Hurry Up and Recover

I'm not going to lie, I was a lazy ass today. I didn't leave my room until 12, and that was only because I had to go buy a newspaper, lunch, and some fruit. Compelling enough reasons for the time being, I suppose. Before then? I did absolutely nothing. I watched movies, I talked to my family. To sum up, I spent most of the day trying desperately to regain my normal, mostly stable mental health.

At least there was not a whole lot of homework for me to do today. Apparently, our teachers are finally taking pity on us, and actually letting us act like human beings. I for one am happier than a pig in shit. All that we had to do today was read a newspaper article of our choosing, and another one that they had given us. It was easy. I could even read my own newspaper article with almost no trouble at all. I'm just going to say, I felt exceedingly smart.

At 5, I finally got my act together, and went to the gym. I can't tell what kind of mood Jack was in today. We went to another part of the gym to work out today. It did not go as well today as it normally does. It seemed like a bloody hard work out to me, but Jack didn't think so. Either way, I was struggling, and the hour went by very slowly. By the end of it, my head was spinning, I couldn't walk properly, I felt like I was going to throw up, and all that I wanted to do was curl up on the ground and just chill out there for the forseeable future. You know, I wanted to do the classic "I have just worked out to hard and am now going fetal" movement.

And even though I felt this way? Jack was still not impressed. At the end, he told me, you didn't do a very good job today. Maybe it will be better on Tuesday. I cam very very close to hitting him. He is my personal trainer for gods sake, not my slave driver! Whatever happened to the good old fashioned "You were just tired today, nice work"? Seriously, I would love to get that line one of these days.

I honestly did not think that I was going to make it back to my room, I was so tired. My head was spinning, and I could not entirely feel my legs. Unfortunately, this is not the kind of gym where you can just curl up on the floor, so I had to drag myself back to my room, where I promptly grabbed my pillow and my computer, and made myself comfortable on the ground for the next 15 minutes. It was glorious. Sometimes, you just need to lie on the ground. I think it is a part of our genes. Honestly. And with that sentence, I may have just proved why I shouldn't be allowed to go to go to med school.

Why only 15 minutes, you might ask. Well, unfortunately, my time is no longer my own. Even though I got back from the gym at 6:05, I had to meet my language partner for dinner at 6:30. And obviously, I could not go to dinner covered in sweat and smelling like... well, smelling like the gym. So, like the good little student that I am, I showered and downed a bottle of water before heading off to study.

I am pretty sure that my language partner thought that I was completely insane. When she got there, I was sprawled out on the coach, gulping a bottle of water. My brain took about 15 minutes to clear up, so when I first started talking to her, my thoughts were bouncing all over the place. I also finished two bottles of water in a very short amount of time. Believe me, I got better. As soon I felt sufficiently hydrated, and mostly resembling a human, my conversational skills soared. But it was still awkward. I never really know what to say to her, or what to do. I have resorted to going out to eat with her because I just don't know what else to do.

Dinner finished at 7:30, and I can honestly say that at that moment I could have died happily. I had just had a hard workout, and a good dinner, and I was in heaven. But my night was not over. Oh no. Next up, massage at 8:30. I know, it's a tough life, but hey, someone has to do it.

My friends Kelly and Grace and I walked over to our massage place, and got there exactly at 8:30, and our massages started at 8:45. Some people say that women do not give massages as well as men do because they are not as strong, and the only thing that I have to say about that is this: They have clearly never had a massage from a Chinese woman at the traditional medicine place. Damn. My massage lady was trying to dig a hole to... well, America... through my back. At one point, she reached up underneath my shirt to unhook my bra, so that it wouldn't get in the way of her massage. I was not expecting that. Most people have to at least buy me dinner first! But I let it slide just this once.

My massage lady was exceedingly chatty, sometimes with me, and mostly with the other massage people. I had to act as a translator for Grace occasionally (and I am not a very good translator) but somehow, we managed to cobble together enough Chinese to get through. It felt amazing. There was one point where I burst out laughing, and I think that I scared this poor woman half to death, but we soldiered on. I almost fell asleep at one point, as well. By the end of it, I was more than ready to walk home, and curl up in my bed and go to bed. Gotta love a good massage.

There was one interesting point about this massage. I got a head massage. Normally, that is fairly standard. But she was definitely having fun. First was the normal head massage, and then she got creative. She started pulling my hair (I KNOW) and it actually kind of started to feel good. Then she used her fingernails (more like claws... bloody hell) to rake my skull. It hurt a little bit. She had more muscles than were visible to the eye, clearly. But it was better than brushing my hair, honestly. I now know how people here keep their hair so straight despite the humidity: they must get head massages every morning. That is clearly the only explanation.

And that, my fine fellows (and ladies) was my Sunday. Not too bad for a weekend in Beijing.

Questions and comments!