My Life So far..

Yesterday, I went to my first ever Halloween fetish party.  I never really decided on going but after being persuaded by Lee, I decided that it might be fun & we went shopping for costumes.

Trev had suggested that I go as a schoolgirl of sorts: white shirt, plait skirt & lots & lots of cleavage.  So that’s exactly what I did.  We went to Xiu Shui, started searching for the needed items…Took us about an hour or two but it was fun.  Now I know how to bargain, anything they quote, go even lower than what you want then bargain from there…

Anyways, the skirt was too small for me so I had to do a few alterations to it.  Add buckle here, a huge slit there & waalah!! A skirt that fits.  Even bought new underwear, HOT PINK!!!Hahahah…now that’s the scary part!!

Then we started getting ready at about 9.30 or 10-ish…I did Yuko’s make up & hair…then started on mine & we were ready to go by 11-ish.  Got there..saw interesting costumes & people..took a few pictures with them…got bored…went to Nanjie..had a pizza….had a couple of drinks…went home…

That was pretty much it… If you wanna see pictures, go to my photos…

I just got myself a webcam today.  Pretty cheap too..about 180 kuai. So…..

………………………I’m happy!! ………………..

                                 ….^_^…..

It’s the 3rd week of Ramadhan now & Muslims around the world are supposed to be abstaining themselves from ‘worldy pleasures’ ( food/drink, sex, cursing etc) during this month.

What happens is that from dawn to dusk, Muslims are to fast & by fast I mean:

1) No eating / drinking

2) No smoking

3) No gossiping /cursing / no bad thoughts in head

4) No contact with the opposite sex (unless you’re related by marriage or blood- I think..)

5) No revealing clothes (applicable to women like me)

6) NO SEX!!!!!(Well, during the daytime anyways.)

To date, I have yet to fast for a single day.  Not proud of this fact but hey, at least I’m truthful!  Actually, I only found out about this month being Ramadhan through my friend.  By then, Ramadhan had already started.

Anyways, the final day of fasting is supposed to be on 2nd November(depends on the moon or something like that. If I’m wrong, someone please correct me) So the big day(Hari Raya) would be on the 3rd & that’s when ‘hell’ breaks loose.

Understand this.  What happens just before Hari Raya is that all mums unite & become the most busy human beings in the world!!  They start fussing about how dirty the house is, how much work needs to be done, start baking goodies( pineapple tarts, chocolate cookies, crispy spring rolls etc), start shopping for cartons & cartons of soft drinks, shop for new curtains & upholstery, go to the wet market & then complain that the price for prawns/ beef has gone up & then proceed to buy kilogrammes of the mentioned seafood…the list goes on & on..

Hari Raya had always fascinated me when I was younger because I associated this day with money.  Adults would give us children envelopes containing money ranging from the usual $2 - $50, depending on your relationship with the giving adult.  As long as you weren’t working, you would be "entitled’ to receiving these envelopes.  During a good month, a child would be able to get as much as $1000(if you’re lucky!!) Then your parents would make you put all of the money in the bank for ‘future use’.

How does the day start on Hari Raya?

Well, first things first.  Most families would start to gather together & starting from the parents, start apologising for the wrongdoings that they’ve done the previous year.  Next, the children starts doing the same thing(while thinking deep in their hearts that they’ll start messing up again next week) & get money for apologising( great way to teach the children right?) Then the mayhem begins…..All your relatives start arriving with their broods(at least 2 to 4 vkids kids)..Spend an hour doing the whole "I’m sorry, please bless me, my family, yaadaah,yaadaah..", mess up the house then leave for another house..this can go on & on till the wee hours of the morning.  This goes on for at least a week but in my family, 3 days is more than enough.   

Now, I’m trying to avoid Hari Raya at all cost but this year, it’s not possible..I’ll probably be back by then & I’ll have to set aside money for the kids!! I’ve calculated a total of at least 20 cousins just from my mum’s side of the familythat I need to be giving money to… Sigh…I’m gonna be broke again..wait, I’m always broke!  Hah!!

Hi…..

I’m sick…..the usual thing that happens once Beijing starts getting cold…

Fever, sore throat, aching body, stuffy nose, god knows what else……

I want….wait,no….I need to have bubur ayam topped with soto gravy & lotsa,lotsa chilli….

Sigh….

This past week, I have overdosed myself on coffee on 3 separate occasions.  On all 3 occasions, I ended up feeling extremely wired followed by feeling real sick! Hah!

The coffee place that I go to all the time,(The Coffee Beanery) has been having an offer of some kind, where you pay 38 kuai & you get to have as much coffee/tea/fraps etc. as your body can take.  Of course I always take part in this just because of the fact that I love my coffee & the lack of coffee can actually make me have withdrawals or I just simply get cranky!

Anyway, usually I start myself off with either a double shot chocolate espresso or a medium-sized mug of cappacino.  Sometimes I’ll get the latte or the carmel coffee(I think that’s what it’s called).  I usually stay in The Beanery for at least 2 hours(mostly due to the fact that they have free wireless here!) but within that time span, I would have had at least 3 mugs of coffee plus a cold drink to just wash down the coffee.  The wait staff here are to a certain extent familiar with me now.  They even know what I like to drink..Now that’s cool!!

As a matter of fact, I’m actually at the Beanery right now, posting my blog & uploading new pix into my Shutterfly account(I saw that it had a ’share pictures’ features.  Once I figure it out, I’ll invite whoever to view me pix!!)

Cheers!

Did I ever mention that I love Grandma’s Kitchen?  For one, the food has never let me down.  Plus they have free wireless here as well! Now how cool is that?  I get to have food & be online at the same time!! Bwahahahak!!!

Anyways,it’s the National Day(10/1) holidays here in China & they’ve got a week long holiday.  What usually happens during this week?  Nothing, absolutely nothing!  Most people usually take the opportunity to go places, visit relatives outside of Beijing or just chill out. 

I was told that the last few years, the 10/1 holidays had always been a  bad time for some people to a certain extent.  Most shops would be closed & there wouldn’t be anything much for people to do.  But this year is different.  More shops are open & there are things that I can do. 

I might go visit a few parks which I’ve been wanting to go to since I first got here.  Maybe visit Temple of Heaven or just go for a walk in Bei Hai park or something.  I’m still contemplating going all the way out to Summer Palace but I don’t know.  I’ve read that you can even go up the Beijing TV tower to just take in the view.  That should be interesting, provided the sky is not covered by its usual blanket of pollution in the sky.  I actually want to go to the Beijing zoo but I know that seeing the animals in the disturbingly dirty enclosures would just kill me inside so that’s out.  I might even consider going to Tianjin but I don’t know who to ask to go with me..this one requires more thinking..

So, I’ve got a week at least before I head back to Singapore & turn back into a workaholic so I’m going to try to do as much as I can.  I’ll definately want to take lots of pictures just so that I start doing my whole picture collection again.