The last two weeks have been hot...very hot sometimes 40 degrees, on average 35 degrees in the day and 25 degrees at night. It is not so bad outside, to be honest. Beijing is dry, without any humidity at all, though still after several minutes walking, a few beads of sweat break out. The problem is being inside. With large windows and wind, air conditioning might not be necessary, but there is not much wind and nowhere really has big windows, so air conditioning it is then!
Last sunday we went playing CS, or Counter Strike, which is basically shooting people with lasers. In the morning we were out in the forest near the Great Wall -fun running around the forest looking for people to shoot, but in the afternoon, for some reason, we could not go and play in the abandoned villas. So we found another company, courtesy of the internet, and drove there for the afternoon. There it was even better (though more expensive) as they had custom made several different scenarios or landscapes. Plenty of barrels, small houses, walls and all sorts to hide behind, and a few different games too. Not sure how i would feel if it was real weapons though, prefer not to think about it!
On Wednesday i gave a presentation at the French Chamber of Commerce about Sustainable Development in China. I spoke in English of course, as my spoken French is non-existent... all that comes out is Chinese when i try to speak French. But a few other presentations were in French and actually i managed to understand a good deal of what was said, which was satisfying... most of it came back to me, though i still could not speak!
In return for the various weekends I have been working, i am taking an extra week off in a couple of weeks, which will be nice. A chance to spend some time outside, hopefully somewhere not too hot. Earlier in the week Hong Kong celebrated their 12th anniversary of independence from Britain -it is generally celebrated with a march for more democracy; as they wait (until 2017 at the earliest, according to Beijing) for direct elections. Currently they can only elect about half of their government. Must be a busy few weeks for Hong Kong and they must really enjoy marching in the heat, as June 4th was also the annual march in memory of tiananmen. I guess there are more unemployed bankers nowadays who are around to march... or maybe they all work extra hard to keep their jobs, so numbers are lower than usual. I wonder...
Last week we finished our monday night football season in an impressive 5th out of 8 teams, much much beter than our 8th place last season... and we beat the best team in the league in our last match. a shame the season is now over for the summer, as we were finally just getting good! I reserved my tickets for the end of July when Tottenham will be out playing in Beijing. You can't see them play for 8 pounds in England that is for sure... and the 8 pounds is for 2 matches!
Anyway, i hope you all enjoy your weekend, and go Wimbledon crazy.
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