Coffee with MK

On Sunday Sarah and I went to meet one of my university students, MK, for coffee. I thought it would be a little weird meeting a student outside of the classroom but apparently thats not considered weird here. MK and I arranged this all over QQ (the Chinese equivalent of Facebook) so I felt very Chinese indeed.

We met MK at the university and walked quite a while to this little coffee shop. Sarah and I both love our coffee so were super excited that this was basically a real coffee shop. It had music playing, games, and actual coffee drinks. I ordered an iced caramel macchiato. It was good, pretty sweet, but yummy. Of course, there were some major differences when compared to a US coffee shop. They somehow made the drinks behind this tiny counter. I have no idea how they had enough space there to keep all the ingredients. There was also a collection of Western alcohol for some reason. Don't really know what that was doing in a coffee shop.

Sarah and MK:

On the way to the coffee shop:

The lady was super nice and gave us some free moon cake. I've received so many moon cakes from students in the past days. Some of them are pretty good, the others are just... not. Luckily the ones the lady gave us were good, so I didn't have to pretend to like them. MK also bought us some 'char' since Sarah hadn't tried it before. 'Chuar' is basically a skewer with a really good piece of fat in the middle.

We played the 'Funny Game' where you basically stab plastic swords into a barrel until this pirate shoots out. It was pretty alarming the first time that happened. We talked a little but MK's English is pretty limited and so is my Chinese. After drinking our coffee MK took us to this stationary store since Sarah wanted to find some postcards to brighten up her room. I finally bought a keychain for the key I keep losing.

Playing the crazy pirate game:

Hanging out with MK was fun and unexpected! He said he'll help us buy a cell phone later on in the week so I hope so. He's a Qiqihar native so knows all the places to go.

Di Zi Gui Chapter 2: 出则悌

出则悌

This is the second chapter of the major text. 'Chu' is pointing out the family, society, and country. 'Ti' is pointing to the brothers' relationship, how they should get along in society, how the younger brother should obey the elder and perform good deeds, and they should cherish each other.

兄道友第道恭

兄第睦孝在中

The older brother should take care of the younger brother and the younger brother should respect the elder brother. Younger-older siblings should get along because only then are they being good children to their parents.

财物轻怨何生

言语忍忿自泯

If both sides see wealth as a small matter and don't seek it, brothers and sisters will not be spiteful. If both sides hold back when they are speaking, and consider the other, anger will naturally be eliminated.

或饮食或坐走

长者先幼者后

No matter if in eating and drinking, sitting or walking, in all you should give precedence out of courtesy. There is an order. The elder should have priority, the younger should go after.

长呼人即代叫

人不在己即到

When the younger hears the elder call for someone, the younger should find that person for him. If the person he searches for isn't there, you should go to the elder first to see what he wants to do.

称尊长勿呼名

对尊长勿见能

When calling an elder, you cannot really use his name. The elder has more experience so you should listen to him, you shouldn't hype things up or show off your abilities.

路遇长疾趋揖

长无言退恭立

If you encounter an elder on the road, you should walk quickly to him and salute him. If the elder doesn't say anything, you should respectfully stand to the side and wait for him to say something.

骑下马乘下车

过犹待百步余

If you encounter an elder while riding a horse you should get off the horse, or get out of a car. You should wait until the elder has walked 100 steps, then you can get back on your horse or in your car and leave.

长者立幼勿坐

长者坐命乃坐

If the elder is standing, the younger cannot sit. The younger will sit after the elder and only when the elder asks him to sit.

尊长前声要低

低不闻却非宜

In front of an elder, the younger should speak softly. If the elder cannot hear you clearly, that isn't suitable.

进必趋退必迟

问起对视勿移

When the younger goes to see the elder, the younger must hurry. When leaving, one must be slower. When the elder is asking questions, the younger must stand and reply, his eyes must look at the elder and shouldn't look in all directions.

事诸父如事父

事诸兄如事兄

One must treat ones uncle and other elders like one would treat his own father. Treat one's cousins and older brothers like one would treat his older brother.

Weekend 4: A Walk in the Park

On Friday night we went out to celebrate Werner's 35th birthday. We went to a 'Western' restaurant called the High Life, which is the closest thing you'll get to any Western food here. I ordered a steak and fries. My steak was ordered medium but looked a little more on the rare side. It was a fun dinner and we met another American who just got to town, Brandon. He's teaching at another school and it was his first time meeting our eclectic group.

After dinner we went to Mini Club of course. No one was really in the mood to go out so we soon left, but not before we took a few photos!

Scott, Sarah, and Jerra outside of Mini Club:

Some random pictures of Qiqihar. Including the jiao zi place we love to eat at. 

Some performers outside of RT Mart for the Mid-Autumn Festival:

On Saturday Scott, Jerra, Sarah and I went for a walk in Longsha Park, which is right by our school. It was a beautiful day and was really nice to get outside. We broke down and payed 20 kuai to go on this mini-race track thing. It was pretty ridiculous and all these Chinese people were staring at the weird four foreigners riding around on these mini cars.

Jerra riding in her car:

Sarah in hers:

We then just walked around in a big circle 'island hopping' as I like to call it since the lake has a bunch of little islands that are connected by bridges. We stopped at the playground for a bit. Playground is a little but of an understatement since most of the playgrounds here are for adults and old people. They are filled with work out equipment, which I think is a fantastic idea. We didn't do much else so I'll let the pictures do the explaining.

Testing out the workout equipment in the park:

Where paths lead in China...:

Some great Chinglish:

Posing under some giant mushrooms:

Mahjong outside of the temple:

My Address (I think)

This is what I believe to be my address. However, I still need to ask and double check.

Aoqi Foreign Language School, 

No. 31 Feng Heng Road, 

Longsha District, Qiqihar, Heilongjiang Province, 

Nenjiang Hotel Neighbor

 齐齐哈尔市龙沙区丰恒路31号嫩江宾馆西邻

The Chinese Wedding

Uncle Dan invited us foreigners to a Chinese wedding on Sunday morning. He apparently invites foreigners quite often and since I've never been to a wedding, let alone a Chinese wedding, I jumped at the opportunity (well only after I found out my class was cancelled two minutes before it was supposed to start).

So Werner, Ian, Sarah and I rolled up to this big building with several different weddings going on. We walked through the building, being stared at the whole time, until we got to the right wedding. We were seated at the very front right next to the stage, a place I thought would have been reserved for the closest family and friends, which we obviously were not. Uncle Dan promptly grabbed a box of beer for us to drink (at 11am).

The ceremony started with all the lights suddenly turning off and strobe lights going off and flashing all around us. Intense music started playing and we could hear a fog machine going off somewhere. When the lights came up the curtains on the stage were opening and a guy who looked like a TV presenter walked out welcoming us all.

So the whole ceremony works a little differently here. The groom walks to the back of the aisle to escort the bride to the front. The bride waits there the whole time so there's no real element of surprise. Then they light off a firework/sparkler thing together, drink some fruit juice in that fancy way, and pour some colored water into a bowl filled with goldfish. Instead of a first kiss there is a first hug. They do exchange rings, which apparently has only developed recently. Before the woman used to wear a gold or silver bracelet from the husband, who wore nothing himself. After the first hug, which seals the ceremony (and is followed by dramatic music and indoor fireworks), the bride and groom each call each others parents mother and father. The vows were super cute. The groom started bawling. I almost choked up and didn't even know the people, or what they were saying. Sarah actually did tear up.

Lighting a sparkler together:

Pouring colored water into a goldfish bowl:

Indoor fireworks after the first hug:

So after all the hoopla Sarah and I had to go and walk down the aisle with bouquets of flowers to give to the bride and groom. It was such a funny experience. People started cheering for us as we walked down it. Then we stood on stage for a while as the TV presenter dude tried to interview Sarah (who doesn't really speak Chinese). He asked us if we would dance for them later, I didn't really know how to respond to that. This was all followed with 'pictures with the foreigners' time. I was more than happy to oblige after essentially crashing this wedding.

Being 'interviewed' on stage with the couple after presenting them with flowers:

The foreigners, the newly wed couple and their families:

We then ate some food, which was mainly seafood and a whole pigs head. Needless to say I stuck to bread. A live singer serenaded us all during lunch until she got tired and they played some Western music, including the most romantic singer ever- Kesha. During all this the newly wed couple was walking around talking shots of baijiu with each table. They must have been hammered by the time they were finished. I tried to imagine something like that happening in the US. The couple taking shots with every table of wedding guests. What a nightmare that would turn out to be.

Some delicious pigs head?

Being serenaded by a live singer. This was pre-Kesha and other Western music:

So that was my first wedding experience. It was ridiculous, but so much fun and such an eyeopener to Chinese culture. I've heard the fireworks going off at 7am on Saturday mornings to signify a wedding, so to actually go to one was really cool.

In other news happy 23rd anniversary to my Mum and Dad!

Week and Weekend 3

So its was a busy week as I had zero days off and a scheduled 25 hours of teaching. It went pretty fast, especially Thursday and Friday when I'm essentially at the university all day. It is currently the 60th Anniversary of the founding of Qiqihar University (also known as Qida) so my Friday afternoon class was cancelled for the celebration.

In my classes there this week I taught 'free time' vocabulary and clothes. For the clothes part I bought in a bunch of my clothes, which the students loved. They thought it was hilarious because there was no way a Chinese teacher would ever do that. I had this huge bag and they had no idea what I was going to pull out next. I taught more advanced clothing words like sweatpants and flats, but it was a good exercise because the students knew some of the words so didn't feel too overwhelmed with new vocabulary. One of the teaching assistants said it was a great class and I had real potential as a teacher. She even high-fived me (very un-Chinese). It was the nicest complement I've received since being here (although I have absolutely zero plans of becoming a teacher).

After I was done with my university classes on Friday I headed to RT Mart with Jerra to buy some stuff for Sarah's 24th birthday. Celebrating your birthday in China usually sucks (except for my one in Beijing where I was given three different cakes, one from a completely random Chinese man), so we made sure to get her something. We bought these beautiful cupcakes but the lady completely squished all the icing when putting them into the packaging. Jerra and I just cringed when it happened.

Bikes outside of RT Mart:

RT Mart where we do most of our shopping:

Jerra and the squished cupcakes (that don't look so squished here):

I had two more classes scheduled for later Friday night, but luckily one of them was cancelled so I was done working at 6:30. A huge crowd of foreigners all headed over to Uncle Dans school for dinner. First we had to be showed off to his students. Knowing Uncle Dan is interesting because it really gives you a close and personal look at the Chinese concept of 关系 (guanxi). Guanxi literally means a relationship or connection between two people, but in China it goes much deeper than that. It's essentially 'I scratch your back, you scratch mine'. Uncle Dan benefits from being seen with foreigners. His business does better. We benefit since he organizes outings, invites us to Chinese weddings, and even pays for some of our dinners. So when we went to his school Friday night we were expected to meet his students. It was a strange situation being showed off and paraded around, but if you don't think about it in terms of 'guanxi' you'll go crazy.

We eventually took over the restaurant across the street for Sarah's birthday celebration. The food was surprisingly delicious. It was a little like Korean BBQ. I was sitting at a table with people from America, Kenya, Australia, South Africa, China, Canada, and the Phillipines. It's always such a surreal experience when you think about it. There's only a few places in the world where you would get a group of people that diverse together for dinner. We ate there for a few hours before heading to Mini Club for some dancing (Gangnam stlye- the other nice thing about China is you can make a complete fool out of yourself dancing at clubs and no one cares).

All the foreigners:

Saturday was full of more classes, starting at 9:30am. Us Americans went and grabbed some jiaozi for lunch. They are just so delicious. Later Sarah and I picked up some noodles for Girls Night. Deb (from Australia) used to work at our school and now works at a different one in Qiqihar. She was kind enough to organize a girls night potluck so we all went over there around 7pm for some food and gossip. It was a fun evening getting to know everyone a little better and hearing about some of the crazy things that have happened in Qiqihar.

Di Zi Gui Chapter 1: 入则孝

Here is chapter one of the translation.

入则孝

This is the first major text for students. "入" is at the home. "孝" is good deeds for your parents, so at the home you should do good deeds for your parents. For good deeds, one is the mind, the other is serving. Mind means in your heart you should not forget that your parents bring you up in kindness and grace, serving is we should look after our parents. If we are able to do these things, then we are able to do good deeds for our parents, this is the fundamental thing we should do. It is the first of many kinds of good deeds. 

父母呼应勿缓

父母命行勿懒

When your parents call you, you should answer in a timely manner; when your parents ask you to do something, you should immediately do it, you shouldn't delay and be lazy.

父母教须敬听

父母责须顺承

You should be respectful and listen attentively to your parents teachings; when your parents scold you, you should obey and accept it.

冬则温夏则凊

晨则省昏则定

Children should look after their parents, in the winter they should keep their parents warm, in the summer they should keep them cool. In the morning they should pay respects to their parents and wish them good health. In the evenings they should spread out a quilt for their parents and serve them.

出必告返必面

居有常业无变

When you leave you should tell your parents, and also tell them when you return, to avoid your parents being concerned about you. You should work hard for an occupation and ambition. You should not be rash.

事虽小勿擅为

苟擅为子道亏

Even in small matters, you should not disobey your parents without permission. If you do as you please and act on your own, you will not have been a dutiful child.

物虽小勿私藏

苟私藏亲心伤

Even with small things, you shouldn't keep them private. If these private things are discovered your parents will be extremely angry and sad.

亲所好力为具

亲所恶谨为去

I will try my hardest to please my parents in everything they want. I will be careful not to displease my parents.

身有伤贻亲忧

德有伤贻亲羞

If my health is bad or I hurt my body my parents will be worried and anxious. If I behave badly my parents will feel ashamed and lose face.

亲爱我孝何难

亲憎我孝方贤

With loving parents it is not hard to be obedient and dutiful. Without loving parents, I should still be dutiful, it is highly commendable!

亲有过谏使更

怡吾色柔吾声

If my parents make a mistake, children should patiently give them advice to change. My advice should be kind and my tone should be gentle.

谏不入悦复谏

号泣随挞无谏

If my parents are not willing to listen to my advice, I must wait until they are in the right frame of mind to advise them. If they still don't listen, and I weep and beg, even if I am scolded, I must do so without complaint.

亲有疾药先尝

昼夜侍不离床

If my parents are sick, I must try the medicine first to see if it is too hot or bitter. I also must look after my parents day and night, I cannot leave them.

丧三年尝悲咽

居处变酒肉绝

When my parents pass away, I should mourn for three years, be dutiful, and try not to cry when they are mentioned. I will look at the sad memories of my parents with kindness. I will make every effort to avoid alcohol and lust and I will keep my house simple.

丧尽礼祭尽诚

事死者如事生

The funeral will be according to moral standards, I will serve with the deepest sincerity and sorrow. I will serve my deceased parents as if they were still alive.

Issues with Teaching at the University

So things have been pretty busy around here, not leaving me a lot of time to blog. I am currently starting my 3rd week of teaching and do not have a single day off this week. It's going to be a long one! The company is contractually obligated to give me two days off each week, but of course that doesn't really mean anything at the company I'm at. I did complain so hopefully next week I will actually have a couple of days off.

Qiqihar University:

Last Thursday and Friday I taught my second round of classes at the university. The topic this week was friends and personality traits. I also started teaching an 'idiom of the week,' which is a really hard concept for a lot of the students to grasp. This week I taught 'under the weather.' Unfortunately from my activity where I asked them to write a sentence using the phrase, most of them did not seem to understand how to use it. I'm definitely going to have to make some adjustments.

The building I teach in:

I'm having several issues teaching at the university, primarily with the students. Chinese students work like crazy during middle school and high school, so by the time they actually get to university it's often their first time of freedom. Needless to say the students are often tired of working hard. The students I teach are not English majors, but study business management. They didn't choose to take this class but have to. I would say the majority of them are not really interested in learning English. Additionally their language abilities are all over the place. Some of them have really good English, others not so much.

One of my classes on Friday afternoon:

When I assign an activity in class I have to walk up and down the aisles to make sure the students actually do it, otherwise they won't. In every class there are people sleeping, playing on their cellphones, and even talking on their cellphones (this one girl was ducking behind the desk talking where I could clearly see her). Some students end up just leaving half way through. I talked to one of my 'assistants' (who basically helps translate when the students don't understand) and apparently Chinese teachers are equally frustrated with the students behavior. Mervin, another American teacher at the school, showed me this hilarious video of a Chinese teacher getting fed up:

Sadly, I know exactly how this teacher feels. I have gained infinite more respect for my teachers during high school and college. Teaching well is hard! Especially when the majority of your students aren't interested in what you're saying and when they're about the same age as you. The honeymoon phase of having a new and foreign teacher is over for most of the students.

In the end I've had to realize I can only do the best I can. It goes against everything I feel like I should do but I have to just ignore the bad students and focus on the ones who actually want to learn (ie. the ones who sit at the front of the class). I also try not to get to upset about the situation because it really does happen to all teachers at the school who I've talked too. When I complain they know exactly what I'm talking about.

I decided to have fun with the situation. So in the last class when describing what lazy meant I just pointed at a row of three sleeping boys and said 'lazy.' The meaning was clear and everyone who was paying attention loved it.

