Movies and Military

Movies because I went with hubs yesterday to see Batman and Military because it was a short drive and a long walk to the theater. The entire main road near our neighborhood that leads 75% of the way to the theater was blocked off by police last night in Beijing. Why? The dispute over who owns the Diaoyu (Chinese name) / Senkaku (Japanese name) islands. Their has been a growing "anti-Japanese sentiment" here in China and after some particularly heated rioting around their embassy, the police and military took over. At first we just saw police cars but then we saw military trucks, military paddiwagons and finally military tanks that hubs explained were for shooting out streams of water to disburse a crowd...I felt like I was in occupied Germany. Apparently all buses that make stops near the Japanese embassy have also either started passing over those stops or have been put temporarily out of commission. Very eery evening but at least the movie was awesome.  

I'm back

Hello to the few people...if any that have kept checking my blog in my several month absence. Whoever you are, I appreciate it. Anyway...

My parent's back porch

I am back in Beijing after my month back in the US. My "vacation" was wonderful and I got so much out of it. Fresh air every day, time around my friends and family and I got to sleep in my old bed. I went bike riding with my mom, shopping with my mom (and managed not to spend all of our money) and had long political talks with my dad.

My parents back yard

I "shot the Hooch" aka went tubing down the Chattahoochee River my some friends and despite the 2-3rd degree burns I had after that trip I had a great time. Turns out that 7 hours in the sun with pale skin after living in a place with very little UV exposure can be the recipe for a sunburn...who knew. In my defense I did put on sunscreen 2 times and the water was freezing thus I didn't feel the burn until I was dry. I am still burned a little and that was 6+ weeks ago...oops. I also drove up to Charlotte, NC to visit my best friend and had a wonderful time visiting her!

On the way back from my trip to see Mel (above, to the right) I got to see my baby niece for the first time! Isn't she adorable!

Despite my hectic schedule: working from 8pm to 4am and then sleeping until 11am or 1pm...depending on the work night that preceded, I still managed to have a very relaxing time. I did some more research on cutting down on the amount of products I use that contain toxic chemicals in them (awesome/terrifying website that tells you what's in your specific brand of lotion, shampoo, cosmetics etc: EWG Skindeep Database) and although I have been getting my hair colored to bring out the blonde which will no longer peak through in the summer (again...lack of sun) I decided I would be stopping that habit. Instead, I opted for an all natural product with Henna and although I was going for dark brown, my hair's tendency to veer towards red one out and I ended up with a really pretty Auburn color instead. I have cut down/ eliminated a lot of other things too...but that's another post altogether.

New hair color

I got back mid August and brought back with me a better attitude about living here. There are downsides indeed but I have a good job, hubs has a good job, we live in a nice apartment, we have money to do fun things AND pay of bills, we've made great friends and we've gotten to travel to fun places. Another thing I brought back with me...an ill-timed overwhelming desire to start a family. We have decided for a variety of reasons: aforementioned bills, the air here, accessibility to great healthcare and an the lack of an environment that embraces natural births and midwives that this is NOT the place to start a family, but nevertheless...it's all I think about. Only one year and change to go :)

Thanks for sticking with me. I promise not to take such a long break before my next post.

Back in the ATL

I have been back in Atlanta for a week now and have been getting readjusted. 


Working Sunday - Thursday from 6pm - 2am has been difficult but I am adjusting.


It is great seeing family and friends, driving, shopping-for both clothes and food, and breathing fresh air but hard being away from hubs. We skype at night and talk over the phone in the morning but even so sleeping alone is hard.


By the time I am back to Beijing I might be up to blogging again but for now I am taking advise I have seen often in the blogging world:


If it starts to feel like work, stop for a while.


So I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their summer :)

Thailand

Thailand was amazing. We had a great time relaxing and catching up on some much needed sleep. We swam in the pool, swam in the ocean, explored the island, got massages, got facials. It was glorious. It did rain the last 3 days but that's what you get when you go in the Low aka Rainy Season. Nonetheless, it was wonderful. The only slight hiccup was the food poisoning the last day that haunted me on the airport, airplane and for 2.5 days after we got home. That wasn't great. Everything else was though. Especially since I found a new favorite drink....Gin Fizz. Who knew Gin was good? Not me...but it is

In recent news, before I left, I bought tickets back to the States for a one month trip back home. I leave next Thursday for a month of hanging out all day and working at night. Wish me luck!

Kata Beach, Thailand

Corner room, extra large deck and Jacuzzi!

Only pic of the room, lame I know

Rainy day

Rocking the sunburn and crazy face...photographer my husband is not

Hubs with one of the kitchen kittens

Amazing trip!

