Super Husband and I have an announcement to make.
We are coming home, returning to the Lone Star State, to the hot outdoors and air conditioned indoors of Houston.
While some days it feels like just yesterday we were sitting at IAH waiting for our delayed flight to take off, it also feels like it's time.
By the time we return home it will have been exactly 345 days since our departure from the world's most air conditioned city. 345 days since Bluebell ice cream, or good Mexican food, or good Italian food... Since driving a car, since being in a place where I understood everything that was being said to, or around me.
So now I'm making lists.
Lists of things to buy for ourselves before we leave.
Lists of gifts to take back to our nearest and dearest.
Lists of things we'll miss.
Lists of things we won't.
And lists of things to do, see, and eat when we get home.
Taco truck tacos are currently at the top of the running for First Meal, El Alazan, to be exact. Bluebell, is of course up there. Demeris bbq's french fries, Hobbit Cafe's... Everything.
Hot wing sauce, vegetarian food, cooking in a well equipped kitchen, real grocery stores... S'mores.
I told my mom when she was here that I'll actually have to start running when we get home or I'll gain weight from eating all the things we've missed. Because of course I don't miss vegetables. We have those here. It's the splurge foods, the celebration foods that you crave.
Real cheese. Oh, how I've missed feta! And mozzarella!
And picnics in the park, and grilling, and gumbo, and mustard, and black beans, and corn tortillas, flautas, and the occasional Dr. Pepper.
And porches. For some reason I really miss porches.
Okay, so enough about all that. Let's talk about this past week.
Hmm... Oh yeah!
We won first at pub quiz, yet again! And because it was also Super Husband's last day of school in Beijing (that's right, he finished his last final a week ago, and has a certificate to prove it) we celebrated afterwards at Pyro and danced (he didn't dance) to the DJ stylings of the very talented Mr. Rogers. Twist and Shout was played. A good time was had by all.
I feel like I'm forgetting something, but as far as I can remember the next out of the ordinary occurrence was our trek through the Summer Palace. That place is HUGE. I don't think we even covered a quarter of it in the three hours we walked around. We did choose a good day to go, though. It wasn't swelteringly hot because of the cloud cover, although that did impede our photo taking somewhat. I would say that it's worth a visit if you have time, but it isn't on my Must See in Beijing list. In fact, it's a relatively new build, having been originally built in the early 1700s, then rebuilt after the Opium Wars in the late 1800s. Architecturally it's fairly run of the mill, but what is interesting it the sheer size. I work next door and I had no idea.
After swinging by the market to pick up a gift for Super Husband's teacher, and a shirt for himself, we had dinner and headed to Liudaoko for KTV.
Neither Super Husband nor I had previously participated in this Asian phenomenon, but it was definitely a good time. They didn't have Tiny Dancer, but Bohemian Rhapsody was belted out at the top of everyone's lungs. We didn't even make it home until 5am. Needless to say Sunday held very little excitement.
I did make couscous and pecan chicken. Not the pecan chicken I grew up with, but a tasty facsimile.
Monday was a Monday, although it felt like. Wednesday.
I met my friend Kate for dinner at Bleu Marine so that I could try their Danish offerings. Kate is the perfect guide for this because, well, she's Danish. We then walked through a light rain to a mall where we got lost twice while trying to find Cold Stone Creamery. Maps in malls here have no rhyme or reason, and in the end it was even labeled incorrectly. Cold stones not in SB 218.
After dinner we took the subway back to our respective stops. By the time I reached my stop it was pouring outside. I don't know that I've ever even seen it rain that hard here before. And I walked through it.
Let me just add in a word to the wise here, leather purses from the pearl market are not 100% water proof. Maybe closer to 97%. Wich is an improvement from no percent, of course, but I did spend much of Tuesday with a fan in front of my bag to completely dry out the interior.
Yesterday was Wednesday, when I began writing this, I thought I would be able to post it via the VPN built into the wireless at Lush before quiz, but alas and alack, for whatever reason my devices refused to log into the wireless.
Poo diddly.
So now I have to report on Wednesday, as well.
The morning started out fine. It's been a long week; it feels like it should have been the weekend eons ago. In the afternoon yesterday the "N" level teachers had our weekly level meeting(okay, it's supposed to be weekly, but we don't aaalways do it every week). Well, I'll not go into details on such a public forum, but it ended badly, with three out of five of us leaving the room feeling unjustly attacked, and not even by anyone with any authority. A brand new teacher, actually. I'm just glad that my time here is coming to an end if that is going to be the environment from now on.
And now it's Thursday. Fourth of July. The only thing that makes it special, or different from any other day is that we're allowed to wear shorts.
Wooooohoo.
Of course, I am wearing blue shorts, a red shirt, and a red and white scarf in my hair. And my students are learning about how we celebrate Independence Day in the U. S. A.
Parades, fireworks, swimming, hotdogs... That sort of thing.
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