The 2 hour haircut-massage

Last week, I had almost a 2hr haircut for 3.73 American dollars (28 kuai here). This extravaganza included an hour long massage (head, neck, shoulders, arms, hands and back). I remember haircutting included complimentary massages from my first hair cut here in 2001. But you know what was especially momentous about this haircut was when my hair was washed, I was actually lying down on the massage table and there is a sink just past where my head was placed. It was funny because she washed my hair first, but by the time my massage was complete, my hair had dried so she had to rinse my hair again for the haircut. My last hair cut was in May in Brasil under similar not sharing-the-same-language- circumstances. Leave it to me to show up at the salon not even knowing how to say "haircut"! But though the wonders of pantomiming and showing them pictures of what I liked, mission accomplished. The establishment was hoping! It was a Saturday night and their hours daily go until 10:30pm and I was there until 9:15pm, having arrived around 7:30pm or so. I think my massage went longer since they were backed up, she kept checking with the stylist and then the massage would continue to proceed. In addition to the stylists and masseuses, there are these Hair Holding Individuals. They sit in chairs behind the stylist and then when he blow dries hair, they spring into action and hold sections of hair in place while he wields and yields the blow drier. I couldn't help but be amused, thinking, hey, hair clips could be used here, but we can use this young little feller instead. Labor, oh labor, China style. They were a very friendly bunch and I think the next time I have a few hours and feel like getting a free massage and being fawned over by a fleet of Chinese haircutting crews, I am definitely going back!

Security Guard Triangualtion, German Cereal Triumphs, and "Frenzied, Desperate" spinning

Earlier this week I found myself triangulated by three security guards in the park by my school. I was lying down resting when I thought I heard something. I didn't see anything, but then I heard something again. I sat up to see three security guards watching me from three different angles about five feet away from me. Yikes, how long were they there for I couldn't say. They asked me questions, one of the only ones I could understand was "are you American or Canadian?" I wondered if I replied that I was Canadian they would let me stay in the park. But in flirting with the risks of park deportation, I told them I was American. Long story short, I came to understand they were worried I was sick, and wanted me to sit on my book (people don't tend to sit on the ground here. IES buds, remember squatters? People squat on streets and sidewalks everywhere all the time). Now when I go to the park, one of the security guards comes and sits next to me and we have little chats. Then the other day another one of the three came up to me and asked me questions while feeling the grass with his hands around me. He left and returned with two large, poster-sized maps of the park and lay them on the grass for me to lie on. I am very grateful and fortunate to now have park friends! I no longer necessitate guards radioing in for back up like they did the first time! hahahhahaha

Speaking of back up, Caitlin and I have learned to be resourceful in finding back up breakfast plans. We are the female versions of Jerry Seinfield, we are cereal addicts. So much so, that back home, if on those rare occasions we don't eat cereal for breakfast, we find our bodies calling for it and find a way to eat it later on in the day. But American cereal is really expensive here, some kinds can cost as much as 82 kuai, which is the equivalent to buying a box of cereal for twelve dollars in the states! We go to an expat grocery store to treat ourselves to cereal from other lands, which is comparatively less expensive. Now our shelves are lined with Australian "Wheet-bix" (sort of like a frosted mini-wheets but without the frosting and more flaky) and German cornflakes, hands down the best price we have seen thus far at 17.20 kuai per box. Our new plan is if we go home, we are returning to China with suitcases lined exclusively with cereal and paper towels.

It may be less important for me to have the breakfast of champions as I will no longer be running the Beijing marathon--still aching over missing this one! Registration is full and closed, I totally missed the boat. I tried emailing several people about still trying to register. Then someone emailed me back and told me if I could get to their office by 5pm that day, I could register as it was the last day to register in person. But I had to work so I sadly missed the boat again. But I have my eyes on another marathon in Dalian in June, and that way I have enough time to train.

Caitlin and I have both been sick for a while and I have only run outside once here! We were 45 miles north of Beijing visiting Auntie Sue and Uncle Paul's new country house. (Auntie Sue is my mom's cousin). Its absolutely gorgeous there. Their house is in a farm village of 350 people, the same number of people that live in my hometown in NH--actually, last I heard we are up to 351. In any event, Mutianyu is tucked just underneath a jagged portion of The Great Wall, and you can see The Great Wall from every room of their house, including the pantry and their shower outside. It never got old for me. Caitlin and I would be brushing our teeth and I'd go, "Hey Cay, it's The Great Wall!' Or we'd in the kitchen getting a glass of water and I'd point excitedly, "Hey, there it is again, it's still there!" We climbed it while we were there for the weekend. Too many steps and too many people to run on it, but I did run in the village and as I was on my way back, I was running with The Great Wall in plain sight, I couldn't believe it--I still can't.

So in lieu of running outside, Caitlin and I are taking spinning classes at our gym, and it's really funny because she looked up the characters for one of the classes and it translates as "Intense, Frenzied, Desperate." hahaha, no intimidation there! I don't think I have never sweat so much before, but its fun because our instructor is this incredibly merry, constantly smiling, massively muscular Chinese trainer and he cheerily sings along to all the songs and makes us happy. We are buds, Cay calls hims the Jolly Chinese Giant. The CD he plays has one American song on it, and he gives us a shout out each time he plays it. Are you ready to guess which song? Of all the songs it could be, I am sure "Who Let The Dogs Out?" was not your first guess:) Yesterday after he played the song in class he pressed the pause button and and goes, "Megan, what does this song mean in Chinese?" And the whole class, dripping in sweat, turns to me for an explanation. So I stammered out my best Chinese explanation: "Ummmm, okay. So there are dogs. And people let the dogs go outside to run. To ummm, run....run and play. But the people want to know, who is the person that lets the dogs go outside?" Oh wow. hahaha, I think you had to be there.

