Five-Fifteen: November; Brace Yourself, Winter is Coming

November has cruised by and we’re only a week away from Thanksgiving, so here’s a quick glimpse at what I’ve been up to.

The winter is already upon Daqing! Today is just under 30 degrees, but this weekend it should dip into the teens and I’ve already busted out the winter coat. But despite the cold weather I’ve been exploring around Yixi on my new bike and having a blast teaching as well.

Back during Halloween there were a few parents that actually brought in Jack-O-Lanterns, although none of them were pumpkins. Despite the makeshift decorations, spirits were high and the kids even got to play “trick or treat” for the good old candy hookup.

Linda and I Showing off the Jack-O-Lanterns!

My classes have been going well, I’m learning more about teaching all the time and every week there is something hilarious/awesome/ridiculous that happens. A week or two ago we had a lesson about clothes and getting dressed, so why not burn some class time with a "who can get dressed the fastest" race?

Mike helping put those shades on

For stress relief, hit children with hammer

Jerry helpin' out Leo with the hat and jacket

And finally here's the whole class + Susan. Benson was the winner!

That class was awesome because there wasn’t much lesson planning and all the kids enjoyed the race, the Chinese assistant teachers even observed and took all the pictures for me!

Outside of class I’ve been exploring more and more around Yixi, and while there are a lot of factories and bland buildings, you never quite know what you are going to find. All these pictures are from about a week ago when I took my bike out for an hour and a half or so just riding around randomly.

The Daqing Oil Refinery

Nearby Petrochemical Factories etc etc

You get the picture...

The (unused) Soccer stadium, across the lake, at dusk

Yixi even has a Christian Church near the lake

Wooded path in the outskirts of Yixi

I was really surprised to find the Church pictured above, it's not far from the stadium and the lake which are about a 10 minutes bike ride from my place. The church is in a strange location, not very accessible, but who knows if it's there for show or if there is actually a following. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled.

As I mentioned, the soccer stadium is essentially unused. It's about the size and quality of Dick's Sporting Goods park in Denver (most likely worse quality...) but there is definitely not a soccer team here, let alone any other sport. That's something that you notice after living here, buildings, stadiums, factories, apartments, pretty much anything might be built just for the sake of having it, even if it is entirely unneeded or unnecessary. Yixi's stadium is nice enough, but Xincun has an epic stadium modeled after the famous Beijing "Bird's Nest" from the Olympics and it is also unused.

Finally, a Panoramic view from my apartment. The observatory in the top left is right next to my school. Which is located in a building called the "Yixi Youth Science Palace of Ethylene" and no, I'm not joking!

I've been seeing more and more of the China that I was forewarned about in a great book my older sister Jessie bought me before I left, Lost on Planet China by J. Maarten Troost, which I urge anyone interested to check out! But instead of being called "Laowai" everywhere, it's always "Mei Guo Ren!" that I seem to be hearing (translation: American). I've yet to see a day pass where I don't hear/see someone pointing, whispering, shouting, gawking, or otherwise inspecting me and speaking those unmistakeable words, OH MY GOODNESS IT'S ONE OF THOSE MEI GUO RENS!!! WOW! (A little exaggeration, but forgive me).
I've even been getting pushed around a bit more at the bus stop, at the grocery store, and even at the strongest bastions of Western Culture in China! Yes even McDonalds is not immune from China's bustling shove fests! A woman cut me as I was standing right next to Kurtis who wasn't even finished ordering his food, she proceeded to start shoving him out of the way while he was in the act of giving the cashier his money, and thank goodness I was still sleepy from the previous late night because I just laughed instead of getting furious. Kurtis "kindly" informed this woman that she would need to "LINE UP" or "Join the QUEUE" and luckily for us the cashier concurred (usually they wouldn't say anything).
But these are merely nuisances, nothing serious but it's the type of thing that you kinda turn your head sideways and go "huh?!?"

And I'll finish on that note, "things that make you turn your head sideways and go huh?!?"
Audi, Ford, Chevy, Toyota, Volkswagen, Hyundai, and a variety of other Automakers are represented on the streets here in Yixi (including a Chinese brand called "JMC" (shout out to my Pops)) but you can also try some less conventional transportation: