Blue Sky Weekend

Shanghai counts its blue sky days, days where the air and sky is clear enough to see blue. It's one way they measure the success of their anti-pollution campaign. I don't know how many blue sky days Shanghai has had up until now, but this weekend was all blue sky. We had an enjoyable weekend. On Saturday, we went wall-climbing with our friend Penny. We love Penny because she is so laid-back and easy-going. Very little fazes her and she's game for just about anything. We invited her to go climbing with us and she agreed to join us though she's never done it before. It's been nearly 10 years since Eric and I last went climbing, so we had to relearn how to do it all over again. Eric found a climbing gym at Shanghai Stadium, which is only 1 metro stop away from us. Easy peasy.
Penny came dressed on khaki slacks and a short-sleeve blouse with low heels, which didn't deter her from joining in. The shoes didn't matter since we all rented climbing shoes.
We all tried climbing the same wall 3 times. Eric made it to the top all 3 times and Penny and I made it about half way. Eric then attempted a more advanced wall that was taller with smaller handholds and made it about a third of the way up. There's Penny on the left. Can you tell who has the camera most of the time? Eric and I plan to return to the gym and climb again, even if Penny can't join us.

On Friday, I took the metro to Zhongshan Park. I like to visit Carrefour at least once a week to replenish our kitchen and other household supplies. During the week, I shop at whatever fruit stands I come upon to buy more fruit and vegetables as I need them or I go to the market downstairs to get a few items. I'm trying to see if how many places I can get to via the metro. Supposedly there's a Carrefour by Zhongshan Park since that is an expat haven. I didn't find the Carrefour then, but I did find a wet market and watched dancers at the park.
A wet market is what people here call a street market where you can buy meat. These places usually sell produce as well. Some of these wet markets have live chickens that they will butcher on the spot for you. I have yet to find a live chicken place. This place I found had tables of seafood, poultry, pork, and beef. I walked around it and simply decided to buy baking potatoes and sweet potatoes. Food bought at street markets is cheaper than at places like Carrefour, though you can't be as sure of the cleanliness of the place. If I'm not planning on peeling the food, I give it a quick soak in a bleach solution. As for meat, I am not yet comfortable with buying meat from a wet market. On a slightly related note, I did find dried beans at an expat-oriented grocery store.

I knew Carrefour was not far from the metro stop, but I had neglected to write down anything specific, like an address or a cross street (what's new). I ended up wandering around until I got lost (again, what's new). I then asked a traffic officer where Zhongshan Park was. Zhongshan Park is sizable and an easily recognized landmark and it's right by the metro station. I know just enough Chinese to ask where someplace is. My pronunciation must be suspect because the officer asked me to write out where I wanted to go. The only written Chinese I am capable of are the number '1', '2', and '3'. I'll teach you right now. Grab a pen or a pencil and a sheet of paper. Go ahead; I can wait. Now, make a short horizontal line:

Excellent. That is the number '1' in Chinese. Now for the number '2'. See how made the '1'? Following the same technique, make 2 horizontal lines, one on top of the other:

Beautiful. You're a fast learner. O.K. Looks like you have the technique down. Here's how you make number '3'. Make 3 horizontal lines, again, one on top of the other.

Fantastic. Now you know how to write about as much Chinese as I can. Needless to say, for me to write 'Zhongshan Gongyuan' was beyond my abilities. I handed the traffic officer my notepad and pen and he wrote it out for me, sounding out each character carefully for my edification. Zhong Shan Gong Yuan.
Then, I spent about 5 minutes being schooled by the traffic officer on the proper way to say 'park'.

me: "Zhongshan Gongyuan zai nar?" (Where is Zhongshan park?)
traffic officer (TO): "Gong yuan"
me: "Gong yuan"
TO: "Gong yuan"
me: "Gong yuan"
TO: "Gong yuan"

Repeat a few more times. He did point me in the right direction and even followed me across the street to make sure I knew.

While at the park, I decided to walk through and see what there was to see before boarding the metro back home. All over Shanghai, and especially in the parks, you see people participating in all sorts of activities. Tai chi with a group or solo, people walking alternately forwards and backwards, and on that day in Zhongshan Park, dancing. There was music playing over the P.A. system. The park even has these coat tree poles. There was
a crowd gathered there to watch the people dancing. I took a short movie. People were dancing in pairs and a few were dancing solo. I don't mind getting lost. I don't have any appointments to keep and there's always something interesting you find that make getting lost something to look forward to. I never did find that Carrefour. I'll have to go back again and look. With the address this time.