Weekend 2

For our second weekend in Qiqihar we had another 'Foreigner Friday' with Uncle Dan. This time Ian, Werner, Sarah and I met Uncle Dan at another Chinese restaurant. We were joined by Robin (Canada), Mike (also Canada) and his girlfriend Tanya (Russia). It was so nice to meet some other foreigners in the city! We ate some interesting Chinese food, including  a big hunk of meat which came with plastic gloves to eat with. Tanya brought a bottle of Russian vodka with her so it was my first time actually trying real Russian vodka.

Some chunks of meat:

Sarah with her chunk of meat:

Later that night we went to the only foreigner nightclub in Qiqihar. It was a hilarious experience. The music was completely outdated but it was tons of fun just to go dancing. Werner managed to DJ a bit much to his delight. I was surprised at the number of Russians there. Apparently tons of Russians come to the university to study so there are about 500 in Qiqihar (that is a very rough estimate). Of course being Russian most of them don't come out until much later, by which time I was at home fast asleep. Overall the night was completely unexpected but a lot of fun!

Werner doing some DJ-ing:

Chinese Student Names

So today and yesterday in my university classes I gathered a list of the students who had English names and who did not. Next week I'm planning on bringing in some English names for the students without them. I figured since I'm teaching English class the students should have English names. They loved listening to me trying to read their Chinese names aloud. I was hoping that they would see how I was willing to make mistakes and might take a leaf out of my book...

Anyway, I wanted to share some of the names of the students because they are hilarious. My all time favorite was a girl who said her English name was Dike. I did not know how to explain that one so just let it slide. Another girl said her name was Evil. Yes, Evil. I asked her if she knew what it meant. She did, but still didn't want to change it. Ok... Another girl named herself Steven. I told her that was my Dad's name. She still wanted it. Some other funny names included Lucifer, Peter Pan, Dark, Well, Nalsaky, Anger, Gerunisky, Zero, Leaf, Spark, Mimo, Queen, Jox, Violin, Livy, Ice, Vivid, and Dior. I couldn't even make these names up if I wanted to.

Some students would choose names and spell them super weird. Alysa- apparently not with two 's's. Winni - with no 'e.' Lyra- pronounced Laura. Of course i'm wrong when I try and correct the names. It's not like I was raised speaking English or anything.

One kid was just sleeping during the whole class and didn't even bother to wake up when I called him name. I named him Sleepy in retaliation. I thought that was quite fitting. His friends thought it was hilarious.

Teaching Bill and 弟子规

Yesterday I started teaching a 9-year-old boy named Bill. Actually I wouldn't really call it teaching since Bill's English is really good. If anything its just an opportunity for him to speak some English since the lessons at school are far too easy for him. Bill is hilarious. He is super chatty and gets excited about the most random things. One of the first questions he asked me was if I smoke. For those of you who don't know the Chinese are really big on smoking. When I said I didn't he started cheering and going 'oh wow!' When I was showing him pictures of friends and family he asked if Marco smoked, I also said no to an applause and 'oh good! So good!'

I spent our hour long chat just showing him some pictures and talking to him about school and such. He spent about 15 minutes lecturing me on how I should call someone when I take a taxi by myself because then the driver can't hurt me. He also started telling me about the equivalent of the Chinese mafia, who apparently where all black and use mufflers on their guns. I think Bill's parents must be extremely concerned for his safety. He's not allowed to eat the school lunches because it might not be safe so he goes home everyday. He's also not allowed to go on most of the rides in the park nearby (he has been on bumper cars and the raging river ride). On top of all these things he's told me (and there are more) he also has a bodyguard who goes with him everywhere. His parents own the hotel next door so I'm pretty sure they're loaded, but it does seem a little excessive.

Bill also loves to take pictures on my computer. His father has a mac so he knows about Photobooth. We took a few today which I thought were funny so I'll share them.

Thermal is Bill's favorite setting because it makes us look like zombies:

In other news I have started to read the Chinese book 弟子规, or DiZiGui/TiTzuKui. It essentially translates to Standards for Being a Good Pupil and Child. One of the teachers here gave it to me and apparently all Chinese students read it in elementary school. It's essentially a guideline on how to live morally and how to be a good person based on Confucius' teachings. Here's the Wikipedia page for it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ti_Tzu_Kui.

Even though there is a translation of the book there I'm going to try translate it myself on this blog. Essentially there's the actual text and then a description of what it means, which I'll translate.

