Finishing up the Weekend

Sunday. Chaoyang Park. Yep, Sunday came around, and I was looking to get outside again and enjoy the free time. I figured ‘Ok, I’ll check out the other park’. The roommates were off doing their own thing again. No big deal. Seriously, I don’t mind it. I’m a lone wolf. On the prowl. Howling at the moon. Alright, I’m not howling at the moon, but the rest is true. Some parks will cost you an insignificant amount of money to get in. Chaoyang is one of those. They charge you 5 rmb. This park is massive. It’s on a much larger scale than Tuanjiehu and covers much more ground. The opening alone has these huge arch type things at the entrance. It’s quite a spectacle.

I got in, took some pictures of the large map on a board (they don’t’ give you any personal maps like America), and asked an attendant which entrance I came in through. There are several, so I figured I’d find out in the beginning to avoid trying to figure it out later. I’m learning. When you’re as bad with directions as I can be, it’s important to follow steps like these. As said previously though, I am getting better. My living situation has forced directional sense upon me. Slowly, but surely. Back to the park, though. I started walking around and found myself in the midst of a decent sized amusement park. Blimy. Not what I was looking for. I knew the park was big though and figured there had to be more to it than just rides, games, and things of the like. It was almost like a big boardwalk type scene or a really big fair.  I payed money, and I just got there. I was ready to bail at that point, but stuck it out. No harm in looking, right? What else was I going to do for the day? Wander the streets? Maybe, I do enjoy wandering sometimes. It’s enjoyable and you never know what you’re going to come across. But I was here and willing to see what the other attractions were. Ideally, you’d want a bicycle or a longboard or something with wheels in this place. It’s just so big. You can rent these bicycles there that (from what I saw anyways - maybe more) have up to 8 sets of peddles. Pretty cool, except for the fact that I would have been riding solo. You can also find these awesome little car type vehicles. They only fit 2 people though, maybe you could squeeze 3, and they’re really not that fast. They’re faster than walking, but not that much faster. I don’t mind the walking. I don’t think I’ve mentioned this before, but I walk a lot over here in Beijing. It’s a 40 minute walk home just from my afternoon school. I could take a couple different buses, but I’m not too familiar with them for one, and secondly I’m not sure which bus to transfer from after the first. I know the supposed number, but I never see that number listed on any of the signs that I pass. Point is, I’m not too worried about it or I would have gotten to the bottom of the great bus mystery by now. Besides the walking I do in the afternoons, I walk all over during most of my ventures as well. I might take some sort of transportation to the destination via subway or bus, but once I get there I’m doing tons of walking from there on out. I should take a before and after picture of my legs/calves because I have a feeling they’re going to explode. I’m going to have tree trunks in no time. Haha, maybe not. Regardless, there’s nothing wrong with a little walking. Look at Jared Fogle from Subway.

We got a little off track there, huh? Yes, walking around Chaoyang Park. There are actually some cool things to see in the park, and there are signs all over pointing you which way to find what you want. Definitely helpful for a guy like me. There’s a cherry blossom valley or something like that. I really want to see some nice cherry blossoms in bloom in the spring, so I’ll have to go back to this park for that purpose alone. There’s an art section that contains a lot of cool sculptures. You can see the volleyball court that was used for the 2008 Olympics, as well as a sculpture dedicated to those Olympics. I didn’t see the court, but I saw the sculpture(s). I saw this massive building referred to as the Wedding Hall, I believe. It can’t be easy to get your wedding in there, at least without money. It’s gated and guarded by 2 giant lions. I’ll post pictures of this park on facebook/flickr soon. (Click on the photo on the right hand side of this blog to access my photos on flickr.) The coolest thing I saw at Chaoyang Park was this cool little building called the ‘Sino Thai Friendship Pavilion.’ It marks the 30^th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Thailand in 2005. (I read parts of this photography book by Scott Kelby, recommended by my Dad. Glad I did because he suggested that you take pictures of signs so that you know the names of these kind s of places when looking back on them later.) It’s built in the traditional Thai style with a bunch of pillars and a decent sized bell in the middle. Really cool. You wouldn’t think that an old building would be the highlight of a day trip, but I love traditional architecture. It’s very eye-catching and it’s historic. Who knows how long that kind of stuff will be around? Besides, it’s not every day you get to see that kind of stuff.

