Counting Steps

My FitBit readout for Monday April 1, 2013

A couple weeks before I left, my sister Aimee and I got FitBits: these small devices that measure your activities (steps, mileage, flights of stairs) each day.  The basic goal is to try to hit 10,000 steps a day, to have a decent level of activity.  What I found out in the time leading up to my departure is that even on days when I felt like I was walking around campus a lot, it was very difficult to reach 10,000 steps if I didn’t go for a hike or run.  I guess I’m much more sedentary than I thought.

Things have changed dramatically since I arrived at the Sichuan University campus.  I had forgotten what it is like to live on a campus:  you walk for transportation everywhere.   Do you need some bottled water?  You need to walk three blocks to the market.  Coffee?  Go to the south gate and find the café (15 minute walk).  WalMart? Walk out the west gate, across the flyover and down the street.  Work?  Walk to the library.  I haven’t had a “workout” since I’ve been here, yet I’ve been over 10,000 steps every single day except one. 

On Monday, I had a particularly active day, and was at 10,000 steps before dinner.  I was in my hotel room at the end of the afternoon and decided I wanted to find a western restaurant for dinner.  I wasn’t particularly craving western food, but I just wanted to order something in English – and maybe even have a banal conversation with my server.  I did some research online and found a place that seemed to be within walking distance that promised decent burgers, and seemed to be fairly well-known to local ex-pats.  I triangulated it on the map with two places I knew well (the North Gate and Pete’s Tex Mex – another western restaurant), found pictures on their Facebook page of their signage, and headed out.  I strode across campus and out the west gate with confidence, crossed the busy street on one of the “flyovers” (high pedestrian bridges), and … never found it.  I walked and walked and walked, and walked and finally gave up.  It wasn’t meant to be, at least for that night.

While I was disappointed that plan didn’t work out, I only briefly considered going to McDonalds or Hooters (can you believe that’s here?) for a burger.  But I realized that neither of those options would leave me feeling good about the night, so I implemented plan B: going to the nice supermarket Liu Liu showed me on my first day, and deciphering the dairy case for yogurt and cheese, and the produce section for fruit.  This market is at the far opposite end of the main road as where I was trying to find the restaurant, so I walked and walked and walked to get there, including through an incredibly dangerous construction site that seemed to not care one bit that pedestrians were traipsing through the area.  I finally reached the market, and finished my quest.  I even used my dictionary app on my otherwise useless iphone to ask a clerk the location of forks and spoons.  I managed the check out process fine, somehow even conveying my regret that I forgot my own bag, and headed back towards campus feeling a bit satisfied with the outcome of my evening. 

When I finally made it back to my room, I looked down at my FitBit and was astonished to see the reading:  20,000 steps.  In my bizarre quest for conversation and groceries, which were only half accomplished, I had walked the equivalent of an entire day.  What I have to say about that is:  thank God for Clark Privo shoes, because even after 20,000 steps and many many miles, my feet didn’t hurt one bit.