A Life-Changing 24 Hours in Jinan

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I went to Jinan the other week. I took some lovely pictures there, and I would like to share the experience.

Jinan is the city I initially flew into from Cambodia; it's where my co-LanguageCorps buddy is working at this time. I will be frank--the city depressed me horribly the first time. I arrived after a blissful month in Cambodia; Jinan was cold, grey, barren, and I couldn't find my way around the city. I stayed indoors shivering for most of my time there.

I found the reverse to be true the second time around, even if it did rain for the duration of my visit (my only pair of shoes were soaked by the end of the day, and I had to dry them out with the solar heater my roommates had commandeered).

It was an inauspicious arrival in Jinan. Unbeknownst to me at the time, Jinan contains several bus stations, as well as two li xia da sha's and the only thing that separates these two destinations is a change in tone. The end result was that I was unable to get to "li xia da sha" because my foreign compatriots didn't know how to pronounce it properly; they were unable to get me, because I didn't know which station I had been dropped off in. It took us three hours to work out this problem.

Despite this bad beginning, the twenty four hours I spent in Jinan were truly a vacation. We visited several parks. One of them was the Baotu Springs--it costs 40 Kuai to get in, but it's relaxing and refreshing. We also visited Jinan's massive central park, which you can explore on a massive floating walkway over all the foliage, which is literally the best idea for a park I've ever seen. We went to an art gallery, where I didn't buy a series of scrolls. And I topped off the day with quite literally the best Western-style pizza I have eaten on either side of the Pacific.

Regrettably, I had to be back in Jining later that evening, so I boxed up my pizza, bought the bus ticket, and, summoning my will-power, stepped back on The Bus to Jining.

Traveling to Jinan was actually a major factor in my decision to quit China. You see, when I was there, I had a revelation: I remembered what it felt like to have friends. It was nice having things to do and places to explore rather than sit inside my apartment and try to entertain myself with the internet for yet another twenty four-hour period; it was nice to hop on a bus and get places rather than have everything detoured and blocked off due to construction. And it was pure bliss to walk around in public without--OMG!--creating a huge, embarrassing laowai scene.

In short, I would say Jinan made me remember how it feels to be normal. I felt like a human being for a day, and I don't see why I shouldn't feel like a human being for the rest of my life.

I think that's fair, don't you? (Hugs for Jinan)

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