Breast-feeding Through My Toes

I awoke at 11:15. My bosses told me yesterday that I should take off till my arm was feeling better (and since yesterday I had to hover my arms above the desk for six hours, I think need the day off). Some things just aren't feasible with poison ivy covering the entirety of both your forearms.

Went downstairs and said goodbye to Kuldeep, who left at noon for home.

When Maya came down we played a little foosball, but the morning and early afternoon was really about relaxation.

At 3:15 Maya and I went to the massage parlor next to the hostel. For 38 yuan we got a 10-minute backrub and neckrub and a 50-minute foot massage.

We were led into a small room with two lounge chairs. Just after we had settled into our chairs, two people brought two buckets of warm milk. We put our feet inside. It was sensational, in the kind of "it-feels-like-I'm-breast-feeding-through-my-toes" way.

After our back massage we took our feet out of the soaking milk and the massage began.

50 minutes of heavenly foot massaging later, standing up was like walked on clouds. The cost -- about $5.50.

We floated the 50 feet back to our hostel and sat down. In a moment of indulgent pleasure, I felt it was time to treat myself to a cigar.

At 5:15 I took a nap, because the day so far had been exhausting...

6:45 I left room 206 and went back to the first floor.

At 7:15 Maya and I left for dinner. We walked for a while down a street nearby we hadn't yet explored, but found nothing but the Golden Pineapple Youth Hostel, which was a tad cheaper than Sanlitun (5元/ night cheaper) but more like a hotel and depressing because of it.

We walked back down 春秀路 and turned right on 工人体育场北路, and walked past Aunt Characteristic Home Dish, our favorite duck place. We sat down at the next place and talked for a while over mediocre food. Maya leaves tomorrow; but that just means I'll have to go on Birthright or something to see her again in Israel. I think I can live with that prospect - a free trip to Israel is a good deal, I think.

At 9 we were back in the hostel, and I took a quick siesta/shower break.

At 10, Alex, Cole, Maya and I snuck out of the hostel (to avoid a certain somebody that just didn't sit right with us - no disrespect intended) and went to Propaganda. Wednesday, after-all, is all-you-can-drink night at Propaganda.

We went the first direction by subway, making the commute an hour long and very hot. We arrived at the club at 11 and paid our 50元 entry fee (30 for girls).

Spent about an hour and a half on the first floor, getting free drinks and downing them as fast as we got them. Long Island Ice Teas, Red Bull and Vodka, Whiskey and Coke, White Russian - who can remember what else?

Cole and I went out at one point to buy some Chuaer (pronounced ch- waar) - meat on a stick cooked on a sideways I-beam with hot coals inside - and came back via the back entrance to get hookah and chill.

We were invited to sit with two Chinese guys. There was Will, a Journalism major from Shandong Province, and David, an English major from Hebei Province - both studying in Beijing. We talked for a while, and got a hookah.

At 2 the club closed down the top level and we had to go downstairs a flight, to the pool room. We tried to bring the hookah, but Cole held it by its neck and it shattered all over the ground and him. Glass, water, burning coal, and little puffs of smoke were everywhere around us.

Eventually we found ourselves on the dance floor with Maya and Alex, but Cole and I called it quits around 3:30.

We got a cab back, leaving Maya and Alex, who wanted to stick around a little while longer, and split the 50元 fare when we arrived.

I fell asleep around 4:30am.