Pictures

I have some random pictures I want to share....

Cody and Heather live in our apartment building.  They are from the Philippines.  Cody is in 1st grade at Jack's school and Heather is 4 years old.  They are great playmates and we take turns going to each other's houses. 

 Jack has found some new freedom in being able to go up the elevator by himself to Cody's apartment. 


   



 This is a Dance Party/War to the Rio Soundtrack. Great combination, huh?!!

The moon!!

From our balcony



Last Saturday night we were invited to dinner at Mr. Li's Father's home.  Mr. Li and his wife Xie, live with his father and mother.  They were so gracious and cooked several things they thought the kids would like.  We talked over tea before dinner and then all sat together around their table.  Mr. Li (Senior) used to travel with his career so he shared with us about other countries and we looked at pictures.  He also must be pretty good at table tennis because he won a tournament.  We have table tennis in our complex, so we told him the next time they come over, we may have to play.  Or just watch Mr. Li Senior and Junior as they play!!

Schindler's German Bakery

Great place for different kinds of loaves, bagels, pies, and cakes.  Oh, and donuts.

They also have a fresh meat and cheese store in conjunction just down the road that I go to as well. 

We had a spontaneous visit to the Bird's Nest

a couple of Saturdays ago.  We were out with their bikes and thought the Olympic Village would be a good place to ride.  It was!  The kids got to ride all around the corridors of the stadium.  Then we sat down with some concession food and watched a video of the Olympics.  Jack asked lots of questions about the Olympics and now he is ready for London, 2012! 







Slurping Soup and other confusions

Last week my friend Jenni and I attended a workshop provided by Jack's school on a book called Slurping Soup and other confusions.  One of the writers of the book came to share with us ways of helping your children process and deal with being third culture children.  A third culture child is someone with three crossing cultures: Family culture, Past culture (where they have come from), and Present culture.

 The first thing that we did in the workshop was name out loud some of the issues that our children are facing or have faced in the past in living in a new country.  It was amazing to hear all of the struggles that these families have gone through, but also the blessings that come from it.  Some of the issues people raised were missing friends, food, exclusion from Chinese kids, new friends moving (since people generally stay her for less than five years), photography of your children (I raised this issue), communicating with people back home, traffic, smells, and Identity.  This last one was a big one for a lot of people in the room.  These families are so diverse.  Maybe the mom came from one country, met her husband from another country, and now they have lived in several places with their children.  When their children are asked "Where are you from?", they don't know how to answer that question.

It was a great workshop in helping to talk through some of these topics with your children and to learn how to really listen to what they are struggling with.  They may be acting out with some sort of behavior, but in actuality dealing with something deeper. 

I know for our family, we have dealt with the photography issue.  Some people ask very nicely to take pictures of the kids, others do it without asking and just run up to them.  If we go to one of the sight-seeing big venues here in Beijing sometimes it feels like we are the attraction.  The kids generally do really well, but sometimes they just don't want their picture taken.  Understandably!!  Sometimes they don't want to stand next to someone they don't know and have to smile.  This is something we are currently talking about as a family and figuring out how we want to address it in a respectful way to our children and to the Chinese people.  How we behave is a reflection on our Father, so how we react needs to be respectful and polite, even if we aren't always greeted in the same way. 

Postal system

I have had about half of my cards and letters returned to me.  I have had Miss Holly help me, Mr. Li help me, and I have gone to the post office to address my letters.  Somehow, I always seem to mess something up.  I do know that I have to place the "To" and "From" in different places on the envelope.  But somehow I still haven't gotten everything in it's proper place on all of my letters.  So, I guess by the time they reach the U.S., they could be very outdated.  FYI. 

A Rainbow is a Promise

I noticed the most wonderful thing the other morning.  I hadn't really thought about the fact that I probably won't see many rainbows here in Beijing.  Not that is doesn't rain much, because it does rain about the same amount that I am used to.  But, after a rain it is usually pretty smoggy still.  Except this week which I will talk about later.  :)

Anyway, I hadn't really thought about rainbows until I witnessed one the other morning, but in a whole new way.  A way only brought about in Beijing, a unique and special way that God demonstrated His promise and hope to me that morning.

Grace and I were riding in the van when to my right I began seeing several motor bicyclists wearing various colors of rain ponchos.  It started out with yellow and green, then another rider with blue, orange, red, and even purple.  Then, I saw it amongst the ponchos, all there together:  A rider with a rainbow umbrella.  It was beautiful.  What are the chances that all the colors of the rainbow plus a rainbow umbrella were all stopped there at the same street corner at that moment.  Of course, my photos will not do it justice because I was frantically searching for the camera in the car.  

I have been reading this wonderful book about giving thanks and how thankfulness leads to joy and hope.  Then more joy leads to looking for more things to be thankful for.  I have to laugh because God wanted me to SEE that, and what if I hadn't?  I would have missed out on something so beautiful.

 

The skies have been gorgeous this week actually after this day.  The weather has seemed to turn to cooler temperatures and less smog.  This morning I actually woke up to an orange sunrise!!  I woke Jeff up just so he could see it.  It was so comforting and reminded me of home.  I think we take sunrises, sunsets, and even white clouds against a blue sky for granted in America.  Please, take note of them and thank God for His amazing art.