That's the summary of Chaoyang Park. It was pretty cool, but I didn’t like it as much as Tuanjiehu Park. I prefer the peace and quiet of a more mellow, traditional park. There are still plenty of people, but it’s just a different experience. Anyways, both parks are fairly close so I decided to walk over to Tuanjiehu Park again. Why not, right? I actually really want to catch a sunset there, and had planned on doing it this day. I spent about two and a half hours or so at Chaoyang Park, and it was only 3:00 PM or so. I was prepared for the park this time. I had a shoulder pack with some strawberry crackers and water. These crackers are incredible. Take 2 Ritz crackers, remove the salt, throw some strawberry icing in there, and there you have it. Only 2.5 rmb for a package of these little babies. What is wrong with you America? Why don’t these exist back in the states? If they do, I’ve never seen them, and that’s a crying shame because they’re amazing. I also had with me; a Sudoku book (Thanks to Kaitlyn), my camera  with a backup battery and memory card (I told you I wouldn’t make the same mistake twice), and my little gorillapod. It’s a tripod with super adjustable legs. I’ll give credit to Josh for suggesting I buy this. I got some cool photos, hung out in a spot by the lake, and worked on a few Sudoku puzzles. These 3 old ladies got a kick out of watching me set up my camera and tripod, then rush back to be sure I was in the picture. I used a self-timer. I’ll admit; it was probably amusing to watch. I laughed at myself and snuck a picture of those old ladies just for the story of the whole event. I was going to stick around for the sunset, but some clouds took over and it got a little colder. This was my cue to leave, and I followed it promptly. There will be many other nights. I think I mentioned that both these parks are pretty close. Just a few bus stops away, and I’ll be sure to visit them again. Good weekend.

-Jeff Boyardee. I’ve cooked a few meals so I’ve dubbed myself with that name. I’m not very good, but I enjoy cooking. It’s relaxing, and I’ll get better with practice.

OH! Almost forgot! I got an email from one of the company's assistants saying that they're working on finding the crazy roommate a new apartment. Thank you! Made my day.

Tuanjiehu Park

Good weekend. Not amazing, not terrible. It was good, though. Friday was pretty good. Saturday was better, and Sunday was decent. Good weekend. On Friday night, I went out to this Muslim Chinese restaurant nearby with a few roommates (not the retard, you kidding me?), and some other friends of theirs that I’ve met before. They’re all teachers as well and decent to hang out with. You’re probably wondering what makes this place Muslim. I wish I had an answer for you, but I’m really not sure. They have a few specialty dishes that might resemble Muslim. Again, I’m not sure. Most of the food was Chinese, but more Westernized Chinese. It was awesome. The average plate is around 20 rmb, but if you feel like spending closer to 35 rmb, you can get a massive plate fit for two people. Definitely the way to go if you’ve got somebody to share it with, or so I’ve been told. I really wouldn’t know. Haha. Great food, though. I’ll go back there from time to time.

After dinner, we picked up some beers. Some went with one, some two. I stuck with one because my throat had been bothering me a little for the past day or two. So we bought these large bottled beers for only 3 rmb, and went next door to play some pool. It’s 18 rmb per hour, so with 6 people, that’s pretty cheap. The coolest part about this place? This pool hall has a bar and obviously the beer is more expensive. Not only are you allowed to bring in outside drinks, but the bar will open the bottles for you! What kind of craziness is this? That would not fly back in the states. Luckily, I’m in China. Awesome. I’m absolutely terrible at pool, but every now and then I make a decent shot. I usually get a little better after a few games. I just don’t play enough pool, ok? I enjoy it, but it’s a little tough on the ego when you miss shot after shot. I guess you can’t win them all. I was unaware that the UK referred to making a shot as potting a ball. Maybe in the U.S. too? I have no idea. Again, not enough pool. So if I sound dumb, deal. I’m from the country. Just say you made the shot and that’ll do. Regardless, it was a nice, kind of laid back night. Enjoyable.

