Chinese New Year Travels Cont. (Harbin, Changchun)

The day after Terri, Angela, and I returned to Beijing after flying in from Shanghai, we tried to go to the Great Wall. After receiving some dodgy information, we believed that we could go to a particular parking lot and find a personal driver to the Great Wall for only 200 yuan. After going to this parking lot and asking around, we soon found out that we had been misinformed (although we did arrive quite late in the morning). Anyway, we decided instead to go check out Tianamen Square and later that afternoon Terri and I went to the Temple of Heaven in Beijing which is a Buddhist Temple. Later that night Terri and I went out to a couple of clubs. One of which a Chinese man insisted on dancing with me, but I declined. Terri attempted to order two whiskey shots with coke as a chaser, but the bartender did not understand that she wanted them separate from one another and not a whiskey and coke, so that took about 10 or 15 minutes. Anyway, I had an absolutely amazing time with Terri, and wish she was still here every single day...sigh. Miss ya, babe!

The next morning I decided to take the Great Wall tour offered by our hostel. Angela, Jon, Fabian, and Sasha took the same tour the day Terri left China so I had to take it by myself, which was fine with me. An American named Rob and I was picked up by a van full of people (Germans, Swiss, Americans, British, etc.) and we were handed sandwiches and juice, which was apparently our breakfast that was included in the package. It was on the Simayan (unsure of spelling) part of the wall which is the best reserved and least renovated part of the wall outside of Beijing. There's no good way to describe it. Just an amazing work of human design. We hiked about 10 kilometers which took about 3 1/2-4 hours. The best part was at the end when our tour guide set us down and said, "OK, we can either go down the fast way or the slow way. The fast way will take 30 seconds but the slow way will take 20 minutes." No one said anything, so I said, "It doesn't matter to me." No one still said anything and I said, "Shall we take it to a vote?" Finally our tour guide said, "OK, come with me." He led us to the fast way...a zip cord across a reservoir. I said, "I'll go first." but then the Germans ended going before I did. It was awesome and we went down at a pretty substantial speed. Anyway, I'll steal some of Angela's pictures and put them up here.

Angela and I ended up staying in Beijing longer than we should have because we were trying to find seats on any train to Harbin. Harbin is without a doubt one of the most popular travel destinations in China, so during the Chinese New Year, good train tickets to Harbin are extremely hard to come by. After finally convincing Angela that we were not going to find seats to Harbin, we elected to buy standing-only tickets. Eight train ride...not so bad, right? Well we didn't think so at first. We got on our train with plenty of time, sat around the dining hall and got comfortable. As soon as the train started moving, we noticed there were tons of open seats. Pleasantly surprised, we took two of the open seats. "This is great!" we thought. We purchased standing-only tickets, but we found some really nice seats that were unoccupied. After 20 minutes on the train, someone came around to check our tickets. We thought it odd before, because usually your ticket is checked twice even before getting on the train. Anyway, the woman checking our ticket took one glance at our tickets and then gave the most sour expression ever. We thought we were in trouble for taking seats when we had standing-only tickets, but she quickly took the ticket of a Chinese guy sitting next to us and compared his ticket with out ticket. The tickets were for different cities, different trains, and (barely) different times. WE HAD GOTTEN ON THE WRONG TRAIN. The full shock of this realization had not hit us before the train maid (?) held up a finger signaling she would return in a little while. Angela and I looked at each other in total shock and amazement. How had we done this? We figured out there were two trains leaving the same platform within five minutes of each other and we just hadn't bothered to check which train was actually ours. Angela and I go over all our options while freaking out, we text people who can tell us where the city we are headed actually IS relative to the city that we actually were intending to go. Finally, the conductor, who speaks decent English, comes and communicates that both trains will stop in the same city...but, we have five minutes to run six platforms to get to the train we were supposed to be on. So as we were getting close, we were rounded up by the train maids and we waited anxiously by the door. As soon as our train stopped. We ran towards the platforms. As we were running I noticed our train maid was wearing high heels because of the steady clicking noise. Finally, we got to the platform, completely out of breath and realized we had time to spare. The train maid explained our situation to a conductor on the other train, we thanked her, and entered the train. It was extremely crowded but we found a little nook on the dining table and dealt with a very annoying, spoiled, Chinese boy who wouldn't shut up for the next four hours. BUT, we WERE happy we got to sit for the first four hours.

