Beijing Update: five months and counting

After Five months of life in Beijing, we are finally feeling settled in. We've had our first visitors, we celebrated our first Thanksgiving in China, went to our first wedding, and we just had our first snow!  However, what really makes us feel that we have created a home here was the arrival of Tango, our goofy dog, and his best friend, Merlin the Cat. They had a five star voyage to China through a specialized pet transport company. After three days of travel, overnights in Frankfurt and in Hong Kong, they arrived on our doorstep, none the worse for wear.  Anne-Katrine and Lars were very happy campers.  Both dog and cat have settled happily into Beijing life--and they get to talk to Gramma and Grampa over skype on a regular basis!

 

Tango hanging out on Lars' bed

Argentina Connection:

Lincoln reunion: Jolene, Jenny, and Nan

In October, our good friend, Nan Shorey came through Beijing and stayed overnight with us. Nan taught with us in Argentina, and just retired from Lincoln school in June. She is now on the ultimate world tour, visiting folks in international schools all around Asia, including her own daughter, Julia, who just moved to Xiamen, China.  What a testament to international schools teaching careers--you literally have friends all over the world. Another good friend from Buenos Aires is actually living right here in Beijing: Jolene Brister also taught at Lincoln with us. She and her wonderful husband, Julio, and son, Max, just moved here in August as well. She is teaching at the other big international school, ISB, and lives right around the corner from us in Capital Paradise. So good to have a friend close by! We had a fabulous Lincoln reunion. Nan blew back through again about a month later, this time along with Julia. We plan on seeing them both again soon.

More Visitors:
In October, just in time for Halloween, we had three wild women from Norway show up on our doorstep! Joergen's Aunt Turid, his cousin Hilde, and "cousin-in-law" Jenny (cousin Thomas' wife) all came to Beijing on the ultimate girls weekend. They shopped til they dropped, we hiked on the Great Wall, and went out for Peking Duck, a specialty of Beijing (Peking is the old Colonial pronunciation of Beijing).

mmm, cockroaches!

Joergen took them to the Night Market, a daily outdoor extravaganza featuring traditional Chinese foods. There they found an abundance of sheep penis, seahorse, cockroaches, and scorpions.  ( I was busy with the kids at a Halloween party, so unfortunately missed out on this special feast!)                                                                   

Joergen and Hilde

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                First Chinese Wedding  
A colleague at school invited to our first Chinese wedding in October. She asked Anne-Katrine and Lars to be in the ceremony, as "flower children." Their main duty was to walk behind the bride, and hold hands of some of the smaller children.  It was a Christian wedding in a local Chinese church downtown--a mix of Christian ceremony and a traditional Chinese reception. We were very honored to be invited and to have our kids included in the day.

                                                     

Lars and his buddies--Chinese, Singaporean, and Canadian

International Day

WAB (Western Academy of Beijing)                     celebrated International Day
with a parade of nations,  a fabulous
international lunch, and lots of fun and games.

Norwegians!

                                                                 
   Lars was in a ping pong tournament at school. Ping Pong, or Table Tennis, is a huge sport in China. People take it very seriously. Lars had a ping pong unit in his PE class and became hooked. He used his allowance to purchase his own competition level ping pong racket for the tournament--believe it or not, there are many varieties.  At the tournament, we hosted over 150 children from 6 schools in Beijing. There were 40 ping pong tables set up in the gym, games going on constantly for four hours. Some of the parents were really intense--And you thought soccer moms in the US can be over the top!

Boris, Lars, and Adrian (and my finger!)

                                                               First Snow of the Year!

Ta shi leng!  It's cold! ...and it's only going to get colder.  We've had some very high levels of pollution lately; the snow was beautiful, but probably not very edible.  Next week, we are traveling to Norway, to spend Christmas with Joergen's family. It won't be any warmer than Beijing, but we are looking forward to a beautiful Christmas season, and the kids are hoping for lots of snow.

Out and About in Beijing: October Break 2011

It's October Break and we have a week off of school in honor of the Chinese National Holiday.  They say about 1,000,000 people from around China have entered the city of Beijing this week.  However, at the same time, perhaps just as many people have left to travel elsewhere in the country, as this is a very important week for the Chinese, and folks travel home to visit extended family. This is quite similar to the U.S.  during Thanksgiving week...multiplied by about four times the population of the United States!

