Observations Day 2

I have to go to the police department at 10 to be logged in as a visitor and receive my proof of residence. I was up very early (7 a.m.) and had time to have breakfast, make coffee, unpack and clean the apartment a little bit. With a little more time to kill I decided to go for a walk and explore the neighborhood.

Our apartments are right next to Worker's Stadium, where they will be holding soccer competition. When I say next door I mean next door. There is a giant square, which took me about 30 minutes to walk, with the stadium in the middle and our apartments on one of the corners. While walking around the square I was able to find an ATM. I'm still hoping to find one a little closer. I withdrew 700 Yuan, which I'm told is roughly $100. I still have to get online and check out the exchange rate. During my walk I noticed a few things.

1) The heat here is downright oppressive. I was schwitzing while going for a casual stroll at 9 a.m. The heat is most likely the reason for the invention of the chinese fan, of which I saw many, all in use. There were also many people walking with hankies to wipe their face. I may look a little Noel Coward, but buying a hankie is the first order of business after the police station.

2) There is an awesome outdoor gym right across the street. It's a crazy and wonderful concept if you ask me. All of the machines use your own body weight to create the resistance. There were rowers, chest exercises, a Gazelle looking thing, and all sorts of other machines. It was quite busy and there were lines for some of the machines. I also got a photo of a gray haired woman doing the splits. If you exercise everyday maybe you too will be able to say the same.

3) There is no right of way on sidewalks. People don't walk on the right as we do in the US. They just walk. If you need to get around them, you find your way around them. In many ways, my few cultural observations thus far have made me very glad to have lived in San Francisco for so long. Although I'm surprised to see the same traits carried over to the mainland (I'm not sure why I am surprised by that), I'm amazed at the sheer volume of it, i.e. it is everyone, not just a few people on the street.

4) This is not from my walk, but from my apartment. The bed in my room, although large, has got to be the hardest surface I have ever had to sleep on that was considered a bed. Seriously, it made me long for the days of sleeping on gym floors in a sleeping bag. No lie. Thankfully, I had that Madison Scouts training or I may not survive the next month. That said, I will still be looking for some sort of solution to the problem. Pillow top, feather bed, whatever I can find. Today's adventure should be very interesting. I'm going to try to explore the Chaoyang Art District, find Jenny Lou's western style grocery store, and perhaps Wal-Mart (seriously, a bed solution can't wait.) In addition I may just have to have dinner at 66 Degrees Norwegian Restaurant. When in Rome, right?