It really is beautiful and is a quaint place to waste away a tispy afternoon or a colorful place to have the evening meal. When dusk hits, many older folks come out to the entrance of the park area and ballroom dance. Someone brings a huge speaker, and a microphone and a large, age-diverse group of Beijingers spend the evening hours singing and dancing. It sounds bizarre, and in some ways it is, but seeing this nightly ritual is a great reminder of what an incredible time it is to be here. Back in the day, when Mao was alive, the communist workers didn't have any creature comforts and there were no bars or clubs and very few restaurants...mostly those were for high ranking party members or diplomats. When the average worker would get home from their work unit, they would take to the parks. There they could have a leisurely walk, exercise and visit with their fellow comrades. The oldest generation of Chinese have never strayed far away from this regiment and nowadays the parks are always filled with pensioners wiling away their days.
The young people take to the streets for different reasons, mostly because the vast majority of families live in flats and the public parks are some of the only places to hang out with friends and meet up with their significant other. The malls are quickly replacing the parks as the place to see and be seen, but even to hang out at the mall food court costs money, and that is still a precious commodity for most of the regular folks here. But, I digress.
Anyways, Cliff and I searched out the small gym where this volleyball club regularly meets. The first thing I noticed about this group is that 'club' is a loose word for what they are...right after we started stretching, we noticed two guys, both about 6'5" and in their early 40s, start stretching near the court. I started to hope, in vain, that they were warming up for a spirited game of badminton in the courts next door. Then I noticed two Chinese women, who were both a shade under six foot, start peppering on the court. One wore a "Louisville Volleyball" jersey...I hoped that she was just a big ole' Louisville fan and not an actual player. Boy, was I wrong. After alittle warm of time, we started a hitting line, and I stood around to dig some hits. The girl from Louisville was next in line, wound up and swung away....and...I actually dug the ball. That's not to say that my forearms didn't sting afterwards and I'll have to confess, it was aimed right at me, but I was proud, none the less. Later that night, I found out from one of the regulars that the twin giants had played on the Chinese national team, back in the day. One of the girls played D-I ball at Louisville, one was on the National Team and two other women were players on the Team Beijing in the run up nat'll championships. It was clear that all of these players were past their prime, but we played (and by we, I mean they, 'cause I played horribly) some good, technical ball.
Afterwards, 14 of us went out for dinner across the street. The group was about 60-40 Chinese and foreigners. The Chinese players ordered the food and brought Baijiu (more on that later) and we all split the tab. It was great food and a great time overall. As I mentioned before, we did partake in the Baijiu...this is the Chinese answer to Soju or Tequila. It is about 105 proof and is drunk straight. It smells like rubbing alcohol and it tastes much like I would imagine sulfuric acid to taste. Regardless of these aesthetics, we all drank a couple shots (even Cliff!) and all made the obligatory pucker-face afterwards. Similar to tequila, the first breath afterwards is like breathing fire, and if I had a lighter last night, I could have become a human flame thrower. In total, our group of 14 had two big bottles of beer, three big bottles of coke, one bottle of baijiu, two huge gourds of soup, ten different main dishes, two clay pots full of meat baked rice, and our bill came out to 40 RMB a person, which is about $6.50. Nice.
On a food note, I came home from errands this morning and was starving, so while Cliff was at the gym, I went out to purchase lunch. I bought two turkey sandwiches on whole wheat, a baozi (steamed meat filled bun) from 7-11, a diet coke and two bags of chips.
The sandwiches were only 20 RMB a piece ($3)...we were not a big fan. Its like ordering a pizza here--it is called a pizza and looks alright, but it just tastes alittle off. I don't know what it is, but it was not something we'd go back for.
As a back up, I picked up a baozi from 7-11. I could sing you an ode to 7-11 here...its everything a convenience store should be. There are no scruples about what you can and can't buy here...it has cigs, hard liquor, beer, wine (called great wall...its not good), snacks, magazines, but where it really excels is in its food offerings. There is a steam case filled with half a dozen buns...you can get pork and cabbage filled, hot dog filled, fried sauce filled...anything you want. Next to that, they have the Chinese equivalent of the NYC dirty-water hot dog...its a tank full of broth, with about 30 sections, filled with all sorts of crap on a stick. You can order fish balls, tofu, mushrooms, fish cake--everything--and the best thing about it, is that it all tastes the same! If I were starving on a desert island and my only other option was to harvest my own leg to survive, then this dirty water food would would totally be a viable option. At lunch, they open a hit-dish station and they serve six different dishes, all with varying amounts of meat. A to-go order from this line seems to cost about 2 USD or less. Lastly, I visited the chip aisle again. I chose "rock taco flavor" and "italian meat flavor"..."red wine roasted chicken" came in a distant third. The taco flavored doritos were much like a salsa flavor, with less kick and the meat flavored chips had a sour BBQ tang to them. I have yet to find my heart's desire, as far as chip flavors go, but the search goes on.
Cliff has demanded get a pedi and mani tonight, so I've got to sign off...but it will make for an interesting blog tomorrow.
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