Heavy rain and an unexpected day off

Heavy Rain and an unexpected day off
Date: 05-05-2008
Location: Beijing


Today we had a lay in and were expected at TianTan at 11:00am. Not soon after waking up there was some serious thunder and lightning followed by a heavy shower. It was light but now it was getting dark as if it was late at night. Soon water started to leak into the room, coming from a tube that disappeared into the air-conditioning. We solved the problem by placing the garbage bin underneath it. This would be some real mud walking! We asked the reception to phone Xu Laoshi to find out what the plan was. He had no intentions to train in the rain and said we had a rest day. We had a Swiss style breakfast that even contained yogurt and some oatmeal and sat down to make an action plan.
The Pearlmarket is just perfect for a rainy day! First we thought to get there by foot but we ended up taking a taxi for the last km. Everybody was freezing and it honestly was stormy weather. We spent hours haggling and negotiating but with great success. With some beautiful silk ( we hope) TaiChi suits and other silk items we left. Except for one thing I (Ester) forgot to buy a coat and I was still cold. I ended up wearing my just bought TaiChi jacket and felt very Chinese. We drunk some excellent coffee in the I think Tao coffee shop next to the Pearlmarket and then walked home

Shopping is much more tiresome then training, that evening we all slept wonderfully in our new silk pyamas.