First Day of Kindergarten

Jack started Kindergarten this week! He was ready and excited! We took him to school in the morning and he rode the bus home in the afternoon. He barely looked back one time to wave goodbye.  Jeff and I are feeling very happy with our decision of schools.  We visited a couple and looked up information on many, but felt the one we chose was right for our family.  It is a fairly new international school, but already has a great reputation and prides itself as being a close family.  The demographics are very diverse with probably about half of the population being from Asia.  The other half from all over the rest of the world.  We feel very fortunate to have this opportunity. 

Proud Mama

Everyone is excited!

Big Guy ready with his backpack

Jack's teacher seems very kind.

Jack's main concerns were that the teacher taught in English, which they do, but he does have Chinese lessons every day.  He also wanted to know about recess.  It is definately his favorite already, but today he got to do computers and go to the library.  He seems to like them all. 

Getting off the bus, ready to tell us all about his day!





Hot Pot

This is hot pot. Spicy on the left, mild on the right for the kids.  Mr. Li brought us here to one of his favorite hot pot restaurants.  They only have a Chinese menu so Mr. Li will have to come back with us each time. Hot Pot originates in Southern China where the climate is hotter.  They believe that the spiciness actually cools them off by sweating.  In the top of the picture in the green tray are an appetizer which are best described as foamy seafood chips.

 From the menu you pick out the different meats, fish, and vegetables that you want to cook in your hot pot.  Mr. Li did all the ordering and he did a great job of picking things that he thought we would like and the kids.

This is beef.  After you cook your food in the hot pot you dip it in a combination of spices and sauces that you create yourself at the sauce buffet.

 We also tried pork (top), mushrooms (middle) and a white vegetable (bottom) that Mr. Li did not know the English name for.  It was good.  Jack actually did really well at trying everything.  He commented that it was good but Jeff and I noticed that some stuff he did not take a second bite of.  That's ok with us, at least he tried and told Mr. Li it was good.  

We also had a green onion and cilantro soup which was really good and I think I can create at home.  Miss Holly told me that we can create hot pot at home.  Maybe soon, it was really good.

Other veggies we cooked were bok choy, and another green veggie that we didn't know the name of. 

This was the kids favorite- cantalope and the little tiny hot dogs.  Yes, Mr. Li did good. 

 This is Mr. Li.  We are very thankful for how helpful he is and how easy going his personality is.  Jack and Grace are fond of him too, they create art for him and pray for him.

Mr. Li's family, his father, mother, and wife came over for dinner a couple of Saturdays ago.  It was such a neat experience.  His father actually taught English for his career, so we were able to communicate really well.   I cooked spaghetti, you can't go wrong with that, right?  I also had some veggies and made my first ever apple pie.

After the hot pot meal is over, they give you a hot towel to wipe your face and neck.  Seriously.....

 The kids got to watch a noodle presentation and were given some dough of their own to play with.

Grace had more fun playing with her dough than eating.



Transformer

After my mixer and immersion blender started smoking when we plugged it in with everything we thought we needed, Jeff decided that we needed something heavy duty.  Especially if we wanted to use our Keurig coffee maker.  We had not plugged it in due to fear and we were almost ready just to ship it back to the U.S.  Then, Jeff saw on-line that you can buy heavy duty transformers, so we had one shipped.  It arrived and now we get to use our many coffee pods that we brought.  It's rather huge, but I don't mind, especially since my mixer is fully functional once again! 

 Here's the kiddos painting on our balcony...a new thing to enjoy!

Painting at the Park

Children's areas in Beijing are very fun and pretty cheap.  We have seen these painting areas in a lot of places, so Grace decided she wanted to try it out.  You pick out a picture with a raised outline and fill in the sections with paint.  I think it actually really helps teach kids how to color within the lines.  Grace picked out Minnie Mouse.

After you have pianted, you take it very carefully to the man who runs the area. He puts it in a toaster oven for the paint to dry.

And the finished masterpiece!!!

Slip Cover Adventure

The apartment furnishes a dining room table which is so nice, but all of the chairs are covered with white cushioning.  As any parent of small children knows, this does not work!  We have put more stains on these chairs even after telling our children they may only sit in the same chair for every meal.  :)

I decided that we needed slip covers that were washable so that we could have guests over and they would not have to sit on our food stains.  So, I began a search.  I have expressed in earlier posts that searching for something in Beijing can be tedious and frustrating.  I went straight to my friend Jenni who told me of a cheap fabric store.  She recommended taking the actual chair in our van so that they could measure and there would be no mis-communication. 

Mr. Li and Miss Holly helped me (praise Jesus!!) by taking me to the store across Beijing, communicating what I needed, and even helping me carry the chair through the shopping area with two kids in tow.  We were quite the spectacle.  But, IT WAS A SUCCESS!!  The seamstress knew exactly what I needed, didn't charge me too much (even though Mr. Li said that she upselled me because I'm a westerner) and a week later I picked up some wonderful slip covers!

Smog or Fog?

You have probably heard that pollution is really bad in Beijing.  This is true!  Actually, Jeff and I like to joke when it starts raining that we can actually feel a sizzle of acid rain as it lands on our arms.  We tend to think that due to the mountains, the smog gets trapped in Beijing until a rain or nice wind blows it out.  Some mornings I have woken up and thought it was going to rain when in fact, it is just that polluted.  When the smog moves out, it is really beautiful!  Beijing has beautiful flowers and trees that line the roads and highways and some really beautiful parks and sights to see.  Here are some contrasting views from our balcony.