Weekend

I had a very busy weekend. I enjoyed two nights out - along with getting a haircut and highlights, a massage and a pedicure. After a long week at work, Kathy and I headed out with some friends on Friday evening. We had a great time, and I turned into a pumpkin at 2:00 AM and headed home ahead of the group. On Saturday we slept in and then did some shopping and had pedicures because it was raining. Our original plan was to visit the Forbidden City - but neither of us wanted to go in bad weather. On Saturday we went to a group dinner at DaDong Restaurant. You may recognize the restaurant name from an earlier post, it is famous in Beijing for Peking/Roast Duck. It was my 2nd trip there. After dinner we went to Houhai Lake and sat outside watching a soccer game. A highlight of the evening was when a puppy joined us on the patio where we were sitting - we literally passed the poor thing around for a good half an hour before giving it back to the owner. It was exhausted! A low point of the evening was a restroom in one of the bars - it was the dirtiest thing I have ever seen in my entire life - and prompted me to create some new terminology. Instead of restroom, I now say eastroom (Eastern Standard) and westroom (Western Standard) depending on the style of toilet in the setting.

Yesterday, I got my haircut at a place called Toni & Guy. Apparently it is a chain in the UK - and that's where my hairdresser Scarlett is from. The best part of the visit - English language magazines. I did not put them down the entire time. After the hair appointment, I met up with Kathy for lunch before hitting the Summer Palace for a few hours. Last stop for the evening was a massage. The facility is located in our apartment building. One neat part of the process was the 'cupping" portion, which apparently aids in removing toxins from your body. It was definitely interesting, and I kept thinking that Erin, Kathy and I were just like Madge and Gwyneth having it done in London!