever been drinking in China, you'll likely doubt the word of god here and agree that it's best to stay away from the spirits - they're almost certainly fake! Actually, and as if you needed another excuse to hit the beers, remember that wine in China is generally fake as well. I'm not sure where I was going with that quote.

Anyway, founded around 4 months ago, Liuzhou Meet & Learn has quickly become the biggest and liveliest social event in Liuzhou. Whilst definitely not debaucherous, there are certainly some drinks to be had every Saturday night at our regular meeting. We have over 30 attendees every week, and a total membership of nearly 100 people, ready to meet new local and foreign friends, to share their language, their thoughts and more.

When we first arrived in the city, we found there wasn't really an opportunity for the expat and local communities to mix in a casual, but organised and regular, way. Whilst it's great to 干杯 (literally "dry glass" or down drinks) with farmers at the roadside BBQ restaurants, the conversation never really extends beyond the locals expressing their amazement at a foreigner's ability to use chopsticks and eat spicy food. So, with that in mind, and a wish to break away from the more negative elements of the expat community in the city, we started a meetup at our favourite bar. Things caught on fast, and our membership continues to grow.

We welcome visitors to Liuzhou, and any locals of course, to join the party. All we ask is that you bring a positive attitude and that you socialise with other attendees in Chinese or English (or any other language, for that matter) - please don't play with your phone for the whole evening! We get together from 8pm every Saturday night and we're always happy to welcome new members.

Here are some pictures from our recent meetups; if you fancy joining in, send us a message to get the location.

Comments

KTV

Everyone loves KTV. Everyone. If you don't like sitting in a dark, enclosed space, listening to your friends murdering classic mandopop hits at ear splitting volume, there has to be something wrong with you. I've heard people ask what the point of learning to read Chinese is, what with the use of pinyin as a phonetic system, and the ability to use your phone to translate text. The answer is obvious: if you can't read characters, how will you sing Chinese songs at KTV? In China, and across Asia, KTV culture is huge and, if you want to engage with life here, learning to sing a couple of songs in the local language will get you a lot of kudos. At Liuzhou Meet & Learn, we organise regular KTV evenings, and I'm always surprised by how good people are at singing, particularly our local Chinese members - unfortunately, us foreigners don't always hold up our end of the bargain and I've witnessed some performances that made my ears bleed. I admit to bei...

射箭 - Archery

As the end of the winter break draws near, we decided to release our inner warrior and shoot some arrows... Global tensions are high at the moment, relationships between super powers increasingly strained - who knows when things will suddenly flare up and tip over into full scale war? After the inevitable apocolypse, we're going to need skills like archery so, ever one to plan for every possible eventuality, I decided Liuzhou Meet & Learn shouldn't leave these kind of things to chance. Like a band of merry men we went to the local archery range for a lesson and some practice. After a being taught the basics of posture and technique, we got to the shooting and, in a suprising turn of events, we actually weren't that bad at it, definitely more Robin Hood than Friar Tuck. Apart from one member though, who kept hitting my target instead of the one in front of him; but I won't name and shame. *ahem* Isaac. If you're interested in joinin...

国庆节 - National Day

Famous for being the busiest travel week of the year, when foreign residents who've spent any period of time in China will tell you to stay at home to avoid the crowds, 国庆节 National Day, or 黄金周 Golden Week, is a public holiday where seemingly the entire country leaves their villages and crowds into the cities and popular travel destinations. I experienced the holiday last year and, as such, decided to stay in Liuzhou this time, to avoid (not entirely successfully) being jostled and gawped at by tens of thousands of farmers. Besides, one of our members at Liuzhou Meet & Learn has some connections within the local tourism department and wanted some foreign volunteers to be taken around the city to attend the various events taking place. So, four members from our group set off to be photographed doing everything from walking around, to eating noodles, to being force fed tea by members of the local ethnic minority groups. One thing that is so seductive about living in a sm...

Liuzhou Meet & Learn

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