Oh, only if that were the end of our troubles in getting to Harbin! As we left the train station in Harbin, we found it next to impossible to get a taxi. Taxis were waving us off or simply just passing us even though they were unoccupied. Finally, an employee (who was shortly followed by three businessmen) all tried helping us. Interpreting the address of our hostel and finally getting a hold of the hostel. Through broken English and some Chinglish, the three businessmen offered to take us to the hostel, free of charge. Now I have been here long enough to be weary of too-good-to-be-true offers, but I also consider myself a good judge of character. These men had already gone out of their way to help Angela and me, and they seemed to have completely charitable intentions. Not knowing where our hostel REALLY was, Angela and I accepted the offer. These men ended up being really kind and wanted to converse as much as possible (as much as the barrier would allow them). They all worked at IKEA and gave us business cards before they helped take our luggage out of their car at the hostel. When we arrive at the hostel in the middle of the day, it is completely dead. No one is around except the reception and maids. The place is dark and cold. Because of the season, Angela and I had been forced to occupy this hostel the first night in Harbin because all the other hotels were booked until the next night (oh, and this is the ONLY hostel in Harbin). Our room is freezing cold and way below par compared to the hostels we've stayed at. Anyway, we make due and get the hell out after the first night. The most hilarious part about that hostel is that most people only stay one night because it is such a terrible, terrible place. What's more, according to hostelworld.com the hostel was started by a woman who had traveled a lot and has had a range of hostel experiences...so don't you think she would try to make her hostel not a total piece of crap?

Shortly after arriving at our hotel (which, actually cost just slightly more than our hostel), we were met by our friend Daniel and his friend Craig. If you remember from earlier posts, Daniel is our Scottish friend who taught in my city, but he moved to Changchun (close to Harbin) at the end of last semester. Daniel's friend Craig came to visit him and try to find some work in Shanghai. In Harbin we walked the streets and admired all the ice sculptures. Harbin, by the way, is the most populated most Northern city in China. Every year they for the Chinese Spring Festival they build what they call Ice City. They wait until this gigantic lake is frozen and literally cut blocks of ice out of it to build a life-sized city of ice. The pictures tell the entire story. There were slides made of ice which we went down a few times. Further inside the city, though, ice sculptures line the main streets. Harbin also has an incredible amount of Russian influence on architecture, food, and culture. We definitely had some amazing Russian cuisine while we there. But, as I mentioned before, we had a tough time getting taxis. We once spent half an hour trying to hail a taxi but none of them would take us because according to our friend Daniel, the Chinese of Harbin hate the Russians. We never got a clear answer as to why this is, but Daniel asked a taxi driver why the Chinese hate Russians (this taxi driver actually refused to take us at first, but I just jumped in anyway because I did not give a crap, and after learning that we weren't Russian, he talked Daniel's ear off) and the taxi driver said, "It is not polite to answer such a question." We think that it might be because the Russians are rude to the Chinese but we're not sure.

Other than seeing Ice City, we also saw Siberian Tigers in a reserve outside of Harbin. We went in an armored bus, Jurassic Park style, through the reserve seeing the tigers (there was actually a place for Ligers (tigers + lions) which I didn't even know actually existed outside of Napoleon Dynamite. Anyway, at the ticket office of this reserve, you have the option of buying various livestock to feed to the tigers. Chickens, sheep, and yes...even cows. Unfortunately cows were 1500 yuan, so we elected to go with the chicken that was 40 yuan. At one point during our tour, our bus came to a stop and a heavily armored car came and stopped to the side of us. The driver quickly opened the door and threw out a chicken on top of the car. As soon as that happened, a tiger jumped on top of the car and bit into the chicken and started tearing its feathers out. Not as gruesome as I would have hoped but it was definitely cool.

Other than that, we ate a lot of amazing Russian cuisine in Harbin.

