oh, the sights that you'll see

If I was really impressive, I'd write this post in the style of Dr. Seuss, as a play on his graduation-gift-worthy "Oh, the Places You'll Go." But I'm either not that good or simply not willing to put the time into it. Not quite sure which.

I woke up this morning when it was still dark and early. That's one of the unfortunate aspects of winter here in Shenyang -- the sun no longer rises at 4:30 a.m. Which, most people might think that's a good thing. But I'm honestly a big fan of the sun coming up really early. Makes it much easier to get up early.

Walking to work this morning, I was glad I had chosen to walk and not try to take a bus -- since I was passing most of the buses along the way. The air was chilly, of course, but it's been beautiful bright sunny days for almost a week now, which means that the sidewalks are completely clean of ice (except for the one spot where the store owners wash their sidewalk daily with water, but thankfully I know to be careful in that spot by now). I wouldn't say the sidewalks are completely clean... but at least clean of ice. So I had a lovely, brisk walk to work.

You know work is going to be interesting when the morning conversation starts, "I have a question. On my way in this morning I saw traffic police with big jugs of water and toilet brushes." Indeed.

After our meeting at work, I started on my list of errands around the city. Of course, the frugal side of me thinks that paying for a gym membership and taxis all over town are a waste when walking all over town eliminates both expenses and gets the same results. As a result, my errands tend to take a while. But just think of all the interesting things I would never see or the random things I would never experience if I was always sitting in taxis when en route.

Take, for example, just today's experiences:

I saw a Buddhist monk riding in a taxi. Somehow that just struck me as funny.

I saw a 12 year old boy relieving himself in a very public setting -- on a Charlie Brown style tree decorating the sidewalk along a major road. I'm sure I didn't need to know quite that much about 12 year old male anatomy, and I'm not sure the rest of the city did either.

Not unusually, I had a random Chinese girl greet me on the street... what was unusual, though, was that she greeted me in Spanish.

I walked through Shenyang's version of "Alice in Wonderland" -- where the full-grown trees are painted white and the newly planted ones are wrapped up like presents with red, white, & blue stripes. How trees ever survived winter before us humans started protecting them, I'm not sure.

I had my newest favorite street-food lunch: a hot, steamy, freshly roasted sweet potato! To tear into one of those and let the steam heat you up as you walk down the street in below freezing temperatures is a delight beyond belief. Seriously. If you're ever in China in the winter, try it.

I also had my other favorite: a tea egg. Literally, eggs are hard-boiled in a flavored, salty tea (black tea leaves, star anise, etc), giving the eggs a fun look and an even better taste.

I almost certainly made somebody's day when I purchased 100 Christmas cards for 7.5 mao each. Given that the lady who bought a thousand cards at the same place yesterday paid only 4 mao each, I know I didn't get the best deal. But somehow I couldn't be upset when she cut her own price from what she quoted me yesterday, I only ended up spending half of what I was told I could spend for this purchase, and 7.5 mao is a grant total of 11 cents each. So merry Christmas, lady in stall 51!

I stopped by a random guy with a cart attached to his bike, filled with mugs, bowls, and plates of various sizes, shapes, & colors. I picked out two small condiment dishes that I will use for my coins and my paper clips. And for 5 kuai (about 80 cents), I have plenty of coins left over to put in the dish.

Then I made a turn. I had to go back to a store today that I had dropped something off at yesterday, but I was tired of walking down the one same road every time I go out that direction. So I turned down one street further south, just for the sake of diversity. Apparently I should diversify more often! As I was walking down the road, knowing exactly where I was yet never having walked that way before, I came upon a famous Shenyang site that I've never actually found before! The "Marshal Mansion" or the old residence of Zhang Xueliang. Who is Zhang Xueliang, you ask? Good question. I had to look it up too, because when I tried to chat with the old women standing by his statue in the outer courtyard of his mansion in order to find out (or rather, remember from all those years of Chinese history I took once upon a time where I know his name came up), they couldn't understand my (non-Dongbei dialect) Chinese. Oh well. To be fair, I had a hard time understanding them, too. But when I stood and looked at the statue, I was struck by what this gentleman must have seen in his lifetime in China -- spanning from 1901 to 2001. If you know anything about China's history, you know those hundred years encompassed a ton! Well, Zhang Xueliang himself was a leader of this northeastern part of China (once known as Manchuria) until the Japanese took it over in 1931, and he had a hand in creating the united front between the Communists and the Nationalists (effectively postponing the Chinese civil war) to fight against the Japanese during China's experience of what became WWII. 

So after that brief step into history, I completed my errands and headed for home. By this point in time, of course, I was carrying two armloads of stuff with me, and I was definitely glad to drop it all as soon as I had managed to climb those five flights of stairs and get my key into the door. Phew, all of that and it's only 2:30!

Perhaps when I go back out this evening I'll figure out what those traffic police were doing with the toilet brushes. Then again, perhaps I don't really want to know.