A While Back...

There is a BEAUTIFUL park here in the city. And when I say park, I mean the kind like Central Park in New York City or Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. The kind of park that tkes up blocks and blocks of the city, had tons of different places in it, and is filled with all sorts of interesting sites and people.

A while back (hence the title of this post) a local friend of ours and some of her English students took us to this park and then to a museum that is in the park. We came upon this group of people early on in our day and our friend asked if it was alright if I photographed their practice.

I'm not sure exactly what they are doing, but this is a very common sight in the mornings. The older generation here is very concerned with keeping their bodies in good shape, so they get out each morning and do some time of exercise, many times a kind of exercise that is unique to their culture, such as Tai Chi. Here they are doing similar movements to Tai Chi, but with swords. It was really fun to watch them! They were very serious!

Another common activity we see people doing alot is something along the lines of hacky-sack. Do you remember hacky-sack? Oh man, do I ever have memories of me and my brother playing hacky-sack! Below is a picture of a courtyard in the park where there were large groups of people playing this game. The picture below this one shows what it is that they kick. It is a very interesting little thing, I don't really know what it is except that it has bright feathers coming out of it

I don't think there are words to describe just how hot it was this particular day. I am SOAKING wet with sweat by the time we took this family picture (well, supposed to be a family picture. Elijah is halfway in there so I think it counts!)

Here are the students that were with us that day. Daniel and Elijah are with them, and they are standing in front of a famous statue in the park. It is said to be the very center point of the city.

This is the museum we went to

After the museum they took us to a restaurant where they ordered very cultural dishes. The most interesting thing I tried that day? Duck. And it was pretty good. It had a weird sauce on it that I didn't like, but the meat itself was good. I think Daniel ate something more interesting but I can't remember. Most of it was WAY to hot for me to eat (spicy hot), so I settled for some fried noodles that were very yummy!