I have not written in a bit and a few interesting events have taken place. First, a couple weeks ago my friends and I decided to check out the Baoding International Club which is a bathhouse (apparently one of the few that are legally allowed to serve foreigners). We went on a Saturday night at about 9pm. When you arrive they take your shoes and give you sandals and you then go into a locker room. You take off all your clothes but it is ok because they give you a towel that covers about one of my thighs. Next you take a shower and then sit in a wonderful sauna for as long as you like. They freeze little towels that you can cover your mouth with in the sauna (suppose to help you breath). Apparently they had an even hotter sauna which was closed but I'm pretty sure ours was hot enough! Next they take you to a bed covered in plastic and they pour hot water over the bed and you lay down. Then they pour hot water all over you and take this really rough towel and start scrubbing the you know what out of you. It felt pretty good it was amazing how much dead skin you have! So after they scrub you all over (really...all over which was a bit of a surprise) they give you a head massage and you can get other types of massages if you want to pay extra something about a milk massage...i dunno. My friend Megan laid on the table before they put water on it and the ladies freaked....it was pretty hilarious. So after that whole hullabaloo you take another shower and then go back to the locker room. They give you these super comfy pjs and new slippers which are nice and warm! Then they have an area with lotion and hair stuff you can use. But the most random part is that if you go at night around 11pm there is a buffet on the upper level. So everyone rushes upstairs to eat a bunch of yummy Chinese food. (I could hardly get any the Chinese are not afraid to be pushy!) They also have this room that is filled with cubbies that have two beds in each one so you can go in a sleep for an hour or so. Each cubby also has tvs and dvds. Basically you feel super clean and comfortable it took a lot of motivation to get back into our clothes and take a cab home! The best part was that all of it cost 50RMB or around 7 dollars!
I also got invited to a Chinese wedding this past Thursday. One of the teachers that use to work at our school was getting married so a bunch of people from the school went. We did not go to the actual ceremony which I would have liked to have seen but we went to the reception. The bride was wearing a white wedding dress (western style) apparently most women want a western style dress these days which is kinda sad since I bet the Chinese style is really awesome! Anyways, the Bride and groom walked into the room and they set fireworks off...yes inside...really smart. Then the MC talks about the couple. After the speech the parents go up on the stage and sit down. The groom asks his mom and day to drink tea with him and then they give him money (pretty sweet deal) then the bride does the same thing. After they all gan bei a glass of wine and then go to each table and drink with the guests. They served a ton of food that looked really good but unfortunately all had meat in it. It was still pretty fun.
Update on the new tread to bring animals to the bar. Last week a woman brought a small puppy which was super cute. Charlie who owns the bar made the worst/funniest joke by holding up the puppy and asking if anyone was hungry and then waving a paw and saying bye bye! Good times...
