Beijing's Hutong

Houhai 

Yangfang and Maoer Hutong

 

 

 

 

Another item on our "must do" list was to ride in a rickshaw around a "hutong."  This is a narrow alleyway through old courtyard homes.  Many people still live this way today.  Thousands of these used to exist but in Beijing's attempt to modernize the city they wiped out many of these homes.  Ironic at how now these are the places that everyone wants to see.

I learned that for feng shui reasons most hutong run east-west so that their main gates face south.  This guarantees sunshine and protection from negative principles gathering in the north.

 

Houhai Lake

This is happening a lot.  I thought I would just show a little of what our family experiences (especially Jake) -- but I'll save the rest for another post :)

This is how he is learning to walk around the city...poor kid!

Happy Birthday Luke!

We survived our first birthday in China!  Whew!  And yes, I was able to find cake mixes and frosting and candles - I even found a happy birthday banner to hang in the house!!  (Granted, these items were about 3X what I'd pay in the states - but hey- they have them!!)

So much fun!  Luke is an amazing young man -- despite my failing parenting skills he is turning into a fantastic kid that every parent would be proud of and dreams of having.  I can't believe he's 12!!!  Happy Birthday!!

*pleasegetmeacellphone-pleasegetmeacellphone-pleasegetmeacellphone*






Meet Speed Bump...

 

 

This is what the kids have lovingly nick-named "SPEED BUMP." 

And boy do you ever feel it when you go over an actual speed bump :)

 

 

It is China's version of the neighborhood cruising golf cart.  Many people actually use electric carts like this one for work - you often see them piled high with work materials, the grocery stores deliver groceries and we use it to cruise around the neighborhood!

We ride bikes and walk a lot but we knew we needed something for the short-distance places we needed to get to.  In China you don't need a drivers license to drive electric bikes, only gas-powered ones.   We have a van and a driver who can drive us anywhere we choose, but his hours are mostly 7-7 so things like getting to youth night or running to the plaza (food, shopping, atm) anytime after 7 is more difficult.  Enter - speed bump.  Bonus - we all fit!  I'm sure once winter hits we'll have to use our driver more than speed bump, but for now it works great!

*Funny side-note... when we were interviewing drivers our translator was describing previous work experience and said one had worked for -- Rob and I both thought she was saying -- "wolworths" and this is how the dialogue went...

us:  Wolworths?
translator: Yes, wolworth.
Rob and I thinking to ourselves...we didn't know wolworths had a driving company...
Rob:  where are they based?
translator:  It's the Swiss company wolworth.
Rob: could you spell it for me?
tanslator:  we-o-el-we-o
Rob:  Volvo?
translator: Yes, wolworth.

hahaha, we both had a good laugh when we got home, you can't write 'em better than that!

Welcome to ISB

 

I was surprised at the number of options there are here for international schools.  We found a couple we really liked but you have to apply and be "accepted."  I was a little worried at first because we were getting a late start at the game and these schools fill up fast!  Luckily things miraculously worked out and we got into the school we really wanted.

   The kids started school at the International School of Beijing.  It's an American based school and they have to take a Chinese language course every day.  It's Awesome to be at a school with such great cultural variety.  The kids have friends from Switzerland, Korea, Minnesota, Singapore and China!

Luke is in middle school and started a day earlier than the elementary.  His two main teachers are from Singapore and the USofA :)  He is on the school soccer team with an Argentine coach, and he is playing the saxophone in band.  They each get their own macbook and the electives they offer are amazing - he had about 30 things to choose from.  Right now he is in a "grill masters" class and loving it!  He was a little bummed that the only sport they don't play is American Football - but there are school badminton and table tennis teams!

 

 

Zak's teacher is the coolest guy from Minnesota.  He always lucks out with the cool teachers!  He has surprised me by wanting to learn to play the cello and wanting to take a candle-making after school class.  He is also playing soccer through a company whose coaches have really cool accents (British) so I told him the candle-making will have to wait until next session :)  I was most worried about Zak's adjustment to the move but he has taken off with flying colors.  He came home from school one day and said - "ask me what I don't like about living in China" so I asked him and he answered "Nothing!!"   He does ask about visiting Texas and Arizona when we return for home leaves though. 

