Dinosaur Botanical Gardens

Back to work, back to work. My holiday is officially over. I realize that I just had the last eight days off, and that is no excuse for not posting more in the last few days. In my defense, I was fighting off a terrible cold the last half of the break. That’s enough of an excuse, right?

Well other than fighting off cold/flu symptoms, the holiday was really enjoyable. Not only did I do something “cultural” and see communist propaganda at its finest, but I also went on a little adventure with Ellen and her family to a city two hours from Nanjing called Changzhou. So I can say confidently that I left Nanjing during the holiday, even if it was only for a day. Don’t be jealous though, there’s not much in Changzhou. And in all honesty, I didn’t really want to go. My Chinese family had invited me to go a while back, but Ellen got sick and couldn’t go. When I tried to make up an excuse as to why I couldn’t go this time and I saw the look of disappointment on Ellen’s mom’s face, I knew it was too late to get out out of it.

Ellen had told me that her mom’s family lives in Changzhou, so I figured this was the “meet your new extended family” trip. And then Ellen told me we were going to some “dinosaur botanical garden”... that was the Chinese translation. What? Dinosaur botanical garden? Was I going to be looking at dinosaur fossils? Was this going to be a park of bushes cut in the shape of dinosaurs? What was I getting myself into? And then she told me we’d be leaving at 5 am for the two-hour car ride to Changzhou. A 5 am wake-up call on a holiday? Ok, now what had I agreed to?

Luckily the time changed to 6:30, slightly more reasonable, and Ellen and I passed out during the car ride to Changzhou. I was reassured when I realized we’d be taking the family car, because I didn’t think I could handle public transportation that early in the morning. With a pretty tame trip over to Changzhou, I finally realized our day at the dinosaur botanical gardens was actually an amusement park. When I saw Ellen’s face light up as we were approaching the park, I couldn’t help but feel somewhat excited too. Sure I may be 22 years old, but I’m not too old to get excited about an amusement park. Mostly I was excited to just see what a Chinese version of Six Flags would be like. I would definitely not equate this place to Disney World and even Six Flags is a stretch. Since we went on a holiday, the place was packed with visitors, much to Ellen’s disappointment. And while she was lamenting over the prospect of long lines for the rides, I was was lamenting over the thousands of stares I would be getting that day. Being blonde in China is tough duty.

The park was actually pretty nice. It was very clean and green, and if there wasn’t so many black heads everywhere, I would have thought I was at a park back home. The rides were pretty lame, except for the water ride where my jeans got soaked despite buying a “poncho” for the ride. Ellen’s energy level was high all day and she was antsy as we waited in the long lines for the rides. Luckily, I brought along my Chinese phrase book, so we quizzed each other on words and taught each other new phrases. I even learned that the word for dinosaur can also be used as a name for a rude girl. I’ve learned a new Chinese insult! During the day, I did have lots of stares and a few random people taking out their cameras and taking shots of me, the token foreigner. I probably should have charged them, but I was feeling generous.

Overall the park was fun, and it was a good time to practice my Chinese. I even got to meet some more of my Chinese family. They tried to set me up with Ellen’s 24-year-old cousin, but considering he speaks even less English than I speak Chinese, I don’t think that’ll happen. I just don’t think I will ever date a Chinese guy (reasons why will be a later post). And despite my previous feelings of not wanting to go to Changzhou, I was glad I got to experience an authentic Chinese activity with my Chinese family. I feel lucky to have people here who are looking out for me. I also feel lucky that there is Disney World.