While in Harbin, Angela and I decided to make a side trip to Daniel's current place of residence in Changchun which is the capital of the province almost directly below Harbin. There was really nothing too special about Changchun, but we had fun. Like most other current capitals in China, it had an ever-increasing foreign population (Changchun is especially known for its Korean population) and increasingly modern (read: Western) take on culture and entertainment. We did go ice skating, which was my first time and I only fell once! I was quite proud of myself.

Chinese New Year travels (Shijiazhuang, Beijing, Shanghai, back to Beijing)

Well, for those of you worried about my mental stability after reading the last blog post, it was written by Terri (but it was all true!). So, posing as Terri, I decided to send an e-mail to her parents that was almost as hilarious.

Well it's been a pretty good couple of weeks so far. Angela and I picked up Jon and Terri from Beijing without too much of a hitch (except we came mildly close to missing our train to come back to Shijiazhuang). In Shijiazhuang we had a great time. The first day we went to the donkey restaurant with mixed reviews from our guests. Later that evening we (Fabian, his girlfriend Sasha, and the four of us) went to get massages while watching Purple Rain ("for your initiation, you must bathe in the waters of Lake Minnatonka") and went out to eat to some restaurant where we were greeted by sordid, drunk patrons that loudly welcomed us, "Welcome to Shijiazhuang!!!" as we walked in. Later I took Terri to the McDonald's bar and we closed the place down. The next day we went out to eat to our favorite restaurant, Golden Mountain, with a bunch of our Chinese and foreign friends. Then we went to the McDonald's/Foreigner's Bar and then to Club Seven. The first few days in Shijiazhuang were mostly dedicated to recovering from jet lag and party times.

The first night we were in Shanghai we went to see some acrobats perform. Not only were there acrobats but there were jugglers and magicians. My favorite performance consisted of about 12 guys dressed like superheroes/sperm jumping through variously arranged rings. Later that evening I lost my camera. I was stone cold sober and it just fell out of my stupid jacket pocket in the hostel lounge area, never to be seen again. Hilariously enough, when we were in Beijing the night before leaving to go to Shanghai, Terri left her camera in a taxi...also never to be seen again. We made a trip to the Shanghai zoo which was funny, but slightly depressing. All the animals looked extremely sad...but, as Terri mentioned, when we saw the lions, one female lion started humping another female lion. Apparently, this got the male lion extremely aroused as he got up and mounted one of the females. After a minute of this, a roar signified the end of the sexual ecstasy. Later we fed monkeys and bears. The bears sat on their butts and clasped their hands together while the monkeys held out their hands and hit the bars to get our attention (no joke). Also, we watched a gorilla watch us until it turned around and puked an absurd amount all over the floor. Almost immediately, the gorilla started shoveling the pile of puke in his mouth and actually licked the floor clean. The Chinese that were watching the gorilla before promptly left but we laughed and watched the gorilla indulge himself. That same day we went to see a restored part of ancient Shanghai. It was pretty touristy, but it was cool to see some old architecture. I took Terri to a Buddhist temple (Jinjiang temple) that was close to our hostel (and we would see another one in Beijing as well). Although it sounds a bit ignorant or snobbish to say, many Buddhist temples are organized the same way and have many of the same attractions. Once you have seen a couple you've seen them all (at least from my experiences). Nevertheless, they are pleasant, relaxing places to go. The last full day we were in Shanghai we went on a 45 minute cruise along the river that runs through Shanghai (the name escapes me at the moment). We tried to make it for the 3 and a 1/2 hour log cruise, but alas, we ran a bit late as a result of faulty directions. We also went out a handful of times while we were in Shanghai. Most notably, we went to a "dive bar" on Ladies Night(voted the best in Shanghai, but definitely not a dive bar by my standards) called I Love Shanghai. The girls got to drink absolutely for free (from a select menu) and after spending some time there we went to dance club that surprisingly played some good music and danced our butts off. That's all I can remember for now...I'll most more on Harbin, Changchun, and others later. Pics will be up soon enough!

super awesome fun times

Heyy all. I know it's been awhile but I've just been so busy! New Years was a blast, I went to some city but I can't recall the name right now. We ate apples at midnight!

Terri got here and she's been real fucking cool. We've gotten into all kinds of trouble! In my town where I live that I can't spell right now we ate a shit ton of crackers. There was also clubbing, eating, and dancing to country music.

Then we all went to Shanghai! The best was the zoo when the chimpanzee threw up all over the place and immediately ate it all back up till the floor was clean. I laughed SOO HARD I almost puked myself!! We also fed bears and monkeys. I also saw some lion sex. It took a whole 30 seconds for that sun-of-a-gun!

Terri got a cold so when we went to the ancient city she couldn't smell any of the horribly offensive odors coming out of every corner! ewww.

Did I mention I don't drink things cold anymore? That's right. I've neglected my western ways and strictly drink hot things. It's WEEEIRD!

The bar we went to had a ladies night where Angela and Terri drank their asses off for free! I had so much fun paying for my own drinks and watching them drink for free. We then followed a stranger to a fun place and danced the night away. Terri puked.

Well, we have to wake up early to see to some wall business but I'll be posting super soon!!!!!!
BYE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Various Chinese Chirstmas Celebrations

First of all, more Chinese celebrate (or at least acknowledge) Christmas than one would imagine. By the end of the week I thought it kind of sad that they celebrate a Western holiday that really doesn't have any meaning to them. Infiltration of Western culture, blah, blah, blah.

All the Drake people (including foreign and Chinese friends) had our own Christmas celebration. A wine and cheese party! My lips and teeth got so stained from the wine it was repulsive. We had a white elephant gift exchange and I ended up getting some tea (my second choice to a bottle of wine). Good times had by all!

On Tuesday evening we went to the Christmas Banquet for Foreigners held by the municipal government. There were about 200 or so foreigners there with Chinese friends. Our Australian friend, Francis, was chosen to make a speech on the behalf of all foreigners of the city. He was "a bit tossed" (as he put it) before giving the speech. The most hilarious part of the speech was, "Sure, Shijiazhuang doesn't have the modernity of Hong Kong, the shopping of Shanghai, or the beauty of Guangzhuo, but..." and at that point I just started cracking up. Francis is one of the most obnoxious (but hilarious) people I've ever met and I have no idea why they picked him to give a speech. Anyway, they had a wonderful buffet and there were more than a few familiar faces. Megan and I also performed "Last Christmas" for the entire banquet...seemed like a crowd favorite from the foreigners' point of view! Afterwards, a bunch of us went out together.

Well, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I have been planning on performing at Christmas parties here in China for almost two months, and it finally came to pass. I practiced a couple of times with a British teacher named Rick. We practiced "Save Tonight" by Eagle Eyed Cherry, "Well Respected Man" by The Kinks, "All My Loving" by The Beatles, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles, "Man On The Moon" by R.E.M., and "All Rise" by Blue (a British boy band). We performed two nights. The first night was at just one hotel but the second night was at two hotels. We performed on four separate stages (each hotel had an upstairs an downstairs party, the upstairs parties were for the richer folks). We played guitar and sang to the first 5 songs on repeat (with a couple of solo ones by Rick that I added some flare to) for about an hour. Then we sang "Save Tonight" and "All Rise" on stage with the actual music as background. Not only did we dance like retards and make complete fools of ourselves (as we were paid to do), but we were dressed in jeans, frilly silk shirts, and cowboy hats. The only two gay cowboys in China that I know of, haha. So after our final performance last night, Jake, Lan (Jake's boss who set up the shows), Rick, the host from our last show, his girlfriend, and I went out to a restaurant. They served some of the best shrimp I have ever eaten. Jake, Lan, and I slammed beers (Rick, having puked "through his nose" the night before, was refraining from such shenanigans) and we all had a great time. Then I met up with Angela and we had a beer together at our famed McDonald's/Foreigner Bar. What an amazing Christmas...celebrated in a way that I will never ever celebrate the same way again. Pictures will be posted soon enough.

Despite not being religious at all, it was quite an awesome week to celebrate the birth of our Lord. Haaaaaaaaah.

