Brrr BEIJING!

This time in Beijing was a lot harder, but a lot more fun. I am not sure if it is because my Chinese is worse than before or because I was there longer and did more.

Starting with the fun. I continue to travel a lot and see very little. This trip I decided to get in a day early and see some of Beijing. It's a hard decision to add an extra day away from home, but one of my long time friends at the company, Catherine, was going to be in China too so we convinced each other.

I don't know when I have ever packed so much into a Sunday. After 17 hours in transit to Beijing - we did the Great Wall, Tian'amen Square, The Forbidden City and the Olympic Village - and none of those places are close to each other.

The hotel tried to convince us not to go to the Wall - saying the weather wasn't good. Well, we only had one day so it was good enough.

Did you know when you barter in China you are supposed to go down to 15-20% of the starting price? Yeah, me neither...I think we did alright. The morning started with the Great Wall. We had to negotiate with a taxi driver to take us there (2 hours), wait for us and bring us back - we were speaking English, he Chinese, the bell boy "translating" (you never really know do you?). I think we made the right choice, not only did we get a fair price ($650 RMB), but he shaved 30 minutes off the Lonely Planet estimated time, while providing a thrilling experience.

The Wall was spectacular. We chose to go to Badaling. Badaling is further from the city, but worth it. After being harassed by hawkers (they convinced Catherine to buy a hat and gloves with the promise that it would be very cold up there),

we took a cable car up to a section of the Wall. The sm/fog made the Wall look like it was suspended in the clouds. The climb is challenging and invigorating. One of the more surprising things was the lack of white people. It was crowded, and everyone was Asian. When we had seen enough, we took the cable car back down. Within a couple seconds of arriving in the car park, our taxi driver had spotted us (super impressive) and we were on our way back to Beijing and on to the Forbidden City/Tian a'men Square.

Upon arriving in Tian'amen Square (later we found out that what we thought was the square wasn't actually the square, it was in fact the one across the street!), we realised that everyone thought Catherine was Chinese (she is Korean). Throughout the whole trip people were approaching her and speaking Chinese. Then they were taken a back when I told them (in my very broken Chinese) that she didn't speak Chinese, followed by confusion that she wasn't actually Chinese. I am not saying it wouldn't have been helpful if she was.

We met up with the rest of the team for some Peking Duck at one of the most famous restaurants in Beijing. Fortunately, we had an actual Chinese colleague with us so it was ensured that we would actually get the duck.

Time to get to work...

We woke up Wednesday to about 4 inches of snow. Snow makes it impossible to get around!!Realising that my feet were still wet, my throat was getting sore, I wasn't going to get to Shanghai until midnight and I was meeting with one of the biggest, most important companies in the world the next morning (GE), I called the hotel and arranged a car to pick me up. Best decision ever!

Celebrating Denise!

It was so nice to be at home. It was the first time in 8 years of working, we took two weeks off of work. (In fact, when we moved to Australia, I didn't even take one day off.) We spent both of those weeks in NJ. It was wonderful to catch-up with friends and family. We got to celebrate Nana's 80th birthday with her; catch up with mom and dad; have lunch with Lauren; spend some time with Laura, Lee and Larry; see Maddie growing bigger; meet Nash; and be around long enough for RJ to know Aunt Liss and Uncle Sean.

Our last night we got to celebrate Denise! It was a celebration of 10 years cancer free. I can't think of a better reason to celebrate! It was such a special day of everyone coming together from all of the stages of her life.

Finishing in the top 3!

Our time at our new beach house culminated with the Brigantine Triathlon. Sean had set a goal for himself to break an hour and 10 minutes this year. Going into it, it was questionable whether or not his bike would make it. He brought his old bike back from Australia. While training that week he had gone through 3 tire tubes. Once he was down in Sea Isle and Dad and I had to bring the van down to pick him up. This triathlon, isn't like the Tour de France with your crew following you in case of a blowout - if your tire goes, you mind as well throw in the towel.

You'll see that he not only met his goal, but he slashed it and came in third! His fan club was very happy :)

Bahamavention

I kicked off my four weeks in the US with a Bahamavention with Sherry. How fun is that?! Sherry recently moved to Orlando so one of us was going to have to fly in order for us to get together. Neither of us were too psyched about spending the weekend with Mickey or Barack so we decided on Nassau. It was an inexpensive, direct flight for both of us and there was a Sheraton - which means hotel points.

The beaches on Nassau are some of the most beautiful I've been to. If you're an east coaster, it rivals Fiji, yet much closer and less expensive. Don't miss what's in your own back yard!

It was great to catch-up with Sherry and have a girls weekend. It's one thing I've missed being so far away from home!

A winter break

Not that we can complain about an Australian winter, but it was starting to get to us. So, we planned a trip up north to take a break from the grey days and get some sun. We decided on Noosa, a quaint little beach side town in Queensland. It is about an hour and a half plane ride from Melbourne, an easy weekend trip. Because the field hockey league I coach in thinks it's a funny joke to have all its games on Friday night, we took off early Saturday morning. Our friends from Sydney (you may remember Leela and Pete from an earlier post), met us up there. It was our first time going away with another couple - boy was it a blast!

Noosa was every bit as great we heard it would be. Beautiful beaches and no dramas. On Saturday we spent some time walking along the beaches and visiting the Surf Life Saving Club. Are you asking yourself, how fun can that be? Did someone get hurt? No mate, the SLSCs are one of the coolest things we have discovered in Australia. They are club houses right on the beach. Think Elk's Club, Night's of Columbus, etc... cheap beer, on a club house deck, overlooking some of the most amazing views you've seen in your life. What a find!

After the beach, Leela and Pete brought a couple of bottle of sparkling wine to our room in the evening and our night of fun began....

The next morning Sean and Pete got up for a run and Leela and I did some yoga on the beach followed by a beach front massage. Perfect! Brekky then a bike ride to the neighbouring beaches (and of course we had to try the beer at their Life Saving Clubs :)). Leela introduced me to shandies. Yum. What a refreshing way to enjoy an afternoon beer.

During the trip Sean and Pete decided we'd be back. Next time it would be to compete in the Noosa triathlon, one of the preeminent in Australia.

I guess there will be less Life Saving Club visits next time... for the boys that is!