Chicago Week 17

On Monday night, I went to a barbecue party hosted by a friend on the couch to celebrate the American Independence Day. I picked up another couch couch friend along the way to go together. It was after six o'clock, and there were already many people. There were a lot of delicious food at the party. of. In addition to some couch-surfing friends I had met before, many people who did not know the platform at all came slowly, some were neighbors of the party organizer, and some met them through other channels. I tried to introduce them to the couchsurfing platform, and they all seemed interested, and one signed up for an account right away. Met a lot of interesting people from different industries at the party. Later, I heard two people next to me chatting about going kayaking tomorrow. I always wanted to go, but I never had a chance to go with my friends, so I went to ask them about their plans for tomorrow. Couchsurfing J said that his friend M has 10 kayaks, and now five people have decided to go, and there are still five vacancies. We only need to share the rental fee and parking fee of the Uhaul truck. The more people there are, the cheaper it will be. It is estimated that one person will cost 30 to 40 dollars for 3 hours. If you rent a kayak directly for an hour, it will be about the same price. . Hearing that it was such a good deal and someone organized to take the lead, anyway, I had no plans for the next day, so I immediately decided to join them. Couchsurfing J was later joined by two other people from the party, and a total of eight people ended up going. I left the party around 11pm and there were new people coming to the party, a lot of them from other parties.

The next morning, I changed houses and went to the Logan Square area. I stayed in this area for a week two months ago. The hostess was not at home. After a brief handover with the host, I hurried to meet the kayakers. assembled. Another organizer, M, arrived in a Uhaul truck with ten of his kayaks, which he said he had bought slowly and cheaply over the years. These kayaks vary in size, and he suggested that I choose the smallest and lightest kayak for better control. After we selected the kayak and adjusted the position of the pedals, we needed to drive two small cars and an empty truck to the parking lot of the Military Port Wharf, and then the three of us came back in one of the small cars. I drove my own car and the big truck driven by his friend M to the parking lot of the military port wharf with the couchboy J I met last night. When I arrived, I looked for a place to park, but when M drove the big truck back up, he didn't see my car parked behind him, and scratched the door of my co-pilot. I saw him reversing at the time, but I had no place to retreat, and I didn’t react and immediately honk the car horn, because I drove very patiently on the road and never honk the car horn, so I didn’t realize that I still had a car horn. Scratches some paint, it doesn't affect the driving at all. He told me not to worry, the car insurance will help pay for the repair, but he doesn't want to take the insurance, because his insurance will increase in price after an accident, he said that he wants to go to a small repair shop to estimate the price, if it is not too expensive He'd rather pay for it himself. I'm also very sorry. As a result of the event he organized, he had to spend hundreds of dollars to repair my car after this accident, so I said that I don't want to go to the insurance company, as long as it is repaired.

After this episode, I tried not to think about it, and went back to the kayak dock. The remaining five people had been waiting for us for a long time, and they were already sitting in the kayak in the Chicago River. I put my bag in the back storage, pushed my kayak into the river, and off we went. Four of the eight of us are sofa surfers. The sofa surfer I met last night is a professional kayaker. Tip, very helpful. Because at the beginning I only used the strength of my arms to row, but he said that I should use the core strength of the entire upper body, especially the abdominal muscles, and need to turn the body to an almost 90-degree angle so that the arms will not be too tired. Not long after we paddled out, part of the Chicago River was very dirty and there was a lot of garbage floating in the river. We passed many other cruise ships on the river along the way, and everyone greeted us friendly from a distance. Because we started later than expected, we paddled all the way without resting at all. Today, the weather was very hot, thirty degrees. Fortunately, I was wearing long-sleeved trousers and a hat. Many other people were already sunburned even after wearing sunscreen.

We paddle to the junction of Chicago and Lake Michigan and need to wait for the gates of the Chicago River Harbor to open. Later, I learned that the gate was built to allow the river to flow backwards, because it was necessary to prevent the polluted water of Chicago from flowing into the Michigan Lake and contaminating the city's drinking water source. This gate is the second busiest recreational (non-commercial) gate in the United States. We waited by the gate for more than ten minutes. After the traffic light turned green, the commercial motorized large ships went together first, then the small boats, and finally our manual small boats. Experienced sofa rider J said that it will be our turn in a while, and we have to row forward at full speed, and then pull aside and everyone grabs a thick rope that fell from the wall, which made me a little nervous. Then it was finally our turn, but fortunately it was not as challenging as expected. Holding the rope is to prevent the kayak from drifting elsewhere. After waiting here for more than ten minutes, you can feel the water level rise. After the front gate is opened, the big boat will pass first in the same order. Go full speed ahead, as there is a time limit for the gates to open.

