See Kaifeng! Part two: Alex's Bathroom

Here is our lovely bathroon.
We don't have a shower so much as a room that gets all wet. When we first turned on the shower the knob fell out of the shower head and all the water spewed out of the hole. And it had been that way ever since.
Our toilet, it doesn't work too hard, it doesn't like toilet paper. Just be glad it isn't a public one that some people share out in the hutongs.

See Kaifeng! Part One: Alex's Room

This is Sam's bed and side of the room. Out that window is the School's motorpool or something. Also a big smoke stack, yay China!
These would be our desks.
This would be my side of the room.
My Desk.

More Halloween Pics

Zombie Samurai, I think.
Traditional Chinese ghosts, they are the two demons who take you to the underworld. Really cool costumes (All the students had to make their own costumes).
There was a mummy wrapping contest. Toilet paper is ubiquitous here, rolls of it are found on every restaurant table for napkins.
Everybody wanted to get pictures of us, I posed for so many pictures. Actually this is fairly common especially in somewhere like Kaifeng. Random people on the street will snap pictures of us, or wave us into photos of their family, or slighly aim their camera phones at you from across the restaurant.
This picture has nothing to do with Halloween (aside from my ridiculous touring outfit). I just wanted to show off the best thing $30 can buy. Its called a San-Lun-Che or three wheeled vehicle, sort of a tricycle/ rickshaw. the back can either be a seat for one, or fold down into a truck bed or carrying stuff.

Kold Kaifeng

It is sunday night and I am trying to study, I would have gotten more studying previously but I was sick friday and saturday. I guess it was something I ate that just didn't want to cooperate with me. But I am better now. We seem now to be at the end of a very long autumn. It is now getting much colder, we haven't gotten a frost or anything just yet but once the sun goes down the cold comes up. The main problem is that we dont have heat in our dorm. Well not until Nov 15th, when they turn on the heat in our apartments, and our classroom I hope too. I have to go to class all bundled up (I bought a winter weather chinese army hat, it looks silly and many tourists buy them but I dont care it keeps me warm). But the dorms are quite cold in the evenings. which means wool socks, sweaters, and long underwear. My roommate, Sam, bought himself an electric blanket and is wrapped in it right now as he plays his computer games.

I just hope that the heat is worth a damn.

Censorship

Ok, so it seems that the Chinese government has decided to block my blog once again... oh well.

Halloween in Zhongguo

They do have pumpkins (called "southern mellons") here in china but we couldn't find any, I suggested we buy watermellons ("western mellons") instead and they seem to have worked out great. They are easy to carve, and when lit from within the red interior gives them an even creepier red glow.
Oh, just a few hundred Chinese students trick-or-treating at my dorm room. No the Chinese don't usually celebrate Halloween, but my three friends who are english teachers here were hosting a Halloween party for their students, who really got into it.
Before the festivities started up all 200-300 costumed chinese students loitered around the outside of the teacher's apartments.
So many kids, and they all want candy.
I am dressed as doremon, a pan-asian cartoon character, he is a sort of blue magical cat, who flies.

Internet!

Hooray! It would seem that it is an auspicious day indeed. Sam and I have just gotten internet in our room. Which mean that I have much more access to this blog, AND if that weren't enough good news: China has come round and decided to unblock my blog. (well that and all other google based blogs)