Chicago Week 16

The air quality index in Chicago has been seriously out of the table since Tuesday, and the smoke from the fire in Canada has finally blown over from New York. Housesitting's air purifier has been on automatically since Monday night, after not running for the previous week. It is said that Chicago's air quality index was the highest in the world on Tuesday. It was gray outside, and tall buildings not far away could not be seen. You could smell the smoke in the air outside, and your throat would feel uncomfortable. This is still the case on Wednesday. I left the housesitting in Andersonville and went to another one in Lakeview. It is very close to Wrigleyville, home of the famous Chicago Cubs baseball team, so parking in residential areas near here requires special license plates or visitor parking stickers. It is also not far from Boystown, the largest community of LGBTQ groups. When I arrived at the new housesitting house, I met the owner, who was also a man and a cat, and as expected, he was also a gay man. The layout style of his apartment is very similar to the previous one. They are very clean and tidy, and the colors of the decorations are well matched and have their own personality. He briefly explained to me some matters, and he needs to help him water the flowers on the balcony outside. From the balcony, you can see the subway passing through the city very close. It is very interesting, but because the rails are very old, every It can be a little noisy when the subway passes by. Many things in his house are the same as those of the previous owner: the air cleaner, litter box, automatic water feeder, utensils in the kitchen, the same brand of popcorn kernels, etc. Their refrigerators were empty, with little else but beer, sauces, and frozen meals, and they probably didn't cook much. I wonder if they know each other, haha. He is also very careful, he made room for my clothes in the closet, and put the yoga mat and dumbbells out for me, because I asked him if he had any. He works for United and is about to fly to his family in Minnesota.

On Thursday night, I went to a language exchange event recommended by a friend. The event venue was quite large and the event was quite formal. Once you enter the door, you have to sign in online, and small stickers of the language will be printed on the participants (those who can speak and those who want to practice). When I arrived, the two large Spanish tables were full. I went to sit at the third empty table, but a person from the other table beckoned me over and squeezed a chair in. After chatting with the people around me, I found that everyone is a learner of Spanish, most of whom are at the elementary level. Looking around, I guess native speakers of Spanish are practicing English at the "English" table. I chatted with a few people around this table for a while, and then saw that there were a few people at the "Chinese" table next to me, so I went over to have a look. Two non-Chinese Americans, two Chinese Americans, chatted with them. Two non-Chinese Americans have lived and lived in China, and one of them has been in Shanghai for nearly ten years, and his Chinese is very good.

I went to the free Lincoln Park Zoo on Friday morning and saw a lot of animals. The most interesting one was a big chimpanzee squinting and looking at tourists outside the glass with disdain. After I came out, I went to the small botanical garden next to me, and I met a volunteer old woman. I chatted with her and learned that she is from Melbourne, Australia, but has lived in the United States for 20 or 30 years. I started coming to this small botanical garden close to home as a volunteer guide a few months ago.

In the afternoon, I saw a girl on the sofa guest software send a message about a free event that night, called Queer Dance Freakout. After checking, it turned out to be a bar 10 minutes away from here. I sent her a message and asked if she could go together. I learned that she is actually the host of this event, so I probably don't have time to chat with me if I have to work. I asked her what the event was, and she said it was a dancing and singing performance by the LGBTQ group. Strolling around the area near the housesitting house at night, I saw many beautiful large murals. Then decided to go to the activity nearby.