When you paddle out to Lake Michigan, you can see that the color of the water turns blue, and your sight suddenly opens up. Looking back, you can see the panoramic view of the buildings on the lakeshore of the city and the military port pier. Some seagulls are perched on the stones in the lake next to them, and some are circling in the air. , is a particularly beautiful scenery. We relaxed and rested here for more than 20 minutes, ate some fruit snacks, and had to wait for the gate to open again before returning. Return to the Chicago River through the lock again. After paddling for a short time, we arrived at the place where we landed. It is said that this is a private pier of a kayak rental company, but we disembarked from here and they didn't say anything or confiscate our money. After landing, we need to stand up the kayak, let the water in it flow out from the drain behind the kayak, and then lift the kayak to the truck in the parking lot next to it. After setting up the kayak, M and a friend drove the truck back to his house to unload his kayak before returning the car, and I drove the rest of the group back to where they parked. On the way, they said that there was an Independence Day barbecue party at M's house tonight, and they sent the address and invited me to go.

I went back to the place where I was looking after the house, took a shower, and rested for a while. After recovering my energy, I thought I had no plans for the evening anyway, so I decided to go to M's party. When I arrived, I didn't recognize the people who kayaked together in the morning. After all, everyone looked different without sportswear or sunglasses. Some of the people who came after were from another BBQ party the night before, and they had a lot of mutual buddies. It only occurred to me later that I had seen M at another party two or three months ago and realized it now. After two or three hours at this party, I'm starting to feel a bit socially exhausted, having met so many new people, so much new information to digest since another party the night before, and feeling like my brain is saturated . All relationships require time and energy to maintain. I met a few interesting people and exchanged contact information. It is worth meeting again. Before I decided to leave, they started setting off fireworks on the street behind his house. Unexpectedly, they bought a lot of fireworks and set them off for almost half an hour. While playing, the American Stars and Stripes were waving and the American national anthem was sung. It feels like this is my first real American Independence Day celebration. Since 2016, every summer I either take high school students to China for summer study tours or travel in other countries during summer vacation. Few of them stay in the United States in July. At that time, even in the United States before, I had never attended a party with a large number of friends I knew and did not know, eating barbecue and setting off fireworks. It's a new experience.

The host and hostess of this new housesitting family just moved in two months ago, and the decoration design is very fashionable. It's a bit like the house of a couple I used to watch the house, and their cats have the same toys. Their cats have automatic feeders and water feeders, and even the litter box is fully automatic. I don’t need to clean it within a week, which is too advanced. I'm here to play with the cat. Their house is next to the subway station, just like the previous one, there is a noise background device in the bedroom, I am not used to using it, and I still sleep soundly with earplugs. The owner of the house is so generous that I received an electronic takeaway gift card from them at night, saying thank you for coming to watch their house during the American Independence Day. In addition to a couple who ordered takeaway and invited me to dinner, they gave me a gift The card is the first time. These two families live in this Logan Square area, a wealthy area.

The weather was nice and cooler on Friday, so I went to a Swedish restaurant for lunch with a new friend in the Lakeview area. Ordered a Swedish quiche with lingoberry jam, similar to a French pancake. Walking on the street and seeing a spray print on the ground, the words written are very interesting: You can't burn woman made of fire. 

The owner of a housessitting in Andersonville messaged me two days ago because he insisted on asking after I had given his cat meds and taken good care of him after he had a sudden accident with a urinary tract infection and blood in the urine. I eat to thank me. In addition, because he was also a teacher in the past and now works in an education technology company, he offered to communicate with the education industry and help me network, and he was so kind. We went to Spacca Napoli Pizzeria recommended by many people for dinner and exchanged a lot about the education industry. In addition to the education industry, we also have many common interests. He also loves to travel. He has been a digital nomad for two years and has been to many countries, including all continents except Antarctica. He talked to me about the gay community he came into contact with when he was in Japan, which I didn't understand at all, because I always had the impression that Japanese culture was conservative. We also chatted about many other stories from our travels. Then he mentioned that he had used paid pet care platforms in the past, such as finding someone to feed and play with pets for half an hour and an hour during the day, but he said that his cat needs someone to accompany him at home for a long time, so he started using this free platform now. platform (annual fee only). After using this, he can clearly see that his cat looks a lot happier every time he comes back from a trip. I hadn't really thought about it before.

On Saturday morning, I walked with a new friend along the Chicago River from the West Loop to Lake Michigan, and then walked back to the old store JP Graziano to eat Italian sandwiches. tasty.

I went to West Fest with a friend on Sunday, but it was similar to other blocks I went to before, even the shops and street stalls were the same. But we went to a Sichuan restaurant "Impression Chengdu", which should be regarded as the best Chinese restaurant I have eaten since I came to Chicago. I ordered Mapo Tofu, Spicy Chicken Ding and Garlic White Pork. I was very satisfied and full. It was the first time for my friend to eat such spicy Sichuan food, so he needed to get used to it.