Yesterday I had the day off so I decided to just take a walk and see what happens. I hoofed around side streets, main streets, parks, business areas, construction areas. I was wearing khaki shorts, a t-shirt with a zip up sweater and my chacos. I might as well been wearing a suite made of brightly lit arrows and a sign that says "LOOK AT ME!". There were even 2 elder men that stopped talking mid sentence when they saw me and just watched me pass, then continued talking. I was the main attraction of those streets that day, everyone looking me up and down. Once they got to my sandals they stayed there for a little bit wondering what the hell was on my feet. Other than that, everyone pretty much left me alone. Crossing the streets was like playing real life Frogger, I ran forward, then back, then sideways, then forward again all the while getting honked at. I arrived back home and hung out with Cooper for a little bit then met British Mike and his Chinese teacher at a large indoor shopping area. I didn't know how to tell the cab driver how to get there so I had to call Mike and have his teacher tell the cabbie where to go.
Once I got there I wondered around waiting for Mike to arrive. As I walked around I received random "hello!"s from the locals and a few more chuckles due to my attire. I asked the Chinese teacher (Jesse) later if men wearing sandals was odd and she said no, it was just fall/winter time to them and sandals are only worn in the summer months, so they think its odd to see it this late in the year. So we walk into this shopping area and there are plants, fish, birds, pots, clothing, home decorations all in a flea-market style setting. Beautiful stuff too. Mike bought a couple of pots and then we went out to eat. I was the only one eating actually, they had just eaten before they came so they just had tea (which was made from dates and delicious). I had a bowl of different ingredients that consisted of rice, sprouts, green peppers, carrots, field greens, onions, beef, and some sort of sauce, that was all topped with a fried egg. It was very tasty. I also had a beer, which was served with a rocks glass at room temperature.
After paying about $4.50 USD for everything, we made said goodbye to Jesse and Mike said he knew of a "wilderness" area that was near my apartment. We take a cab and then walk to this recreation area. We cross a footbridge over the river (not sure of the name) and walk into a slightly wooded area with trails that fork off in several directions. There are people playing ping-pong, exercising on basic equipment, doing tie chi (sp), and there was also a man cracking this huge bull whip type thing that was made our of chain. He would swing it around his head and then crack it, which is actually breaking the sound barrier. I've never seen a person recreate like this so I had to take a video of him. After that Mike and I split ways and I went home to rest. It was a good day. Looking forward to starting work.
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