halloween tunnel

I meant to put these photos up earlier.  They're from the Halloween party/carnival we had at our school.  Each pair of teachers was supposed to make some kind of game for the kids to come to.  Aaron and i relived one of his favorite childhood memories by making a giant cardboard box maze for the kids to crawl through.  Unfortunately, the boxes were smaller than we'd first thought and it was incredibly claustrophobic, but at least the little kids could go through.  here is a picture of the line down the hallway waiting to go in. 

we had the door curtained off so all they could see was the entrance to the tunnel when the came up to the door.  we'd recorded 'scary' music which was playing in the room as they crawled through.  there was also a big rubber snake (which caused one little girl to cry and have to be evacuated through an emergency exit we'd incorporated.) and cardboard flaps we could reach our hands in to grab the kids legs as they crawled through. 
i have a short video but for some reason couldn't upload it to the site.  when the kids were crawling through, the whole tunnel came to life.  i didn't think it would last more than a few minutes, but somehow it lasted the whole time (with some extra taping throughout). 

a few of my first graders

my first graders coloring halloween pictures on halloween

hot pot

aaron, marcus, linnea, and i at a hot pot restaurant.  This one was a flat fee per person, so you could go through the line and choose as many of whatever raw foods you wanted.  then you cook them in the pot of boiling water in the middle.  One side of the pot is plain broth, one is spicy broth. very very spicy.  they have almost every kind of meat and vegetable you could think of.  then bowls of sesame sauce to dip your food in. 

messy...

around the antique market

First of all, thank you Linnea for all of her photos i've been borrowing recently.  I tend to miss the best shots because I don't often carry my camera around and generally don't feel comfortable taking pictures of other people for whatever reason.  So i give credit for many of the recent photos to her.  Thanks Linnea!  Enjoy the clear skies back in Sweden. 

You can almost forget in certain neighborhoods of Beijing that China is a developing country.  But it's hard to go a minute or two even in these places without a reminder that the majority of the population is quite different than the comparatively wealthy beijingers. 

A common sight.  Street cleaners and other people often wear face masks.-- probably not a bad idea with the pollution.

the amount people can carry on a three-wheeled cart or bicycle is impressive.

our puffy baked good selection.  i would say there are things china does better than baked goods. 

A first hand look at the fur trade in China.  Much of the fur exported from China actually comes from dogs.  Some of these pelts were most likely dog pelts dyed to look like cheeta etc, which is common practice here.  If you ever want to know more about how awful this is, google PETA fur trade video.  These men sell furs outside the antique market.

Inside the "antique" market.  Much of the merchandise is actually just made to look old, but there are a lot of old things as well and i could spend days here without seeing everything: furniture, jewelry, Mao paraphenalia , old coins, books, paintings, posters, instruments, clothes, tapestries, dishes, ceramics, statues, toys....

eventually i'll try to take more pictures--this doesn't begin to show the variety.

fish market

the beijing subway

one of the most intersting places i've found here is the fish market.  --for pets, not eating. they also have turtles, birds, and a large assortment of other animals.  eventually i'll add more pictures of this place, but here are a few for now. 

grasshoppers

meal worms

autumn day

aaron's brother marcus's friend Linnea from Sweeden is visiting us this week.  yesterday we went to tian an' men square.  there are always guards marching around.

we did lots of jumping.

we climbed a hill in the very center of the city. it has the best panoramic view of beijing. 

aaron and linnea

down the hill

more jumping

exploring a side street.

we passed a large homing pigeon coop on top of one house and people cooking dinner in a public restroom.  people cook everywhere. in shops, along side of the road. this was the first time i'd seen someone cooking in a restroom, but i think it was one of the cleaners, and if that's where you spend all your time, i guess it makes sense to cook and eat there too. 

trying to warm up with gelatinous corn and egg soup. i was happier than i look.

though probably not this happy.

spicy red peppers!  they're in many of the dishes; i've never found chinese food this spicy back home.   mmm.

little fish with giant balloons for eyes.  really. 

misc.

hallway of my apartment

on my street

noodles....again.

trip to the great wall

although you can get a driver to take you straight to the wall for a pretty reasonable price, we opted to go by public transportation.  it's more challenging and fun to do it independently, plus the whole round trip cost about $4.  this is a public mini bus we took the last leg of the trip.  a woman got on with a red plastic bag that i noticed was moving at her feet.  awhile later it somehow came undone and a large catfish flapped onto the floor of the bus.  for the next few minutes she and a helpful fellow passenger tried to catch it, but by the time they finally did the second fish had escaped.  

this was an unrestored portion of the wall-- or at least not recently restored.  sections were completely crumbled away, but we were able to walk a pretty long way before reaching that point.  we didn't actually see this sign until we came back down-- people definitely climb this part of it though-- the locals set up little stools and make handmade tickets and charge you a few quai to pass the portion that runs through their land. (about 30 or 50 cents). 

view from a watchtower

the woman in the background had the shrillest voice i've ever heard. she charged us 5 quai to pass and tried to sell us firecrackers to set off on the wall. 

scenic view for the preying mantis

this portion was crumbling away and rediculously steep.  i opted out, but aaron and marcus climbed down. 

looking down the steep section

back off the wall. someone burning leaves along the road.

a very typical public restroom in the countryside.  the door on the right shows the character for female.  the toilet is just a hole in the floor that runs strait out onto the hill behind the hut and down to the river.

workers whitewashing the tree trunks on our walk back along the road waiting for a bus to come by. 

bus to the next town