Ranghulu, Shan's Bachelor Party, and the Foreigners

It's been a week and it will be amazing if I finish writing this post tonight (I teach the Kindergarten at 8:00 am tomorrow) but I figured I'd go light on the words and heavy on the pictures.

On Friday I had my first classroom observation by the school and I passed with flying colors, it was easy honestly because for some reason my students decided to be on their best behavior and it's hard to mess up a half hour class where the highlight is "Hello, how are you. I'm fine, thanks."

In case I forgot to do a formal introduction for the Chinese teachers, here they are from left to right: Vickey, Kelly, Susan, Elaine, and Anna.

The Chinese Teachers

And of course my partner in crime, fellow Yixi'er, and the homie, Kurtis. I caught him in his natural habitat and in his traditional clothing (by the way the Buckeyes just killed the Buffs as you might know).

Kurtis and his Buckeyes

So Sunday after class Kurtis and I took the 2 to 2 1/2 hour trip over to Ranghulu (see previous post for map) for our buddy Shan's bachelor party and to get out of Yixi for a day. The cab ride is 45min and about 50-70 yuan, the bus ride is much longer and you have to switch buses buuuuut it's a whopping 6 yuan ($1).

Right when we got off the bus we headed to get some Mala Chuanrs (I finally looked up the word for shish kabobs in Chinese. "Mala" is actually the variety cooked in oil unlike the grilled ones at the end of this post) with Kurtis's old friend and Chinese teacher at another one of the schools here. Mack was cool, very friendly and helpful translating and I offered to pick up the bill which didn't even dent my wallet.

Chillin with Mack and the owner of the Chuanr Stand

Afterwards we headed over to Orange Bar (or O3) for the bachelor party aka a bunch of foreign dudes drinking like college kids. Flip cup and beer pong included.

(Most of) The Whole Crew

The Other Room at the Orange Bar

Joe and The Owner of Orange Bar, Leo

Liam with Kurtis's Orange Bar Picture

German Alex

Will, Crashed on his Couch to Avoid the Late Night Cab Ride

So now you've met some of the crew, I haven't had the chance to get pictures of everyone yet. Not to mention this particular night was men only (no dancing girls Mom, don't worry).

Will and Katie (not pictured, yet) were kind enough to let me crash on their couch that night and the next afternoon a couple of us Men got naked and soaked in some hot tubs and lounged in the sauna at one of the local bathhouses. Here is the lone picture, outside of the bathhouse for the benefit of the readers...

Heading to Relax at the Bathhouse

And finally Kurtis and I were on our way back home, we only have one day weekends but we pack in as much as we can!

Here's a couple more pictures of Ranghulu, it feels like there is construction EVERYWHERE in China and this place was no different.

Build, Build, Build

And for my architecture friends here is a most-likely insignificant building with an interesting design. I've been trying to take as many pictures as possible but sometimes when everything looks the same you just get bored doing so.

Homework for Rob and Ron: Write me a Report on this Architecture

So back to work today and luckily I only have 4 days of teaching followed by a week off for Chinese National Day (Oct 1), after class we got some Chuanrs again and this time I got some pictures of all the action. Next week I have two weddings to go to so I'll be busy, but I'll either fill in my post with some pictures of my apartment or maybe wait til after the weddings to keep it interesting.

The Spread at the Chuanrs Stand

The Cooking Action

Life is simple here, wake up go to the market and get some fresh fruit and vegetables, teach some class, and just relax. China might be a hectic country but out in Yixi the pace is slow and easy, yet there are still things that happen everyday that you just shake your head at. For example, walking to meet Kurtis to catch the bus I noticed a little kid with some pants on that were missing, shall we say, the hind quarters...he proceeded to relieve himself without having to move the pants at all. I've seen this happen a half dozen times since.

TIC

This is China

Hello! Ni Hao! I apologize for the delay but for a number of reasons (Chinese internet, plenty of teaching keeping me busy, and laziness) I have neglected to get my blog up and running, but here is the belated first post.

I named my blog two different things, the url http://yixi-laowai.blogspot.com/ Yixi is the town where I live, and laowai is Chinese for "Old Foreigner" which is something I hear everytime I walk down the street. My blog is also called "Five-Fifteen" because I live in the "5" district of Yixi, and my building is literally called "5-15," no reason to get too creative when you can just use numbers I suppose?

This is my building from a distance, 5-15

After a delayed flight in Denver, a night in L.A. (where I helped a nice Chilean girl who was stranded just like me…thank goodness for my Spanglish skills), and a 14 hour plane ride with 5 free movies (Dumb and Dumber was the highlight) I finally made it to CHINA.

Despite the late arrival all was well and just as I walked into my hotel room at Shanghai Jiao Tong University my roommate informed me everyone was going out for a beer, and what better way to combat the jetlag?

Relaxing with some Tiger Beer

I was only in Shanghai for a few days but I was busy enough with some survival Chinese lessons, some teaching practice, some sightseeing, and a bunch of great meals provided by CIEE.

Shanghai from the Huangpu River

On the river cruise I was told everyone heading to Daqing would be leaving a day early so I got packed up the next morning and one of the Chinese helpers took us to the airport where we hopped on a flight to Daqing. We got in late and luckily there was an entourage of Chinese and foreign teachers awaiting us, I met Kurtis and Susan for the first time and they took me to my new apartment (pictures to come, it’s epic).

