Beijing Series- What we saw & did not see

What we DID NOT see in Beijing!

we did not see the Forbidden City! it was closed by the time we made it there

we did not see The Summer Palace! just not enough time

we did not see The Temple of Heaven! next time

we did not see The Great Wall of China! so hard to pass it up

since this was not a leisure vacation, I was bummed to miss it all...but we did see a lot!

What we DID see in Beijing!

we did see schools, homes, offices, apartments and taxis

we did see frozen lakes in Hou Hai- yes, I know we have matching scarves

we did see references of America...and tee shirts that mean "I love Beijing" but if you wore it in America it would mean something very, very different

we did see McDonald's and...
... Starbucks

we did see "4th of July-worthy" fireworks shot off by people on the street

we had an interesting conversation with our real estate agent that went something like this...

him: "so, you can buy guns in your country but you can't buy fireworks?"

us: "ummmm....yeah" :/

* although he thought we can buy guns at our grocery stores, we set him straight*
we did see lanterns...

... at the Lantern Festival

we did see Chinese people doing their thing on the street~ hubby had to tell me he was sharpening blades~ I thought he was smoothing bricks!

we did see Chinese architecture

we did see disgusting things on menus

we did see rickshaws

we did see beautiful lights everywhere


we did see Christmas decorations...everywhere...in Febraury

we did see construction that has never, ever heard of OSHA

we did see smog, lots of smog

we did see Tiananmen Square

we did see blue sky (for one short day)

we did see lots of "authentic" name brand items

we did see police...everywhere...all the time...although we never saw them giving tickets, reprimanding or even talking to anyone~ they don't even carry guns
we did see cool shopping malls with giant screens~ this is Sanlitun village that has an adidas store, nike store and apple store~ that building in the back "Sanlitun Soho" is the apartment building I fell in love with (more info on that to follow)
finally, we did see American expats living, thriving and loving it in Beijing

Stay tuned for another school and tours of all the homes and apartments we toured!

Beijing Series- International School of Beijing

Hubby and I had four main objectives for this very quickly planned trip (4 days) to Beijing.

1. Make sure it was even somewhere we could imagine ourselves living. Yep, we think we could.
2. Hubby to meet with the Chinese partners of his firm and check out the office. All went great with that.
3. Look at schools. This post & next post.
4. Look at living options. Future posts.

Do you ever plan ahead and it does not pay off? I kind of put all my eggs in one basket when it came to schools. Now we realize we may go a different route. More about that later.

I had been in contact with some women from church who live where these two schools are...a suburban district near Beijing. I had decided early on that my children should be in this area, at one of these schools. So we visited both schools in Shunyi and did not schedule any tours for international schools in the city. We were impressed with both schools so, at that point, all was well.

International School of Beijing- (ISB) This school has a high reputation of excellence.

It's a nice, new modern establishment. It houses preK -12 grade.

Elementary cafeteria- there are three seperate meny choices daily- vegetarian, western, asian. The middle school and high school cafeteria is more of a food court with coffee bars and couches.

Each classroom has 18-22 kids. Most classrooms have two teachers. They each have a smartboard and each student has their own laptop.


Of course the biggest plus of all of the international schools are the arts and elective courses offered. We are so used to these services being eliminated here in the US so I was a kid in a candy store with all of these awesome options. The high school has a film department. The senior students have the opportunity to film their own short films. They roll out the red carpet and have a premiere night every year. A few years back, one of the films even won awards at the Tribeca film festival.



Great music deparments. Glad since one of mine plays the clarinet and the other plays the guitar.

The physical education department was impressive also. My fourth grader would have the opportunity to do Wushu (karate), running, rock wall climbing, swimming, basketball, etc. The after school activities offer a lot also.

Other things that stood out to us was the amazing school busses (pricey though). Included are many opportunities for the kids to go away to outdoor adventure camps each year. I also liked that the buildings are all high-tech ventilation for the poor air quality.
Next post will be school option #2- stay tuned

Baby Shower- Monkey Style!

It's baby shower time!

Monkey and Banana style!

It's awesome to have a friend that makes balloon animals of every kind! Adorable!

The color scheme was brown and yellow (with a hint of baby blue). These fabulous banners - no sew btw- were made by my co-hostess.

