It was a busy week both in and outside the office. The Embassy had a “4th of July Picnic” on Thursday, 3 July. It was nice. They had hamburgers, hotdogs, and lots of potato salad, not to mention games for both young and old. Unfortunately, I was pretty busy with things in the office, so I was only able to breakaway for a hamburger and hotdog before going back to work.
I was able to take the day off on Friday (Day 24; also known as the “4th of July”). So, Friday morning at about 7am, Ryan and I went to play a round of golf. I met Ryan last year while studying Mandarin in DC. When we started it was about 80 degrees with about 100 percent humidity. By the time we finished, it was probably pushing 100 degrees. It was interesting round of golf because this was the first round of golf I played with a caddie. I was half-way through the round before I realized the male golfers received 20 year old female caddies and female golfers received 20 year old male caddies (it must had been the heat). I think my caddie’s name was “Qiu” (not sure which Chinese character that is, since there are about 100 characters with that sound). I’ll have to ask her to write it out next time. Dad, if you make it to China we must play a round of golf! After golf, I went home and took a long nap. Shortly thereafter it started raining. It rained for the next 12-16 hours…which is a good thing…because rain helps knock cut down on the air pollution.
After my nap, I trudged through the rain to a pizza place where a bunch of Americans were going to celebrate the 4th with beers and pizza. The pizza was good and the beer was cold…what more can I say about that?
Saturday, (Day 25) was a beautiful day (well it had better been after all the rain we had the night before). Saturday afternoon, I went to buy a new umbrella (I had left my last umbrella in a taxi). Additionally, I refuse to buy an umbrella when it is raining (they’re likely to charge you double for it). Saturday evening I went to play poker with come colleagues. I won about 200 RMB (just short of $30).
Sunday, (Day 26) was another beautiful day. Lots of blue skies! My allergies have not bothered me in about a week. It sure is great to be able to breathe. Sunday was a day of errands, after I went to see our troop who broke his back in the hospital; I went to the IKEA Store. I really didn’t need to buy anything there, but it is a HUGE IKEA store… I found it interesting to see a bunch of Chinese people jumping down on furniture. It was almost like something you would see in a sarcastic comedy (I should have taken a couple of pictures).I also went to the Forbidden City near Tiananmen Square. I was unimpressed…too many people volunteering to be my tour guide. I was only there for about 15 minutes before I decided I didn’t really care to see any more… Maybe I’ll try it again when it is a little cooler out.
All and all, it was a very busy week…
Today, I recieved a package from Carla. Lots of goodies (brownies, nuts, nice card, etc.) Thank you! It only took about 3 weeks for it to arrive. Something to think about when my birthday comes around.
Well, I need to go to get my beauty sleep. I'll write more when I can.
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