"The Domes"

The school that my kids attend built these two massive "domes" in response to Beijing's obvious pollution problem.  Pollution is a serious problem, even more so, I imagine, to children with lungs that are still developing.  You want your kids to be able to play outside but not at the expense of their health - and there are still many studies trying to figure this all out.  So we were all excited when the domes were finished! 

 

 

Outside view of the side of one of them.  They are each about the size of a football field.

 

One dome has a turf soccer field on half, with basketball courts, four square, and badminton courts on the other half -- with a track running along the perimeter.  There are balls, hula hoops, and all sorts of games to play with.  The other dome is home to 6 tennis courts.  The inside is held up by air pressure - about 35 psi, the same air pressure inside a bicycle tire.

In order to keep the air pressure constant inside the doors to get in and out of the dome are these air-lock chambers.  On the left are revolving doors - the right is a larger "come in one door, wait til it closes, then the other door will open."

There is also a gym (actually 2) and 2 dance rooms, locker rooms, a small cafe, and an Adidas store.
The domes are only for the kids during school hours and after-school sports hours, then is open to the parents from 6-10.

The reason for the domes is to provide a normal pollution-free environment for the kids.  On days where the pollution index is above 260 (which is still too high in my opinion) the kids still get to go to recess but they play in the domes instead of on the playground.  The school is doing some research and considering changing the acceptable pollution level for outdoor play - to as low as possibly 150 {in which case the kids will never get to play outside :(  }  They spared no expense in putting in the most advanced air-filtration system.  This is a picture of a few of the vents:

Pretty cool.  Of course I'd prefer for my kids to be able to breathe clean, mountain air - but when it's not available I'm glad there have been steps taken to keep them safe! 

This summer if you need to find us we'll be somewhere in the Rocky Mountains of Utah cleaning out our lungs :)

Artwork

 

 

Zak's recent watercolor:

 

Luke's newest creation:

 

 

 

 

Lantern Festival

The Lantern Festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the first lunar month - so this year it was February 24.  This festival is the last day of the Chinese New Year celebrations. 

Riddles are written on paper lanterns and displayed for the kids to solve.  People light paper lanterns - the lanterns can symbolize the people letting go of their past selves and getting new ones, which they will let go of the next year.

We had dinner at a friends house, and while we were driving home we saw some people lighting some lanters along the side of the road.  So we pulled over to get in on some of the Lantern action!

Here are some examples of some riddles:


Riddle: What’s full of holes but still holds water?
Answer: a sponge

Riddle: What building has the most stories?
Answer: A Library

Riddle: Which is faster, hot or cold?
Answer: Hot’s faster. You can catch a cold

Riddle: When is your mind like a rumpled bed?
Answer: When it is not made up.

Riddle: What is it that everybody does at the same time?
Answer: grow older

The Chinese riddles are much more difficult to solve because a chinese character has so many meanings and they don't translate into English.

Snowboarding

To finish of our Spring Festival Break we took the kids skiing again at Nanshan Ski Village.  Only this time it was my turn :)  Rob was feeling a little under the weather so he stayed home and played with Jake.


I had to get a picture of this sign along the freeway there.  There were several of them, but this is the best shot I could get...It says "Don't follow too Clowsely"

The boys decided they wanted to try snowboarding for the first time.  I have never snowboarded so I wasn't the best teacher.  Good thing these guys are naturally coordinated and fast learners because they caught on fast!!

 

 

Keely skied with me.  Something clicked with her this year because she is awesome!  Instead of everyone waiting for her, she was waiting for the boys this trip!

 

Luke's a natural! Zak had a little rougher time catching on this trip.  He hit his head pretty good a couple times, so we chilled like this for a little while :)  Both of them had sore bums by the end of the day!

The next day they were so sore they could barely move their necks - it was hilarious :) 

Shanghai

During the Spring Festival (the week off after Chinese New Year) we decided to go check out Shanghai.  The kids and I hadn't been yet, and we heard rumors that there was a Krispy Kreme donut shop there :)  And sometimes it is all about the food :)  Plus, Shanghai is a bit warmer than Beijing this time of year.

We hopped on a short flight there and rode the famous Maglev train from the airport into town.  The Maglev (Magnetic Levitation) is a high speed train that uses magnets to lift and propel the train, so you're kind of floating along the track.

We went 300km/hr (about 186 mph).  Although I read that it can go even faster than that.  Fun!

In front of the Jing 'an temple.

Donuts are the one treat the kids (and Rob) have missed the most. There are some places in Beijing that try to make donuts, but so far we haven't been able to even finish one of these imposters!  I'm pretty sure we ate at least one donut a day while we were there!

 

 

 

We were able to meet up with some friends of ours from Austin who moved to Shanghai just a couple months ago.  It was so fun to see them!! 

 

 

AND to make things even better we happened upon a Stubbs Bar*B*Q restaurant!  An Austin, Texas original!

Street shopping for Tibetan treasures.

Hmmmm...that panda looks a little familiar...

