Saturday morning I woke up in a beautiful mood. I would have all day to simply explore and get acquainted with my neighborhood. So I started with a run.
Unfortunately, I will never have a day here without some time constraints, because of the shower situation. I've mentioned that the showers are in a big open room in the basement. I think I've failed to mention so far that they are also only open 5 hours a day. Convenient, eh? So in order to be able to shower after running (which, believe me, everyone should want me to do), I have to plan my runs around the shower schedule. Which meant getting up at 8:30 to run.
Don't get me wrong, 8:30 is not too terribly early. However, it is incredibly early after you stay out until 5 a.m. at a nightclub the night before. Apparently there is one nightclub in town where all the English-speaking foreigners go, so the entire group of people I know was there Friday night. Nightclubs aren't usually my scene, but it was fun to hang out with everyone and meet those who are studying at other area schools.
Okay, so I ran. And I showered. Then my phone rang. The English teaching center wanted me to come in to their headquarters at 11:00, so I quickly finished getting myself ready and headed off. Turns out they needed someone that very afternoon, so they asked if I could do it.
Six hours later, everyone at school was wondering what had happened to me. And I still hadn't eaten anything except 8 crackers all day. Oops.
But I really enjoyed teaching the four classes. They varied in level, but I had a really good discussion in one class about the impact of the Olympics on China and the world. Fascinating to listen to their takes on it.
So my free day to explore Shenyang turned into a day of teaching, and playing volleyball when I finally got back to school, but it was a great day. Sometimes exploring is less about the physical location and more about the mind anyway.
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