Tiananmen Square

taking pics!

tea shop

It is a beautiful time of year--crisp fall weather and blue skies!  (great to remember for those of you who might be planning to come visit us next year!)  Mostly, we are using this week to finish getting settled in the house and to see a little of Beijing. We have been working non-stop since school started, so beyond our first week of orientation, we have not had time to do any sight seeing.  Today, along with another new teacher family, the Cosgrays, we decided to hit downtown Bejing and see the Tian An Men square, The Forbidden City, and the Temple of Heaven.

There were some big crowds in the city when we arrived at Tian An Men Square, but it was  not too overwhelming. Rather, it was nice to see local people out enjoying their holiday.  The atmosphere was festive, and people were relishing the good weather. It was amazing and awe-inspiring to be standing in such an historic location.  Our kids soon became the center of attention, as many people who have traveled to Beijing for this holiday may not have seen blond children before.   As we walked through the square,  people approached us and asked politely to take pictures with our kids.  The kiddos got a bit of a glimpse of the celebrity lifestyle, posing for pictures with children and adults alike, sometimes being hugged and kissed. Both Anne-Katrine and Lars put up with it like troopers, and decided to treat this as our diplomatic duty to represent the West in a positive light. They must have smiled and posed for dozens of pictures.  Lars even began to get a few Justin Bieber-esque hair flips going on!

Temple of Heaven

local transport: I want one!

After

crossing the square, we lined up a for a slow moving queue into the Forbidden City.  This amazing architectural structure is the center piece of Beijing. It is featured in the movie, The Last Emperor, if anyone wants a closer look.   In the early 1900's, this place was, of course, reserved for royalty only.  Now it is a public place, teaming with tourists, vendors, and performers.  The outer courtyard was a fun place to see, and we spent some time taking pics and looking at vendors. However, because of the holiday, the lines in to the inner courtyards were massive. We decided to come back at another time, not on a holiday, when we can take a tour with a guide and really learn history.  We were also starting to get a bit hungry, so we headed out a side gate, and into the city hutongs, the traditional shops and villages.  Almost instantly, we left tourism behind. As we walked down tree-lined streets, we enjoyed peering into alley ways and poking into local shops.  We happened upon a small tea shop which turned out to have been quite a famous locale for politicians and foreign dignitaries.  We enjoyed a nice lunch and some tea,  in a spot well off the beaten tourist path.

After lunch we hopped back in the van with our driver, and headed over to the Temple of Heaven.  More than just one Temple, this is a vast area of parkland, surrounding an inner courtyard of spectacularly beautiful temples in tiles of blues and golds.  The parkland area has become a haven for locals, particularly the elderly. All along the tree lined paths are benches and terraces.  The retired folks of Beijing come here to enjoy exercise, games, music, and friendship. Everywhere we walked, groups of people gathered--some ballroom dancing in the squares, clusters of old men playing cards, individuals playing instrumental music to gathering spectators, and even groups of people collectively singing old songs.  It was a joyous, peaceful atmosphere, and thoroughly entertaining as we meandered through the park.  No one seemed to mind us taking pictures or watching the dancing and singing.  China looks like a great place to be a retired person!  And when Mom and Dad come to visit us, we know a good place for them to come hang out--Mom might even find a game of Mah Jong to join!

card players

After a day of sight seeing,  we were thoroughly exhausted.  However, as we were in the area, we made a quick stop at the Pearl Market--a shopper's paradise---just to get a glimpse and plan a future shopping trip!  Here you can buy anything from costume jewelry to high end fresh and saltwater pearls, which come in a vibrant array of colors, shapes, and sizes.  When Joergen visited Beijing last March, he brought me back a beautiful pearl necklace. This was my first time now in the market, and not soon to be the last!

Katrine gets a turn

Temple of Heaven

afternoon dance group

a little pipe music

International House Hunters: living in (Capital) Paradise

Capital Paradise Club House

I feel like we have been in an episode of "International House Hunters." We went out with a realtor on house-hunting expeditions in Shunyi, the northwestern suburbs of Beijing. Did we want the fancy neighborhood close to the school, a great location but tiny townhouses, or more spacious living in a less luxurious compound, a fifteen minute drive from school?  We loved the apartment in the heart of the city, but the commute to work was a killer and the kids will be happier in the suburbs. After much deliberating, we settled on our new home. We are outside of the city--the area used to be all farmland and traditional villages, but the city is expanding rapidly.  We found a semi-detached house in a gated compound, called Capital Paradise.  There are about 300 houses in the compound, along with a clubhouse, which has an indoor-outdoor pool, gym, raquetball, a restaurant, nail and hair salon, and even a bowling alley.  What more could we want? Oh yes, a petting zoo!  There are several other gated neighborhoods in the area (all with equally interesting English names: Lemon Lake, Beijing Riviera, River Garden).  Most of the expat families live around here, as there are three other international schools in the area.  There are also many Chinese families in the neighborhood as well, so we are not completely isolated from local society!

