a little coffee

I have to say life in Anyang is pretty dull these days. The temperature is climbing back up and I can smell the hot, dusty heat Robert warned us about. I wish we were near a beach! Or a pretty, none stinky, none algae bloom lake! So I’ve started to miss Chicago even more. Concerts, clubs, bars, coffee shops, the museum, Lake Michigan. A couple of Chris’s students came by and showed as pictures from their adventure to Shanghai. These included shots of a Starbucks and local cafe and its pizza and cappuccino! I squealed and started clapping my hands. Not so much for the food and drink, but for the place. An escape from the confines of our powdered blue apartment. There are limited options in Anyang where you can go just to hang, but when you take into account the desire of peace and privacy, the list shrinks to 0. KFC is really the best option, but we’re limited to the weekdays because the place becomes an overcrowded zoo on the weekends and every once in a while, a bold Doodle interrupts us talking or reading with, “Hello. Where are you from?”

What I really itching to do is travel. But the semester insists on dragging on for at least four more weeks, if not more. So to do something this weekend besides the usual sleep, Internet surfing and movie watching, I dragged Chris out of the apartment and we rode our bikes to the People’s Park. Perfect weather for a park. Sunny, not hot, with a light breeze. Which meant the Doodles had the same idea. They flocked to the park with their strollers and children in split pants. Old men wearing the uniform navy blue lazily strolled around the path. A gathering of grandparents sung Peking Opera in one of the gazebos. Young couples rested laid on each other in the shade of a tree. A trio of ten-year olds bellowed “HELLO HOW ARE YOU I’M FINE  AND YOU” at Chris and me. That we were at least 20 feet behind them didn’t matter. As we continued steadily on the path, they’d giggle, run ahead and bellow again until we finally passed them. They about peed themselves with guffaws. Sigh…

We found a nice spot tucked away from everyone, partially disguised by a line of recently planted bushes where we enjoyed a mostly peaceful afternoon. Today, I dragged Chris away from his Civilization computer game to go on a long bike ride under the pretense of buying new headphones, which temporarily subdued my growing antsiness. Now I wonder what I’m going to do next weekend.

"wanna ride?" creepy...