On Saturday, the blue skies continued and I was a little stir crazy. I had to get out and do something and or see something. Unfortunately, my roommates felt like being bums. Me? I can’t do that. I mean I definitely enjoy being a bum sometimes, but when it’s nice out and I’ve got free time, I want to be outside in the sun. Before doing anything, we all made some lunch together. Remember ‘all’ does not include the dumb one. I may sound like a broken record, but I want to be sure we’re on the same page. While lunch was being made, I did some dishes and took it upon myself to finally clean out the sink. It’s been bothering me for a while. As a whole, it was clean, but there was plenty that needed some ‘TLC’. But wait! I almost forgot! Our whole sink operation has been garbage. The faucet was leaking in several spots, the pipes were leaking underneath, and there was no hot water. Yeah, I’ve been cleaning a few items without hot water. Not the best idea, I know. After finally having enough, I had Avi message our assistant at the company. This sink fiasco took place on Friday, by the way. By the time I was back at 11:30 PM from my morning school (it’s 10 steps away, so no – it doesn’t take me long to get back), the company had sent two new assistants over to attempt a fix. Good one. In a short time period, they realized this was more than they could handle and a plumber or something of that nature was scheduled for the early afternoon. I went to my afternoon school later on, the assistants hung around for the plumber. Came back and wah lah! New faucet, new pipes, HOT WATER! Thank you. As far as I’m concerned, hot water means more sanitation. You can’t wash in cold. I mean you can, but that’s like half-assing it.

So, back to the cleaning of the sink. I took a sponge and scrubbed out the entire thing after letting some hot, soapy water sit in each side. I then took the liberty of taking out those little stoppers at the bottom of the sink (I’m not that sink savvy so you’ll have to excuse me if I don’t know the correct term), dismantled them, and cleaned the individual parts. They were fricken grimy. I mean seriously disgusting. I don’t think anyone has ever done that. Why people? Why? You can’t just leave them there, rarely empty them, and never scrub them off.  The grime and nastiness just builds and builds. Why do I feel like I have some sort of superior brain power compared to the average joe? Some people can really make you look intelligent with the dumbest things.  I don’t blame the roommates, more so the people before them. Seriously. That’s ok, we can each learn from each other. I also taught them how to properly wash dishes or at least properly as far as I’m concerned. This is how my mother washes dishes. It makes sense. Sooo, that’s it. K? If you wash your dishes with this method that I’m about to bash, sorry. I’m really not that sorry. You have your methods, I have mine. Let’s agree to disagree. But yeah. What’s with washing the dishes one at a time? This is no good. It uses more soap (I know. Soap is cheap so why worry about it? Every penny counts as far as I’m concerned. This is how the rich get rich – worrying over trivial matters. Maybe.), it probably takes a little longer, and it’s just not the way to go about it. Fill up the sink with hot, soapy water. Hot, soapy water. If your dishes are sitting in this, they’ve got more time to sit in that wonderful sanitizing liquid mixture. It also makes it easier for the dishes that are usually harder to clean because that hot water is softening up the food buildup or whatever is on the dish. And that’s that. It makes sense to me. The two roommates were astonished by this method and had claimed to never see it before. What? How? Madness.

Where were we before I started ranting about the proper dish washing technique? I know. I went on about it for a while. I could probably right a book about it, discuss theory, make counterpoints, conduct experiments supporting my case, etc. Ok, ok. Blue skies! What to do? The only problem right now is money. I’ve got plenty if need be, but I don’t really want to break into any more American dollars. I should be able to make it before I get my first real paycheck. I’ll get a paycheck for a couple days of February, but not that much. Like a fifth of a full paycheck or a little more. I won’t get my first full paycheck until April 15^th. That will cover all of March. Like I said, I should make it with just Chinese currency from here on out. Might be close, but I think I can do it. So what to do that’s easy on your wallet? Hmmmm. Hmmmm.. Got it. I decided to go to a park. This took a little while because first I had to decide which park and then get directions to it. I wanted to go to Tuanjiehu Park, but based on the bus I was given, I thought I’d end up at Chaoyang Park. Checked the bus, and bam! I was headed in the right direction. They’re both pretty close to my apartment, which is sweet.

