Wo bu zhi dao!

Tina and I spent most of Thursday lolling around since it was raining outside. The day was a nice break from the tight agenda Tina usually has planned ;) We ran some errands and went to Temptations to have coffee with Siew - we arrived just as she was pulling Christmas cookies out of the oven! Nothing like a fresh latte and warm cookies...

In the afternoon Siew, Tina and I went for essential oil massages and I tried "cupping." I was pretty sure I never wanted to try cupping after seeing Tina and Mark's post that showed pictures of the bruises on their backs. Tina made me try it, and it actually wasn't bad. It's a massage/detoxifying technique in which heated glass cups are placed on your back and somehow suction is created. The masseuse or "cupper" moves the cups around for a while and then leaves the cups suctioned on your back for about ten minutes. The result: it feels like a deep tissue massage and leaves you with the biggest hickeys on your back that you can imagine.

My back

I can't wait to go to the gym back home and terrify everyone in the locker room with the bruises on my back!

After cupping, it's advised that you wait 24-hours before drinking alchohol in order to take full advantage of ridding your body of toxins. We met up with Mark after our massages and promptly went to The House for margaritas, then onto Temptations for red wine, and ended our night at the Bashi night market where we had beers with our grilled vegetable, meat and tofu skewers. I think it's safe to say that I now have more toxins in my body than I did yesterday!

Drinking Margaritas at The House

Temptations

Bashi Night Market

Night Market cont.

Today's my last day with the Wichmann's. It's a good thing I'm a little hung over because I can't focus on being sad. I can't believe how quickly it went! We've had so much fun... It's consoling that both Tina and Mark will be in Chicago in under a month -- I wish they could bring all of Xiamen with them!

P.S. "Wo bu zhi dao" is my newest phrase. It means "I don't know!"