(I'm too overwhelmed with life here to post--or even journal--about all the things that we encounter and think and feel during the day. So I decided that rather than try to be chronological, I'll go by topics and do little paragraphs at a time.)
We are really blessed to have three parks within walking distance of our house! The parks are different here, though--they are all fenced, with posted rules and hours. None of them are open during the middle of the day--just early morning for exercise and then late afternoon after the children get out of school. We often go to Joggers' Park in the afternoons after nap time. It's lovely, with concentric walking and jogging paths, birds in cages, a long wall against the ocean where we can throw rocks, a duck pond, and a playground. My love for it decreased a LITTLE bit after we tried to take a tricycle there (after our kind neighbor found us one to borrow for the summer!) and were told "No tricycles." I had wondered if it would be allowed based on how over regulated all the parks seem to be, but I thought we needed to at least try. When he said that, though I almost cried, and even my super conflict-avoidance self objected. I stood there and read the ten-foot tall poster of the rule list, and announced "But it doesn't say that in the rules!" And what I got for my efforts was "No tricycles."
I am still super fond of that park, though. It does a lot for us. Its nice to have somewhere to go in the afternoons to play outside, even if we can't bring our borrowed trike.
Hands-down my favorite thing about parks here is the way they attract lovers. In a city and a country this crowded, you have to really be trying to find some space to be alone, and so the parks and boardwalks and sea walls and benches always seem to be adorned with pairs of guys and girls, heads bent, talking, or her legs over his lap or his head in her lap, just enjoying the relative privacy. It's really cute.
We are really blessed to have three parks within walking distance of our house! The parks are different here, though--they are all fenced, with posted rules and hours. None of them are open during the middle of the day--just early morning for exercise and then late afternoon after the children get out of school. We often go to Joggers' Park in the afternoons after nap time. It's lovely, with concentric walking and jogging paths, birds in cages, a long wall against the ocean where we can throw rocks, a duck pond, and a playground. My love for it decreased a LITTLE bit after we tried to take a tricycle there (after our kind neighbor found us one to borrow for the summer!) and were told "No tricycles." I had wondered if it would be allowed based on how over regulated all the parks seem to be, but I thought we needed to at least try. When he said that, though I almost cried, and even my super conflict-avoidance self objected. I stood there and read the ten-foot tall poster of the rule list, and announced "But it doesn't say that in the rules!" And what I got for my efforts was "No tricycles."
I am still super fond of that park, though. It does a lot for us. Its nice to have somewhere to go in the afternoons to play outside, even if we can't bring our borrowed trike.
Hands-down my favorite thing about parks here is the way they attract lovers. In a city and a country this crowded, you have to really be trying to find some space to be alone, and so the parks and boardwalks and sea walls and benches always seem to be adorned with pairs of guys and girls, heads bent, talking, or her legs over his lap or his head in her lap, just enjoying the relative privacy. It's really cute.
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