With three glorious days at the panda base going over the details of freeze drying as well as memorizing the stereotypic behaviors, we decided to take a partial day of rest in the city of Ya’an. As foreigners living in a Chinese city, we are required to register with the local police department, so we made this our mission for the day.
After stopping by the photo shop to get passport photos for those who didn’t have any, we hopped across the street to the police office. It can be a bit menacing when you first enter as there as usually 10 officers in full uniform staring at you as if an alien walked into the room. As we now come armed with photos of the form that details our intentions, this process, which used to take three hours, is now streamlined into a brief hour. The same petite spectacles donning elderly Chinese man who checked in the previous sets of interns over the past few years assists us. He used to be a stone faced and inquisitive thorn, but has gotten used to dealing with us and offers up a smile and a hand shake instead.
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- Steele posing for police
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- Steph with the Steele pose
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- David with the Steele pose
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- The Steele pose
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- David posing for police
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- Filling out their registration cards
Our life here is becoming reminiscent of our life back home. The neighbors, shopkeepers, police officers and panda base employees are getting used to PDXWildlife, and it’s a truly heartwarming feeling. It might have taken half a decade, but when Meghan and I spend a collective five months here each year, it’s much appreciated. Ya’an truly is our second home.
One of the female police officers spoke very good English and was trying to tell me about an American woman who also brings interns here to study pandas. I got a kick out of this, given that she was talking about Meghan. I showed her a picture and asked if it was her? “Oh yes, that is her. You know her”? I let out a little giggle and told her that she is my wife. Shortly after this we were excused from the station and headed over to pay the gas bill for the year and to get in some shopping. A big thank you goes to Stephanie for helping me navigate the confusing process of paying the gas for the next year- THANK YOU!
The main shopping store is called Geso. As Zachary David puts it- “It’s sorta of like a Chinese Target”. They certainly have a little bit of everything. With heavy bags of food and trinkets, we parted ways at about 1:00 pm to enjoy the afternoon. Tomorrow, we will begin Maternal Care observations and get a better look at all those good lookin’ panda cubs.