chicago week 15

On Monday, I went to the Bahá'í Temple in the northern suburbs of Chicago. Bahá'í is a philosophical teaching and belief that originated in Persia (now Iran). It is also an independent religion. There are about five million people of different races in the world who believe in this religion. Their gist is that all human beings are united and that all religions have common origins and goals. There are eight such temples all over the world, at least one on every continent. All temples are nine-sided buildings with a dome and a garden around the temple. In the northern suburbs of Chicago, this is the only Baha'i House of Worship in North America. It took 30 years to build, and the architecture is extremely exquisite. After entering the temple, keep quiet and no photography is allowed.

On Tuesday, I went to the center of the area that is now housekeeping. There are many Swedish descendants in this area of Andersonville, and some shops and buildings have Nordic Swedish style. Went to a small affordable Lebanese restaurant recommended by several friends. The store is very inconspicuous, but there is a queue inside. There is only one person at the small window for ordering food, delivering food to the customers who come to pick up the food, and clearing the tables. It is very busy, but his service attitude is still very good and patient. . There are a lot of customers coming in and out, the food choices on the menu are few but fine, and the price is really affordable. Most of the food is only 50 cents higher than the menu price on Google Maps a few years ago. In the case of high prices in recent years Really rare. In addition to being affordable and of good quality, everything ordered was delicious. By one o'clock in the afternoon, the mutton rolls have been sold out, next time I will try something else earlier.

After dinner, I went to some shops on the nearby streets. Many shops sold a lot of interesting, unique and well-designed things about the LGBTQ group. There is also a store called Woolly Mammoth, which is a famous and weird antique collection store. The shop sells all kinds of weird, curious, interesting, antiques including taxidermy, anatomical taxidermy, medical items, books, toys, skulls, bones, skeletons, funerary, witchcraft, military, cultural and industrial items. A lot of things are expensive, and the owner is sitting in his glass cabin, reading a book with his legs up on the table. I don't know where they collected so many strange things, it's quite eye-opening.

Since I started using housessitting to take care of pets in February, the experience has been very smooth, and there has never been a case where the pet got sick or had other problems. On Tuesday, I saw this cat sniffing around the plastic bag where I put my sandals, I don’t know why, and then I saw him suddenly squat down and pose to pee, and by the time I went to pick him up, it was too late, He peed quickly. Luckily only a little bit of urine got into the shoe in the plastic bag, most of it was on top of the plastic bag. But his urine was blood red, and before he left, his owner told me that he just took him to the vet last week and said it was a urinary tract infection, so he started on new dry cat food. I thought it must have something to do with it, but after seeing the blood-red urine, I was somewhat nervous. The owner was traveling in Mexico, so I quickly contacted him and told him what happened. Of course he was in a hurry and said he would make an appointment with a veterinarian for his boyfriend as soon as possible and then contact me. The cat's eating, playing and other behaviors are completely normal. I recorded a few more videos and sent them to him, not wanting to worry him too much. I soaped my sandals and cleaned the carpet and floor and it was fine. I don't know if it's because the cat litter box smells so he doesn't use the litter box, so clean it twice a day.

The next morning he told me his cat's family vet was fully booked and his boyfriend would come and take his cat to the emergency vet. Around 11 o'clock his boyfriend came to take his cat away, and he didn't come back until 4 o'clock in the afternoon. I happened to be at the nearby Wednesday farmers' market around that time, so I wasn't home when his boyfriend dropped it off. When I got home, I called the male owner. He said that his boyfriend put the medicine prescribed by the veterinarian in the cupboard. He wanted to ask me if I would like to give his cat medicine, because after all, the responsibility for taking medicine is not included when taking over, not all People who take care of pets are happy to give pets medicine, after all, it is an additional responsibility. He said that because his boyfriend lives in the next building, if I don't want to give the cat medicine, he can let his boyfriend come. At that time, I thought it was not difficult to take the medicine, and I didn't want to trouble his boyfriend to come and feed the medicine every day, but in a responsible manner, I said let me read the diagnosis and medication instructions written by the veterinarian first, and then I would reply to him. The veterinarian did a urine test and blood test for him. There is no serious problem for the time being. It is a urinary tract infection. He prescribed two medicines, one is a small blue tablet. He feeds medicine. The other is a liquid analgesic, which is also fed to him with 0.6 ml of the drug through a small tube. Doctors also prescribe canned foods specifically for urinary tract infections. Doesn't look like too much trouble and thinks I can give him medicine. So I replied to the male host, but I don't know why there are two guns, so I will send a message to ask his boyfriend later. The male host also posted a video of using the powder gun, which only has Chinese subtitles, probably because it is all made in China. He especially thanked me for agreeing to take medicine for his cat and take care of him. He said that he would treat me to dinner when he came back, and asked me to transfer money to my electronic account to compensate for the sandals I peed on. I said that I took care of his cat instead. Although this was an unexpected situation, of course I will do my best to take care of his cat. Also, my sandals are very ordinary sandals bought on Amazon that are not designed to look good but only for comfort (not much money), and I have cleaned them and worn them correctly, and I just came back from the farmers market. There's really no need to treat me to dinner or send me money. He said I can sue him anytime I change my mind. Afterwards, I cut the little blue pills in half, then stroked the cat to comfort him, then opened his mouth, quickly stuffed the pills into his throat with a medicine gun, and then massaged his throat, He didn't struggle too much or run away, easier than I expected. But when the painkiller was given to him later, he was particularly resistant. It probably tasted bad, and the small tube probably felt uncomfortable when it was inserted into his mouth.

