Sheng dan kuai le (Merry Christmas) to Weg.

I walked around a park nearby that turned out to be quite beautiful. It has a giant monument in the middle, along with a bunch of traditional style Chinese houses. Combined with the meat dumplings I had earlier, it was a very chill and enjoyable day.

I'm gradually getting my apartment under control, and started going through the cabinets to see what the previous occupants had left. There was a fishing rod and line, which I may try out at some point. All the bridges are full of retired old guys fishing the day away. There also was a net. I asked my roommate what the hell this was for, and he said the previous guy took care of bees in the park.

"Bees?"

"Yeah, bees!"

"BEES?!"

And although he had seen Arrested Development, he didn't immediately get the joke.

Honestly though, he told me that it's a hobby in China to take care of bees in public parks and harvest the honey. I can't even begin to fathom how to do that, and it doesn't seem like something I want to get into.

There also were some really cool statues of a crocodile and rooster, some nice nail polish, and two big surprises. One was a gun. Unlike back home, you don't need those orange tips to show that it's non lethal. It was also made out of metal and was quite heavy, so I was convinced I was holding a 9mm in my hand. It wasn't until I removed the clip that I saw it shot plastic pellets. So, that's a relief. I'll take a pic at some point, it really looks and feels quite authentic.

The other was a really nice iPod speaker dock. With a little 3.5mm cable to my phone, I now have a really kicking speaker system. It sounds fantastic and got to be quite loud, and I'm sure it would retail for at least $100 back home.

I don't have any new pics as I just threw them all on Facebook. It wasn't until this week when I realized I had to go to the grocery store and bank that I'm no longer a tourist.