Just Another Week

Date: November 25, 2014

Mood: Relaxed

Weather: Clear and Warm

Listening to: Come Out To Play by Pomplamoose

Reading: Curtsies & Conspiracies by Gail Carriger

Playing catch up again here. Last week's sleepover with the sister-in-laws went quite well. Everyone had a good time, and we ended up extended their fun by dropping all four girls off with the in-laws that next afternoon when I had class. Hubby met up with them that evening to bring the girls home, but that was around 11 o'clock. They were exhausted by the time they came home, and yet wouldn't have changed it for anything. For this I am ever so grateful. 

Saturday was a lazy day spent just vegging at home. Both girls were trying to recover from some cough and congestion funk they both started coming down with. So I was more than happy to do nothing but binge watch the last season of Drop Dead Diva. (Which I finished, btw. Talk about bittersweet moments. I loved that show. haha) 

Sunday we set out bright and early for a local breakfast of noodles and vegetables. Then we were off to watch my oldest sister-in-law compete in the 6th Annual Dong Guan Oral English Competition. There were about 25 of us, family plus teachers and students from the school, that went along to support her. The competition, being the final round of several legs, was held in one of the local television stations. It was recorded live and then aired on tv later that evening. Pretty cool. Our big group spread out throughout the audience seating area and then during the competition we had four big banners, with the school's name on them, that we held up periodically whenever the camera aimed our way or sil was on the stage. It was kind of neat, especially since it was my first ever experience being in a tv audience or even inside a tv studio for that matter. 

I found the seats in the studio to be completely comical. You might wonder what on earth could make me find the chairs comical, yet if you'd have seen them I think you'd have to agree. Effectively, they were bus seats! Now I'm not talking hard plastic city bus seats, but these were literally seats exactly like the cross city/country coach buses we take when traveling from to and from Shenzhen or Guangzhou. They had stair step levels all the way up like solid bleachers, but instead of, say, movie theater style chairs or something of that nature they had these soft bus seats bolted to the floor. haha But, hey, I guess whatever works, right?!

Came home Sunday night to find that hubby was feeling mostly better (yay!). But while we were gone he got a wild hair, no pun intended, to partially shave his head. :( Anyone who knows me knows I prefer him with this hair slightly grown out- not long, but not buzzed either. That's why when I got home and discovered what he'd done to himself I got a bit pissed. I know, I know, it's his hair to do with as he wants. It still aggravated me though because I had asked him not to cut it, especially not like that.Let's just say he now appears to share a barber with Vanilla Ice circa 1990. :o 

In my annoyance I tossed my Beats down on the bed, apparently harder than I intended to, and the bloody things broke. #&@%! Thankfully I'm pretty sure they aren't legit Beats but rather good knock offs. Doesn't make me any more happy about the situation, yet I'm not nearly as broken up about replacing a pair of ¥89 (approx $14.50 USD) as I would be were they the bonafide kind that run approx $152+ USD. In my experience though these knock offs are really just as good. Hubby's out attempting to find me a new pair right now as I was able to superglue these ones okay, but now they are freaking tight fitted on my head. I suppose that's better than not holding up at all; however, I can barely wear them for longer than a few minutes and my ears begin to hurt from the pressure. I'd rather just buy a new pair and keep this pair as back ups. Plus now I can't fold up the ones I have to pack when we travel, and that's just unacceptable. Haha

Last night after we did our shopping at Walmart hubby ran across the street to a little shop he recently discovered and bought me what has quickly become my new favorite drink, zhēnzhū nǎichá 珍珠奶茶. In English it's called Pearl Milk Tea or Bubble Tea as many in the States might refer to it. The McDonald's here sell these too, but the one hubby bought last night was just amazing. It was so good I could seriously see drinking one morning, noon, and night. lol Many people would probably be turned off by the glutenous tapioca-esque balls that they use to make this tea, but I love them. I drink regular Chinese milk tea* quite often and the addition of the pearls makes for a fun and delicious twist on an already tasty treat. 

*I specify Chinese because I do NOT care for the Hong Kong style milk tea. Bleck. Hubby prefers it, however. What's the difference? Honestly I'm not 100% certain, though I think it is the type of tea they use.