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Published: April 22nd 2010
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I was so pissed off on Tuesday morning! Sam told me to meet in front of the school at 5:30 am. This did not happen:
I went out at 5:15 am. It was still dark, and the smog was so thick that you could see it dancing in the street lights. There was no traffic on our busy streets--and consequently no taxis. It must have taken me 30 minutes to hail a taxi. I hadn't eaten breakfast. I hadn't had more than 3 or 4 hours of sleep. So I was a little peeved when I got to the school in this state, my nose burning from the toxins in the air, and NO ONE HAD SHOWED UP.
I relentlessly called the responsible party for over an hour--when I finally got ahold, he said with incredulity, "You mean you've been there for an hour?" Oh, I was apparently supposed to meet in front of my home at 6:30 or 7:00. That's what happens when people force people to get drunk the night before--THEY TELL YOU THE WRONG TIMES.
Me: "RAAAAAAWWWR!!! SAM PICK ME UP RIGHT NOW OR I'M LEAVING!"
I didn't say that, but I made up
My Hero
In front of the Weifang Kite Museum my mind to go home and go to sleep. Happily, he found me halfway and bought me breakfast at KFC. I ate mine--an egg McMuffin sort of thing with pleasant bread and carmelized wheat-milk-tea--and then I ate his food too and was still hungry so I bought seconds (thirds?). Although I ragged on him for 15 minutes, I was feeling better after breakfast.
We later reconstructed the story behind this. Apparently, after I left the ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY, Sam realized he told me the wrong time. He wrote me a text message, but before he managed to click "send"...wait for it...some guy randomly walked up and--kicked him in the chest! (I believe him about this.) Some sort of fray ensued, after which my fateful text message was long forgotten and so I wound up on the streets at 5 am.
We still went to Weifang, and I slept somewhat on the train. We came there to see the kite festival, but what happened in Weifang, though, did not have much to do with kites. This happened for the following reasons:
First, we came in time to see the opening ceremony. Problem being that the seats were very
expensive--starting at 300 RMB, which none of us had lying around. Instead, we explored the city. We saw a rainbow bridge, a kite park where they don't let you fly kites, and a mysterious park...
This mystery park started out being a nice park, very Chinese, with the landscaping and the lake and the pagoda and all. Then we found a helipad. It said "Emergency Helicopter Landing" or something to this effect (I am enclosing a photo below). Then we found an area for makeshift tents, an emergency water supply, a fire extinguisher, and "emergency toilets". Convinced that we were standing atop a secret lair or major governmental military program, there was no end to our befuddlement and hilarity.
Turns out the park in question also doubles as an earthquake shelter. Isn't that wonderful???
We also went bowling.
Then we all (meaning the folks from my school and the folks from the Weifang school) went out for dinner. It was another sumptuous cuisine, in which I actually appreciated an eggplant dish (I was told this would happen).
I was tired at this point (
seeing as someone made me get up at FIVE A.M.) and went
back to my hotel; the others stayed out awhile.
OK--so no kites Tuesday night, but we intended to see the kite events early in the morning the next day. This did not happen either. No, this morning I woke up and it was raining. A lot. None of us had umbrellas, and one of us had had his coat stolen the night before. Even if this were not a problem, the event was temporarily shut down in a national day of mourning because of the earthquake. (The earthquake near Tibet, not the future one for which Weifang's park acts as a double).
I said, WHYYYYY? I'd actually had to trade classes with one of my fellow teachers because the train ticket they sold us didn't get back to Jining in time. We could have bought the tickets for the 9 am train instead! Had we but known!
That's ok. We went to the local McDonalds and had a riot with one of the customers who clung to us for two or so hours. He never said anything, and when I fed him a moonpie, he went away. (This is actually kind of typical stuff.)
We then
went to the Weifang museum and a kids' science museum. SO MANY MEMORIES. But no kites.
This is what I get for saying in advance that I was going to watch kite-flying. The Fates listen, and then at a strategic point they kick you in the face (or maybe, quite literally in the
chest) with your accumulated Karma.
We left Weifang at two, and I just now got back to the old apartment. It was a wonderful time, the original purpose of which has been lost to the pages of history.
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Susan
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I wanna live there
I want to live on the 4th floor; it may not be Alan's Rainbow and Pony Farm, but for an urban setting, I bet it's great! Do you know why they called it happy? Were the other floors named?