From May 5-16 students have been taking AP exams. Because of this I was able to, pretty consistently, get out of work early. I also had a lot of free time at work.
With that free time I took lots of naps and watched a lot of youtube videos. I also found a nice place to get coffee near work called Gaia Cafe. The place has a nice atmosphere with indoor and outdoor seating. I consistently got coffee there almost every day for the last two weeks.
For the first week I mostly just took the extra time to get to the gym early. As such I was able to increase the intensity and duration of my workouts. I even went on the weekend. I am back down to 86 kilos!
On Tuesday May 6th I got dinner with the guys group, and this time Faye was invited. We went to Taal Indian restaurant in SeaWorld. It was really good.
On Sunday May 11th I got my nails done.
For the second week I continued the fitness trend. I usually just go across the street to the Panatta Gym branch at the Garden City Mall but on Monday the 12th I went to the Hilton branch of my gym to use their outdoor pool. This branch is closer to sea world. I walked home afterward.
On Wednesday the 14th I decided to take a long walk instead of going to the gym.
I got a couple of fancy cocktails at Fannou House and dinner at Gecko in SeaWorld afterward.
After work on Friday I skipped the gym and went to Da Peng Peninsula for a night. I stayed in the Mi Yue Shenzhen Blue and White Holy Island Cliff Pool Hotel. It was beautiful. My reservation included a lot of great amenities and the stay was very comfortable. On Saturday I went to the nearby Sapphire Beach, Da Peng Fortress, Da Peng National Geopark Museum, and hiked on Qi Niang Mountain.
I got back to the bottom of the mountain just as the sun was going down. I was soaked in sweat. I took a long, carsickness inducing, taxi ride to Da Mei Sha. When I got out of the taxi I had to find a place to vomit. After I puked I bought a sprite, sat down, and let my brain return to equilibrium before taking the long metro ride back home.
Over an hour and two transfers later I was back in Sihai. I went home, made a very late dinner, got ready for bed, and was out cold fairly quickly.
Today I just spent the day recovering from my Saturday of adventure. This coming week we are back on a regular schedule at work. I will have my students working on a final project.
Next weekend Faye and I will go to Bangkok. Then on the 26th I need to turn over my passport to have my visa renewed so, much to my and Faye's chagrin, won't be doing any international travel until I fly to the US on June 14th. However, the door is still open for domestic travel within China while I wait to get my passport back.
I will start this post with some fantastic news. Faye got a tourist visa for the US!. She applied in early September and had her appointment at the US consulate in Guangzhou on September 19th. I took a day off to join her for moral support. She was originally scheduled for an appointment in Hong Kong on Monday the 22nd but thanks to a last minute policy change requiring all applicants to apply in their country of origin, she was forced to cancel her appointment with no refund and reschedule in Guangzhou. Fortunately, through a combination of our efforts and a bit of luck, it was all worth it and she got the visa. Here she is on the way to her appointment. Here she is minutes before getting in line. Here she is after she got approved for the visa. Afterward we celebrated by relaxing in Guangzhou for the rest of the weekend. I worked hard all September, and even had to report to work on a typhoon day to teach remotely because my school won't...
After my trip to the US and Canada I had two full days of rest at home in Shenzhen. During which time I prepared for the next trip. Faye and I flew out of HK on the 12th of July. There was a brief layover in Bangkok and then we landed in Stockholm Arlanda Airport in the morning of July 13th. I foolishly exchanged currency forgetting that Sweden has gone mostly cash free as of late. Then we took the Arlanda Express into T-Centralen and from there we used the metro (t-bana) to get to Fridhemsplan. From there it was a short walk to the Courtyard Marriot Stockholm Kungsholmen. We were very early, so we got some coffee. We were prepared to wait for a while to check in, but when we asked the front desk if we could store our bags until check-in they actually were able to check us in early and even upgrade our room to one with a better view of the park. So we checked in, then walked to Joe and the Juice for breakfast. Our flight ...
It has been a busy couple of months since my last post. While I may have settled into a sustainable flow state at work. I am still quite busy during the week. I am maintaining my fitness routine of at least 3 weekly gym days and a weekly swim. If I skip the swim I add a gym day. On October 19th, the day after my last post, Faye and I went for a walk and stopped at a bar where I enjoyed petting the owner's dog while we had a refreshing drink. On October 20th the high school bio teachers got training on some new lab equipment from MiniOne. The training was focused on gel electrophoresis but we also bought a PCR, micro-pipettes, mini centrifuges, and a bunch of other resources from them. We took a quick weekend trip to Bangkok over the weekend of Halloween. We departed from Shenzhen late on Friday the 31st and got back late Sunday November 2nd. We spent our time there relaxing, shopping, and I introduced Faye to the se...
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