Down By the River Again

After the excitement of Sports Day last week, the Saturday that followed it was much like any other. I arose somewhat unnaturally early thanks to a sun that prefers to start rising around 4:00 AM, and headed straight north into the center of the city.

Once there, I purchased and happily devoured my usual weekly indulgence at McDonald's. Granted, the sausage-and-cheese breakfast sandwich and coffee combination pictured below is nothing grand, but for me it's always a much-savored treat.

Afterwards, I then headed to the nearby grocery store, which very recently started to make the closest thing to actual doughnuts that I've ever seen in this city. Currently they're sold for six yuan for a bag of five, and usually there's only crumbs left before ten in the morning.

Before anyone criticizes me, let me first say that in my defense, I usually follow this routine up with a walk by the riverside, and last Saturday was no exception.

What was different was that instead of heading towards the main bridge to eventually grab a #3 bus back home, I decided on a whim to talk a long trek back to campus via another bridge. And so I trooped off, snapped photos all the way of whatever happened to snag my interest for so much as a second.

Now that the weather has finally grown pleasant, leisure boats are starting to appear on the river once again for whoever is willing to pay for a quick lark upon the tranquil waters of the Songhua.

One of the many things that make riverside strolls so pleasant are all the curious public sculptures that occasionally dot the broad pedastrian walkways (even though I haven't so much of a clue as to what any of them are trying to represent).

Pictured here is Jilin Yiwen Middle School, one of the best middle schools in the city. Besides that though, it carries another minor claim to fame from the fact that it usually has a small contingent of North Koreans boarding there at any given time, though from what I've heard those particular students are usually kept in a tightly controlled environment.

Meanwhile, right across the street is a fairly new addition to this part of the river.

I'm assuming that this monument is harkening back to Jilin City's glory days as a bustling shipbuilding center and the main metropolis of the region.

Also in the midst of this historical marker is what I think is another leisure boat for local tourists.

Truth be told though, I don't think that I've ever seen this vessel budge from this spot, regardless of what season it is. Be it winter, fall, spring or summer, whenever I pass by this neighborhood this boat is always sitting put in what feels like the same exact spot.

Pictured here is Linjiang Bridge, the structure I crossed on my way back home, which led me right into the large riverside park that stretches from here and along the border of the city's southern district almost all the way back to the medical college.

It is by no means the most direct route that I can take from my regular McDonald's run, but it's definitely the most scenic, especially with the magnificent "Five Star" building always looming high in the not-so-far distance.

What I think you see here is a seasonal ice rink, but not so surprisingly I don't take a lot of long weeks in the dead of Manchurian winters.

It's nothing much in the way of the exotic adventures that many people assume I'm always having. However, when one's workdays are spent trying to make pharmaceutical English as exciting as possible for classes of upwards of sixty students, these hikes always end up being one of the highlights of my weeks.

Comments

[Chris]

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