Joke in China

HK- report

Oops, I just had to delete the beginning of this blog because it was in Dutch... old habits die hard ;)
I got up at 6.15 (!!) and it was still dark. That was a strange feeling because it is already "day" when I wake up normally (sometime after 6.30). I had a slice of bread and then took a cab to go and pick up Karin. We had a nice chat with the driver and arrived at the train station with plenty of time to spare. We bought the train tickets and boarded the 8.19 train. Ugh!!! How I hate passport controls while travelling WITHIN a country!! First you leave China before you board the train and in HongKong you go through the checks to arrive there officially. Even your bags have to be scanned, it's super ridiculous!! Oooooommm, breath in..... breath out.......
Upon arrival in HK we took a cab to TsimTsaTsui and went shopping. We hit some nice stores and I bought some nice stuff :) Around 12.30 we took the Star Ferry to go to the Central side. Karin had an appointment and in that time I made an appointment too: meeting up with Ans. Ans has been reading my blog for a while now and saw that I was planning to visit HK. A date was quickly made ;) We went shopping some more (H&M and SaSa) and then went to have a coffee, where Karin joined us:

You can find Ans on www.hongkonghonig.blogspot.com
We took the ferry back and went to enjoy a white wine on a enormous terrace in the sun :) It was super comfortable and the cold that had settled in our bones was driven out. It was a very beautiful day in HK yesterday. We talked and talked and then it was time to leave.
When we arrived in GZ we couldn't find a cab so we ended up taking the metro home. We enjoyed a drink at Karin's with Ossi (her husband) and then I went home by bike. All my new purchases fitted into one backpack so it wasn't that bad ;)

Hong Kong

I just got back from HongKong! It was a very nice day and I will tell you more about it tomorrow........

Bike

Ayaaaaa!!! My bike broke down today! The speed cassette was completely loose and wobbly so my chain kept falling off. I tried to put it back on but this was no use. Half covered in grease (Ok, I may be exaggerating a tiny bit) I went to find a bicycle repair shop. Luckily there are many and it only took me ten minutes to walk to one. I had just been at my regular shop to inflate my tyres but at that time I didn't know that the speed cassette was about to die!! The guy was nice and I asked if I could wash my hands. They just got some fresh water to check for holes in somebody's tyre and I was given some washing powder to get the grease off my hands. Hihi, I was totally blending in with the locals, squatting on the street and all. I wasn't allowed to wash my hands above the pail and got told that I had to wash my hands besides it so that the dirty water would drop onto the street. Little bit of a dilemma to figure out how to rinse my hands without making the water super dirty. In the end I managed to kinda keep the water clean. In the meanwhile, mister bike repair man was doing exactly as you might gather from his name; repairing my bike. It didn't take long at all and soon I was on my way again with a new speed cassette! It only cost 20 kuai, including mounting the part and oiling my chain :)
Yep, definitely loving living in China again ;)
Then there is some news from GWIC: I'm going to be helping out Lida as membership coordinator. I already made some phone calls for my new function today, hihi. Just now I got home with Haiwen. We went to have hotpot with a mixed group of people. Mostly musicians and/or Norwegians. In the end the Norwegian consulate picked up the tap. Lucky us! There will be a Norwegian "cultural" party tomorrow which I will attend. Well, now it is time for some rest.... byebye!!! xxx

Cold

These days the weather in GZ is about the same weather as in Holland, sometimes even colder!! Can you believe it? I'm typing this blog on my couch with the laptop on my lap for some more warmth, my legs are covered with a fleece blanket and the air-conditioning is set to heating. It's not comparable to central heating but it is enough to break the cold. I didn't move to the sub tropics to have weather like this!!! ;) ;)
Wait..... a sip of hot tea is needed and I need the cup to warm my hands (aka ice cubes). Constructing GZ
This morning I cycled to Karin's house to practise yoga. The wind was very strong and I used the 2nd gear a long stretch of the way, normally I'm more of a 3rd gear kinda gal ;)
We had a pleasant lesson. I was also at Karin's house yesterday and we watched the movie "Wie im Himmel". It is about a conductor in search of the perfect music/harmony. It is a swedish film but we watched it in German. There are so many layers in this movie! It was very beautiful, funny, sad and true.
On friday I will go to HongKong, yeah! I have the week off and I'm in the mood to do something different. I will go shopping mostly because I'm out of skin care products. Most of the products in the mainland contain whitening agents and I really really don't want that stuff touching my skin! Off to the Body shop it is, hihi! Maybe H&M and the Esprit outlet......

