September

     I can't believe it is September already! I have been such a bad blogger this whole summer. There has been more work at the office and 2 weeks ago I started my Masters degree! I am now officially a student again. In two years I will have a MA in Marriage and Family Therapy! I am really excited and I have really enjoyed my class so far. Both of those things pretty much take it out of me. All of that plus tons of crazy friend drama. Soon I will write a proper post, I hope there are still people hanging in there and checking on my blog! Still really enjoying Footprints in the Sand and Tales of a Tai Tai and countless others! Picture update for now...

Great Wall

Summer Palace

Chaoyang Gongyuan

     Just for a little something different, I am NOT going to tell you about the negative events that kicked off my weekend. I have the propensity to be somewhat realistic in what I post about, but unfortunately that viewpoint can also be seen as negativism.

     So we are going to skip right past a few hours of my Friday evening and right onto the great Mexican restaurant we went to last night to celebrate Cinco de Mayo a little late. We took a cab to Solana, this great outdoor shopping mall, that also has tons of restaurants and a few clubs all around the edges of the shops. Don't imagine an American mall restaurant, instead imagine a European restaurant strip. If you type in "Solana Beijing" and look at the images on Google, you will see how cool this place is. Anyway, the food was great, the service was great and most importantly the Tequila was real and great. I say real because in China a lot of the alcohol is either watered down or worse...mixed with some mystery substance, all in an effort to save money/ be cheap. We both had great Tequila shots and great Margaritas which set our weekend back on the right track.

     Today has been a busy day. First we had a fabulous, if overpriced, lunch at Element Fresh and then headed to the park. Chaoyang Park aka Chaoyang Gongyuan (Mandarin word for park) is massive and practically right across the street from us. Yet until today we have never been. This place is unbelievable. Everything you can imagine, they have. Soccer fields, basketball courses, a paint ball course, ping pong tables, a zip line, a climbing course, an amusement park, a water park, carnival games, a wedding chapel and a bunch of walking trails throughout. I took tons of pictures so I could share them. One trend that will be hard to miss amongst the pictures is the parade of brides. We literally saw a bride every 5 minutes at the park. I learned recently that Chinese women take pictures in their dress days or even weeks before the actual ceremony.

Parade of Brides 

Red bride 

White bride 1

White bride 2

White bride 3

By far the prettiest bride 

Blue bride...dress and mood, she might be crying :(

Biggest dress

Park Pictures:

The map of the park and the husband :) 

Pedal carts and electric carts

Pottery making

One World One Dream

Jumping stilts, so cool

Wedding Pavilion 

 

That was our day at the park! Have a great weekend!

Chinese Acrobatics Show

     Saturday night I went out with two friends and saw a Chinese acrobatics show. I got a few good pictures, but mostly videos of the early show. Right when stuff started to get really cool my camera died. I was angry at the camera of course for not spontaneously charging itself. I'll post the clearer videos here and the two pictures. After the camera died out came the hamster wheel tricks. One long pole/pendulum with two hamster wheels on each side. The guys ran in the wheels faster and faster until the were jumping to keep up and then one was on the outside and then they were both on the outside. Then one had a bag over his head and was pretending to fall, and the other one was juggling. It was really amazing stuff. The whole show was very entertaining, but I would still advise anyone who asked that if you see one acrobat show in your life, see Cirque de Soleil. I saw that show with my mom, a friend of hers and my sister when I was 12/13 in New Zealand and it was wonderful. Everything was perfectly timed and looked borderline impossible. Well worth the money.

     Anyway, after the show we went to Matsuko, the same restaurant I went to for my birthday celebration, and sat around and chatted for hours. I taught them a few English slang words, skiddish and one other...can't remember, and they promised the next time I will learn a few Russian words (they are both from the Siberian part of Russian). All I know now is how to say yes, no and goodbye. Hello and the numbers 1-10 would be a great place to start! Anyway now I'm typing this in a cab on my way to work...took me 35 minutes behind 7 people to catch a cab this morning...Monday :)