Wonderful Dinner

I had a wonderful dinner with my supervisor and his family tonight. The dinner lasted for just over 3 hours and it wasn’t because the service was slow. It was just that the company was great. I think that I got to know my supervisor and his family a lot better tonight. We exchanged a lot of stories about our lives and our past. Regardless of what other people may think, I think that I’ve got a really nice supervisor.

As I would be leaving for home soon, my supervisor decided to have a going away do for me with his family. So, he suggested Chinese food and asked me for a recommendation. Seeing that there were only two edible restaurants here, I brought them to the nicer one on Regent Street (J’s Restaurant). The other one is a little dodgy. We ordered 5 different dishes and rice. As usual, the food was good. However, I did note that certain things were different in the service.

When I visited J’s in the past with friends, we were treated differently than this visit with my supervisor’s family. For example, they served us rice on a plate instead, while they would normally serve us rice in a bowl, just like any other Chinese restaurant. And when they made a mistake on our order and missed out a dish, the restaurant owner touched me on my shoulder apologetically. And when we left, he placed an appreciative touch on my shoulder. He has never ever touched me on my shoulder ever, in all my previous visits.

For our dessert, we had leong fun or what they called “minty jelly” at the restaurant. My supervisor’s wife was trying to figure out where the mint went. So, I explained that it was a translation of the Chinese name, which meant “cool” or “minty”. She was also trying to figure out the odd taste of the thing. So, I explained that there is a slight tinge of bitterness in it and all that. But it is something easier to savour than explain.

My supervisor’s family was really nice to be with too. Even his son, who is normally a little quiet, also joined into the conversation. We shared a bit about our past with each other and I told him a bit about my plans for the future. His wife also told me some stories about her childhood, which was very funny to hear. Britain in the past, was a very different place from what it is today. I even got to find out how my supervisor met his wife, which made me think that fate (not in the deterministic form) always plays a role in these things.

There aren’t very many things that I will miss about Cambridge but I think that I will miss my supervisor in some ways. He is a really nice guy. I do hope that we will be able to keep in touch. He is on Facebook and while I am not, he is on my MSN list after all and there should be no difficulty there. Oh, and I think that he’ll miss me too. d: