Passing Time

With school winding down we've had to find some interesting ways to amuse ourselves besides playing ping pong. We've judged a 5 hour long speech and debate contest, attended as the VIPs to a series of English plays performed by the foreign language school (which interestingly enough was all in English with one Japanese play), been interviewed for the campus radio station on Father's Day and American college life, attended various lunches with the university hierarchy, proofread the dean of the foreign language school's new text book, and gone to the beach with some students.

We don't have many pics from the beach but here is a picture of the whole class trying their skills at the grill. They rented the grill and brought 3 cardboard boxes of raw meat to cook, no cooler or ice. Needless to say, we were a little nervous but it ended up being pretty good except for the random parts such as chicken hearts, feet, and necks. They asked us, "Do you not eat animal organs?" It was an adventure!

As for the rest of the time, Chinese students just call it "play" so we played soccer and other various games they invented. Here is a video of one of the more unusual games.

One of the other places we decided to visit recently is the local zoo. We have all heard of the horrible conditions of the Chinese zoos from the animal rights activists so we were more than a little nervous. One of the little boys that we tutor wanted to take us with his father so we couldn't refuse. We were pleasantly surprised to find that the Huangdao zoo is located in a valley between 2 mountains and is actually a pleasant area. The animals are given space to run around, well at least the big animals are. The zoo is small but contains all the normal animals for a zoo. Chinese zoos tend to like to build bridges above the enclosures so you walk above the animals and look down into their living spaces. There aren't a lot of animals but the favorite of the locals by far are the big cats. But just watching the tigers hang around and cool off is not enough for the Chinese tourist. There is a man standing next to the enclose with live chickens in cages that you can purchase to throw down to the fierce beasts and watch what happens. At first I was horrified, but its like a train wreck and you just can't look away. Luckily, these tigers were in a more playful mood. Watch for yourselves below.





But our favorite part of the zoo were the bears. These bears are remarkable and will do all sorts of tricks so you will throw them a piece of carrot. They stand, dance, and wave.





So after visiting this zoo, we were a little prepared for what we experienced at the next zoo we had to visit with the school. First we were surprised to see a large exhibit of white tigers. Aren't they supposed to be rare? They had at least 5 at this smallish zoo in the middle of nowhere. Then the most interesting part appeared. This interesting yet uninformative sign. Can you guess what's inside?


Inside you will find several hyenas, a leopard, and a dog living harmoniously. I don't know about peaceful aspect, but I sure felt sorry for the dog!

So Happy Father's Day dads! Sorry we couldn't take you to the zoo or the beach this year, maybe next year!

DB&KM