She also happens to be the world's best sugar cookie maker! They are always a big hit! Check her out here.

We also had a banana split bar and yummy tropical banana punch.

It's just not a party at my home without a candy bar! This time it was all banana or yellow. Who knew banana Laffy Taffy would be so popular?

"go bananas for Blake" favors

These favors are a cinch! Find banana candy here.

I used the Wilton favor tins and printed the stickers here.

The best part of the shower was that this sweet mom was showered and this baby boy was honored!

Beijing - First Impressions

* disclaimer* these thoughts are my natural human instincts of observation. some will sound like generalizations and stereotypes but not meant to offend and may be innacurate. just what i observed.

Hubby and I just arrived back from our "fact finding week" in Beijing. I am sure this will be the first in a series of posts, but I wanted to jot down my first impressions.

• very, very cold
• overcast, though soon found it was not overcast but the famous smog and pollution
• eating means business. they do not casually eat and talk. they chow down and concentrate on every bite of food.
• they have no idea how to use forks and knives (just like I have no idea how to use chopsticks). while using them I saw a man cut his meat and put it into his mouth with his knife instead of fork. I saw one lady resting her fork and knife on her shoulders while she chewed her food.
• they say there are many, many expats here. we did not see any anywhere, besides the ones from church and mark's office. we've also been told by more than a few that once you come to China as an expat you never want to return to America.
• most buildings there are medium height, though they are not close together like NY or SF, or even Tokyo or Hong Kong. sidenote, Hong Kong has the tallest buidings I've ever seen!
• there is not much worth shopping for here, despite everything we have in America being made in China...it is all exported.
• even new buildings are not built up to American standards. most buildings are shabby. they are not pretentious at all. I feel like we, Americans, are kind of snobs. we would not tolerate our grocery store being shabby, they just don't mind.
• Pedestrians DO NOT have the right of way! Crossing major streets is like the old school video game "Frogger". No joke!
• The subway system is efficient and very easy to use. Thank goodness!
• there are police everywhere. although the rules for driving are not enforced at all. I am not sure any rules are enforced by the police (jay walking, etc). I did get reprimanded for taking pictures of buildings in the Central park area.
• the women do not dress up or wear a lot of make-up.
• children liked to stare at hubby and I.
• chinese food really is what we think of as chinese food. Lots of sauces with meat and veggies served over rice. I got tired of it very, very quickly.
• things are reasonably priced, except rent.

That is it for now. Jet lag has set in. I will post more later.

Xia Xia for reading!

Beijing- Here We Come!

This map represents how I feel right about now...

It's been a long time coming but we are headed East to visit Beijing in just four short days! We found out yesterday, so my organization skills are being tested with arranging all the details in such a short amount of time!

But I am excited, despite the fact that I can't fly business class :( Don't judge, in times of uncertainty we grasp onto the oddest things.

It will just be hubby and I, which will be nice. The in-laws have graciously rearranged their lives to come up and supervise the kiddos for the week we are gone.

What I am excited about:

• a long flight where I can watch and read whatever I want.
• seeing the executive lounges that hubby always brags, I mean talks, about.
• staying in a nice hotel in a big city I've never been to before.
• trying new food (see below).
• meeting my "email buddies", who are sisters from church ,who've already welcomed me with open arms.
• seeing this place and this place in person. They seem amaaaaazing!

What I am not so excited about:

• a long flight where I am in an uncomfortable seat.
• being in a big city where I don't read or speak the language.
• trying new food.
• finding out we can't live where we want to live or send the kids to the school we want to send them to. (cross your fingers) . My pre-planning often leads to disappointment down the road.
• Jet Lag!
• MISSING MY KIDS!!!!

If you are ready for the adventure of My life I will take you with me every step of the way!

Happy New Year!

There was once a time when this blog was my home away from home. Now I am lucky to even enter each week. What has changed? I guess it is the evolution of life.

Happy 2011

This year I will:

• Have a more positive attitude in my heart and to those around me.
• Try not to take "things"personally.
• Read the New Testament.
• Run more than I walk.
• Tell my loved ones I love them every single day.

Thanks for reading!

Jen

2010

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