First week adjustments in Beijing

Check out my newest wet album "Splash"
by Badeedadee (click the pic)

This blog will mostly be about the complaints that I have during my first week back in Beijing. As you all know, I was in the Philippines for more than 3 months of unfortunate-turned-fortunate holiday. I've had some great moments there. Loved the weather, even if it was way humid. Loved our new home, even it's not fully furnished yet. Loved the photoshoots during weekends, because that's when I feel at my best. Love the food, even though I don't cook.

After a week, I'm starting to fall apart...

Hot and Cold
So from 30C in Manila, we flew in to -5C in Beijing. Adjustments, adjustments. My way to deal with the cold weather was to go panic-buying at the nearby supermarket for my food stock and to NOT go out of the hotel ever since. And if I have the need to go out, I get all the long-sleeved blouses from my closet and wear them under my winter jacket. And if I'm inside the hotel, I rely on the heater. However, it doesn't help that much on my now-dry skin. It may keep us warm but it makes our room stuffy. You know how most hotel rooms are, the carpets are stuck in there for years and so are the curtains. In the end, we get all these kind of nasal allergies and rashes. Ahhh, winter, please go by swiftly!

Got You Under My Skin
The skin on my face is starting to dry as well and no amount of my Clinique moisturizer can ease the warning signs of dryness plus a minor skin breakout. I think it's the water that are causing this breakout. I remember I also had breakout here in Beijing in 2009. My solution: I just rely on petroleum jelly for my dry skin and tea tree oil for my skin breakout. Yes, you heard that right. I apply petroleum jelly all over my face, including my lips! I know it's insane. Well that's me, insanely vain.

Hair Die... errr... Dye
My hair has also suffered lately. In Manila, I didn't even need a hairdryer to have smooth and soft hair - only a good conditioner was all I needed. But here in China, it's different. I don't know what they have in their water here in China, but my hair tend to get dry and brittle every time I'm here. And the coloring that Wella and Clairol did in November for the Hair Asia didn't help either. I really need a major major hair treatment soon. Sigh.

Pink Eye
I hope it's just a pink eye thingy or what we call "sore eye". My left eye has been feeling funny since we arrived for a week. I thought it'd go away. I even opened a new pair of contact lenses thinking it's because of the 1 week-old lenses. But it just made it worse. Last night, I had to remove my contact lenses after the second set because my left eye was becoming red. Today I had difficulty in waking up because of the hardened mucus around my left eye. It's still reddish and sore. Hope it's nothing serious like the eye infection that caused me to have eye surgery in the past. Here's a video link to the gross yet informative video.

On the other side of the spectrum........

Baby Got The Groove Back
Good thing though is that I'm feeling the vibe and the groove back. Music does this to me. Releases all the tension inside me and it's an overall stress reliever. So it doesn't have to feel like working at all. All's good. Time for fun - all the time. :)

Hitting The Floor... Yet Again
I'm back to my daily dose of workouts - Pilates and Yoga - and trying very hard to stick to it, at least for the next 21 days. I've read somewhere that if you want to do something in a daily basis, you'd have to do it at least for 21 consecutive days. I don't have any explanation on that but I guess that's just the way it is. LOL. To date, I've done it for 3 consecutive days now and starting to feel toned again in the right places. I can't wait to have those fab abs again!