St. Patty's After Race Celebration!

March 17 - Chongqing Marathon! St. Patty's Day :)


                                 
                                           Chongqing Jiefangbei Square

A group of us signed up to do this race in the city back in Jan.
On the day of race, Matthew and I got up early and had breakfast at McDonald - "healthy race breakfast". We then met up with the others and hopped on a taxi at 7 AM.

Once we got there - the atmosphere was great! It was packed with people (supposedly there were 30,000 people in this run). It was Matthew's first run and he really enjoyed the pre-race excitement. However, this race was still fairly new only in its second year - so it was not very organized. There weren't any portable washrooms and it was difficult to find bathrooms to use. We had to use bathrooms at this 5 stars hotel. But they weren't allowing non-hotel guests to use the bathrooms at first. We managed at the end.

The race was supposed to start at 8:30 but it was so packed that the beginning of our run was more like walking. But once the pace got picked up, we were able to run. For the week of race, I had a few days of rest and that made a difference in my run. I was feeling really good and I just ran the whole way in 50:55. Matthew also completed without puking or stopping (his goal) in 52:23. However, the race route was not well planned. We had to walk and figure out how to get back to the starting point in time where the race ceremony would take place and where our other co-workers would finish at. We asked many along the way about how to get back. Some said there are free shuttles (which wasn't true) but mostly none could tell us how to get back. Luckily, we hopped on a taxi with two kind Chinese runners who paid for the taxi ride as we left our bags with our friend, Tyler.

Nonetheless, the run made me feel good about the 1/2 marathon that I will be doing in 2 months (even though I am not 1/2 marathon condition yet - but I am more confident about it). Our co-workers also completed their race in very good time. Lina did her full marathon in 3:28 and her husband, Andrew did his 1/2 marathon in 1:40. They are machines! If I can do my 1/2 marathon in 2.5 hours, I would be happy!

After the race, we went to McDonald to have coffee and Bailey. It was a great day and we had tons of fun with our friends.

Here are some pictures:

                                                               Starting/Ending Point

Coffee & Baileys :)

For dinner, we met up at this Irish pub that we called, The Harp in Hongaidong (Red Cliff) Chongqing for after race St. Patty's celebration.

                                                        Murphy and Guinness Day


The next day, we had lunch at this nice restaurant in a fancy mall called, Novo in Jiefangbei.
We always try to eat things we wouldn't be able to have in YC, like Starbucks, Subway, and Pizza.

Fun race & good food weekend~

Eating in!

Here's a food post! I have been cooking a lot ever since I have been with Matthew.
When it used to be by myself, I would just make/eat very simple thing like noodle and vegetables. It's good that so far Matthew has like everything that I make. He's pretty easy to feed! haha

We have set a record this week for eating in!


Here are some of the food that I have made:

                   Fried beans+carrots, coucous, and roasted chicken drum sticks

                                       Spinach, onion and mushroom pasta

                                      
                                                         Mixed salad

                                      
                                              Chicken curry on red rice


Saturday - our big breakfast with coffee and some hockey games

                                                     Fruit & Crepes

                                     Mushroom omelet and toasted tomato

                                      
                                                 Hashbrown & egg



Last night, a few of us got together and made apple pies.
Who would have thought!?! Apple pie in YC - it was yummy!

It's very easy to be happy in life - good food and good company :)

Da an - biking in the village

This is where we usually go when we go biking on the weekend:

                                              Some sort of construction.

                                   Funny water colour - definitely polluted.

To get to Da an, we usually have to bike up this killer hill along this busy road where overloaded truck would drive by and honked at you loudly.

Once we get there, we would bike in between villages where it's just quiet and nice. We would pass by a shop where villagers would be playing mahjong sitting outside. 

Every time I bike there, I can't help but thinking how long these villages will last until they become high rise apartment buildings (I must have mentioned this in my earlier posts).

After few hours of biking, we would just eat dinner at this local restaurant we found, eating what Matthew calls it country cooking - salty Sichuan cuisine. 

Then the way home would be super fun riding down that killer hill - exhilarating!

Our other co-workers have been more adventurous exploring all parts of YC. 

We hope to do the same as the weather is finally getting nicer!