Updates

Here are some stories I have from the past couple weeks:

- A week or two ago I purchased some items at a convenience store. The clerk gave me my change but then he also handed me two sticks of Double Mint gum. Being thoroughly confused, I looked at him and then counted my change to make sure I had the right amount. I was missing wu jiao (essentially, fifty cents). Apparently, they did not have any wu jiaos so the clerk thought a proper replacement would be two sticks of gum. As soon as I realized this I started cracking up and left the store. I asked someone about this and they said it's a fairly regular occurrence: "If they don't have the proper amount of change, they will fish around for something to give you instead." I then lost my two sticks of gum in a bet later that night. True Romance came out in 1993, not 1994...damn it.

- The other night a group of us was eating dinner at a restaurant that we frequent. The patrons in a private room off to the side were getting particularly rowdy. As we stole glances into the room we saw the lights turning on and off, girls hanging off of guys, and dancing. Two girls would leave the room every 15-20 minutes to go to the restroom together and each time they came out they would be drunker than they were before. Each time they came out they hung off of each other a bit more and lost their step a little more. Finally, one guy in the room ran out of the room with his hand over his mouth. Rather than running towards the bathroom, he ran towards the stairs, held down his puke for a split second and then spewed it across the floor, and then again by the stairs...then I think he left (on a sidenote, the wait staff didn't decide to clean up the mess for another 10 or 15 minutes...maybe they were drawing straws?). As girls continued to leave the room we were patiently watching and praying that one of them would slip in the puke. Only after it was cleaned up (with a broom no less!) one of the girls in stilettos slipped and fell. I couldn't contain myself and burst out laughing. Having been thoroughly embarrassed the girl was helped up by her friends and they continued their drunken trek to the restroom. Before coming back into the party room. The girl who slipped and fell turned to our table and screamed (in a thick Chinese accent) "Fuck youuu!!!"

- We get a month and a half off for travel starting January 3rd. This is the plan so far: Angela and I are going to pick up Jon and Terri in Beijing on the 5th. We will return to Shijiazhuang until the evening of the 8th when we will go back to Beijing, spend the night there, and fly to Shanghai the morning of the 9th. In Shanghai we will be meeting with our friends Kara, Willie, Bjorn, and Hanne which is going to be amazing. We will be Shanghai until about the 15th when we will return to Beijing and have one or two days to sight see before we see Jon and Terri off again. Then Angela and I will meet our friend, Daniel (who now works in the North), in Harbin, which is known as Ice City. Harbin is in the most northern reaches of China and the temperatures are supposed to be as low as -20 or -30 degrees F. It's most famous for it's architecture (heavy Russian influence) and ice festival which essentially occurs the entire month of January. On the way back from Harbin we will hit two capital cities (can't remember their names at the moment). Then Angela will head back to Shijiazhuang to get pack up because she leaves the country January 30th. Then I will head to Luoyang, Xi'an (terra cotta warriors), and then meet Billie in Chengdu. The last part is heavily tentative but after all that I will be returning to Shijiazhuang mid-February. If this all works out...it's going to be a miracle.

- Weight. Unlike it is in the West, people more openly talk about others' weight problems. It is just not a taboo thing here like it is in America, especially when talking about womens' weight. Many of the Drake girls have gone shopping for clothes and some of them have been told they are too big or fat but store clerks (when clearly, they are not at all). My tutor told me that in high school (and even now to a lesser extent) his friends make fun of him for being "fat", but in fact he's just got some chub. They actually tell him the reason he doesn't have a girlfriend is because he's "fat." I asked, "Doesn't it make you feel bad when your friends call you fat?" He said, "No, I know they are just kidding." But obviously he has taken it personally because I see him exercise outside for the sole reason that his friends DO call him fat. Even while I was giving my final examinations this week many girls mentioned that they like to eat and that is why they are so fat, when really I wouldn't consider any of them fat. I feel like it's a huge self-image issue, but they approach really lightheartedly which makes me think it's definitely a bigger issue than they let on. Also, today during my final examination, I asked one girl to describe her father (What's you Dad like? Want to meet that Dad! haha) and the first thing she said was that he is "kind of fat." I then replied, "You must really love your father."

I'm a Man! I'm 40!

I know that it's a different culture, and every culture has different perceptions, customs, and values concerning masculinity/femininity/gender, but some here are just ridiculous!

