Ice Skating

Today I went ice skating with Ariel and Lily. Ariel knows how to skate - she grew up in a smaller town in Northern China, and Northern China has no shortage of ice during Winter. I've only been ice skating once before, but that was enough to know it is similar enough to roller blading that I am able to do it. Lily has never done either before, so for a lot of the time Ariel and I took turns teaching Lily how to ice skate. She was able to make laps on her own, without holding on to the wall, by the time we had to leave.

Then the three of us went to get lunch, and then play pool - which it turns out all three of us suck at, but I suck considerably less than either of the girls. Ariel didn't play much - she wandered off for most of the time, but it gave me the chance to show Lily how to shoot properly. No, I don't mean the sleazy way you see in movies. Then we waited for a while in an internet bar, which mostly involved discussions about how good Lily and I were at breaking our computers - they both ended up needing a reset. Then Lily had to go, so I escorted her to the bus stop, and she said how much she enjoyed herself today. That kinda hit me in my soft spot, and I've been a bit dippy ever since.

Finally, Ariel took me to her yoga class, and I was the only guy there. Also the only foreigner, but I think being the only guy was more worrying. I'm used to not being able to understand people over here now. It was very relaxing, I have to admit, and the teacher has a hell of a voice (she's also beautiful and graceful, but you kinda expect that - it's the voice that struck me, even if I only understood maybe six of the words she said during the whole class). I'll seriously consider joining the yoga class, although it's not so close to me - I'd have to take a bus every morning to get to the class. I'll make a decision once I've slept on it. I'd rather join that one than one closer to me because I can go with Ariel; plus that was the class that impressed me, I'd have to go and be impressed all over again if I went to another.