Finally, we’re on vacation!

It’s now the last week of May and we have started our vacation for a couple of weeks. I’m basically taking my Christmas, Saturdays Sundays, New-Year, etc. vacations in one shot. On the agenda is a trip to Beijing to add some pages to my passport at the embassy and then visit a few of the sites around Beijing. We’re in a bus and we should be arriving in Beijing in approx 3.5 hours. Other than a hotel for tonight, there really isn’t anything else booked. If the weather should cooperate, we want to travel down to an Island in the southern part of China called Hainan. It’s supposed to be the tropical getaway for the rich Chinese. There has been heavy rain lately so we may change plans again a little later. The important is that we’re together Rox and I and I’m far away from the yard.
I must admit that April and May have been really very difficult and especially stressful. I spent long hours and most weekends at the yard.
Fortunately for us, Rox made a few very nice friends and so she manages to stay busy with new friends or at the beauty salon which is now her second home. Getting your hear cut is approx 5 dollars (although Rox did pay 80$ once) and it takes at least one hour. There are two hair washing sessions and also a hand and neck massage. It’s quite enjoyable but the end result isn’t brilliant. Basically, they don’t know what to do with hair that isn’t straight! Not that I’m all that fussy but I wasn’t impressed when they tried to give Rox a ‘Coupe Longueuil’~ (mullet).

Summer weather has finally arrived. It’s such a relief. There are flowers and green weeping willows everywhere. It’s really quite an amazing transformation from the cold, barren landscape to the almost lush greenery. Weatherwise, it’s quite like in Montreal. The air is filled with pollution though. If I chew with my mouth open, my gum becomes crunchy. Several women wear white cotton masks covering nose and mouth from the dust. There is even a kiddy version for toddlers. There is an ocean breeze most of the time so evenings are almost enjoyable ~ that is if there was something to do: nowhere really to walk around and there aren’t any terraces to go people watching.

We bought a couple of Giant bikes last week and this has been the best thing we could have done. Rox is totally in love with her bike and wants to ride everywhere. We must be extra prudent because the drivers still are maniacs here and all bikes must yield to the cars but it certainly helps to discover more areas around town that we hadn’t yet seen. I’m really quiet surprised how Rox has been able to put-up with life here for so long. It’s an understatement to say that we will have several memories of our stay here in China, both good’n bad. One thing for sure, it hasn’t been easy but, as it’s been like any life experience, you certainly hope to learn from it….

I was finally explained why several Chinese have one or sometimes both front teeth chipped in the front. Like an upside down v-groove…You remember when I described how good they were eating sunflower shells? Well they eat so much that they actually notch their teeth. Some holes are even 3 to 4 millimeters deep! It’s the weirdest thing to see. And now, that’s the only thing I look at when I meet a new person. Here we’ve been eating pistachios instead and manually opening them!

Gotta go! See ya!