procrastination--my friend and yours
had the most amazing weekend in beijing! i left at 930 from shijiazhuang. hugo, one of the teachers here, was also going (he is taking the trans-siberan railroad from china to moscow--badass--en route to england, and needs a ton of visas), so we caught a train together. usually when i go to beijing, matt is the navigator. this time i was alone. so hugo and i went our seperate ways on the subway. i managed to make my way out of the right exit from the subway and wander down to andingmen--where my friend gen's school is. then she and i went to a place called 'pass by bar' and enjoyed a long, lazy meal. i had spicy tomato soup with toasted baguette(!), canneloni, and an iced coffee. the pass by bar not only has amazing food, but a book exchange program. you bring in three books, and you can check out one. then return it for another. with 6 books, you can take two, and so on. i am now a member--free books!!!
after lunch, we went to a salon near her school. for 10 kwai you get an hour long head, neck, face, shoulder, arm and hand massage. many places in china offer this kind of service, but the staff of this salon has obviously studied accupressure. blissful. we then met up with binky, shane's HOT chinese boyfriend. binky (whose real name is liang bin) is about 5'3" and cute as a bug. just the sweetest thing. he took us out for beijing duck--a truly divine dish. afterwards we headed out to a place called "bus bar" which is nothing more than a big trailer with no interior walls. the outside is plastered with heineken signs and the inside with grafitti. we went there with intent and purpose, and lest i be too specific thus invoking the wrath of Big Brother, i shall just say that i got what i was looking for. puff, puff. that is a particulary funny story, but i shall save it for another time.
binky had to leave, so we met hugo and did the hokey tokey a bit. had late night coffee and ice cream. went back to gens and i spent a full hour staring at a collection of stuff on my bed. convinced it was the most brillant still life ever, i sketched and sketched so i would be able to recreate and paint it. we shall see if that happens. first i must buy paint.
next day was just as laid back. got up and had tea and toast while gen was teaching. we went and met hugo for lunch at a mexican restaurant. i indulged and had an afternoon margarita as we sat on the veranda, surrounded by small trees. lovely. almost like not being in china. then gen and i went to the foreign language bookstore to browse. i was very good in exercising restraint. then we went to the haggen daas cafe. where i ordered two scoops of cookies n' cream and an iced coffee. no restraint there. toke the tube back to the train station exit, and caught a rickshaw (bicycle) to station itself. such a blissful little break.
i have decided that the pollution in shijiazhuang is bringing me down. here, i am unmotivated to leave the house, always feel drained and on the verge of catching a cold, and have no creative energy at all. in beijing, i was the exact opposite, even drawing and writing, things i haven't done in a while.
do any of you know anything about the effects of pollution--or have my years working in health food stores made me paranoid?
after lunch, we went to a salon near her school. for 10 kwai you get an hour long head, neck, face, shoulder, arm and hand massage. many places in china offer this kind of service, but the staff of this salon has obviously studied accupressure. blissful. we then met up with binky, shane's HOT chinese boyfriend. binky (whose real name is liang bin) is about 5'3" and cute as a bug. just the sweetest thing. he took us out for beijing duck--a truly divine dish. afterwards we headed out to a place called "bus bar" which is nothing more than a big trailer with no interior walls. the outside is plastered with heineken signs and the inside with grafitti. we went there with intent and purpose, and lest i be too specific thus invoking the wrath of Big Brother, i shall just say that i got what i was looking for. puff, puff. that is a particulary funny story, but i shall save it for another time.
binky had to leave, so we met hugo and did the hokey tokey a bit. had late night coffee and ice cream. went back to gens and i spent a full hour staring at a collection of stuff on my bed. convinced it was the most brillant still life ever, i sketched and sketched so i would be able to recreate and paint it. we shall see if that happens. first i must buy paint.
next day was just as laid back. got up and had tea and toast while gen was teaching. we went and met hugo for lunch at a mexican restaurant. i indulged and had an afternoon margarita as we sat on the veranda, surrounded by small trees. lovely. almost like not being in china. then gen and i went to the foreign language bookstore to browse. i was very good in exercising restraint. then we went to the haggen daas cafe. where i ordered two scoops of cookies n' cream and an iced coffee. no restraint there. toke the tube back to the train station exit, and caught a rickshaw (bicycle) to station itself. such a blissful little break.
i have decided that the pollution in shijiazhuang is bringing me down. here, i am unmotivated to leave the house, always feel drained and on the verge of catching a cold, and have no creative energy at all. in beijing, i was the exact opposite, even drawing and writing, things i haven't done in a while.
do any of you know anything about the effects of pollution--or have my years working in health food stores made me paranoid?