Daqing is a decent sized city, but while I am technically "living in" Daqing I am actually in a smaller town called Yixi which is about a 30min cab ride from the main part of the city and 45min from Ranghulu (where Orange Bar and the other Three Bridges English School is located). There are several different cities "in" Daqing but unless I go out to the foreigner bars or head into town for something I need (there is a Wal-mart here, I can’t escape America!) I am pretty much living solo out here with Kurtis.

Map of Daqing, I live in Yixi

The reason Kurtis and I are out here is we are starting a new branch of Three Bridges English School. So it’s me, Kurtis, and our 5 Chinese teachers (Susan is our boss, Anna is new and isn't pictured yet). It's pretty exciting to be a part of a brand new school, but it also offers its own unique challenges as well.

Here’s the crew on a bulletin board at our school

I don’t mind living out here, it’s a bit quieter (minus the 6:00am construction) and it’s really an authentic “living in China” experience. Shanghai might as well have been a city anywhere, there is a big international presence and I didn’t really feel very far from my comfort zone.

But I will say that I am disappointed not to be teaching at the Three Bridges “Palace," it literally looks like a castle. My school is still decent and it’s furnished with plenty of desks, whiteboards, computers, and I even share a nice office with Kurtis and Susan which is chill. However, we lack the defenses necessary to prevent our stronghold from being overrun by invading armies from the middle ages. You can never be too careful.

The Children's Palace

vs

My School

It’s been cool living out here with Kurtis, he’s always down to get a beer after a long day of classes and we usually go out a few times a week to get “BBQ” which is really just meat on a stick shish kabob style on an open grill. DELICOUS! We also checked out this place where its meat/noodles/tofu/veggies on a stick but it’s cooked in hot and spicy oil, I even got a picture with the owners. A few nights ago we went wandering and stumbled upon a restaurant where we sat down and got an entire lamb’s leg thrown on our table’s personal little grill and we marinated it and cut it up ourselves! Seriously the food is epic!

Gettin some of that BBQ

Yesterday we had a BBQ for all the foreigners to finish off the summer, tons of shrimp, chicken, pork, and beef along with the classics like potato salad and coleslaw. Kurtis even made some peach cobbler which was delicious when I added some ice cream from Kingsley’s. Here’s the crew chillin in a “park-like area,” after we got kicked out of the real park we sort of just moved across the street and nobody bothered us after that. The cops that kicked us out were on crappy old motor bikes and one of them was only wearing his police shirt, he was wearing sweatpants and sneakers along with it!

BBQ'in in the "Park"

Afterwards we went over to Kingsley’s, one of the two foreigner bars in Daqing. Kingsley’s is great because he is a teacher, our friend, and since he owns it we can just pick the music and play pool for free. Someone had downloaded the Mayweather-Ortiz fight so we watched it on the movie projector, and Kingsley told me if I can get a hold of a Broncos game that he would show it, I just need to download one that we actually win… It's a cool little place and I think I will visit often because it's (kinda) close and I really like the atmosphere and the chance to watch some sports from back home. Also it's mainly geared toward foreigners and English-speaking Chinese university students, which is a huge plus because my Chinese isn't very good so far...

Here is the man himself in front of Kingsley's

The other bar we go to is called O3 or “Orange Bar” because it has moved twice and this is the third location. It’s a nice 45min cab rider there from Yixi but people tend to like going there more than Kingsley’s and the owner/bartender Leo is a cool Chinese guy who loves foreigners and I’ll post some pics of him and Orange bar next time I head out there. Otherwise, that’s it.

Not very much to do out here, but I’m making the most of my time when I’m not teaching I’m exploring or trying to learn some Chinese. The winter is supposed to be brutal, but for now it’s not much colder than a nice Colorado fall so I’m making the most of the weather while it’s nice.

As for teaching, I’m with the little kids anywhere from 2 year old babies to 11 year olds. My classes are small, we’re a new school so you can’t expect a full schedule of 30 kids per class but it’s a nice transition without being too busy. I still get my full salary even if I don’t teach my 25 hours a week, and the kids are great so we just play games and work on new words and sentences. It’s really an easy job and hopefully I will be saving up some money to travel when I get some time off. Here is one of my better classes, they were stoked to take this picture and everyone wanted to see it on the camera afterwards (a great way to waste some time at the end of class)!

Glynn was running around so I finally just grabbed him and held him for this one!

Sorry for the onslaught of words! But if you just glanced through the pictures I totally understand, I’m a bit exhausted from last nights shenanigans and BBQ and I have class soon but I’ll be posting some more stuff about life here in Yixi soon enough. During the winter I won’t have much to do so you can expect some more posts during that time of year.

I hope all is well back home and I miss all you guys but I’m well taken care of so don’t worry about me!

TIC- or This is China as Kurtis would say…there are so many mind-boggling things that happen here that sometimes you just shake your head and say TIC to stay sane!

Some administrative things:
Daqing Three Bridges English School Website

Address for Mailing me something (please let me know if you do, but I am not expecting anything ok!):

Jake Craney

Address: Women and Children Development Center Three Bridges English School. Daqing Dongfeng Xincun, Heilongjiang Province, China

Zip Code: 163311

地址：黑龙江省大庆市东风新村妇女儿童活动发展中心三桥英语培训学校

邮编：163311

Copy and paste into Microsoft word and you can print it!