Happy Holidays!

I just wanted to write a short little blog wishing all my readers a Happy Holiday! I hope you are able to spend some time with your loved ones during this holiday season. This is my first year away from home for Christmas so I am definitely missing celebrating with my family and friends. Christmas is not really celebrated here in Beijing, besides the Santa Claus decorations or the holiday music they play in the malls, people are pretty much doing what they would normally do on a Friday. Stores and restaurants are still open as usual and people are still going to work. I, on the other hand, had the day off with the rest of the teachers here. We decided to leave the smoggy city and head over to the Great Wall of China. It was amazing! Such a beautiful historic site to go visit. It was always on my bucket list and I am glad I can cross it off. The sky and air was clear and fresh and you could see the wall stretch on for miles. It was pretty windy and cold out, so we did not get to take as many yoga photos as we wanted but I was happy to be there. I thought at one point my toes were going to fall off! It was a sight to see. We spent a good few hours up there. We reach all the way to the closed area of the south end of the Badaling entry way but did not make it all the way to the end of the north side. You get a good excerise walking on the wall. At some points it gets very steep and it is like you are walking vertically and the stairs can get pretty tall. You need to take a moment once you get up there and just stand in silence and soak in everything. It was so peaceful and stunning. Hoping I can go back at least one more time before I leave.

Anyways, just wanted to make this brief, so that is it for now. Again, Happy Holidays!