I need to learn more than just "Hi" and "Thank you"

(Day 1, Part 2)

So yesterday was a great first day in China.

In the afternoon I went exploring – just walked around for about 45 minutes checking things out in my immediate proximity, including the lake and boardwalk, a shopping area on the lake called RainboWalk, a nice forested park (where there were birds!) with nice pagodas and benches, and then it was onto the gym!

I had typed in the Crossfit workout for Monday onto my iPhone so I wouldn’t forget it (they are posted on the internet) and got to the gym and did my thing for about an hou... Was a great workout, and by the time I was finished the afternoon was very cool and nice outside – lots of kids were out playing in our resort’s parks, I felt good from the workout, and could see my shadow from the sun… the plants were all very pretty so I felt very upbeat walking back home. Cleaned up, read a bit, then took a nap until Curt got home.

We decided to go out for dinner as he’s been living like a bachelor (read the contents of our fridge include Heinz ketchup, PB&J, 3 eggs, garlic, Brita water pitcher, and Coke). I’ll be making a grocery run soon enough but so far I’m just making lists as stated earlier of things we need. For dinner we decided on Mexican down on the Rainbo Walk, and I had amazing fajitas, and you can tell it’s an expat hang out for sure as nearly everyone that was there was foreign and heard lots of English! Then we went next door to Cold Stone Creamery (they have cake batter – yes!) for a little ice cream… which is really the same as far as the store goes… even down to the sizes, “like it (small), love it (medium), gotta have it (large).” At first the guy was asking us which size in the phrase they use, “like it, love it, gotta have it?” and I had no idea what he was saying, and as I’m not a frequent Cold Stone goer, I said Small as I knew what he was asking even if I didn’t understand… then when he asked Curt I picked out a couple of English words, slowed it down in my mind, and figured it out… I think that probably forever when I go into a Cold Stone I’ll hear his version and accent of “like it, love it, gotta have it?”… maybe you had to be there but I got a big kick out of it!

Then we walked back home where The Sweetest Thing was on a movie channel, which I always laugh hysterically at, so just wrapped up the day!

Have to say that I am loving technology… Skype and the Internet are really serving as my lifeline here so far and I’m not ashamed to say it. There is something to be said about easing a transition and being able to talk to my family and friends all about it via the internet and I am *so* thankful for it… there was a special on the History channel tonight about Alexander Graham Bell and his famous invention, and I was thinking to myself thank the Lord for him, he who started it all and made my comforts so far from home possible.


Interesting things I saw/experienced today:

• A cute dog wearing clothes and shoes (like a nice black sweater, and no, it wasn’t cold outside today – pure accessories, and black and white tennis shoe booty things that it looked perfectly accustomed to). I know for sure that Maverick would have a really hard time if you strapped him in shoes – LOL!
• The wonders of having a labor force where everyone has a job, no matter how menial… saw women sweeping leaves off the street with homemade brooms (workers), and men sitting on small benches in the park with a pick at the ground – have no idea what they were doing but workers are everywhere doing busy work
• As we were walking back from dinner, I heard a rustling nearby and noticed a tent (was startled actually b/c it was dark and camouflaged well) and asked if there was a person in there. Curt informed me that yes, there was, and that was in fact someone’s “home,” and I was like, “a homeless person?” but they’re not really… it’s like a homeless person (by definition, that is their home) that is allowed to sleep there because they’re the people that work in the park doing the meaningless jobs mentioned above. The government provides them a tarp/tent looking thing, and they just carry their stuff with them from job to job.
• A shot of tequila served with my fajitas for dinner (Mexican food, and it was actually quite delicious!), which I ended up giving away to 2 Americans at the table next to us… thought about shooting it but wasn’t in the mood, and since I knew we were getting ice cream after, decided on those calories instead – haha!
• Grandpa, you’d be proud b/c I was overly vigilant today being out on my own… and noticed already the lack of personal space thing… don’t worry, no one has touched me yet, but when I was walking in this wide open space on the boardwalk/wharf thing by the lake, there were a couple of times where I had to side step to avoid someone walking into me… was weird b/c there was SO much room, but like men just deciding on a trajectory that would collide with mine and it looked like they were coming towards me even though when they passed they barely looked at me? It was strange… Other than noticing that, everyone that I’ve spoken with that is Chinese has been very friendly, and they go out of their way to say English if they know it. So cute, too, but yesterday when we were at Baker, the security guard (a really young guy, maybe late teens or very early twenties) was saluting to Curt as if he were in the military, it was comical.

So that's the rest of Day 1! Today will probably be much the same, but I'll post about it later, AND the camera is charged up so be ready for some pics!

Love,