There is no laundry soap, fabric softener, or dryer sheets that smells like that fresh smell of sheets dried in the sunshine and breeze. I can't wait to get back in bed!
I spent the rest of the day doing more chores in between catching up on the blogs. I had been without internet service since the morning of National Holiday (10/1), and I couldn't get a repairman out until yesterday afternoon. I had banking business to take care of, and I started shopping airfare and accommodations for the Harbin Ice Festival in January. Check it out at www.harbinice.com/ While I am not excited to freeze my a$$ off this coming winter, I am excited to go see the Siberian Tiger Sanctuary Park and the incredible ice sculptures. This festival has also been a bucket list item for me. Harbin is very close to the Russian border, and is the hometown to Betty Wu, the head of all the BNDS International Department. The city very much has a Russian flavor; in the architecture, food cuisine, and such, so I am really looking forward to that. I have never been to Russia before, so I am excited to get a 'hint' of it. The high speed rail in China is extending up to Harbin, but it won't be complete until the end of 2015, so I will have to fly instead. Another bucket list item for me is to take the Trans-Siberian Railway from Beijing to Moscow, but that will have to wait until the end of the school year. I love planning trips- all of my daughters, Jennessa, Carissa, Emily, and Ellen are just the same in that regard. We are all a tad bit bitten by the wanderlust bug- Carissa and Ellen, especially :)
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| It was getting late in the day, and I was meeting some friends for dinner. I looked out my bedroom window as I was getting ready to leave, and was greeted by this beautiful setting sun against a blue, blue sky. You don't realize how happy it makes me to see blue sky- there just are not that many blue sky days in Beijing, sadly. :( |
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| Jeanette and her momma, and David and I met up at Mr. Shi's in this cool old hutong by the Drum and Bell towers, on the northwest side of the city. Mr. Shi's is nestled in this amazing, old hutong neighborhood. We ordered 35 assorted steamed and fried dumplings and a dish of these green beans. I could eat the whole plate of beans by myself. In fact, I got a second order to take home :) Delicious, and spicy! |
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| We walked off dinner with some window shopping in the hutong. Jeanette is my scuba diving buddy who's going with me to Sanya beach for Christmas :) |
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| While the girls shopped, David and I fell in to a good deal at the coffee bar in the back of the store. We got a Bailey's coffee to go (real Bailey's Irish Creme- not the syrup) for 30 yuan, which is $5 USD- AND we got our choice of pretty tea or coffee mugs, too. To buy a mug in the store was nearly 30 yuan, so we got a turbo charged coffee for free :) |
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| I brought my cup home to be a pencil mug. I had been wanting one for my desk in the guest bedroom- perfect :) |
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| I found a cool guitar store in the hutong, too. I really want to come back here in the day time to explore some more. I have not been to the Drum and Bell towers yet, and this is also within walking distance of the Lama Temple and Confucius' Temple. This hutong area is amazing. Who has time to teach?! There's too many cool things to see and do right here in Beijing, let alone the country of China, or the continent of Asia :) I have places to go, and people to meet! |
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| While Jeanette and her momma were tired from their Golden Week travels, David and I decided to go to the grocery. He just arrived from Portland, OR, this week, and needs to still get set up with housekeeping. He is a new AP Chemistry teacher, but he had Visa issues that prevented him from starting at the beginning of the school year. Like myself, he worked at a community college for four years, and is recently divorced. He's in a new dating relationship, and is trying to manage the whole long distance thing. By the time we got across town to the grocery, it was just closing for the night. He had discovered a place near our apartment a few days ago, and he decided he wanted a beer before calling it a night. It was a BIG ol' mug of beer- a liter, in fact, that cost him about $4 bucks. He would have to drink a gallon, though, as most Chinese beers have just 2.5% alcohol. I'll have a Coke, please :) |
It was my third Coke of the night, hence, the reason it is now 5:00am and I have yet to fall alseep. It's a good thing I don't have to go back to work in a few hours. Thankfully, I have two more days of Golden Week left!
G'nite, y'all!
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