Its a long weekend in China. May 1 is a national holiday to celebrate Labor Day. It used to be a week-long holiday where schools and businesses were closed for a week to travel. Two years ago, this holiday was reduced back to one day, while other Chinese holidays throughout the year were given an extra day to celebrate.
Not thinking about the holiday, I went to one of my favorite spots in Harbin along the Songhua River to run. There is a large stretch of street next to the river that is closed off to cars. If I go in the morning, there are few people and it is a pleasant place to run. But because it was a holiday, everyone else in Harbin decided to go to the river to enjoy the beautiful day.
As a result, my usually quiet running route had turned into an obstacle course of circus events. I found myself ducking under kite strings and dodging young roller bladers. I ran past a choir and jumped over fallen tufts of cotton candy. As I passed each person strolling down the street, I heard comments about the Russian who runs (presumably me).
It wasn't quite the quiet run I anticipated. But it made me happy. Because along with the singing and dancing, there were dogwoods blooming and warm air blowing. People are outside and enjoying the day, a rare occurrence over the past 6 months here.
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