In the afternoon, I went to the Andersonville Farmer's Market every Wednesday. I usually never buy anything at the Farmer's Market. But today I saw that Lost Larson, a Nordic Swedish bakery that I planned to go to tomorrow, has a booth here, and the price is a set price, without additional tax, and there is no additional mandatory service fee of 15% in the store, so I bought a few recommended desserts on the Internet: chocolate croissants, cinnamon rolls and lingoberry almond cake. All delicious.

The next morning, the cat was given the medicine as usual. After he saw me holding the tube gun, he looked a little scared and extremely resistant. When I held him and wanted to open his mouth to feed him, he tried hard to break free, but he couldn't feed it no matter how hard he tried. He scratched a long way in my leg before he broke free. It can't be his fault, this way of feeding medicine must be very uncomfortable, he has a shadow. So I mixed the pills in the new canned food and he ate it right away. I thought it would be better to just do this earlier, so as to save both of us from suffering. The pants were scratched and torn. Fortunately, there was a medical emergency kit at home, and some antibiotic ointment was applied. After communicating with his master, he was very sorry, and said that in the future, he should not use medicine guns, just mix it with food, and there is no need for painkillers and no need to feed him.

When I came out of the gym in the apartment building on Friday, I saw the staff laying out the newly bought donuts in the coffee room on the first floor, so I couldn't help but take a few back to eat. In the afternoon, I went to the bird habitat park of Montrose Beach by the lake for a stroll. Andersonville is the second largest residential area of LGBTQ groups in Chicago. LGBTQ groups can be seen everywhere in the building and on the street. This week happened to be the Pride celebration month, so I caught up with many local activities. Yesterday I forgot where I saw a free drag show in the backyard of a gym on the street on Friday night, so I stopped by today to have a look. There were not too many people when I went in after 6 o'clock, but the atmosphere was very high. Most of the people around to watch the show seemed to be LGBTQ groups. From the perspective of secular traditions, many people seemed to be dressed in weird, strange, Exaggerated, neither male nor female. But I feel that they are very confident, comfortable, and don't care about the world's vision. They are all being themselves and enjoying life. This is the first time I saw a drag show with my own eyes. There was a model catwalk at the front of the show, two hosts were sitting behind, and a drag queen was performing on the stage. I watched several of them in a row, and it was really interesting. Some of them disguised themselves as women, women disguised as men, and there were also transgender people. I heard that one of them had just come off the operating table in the hospital, so maybe the anesthesia had not passed. Their costumes, props, lighting, stage art, etc. are all exquisite and professional, and most of the performances are more naked and sexy. The people near the runway are all holding one dollar (or many one dollar) banknotes as tips and handing them to the performers. The performers sometimes take them one by one, and sometimes the staff in the audience carry a small bucket to collect them. Tipping, some people in the audience are crazy, screaming and tipping all the time. I was standing by the platform, and several times the banknotes fell everywhere, and I helped to pick them up and pass them to the staff. Afterwards, when I got home, I found that there was a dollar in my bag that was clenched into a paper ball. I guess it fell into my bag when I was watching the performance and the bills were flying around, haha.

Walk all the way to Foster Beach at noon on Saturday, where there is a World Refugee Day celebration. When we arrived, a musician from Afghanistan was performing. There was a big plastic blanket on the lawn in front of the stage. After that, more and more people went up to dance with the music. We also saw a group of Filipino aunts dancing their local dance. There are also many people joining, which is very interesting. At 12:00 noon, they even provided free lunch, which should be based on the purpose of helping refugees from all over the world. I ate falafel, hummus sauce hummus, eggplant puree baba ganoush, cheese cake, tabbouleh, a Middle Eastern Mediterranean salad, and cheesecake and vegan ice cream from Cheesecake Factory.

