Labor Day!

Join me as we travel back in time to May 1st, International Worker's Day! (and my parents' wedding anniversary - love you Mom and Dad)

My friend Jessy invited me to go out with her and her friend Jiawei to a theme park on the far side of Shenzhen, called OCT East. This was... a little bit of a Mistake(tm), as I realized Labor Day in China is exactly the same as Labor Day in America, so getting to the other side of the peninsula took HOURS because of the traffic.

Oh, and we didn't have seats because the bus was so crowded...

Still we had a good time at the park, and we were cute :)

They bought me this flower crown!

Left to right: Me, Jessy, Jiawei

OCT East is built up and down the side of a mountain, and there's tons of forest throughout the park, making it a cooler experience than most U.S. theme parks I've been to. Both simply because I love trees, but also because I associate theme parks in the States with plains, devoid of shade or mercy in the summer sun.

(I know this is an exaggeration, but let me have it.)

View looking out from the park entrance

100% Man-Made Waterfall (still cool tho)

It was, as all amusement parks are, a place you paid money to enter for the sake of spending more money on food and souvenirs, but the atmosphere was so lovely I couldn't be mad.

Take this gem of a walkway, for example.

There were some live action performances going on at the end of this street - singing, dancing, a magic trick or two, but nothing massive. I think there would have been a show later in the day, but when we were there it just seemed like some local folks taking a chance to show of their skills rather than a choreographed show.

There was actually a water show, but we ended up arriving right at the end of a show, and we wanted to ride a roller coaster instead of wait for the next one.

But wait we did, because the line for the coaster was easily two hours.

Again, love the view. Gotta appreciate the little things.

I challenged myself to make a little packet of crackers last the entire time we were in line. I honestly don't remember if I succeeded, but I do know it was hard. My self-control is famously lacking when I'm in the presence of purchased food--I can resist buying it in the first place, but once it's mine? It's in my stomach.

Anyway, the coaster was great...but not worth the two hour wait. Basically, it's never worth it to go to an amusement park on the ONE DAY everyone is going, haha.

Even if it's this pretty of a place.

Although that does bring me to an interesting point. I said Labor Day was on May 1st, but we actually took this vacation on April 30th. Why? Why, because we didn't actually get May 1st off!

There is a GARBAGE POLICY in China of making up holidays by moving school and work days around. I forget exactly how my principal justified it to me, but somehow I got Sunday off, and worked an extra-long day on Labor Day or the day after to make up for it. To me, it basically felt like not really getting a day off at all...And same for the students! Labor Day was on a Monday, and they had Monday off, but they went to school on Saturday to make up for it. What kind of a holiday is that?

Simultaneously, attendance at our school was very low that whole weekend, so it seemed like parents and students were taking the days off anyway. It was just a mess.

Still, it was a lovely day.

 We had QUITE the scramble getting home. We made it out to the big parking lot where all the public buses had gathered, but it was taking an excruciatingly long time to find one that had space. Jessy ended up leaving me and Jiawei in line while she ran off to find something faster, and she did!

She snagged us seats on a very comfortable tour bus (don't ask me how) that were super cheap, so we got to ride home in comfort! The only problem was there were two violently carsick women who kept vomiting into plastic bags, and Jessy has a very sympathetic gag-reflex.... Luckily she didn't lose her overpriced lunch! She just had to lean against me the whole way and doze off so she would lose awareness of the retching noises, haha. I was just extremely thankful for the comfortable seats.

When we finally got back into Shenzhen proper, we had dinner at a spicy fish place!

With some fun florescent decor~

This was my first time meeting Jiawei, so I was a little awkward at dinner. My casual conversation skills still aren't super strong in Chinese, but we were all exhausted that day anyway. I've since met her a couple more times (and even went to her birthday party!), and I think we get along pretty well.

Hope this post helps you all stay warm as November creeps along!

<3