Intro Teaching is tiring (and so is applying to law school apps) but we have the national holiday coming up, so I hope to post more interesting stuff around then.
Pollution Despite impressive decreases in pollution across China and particularly in Shijiazhuang over the past decade (a statistic that's anecdotally noted frequently by my friends who have lived here for a long time,) it is still the most polluted place I have ever lived. As such, running can be particularly difficult, because my breathing can get quite labored quickly. (And it's not like I was fast to begin with.) But, the parks around my neighborhood are very pretty and full of specially designated walking and running paths, so I do run often and there's always many runners out and about. Because of this, when the Foreign Expert Bureau of Shijiazhuang reached out to our school's Foreign Expert Bureau to see if anyone would participate in a ten person 40km(total) relay race put on by the department of Science and Tech. I was asked and offered to run.
The Run
I accepted (with the caveat that I am not fast) and was the only member of my school to go. Our French teacher is known as the "son-in-law" of Shijiazhuang because he has lived here for so long, and was invited, but his friend in Bejing had to play against Jannik Sinner so he went there instead (flex.) So, like everyone who gets themselves into these situations, I got up at 6am to go out to Zhengding Island and run this race. On the way there I found out two of the runners were professional 5-aside footsal players and quickly realized I'd be dragging the team down. (My 8:30 pace was actually middle pack and the fastest I've run a 5k in a minute.) Getting there was fun though, because I got to meet other foreigners who don't work for my school. The two soccer players were Brazilian and spoke neither English nor Chinese, but their Serbian coach helped translate and invited us to a game with tickets (I'm so excited it should be awesome!) Then, there were people from South Africa who were also teaching and a couple other teachers from Europe. Many had been in Shijiazhuang a long time and so could comment on changes to the city; decreasing post-covid foreigners, decreasing pollution, and growth in population. They also commented on the way restaurants and shops can open and then close here within a few days. Overall, we had a great time, even though it started to rain, and the environment was very chill.
One funny thing is that before the race they had everyone do a group warm-up Zumba style which was both ridiculous and enjoyable.
The gifts
The race swag was the best I've ever had. Before the race, a thank you gift of beautiful teacups was given to me, and I got a nice dryfit running shirt to keep and wear in the race. Afterwards, because we were sponsored by a pharmacy, we got a swag bag with ears of corn, vitamin C tablets, other sports-medicine that I can't read because they're in Chinese, and a medal.
