So, while walking around the back lakes in Beijing (which are amazing, btw), I noticed that some people were swimming in one of the lakes, despite the sign explicitly saying not to swim. I soon noticed that they were all a bunch of creepy old dudes in speedos who had to hose themselves once they got out of the lake. This guy pictured decided he needed to sing for a while at people before he jumped into the lake. Weird.

At least, I think those are mountain lions.

This is a taste of why the Beijing Zoo is actually really depressing. The big cats hardly have any room to move around. It’s like a prison.

A monkey. A pissed off monkey. Sitting on top of a ram. That’s pulling a cart. With a small child in it. Who thought this was a good idea?

Oh, and technically this is another photo taken by my mom.

Some fish from the Beijing aquarium, the largest indoor aquarium in the world. Though, to be honest, there were no cephalopods (that I saw). And no jelly fish. So, it may be the largest, but without big tenticalled things, it can’t possibly be the greatest.

That one fish is blowing kisses at me.

This tree is from Tian Tan (Temple of Heaven), in Beijing.

This is the camel at Millenium City. With a bow on his head. A big, red bow.

 Here are some candied apples, and other fruits, that are common in Beijing and Henan province. The apples aren’t very good, but the candied strawberries are amazing. The candied strawberry stick front and center? Yeah, I ate it.

 My mom technically took this photo. This is of this kid at the Beijing Airport. My mom’s theory is that he’s (she?) dressed like a pig because it’s the new year, the year of the pig.

The tower in the background is about a ten minute walk from my apartment. It is called Tie Ta, or Iron Pagoda. It is thirteen stories, though I hear more of the tower is actually underground. See, Kaifeng has been burried several times in flooding by the Yellow River.

This couple were posing for their wedding pictures at Hanyuan, an amusement park in Kaifeng.

I love that dude in the background.

From what I have seen, Chinese couples like to wear western style clothing for their wedding ceremonies, and then traditional Chinese dress at the reception.

 What can I say, lanterns are pretty.

 This picture is from Qing Ming Shang He Yuan, aka Millenium City, an amusement park in Kaifeng. The park itself is a recreation of a famous painting of Kaifeng from when it was Bianliang, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty.

I caught this walking back from having lunch with some of my students. In the background is one of the apartment buildings from this huge complex of buildings just for teachers to live in. Everyone here lives in apartment buildings, not houses. They are usually five or six stories, are identical to the other apartments around them, and have no elevators.

People here love badminton. Maybe even more than they like ping-pong, and they REALLY like ping-pong. A lot of my students even bring rackets to class to play during periods.

This guy works at the dump of a shop in the left of the picture. Despite seemingly having nothing, he seems pretty relaxed.

Hi, my name is Jennifer (or Zhen Zhen as I am known in Chinese). I am a recent college graduate who has left the (relative) safety and security of the US to teach English in the middle of nowhere in China. Sometimes interesting things happen. Hence, a blog.