Chulabhorn Walailak

She came to rehearse with us today. What a fuss had to be made!!! When she and her entourage had arrived we weren't allowed to walk through the corridor anymore and had to leave the building to enter via a different door to go to the toilet. Mafan! We had to stand up when she entered the room and also when she left. What age are we living in?? She walked in with a group of at least fifteen people and it didn't look like she was having fun. The afternoon rehearsal started much later then usual but by 16.30 the winds were done. I hopped on my bike to go home. The weather has drastically changed and it is very cold and windy now. On wednesday night it was still 29 C and we switched the airconditioning on because it was too hot and sticky to sleep. On thursday night the temperature was about 16 degrees, brrr! It is also getting dark early now (kind of feels like Europe!!). Since the temperature dropped so suddenly it is still comfortable inside because the cold hasn't seeped in yet.
Well, that's all for now! xxx

Snif

I'm almost better again :) I still sound terrible but fortunately you can only "read" me, hehe ;)
I even ventured out of my house last night to go eat some dinner with my parents in law. After the sudden downpour yesterday it stayed dry. Last night it started raining again and it hasn't stopped since. The temperature has dropped considerably (don't know how much exactly). About the difference between having to wear a light tank top and having to wear a t-shirt with a jacket. It's also very windy now. The office just called that there is a rehearsal on saturday. No, not just any rehearsal! A Thai princes is coming to play with us. She plays the guzheng (horizontal chinese harp) and we're playing a concert with her in december. Apparently she is free this saturday to come and practise with us.
This picture was taken in the Pearl River New City area. As you can see it's so "new" that it's not even finished yet:

17.20
Haha, the orchestra has called 3 times today: once mentioned above, the second time the same guy called to say that the consulate requests us to wear formal clothes to the rehearsal. So no typical cantonese style shorts or flip flops (normally already frowned upon). No shorts is no problem with this cooler weather ;) Then, 2 hours later the HR office calls to relay the same message: "the HR department informs you that you have to attend the rehearsal on saturday". Yes people, this sentence was literally used. Chinglish can be way too formal! And also "please wear formal clothes". Well, I checked; it doesn't necessarily have to be black *sigh of relief*.

Rain

So, I'm still in bed..... still not feeling like myself at all..... missing out on all the fun today....
But at least the weather is entertaining me. This is all that's left of my view:
Sudden Cantonese style downpour. It's starting to rain softer now so I have some clouds to look at and the smog has been washed away :)
Hope that all of you are doing OK out there, whatever part of the world you are in!!

17.30
Hurrah, I've advanced to the stage of being able to watch a dvd :) I was watching Herman Finkers on holiday in Vaals (it's OK if you don't understand this last sentence.... hard to explain!).

New York Times

Please read this article:
Article in the NYT
OMG!!!

Fever

I'm ill, boo!! I have been in bed since yesterday and I don't like it at all. I know I'm supposed to rest now but I just can't get comfy. I'm pretty sure that the world is spinning today.... Haiwen is out working all day long because his boss is here. Hw's parents stop by every now and then to bring soup and to check on me. I've also had some visitors (both real life and online) which made me feel better straight away :) My fever has dropped a bit and as a result I've started to get really sleepy.... maybe I can get a good rest now.....

Waltz time!

It's 14.22 and I'm at the La Seine bakery store next to XingHai. The concert will start at 15.00 so I'll need to go there shortly. Now I'm enjoying the liberty of having a laptop and being able to go online anywhere ;)
Modern technology continues to amaze me.
The dress rehearsal this morning was quick and painless. We're only playing 6 waltzes before the break so that's not hard at all. Good, because I'm quite tired because I didn't sleep at all last night.

I have a student coming in at 17.00 and after that I'm free, yay :)
I'm getting to know more and more people here in GZ; I went to have lunch with my colleagues (american, german and polish) because we didn't want to eat the canteen food and we had plenty of time between the rehearsal and the concert. Another couple I know walked in and we had a nice chat. When we were back at the concert hall, another friend walked by. Nice!!!
OK, now I should seriously go get changed and work ;)