At the Roller Rink

We've been finding lots of ways to enjoy our nine-day October holiday.  A friend came to visit us from Southern China, and one of the items on our To-Do list was roller-skating (of course).

There's a small rink not far from campus.  The price for girls to skate is 3 RMB (about 50 cents), which includes skate rental.  The price for boys is 5 RMB. 

Our group outside the rink

Choosing skates.  The plastic bags are to put your feet in to protect them from the dirty insides of the skates.

Gearing up

Faith (our visiting friend) and Sara

Me and Reagan

Skating

There were eight or ten other people on the rink, mostly boys but also a girl or two.  Some of them did tricks, and some of them were still a little wobbly.  At the far back of the picture above is a little practice hallway for learners.  We skated to a steady stream of Chinese techno and pop.

Of course, for 3 RMB you can expect that there will be some differences between this roller rink and one in America.  For example, the bathroom was just a metal basin rigged to a drain in a makeshift closet in the corner.  If it had a flushing mechanism, I didn't see it.

Everyone I was with has lived in China at least two years.  You can bet we marched (or skated) right in and used this toilet whenever nature called. 

Other items of interest --  One corner of the rink was under repair:

Tracy's skate lost a wheel:

And the Chinese boys thought nothing of holding hands to help each other around the rink:

We skated for a couple hours and later played some pool in the billiards section of this fine establishment.  It was a great time.