I wanted to write this post earlier already, but didn't get to it. So now we have a collection of a couple of days...
While having a look at my Woopra stats two nights ago, I came across an article that was recently published in CityWeekend Beijing, about hikes on the Great Wall. A nice piece, although I was interviewed by telephone and then some things do not come across. One of these things that got into the magazine completely "upside down" is
Start your Jiankou hike from the back side (hou Jiankou). There is a little parking lot marking the start. The descent brings you down about 500 meters down the road.
The descent obviously has to be an ascent, since you're climbing up to the Wall. After all the Great Wall mostly follows the ridges of the mountains, not the valleys...
Anyways a nice enough piece that I can add to my "press-portfolio" 
This morning I got an sms from Mia that she was enjoying the Modern Sky Music Festival (their website looks absolute crap in all 3 browsers, typical Chinese to fabricate sth like this!) Last year I visited this festival too and it always have been a lot of fun!
On this side of the world I went to book our Spanish language courses. As said before I will start on Monday and today I found out that I only will have 1 other co-student, a Scottish lady. Because the morning schedule is pretty full, the first week or weeks we will have class from 4-8pm, so that saves me from some waking up early!
I also went looking for a hospital for my thrombosis and by accident I found a great clinic! They speak 3 words of English and together with my 3 words of Spanish we manage to have a comprehensible conversation.
I saw a really nice doctor and he seems to know what he is talking about!
He wants me to do a very complete bloodtest tmrw morning as well as a new doppler (also called echo or ultrasound). Then afterwards when I get the results I have to come back to him.
He said that it is very very difficult to establish the cause of the thrombosis. And he mentioned that there are two ways of treating a thrombosis: taking a relatively low dosis of warfarin for the rest of yr life OR going in with the "heavy machinery" and try to get rid of it. He wants to see the results of the doppler and bloodtests first to be able to say anything that makes sense, but after my last doppler in Beijing I actually don't count on the 2nd treatment... After all they said then that the entire vein in my right leg was collapsed!
So tmrw morning at 8am I have to be at the hospital, not allowed to have eaten or drunk ANYTHING! I can brush my teeth though, hahaha! Will also don't drink any alcohol tonight and go to bed early. The clinic is on the other side of the park, so that's close by.
Tomorrow afternoon the movers come to clear out Amparo's stuff. It will be empty then, but I can finally start making a "home" for Mia and myself. We will also try to change the beds around, so I can finally sleep in the bedroom instead of the livingroom, which probably also gives it a more homey feeling.
As things are looking now, Mia will apply for her visa in about two weeks and when it is approved she can join me here around November 15... Let's hope for the best!