Starting the day out right

Part of our routine here in China has been participating in the morning exercise routine at local parks. It all started one when we went to a park for a morning jog and discovered throngs of people out doing their daily exercises. Predominantly and older, retired crowd was out stretching and working out. We have witnessed just about every standard stretch and exercise you can imagine…and then a plethora of activities we have never even seen before, creating a pulsing, congested park unlike I have ever witnessed anywhere before. Groups moving in (nearly) synchronized fashion through slow methodical tai chi postures….individuals slapping their legs and arms masochistically to increase circulation….badmitton birdies zinging back and forth over the pathways….concentrated dancers counting under their breath with focused steps following the tunes blaring out of a small boombox….other groups incorporating props into their dances or tai chi, fan fluttering and swords slicing through the thick air….old men climbing out of their wheel chairs to hang from the pull up bar next to their younger counterparts doing full on gymnastics…. And besides the exercise activites, we encounter small groups huddled around tables of cards, Chinese Chess, and Mah Jong. Clearly a spectator sport, large crowds form around the most rousing games. Groups perform wild, whirring feats with their Chinese yo-yos and kites. Men bring their caged birds to sections of the park, hanging the cages from the trees, chattering amongst themselves along the park benches while the birds chatter amongst the tree limbs. Tim joins into the games of hacky sack, often with a group at least twice his age. It feels like you are in the quintessential retirement community, minus the infrastructure. We tend to amuse the regulars when we join in on the morning park activities, and our experiences have been some of our most memorable here in China.