 

 

 

 

Keely is just happy and loving and girly as ever!  Her teacher is from New Zealand so she's had to get used to the accent :)  She's excited to finally have homework this year!  She surprised me by wanting to play soccer!  And she's loving everything about it except for the uniforms that, she claims, look like a dress (they do drown her though!)  She's playing the piano and taking gymnastics and really takes care of her little brother when she's home!

 

 

Some of the walls throughout the school have fun, beautiful art work.

 

 

So far so good!  Let's see if they still love it in a month once the homework kicks in!!

 

 

 

 

Shijingshan

Amusement park fun!!

Our second weekend and last weekend before school started we decided to check out an amusement park.  It was fun to see how they tried to copy Disneyland - characters walking around, castles, there was even a ride like Thunder Mountain Railroad (albeit a small version!).

I was a little worried because the safety standards aren't quite like they are at home :) but I sucked it up and we had a great time!  This park wasn't real big on the Thrill-O-Meter but it gave us a good taste at living in a foreign country.  We even ate meat skewers and noodles from the street vendors and no one got sick!  We were all in spice shock, something we'll have to get used to I suppose! And the kids were wondering where the cotton candy was :)

 

This was a fun little water boat ride.  You get a rain poncho and then set sail.  Inside the boat you have water guns that you can shoot at people in other boats and they even hit me and Jake - innocent bystanders!  Doesn't that water look refreshing?!

 

We have been told that there is another amusement park that has the bigger rides and bigger lines.  There weren't any lines at this park which is a good thing when it's 95 degrees and 90% humidity!  Maybe we'll try the other one next time!

 

 

 

 

What Wall?

 

THE Great Wall!

 

We know our time in China will fly by quickly so we want to see and do as much as we can as often as we can!!  So our first weekend here -- semi-conscious with only minor jet lag -- we headed out to experience the Great Wall of China.

 

There are many parts of the Great Wall to see.  Contrary to popular belief it is not one long continuous wall across China.  Different sections were built by different dynasties. They exists in chunks in between natural defences.  Some sections have been rebuilt and some sections still exist unrestored.  Our driver first drove us to the most popular, touristed section called Badaling.  One look at the lines and vendors and we were out of there!  We chose to drive across town to another section named Mutianyu - it was awesome!!  It is a busy enough section that there is a tram to the top if you choose not to hike up.  With a 2 year-old and no hiking backpack yet we thought the tram looked fabulous!

 

 

proof we were here!

 



I have the best looking family :)

 

 

We loved it!  We will definitely be back and are anxious to explore some other sections of the wall!

 

 

p.s. Any desire I ever had of running the Great Wall Marathon is completely gone!  After hiking around for a short time my quads were on FIRE.  okay, someone *might* be able to talk me into the half marathon though ;)



"The Flight"

I had been dreading this flight for months! Not too worried about the big kids - they each have an iPad, earphones, books, and I packed their backpacks with travel sized games and activities (thanks Maria!!). But how do you keep a 2.5 year old happy/occupied/busy for a 13 hour flight AFTER a 2 hour flight?  Small Fry fReAKed out when he saw we were getting on an airplane - he loves seeing them in the sky but the reality of actually being up in the sky himself made him very nervous. After getting him to calm down and breathe (took about 30 minutes) he did great! I am so amazed by how well the long flight actually went. No tears or anything! We took his car seat on the plane - it gave him a great place to sleep and just chill, much better than just sitting in the seat. He played games, watched movies, and played with his cars. It was a looooooooong flight :) But we made it!!

We had 12 suitcases, 5 backpacks, a box, a bag, a car seat and a stroller -  all that plus a family of 6 was definite admission to circus status while trying to fumble around in the airports. The kids did awesome. They were tired and the bags were heavy - note for next time *lighten backpacks* they had too much fun stuff that we really didn't need - and Confucius says heavy packs make for whiny kids :)

And The Winner Is...

