You are currently browsing the amandaosborn.com blog archives for June, 2011

I Think I’m Becoming a Cheapskate

June 26, 2011 Life
No comments

I got a Groupon email today for a deal at a spa in Washington, DC:

Like cars, human beings require occasional corrective bodywork, custom finishing, and fresh coats of wax to avoid being towed away and crushed into a cube. Keep your chassis classy with today’s Groupon: for $61, you get a spa and massage package at The Spa Room (a $123 total value). The package includes the following:

  • A 30-minute massage in the style of your choosing (a $60 value) as well as one of three massage enhancements—the birch back cleanse, garshana silk-glove exfoliation, or the wild-rose facial cleanse (a $15 value).

    • After a year of living in China, that doesn’t sound like a good deal to me. 60USD (approx 390RMB) for a half-hour massage with one enhancement?! Right around the corner from my apartment in Beijing is a massage parlor that offers amazing one-hour full-body pressure point massages for 88RMB and one-hour full body oil massages for 138RMB!

    I’m not going to want to pay for anything when I return to the US. Everything will seem way too expensive!

    Writer’s Block

    June 21, 2011 Travel
    1 comment

    Recently I was asked to write a first-hand account of my year abroad in China. Of course I said yes; I love to write and I’ve had practice at writing about my experiences abroad. But why is it that I have absolutely no idea how to start this particular article? None of the leads I’ve written are good, let alone original. There’s so much I want to say and I know how I want to say it (which is the hardest part of writing, I find); I just can’t get the beginning right. It’s frustrating, to say the least.

    (It’s also 3a.m. I can’t sleep, so I’ve been trying to tackle the lead for this article instead of tossing and turning in bed. Maybe that’s why I’m having trouble with the article’s beginning – my brain needs to recharge!)

    This is Where I Want Life to Take Me

    June 20, 2011 Travel
    No comments

    I don’t want to be limited by Western Europe, though (although I do love that region). I want to go everywhere. I want a giant map filled with pins in every nook and cranny of the world. I want bookshelves filled with little trinkets from my travels. I want hard drives filled with photos and videos from my adventures.

    Hopefully, that’s where life will take me.

    (Image found on Tumblr; source unknown.)

    ← Older Entries