February 12, 2006
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Had my first ahjong?gambling session with my colleagues yesterday and I guess I enjoyed it since it was something that I had yet to do.
We had a fantastic host. She sated our rumbling stomachs with a sumptuous lunch consisting of chicken curry, vegetable soup and heng Teng?for desert. I felt that the curry would have been even better if there was more coconut milk. My manager also brought along a ou Hei?package and we had fun tossing the salad into the air. I really should learn to eat at a slower speed, I ended up being constantly plied with food each time I cleared my plate.
We finally waddled towards the table after an hour or so. The host took the first game and her husband promptly entered the room and commented that the person who wins the first game usually ends up losing the most (he actually turned out to be right). He was shown the door immediately. The stake was $0.50 for one ouble?(but we rounded that off to $1), $1 for two oubles? etc, with a limit of five oubles? I won only one out of the first fifteen or so games but managed to catch up as the round ended.
I think we took three hours to complete one round (four sets of winds). After that, the host graciously ordered and provided pizza for dinner and the host husband kept us entertained at the dining table with anecdotes of his travels.
It was almost nine pm when the host enthusiastically suggested we play a few more games. I think the host was hooked onto ahjong?as the initial plan did not include dinner. It turned out to my advantage as I won quite a few games (including one where all my tiles were of the same colour). I also made a horrendous mistake to screw up a winning hand with four oubles?by somehow having one extra tile. I was supposed to be eighty bucks richer but a joke about halving the winnings/losses turned serious and I had to decide since I was the big winner. I agreed, especially since the host ended up losing the most and I could not thank her enough for her hospitality.
I think still prefer aidee?even though I ended up winning the most money. ahjong?is just much more time-consuming.