Lars got a trampoline for his 10th birthday

Our house is "semi-detached"--kind of a duplex. In Capital Paradise there are also townhouses, apartments, and large villas. We have three bedrooms, an upstairs den which can be a guest room (hint, hint) a garage, and full basement. Lars already has plans for the basement to be turned into the ultimate kid zone, complete with ping pong, video games, and other kid friendly delights.  For the moment, however, the basement is full of boxes. As we don't have much closet space in the bedrooms, it may be a while before Lars' visions become reality!  There is a tiny grass side yard and back patio--spacious, really, by local standards.  We don't really need a big yard. The kids can bike in the compound and there are places to play soccer, and basketball courts. We also understand that soon it will be COLD so we won't be spending that much time outdoors anyway.

In front of our new house

We are not planning to have a car.  Traffic is crazy, cars are expensive, and the driver's license is very hard to get.  Instead, we use a regular driver, like a private taxi, to get to and from work. The kids can take a school bus--the school sends out charter buses all over the city to bring the kids to and from school.   Riding with Zhang-Tao, our driver, is helping us learn some basic Chinese. However, the kids are progressing much faster than we are, so we rely on them to tell him what time to come back to pick us up! We can also take a subway line or bus into the city, which would probably take about 30 minutes or so.

visions of barbecues!

When we don't need a car in the area, we use our bikes.  The kids' bikes came in our shipment, while Joergen and I just bought bikes locally. Beijing is TOTALLY flat, really a desert geographically, so it is perfect for bike riding.  I have an enormous granny basket on the front, so I can pedal to the local supermarket and get what I need!  We are also in biking distance of a nice little shopping center, and small mall. There are many restaurants, including Domino's pizza,  a Mexican place,  Indian, as well as many local Chinese places.   We can shop in local vegetable and fruit markets. Meat is sold in the "Wet Market."   There is a flower market with all kinds of plants and flowers, indoor and outdoor, close by as well.  Most conveniently, there is a big supermarket called Jenny Lou's which specializes in imported goods from all over the world, where we can buy peanut butter, soups, spices, cereals, even Norwegian Salmon. We are not hurting for good food!  Best of all, ALL of these places deliver, including the grocery store.

So far, life is good in Capital Paradise.  Lars is enjoying new found freedom by biking around the neighborhood. There is a small supermarket just outside the front gate, and he has already successfully gone there by himself to buy ice cream for the family.  Anne-Katrine and I checked out our new nail salon last weekend. The girls don't speak a word of English, but we managed to get our toenails painted and had a fabulous foot massage. Joergen is happy with the patio--perfect for grilling!  Lars is playing soccer on the weekends, and his games are held at one of the other international schools which is in biking distance. This Sunday, the whole family plans to ride bikes to the game.


So, we are all set up and ready to have visitors!  Let us know when you are coming!

Duke vs China Game

Coach K brought the Duke basketball team to Beijing for a friendly match against the Chinese National team.  We have teacher friends at WAB who are also from North Carolina, so we decided this was an event we couldn't miss. To avoid terrible traffic heading to the MasterCard Stadium, one of the former Olympic venues, we decided to take the subway. As there is virtually no crime whatsoever in Beijing, it was totally safe--just a wee bit crowded. 
We had a great time at the game and had fabulous seats.  Yao Ming made a guest appearance, and we were just a few rows above the Chinese team bench, so we had an unobstructed view of him.  He even went out on the court during halftime to be greeted by Coach K.
     As it was getting fairly late, we decided to leave at the end of the third quarter and make our way home. Duke was up 47 to 49.  Pretty fun outing for a school night!  
    

St. David's Connection

     Last Spring, when we made the decision to move to China, I discovered that one of my former students was going to be in Beijing this fall on a foreign study semester.  Caitlin Andrews was one of my favorite students from my first year at St. David's.  This past week, Joergen and I had to be at school for a teacher work week. Our kids were going to be on their own, so we asked Caitlin to come be our nanny for the week, as her classes have not started yet.  She moved in, and immediately became part of the family.

