I have internet again!

So after four days of not internet (which is a surprisingly long time) I now have internet again! My time cut off from the real world was quite relaxing. I watched almost both seasons of Downtown Abbey, my new favorite show (probably because it reminds me of my Mum). I also did several chapters of my chinese textbook and started a new book.

Several interesting things happened in the past week. The first being Halloween. For Halloween in Qiqihar almost all of the foreigners ate dinner together at a pizza place. It was a really fun dinner and all of the waitresses kept taking pictures of us, they were absolutely loving it. Halloween isn't really celebrated at all in China so they were so confused about our weird costumes. We were impressed that there was even a Halloween area of goods at RT Mart (it consisted of overpriced masks and plastic jack-o-lanterns).

All the waitresses and their friends taking pictures with me:

I dressed up as a hipster Pikachu. Basically they sell these full body suits, or onesies, here as PJs since it gets so cold. I bought a Pikachu one and some red frameless glasses. Soooo many people in China love the frameless glasses. It's hilarious. They sell them almost everywhere. I tried to get mine for cheaper since the lenses were scratched but instead of changing them or giving me a lower price, the man just popped them out and gave them to me. I figured when in Asia go all out, and they worked surprisingly well with my costume!

Our gang- ninja Sarah, me, medusa Robin, cow Jerra, and dinosaur Scott:

So after dinner we went to the Mini酒吧 where they had a costume contest at 11pm. It was probably the most disorganized thing ever. The club was full of Russians, Chinese, and our motley crew. The voting was based on cheers and it came down to a Russian guy who looked like he was trying to be the joker form batman, and Deb, who was dressed as a belly dancer. Unfortunately since we were outnumbered, the Russians won the free bottle of tequila. I left around 12am since I had a full day of Qida classes the next day.

The disorganized Halloween contest at Mini:

The second major thing that happened this week was a fire in Aoqi. On Friday morning I was heading to the high school and saw some black marks on the floor, wondering what they were. Apparently on Thursday night a light on the fourth floor caught fire and was smoking all over. Of course, since we work and live at Aoqi, we were all oblivious to the chaos going on two floors down. Luckily someone noticed and put the fire out, but it's really scary to think what could have happened.

The best part is apparently the smoke detector's batteries were running low, so instead of changing the batteries (that would cost too much money), they just took the batteries out. That's why none of us had any clue there was a fire in the building. What a smart idea! Ummm no.

Also now there are notices all over the building that we're not allowed to use electric blankets during the winter. Clearly the fire was the teachers' fault and not due to shoddy Chinese building... Got to love Aoqi.

So that's what has happened in the past week in my eventful life. Tonight we're going out to celebrate Stephen's 30th birthday. Should be lots of fun!