After eating, I went to take the subway and passed by Argyle Vietnam City. There are many interesting large murals. Even the subway stations are decorated with Vietnamese-style roofs.

Take the subway to Ping Tom Memorial Park in Chinatown to watch the dragon boat races during the Dragon Boat Festival. Moved to Chicago to participate in various cultural celebrations, and finally caught up with a holiday in my home country. After arriving at the park, I was first attracted by the dances in front of the courtyard. They all danced very professionally, as well as square dances and Tai Chi performances. While watching the show, I ran into a Chinese teacher friend whom I hadn’t seen for 10 years when I lived here. What a coincidence. After walking to the river, I saw only two or three dragon boats. The competition started at 8 am, and it is estimated that it is almost over now.

After that, I went here for the first time, 88 Market, the largest local Chinese supermarket newly opened a few years ago. I can buy everything. It feels more comprehensive than 99 Ranch in California and some other states, but it is not as good as the big supermarket in Toronto. Tonghua still couldn't compare, but he still bought some snacks and went back.

I went for a stroll at the Navy Pier at night, and there was a particularly loving scene on the bus.

After that, I went to Michigan Avenue and waited to see the World Naked Bike Ride. The cycling route was announced on the same day to ensure safety. I thought it had something to do with the Pride month celebration, but later I realized that it has nothing to do with it. The purpose of this ride is to encourage self-confidence in your body, not to use cars and fossil fuels, and to protect the environment. Cyclists can wear clothes and shoes, but most ride more or less naked, some wearing a lot, and some basically naked. They rode through the city for about an hour in total, a total of ten or twenty miles. It took about 15 or 20 minutes to pass the viewing location where I was. It can be seen that the clothes they wear are really thoughtful, some have slogans written on their bodies, some people are not necessarily riding bicycles, some are skateboarding, seeing a runner, and riding a special big special Tall special bike, very interesting.

On Sunday morning, I went to a nearby restaurant for brunch with my friends. The environment was very good.

After that, I took a car to watch the annual Pride Parade parade. The bus was diverted midway because the road was closed for the parade. So I got off the train and took the red line subway. Unexpectedly, when I was about to arrive at the subway station, it suddenly started to rain. The subway car was full of people who were going to watch the parade. After squeezing in, it started to rain heavily outside. Fortunately, after getting off the subway, the rain stopped outside again except for the big sun. I went to the very start of the parade so I could leave early. Both sides of the road were almost full of people, most of them were standing inside the guardrail, and some people brought folding chairs and set up tents to wait on the side of the street. When I arrived at the starting point, I happened to find a place to stand and watch. As a result, about ten minutes after the parade started, a large cloud came over and it started to rain again. It was not big at first, so I could stand there and continue watching, but slowly it rained more and more Big, I quickly found a shelter from the rain on the steps of the entrance of a residential building on the street. Although there is only a little shelter, it is better than nothing. Then the rain stopped, but the wind began to blow again, and the weather was unpredictable. Because I heard that there will be more and more drunk people in the future, and they will become more and more crazy, so I only wanted to watch it for about half an hour at first, but I was infected by the atmosphere of the people around me, so I stayed and continued to watch until soon It's over, a total of one and a half hours, and it's not over when I leave, but I'm afraid it will be too crowded to take the subway.

I took a car to Wild Mile, a community event on the Chicago River, to celebrate the first anniversary of a long floating garden and promenade area built by the river in Lincoln Park. The scale is small, but I didn’t expect to catch up with free food today. There is a Mexican tacos stand at the entrance. When I was queuing up, the girl behind told me that there is also an Italian Ice dining car, as well as free beer and other drinks. All are voluntary donations. After eating, I went down to the river to see the floating gardens. The responsible organization planted a lot of plants here, and there were some wild animals here, which made a great contribution to the protection of the nearby ecological environment.

I asked the owner of Housesitting, Vietnam Town, if he had any recommendations for delicious Vietnamese noodles. He was not sure, so I asked his boyfriend, and he recommended two restaurants to me. I went to eat with my friends, the taste is not bad, better than the ones in China Town, but I feel that it is still not as good as the Bay Area, but I am satisfied. My friends and I went to a shop here to buy all kinds of pies. We ordered apple pie and lime pie, both of which were good.