So the day after I bought my bike... it was a very nice day and I decided I needed to explore the city. One of the RH teacher (Alice) also has a bike and is far more active the most of the teachers at Joy school and Earth Village (not to mention the RH teachers English is FAR better). So she joined me for my biking adventure around the city.
We decided to meet that morning near the stadium about 11am. She was a little awkward on her bike at first because she hadn't used it in like 10 years, and I had ridden mine around for awhile the day before. We were discussing were to go... and the first place we both said was Jiangbei! As we started to bike to the bridge... I found out that even though Alice had grown up in Songyuan... she had only gone to Jiangbei 2 times in her entire life (Jiangbei is just north of the river), so I had actually been there more times then her because I have taught in our EV branch there 3 times.
Crossing the bridge was one of the hardest parts.... Songyuan itself is VERY VERY flat... so biking around is REALLY easy... but the bridge is a bit of an incline for awhile. So by the time we got to the other side (3km bridge) we were a little bit tired and wanted something to drink. We found a random corner store right outside a little village and a big farm. Jiangbei is not as developed as the other side of the river.
Then the great tour of Jiangbei began... we rode all over that part of the city and found a couple of cool parks and other neat carvings and statues. I will definitely have to bike over there and hang out again at some point. It was kinda interesting being the foreigner and being the one that was making sure we weren't lost in the Jiangbei and figuring out which direction we should go to get back... but it wasn't to difficult... Jiangbei is north... Jiangnan is south :)
After awhile we decided it was time for lunch and that we wanted to eat in Jiangnan... so we biked across the other bridge and went to the farthest south part of Jiangnan... meaning we basically had to cross the whole freaking city again... and found a nice little place to eat. This was about 2pm. We sat down and rested for a bit and talked about the random stuff we had seen.
Alice was quite tired and expressed it.. but was a happy tired.... she seemed to really enjoy the bike ride. And she was excited over the amount of exercise she had gotten that day... because she is trying to lose weight... which is pretty crazy. She is about 5 foot tall and about 100 pounds..... so she definitely doesn't need to.
After sitting at the restaurant for awhile we rode past Alice's apt and then I showed her how to get to the place that we would have the Rock Show at on July 30th. By this point it was getting close to 4:30 and I had a classes added to my day off... so I had to teach at 5.... so off I went biking back to the school and Alice headed home.
Our total trip was about 30 km that day.. most of that between 11 and 2. So about 18 miles... not a bad run. Me and Chris want to take a bike ride out to Chagan lake, which is about 50km away... it would have to be a two or three day trip... first day travel.. stay there for the night.. possibly another day.. and then last day to come home. I think its very doable. Granted we could just take the bus and be there in about an hour and a half (its stops in a lot of small towns on the way)
Alice is a very very expressive/emotional person.... I know some of the teachers exaggerate a lot what they say because they arn't quite sure how to express themselves in English...... but I think Alice just wears all over her emotions very strongly out there for everyone to see. When she is happy and having a good time.. like this day... you can definitely tell. When things go a little bit wrong.... she cries for quite some time..... and whens he is bored and pissed off... she stands somewhere angerly drawing circles on a piece of paper. I think I was all three of these activities in one day at work.... it was pretty crazy. With all the crazy mood swings and emotionalness.. she is still one of the cooler teachers at our school... and usually pretty fun to hang out with.. so yay we made more friends.
Next post:
At Weihai
Post that need to be made:
The Rock Show/My first performance in China
My Reach High Students
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