TGIF

The weather has turned its back on us this week. It's back to the chilly and miserable YC weather that we know. After the last get fit blog, I have really stepped myself up. I have run for 30 minutes almost everyday till today I take a rest day. Next weekend, a group of us are going into Chongqing for a run (people are doing runs of length ranges from full, half marathon, 9k, and 5k). I am looking forward to the run as it would be an excuse to have starbucks, subway, or even pizza hut.

Matthew and I have finally selected pictures that we feel best describe our Burma trip.
I am really happy with some of the shots. Burma is such an amazing country with wonderful friendly people. I wish that it will remain the way it is. Organizing the pictures is definitely not an easy task and I still have to write about the trip. I think I need to do what Matthew does - make a cup of coffee/hot chocolate and just write.

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Good dinner dishes that I have made recently:
-eggplant+tomato sauce pasta
-snow peas+mushroom fried noodle
-roasted chicken+beans&carrots+couscous

The food that I have made has always taste better than I thought it would be.
I am enjoying cooking more and more. It's definitely not easy to plan out what to make every week. But it's so much healthier to eat at home.

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Work has been steady. I have to do more work in prepping for teaching Calculus this semester. I know there's so much thing that I need to work on in teaching this course. But the first time teaching is always difficult. Hopefully, this weekend I will plan out the course that would prepare my students for the AP exam.

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Currently reading:
The Trial - Franz Kafka
Marry Me - John Updike

Weekend Fun. March. Get fit.

It's been two weeks since we have got back from Burma.
Friday after school, Matt and I went biking around our neighbouring country side city, called Daan. It's just like how it was before we left for the holidays - quiet, people playing majong outside little shop, kids running around, farmers working in the field, and chickens/ducks pecking around. It's always fun when we go out there on our bikes. But I think about how long the villages would be there before they clear them out to build new roads and apartment buildings. Matt told me that when he first got to YC, it was all just farm lands and fields. I couldn't imagine how that's like at all, looking at all new highway roads and apartments that just have sprung up in no time. It's sad to see how they just clear out the hills and make everything flat into roads and for building more empty apartments. After our biking and dinner, we went to do a bit of grocery shopping. Matt was surprised to find that the import section in RenRen (the grocery store) was gone. For me, I was indifferent to it as it's understandable that the store would keep selling goods that are profitable. Then we had a bit of social with our other co-workers at an art gallery. Afterwards, I met up with my other co-worker, Linda for tea. It was a good Friday night.

Saturday, we had a good breakfast with fruit, scrambled eggs, coffee, and toast with almond butter. Ever since we got back from our trip, we have been indulging ourselves with SE Asian style coffee - condensed milk with coffee.
Then we each talked to our own friend on Skype. After lunch, we did our first bike trip to Tea Mountain. Tea Mountain Bamboo Sea is famous here as the movie, House of Flying Daggers was filmed there.

Here's the movie poster:

Source: acdrifter.com

I have been to the park before once last year. I enjoy the bamboo forest as the bamboos are huge with pretty thick trunk. I remember it was very nice and cool to walk in between the bamboos in the hot Chongqing weather.

However, it was my first time biking there. It took up sometimes to find the way there as we were trying to go through this back country dirt road that our other co-workers have told us to take. Minor frustration occurred. We still didn't find the suggested way until we were on the way home that we found it (we plan to try it next time - apparently it's even harder than the paved road). I didn't keep track of the time we used to bike up the mountain. But it was hard going uphill on the paved road. It felt like it must had been an hour. But it felt so good as I finally got up there! Then it was the super fun time blasting down the mountain that maybe only took 15 minutes.

Once we got home, we were invited to a staff potluck. Everybody made yummy dishes. Linda was able to make a casserole with cheese bought from Metro. That was one of my favourite dish.

The weekend always feels not long enough. Sunday was just a relax, chilled out day. We tried to pick out pictures that best represent Burma and our trip. We have picked at least 150 pictures along from the first half our trip. Looking through pictures, it brought back good memory of the trip and I was still amazed by the things we have seen and done. Our goal is to finish selecting our pictures and to write comments along with them to post them up on flickr or picasa. So be patient with us as we would very much like to share our trip with you!

This morning, Matt and I went for a bit of morning run. It was hard to get out of the bed. He's definitely more motivated to get fit than I am. He's been very "encouraging" in calling me the marathon woman -- I have so much work to do for my Great Wall half marathon. I hope with our biking and running that I would be more prepared for it. 

Have to get ready for work now!