Check!

I got a chance to go to Pizza Hut, completing my terrible American food trifecta. Pizza Hut in China is NOTHING like Pizza Hut in the States. Like, this is fancy shit. I would not feel out of place wearing a suit to Pizza Hut. Granted that'd be maybe a bit much, but think of it along the lines of Montgomery Inn - you don't have to dress up, but it's quite alright if you do. Also the pizza is not preheated nonsense, it's actually fresh and made by hand. So surreal.

I popped into Shanghai yesterday with Yllen to pick up her brother from the airport. I say "popped in", because the train hit 430km/hr. A train. 430. It's quite silly, because the bullet train from Xiaoshan to Shanghai is almost as fast to take a cab to the city proper (Hangzhou). Her brother, Manuel, is so much like me it's creepy. Yllen fell asleep on the way back, so we spent a good hour talking about Android, video games, Minecraft, Reddit, you name it. The next day we went into Hangzhou proper to see the West Lake, and ate dinner at Eudora Station - a really awesome western bar with REAL BEER and music. I quite like it there, and will almost certainly be back. Yllen and Manuel got really hammered and passed out, so I got to navigate all the way back home by myself. Again, I know that doesn't really sound like much. But when you have to tell a cab driver for 30 minutes where to go, in a language you don't speak, I take it as an accomplishment.

The pic today I took a while ago and is one of my favorite things about where I live. Every Sunday morning, there's this chanting that's really quite beautiful. Outside there's a gym where the people go out in traditional garb, and do tai chi or something. Except this isn't regular tai chi:

It's tai chi with motherfucking swords. My gym offers synchronized swording. I can't imagine going to a gym and NOT taking that class.