Final details in Xiamen....

Today was the last day of school until next year, and there were things that still needed to be completed before leaving tomorrow.

I had promised a classmate that I would take him to the tailor that I know, since the tailor that he went to had done a very poor job on his suit. He wanted a tuxedo made before he went back to Sweden. Apparently they have lots of black tie events.

Edlin and I took Sigge to our tailor, since there is no way he would find his place. This is the power of the expat community here in Xiamen. We found this place via two Spanish expats who have been living here for the past couple of years. According to a friend of ours from Hong Kong, originally from Shanghai, the best tailors are from Shanghai. In fact, the people from Hong Kong will inquire as to where the tailor is from, hoping that they are from Shanghai. Call it dumb luck, but this guy is from Shanghai, and his work is very good. I just had pants made from a pair that I bought from North Face, and the cost was 40 RMB, about 6.00 USD, that does not include the material. The material was the same price as the tailor, for a total of 12 USD. In fact, I think most of our clothes over the next year will be tailor made, I just have to get Mark in to get measured.

After 90 minutes of helping Sigge with his choice of material and style for his tuxedo, Edlin and I tried a new place for our foot massage. Again, recommended from more expats. This place is huge and a little more clinical than our place at the Crown Plaza we normally go to. We get a VIP room, which includes your own bathroom, tub and shower, two seats for you foot massage, and two tables for a body massage. Figuring that Mark and I will be travelling for over 26 hours tomorrow, Edlin and I decide that we will go for the foot massage and the full body massage. The foot massage was 70 minutes and the body massage was 6o minutes. The body massage was the most painful massage I have ever experienced but was definitely worth it. At one point he was massaging my head and I felt like it was in a vice grip. I thought Edlin was asleep so I didn't want to scream in pain. Afterwards Edlin thought I was asleep and didn't want to make any noise as she too thought that being in labour was easier than this. She used her breathing from Lamaze class to help her through the pain. The total cost was 120RMB which equals to less than USD 20.

It was a great send off before leaving for Xiamen.