February 7th, 2016

11:47 am on the 12th, talking about what happened on the 6th. Just go with it.

My alarm gets us up for 8:30, and so Dany and I go in search of the place where we can redeem these breakfast vouchers. There's an obvious kitchen on the first floor, so we go there- they direct us to the fourth floor, where there is indeed a breakfast buffet style room all set up, but with zero food. The person there then leads us back to the first floor, into a back area with another, less nice food buffet area- less nice, but it also has food, so I'll take it. I was concerned about the sign over the door saying it was open from 6-8, until I realized I was reading it wrong, that it was open from 0600-2000. And that, folks, is how you know you've gotten comfortable with military time.

There was a wide selection of foodstuffs to pick from, and the tray was somewhat limited in size, but I made do. I kind of loaded up- flavourless bun, hard boiled egg, umm, the little breakfast cake wedges with some kind of, like, pecan on top or something... OH some awesome maybe potato circle thing, kind of greenish skin, with, I think, sesame seeds on top, that thing was great! There was also some spicy thing... look, it's been five days, I think it's okay that I don't have a picture perfect memory about my breakfast from that time. That said, now that I'm remembering that sesame seed potato thing, man, I could go for some of that.

Waiting for Joy outside the hotel, she arrives soon and we rush off down the road, pretty much in the exact same direction as the airport. The traffic was less than ideal, so it took a while. But, interesting note, the two sides of the highway are divided by, well, a guard rail, but also by rose bushes- there are even some still around now in February. When those things are blooming that road must be amazing!

We hit a sort of off-ramp where a car is driving right at us. The British have much to pay for. I think the guy took a wrong turn, going on the off ramp. We (eventually) switched lanes and avoided an accident, then arriving at the Wuhan Citizens Home.

The Wuhan Citizens Home is this giant boxy government building that we rushed into- Joy is rushing everywhere, I think she has other stuff she has to do today- she photocopies our passports in this sketchy dark room, and then we go up a floor where we are presented to a civil servant- maybe a police officer?- sitting behind a counter. She has VERY shiny, impressively shiny buttons and things on her uniform and epaulets (sp?). She had me look into a camera, again, even though I needed to bring my own photos for them, she asked my religion and said I was handsome which was nice. She also asked about my "helse" which I didn't quite understand, but seeing as she needed to believe I was an English teacher who, you know, spoke English, I took a stab and said "My health is good." which was, apparently, the correct answer. 

Ah, she also asked how long I was going to teach in Wuhan- not being born yesterday I responded with the truthful "my contract lasts for a year" not making any mention of Wuhan or Dalian specifically.

She was especially congenial with Dany, talking about "Modern Family" and Sofia Vergara- likely this was to make sure his English was good enough for this "teaching" story. We left, leaving behind our passports to get our visa extended, the process for which should take three weeks. AFTER Spring Festival, of course. So, a month. Yeesh.

Back in the taxi I commented on how I wasn't sure what that official was saying, and had to take a stab at her meaning- Joy found this interesting, asking whether it was a pronounciation issue. I said it was, and then Joy asked for tips from both Dany and myself in regards to improving her English. I'm pretty sure I recommended reading comics, yup, because I told her the word "balliwick" which I learned from a Spider-Man comic. And now I'm not sure if I'm spelling it right. I would seriously like some internet so I could spell check myself and not look like an idiot. Anyways.

Joy dropped us off in front of the hotel and Dany wanted to go off in search of food- we followed the road in a straight line for a while, but as things started looking sparse Dany suggested going back to the areas with a known food supply. I did a little "ooh I don't know what to do" dance, not because I was considering whether or not there was food forward or backward, I was thinking about whether or not I should ditch Dany so I could keep exploring down the road, giving him the only room key. Ultimately I decided FINE let's stick together, so we turned back, but not before crossing the street and grabbing some food at a little shop with a health inspection rating of C and a frowny face. Eh, good enough to pass.