The Resort

 Hope everyone else's summers are going well. I think blogging on my part might be a little slow for the next month or so, so please stick with me. I will be back :)

Bo yao baby

We are leaving for Thailand tomorrow.

Could not come soon enough. I have been so stressed that I got a stress mouth sore that hurts like you wouldn't believe. So I started looking up home remedies and found one with liquid antacid plus antihistamines.

So we went down to the pharmacy and tried to mime to the woman that we were looking for antacids.

We were pointing to my stomach and she said "bo yao baby" to which we replied bo yao, bo yao...thinking of course that we were reassuring her that no no, I was not pregnant...yeah (we had been drinking)...she brought us back some pills and took out the directions so we could read. I read and read and thought ok until hubs frantically pointed at the top that said contraceptive pills.

Bo yao means "Don't want" ...mei you means "Don't have"....oops

So the woman thought we were frantically reassuring her that no no, we did NOT want a baby.

1 whole week of relaxing on the beach is just what the doctor ordered!

Yuck

This is a small post but it just had to be repeated. I am pretty sure I have mentioned this before, but in case I am wrong, a lot of Chinese people have a very different way of cleaning things. While I don't believe that everything needs to be doused with chemicals to get it clean, I also do not believe that cold water disinfects.

The other night, Will and I went out to one of our neighborhood restaurants. We were having a great time and then after 5 drinks, I needed to pee (shocking, I know). This is a pretty nice place, although at night it definitely has more of a bar feel. Anyway...I walk into the bathroom, wait for the stall and then walk in...and my first thought is "Shit, why did I wear flip flops". That should give you a clear understanding of what the floor looked like, which is also what the seat looked like. Add to that, that bathrooms in Beijing almost never have toilet paper and I was really wishing I did not have to pee. This place rivaled just about any gas station bathroom I have ever seen.

So, I finish up my business and start to wash my hands. The ayi must have been waiting to get into the bathroom to clean it, so she pushed past me to get started. As I turn to dry my hands, I see her one single rag cleaning the seat of the toilet, the floor covered in all manner of fluids and then the counter-tops of the sink. I swear on everything that is holy that I almost threw up right on the spot. Instead though, I just said to myself (in my head) that this is China, so don't be surprised. I have heard worse stories and before I leave, I may witness things more shocking. Yet...ick.

R&R

So, I know that Thailand has been the topic of my posts lately and I cannot wait until we get there. This month and next month are going to be great. In exactly 7 days I will have been married for 2 years (according to the State of Georgia) and in exactly 23 days, it will have been 2 years since my wedding. Not usually separate days for most people, but they were for us. We needed our paperwork to get started on lickedy split and we had to have our marriage certificate in that bundle of paperwork so we got married at the courthouse on June 10th 2010. It was super unromantic and we both agreed that we felt nothing during the "ceremony" except (for me) maybe a little embarrassed that we were getting married in the middle of a hallway where prisoners were being escorted to their day in court...awesome, glad you could be here to share the moment. Anyway, 16 days after that we had a beautiful religious ceremony with friends and family and that was wonderful.

At the end of this month we are headed to Thailand for a week and we will get to spend the 4th of July in Thailand! I am so excited because I expect for it to be more of a celebration there than it is here in the Land of the Not Free at ALL. Then I am back 2 weeks before flying out again...and this time, I am headed home. That's right! For 1 month, I will be returning home to Atlanta. Since I work from home now anyway, I figured why not work from home in the States. I can see my friends and family, breathe some fresh air, do summer stuff, hopefully see my cousin's brand new baby boy, see my other cousin who will be a brand new newlywed and do a little much needed shopping for me, hubs and our home.

Will it be a month's vacation? Nope. I will be working nights. Thankfully since I don't make calls the whole 8 hour work day, I can do some of my work during the day and the rest at night...here is what I am thinking:

1. Wake up and check my emails
2. During the day, do some data entry (2 hours..ish)
3. Work from 8pm-2am (6 hours)

This will probably match up well to the amount I get done here. Then at 2 am I will pass out and probably sleep until 10 or 11. Then I can do what I want and plan my data entry in there somewhere. Splitting this up will probably result in me getting more work done anyway. So really, its a win for me and a win for my company, win win :)

I really need this. China has been wearing on me and my emotional health and even though I will miss hubs so much, I think it will be a good choice for us all. No one benefits from someone moping and acting sad all the time. I could not be more happy in my marriage and I love my friends here, but I miss the rest of my family and my friends at home and I miss AMERICA and familiarity.