Day Seven: Morning Market, People's park, and playing with E Xiao Dan

On Sunday we got up really early to go to the morning market, and the People's Park, a favorite past time. It was freezing. But there's still like a million people out there.
The Morning Market is where you buy the food you'll be eating for the day:
They sell more than vegetables but I can't post pictures of the meat because it will scare my mom into thinking I have contracted the Avian Bird Flu. Instead, a Tatanka look-a-like:
You also buy breakfast which makes Lao Lao a little bit sad but the street bings are so wonderful

Pretty much every city of any significant size in China has a big park and I think it must be a requirement to call it Renmin Gongyuan, or "People's Park". Going to the park in the morning is very much a part of everyday life. If you were unfamiliar with this tradition and just happened upon it you might think there is a huge festival going on at 5:30 in the morning and wonder what people are celebrating. But it looks like that everyday! We used to go quite a bit when we lived here. Gordon would practice Tai Chi and I would run. But then it got cold and we did not have enough dedicated to being Chinese to go much past October. This particular morning, while still in October, happened to be freezing! I think I remember doing the conversion and it was 4 degrees. I know it's not bad but I am a wimp and become very grouchy in such conditions.
So, there was an exciting addition to the park since our last visit. I don't know that pictures will be able to do the scene justice . . . . People are big on exercising and stretching, or as that translates, hitting themselves and those around them all over the body. (Strangers used to show Gordon and I how we were doing things wrong when stretching by leaning over and hitting us). Anyway, they've got a million ways of stretching and hitting, all in the name of exercise, but NOW they have installed exercise equipment in the park. Seeing them almost made me forget about the cold for a few seconds. They look exactly like a children's playground only there is a line of 60-somethings waiting to jump around on them.

Afterwards, we decided I would have to be made warm again if I was going to be nice to anyone the rest of the day so we went back to bed for a while. Then around noon we met up with our old friend E Xiao Dan to go shopping and eat lunch. E Xiao Dan was also without a husband or child when we left and now has both. Because her surname sounds like "hungry" but is a different character and meaning, we call her "hungry teacher", or sometimes "bunny teacher" because she's only the cutest thing ever.
Again, it was so fun to spend time with her. It seems that hanging out with her was one of many times where I just wanted to cry in the middle of a conversation because I missed it so much and knew it would be ending again so quickly. Anyway, we bought Gordon some pants, had wonderfully yummy dumplings, and lots of laughs, and then went back to her home to meet her baby daughter and husband and watch the video of her wedding.

After saying goodbye to E Xiao Dan we just went back home and Wang Yan's friend made some dinner for us. Then we had another fieldtrip to the showers.
Update on Gordon's bag: They found it! . . . again! And again Gordon asked that they just send it to her home in Salt Lake since we would be leaving our current address again soon. . .