     While we were at school, Caitlin, Anne-Katrine, and Lars set out to explore Beijing.  On Monday they decided to check out the subway, taking it to one of the big city parks. There, people were fascinated by seeing two blond children, many wanting to take pictures with them.  Fortunately, Caitlin speaks some Mandarin and was able to fend off the curious crowd.   To cool down, they decided to get ice cream, and soon discovered several new flavors--corn and green pea to name a few!  Katrine says corn is not her favorite ice cream flavor!

eewww, corn flavored ice-cream!

Lars is going to be in this guy's photo album!

     On another day, the threesome went to the Blue Zoo,  a well known Beijing aquarium. Afterwards they hit Ya-show market, a fabulous indoor market selling knock offs of name brand items.  You can buy anything and everything there. Lars has his eye on sunglasses, while AK is going to go crazy over fake Ugg boots and designer bags.
      Caitlin has been so wonderful with the kids--we don't know what we would have done with out her. Anne-Katrine has felt like she has a big sister for a week. Lars might not have survived Beijing traffic without Caitlin's watchful eye--just trying to cross the street can be a harrowing experience.  Lars has also kept Caitlin entertained with his goofy dance moves and  general silliness--likewise, she has impressed him with stories of spearfishing and her knowledge of baseball.  We are sad that Caitlin will soon leave to move into her dorm at the university, but we know we will continue to see her while she is here over the next several months. Mostly we are sad to lose someone who can actually convince Lars to brush his teeth!

The Great Wall of China

Hunter, Joergen, and AK

Our trusty tour guide and Chinese teacher, Hunter, took us out of Beijing on our first excursion today. We took a one and a half hour bus ride to The Great Wall.  The wall actually stretches 6,500 km in length, but we went to the closest access from Beijing. The city of Beijing is extremely flat, being basically desert terrain. As we traveled down the highway, we left the city and crossed lush farmland, and finally entered some mountainous terrain.  I was surprised to discover that we would need to take a chair lift up the mountain to get to the wall--it is a rocky, wild, and undeveloped landscape.  Apparently, it is also possible to hike up a trail, but it is a hefty climb.  As today was hot, muggy, and humid, not to mention being a heavy, smoggy day, the group opted for the chair lifts. 

The ticket booths and entrance to the chair lifts were a complete tourist trap--a  beehive of shops and stalls hawking souvenirs, fruit, and drinks.  I was delighted to discover that as we started climbing up in the chair lift, we left the tourism behind and seemed to enter a completely different world. For miles around us, as far as we could see, we were surrounded by mountainous forests. At the top of the mountain and snaking over the ridge, loomed The Great Wall.  Once at the top, we could wander freely along the wall, climbing up in the battlements and stopping to take photographs. It is truly an amazing feat of architecture, and awe inspiring  to realize that we were standing on a structure that was completed around 221 BC.

It's a Small World

   We have traveled half way around the world to Beijing. There are 1.3 billion people in China--what are the chances that I would run into someone that I know?  This morning, as we were riding the chair lift up to The Great Wall, we passed people riding down in the opposite direction, most of whom were Chinese.  Joergen and Lars were riding one chair lift ahead of AK and me.  Suddenly, I hear someone shouting out Joergen's name--in one of the chair lifts going down the mountain was a blond woman, waving and laughing. It was Jolene Brister, who taught with us at Lincoln School in Argentina!  She has just moved to Beijing as well, to teach at the other international school, ISB (International School of Beijing).  I knew she was in Bejing, but we had not yet had a chance to get together. Unbelievable!

Navigating Mandarin

The new teachers at WAB, dubbed "Newbies, class of 2011" have been shepherded this week  by one of WAB's Chinese teachers. Hunter Shang teaches elementary Chinese, but he also takes on the task of introducing the new staff to Beijing.  He has toured us around the city, showing us where to buy cell phones and bicycles, and helping us navigate the grocery stores. He has given us our first round of Mandarin lessons, introducing us first and foremost to the four tones of the Chinese language. For  Western ears, this is a very complicated nuance.  Here is a list of some basic phrases I have learned this week:

Wo jiao Jenny: My name is Jenny

Wo shi lao shi: I am a teacher

Xi shou jian zai nar?: Where is the bathroom?
Ni chi shen me?: What do you want  to eat?
Tai la de: too spicy
Wo chi kuangquanshi: I want mineral water
Pian yi dian: cheap price

The problem is that I might be able to ask a question, but I am certainly not able to understand the answer yet!  Fortunately, people are very friendly and try to help us with what we need. In a market or store, a clerk who does not understand us will go try to find someone who speaks a little English.