Getting ready to vote! VIVA!

Weather: warm, with a slight breeze
Temp: 10 -24
Spring has sprung: there are flowers everywhere. I love it.

I'm loving springtime in Beijing. I just can't get over how quickly the city has changed. I was gone for 2 weeks and boom - winter's done and dusted and there is this lush, green city that's replaced the dry, dreary place I call home. Perhaps it's the suddenness with which it occurred that fascinates me, being a country bumpkin from the Southern Hemisphere. I've taken millions of close-up photos of all the blossoms I've come across. Pointless, but beautiful. Perhaps I'll get creative, have the best ones printed on canvass and hung in my house. Mmm, on second, thought, perhaps not.

Tomorrow I will go and vote in the South African general elections. I'm excited. I believe that my vote will make a difference. I have to believe, otherwise I may despair. And I don't want to despair. I want to have hope. I want to be feel the way I did in 1994.

I'm also off to Shanghai tomorrow afternoon. We need a place to live and I need to find it. I'm excited about moving. A whole need city to go and rummage around in. Whoop, whoop.

Hey, hey, it's Friday

Weather: mild
Temp:12 - 23
Band on the run: Stella and I hanging out with Pete, the lead singer from London band, Playmaker.

I said good-bye to my Mandarin tutor Demi today. Instead of having a class we went for breakfast at Grandma's Kitchen near the Bei Xin Qiao subway station. I really like Demi. She's forever telling me things about Chinese society that slightly shock me. Like this - somebody offered her a large sum of money to write the entrance exam to a master's degree on their behalf. Because said person doesn't have the time. Apparently this happens quite often. Oh well, as they say, TIC (This is China).

Youtube is still blocked. And has been for two weeks. In case you don't know the background, read it here. I guess the question is: will Google remove the offending video? We all know what the South African government would have done in this case, but let's see how Google, the owners of youtube, reacts.

Sewing

Weather: warm, polluted
Temp:12 - 27
Pink: Beijing has lots of peach trees, so there are little pink blossoms everywhere. Who needs to go to Japan to go see the cherry blossoms if you have these on your doorstep.

I know I'm a little bit slow, but I finally joined Twitter. My friend Rebecca loves it, so I figured it can't all be bad and what can I say, I have time on my hands. You can follow my tweets here http://twitter.com/LifeInChina

My class was canceled today, so it's just me and the kitties hanging out. I'm thinking of sewing something, but I may just finish this great book I'm reading (White Tiger by Aravind Adiga). Decisions, decisions.

Sam seems to be doing fine. He actually has some personality instead of just standing there jowling and peeing on stuff. I think we both felt pretty crappy yesterday and slept for most of the day. The older I get the worse my hangovers are and the longer it takes to recover. No seriously. I was in bed by 9 last night. Frikkie rang me up at 11:30 or so. Or should I rather say Andrew Lamb rang me up (Aussie who works with Frikkie), speaking broken Afrikaans... Andrew, Holly and Frikkie had been to a drink all you can (and then some) champagne evening somewhere. Andrew's Afrikaans wasn't half bad actually. Frikkie wasn't feeling so hot this morning though. Maybe I'll ring him at 11:30 tonight...

A whole new level of weird

Weather: muggy and hot
Temp: 10 - 28
Els girls: Aren't they beautiful? Natasha, Annemarie and I at my mom's place in East London.

Ok, I just experienced a whole new level of weird. I went to the vet to pick up Sam. And they wanted to give me his nuts, in a little plastic bag. WTF? Like I said, a whole new level of weird.

I am severely hung-over today. Severely. I met Stella at Face Bar and let's just say it went down hill from there. The funniest thing happened. One of Stella's friends, who's name escapes my hung-over brain right now, is on her gap year. So, I said that I took a gap year to0, to kibbutz in Israel. Her response? "Ah, my mom did that too. It must have been an era." I started laughing. She looked puzzled. I guess she could have been my kid if I got pregnant at 17.

What did I do before?

Weather: hot
Temp: 9 - 30
Birthday love: My godson Jackson has great taste - he must get it from his mama cause how else did he pick such a perfect gift for me.

I was wondering today what I did with my time before we went to South Africa. I'm bored. Beyond bored actually. For two weeks I pretty much dashed from one appointment to the next. Now - nothing. Ok, not nothing, I'm teaching at 5, but that's certainly not enough to keep my mind occupied. And my mates are busy so I'll only see them on Saturday.

To break the tedium I went back to one of my favourite sites and folded this origami flower. I bought a Chinese origami book a little while ago, but I think you need to be able to read the instructions as well as follow the illustrations. Doh. At least I had the little squares of paper handy, so it wasn't a complete waste of money. I dig my little flower.

Sam is going to the vet at 4pm for his op tomorrow morning. Hallelujaaah!

I love Beijing in the Spring time

Weather: hot, hot, hot
Temp: 9 to 29
Blossoming: Sam and I spotted these blossom during our walk.

Spring has arrived! Hooray! The garden of Phoenix City is slowly but surely coming to life after the harsh winter. The grass is still dead, but the cleaners were cleaning the water features today so I'm hoping it's just a matter of time till they runneth over. And they fill the swimming pool. Soon.

I cleaned the apartment today. Or more precisely I tried to get rid of the cat pee smell. I have, I think, for the most part, succeeded thanks to P-Off - something I found at Diskem and lugged all the way here. Sam has of course done his best to eradicate my efforts, but, touch wood, he's going for his snip on Wednesday and that will be the end of that. It will also be the end of Sam's nuts. He is on thin ice - I had to wash ALL my bedding today. My bedroom door will stay firmly shut tonight.

My godson Jackson and his momma Rebecca gave me the most beautiful bracelet for my birthday. I LOVE wearing it. I'll take a photo of it tomorrow.

And I'm home

Weather: sunny and warm
Temp: 8 - 23
Monkey loves luggage: I hadn't even unpacked everything yet when Monkey squeeze herself into one of my bags.

I'm back home in Beijing. The flights were long, but somehow bearable. Sam still yowls, NuNu is eating again, all the plants are still alive, so all is good in Beijing. And have I mentioned that the weather has greatly improved? It was warm today! Warm people. Come on summer! We won't mention that the apartment now really smells of cat pee. Well, it can't all be good.

I had the best time in South Africa. I spent an amazing week in East London. I went for walks on the beach almost every morning, got to spend loads of time with my family and loved every second of it.

And then I got to hang with my in-laws and friends. Not as much as I had wanted to, but it was good. I can't believe how quickly the kiddies are growing up. Jackson, Erin, Riley, Jared... it's quite amazing how much they've changed in 6 months. Thanks everybody for making the effort and spending some time with me. Love you long time.