Yesterday, one of the other foreign teachers and I took a walk looking for a park that this guy had heard about. All he knew was that it had a big statue. We walked our to the edge of town, maybe 40 minutes away from the center. This was what we found.
I mean, sure – some of the size is attributed to the fact that this statue stands on a hill. But when you climb up the hill and stand under the statue, it doesn’t start seeming any less massive.
I will return to this park next weekend, probably. Not so much for the statue, but because it promises to show the changing fall foliage – one thing that makes me exceedingly grateful that my site is where it is. During training, I had the sudden realization of the climate we were in – and in a panicked voiced ask my teacher if the leaves changed colors and fell off the trees.
‘Not in China, they don’t.’
Lucky for me – they didn’t factor in Gansu province when answering my question. The leaves are already giving the suggestion of the colors to come, and I will be sure to follow this as we move toward winter.
While on the topic of ‘things an ideal site has’ and where we were all placed, I was talking to a friend of mine who is maybe seven hours south in Tianshui. I haven’t been to visit yet, but I’ve heard that it has lots of beautiful mountains and parks. Great natural scenery, in other words. I’ve always lived around mountains, and while I love them, I have no overt needs to be surrounded by them on a daily basis. So I’m in a city on a plateau – there are mountains, sure – you’ve just got to look down to see them.
What I got instead was a dusty city full of small industry and a nice patina of rust. It looks like the last big days my city saw were sometime around the 50s or 60s – it’s coming back now, thanks to some natural gas an oil hanging out in this land, but I like the rusty relics of the last big boom. I love how it looks. As my friend said, ‘It’s almost like they knew what scenery would make us most happy when deciding site placements.’
This is my favorite building in the center of town. It looks like it’s getting torn down now, and I’m going to be sad to see it go. Buildings like this are coming down and being replace by those that could be found in any Chinese city.
On the walk to the park – seriously, tile + brick + rusted metal makes me think ‘aesthetically pleasing’.
Lighting fixtures like this are spread all over the city rather randomly. My fellow foreign teacher started rolling his eyes every time I sprinted off without warning to be sure I got full documentation. This is China, after all. The only guarantee is that things will not remain the same.
Getting Schooled in China 