Relaxing and Watching Snakes Fight

It's been a long time since my last post, but this will be a short post. There is a strong drinking culture in Taiwan. Occasionally, I go out for dinner with teachers, retired teachers, and other community and business people. The Taiwanese culture is very welcoming to foreigners. So, when I go out for dinner everyone wants to toast me as this is an acknowledgment of respect. "Gambei" is a common toast and it means "bottoms up". Many people will respect my liver as they respect me and say "cheers" and we will take a sip of whatever alcoholic beverage we are drinking. But, some of the older members of community really like to assert their positions of power (as older members of the community) and make the younger members of the community drink. It's also a chance to them to flex their 'drinking' muscles and show that they can still keep up with the younger guys. Anyway, there is a retired teacher that always likes to toast me with "gambei". He has been nicknamed the 'snake' teacher (when I see him I get bit). But, at our last dinner, there was another 'snake' from the business community. So, I got to relax at dinner and watch the snakes "gambei" each other as they were more interested in each other. Like so many things that happen in our lives, our stories have larger meanings and applications. But, I'll leave the interpretations to the reader.