总叙

弟子规圣人训

首孝悌次谨信

泛爱众而亲仁

有余力则学文

"'Dizi' is essentially a student. 'Gui' is standards. "DiZiGui" is based on the teachings of Confucius and helps organize a students standards for living. It stipulates the teachings of six major texts and one minor one. First, in daily life, one should show obedience to his/her parents and affectionately love his/her brothers and sisters. Secondly in daily life, be careful in your behavior. Give your words credit.

One should get along compassionately with everyone, should love all living creatures, be concerned about the common people, and be close to and learn from benevolent and moral people. These are all very important matters. If one still has remaining time and energy then he/she should study the six subjects of ancient Chinese education (rites, music, archery, chariot riding, arithmetic and reading and writing) and other beneficial learnings. "

So there is my rough translation of the explanation of the introduction to DiZiGui (if that makes any sense). More to come in the future hopefully!

The Living Situation

A blurry picture of our kitchen, which is shared between 11 people at the moment. The green thing fills up with water and then spills all over the microwave. Super safe. We don't have a stove. Just a hot plate.

Another view of the kitchen and the very dirty windows.

The bathroom on our floor. There is one other but the light doesn't work half the time and the shower is crap. This is shared between 8 people at the moment. The drain is currently clogged so whenever you shower the hallway floods.

The fridge and freezer. Also shared between 11 people.

Weekend 1 in Qiqihar

On Friday night a bunch of the foreigners from our school Aoqi got together with the famous 'Uncle Dan' of Qiqihar. Uncle Dan is a local Chinese man who also owns a school in the area and just loves taking care of the foreigners here. We took a taxi over to a restaurant near Qida and had a really fun night eating good food and drinking Chinese beer. We met Steven, another American and teacher at the university and his girlfriend Bonny. Strangely enough Steven is from Boston and is currently applying to Tufts' Fletcher School. His girlfriend Bonny is an English major at Qida and they met when Steven was her teacher.

With Uncle Dan (China), Sarah, Jerra, Scott (all US), Werner (South Africa), Steven (US), Ian (South Africa), Mary (Philippines) and Keir (Australia):

The evening was pretty much all fun until a man at another restaurant nearby started hitting a woman at his table. It was absolutely terrifying. I have never seen a real fight, let alone a man hitting a woman. Of course we were all freaked out. The guys all wanted to go over there but if a foreigner gets involved in local affairs then it is immediately seen as the foreigner trying to muddle in their business. It would have turned into foreigners versus Chinese, which would not have helped. Luckily one of the local guys at the same restaurant went and restrained the guy, who was pretty big! No police were called and the whole thing was just forgotten. It really was an eyeopener to the cultural differences.

At the same time as all of this fireworks and firecrackers were going off all over. I guess it was another holiday. This time they set off the fireworks to the money god, hoping to bring good fortune in the future. Fireworks go off all the time here. Some were going off at 7:30am this morning like it was no big deal. That's just how they do it here. You'll be in a classroom and then have to pause for several minutes until the fireworks/crackers are done.

On Saturday Sarah, Scott, Jerra and I went to explore Longshan Park, which is right by where we live. I should explain fast. Sarah, Scott, and Jerra all came to Qiqihar late due to visa issues and an illness. Sarah will probably be staying here in Qiqihar with me while Scott and his wife Jerra are going to be moving to Harbin next Friday. Anyway, we went and walked around the park, avoiding the zoo (which is apparently worse than the Beijing Zoo, didn't know that was possible). We were going to go boating on the lake but it was pretty expensive and there didn't seem like that much to see. We ended up stumbling upon an amusement park. All the rides were about $1.50 each so we only did one but it was an experience to say the least.

Using the miniature setting on my camera:

A view of the park:

Another view:

Peacocks in the zoo (the small part we walked through):

Boats on the water:

Live animals for prizes. If you throw a ring around it you get it:

Super skinny ferris wheel:

In the afternoon we went to try and find a DVD store since the internet here is too slow to stream anything. We eventually found one without a great collection. We'll have to dig around some more but the store was closing when we got there so we'll see when we go back! We tried to play some cards last night but none of us could really remember the rules. Other than that we walked around the night market some more. People are already selling thermals which gets me a little nervous! Today we made another trip to Walmart to buy a few things for the week.

The closest thing to a jianbing. Not as good as the ones in Beijing though:

In other news I have only been here for a week and have already finished a whole large jar of peanut butter. Oops. Luckily they sell that here. I also finally signed my contract, which ends January 31st.