Riverside Park

Yesterday I decided to go for a long walk by the river. Our hotel backs up to the Yangtze River, and that is the view we see outside our window -- so beautiful! There is a sort of pathway/park/walk that goes along the river for a long ways, and I decided to walk along it. I had a preview of it two nights ago, when one of our translators showed it to us before we went out to dinner, but we didn't see much. It's similar to Riverside Park in Manhattan, in that it is long and thin and runs down the edge of land ... but otherwise it's completely different!

I wanted to go incognito so that people wouldn't stare at me, the way they do here, so I put on my Sound of Music baseball cap and sunglasses, along with my trademark pink shorts, red toenails, and tall black flipflops. Out I went!

I walked slowly (!) along the river, just enjoying the pretty, cool, clear weather, and the nature around me. We haven't seen a lot of that, so it was quite nice to be in the middle of it. I walked for a long time, until I passed most of the people milling about. There were young couples sitting together on benches, families sitting in silence (I thought that was neat) together, people by themselves, like I was, and mothers or fathers with babies sleeping or small children playing. I passed the beautiful stone sculptures, a playground, a children's exercise area, and walked so far that I came to a huge empty swimming pool and mini water park.

Revelation of the day: deep, empty swimming pools are creepy. Yet I was able to walk past it.

The park has several levels -- a main path high above the water, then a lower path just near the water, with large stairs leading down every couple hundred meters or so (look at me in China, using the metric system!). I alternated walking on the main path, and hopping down to the more isolated, lower path, to be close to the water and the wind and away from civilization ... in a way. It was so pretty and nice!

My quest for the morning was to find a shady bench, sit down and think for a while, and read a book. The difficult bit was the first: finding a shady bench. I am from California, where people love the sun. Yes, this is true even in (the far classier) northern California. Apparently in China, people do NOT love the sun! Beauty supply sections in stores here sell skin whitening cream, bleaching cream, sunblock with whitener ... and many, many women carry parasols to stay out of the sun while outdoors. I am thinking of adopting this habit while I am here! I love it! Pale white skin is cherished. Not only does this make me feel special for my natural ghostly hue, it makes me happy that nobody will tease me for trying to avoid sunburn, or for not being tan.

Anyway, the point of my ramble is that I could not find a shady bench! All of the shady benches had people on them, and the sunny ones were empty. What a difference from California, and even New York. While I pined for a shady bench, I thought it was pretty neat that this situation existed here in China. This was the reason I walked so far along the river -- I had to go a great distance before I found an empty, shady bench.

I sat in silence for a while, feeling very Quakerly (and for those of you who don't know, my whole dad's side of the family is Quaker, so this was appropriate), then pulled out the book I got from the tour library and read for a while. I ran into Sarah, from our cast, but we were both having alone time, so we said hi and then went about our own business.

For some odd reason, sitting on that bench reading my book reminded me of my early teen years, when I would take a towel out into the backyard, spread it out, and read through the late afternoon, just to be outside for a while. My backyard in Davis, California is nothing like this park in Wuhan, China, but somehow, that is the memory that came to me.

After reading for a while, I walked even more, sat by the water for a while, then slowly walked back. What a beautiful morning! I ran into a few more people from the cast on the way back, doing their normal things, and it was actually kind of jarring to me after my being alone all morning with my thoughts. But it was all lovely.

Now I have a few hours to kill (and eat food) before our afternoon call for sound check, break, and then our first show in Wuhan. I love doing the show and I'm looking forward to it starting up again. These few days off have been so strange for me!

Addendum: I have a ridiculous sunburn on the tops of my calves and feet right now! Apparently I wasn't actually lying completely in shade when I thought I was. Or -- one can get burned in the shade. (This is true.) I suddenly noticed before the show yesterday that my legs and feet were fluorescent pink. At first I thought this was a result of how I had been sitting, but then I realized that the color didn't go away. I have my first burn of the year! I'm not proud, but I do feel like it's truly spring now.