So after a pretty short night in the hostel that was ended at 6am by the unbearable heat in our room, I somehow managed to get dressed in the totally dark room and without waking any of my 5 roommates up and made my way straight to the MC 15minutes walking distance away to start my day with a nice cup of green tea. And on the way back hooked myself up with a huge pomelo, yogurt and a tupper ware at the supermarket. To be honest, I have no clue why the heck I bought this tupper ware box in the first place, it might have been sort of a need for my German self in search of some security or just the fact that it was cheap, or I don't know what haha. It ended up in the shopping cart though and actually in the end found a great use to first store my half eaten pomelo and later keep my jewelry and other precious items from breaking.
Anyway, so I had a nice pomelo and yogurt breakfast (haha, my whole room had a great citrus smell afterwards! - sorry roommates) and headed out with 5 layers under my pretty thick jacket to spend the day together with Camila at Bejing's Summer Palace. We met at the subway station right next to one of the entrances and headed for a whole day of beautiful view togehter with tons of other tourists - all of them Chinese though. So while we were strolling through this huge and amazing park with its gorgeous buildings and views, I had a great chat with Camila, sharing stories and also being silly together. Though as this park seemed like never ending and we were slowly losing the feeling in both our toes and fingertips, we desperately hunted down this place for a place to recover and get something into our stomach. Ending up at a restaurant that was really fancy pants and charged us ¥300 haha. But as my hostmom hooked me up with some money to 'play' in Beijing I happily treated us two to this nice lunch. Which included hot water. The hot water alone was worth the money. Oh I can't tell you how good it felt to regain control over my fingers again!
So after being physically and mentally strengthened, we continued our walk through the park, but as we were running out of time due to Camila still having to work that day, we slowly made our way to the exit and headed for the subway. So after talking to a Chinese guy in the metro (who was as kind as to give me a help getting a subway ticket) who recommended me to try a closeby market for some bargaining opportunities, it was already time to say by to Camila and hand her a tiny present I got for her back in Chengdu. What a sweet girl!
So at the market I found some more great deals to take home with me including some cute kitty decorations and bracelets aka stuff that noone really needs but that is too cute to not buy. So with a proud feeling in my belly and my newest trophies safely in my backpack I made my way back to the hostel. And man, was I tired after walking around outside the whole day. I immediately fell into bed and in the beginning even succesfully ignored my newest roommates snoring...

So after spending almost 21/2 hours on the plane next to a very interested and curious Chinese, and after being served the typical Chinese breakfast Chou aka not even the slightest hint of flavor rice porridge, I and luckily my checked luggage, too arrived at Beijing Airport. You might now think, why the heck did she check in her biggest suitcase for just about 4 days of travel. Well, let me tell you, my hostmom had me sent tons and tons (with that I mean half of my suitcase) of Sichuan Specialty Snacks to my agency's office for the staff to enjoy. The inside of the airport already gave me an idea of which temperature would expect me outside. It was cold. And with that I mean really cold, the German kind of cold. Just without a real winter coat and winter boots to make up for it. Not a really good match. So I quickly made my way to the Airport Express, which would get me into the city in no time and drop me off only 1 Subway Station away from my hostel - how convenient. A girl from my agency already waited for me at the subway station and accompanied me to my hostel, which I was positively surprised of. English speaking staff, large hang out area, clean rooms and bathrooms, enough toilet paper. Out for a good start there. After settling in my room and handing over 4 kg of food, Grace took me out for lunch, treating me to some yummie Dumplings, one of Beijing's specialty. Though we had not much time to spare with those little wraps of deliciousness as the actual purpose of my trip was scheduled right after - so Grace took me to the PSB aka Visa Center where another girl from my agency was about to give me and a couple of other Cultural Ambassadors a hand to renew our visa and/or put another entry on it. Meeting other Cultural Ambassadors was really neat, sharing experiences and speaking proper English, though now I am even more happy to not be placed together with all the others in Beijing. They barely make Chinese friends as they spend most of their free time hanging out together and in bars for foreigners. Speaking English. So I do see a huge advantage for me having been forced to go out and explore Chengdu myself, making tons of Chinese friends and improving my Chinese everyday, as I can connect my leisure time with practicing Chinese. And i get to be taken to all the hidden and truly Chinese spots where no tourist would ever get to. I do feel lucky to be right where I am :-)
So after the woman at the service desk assured me that the extra entry would be allowed - YAY MALDIVES I AM COMING - I headed out there as fast as possible to finally, after almost 3 months of chatting on Wechat and occasionally talks on skype, another Cultural Ambassador from Guatemala who I got introduced to during the first week in China and from then on keeping in touch with her, sharing stories - funny as well as crazy - and just being good friends. We arranged to meet at Beijing's Silk Market, a huge building full packed with anything you could ever want to buy - ranging from clothes, over jewelry to cell phone accessories - where bargaining is a MUST. Oh people, I had great fun! I could bargain a whole day just for fun, and luckily my Chinese level is by now good enough to not be scammed by the vendors for the Foreigner status. Ha, I think they were even a little bit intimidated by a foreigner suddenly speaking Chinese to them explaining that the offered price was no where close to acceptable or adequate ;-P
Meeting my friend Camila in person was great and I immediately felt like meeting an old friend. We, together with 3 or her friends she brought with, strolled through the market for about 3 hours, me walking away with lots of stuff and lots of fun memories made.
Finding the way back to my hostel was surprisingly really easy, as the subway in Beijing is super nicely organized and with its over 13 lines pretty convenient to get around the city. For only ¥2 by the way. No matter how long it takes! So after arriving at the hostel, the only goal was to get to bed as fast as possible, which made showering and getting ready for bed a 15 minutes affaire. I did spend 15 extra minutes on the stairs though, as I hunted the whole hostel down for the best signal and ended up on the staircase :-) finally in bed I was happy about my first day and excited about the upcoming, as that would only bring more time with Camila and a day at Beijing's summer palace.

Thanks to the Chinese Visa Center in Frankfurt, Germany for not allowing me a double-entry Visa, and Thanks to my hostfamily wanting to take me to the Maldives for a week over New Year and
Thanks to Chengdu's Visa Center for not being able to allow further entries for a Visa - I got the chance to go and visit China's capital to get my passport ready for out travels and to also spend some time to see what Beijing has to offer, both inspiring my eyes and my taste spots ;-)
So as my hostmom was about to decide the when my little trip should take place, we waited til the kids' last day of school for me to head out for Beijing for the upcoming 4 days. So after working myself out of bed at 4.30am that Friday morning, I was more than ready when our driver came at 5.30am to pick me up and give me a ride to the airport where my journey should begin :-)