钟坡山 – Zhong Po Mountain
I’ve been exercising a lot lately. Well, maybe not a lot, but certainly more than I did in college when the most exercise I got was walking to the Bodega to buy a six-pack of Magic Hat. Being a tall blond foreigner in China I get a lot of looks, people laughing at me, and yelps of surprise. What this means, oddly enough, is that my mouth stays shut most of the time; I walk like a deer in a city that everyone wants to look at but no one can say anything to except for a big throated “haaaalo!” Possibly as a result I run at my school’s track (arguably there is less pollution at the track than there is on the street) and I lift weights in my apartment.
My apartment is really very comfortable, especially if you look over the fact that there is no heating. I spend a lot of time here, too much time I’ve decided. It’s a big Chinese world outside and sometimes it’s easier to sit inside (wearing long underwear and a winter coat) reading the newest blog postings, watching pirated copies of movies I’ve seen dozens of times, and cooking. Now I don’t want you to think that I never leave the house or something, because I do, it’s just that I spend a good amount of my days inside.
There’s always something to clean, fix, watch, study, read, or organize in my house. The classes I teach are a one minute walk from my door and the wet market and supermarkets are just down the hill, same goes for the 20 or so restaurants I regularly patron. Huaihua is a big city and I try to explore it by walking, riding motorcycle taxis and taking the bus as often as I can, but even if I explore for a solid few or four hours my day is still mostly spent indoors at home. Also, unlike America, Huaihua doesn’t have cozy coffeehouses, brewpubs, public libraries, movie theaters (with movies in English), ice cream stores, or museums. We have housing, schools, stores (oh so many stores!), and restaurants. After awhile it’s not interesting anymore. Exploring the section of town devoted to house paint stores is interesting the first time but doesn’t really leave you wanting to return.
But this is China! Every turn brings the different and exotic, showing a culture and populace different from America. So I try and keep exploring, pressing into the neighborhoods that I haven’t seen, watching the changes that are taking place in the places I have seen, and generally enjoying the present. Lately I’ve been made a habit of taking a long walk before dinner.
Tonight I left the house at 5 and headed to the steep hilly neighborhood on the other side of the valley that north-west Huaihu sits on. Down the hill from me there was an old man collapsed on the sidewalk with a group of onlookers coldly watching him and his elderly wife, who seemed to be trying to keep from crying while waiting for the ambulance. I didn’t watch for long. After some twists and turns I stumbled into the hard to find Zhong Po Mountain park, the largest public park in Huaihua and the imposing mountain that overlooks the western half of the city. As ashamed as it makes me, I must admit that tonight was the first time I’ve been to the park. It’s in my backyard and it took me almost 4 months here to find it. God I’m pathetic! For the record I have explored the hills ringing Huaihua a bit, I just always walked through people’s fields and villages.
Zhong Po Mountain is lovely, even in the dark shadows of dusk. You look down on the city’s lights while inhaling air that doesn’t taste of cancer. It is quiet but for the happy mutterings of the elderly couples walking slowly in tandem. I walked far longer than I had expected and again told myself how wonderful life in China can be. Zhong Po Mountain: I’ll be back.