They also use a disco ball for each of the classes with a strobe light! YES! It really does give the class an extra special something:) We took a class from another trainer but it just wasn't the same. He didn't speak but he would occasionally hang from the pipe on the ceiling above his bike--I was jealous because it looked like fun but we didn't have pipes. It was also amusing because he was shirtless, which is fine and perfectly commonplace, but I couldn't help but think hey, if you are really hot, maybe you don't want to wear long denim shorts with a belt next time:)

Go, Caitlin! Go, Fernando!

Since my last email to everyone, Caitlin was hired as a staff writer at Sports Illustrated China! I couldn't be a prouder older sibling. Last night, I was brushing my teeth while she interviewed the agent for the first Chinese basketball player to play in the NBA! This morning, she went to a press conference and we LOVE that she gets to shake hands and introduce herself, "Caitlin Rhodes, Sports Illustrated China." (!)

In another fun development, Sports Illustrated annually participates in athletic competitions with other magazines. They excitedly approached Caitlin about what athletic events she'd like to compete in, and when they mentioned running, she said, "Oh my sister runs marathons, too bad she can't race for us." Well, they actually really liked that plan, and now on October 20th, I am also a staff member at Sports Illustrated. Here is Caitlin's email to me:

i signed you up for the 800m. it was really funny/sketchy because the office manager came over and asked me to sign up for the 800 and the shot putt...so i was like okay, and i did it, and then he looked around furtively and said..."your sister..." and I was like ohhh, you want me to.... and he nodded. so I was like uhhh and he was like ok she'll run the 800, you run the 400. DEAL! lol um...on october 20th, if we are still in Beijing, you are officially an SI employee for a day. and he said that if you run the 800 and i run the 400, we'll definitely win the competition. no pressure. love you! miss you already! ps i was like someone give me a shot put to practice with, i have never thrown one before...

Good old sibling, as she says, "I don't even know how to spell it, let alone throw it...is it put or putt?" She asked if they could give her one and they said, "Oh you want to practice with one?" And Caitlin goes, "Yeah. Also I have not even seen one before." But my money is still on sibling without a doubt.

Just when I though my little sibling could not be more of a rock star, we scored VIP tickets to The China Open. We watched Fernando Gonzales beat Tommy Rebredo 6-1, 1-6, 6-3. It was so funny to hear the collective, "Ai yaaaaaaas" and "Ai yoooooooooos" from the crowd when one of the player's hit the ball out or into the net. We were so close to the court that we realized if we cheered for Fernando, he could actually hear us! So we planned out and geared up for partnered cheers. People around us were amused and would turn and look at us every time. But we didn't hold a candle to the fiery force that was the Chilean crew behind us! People in our box took pictures of them, they were vocally gifted projectors and seriously spitted--- loved their energy! Fernando appreciated it too, he gave them a shout out during his victory speech at the awards ceremony.

Before the singles match we saw the doubles final as well. In between the two matches there were a few hours to walk around and we came upon a practice court with a good crowd. At first I could only see one woman playing on one side of the court. But then I heard Caitlin exclaim, "Amelie Mauresmo!" She was the player on the other side of the court, we couldn't believe it! I jumped up on a bench and watched her consistently nail backhands at her coach, she was drilling them with so much power, like Fernando powers his forehand. She was on a roll! Again, we couldn't believe how close she was--we could see all her muscles, she is one strong lady! Ironically, I had wanted to take a picture of her life-size poster board cut out at the entrance to the stadium but I didn't take it because I was a little embarrassed to do so in front of Caitlin's boss (even though he's the nicest guy) and now we have actual pictures of Mauresmo herself in action--captured all her muscles and everything:)

Next to Maureso, I am convinced Cay truly is the strongest and buffest gal in China. We have never seem other girls lift weights at our gym, and Caitlin outlifts some of the fellas! The other day she was lifting and one of the trainers came over and took weight off of hers to add to the person he was working with, and even after he had done so, Caitlin was still out lifting him by 22lbs! It's amazing how incredibly small the women are here. When I go shopping, I ask for the largest size they have. My skirt I purchased yesterday is an XXL, which is funny to me because in '01 I got pants here that were XXXL! A Ladies "small" in China would fit the children in our kindergarten....I wish I was kidding! Since I have been here, I would say I have seen a handful of women who are above a size 2. Negative 2 seems to be base line! And with all due respect to the fellas as well, there doesn't tend to be a whole lot to them either, especially the security guards. It's almost like a rule that to be one you have to be really thin.

Interestingly, China has security guards stationed everywhere all the time. They are at the entrance of every building you enter, sometimes you see them standing in the street. Some of them are so little, I think some are about 15 years old. I think even I could take one! My conservative estimate is that Caitlin could took take down about seven at once in about three and half seconds. It's empowering to feel so strong and big walking the streets here, oh the powers of relativity....