When I got to the gate, there were people queuing up to get in. The eldest sister in line behind me asked me if there was any special event here tonight, and said that she had been here before, but only for drinking and dancing. I told her the name of the event, but she didn't quite understand what it was. In fact, I didn't quite know what the event was. Chatted with her, learned that she is a Salvadoran, and asked her to recommend me several Salvadoran restaurants. After entering, there is a girl in a red dress standing on a high platform dancing in the center of the venue, and she will call people over to give them a rose in her hand. I didn't take it if I wasn't interested. After a while, I saw a performer dressed as Marilyn Monroe in a white dress walking around the venue. When I got closer, I realized that her white dress was folded from a napkin. She motioned for us to take a napkin and leave. , anyway, she wears a tight skirt inside, and I guess the ultimate goal is to get people to take away her napkin skirt, very creative. After a while, the El Salvador mother told me that the girl in the red dress in the middle beckoned me to go and get the roses. I thought to myself, if I want to get the roses, I will go there. I really don’t want to go to get the roses. Seeing that the dancing girl was indeed calling me, I went to her side, and she asked me if you were the one who sent me a message on the couch software? Ah, I didn't expect that she was the one who shared this event on the sofa guest! Because she has to continue to work, she can't talk much. She pointed to a girl next to her and said that she is my friend and came to support her performance. So I went over and talked to her friend, she's not a couch surfer, they both know each other because of their love of theater. She can direct scripts and act, but only as a hobby at night, and her day job is to organize events for a non-profit organization related to environmental protection of bicycles. Talking about the world naked riding event I went to last weekend, she said that she was one of the organizers and she also participated in the naked riding. Haha, it's so interesting.

A little girl in Georgia on the couch the other day sent me a message saying she was coming to Chicago for a conference this weekend and asked me to meet up if I was free on Saturday. I looked at her specific information and found that she is an international student at the University of Georgia, Russian, and also studying education. Alumni, what a coincidence. So we made an appointment to meet in the city center on Saturday. Although she is Russian, she looks a lot like Chinese, Japanese and Korean. She said that her ancestors are Mongolians. She studied higher education, focused on career counseling, and is currently doing a summer internship at a university in Wisconsin. After graduation, she wants to work in the Bay Area. We talked a lot about college, majors, job hunting. This weekend, Chicago held the NASCAR race for the first time. Many roads in the city center were closed, and the Art Institute of Chicago became a pedestrian street. The two of us, like many people, leaned over the railing of the track to look at the cars. The engine sound was so loud that it was so noisy. We are looking at the corner, so the speed is not very fast. Some people climbed the railing and wanted to take pictures at a higher place, but were yelled at by the staff. In the afternoon, I temporarily invited a friend to chat in Lincoln Park. After sitting for a while, it started to rain. We went to the bus station to shelter from the rain. She went to work by bus, and I was going to take the bus back, but found that there was no car, so I walked for 25 minutes, so I just walked back. After returning home, my clothes were all wet, I took a hot shower, the rain continued all night, and I stayed at home to watch the new season of "Black Mirror" on Netflix. Surprised to see two of the episodes featuring Schitt's Creek lead actress Annie Murphy and Breaking Bad lead actor Aaron Paul.

I woke up on Sunday morning and found that it was still raining. I had no plans but wanted to meet some new friends, so I turned on the "meeting" function of the sofa guest software and made an appointment with a sofa guest not far from me. It is rare for the first time to meet Went for lunch, but he also seemed like someone who likes to try food from different countries, so we went to eat at a Serbian restaurant that I've always wanted to go to. Not long after I drove out, I received a flood warning on my mobile phone. I didn't expect that the rain would not stop for a while. This new friend is very interesting and we have a lot to talk about. The food in this Serbian restaurant is also very good. We ordered ćevapčići, which is made of sausages with minced meat. I remember that at the house of the landlord sister in Puebla, Mexico, she made it once, but similar food in Croatia. This kind of sausage is usually served in lepinja flatbread with chopped onion and kaymak sour cream. Also ordered the burek which is a thin filo crust scone with cheese and spinach. 

At six or seven in the evening, the rain finally stopped. I went out for a walk. Tonight there was a Chicago Cubs baseball game. There were many fans on the street. I also saw the open-air ball game stand on the top floor of the residential building outside the stadium. I was curious. Check online, the seat ticket is about the same price as the ticket to enter the stadium. I went to the nearby Atla Vista Terrace historical community, which is the first historical community in Chicago. There are 20 buildings on each side of this street, which were built under the influence of European, especially British architectural styles. The buildings on the mirror diagonal are the same. It is next to the Graceland cemetery, and I heard that many celebrities are buried here.