A Warm Farewell Dinner — Literally

#2025-0622

Last night we had dinner at Shangcheng San Jia (上乘三家 / 涮涮鍋共和國 Shabu-shabu & Restaurants Double 3).

We’d been there several times before. We usually took a table for six in the front room, which faces the busy Linsen Road (林森路). But last night, since the front room was fully occupied, we were ushered into the farthest back room — more mysterious in its decorative style (see photos below).

It wasn’t a bad change for us — or for me, at least — to explore a new space like that. However, shortly after we started eating the hot pot we had ordered, the air-conditioning shut down. A staff member came over and apologized, explaining that on such a busy Saturday evening, it would be impossible to fix the cooling system quickly. All the technicians they had contacted responded negatively — either “No way! We’re too busy to come right now,” or “There’s nowhere to get the parts needed for the repair at the moment.”

The attendant, a friendly young woman, asked if we could wait a few minutes; when a table became available in the front room, we could move and continue our dinner there. We hesitated, seeing that only one electric fan was running in the room. In the end, we decided to stay where we were until we finished our meal — which came with a 20% discount and a complimentary plate of wagyu beef.

(因冷氣系統臨時故障，於是，這一餐火鍋優待，打八折，又贈送了一盤好吃的和牛！)

In fact, we had planned this dinner because Antony, my son, will be leaving for Hong Kong this evening. Today is Sunday — a busy day for Rev. Antony. In addition to celebrating the Holy Eucharist, he also hosted a keynote seminar after lunch at St. Luke’s Church, titled “Disaster Prevention: Concepts and Measures.”

Rev. Antony will be in Hong Kong for about a week, attending a meeting with clergy and church representatives from several countries. They will discuss topics such as “The Bible in Hebrew and Greek Contexts.” While Anita (his wife) and James (his son) are seeing him off at the Hualien Airport, John (his other son), Jean, and I are praying for a safe and pleasant trip over the next six or seven days!

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