For example, we regularly eat in restaurants next to obnoxious and loud tables of drunk businessmen. The other night we were sitting next to a table of older businessmen who drinking out of a huge jug of baijiu. All their faces were red and they were getting increasingly loud. All of a sudden one of them started yelling at another and pounding his fist on the table. I asked a Chinese girl we were with what he was yelling about and she said that he was telling the other one he had to drink more. And from what I understood, for no particular reason either. This dispute was so intense that another one of the men had to separate them and console he each one separately to calm them down. After a while things settled down again.

Drinking and smoking are basically rites of passage for men here. The more you drink the more of a man you will be. They are worse than frat boys...well...sometimes. Smoking is also perceived to be a masculine activity (although some women smoke, not nearly as many).

Another thing men do is at the gym, they will take off their shirts in front of everyone and check themselves out in the mirror. I suppose this happens in America, but this happens here when they make sure other men are around to watch them. The same thing happens when they decide to show everyone how much weight they can lift. They will wait until the gym is busy and there are a lot of other people around to max out.

I told my Chinese friend, Jake, that I had started taking yoga classes. He said, "That is so gay! Only women take yoga classes." From what I have seen thus far, that may be true, but then I asked, "What's more gay: Flexing your muscles, half naked, in front of a mirror with a bunch of other guys or being in a yoga class with a room full of women?" He really didn't know what to say to that.

The Chinese also have traditional views on masculine and feminine roles within a relationship. And by "traditional", I mean that they are still oppressive towards women. Here's a quick example:

The other day one of my students came to my office hours because she wanted help studying for her Oral English examination. This examination is huge because passing it gives the student a sort of certification which allows them more leeway when applying for jobs. My student brought into a practice book that had sample questions and answers. She wanted to go over the "Gender" section and these are literally some direct quotes from that section:

"Women have more emotional natures. Some women are very sensitive and narrow-minded."

"Most women have to choose between a successful career and a happy life. As a result most women lose enthusiasm for work once they get married, and take up full responsibility for housework and children, while their husbands pursue careers."

No joke. I was laughing out loud and my student was bewildered as to why I found it so hilarious. I tried to explain it to her as best I could, but she was of the opinion that men and women still have firmly established roles in society and in relationships.

There was also a drawing she had to describe. The drawing was a split between showing a woman stressed out at work and then showing the same woman stressed out at home trying to do housework and take care of the children. The drawing was called "The Double Burden." After laughing, I asked, "Can't the husband help with housework and taking care of the children?" She said that although that is mostly considered the work of the woman, that her parents both shared housework duties, but that that is a bit of an anomaly in China.

Also, concerning relationships. I regularly see student couples fight in public anywhere in campus. Usually, the girl will be crying, yelling, and/or hitting the boy on the shoulders or chest, and the boy, straight faced, will either be standing still or will be attempting to pass the girl. Since girls and boys aren't allowed to visit each other's dormitories, many scenes like this which would normally take place in private quarters take place in public. On the other hand, you can also see couples making out in more "private" corners of the campus.

Like I said before, I know it's a different culture, but some of their views on gender just seem a bit...outdated?...and hilarious.

Sorry to drop a mini-sociological report on you, I just find it interesting!


On a completely different note, many of my students have been getting sick (it's that time of year). If a student is sick, one of their friends usually speaks up for them in class and says, "(Insert name here) has a cold, he/she went to the hospital." At first I thought that "hospital" just meant the school doctor, but this kept on happening. So one day I asked, "When you say hospital, do you mean the actual hospital or the school health center?" Whoever I asked then acknowledged that it was indeed the hospital. So apparently Chinese like to go to the hospital for colds and headaches. Now I think it's just their excuse for skipping class. Pretty dramatic excuse, I should say.

Chinese Thanksgiving

On Wednesday night we went to a club that was just opening up. We know the owner through a friend of a friend. The club owner may have named his club after our Drake friend, Jason, but there is another Jason we hang out with too. In any case, I had a good chuckle when the huge sign for the club read: JASON CLUB.