When I got off the bus, as usual, I had no idea which direction to go or how close I actually was. The bus stop was called Tuanjiehu, so I figured I had to be somewhat close. I’m absolutely terrible with directions, but I am getting better. I just expect to get lost. *Seinfeld reference approaching.* Elaine – “…I don’t even know where I’m going.” J. Peterman – “Well that’s the best way to get somewhere you’ve never been.” It’s a valid point, so I usually keep that in mind. This time, however, I got lucky. I ran into some foreign faces belonging to a middle-aged couple. They were able to point me in the right direction. It was still a little foggy because you think you’re going the right way, but you never really know how far it is or if you are until you actually get there without any prior knowledge. After walking for a little ways, I decided to pull the old ‘ask a Chinaman routine’ and hope he understood. He did. I was on the right path and soon arrived at my destination.

Tuanjiehu Park (gongyuan is park in Chinese – don’t stress the second ‘g’) was amazing. Absolutely amazing. I stepped in, not really sure what to expect. I walked through this little path with giant rocks on either side (I have a picture of that up on facebook and flickr), and there it was. I looked at the start of the park and said to myself, “Wow. This is what I think of when I picture China.” There’s not an overwhelming amount of traditional Chinese architecture, but the stuff that’s there is really cool. It’s just a really pleasant, peaceful park. I thoroughly enjoyed it. There are plenty of elderly people there too, which I don’t mind. Don’t get me wrong, there are lots of younger people and kids as well because there’s a mini theme park on one side of the park. The elderly people practice Tai Chi there in the mornings. I think I might join them someday when I feel like waking up at the crack of dawn. I brought my camera, naturally, and got some great shots. Stupid me, though. I was still in my apartment, and considered bringing my backup battery. I knew that the battery I was on probably wouldn’t last me all day. It still had 3 out of 3 bars, but I had been using it for a while without charging it. Now, I did get some great pictures and managed to use it for a while, but I missed some shots as well. I’ll never make that mistake again. I walked around the park. It’s not massive, but it’s a good size. I loved everything about it. The sun was shining, the scenery was awesome, and it was a little warmer that day. I think it was about 14 degrees Celsius. You can do the math on that one. Multiply 9/5 and then add 32 for Fahrenheit.  It wasn’t too bad. I went out with just a heavier zip up and I was fine. I was so glad to be out of the apartment and really pleased with where I ended up. 

I WENT through these neat, narrow walkways. Round here, we call them the ‘en en dubyas’ (nnw)– neat, narrow walkways. Haha. They were really cool. I stumbled upon some older guys playing music. The guitarist was a bit older, but man could he play. I love coming across that undiscovered talent just playing for the joy of playing. Accompanying him was a violinist and later an accordionist. Their instruments were really neat too. They were both Chinese, so they look a bit different than the Western versions. They all had music in front of them and pretty much followed the guitarist. There were also a random group of people that wanted to join in the music and sang along. It must have been some old, traditional Chinese music. It was amazing. It made Tuanjiehu Park that much better. I couldn’t have asked for anything more. This music spoke to your soul. Just hearing it, watching them play, and seeing the people join in was an awesome experience. I was really happy to be in China at that moment. My camera had died at this point so I wasn’t able to take any pictures or record it, but I did get some pictures of the violinist the next day. I’ll tell you about that and Chaoyang Park in the next post.

Real quick. I was bummed at first that I had no one to join me. I’ve gone out a bunch of times with no company, but sometimes it’s nice to have some. But, there’s two sides to every coin. When there’s no one with you, you can do what you want and go where you want and spend as much time there as you want. There’s no time limits and no worrying about the other people your with and what they want to do. For that sole reason, I enjoy going out alone.

Thanks for reading.

-Jeff