catch up.

wow... after various complaints as to how the frequency of my blogging has decreased recently, I guess it's time for an update. haha... too many things happen in too little time in Beijing that there never seems to be time to blog anymore, and once I fall behind in stuff it adds on to the point where eventually it seems like I can never catch up anymore. lol. but i'll try.

Simatai Great Wall::

I heart the great wall. like. real great walls that aren't crowded with half the population of China and renovated yesterday.
the whole place was sooooooooooooooo pretty. and weather was just perfect. All I wanted to do was sit on the wall and not move. words fail to describe... will upload pictures to facebook soon =P.

and as sketchy as the trip was... it was fun =). we should just never goto class and just travel all the time =D.
Can't wait til you get here. and hopefully it'll be snowing by then... so we can go again and see what it's like. should be pretty amazing =]. there was more to say but i can't remember...

Work::
So after a month of working here in China and a week of debating, I quit my job on Friday. I can't believe how difficult it was to quit... half because I don't think I have actually quit anything before o.O? but yes... but I'm glad I went through with it... most of you know that eventually I want to come back to China, esp Beijing, to work. So this was my opportunity to try and see if I can actually survive the work environment here, and also, a new experience working at something other than what I have been used to. I think... in a month.. I have managed to learn all that I can from this firm and have gotten a taste of what it would be like. and it's time to move on. Even though it was only three half days a week, it was adding too much stress on top of everything. I am grateful though. For everyone that I have met in the past month. The trip to ShiDu was also amazinggggg =). I can't believe I managed to pass off as a local student for all this time =P. Everyone has been so nice and supportive, and I am truly grateful to have had this opportunity. On a sidenote, I will miss you... thanks for giving me something to look forward to every day of work =].

ISU China Cup
OMG. So.... I've had this random obsession with figure skating since I was a kid.... and I've never seen it live... after celebrating my successful quitting of my job with Peng and korean food =P, I went to go see a figure skating competition at ShouTi (another Olympic stadium). I was so.... mesmerized is the only word I can think of. I CAN'T believe I was sitting like... best seats in the house at an international skating competition for 35RMB (=6.5 CDN) ... (yeah I got them at the gate from this guy who was just like... here... I have tickets... pay me whatever you want o.O) It was so amazing to sit there and just watch it all happening for real... I realize I sound retarded... but OMG. highlight of the night... or the week... or like. the year... Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao (three-time pairs figure skating world champions, two-time winter olympics bronze medalists .... first Chinese team to ever win a world title in this event, and according to Wikipedia, they got married in 2007 (like. omg o.O) ... and half the reason why I fell in love with figure skating in the first place. so yes... they were there.... and I GOT AUTOGRAPHS. like. OMG. wow... okay after the competition I had to run to a meeting at like. 9pm -_-" and have been partying like mad ever since so I kind of forgot to be excited about this. but thinking back. like. OMG. I couldn't believe this was actually happening.... and of course, it didn't hurt that the Chinese team won another gold and bronze medal in pairs skating that night =).

the gold medalist pair. YES. i was sitting THAT close.

Queen's get together::
Given that there are eight of us here in Beijing... you'd think that we'd see each other more often... but actually. this was the first time 6/8 of us all met up. It was such a chill night of just talking and hanging out together. lol.
... highlight of the night. us walking out to pick someone up. It's been a while since we'd talked. hadn't realized how much we both missed just being together, hanging out and talking. things are different, but a lot of things don't change. "we don't just think alike okay? we feel alike. Beat THAT". ... lol... so apparently i undervalue friendship.... but... i know. this is something that'll last a lifetime. =).
and. we're going to make this a biweekly thing. or monthly thing. looking forward to when will comes and joins us too =D.

Da Tong::
So an hour before we had to meet up to goto the train station. I suddenly decided to join in on this trip to Da Tong, a city in Shanxi, 300km away from Beijing, but six hours train ride (.... apparently this train drives at 55km/hr... I drive faster -_-") Slept on the train (to the left: picture of how we ended up getting eight TOP bunks all in a row... lol) and got there 5:30am in the morning. I love how Andrius's guide book described this city.... as "everything that went wrong with the obsession with industrialization". I didn't understand until the end of the day when we walked around downtown... like... the air actually smelt like coal... o.O? and my eyes were just watering by itself -_-".. it's a coal-mining city... and everyone there looked... o.O different. We went to Tu Lin... this miniature grand canyon kind of place.... a monastery built on the side of a cliff, and caves with rock sculptures of buddhas... It was actually a lot of fun. A lot of sleeping in the cab, a lot of being cold, and a lot of being with friends and seeing things I've never seen before =), and the impulsiveness of it all just made it all so much more exciting =D. What was strange is how different the dialect is in Shanxi even though it was only 300km away... like I actually couldn't understand at all. Even when we went to Guilin after a while I started understanding without too much problems, and that was on the opposite end of the country. o.O. But seriously... Beijing is pollution free in comparison. It was fun. we need to do this more often. got back 6 30am yesterday morning and went to my class at 9am. =D. this is how we roll =P.

Beijing - continued::
anddd... I think I'm caught up.
Beijing has been gloomy-ish for the past couple of days... and ... I don't even mind the gloominess in Beijing... there has been like 4 cloudy days in total since I'd been here, and each time all it did was rain 2 days later and bring even clearer days after =). but yes... even cloudy days in Beijing is nice... it's... in a sense.. calming and ...relaxing? Bridge was so nice this afternoon, quietly sitting by the window staring out at the world outside, and listening to the people inside... heart Bridge. it's so nice and cozy, and the nicest wait staff in the world... and I like always bumping into people there =P. I like having friends.. lol. is it wrong that I'm not homesick? I was so much more homesick in Kingston... o.O ... anyhow. it's been a busy past while. I'm giving myself a week off, not going to any random classes or partying or even shopping tomorrow. just... chill =) I'm actually enjoying spending time just... on my own =].

hope u guys r all doing well too. hopefully midterms are over. chill =)

(and this took WAY too long... o.o)