...

...

...

Option # 4

 

 

HA!  So after returning to Texas we still had not decided which house we should choose.  We did decide that we were going to be a suburb family and not city dwellers.  It just felt like the right place to be.  We were changing so many things for our kids (new school, new house, new country, new language, new friends) we wanted to be able for them to enjoy playing outside, riding bikes on the street - semi-normal activities we were used to at home.  In the city apartments I felt like we were in a nice hotel and didn't want to always be telling my kids to hush. Most Chinese only have one child so everywhere seemed quiet...and we are not a quiet family ;)  I think if our kids were a little older we may have opted for the city.  We did agree that we would travel into the city often to explore and expose our kids to the real China as much as we could. 

 

When we finally did decide on Option #2   we learned that the landlord had just accepted another offer.  It turned out to be a blessing in disguise... Rob had to return to China for work so he went out house hunting (without me this time) and found a great house in the perfect neighborhood!  Remember option #3?  They finally toned it down a bit and found us a house that suits our family much better in Yosemite - the neighborhood across the street from the kids' school! Yay!  We both felt so much better about this than any of the other options we had.  Does it look like China?

 

 

 

 

House Finding Trip

House Hunters International - Beijing Edition!

In July Rob and I left the kids with the Grandparents and headed to China to find a place to live for the next few years!

Upon finding out we were moving to China, my physical therapist made me promise I would go home and call the TV show "House Hunters." I love that show so I told her I would check it out! During my research I learned that the people they choose for the show are already in escrow/have a contract with a house. They then find two other houses in their search criteria and basically fake the show because they have already chosen their home - super LAME. (I haven't watched the show since).

Here is my version for our own entertainment...

We saw many many different homes.  I'll pick three of our favorites to highlight here.  Everyone has been surprised when they see our housing options.  Not the bungaloo in the trees that they imagined :)  China will definitely have it's challenges but housing most likely will not be at the top of that list.  If I didn't know any better I would think half of these houses were in Anytown USA.



The first major decision was whether to live in the city or the suburbs.  We looked at both and figured we would "know" where we were supposed to be.

Pros of City living
 - more immersed in culture
 - kids become public transportation savvy : buses/subway
 - close to Chinese language dual immersion school we like

Cons of City living
 - city living with 20 million people - no solitude
 - far from #1 school choice
 - apartment living - no yard for kids to play/ride bikes

Option #1

Embassy House

 

(nope, it's not a cloudy day - we call this pollution! Yikes!)

 

 

 

Loved, loved, LOVED this apartment!  It was by far the cleanest, most updated of any we saw.  Biggest one is only 3 bedroom so all the kids would share.  Great facilities - pool, spa, library, gym.  Any tiny tiny yard outside will small toys for kids.

 

 

Option #2

Rose and Ginko Villa

 

 

 

 

 

(Can you imagine my BOYS in this room??)

Besides the White formal living room this house was Great! Closest to style of homes we have lived in in the past.  A little more remote - on the edge of the suburbs so farther commute for Rob but fairly close to #1 School choice.  Great pool and trails for kids bikes around neighborhood.  It is semi-detached so it shares one wall with neighbor.  Small yard but that is typical in China.  Lower end of budget!  Couldn't get them to show us more in this neighborhood.

Option #3

Yosemite

There is a problem when the people trying to find you a home are paid by commission and know your budget and know that your company is footing the bill.  They try to show us the most expensive - high end of our budget homes, and don't understand why we ask them to show us something smaller.   This was by far our favorite neighborhood.  The clubhouse was the newest and cleanest and had everything!  Plus it is literally across the street from the kids School in the suburbs.  Grocery within walking distance.  We really hoped to find a home in this neighborhood.  Every home they showed us had the same floor plan.  The landlords will paint and do many things at your request before moving in so ignore the nasty paint color :)  This house was huge - like almost 7,000 sq ft huge.  We walked in and Rob made a comment about "The Shining"  movie and the house wasn't the same after that :)


So which one would YOU choose???  I'll show you our choice tomorrow...