Epicness

Apologies to all for not having sent an update last week. Things got really busy here this week and I was unable to sit down with spare time to write up a thorough update. This is pretty long, so brace yourselves. Oh well, here goes...

Last weekend and week was standard. After another grueling week at IUP, some of my classmates and I went to an all you can eat and drink Japanese restaurant ($10USD beer only) for dinner followed by an evening of consuming high quantities of beer at a neighborhood bar with some of our teachers. Baller.
Saturday night was awesome. I went to a Paul Van Dyk show with my sisters friends and Lukas (college friend). We got a pimp little booth and enjoyed 4 bottles of whiskey with sweet green tea (the bread and butter cocktail of China) and lots of dancing. As per usual, the evening took a few interesting turns here and there, the most unexpected of which was my sisters ex-bf having a serious conversation with me about how I need to go out and date older men (my sisters guy friends, according to him, are definitely not off limits) and somehow letting slip that my sister is not the conservative good girl I imagine her to be. Eek. That conversation ended swiftly with me ramming my fingers into my ears and shouting "TMI!" (too much information - for the squares out there).

This week was quite interesting as well. Another rough week hitting the books prompted a deep set desire in me to rage on the weekend. I think I'm going to straight up call this weekend epic. Read on and judge for yourselves...

Friday night I went to dinner with S (friend from last semesters program) at this fancy pants Brazilian place called Alameida and ate the most succulent rack of lamb I've had in a while. Even though S is not usually one to go nuts on the weekend night scene because he works 7 days a week, I convinced him to tag along with me on my adventure of an evening. He was game. We started by going to this bar called Tun, that has ladies night every Friday (all you can drink till midnight, fo frizzle!) where we guzzled a few Miami Iced Teas (delicious) before heading to Hou Hai (Back Lake) to meet up with a bunch of kids from my program at this little Jazz bar. After jamming out listening to the band for a few hours we headed to this little place called Huxleys that is famous for cheap drinks and shots (owned by the same people who own Tun). We played a few drinking games, namely 7, 11, or doubles. Needless to say, I'd consumed something like 13 drinks or more by the end of the night and had to have two guys from my program carry me home. I woke up on Saturday (yesterday) still wearing my dress, earings in my ears, and with racoony eye makeup. Zexy.

Last night however, may have really put the icing on the cake. Jill organized discount tickets for a bunch of us to go to a live improv show by the Chicago All-Stars that were in town just for this weekend. Before the show and after spending most of the day in bed recovering, a group of us went to an all you can eat and drink Teppanyaki restaurant ($30USD beer, sake, wine, fresh juice, soda... anything). Needless to say, MANY shots of sake were drunk and glasses of beer chugged. Classy as usual. Then we made our way to the theater and enjoyed 2 solid hours of comedic fun. It was a nice breath of fresh air to be entertained by western humor. It sounds weird, but most of the jokes and funnies told in Beijing usually involve a ridiculous encounter with a local, some badly written sign (yay chinglish!), or drinking stories. It was nice to watch 3 men and a lady sing, improvise and generate laughter to the tune of sex jokes, slapstick, and awkwardness. Loved it. Of course, since it was only 11 when the show ended, 5 of us decided to keep the night alive and went to Tun (previously mentioned bar place) for a few drinks. While usually raging on friday nights, Tun is relatively quiet on saturday nights, so we ordered a few drinks and went to sit in the special section on the second floor. We had a few cocktails and then were wonderfully informed by the generous waiter that on saturdays there is a drink special that is $100rmb (about $15 dollars?) for 24 shots. Granted these shots are not the size of a proper and full shot, I'd say they're about 25-40% smaller than a regular shot. But who's complaining? Anyway. The drinking spurred a game of truth or dare in which we all divulged many personal gems that are sort of hazily on the edge of my memory. At around 4am the bar closed and were were asked to peace out so we went home. This may be one of the first times in my China career that I have outlasted the openness of a bar. Go me!

Unfortunately I am now so ill from all the drinking (or not sleeping or something) that I am at home, curled up in my bed, reading the final book in the Twilight series. Oh god.