Houhai

Houhai is a neighborhood in the middle of Beijing, close to the Forbidden City.  It is one of the original Beijing neighborhoods with the Hutong people and a very characteristic type of housing.  We have been in Hutong areas before, but we had never visited Houhai until this week.  This was truly one of the best things we have done in Beijing!!

We arrived around lunchtime because there was a local pizza place that was recommended to us that we wanted to try.  It was called "Hutong Pizza" and it was really good.  It was truly homemade pizza and they had great potato/leek soup.  The atmosphere was spectacular though because it was so authentic.  You have to FIND the place first which is in a back alley of the Hutong areas.  Then, behind a thick winter cutain, you find a beautiful small restaurant. 

After filling up and having warm tummies, we ventured out to the well-known frozen lake.  At the frozen lake, you can buy tickets (very cheap) to do an assortment of ice activities.  Ice skating, ice bumper car, ice bicycle, ice sled, ice slide, and ice bounce house.  Yes, ice bouce house.  Of course, our children wanted to do the bounce house on ice.  We also selected the slide and ice sled.  We had a blast!!!  It was so fun and luckily the sun was shining so it wasn't too cold. 

While our kids bounced, Jeff and I had fun sitting on our ice sleds, watching the Chinese people (we were the only foreigners we saw on the frozen lake), and talking about how this would NOT go over well in the U.S.  Things like the long ice picks you use to maneuver scooting around would surely result in physical harm and cause a lawsuit in the U.S.   It's pretty sad though, because these Chinese people were having a wonderful time and so were we!!

Lastly, we walked around and had great snacks in the Houhai neighborhood.  We stopped at a Churros place (Spanish), a chocolateir, and went in quaint little local shops with various crafts that I hadn't seen before.  If you come to China, we will surely take you to Houhai!!



Nice hat, right???  I've been seeing these around lately.

Chinese New Year

Join in our Chinese New Year celebration by watching this video...

Countdown to Chinese New Year

 The big Christmas tree in the loby of our apartment building has now changed to a

Spring Festival tree (Chinese New Year)

The hanging, lit, lanterns spin and orange trees are abound!



Beijing is now full of hustle and bustle as the Chinese prepare for their biggest holiday of the year!  Chun Jie  (Spring Festival or Chinese New Year) Traffic is even MORE terrible because families are out buying small gifts for their families and getting the neccessary ingredients for traditional meals they will share together.  I guess there will be a mass exodus at the end of this week as people travel to their hometowns, by plane, but mainly by train and bus.  The train ticket lines have been really long. 

 I am so excited to share with all of you the traditions we are about ready to be witness to.  We have been invited over to my friend Ada's house for the Chinese New Year Eve celebration with her extended family.  Supposedly, we will go over to her grandmother's house, watch the family play majiang (a difficult, favorite board game), watch a CCTV broadcast of festivities, stay up till midnight when we will eat dumplings.  I guess some of the dumplings will have coins in them and if you are lucky to find one, you will have good fortune for the upcoming year. 

Saturday, we visited Ada's home for the first time.  I sat by Ada on the airplane on the way to Hong Kong a while back.  We have been meeting each other for a few months for lunch and dinner. She lives with her parents and grandmother.  When we arrived, they put me to work helping to make dumplings with her mom and grandmother.  Ada told them I know how to make them, but I was surprised when I was asked to show my skills, or lack there of.  I got a little nervous being put on the spot.  We probably made 100 dumplings, I couldn't believe it.  Ada was teasing me, pointing to mine and saying, "That one's Tracy's, and that one's Tracy's."  She could tell that mine were not up to par.  :)  This event was a great opportunity to practice my Chinese.  No one in her family could speak English (her father knows a few words), so I studied because I reallly wanted to share with them as much as I could myself without Ada translating. 

 This is her father, Qu.

This is her Lao Lao (Grandmother) and her mother, An.

We took Ada's family some of our favorite western foods in a basket as a gift.  Hopefully they will have fun trying them out and seeing what they think.  They gave us a bunch of decorations for Chinese New Year.  I have put some of them up around our apartment.

They gave many more similar decorations, but I decided to take a more subtle approach.  :)











"Home"

Thoughts about home....

After leaving Beijing for almost 3 weeks and returning home, I am beginning to see a bigger picture of what "HOME" really is.  We had a blast being back in the U.S. enjoying some of the comforts that are not so readily available here in Beijing.  We did get to eat a lot of great food favorites, I think we ate at Chipotle and Panera about 3 times each.  We did have some great BBQ too, but mostly we had a great time with family and friends.  As we have come to find out, there is not enough time to do everything you want to do, see everyone you want to see when you are home for a short time.  That, of course, is the biggest downside.

Jeff and I talked a lot about our feelings throughout the few weeks and even though we were EXTREMELY busy, we wouldn't have had it any other way!!!  We were glad to come home, it still does feel like home because we have so many loved ones there.  We also can't imagine not being home for Christmas, even with all of the hustle and bustle. 

But, we had another observation and feeling.  Beijing really does feel like home for us right now.  It is where our own apartment is, where we can let our hair down and do absolutely nothing.  We were ready to come back and have a normal schedule, we were ready to play with our kids in our own home.  We were ready to see our new friends, small group, and be at our church.  It just really reaffirmed that we are exactly where God has desired for us to be, doing exactly what He wants us to do.  Isn't that amazing??  God proves over and over that if I will trust Him, release my fear, and hope in Him, He will work out all of the details!

Lastly, HOME for me, is wherever I can sit alone with my Bible, journal, and pen (I do have a pen fetish), and be with my Father.  How I yearn for Him these days, He is my constant, unchangeable, reliable, HOME.  I hope that you have that HOME as well.