This little waitress got shitfaced with us. Whenever someone would fill up a drink at our table, she would also fill up and say, "Gombei!" which means something like "empty glass." She couldn't have been more than 5'3" and she was making all the guys drink and dance with her (not that we were complaining). She was absolutely hilarious, piss drunk, and bouncing off the walls. Hopefully someone has a video of her showing me this absolutely retarded dance (let's just say I made the entire table of Drake people crack up). After going to this club, it was finally confirmed for me that the Chinese (mostly the men, I suppose) have no dancing skills at all...if only you could see what I've seen.

As the club was gradually emptying, we were all dancing and suddenly our friend, Daniel, just kind of passed out on the floor. We tried to slap him awake but to no avail so we had to carry him out of the bar. (Sidenote: This is not the first time this has happened. A couple months ago he passed out at a club in a booth and didn't wake up until the morning and a security guard had to let him out). Soon afterwards, the guy who was buying all our drinks for us ironically also passed out and we had to carry him out. Not only all this, but it was also the night of the Mongolian New Year and a bunch of Mongolians from my apartment building were there and they were also heavily intoxicated. All in all, it was quite a shitshow. Afterwards we got drunk food and I got a taxi back with the Mongolians and ended up staying up until 4:30 drinking with them. I made them try Jim Beam and they liked it. All one of them could say in English was, "Motherfuck!" and "I hate Chinese people!"

For Thanksgiving day meal the next day, Megan, Mikey, Angela, Tamara (Italian girl), Shirly (Chinese girl), Bence, and I went to Andy’s apartment. Andy is here in the window tinting and solar paneling business (if I remember correctly) and is quite well off here in China. We met him through our Argentinean and Hungarian friends Fabian and Bence. After Bence agreed to cook, Andy and his visiting friend, Justin, decided to buy all the ingredients. Bence cooked for nearly 12 hours before we were ready to eat at 8 p.m. Unbelievably, even by the last couple of hours, Bence was still dancing, headbanging, singing, and cooking (sometimes all at the same time). I would mostly credit this to Bence being quite ADHD. Apparently Angela helped out too but only at Bence's command: "Stir this" or "Taste this" but that was all the help that Bence wanted or needed. We had turkey, garlic potatoes, mashed potatoes with gravy, garlic bread, cranberry chutney (the only thing that was not made from scratch), pumpkin pie, and strawberry cake. The pumpkin pie didn't have the same consistency of pumpkin pie as we know it because we had pumpkin pie made from scratch...yea, that's right. The inside of a pumpkin was literally mashed up to make the filling. Bence said, "I didn't know what a pumpkin pie tastes like or even looks like so this is what I thought it would be" and lo and behold, it was awesome...especially with the homemade whipped cream.

On Friday we went out drinking for our Jake's birthday. Lots of the usual foreigners were out plus some new ones who I met. After wondering around for a while I came back to look for my coat because I wanted my camera. Along with mine, the pile of "foreigner" coats was missing. I became very agitated as I searched every nook and cranny of the club. Finally I was pissed off and decided to stand up on a wobbly table full of drinks (like any irrational drunk pissed off person would do) and was immediately asked to get down. Finally, after losing all hope as everyone was leaving. Someone pulled at my coat, along with two Japanese girls' coats (!?). Fuckin' A! I guess one of our foreign friends put all the coats in one fucking cubbie without telling us. Dumb bastard.

On Saturday morning we went to Handan which is only about an hour and a 1/2 away by train. I was totally hungover as balls. The Drake people that teach at Handan graciously offered to cook us a Thanksgiving feast and we, of course, accepted. This was literally the biggest Thanksgiving I had personally ever seen. Chicken, cornbread, cauliflower, green beans and mushrooms, apple pies, pumpkin bars, mashed potatoes, butternut squash soup, the list goes on and on. There was entirely too much food for the 15 of us so the Drake people that teach there invited about 20 or 30 of their students to help and there was still food left over. Amazing. I could have just laid around and eaten that food for a week and not even cared. We watched as their students performed dances and break dances for us...and we showed them the chicken dance, haha. Afterwards we went to a karaoke place, but as most people were still in a Thanksgiving coma there wasn't the energy there usually is at karaoke so we went home and watched Home Alone.

I will write about Beijing later...