October Break!

It's October in Beijing, which means a few things:
1. The weather is rather divine.
2. I'm already one quarter of the way through my first year teaching in China.
3. Most importantly though...October BREAK!!

For my first-ever week off in October, I had the fabulous fortune of getting to go visit my good friend, Maya, in Berlin.  Maya has been in Berlin for about a year now, heading to Switzerland soon to work at a ski resort (tough luck for her), so off to Berlin I went...and maybe to Switzerland sometime soon too!

Our week was full of bakery bread, wine, riding bikes around the city, walking on cobblestone street, shopping, salsa dancing, attending the ballet, lots of good rest and perpetual laughter.

This is Maya...she's pretty much an angel....

...pretty much amazing...and this is why...

...she's can pull off modern lederhosen.  Awesome.

This is where Maya lives, her roommates pretty much take biking VERY seriously

This is where we'd get fresh bread every morning...

And this is the flea market right down the street from her apartment...

Here are some of the things we saw and did...

 

 

The Berlin Wall...so cool!

 

My two highlights were:

Modern Ballet

Berlin Philharmonic 

 

And as an added bonus, on my way back to Beijing, I had a long layover is Helsinki, Finland.  I took a bus downtown and wandered around the city a bit.  Helsinki was absolutely gorgeous with crisp (and clean) air and charming architecture.  In a mere 3 hours, Lapland has stolen my heart, I shall return!

Here's to a great week! 

Cheers!

(and to those of you who don't appreciate my overuse of Instagram...I just discovered it and think it's awesome, I just couldn't help myself!)

Warm Rivers

We thought we'd go out, have Indian food for dinner, stop by the grocery store for some wine and then leisurely ride our bikes home...the weather had different plans!

It was raining so hard that the drops hurt my face.  China knows not about proper water drainage...we rode through rivers on our way home...warm rivers.

I had no idea I was capable of looking so sad.

I had no idea I was capable of looking so scary!

Another Weekend-O-Fun With Shawn!

Part 1:The Forbidden City

This is equivalent to the Great Room of the Forbidden City...

We're within the walls, but not really in it yet. 

Such a nice hairdo, I had to take a photo

to bring to my stylist.  

It's so great in the Great Room!

We took a quick detour to mill around the

mote surrounding the city.  

Here's a shot of the Forbidden City wall;

big, old, brick, etc.

And at the ticket counter, we didn't quite meet

the height requirement.

Another Weekend-O-Fun With Shawn!

 

Part 2: Forbidden City--The Main Show

Chinese people will

sleep ANYWHERE!

 

 

After getting pushed, shoved, and stared at for hours...that pagoda up on that hill was calling my name....

Another Weekend-O-Fun With Shawn!

Part 3: Haranueged into the Hutongs

We've done a hutong tour previously, and as our Beijing guidebook stated, it's something you should do once, but you won't feel the urge to do it again.

Now...I'm a bit embarrassed to admit, but I was SO tired after our day exploring the Forbidden City that  we took the bait from this guy...

...how could you resist him?!  He promised to give us a tour up to the top of the hill on his rickshaw where that shiny pagoda was...my post-Forbidden City oasis!  But...no...he ended up taking us all through the hutongs for the second time (a 1-hour long tour) and in the end, dropping us off at the entry gate to that great pagoda in the sky.  We were, however, VERY impressed with our hutong master that we actually really enjoyed ourselves.  Here's a few things we saw and a little bit of what we learned:

There are still blocks like these strewn about in the hutons,
a throwback to the days of needing a giant concrete
block to hop up on your horse. 

People throw their dead cats on their rooftops.
Okay, not really, but I swear that cat is dead.  

Milk is still delivered to your home/hutong in some parts
of the world.  The bottom left is for mini-milk delivery.
The box is only about 6 inches tall.  Little people...little milk bottles?!

Alright, I didn't take very many pictures of our hutong tour I guess.  So here are a few other gems Hutong Master taught us...1.) 70% of hutong residents are very poor, they pay the equivalent of $20 a month to live in their hutong (which doesn't come with indoor plumbing)  2.) 20% of hutong residents are very wealthy and pay the equivalent of $10 million to buy their hutong. 3.) 10% of hutong residents work for the Chinese government, including the Chinese Prime Minister (does China have a Prime Minister?) who lives in his very own hutong.

After we were dumped at the base of the only hill in China, the one with the shiny pagoda oasis, we were pleasantly surprised to find Beijing's version of Ashland's Lithia Park!  Beautiful walkways, nice grassy areas, lots of trees.  

 

The view from the pagonda on the top of that grassy knoll was well worth it, we got to see the entire Forbidden City along with a panoramic view of Beijing from the center of it all.

The Forbidden City from above.

Hou Hai Lake, a spot we visited our first week.
You can hop in a boat on Hou Hai and be paddled
around.  It's quite lovely in the evening.
The lake is lined with bars, restaurants, and houtongs.

Some advice on life possibly?

 Wu Mart!

After our busy day, we hopped in a tuk tuk and got a ride to the subway.  When we hopped out of the tuk tuk, we noticed "Wu Mart" across the street from the subway and we simply couldn't resist patronizing the local "Wu Mart".  

A selection of loose leaf teas, all with a specific herbal remedy. 

Wu Marts have basements full of fresh fruits, vegetables and hot food!

The best yakisoba I've ever had!