Argh, my head hurts

Weather: HOT, hot, hot
Temp: 9 to 26
Exchange rate: RMB1 = R1,44
Top of the mornin to ya: St Patrick's Day at Durty Nellies in Liangmaqiao.

Ouch, my head hurts today. I blame it on the luck of the Irish. The gals and I went to my nearest Irish Pub and had us some beer. Jo is going to kill me for putting up the second photo, but I love the Jameson bottle sticking out of her head...

Only one more sleep and we're of to South Africa. I absolutely can't wait. Now I just have to get through all the things I still need to do and we should get there ok.

Remember the braai at the Hollemanne is this Sunday.

Girls' night out

Weather: WARM
Temp: 2 to 20 - dare I say it: Spring is in the air
Night out: Leora, Jo-Anne and I. It's like the United Nations of Expatia: Israeli/Argentinian, Saffer and Pomme.

Breaking news: Sam peed on me only once last night. Both Sam and I are very proud of this massive improvement on Friday night.

He may not live to see his second birthday. Seriously.

Saturday's fashion design class was interesting. I finally fulfilled a life-long dream: sewing on an industrial sewing machine. It goes fast. Really fast. Niiiice. Not so nice was the finicky material we used to make a top. It was shiny, black and slippery. I don't think I'll ever wear it, but it was fun making in, once I got the hang of the super-fast sewing machine.

The gals and I went to Houhai for dinner and drink afterwards. Also niiice. Love having girlfriends again. Leora had us in stitches with her tale of how she set her fringe alight when she was lighting up a cigarette. I said it's a sign that she should stop smoking. She said it's a sign of a faulty lighter.

NuNu is under the weather. She had a gungy, closed eye on Friday, kept on scratching her left ear and wasn't eating. We went to the vet. She has a very bad gum infection, which means it hurts when she eats. We came home with eye drops, ear ointment and antibiotics. Let's hope she recovers before we fly on Thursday.

My name is Sam and I wet my bed

Weather: looks like it's going to be a sunny day
Temp: -1 to 12
Exchange rate: RMB1 = R1,46
Boo! You see paintings like this everywhere and I quite like it.

Sam is a bed wetter. And more particularly he pees on my bed. And on me if I'm in it. Which happened last night. At 2am.

I could smell that Sam had peed on the bed when I went to bed last night, so I stripped it down to the bare mattress and put on a clean sheet and a tiny throw blanket (we don't really have spare linen). This would be the 4th time this week that I would have to wash the linen. Added to his jowling, Sam's popularity ratings have reached an all time low. No, it's plummeted to so far below zero he will have to make up for it with a lifetime of cuteness.

Then I woke up at 2 to find that he had peed on the small blanket. I don't mind the wet, but it reeks to high even. Words fail me...

On a more positive note I got myself a flatmate, Alfie the Scot. I was looking for somebody to look after the cats when I'm away and since Frikkie's moved to Shanghai he was no help in that department, so I placed an ad on thebeijinger.com website and voila, I have a flatmate. He's a nice guy, likes cats (which helps) and will be staying till the end of April when he goes to the coast to teach at the sailing school in Qinhuangdao on the coast.

I can't believe we're leaving for SA on Thursday! It's just around the corner.

Shanghai or bust

Weather: windy and chilly
Temp: - 5 to 4
Exchange rate: RMB1=R1,46
Beijing sunset: Chilly, but glorious.

Ok, big announcement. We're moving to Shanghai. Actually Frikkie's pretty much moved there already and I'll start packing things up when I get back from SA and then at the end of April it's "adios Beijing". Frikkie's job requires him to work in Shanghai and I'm certainly not going to stay in Beijing on my own.

I was in two minds about moving to Shanghai. Although we've spent some great weekends there I really didn't fancy moving to a new city. Thing is, I've just gotten to know Beijing and I sort of know where I am most of the time, I have a sense of direction and I've made a couple of friends. Basically it's starting all over again in Shanghai. But, the alternative is staying in Beijing without Frikkie, so there really is no alternative. But having gotten my head around it, I'm quite looking forward to it.

Great weekends

Weather: warm for this time of the year
Temp: -2 to 10
Exchange rate: RMB1 = R1,56
Float away: you can enjoy endless cups of green tea in this little house boat on the lake in Liuyin Park.

I'm really sorry I haven't blogged since last week, but our internet was disconnected. It seems that in China they don't send you bills - they just expect you to know that you should pay, how much and where. I guess if you're from here you know this, however if you're a loawai you don't. And you have to go pay at one of the banks. I eventually got round to doing that yesterday. Won't happen again, I promise.

Frikkie is still in Shanghai and per usual Hassell standard is working late and on Saturdays and Sundays. It would seem that this is the norm and that if you want a life, Hassell China is not the place for you. And it look like I may not see him this coming weekend either. It's getting a little tired...

Despite not having the love of my life around I've managed to have some fun and keep myself busy. My week nights are pretty crammed with teaching, so not much socialising happening there. On Friday I joined my fellow teacher and colleagues from Standford English for a photo shoot. The shots will be used in some promotional material. Apparently we'll get copies of our individual photos. Should be good for a laugh, cause I'm a terrible model.

Saturday morning Leora, an Israeli girl I met in my fashion design class, and I set off for Panjiayuan Antiques Market. I've been there before, but it's such a massive market and there's so much to see that one visit really isn't enough. We spent hours browsing through some interesting bric-a-brac and blatantly fake, ridiculously-priced "antiques". Don't worry, I was in top form with my bargaining and didn't get ripped off.

For lunch we headed to a Korean restaurant close to the market. It's a chain and we all know how much I dislike eating at chain restaurants, but being veggie and in China it forces you to eat at places where you can either read the menu, or they have pictures of each dish. Which sometimes mean eating at chain restaurants. This particular chain serves dog. Korean restaurants usually do, it's their thing. Despite it being nothing new, it still makes me nauseous every time I see dog on the menu.

Leora and I talked all afternoon. And drank litres of green tea. Until 7pm actually, at which point we took the subway to go eat fillafel. The fillafel joint is close to Beijing's only kosher restaurant, which is just around the corner from the Israeli embassy. Who knew.

Sunday was a glorious day. I think we hit a midday high of about 15. It was warm! Leora and Stella was suppose to come for brunch, but Stella's flatmate's visa expired and there was some drama... so it was just Leora and I. We took Sam for his walk, but perhaps Sunday mornings aren't the best time to walk Sam cause there are loads of unleashed dogs and it's not all that safe for him.

Since it was such a glorious day we headed for Luiyin Park. It's a small park with a lake in the middle. Ok, it's more a big dam, than a lake, but it has it charms. People were flying their kites, playing checkers, mahjong, chewing the fat or playing some musical instruments. The park is covered in willows and I can just imagine how lush it's going to be in summer. Stella eventually joined us and we drank some more green tea. Again we couldn't stop yapping and stayed till dinner time. It's great to have girl friends again.

The art of procrastination

Weather: foggy and cold (snow predicted)
Temp: 0 to 4
Exchange rate: RMB1 = R1,55 (ouch)
Ruby Tuesday: This is a carpet in a lift. It is changed everyday to show that it's been cleaned and rotated, hence the day woven into the carpet. Only in China...

Yesterday I took my procrastination to new heights. Here's what I was supposed to do:

• Practice my Mandarin characters
• Practice my Mandarin reading
• Practice my Mandarin pronunciation
• Learn Mandarin vocab
• Respond to a career coach
• Wash the dishes
• Do some laundry
• Tidy the house
• Prepare for class
• Teach class

Not a long or complicated list by any one's standards. Here's what I ended up doing:

• Prepare for class
• Teach class
• Watch 10 episodes of Heroes till 1 in the morning
• Read this new blog I discovered. Ok, look at the picture cause it's in Danish or Swedish...

I really need to be more focused (now there's an understatement).

On my new second favourite blog I found this: Guerrilla gardening- graffiti with nature; "without permit or license, we plant seeds and seedlings in all those neglected corners of public space. Join us as we vandalise the city with nature!"
I love the idea of randomly scattering seeds around the city that will turn into beautiful flowers. I see some guerrilla gardening in my future.

Will I never learn?

Weather: chilly
Temp: -2 to 4
Exchange rate: RMB1 = R 1,49
Marketers' dream: I think they're trying to say that the shopping mall being advertised will be brand heaven... or maybe not.

The thing with cats... I love our cats. I really do, but sometimes, just sometimes, I wish they'd give more. My cats are real cats - they expect a lot and give a little. Frikkie often jokes that they allow us to live in their apartment. We have to put up with all their whims, not to mention adolescent growing pains. Sam is still spraying. On Friday morning I woke up to a wet, funky-smelling duvet. On Saturday he sprayed the couch. He still yowls all night. Threats of cutting off his nuts with the kitchen scissors have no impact - he carries on regardless. NuNu hides in closets. Monkey ignores me some of the time, and Frikkie all of the time. Where is the love? Maybe I'm becoming more of a dog person.

Perhaps you can answer this question for me. Why is that when you have time to study, you don't? I often say that if I could do my degree again I'd be far more diligent and get better grades. Yeah right. Right now I'm not looking for a full-time job so I can study Mandarin. But what do I do? Of course I don't study as hard as I should. I didn't even do my homework or revenue work this weekend, so today's class was really hard going and I could see that Demi was more than a little frustrated with me. Argh. I will do better for Wednesday's class.

We had a busy social weekend. Friday night we went to Pinotage, the South African restaurant, with Elkarien. Then on Saturday night we went to dinner and jazz with Jo and Lenora from my fashion design class. On Sunday we went to breakfast with Bob, Suzanne, Sho Sho and Ernest at Opposite House in Sanlitun. Making new friends can be hard work.