Who would you team up with if you were to join the Amazing Race?

I was planning on going out today to grab some fresh air and just walk around the city but after lunch I chanced upon the Amazing Race marathon on AXN and that pretty much kept me nailed to my couch. How fun would that be to race around the world?! I know it's probably tougher than it looks and arguing with your partner must be a b*tch, but wow, I mean what an experience it would be...

I was thinking, if I were to join the show, I would most probably take my sister. I know I always tease her to death for being maarte but I know she'd step up when the situation calls for it. Otherwise, I can always bully her into stepping up. Hahaha. Joke. But yeah, it would be a great adventure. Unfortunately, although they're now looking for contestants for Amazing Race Asia 3, my sister is waaay below the age limit.

What about you? Who would you team up with if you were to join the Amazing Race?

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Celebrations here in Beijing have reached fever pitch as we enter the new lunar year, the year of the Earth Rat. I know, I know it sounds sooo unglamorous, but hey, what can we do.

Gong Xi Fa Cai - Kung Hei Fat Choi - A prosperous new year to everyone!

- from your suking Chekwa :)

Satellite TV is a Godsend

I've had a small satellite dish installed and it kind of makes me feel stupid because I should have done this a long time ago. I almost hugged my cable guy when I heard the first few strains of Filipino from the TV. It's very disconcerting to see all those Filipino shows and commercials inside my apartment, and hear only Chinese when I step out.

But I guess it really is the small things like those that drive away homesickness. I actually just look forward to going home and crashing in my couch, having a Subway sandwich for dinner and just happily flipping through the channels. I used to do that before as well -- but it really kinda gets old when you only have Discovery Channel, National Geographic, CNN and HBO to choose from...

Now I have all the channels which ironically also got me through another tough time in my life a.k.a. living in Cebu. ETC and 2nd Avenue and Travel & Living; MTV Pilipinas and AXN and Star World... and I finally get to introduce my Beijing friends to ABSCBN and GMA7 and Studio23. :)

When you're away, you hold on to every little thing that reminds you of home. My new satellite TV is one of those things that somehow make it a little bit easier to believe that (maybe) Beijing isn't really that far after all...

And you know what's weird...?

Here in China, they ban blogspot but they don't ban blogger. Which basically means I can post blog entries but won't be able to view them in my webpage environment. Well, what the heck.

It has been a challenging week for me. Coming back from my Christmas + New Year vacation in the Philippines, I thought I was going to be ok for quite a long period of time. But work kicked in and I was doing overtime for a couple of hours for almost five days straight (including a Saturday spent in the office) so I guess that kind of took the steam off my happy momentum.

That stressful week was followed by sleepless nights when I would only fall asleep when I physically had to -- and not a minute before that. And that is usually around 2-3am, and then my sleep would be laden with dreams. Not necessarily disturbing, but then dreams still tend to tire you out. You don't feel like your mind has rested. I would wake up the next day half-dragging myself to work and feeling like a zombie -- and perhaps looking like one as well.

I have always been on the lookout for things that will "uplift" my quality of life here in Beijing. So I have bitten the bullet and taken the plunge -- I enrolled in a (wee bit expensive) photography class - something I have wanted to explore since... forever. Anyway. Point is, I'm trying to find a hobby, a distraction if you may, to fill those hours which I would otherwise spend pining about home and thinking sad thoughts.

I've also found a cable service provider that can provide me with all the (English) channels I want -- and also throw in some Pinoy channels! Apparently it's a (rip-off?) from Dream cable which is why I would get channels like ETC, 2nd Ave, Studio 23 and GMA. Thing is... well actually there are two things: first, I might move apartments (long story) and second, I might not have a job soon (even longer story). But in a few weeks' time I will have much more clarity on both matters, at which point I may be ready to purchase that cable service.

I do feel that things are picking up in Beijing, and when I think about the fact that I have only a little over a year left in this city, it almost makes me not want to leave. I have pegged so much on this expat, and I really am afraid that I might have spent too huge a chunk of my expat stint pining for home or actually going home (magic number for 2007 is... *drumroll* 6 times! Plus 4 visits from family and friends.) so perhaps now is the right time to "accelerate" the experience?

What can I say. Tomorrow's another day.

At Home in Beijing

Last October, I posted pictures of my amazingly tiny and sparsely furnished "dorm" room in BLCU. Sometimes, at night, it still haunts me: the small hard bed, the noisy heater, the PA system right outside my window that blasts Beijing Opera performances at 6pm. I still remember all my da bao (take out) dinners, my first cold, gray winter in China, sunsets at 4pm, 6-hour school days. It really was a nightmare.
But I guess I had to go through all that to prepare myself for the dream that is my new apartment. Haha. For days after securing my contract for the unit, I could not talk about anything else but moving into my new home and leaving behind that difficult life in the university.
On January 29th, a Saturday and two days before my final exams in BLCU, I dragged the first of my (plentiful) suitcases into Beijing Fortune Plaza - my address for the next couple of years. After that were days of labor, cleaning, furniture/knick-knack shopping and about a few thousand dollars down the drain.

I feel lucky to have found a place I can comfortably call home in Beijing. I love my new apartment and it relieves my homesickness because it somehow gives me a sense of security, and considering that I am living alone, that's really something. Now I have a sanctuary in Beijing and it makes the prospect of my 2-year expatriation less scary and more exciting.

My before and after pictures are now in http://chwistine.multiply.com -- does it look like the Fab 5 came over? Well let me say it proudly: the transformation is from my own blood, sweat and tears. I have lived here for a couple of months now and have welcomed some guests including my family. It may no longer look as perfect as in these pictures (there's the occassional mess here and there), but I still love it just the same!

Pictures are in the "My Beijing Home" album. Let me know what you think!