Parties Note to self... Wear comfortable shoes to receptions!

We've been here 3 weeks and we've been to two social events together and we've each been to one alone.

One highlight was the U.S. Embassy party for our Independence Day. It was at the China World Hotel and featured a speech by our Ambassador Clark T. Randt, Jr., the longest serving U.S. Ambassador to China ever. His speech was much more forward than I'd have expected. It was about piracy of material here.

The majority of attendees were Chinese, with a smattering of the international Attache community and our Defense Attache office. The perimeter of the room was filled with tables from American food companies, like Pizza Hut, McDonald's Starbucks etc. So the food was fun and the conversation was good. Between that party and others we've met diplomats from: England, Scotland, Australia, Germany, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Chile, Korea, Japan, Romania, Canada, Pakistan, India, Turkey and more. Everyone is very nice and, lucky for us, the language of choice is English. Not everyone can speak it but many can, so we are VERY lucky.

I learned an early lesson. The attire for the party was dressy. I chose a nice dress and decided that since it was only an hour and a half reception, I'd wear my higher heals because they are great shoes. However, being part of the hosting office, we had to be there an hour early and at receptions, you stand around the whole time. By the end of the evening, I could barely hobble out of the building to the waiting car. (For official events we get a car and driver.) In the future, no matter how tempting the shoes, I will wear sensible shoes to receptions and reserve the higher heals for sit down dinners.

Tom attended a lunch hosted by a Japanese Attache at a restaraunt. I attended a lunch hosted by the wife of the Australian Attache at the Australian Embassy. Together, we also attended a dinner in someone's home. In the next two weeks, we have at least 3 more parties to attend, including "Ba / Yi" which means "8 /1" for August 1, the annivesary of the founding of the People's Libaration Army.