The proprietor was some kind of muslim dude, which I probably wouldn't comment on except that, in China, this seemed rather unique. We would've picked up some drinks to go with our meal, but Dany didn't like the expiry date on them, which was at least a year off- I would've been fine to go for it, but, you know, solidarity.

We walked back to the hotel- beside the hotel is a park, "Martyr Park"- and I thought, if I can't explore far away, I can at least explore here. I gave Dany the room key and turned to enter, climbing up the steps to the stone statue of the martyr in question. Dany decided to Han Solo it and join me at the last minute, slightly cramping my style, but we had a good time.

It seems this guy was charged with inciting workers to strike in the early 20th century, and so the government murdered him. It's impressive that he gets a memorial park now, but I guess that's what happens when your country takes a huge shift to the communist side of the force. He has a statue ("with a twinkle in his eye" is on the description), some other monument thing that I'm blanking on, and then an actual grave site, where the martyrs body was moved after the park was established.

Plenty of people were spending time in the park, it is a great space- groups of older people playing this card game where each person has a GIANT hand to make up their winning plays or whatever. Near the grave was this one tree that really wanted to fall over- it had a support structure placed under it- this tree isn't the only one I've seen with such a support structure, but it was the tree that most wanted to be like "guys, seriously, just let me lay down, okay?"

Climbing more stairs, there was a playground for the young to run around in and the old to exercise in. That's the difference between young and old- one group "plays", the other group "exercises". Some old guys were engaged in some spirited "exercise" over at the ping pong table. (I'm not trying to denigrate table tennis as a form of physical activity, I'm just trying to make a point about how ridiculous we are with age). I wanted to watch some more ping pong, but Dany wanted to get moving- this is what I'm talking about, cramping my style. One of the many reasons you always see me travelling alone. That, and my unbelievable popularity.

A slight compromise- we'd keep moving, but after I do some chin-ups.

Climbing up higher, there were a number of spots on the ground with some kind of worn leather padding or something. I think they must be set up for people to pray or meditate or some such.

The visit to Martyr Park went from 3:33-4:30, then we went to the hotel for a ciesta from 4:30-7:35.

At 7:40 we got set to leave in search of dinner and I explained the concept of "dibs" to Dany- "I call dibs on that water." "Dibs on shotgun(car seat)." "Hey, that was mine!" "Shoulda called dibs, man."

We walked down the road in the opposite direction, maybe south, looking for food while Dany called relatives on his phone. We passed by Baotong Temple Station, Wuhan Metro, so if anyone wants to look up exactly where I was, that info should help you out. We turned up this street and settled into this nice restaurant. The menu wasn't particularly helpful, I played it safe and ordered some beef noodle number with some cucumber skewers (uh, I have no idea how that word is supposed to be spelled, I think I've only ever heard it spoken before... wait, I replaced the 'c' with a 'k', it looks better now), my food actually looked like a dinner. Dany, however, got a sad little collection of chicken wings, like, three of them, and these fried potato cakes. It was hilarious. I offered to share some noodles with the poor guy, but he turned it down. He did accept some cucumber though. Insult to injury, we had to pay extra for the napkins, which Dany needed because he just had chicken wings. Very clever, Mr. Restaurant. I think my tab came to 27 yuan after adding the napkins. I wanted to take the menu, it had some interesting designs for the personifications of chicken/pig/beef etc. etc. but when I tried to ask for one I just got a copy of my receipt. Probably for the best they don't indulge my hoarder personality.

Walking back to the hotel we pass four people stopped at Baotong Temple Station, which is an actual Buddhist Temple that, if it was opened, I'd have totally explored, anyways, four people were stopped at 3 small fires, each fire had a chalk outline, with incence burning on top (maybe not incence, sticks at least)- they start walking behind us after we pass and pile into an empty, waiting taxi- was that the taxi driver and his family?

We returned to the hotel and I watched tv until midnight when Dany signaled that he wanted to go to bed by turning off his light. Cool by me.

1:09 pm I'm so close to catching up on my posts, I want them ready for tomorrow so I can dump the lot on everyone. But for now, I'm hungry.