My favorite place in Shanghai was an area known as the French Concession.  The atmosphere here was so quaint and inviting - I could have spent the whole day here if the kids would have cooperated.  They were ready to go swim at the hotel, go figure.  But this area was full of small shops, restaurants, cafes, and small narrow roads that you could wind your way through all day long.

We had some crepes with Nutella at this little cafe (although the kids said my crepes were better). And the cheesecake was amazing!

"The Bund" is Shanghai's most famous mile.  Here we walked along it and you have a great view of the skyline.  Shanghai is a cleaner, more modern city than we are used to seeing in China.

Yes, fireworks are still going on.  This was the view out our hotel window at midnight.  I wish I had taken a panoramic photo because this was just one side.  You could see several more firework shows throughout the city looking the other direction.  I can't believe the kids didn't wake up!  It sounded like a war zone!

 

 

My favorite photo of the trip - snuggling at the hotel :)

 

 

 

 

 

Chinese New Year at ISB

The kids had a week off of school in celebration of Chinese New Year.  It is the biggest holiday for the Chinese.  So it was a little strange taking another week off after having three weeks off during the Christmas Holiday.  I am definitely not complaining though!  I'm already looking forward to Spring Break in April!  :)

 

The school had some fun activities to celebrate the new year.  I took Jake and we hung out with Keely for the afternoon.  I got glimpses of Zak every once in a while, but I think he was okay with hanging out with his friends :)

 

 

There were many games set up for the kids.  These were all traditional Chinese games.  This one was like a top and you have a stick with a string attached for "whipping" the top to keep it spinning.

 

 

This is a Chinese Yo-Yo

And here is a fun hoop game

Jake trying the yo-yo



They also had traditional Chinese snacks (we got some more Tanghulu) games where you guess riddles, and some special performances done by the kids.

Jake had a special performance also, put together by his Chinese class.  They made snakes (this is the year of the snake), danced with lanterns, sang songs in Chinese (well, he rolled around on the ground while the teachers sang), and had Jiaozi (dumplings). 

Gongxi Fa Cai!!

(wishing you good fortune)

 

 

Happy Chinese New Year!

The Chinese New Year is based on a combination of lunar and solar movements.  This year it fell on February 9.  There were celebrations for a week leading up to Chinese New Year, Chinese New Year itself is a week-long celebration called the "Spring Festival", and there were still fireworks and temple fairs for a week after that week.  China takes a whole week off and the week of Chinese New Year is meant for the Chinese to go to their hometowns and visit family. 

We had originally planned on taking a trip out of China because of the crazy crowds, but because of poor planning and procrastination we didn't book early enough. By the time we sat down to book our trip, flights were expensive and hotels were all sold out!  So we decided experiencing Chinese New Year in China would be a fun way to spend our break.

 

During Chinese New Year all the temples hold "Temple Fairs."  People come to worship and celebrate.  There is food, shows, and lots of arts and crafts...but, it's cold!

 

 

We chose to go to DONGYUE TEMPLE in Beijing.  We heard that it was family friendly, so we bundled everyone up and drove into the city.  The Dongyue Temple was built in 1319 by Taoist Monks.  It is the largest Daoist temple in northern China.  Daoism believes that life is generally happy but that it should be lived with balance and virtue, and needs a peaceful and harmonious environment.  "The Dao" means "the way" - but cannot be defined because it exists beyond all forms.
Taoism is an ancient Chinese religion also called the water course way, for it believes that life flows in much the same way as a river. And like the river, though we are able to have influence over our lives, we are never able to take total control.

 

 

There were two fenced-off statues of horses that people were walking around and touching.  My friend Hilary and I figured it must be good luck so we touched the horses too :)

There were games for the kids to play.  For this game you buy these "special" tokens and try and throw them through the hole.

 

All the kids wanted in on the action!

 

There were also Chinese acrobatic shows.  It was fun to see but hard to enjoy for too long because it was so cold standing there!

And of course we always enjoy sampling the local food choices.  I can't remember what these were called, but they were like balls of funnel cake, with sugar to dip it into.  And then the meat on skewers.

 

 

 

Afterwards, we stopped to warm up at Burger King, and finish off the days entertainment by taking pictures of ourselves in this funny mirror :)

Chinese New Year wouldn't be Chinese New Year without FIREWORKS!  They were everywhere.  We stood outside Friday night and it honestly sounded like a war zone...for hours!  There isn't just two or three big main firework shows hosted by someone in particular like our 4th of July celebrations.  But everybody does their own huge firework show.  I walked out on the balcony of our second floor at one point that night and heard explosions all around me close and in the distance.  I also saw about 8 different firework shows at one time!  I wonder how many fires they have during Chinese New Year?  It was interesting to watch the pollution index that evening too -- it spiked off the charts around 1 a.m.

Of course we had to participate in the fun too!  The boys love Roman Candles.

 

And fireworks here are super cheap.  They look just the same and are even sold in little stands along the road :)

XIN NIAN KUAI LE