A dozen of us, half Chinese, half foreigners, laid out our possessions on two bed sheets and let the afternoon pass by with junk food consumption (unfortunately, detox went out the window this weekend. But it restarted today!) and card games. The nippy wind that plagued us in the morning was lifted by early afternoon (along with the smog) and in its wake revealed a pleasant spring sun and a gloriously bright blue sky.
Our biggest challenge the whole afternoon: playing a game of bullshit.
Lessons learned: No one have any trust in anyone! And also Dom is not very good at the game. ;-)
With a nice Saturday behind us, Sunday turned out to be another lovely clear day. Our afternoon activity: kite flying at Tiananmen Square!
Being the largest square in the world, Tiananmen offered enough open space for Troy, Dom, Habib, and I to try out our kite flying skills. It was my first time flying and I have to say that I enjoyed it a lot! Not only was it very peaceful when you actually get the kite in the air, but kite flying also offers great excitement when your kite sweeps dangerously close to the head of various bystanders (they were inches away from getting a bad rope burn!)! Sure, I got a few dirty glares my way here or there and once, my kite crashed onto the head of a little girl. But overall, there were no serious injuries and because most people thought I was the 3 boy's translator, no one got very mad either.
However, I must say that Dom was most impressive with his kite: he lost his own when the 
spool ran out and cut the string on another. Later on, he also lost a vital stick that supported kite #2. Well done, Dom! :)
Kite flying at Tianmen square under the watchful gaze of Chairman Mao made me realize another fact of life: Troy, Dom, and Habib are too hot for me.
Throughout our whole time there, more than a dozen incidents took place where Chinese natives came up to ask for photos, secretly taking photos, or secretly video taping the boys. Habib seemed to be especially popular, always attracting shy gazes and quiet giggles (or sometimes just straight out stares). At one point, a middle aged Chinese man with a nice Canon EOS camera and some seriously nice lenses followed us for a good 15 minutes, "discretely" taking pictures of us the whole time. Now I'm just waiting for one of our photos to pop up on some magazine with the headline: Crazy kite-flying foreigners take over Tiananmen!
Following the kite flying session, we wondered over to BeiHai Park for a stroll before finding ourselves back at Tiananmen watching the "deflagging" ceremony. My personal opinion was that it was over-rated. Of course, this had a lot to do with the fact that due to my vertically challenged state, I could only see seconds of the whole ceremony. A personal thanks goes out to Habib for giving Troy and I a personal commentary session throughout the whole thing.
Dinner was at Dongzhimen where we met up with Stephanie. It was then that we had a very interesting dinner conversation. From sleep walking, to ghosts, to relationships, to sadness, to sex and sex injuries, we covered the spectrum. I will definitely remember the fun conversation for a while to come.
On a final note, my best wishes to Woop, who as mentioned earlier, will be leaving the Middle Kingdom this week. Habib, if you're reading this, have a great time back home and enjoy the Frangelico with lime! Take care and we'll see you when we see you (hopefully back in China ;-))!
Topic of the day: Biking through a storm. And detox.
Four days ago, I established a monumental task for myself. I was going to start a detox.
I'd always been a bit tubby and ever since I started a desk job, my standard of healthy living felt like it had dramatically decreased. The great selection of restaurants around my office was a curse in disguise. As I sat on my bum for over 45 hours a week, I often sat with the feeling of fat dripping into all parts of my body and my arteries being clogged from overeating at one of the delicious, but none-too-healthy restaurants. Beer o'clock also did not help.
In a bid to lead a healthier lifestyle and shed the few extra pounds that I have been harboring for much too long, I decided to go on a detox. During detox, I have to give up: alcohol, smoking, unhealthy glucose, any unhealthy food – ie. chips, crisps, fast food, deep-fried food…you get the idea.
As of present, I have just finished the first 3 days – this regime consisted of me only eating raw vegetables and fruits. Much to my surprise (and I'm sure to the surprise of many around me), I have stuck to it. With the exception of eating 1 hard boiled egg, I have stuck to raw veggies, fruits, muesli, and nuts – so far so good.
As those who knows me or who have met me can attest, I am also not a girl who's very keen on exercising. I do have to admit that I can be quite lazy, especially when it comes to making any effort that would increase my heart rate. However, with detox comes another effort for exercising.
Yesterday, I went with my friend Tzyy to buy a bike – an extremely fitting choice given that I live in Beijing (Keep in mind, this is the first bike I've owned since the age of 12). After half an hour at a hole-in-the-wall bike shop, I am now the proud owner of a silver Flower bike. The whole thing, including a basket and an okay lock came to a total of 350 RMB, or about $50 USD. Not that bad. I have christened it, Mr. Jingles II (in honor of the original Mr. Jingles, my Honda Accord).
Then came my first bike riding experience in Beijing. Thanks to the global warming that's messing with the world's temperature, the Beijing that was in the 50s last week had this past weekend, encountered a short, but heavy snow storm. Of course, the apex of the storm came when I was started riding Mr. Jingles II home. So imagine me, a newbie on the ruthless streets of Beijing, peddling my little bike trying to avoid collision with anyone or anything while having huge snow flowers blows into my face, blinding my vision and stinging my face from the cold. And that was my first bike riding experience in Beijing.
Of course, I'd like to thank two of my favorite Aussies – Simon and Michelle for their idea, information, and support during this detox period. Without the two of them, I wouldn't have a clue as to what to do. Three days down, three more months to go!
Young, impressionable, idealistic, passionate, fresh out of college. ...and living half way across the world.
