Only in China...

... can you play inside a giant beach ball in January!! I took my coworker out to explore a nearby park on Sunday. We discovered a swimming pool complex that was selling tickets for $3, but we weren't sure what it was for. So of course we had to check it out. Jim twisted my arm. :) So for $3 you could get zipped up in a giant beach ball and try to run around in the swimming pool until you exhausted yourself or ran out of oxygen. How fun does that sound?! :) Claustrophobic, anyone? Feel like a little suffocation? But we tried it anyway. Surprisingly, the beach balls were watertight.
Jim went first (otherwise there would be photo and video of Libby looking like a crazed gerbil trying to do cartwheels). I had to sit down, I was laughing so hard. Jim calmly walked himself off the dock, and immediately fell over. Once I composed myself, it was my turn...
I can only describe the sensation as a combination of being on a trampoline, weightlessness, and being on rollerskates. The locals there started taking pictures of me. I think maybe I'll be famous in China someday for perfecting the human gyroscope!
Afterward, we went to dinner at a Szechuan restaurant. Emiko, myself, Jim, Okita-san, and Candy came. Candy ordered us some hot spicy fish soup, followed by a hot pot. The bowl sits in the middle of the table over a gas burner, and the prepared raw food is brought out for us to cook right at the table.

Another great weekend... And next weekend I think I'll try to make it over to Hong Kong again.

Miss everyone back home!!! Love you!