Houtong village and HouHai Lake

This weekends adventure led us downtown to the Houtong village and HouHai lake.  The meaning of houtong is "traditional Chinese", so these are the traditional neighborhoods of Beijing, with very narrow ally ways and streets that are lines with shops and homes.  There are not many of them left due to all of the roads and buildings that have gone up, but some have been protected to preserve the Chinese cultural history.  Despite the misty rain, the streets were packed with locals and tourists alike.  There was literally a traffic jam of rickshaws going through the streets.  Kids and adults jumping off the bridge into the lake, some people swimming laps in the lake, and random gatherings of men playing some game that looks to be a cross between checkers and chess.  There were also lot of bicycles, some of which even fit the whole family on them.  It was fun and interesting just to look around.  Ella of course was on high alert and even went with wet hair and pulled it up to try and hide her blond locks.  Not very successful!  She always manages to get stares and admirers, in which she turns beet red and gives a shy wave, and then hides behind me! 

rickshaw brigade

lots of bikes

Ummm....this bike looked like it had a helmet around it.

Animation characters everywhere here.

Jules

A group of men gathered playing some sort of board game. 

Plant delivery truck????

HouHai Lake

bicycle built for 3.......I wonder if the guy knew he was the only one peddling?????

A distressed and overly cautious Ella

Random Chinese locals taking a dip.  One tried to talk Kelly into jumping off the edge but he declined.  He wasn't as keen on stripping into his tighty whitey's as they were.  Oh yes,  they stripped into their unders!!



Does this look like people abuse their dogs here?????

Busy streets of Houtong village

Family vehicle

Awwww.....lovebirds........I had to pay him to get in this picture with me! LOL

Ella's first day of School

On Friday, Ella had her first day of 4th grade at ISB.  I escorted her to school and spent the first half of the day with her.  All of the elementary kids had a picnic lunch with their parents and then lined up with their teachers and spent the rest of the day in class.  Her teacher is Mrs. Reverman and she is very nice!  Ella is one of the 2 American kids in her classroom.  She made friends with a girl from Argentina, India and Korea.  She is very excited to get started because her PE class gets to start a session on swimming.  She will also be making a GLOG (which is a computer journal) on all of her friends, family and summer fun that she has had.  (Thank you Eileen for taking lots of soccer pictures, I have ripped them from you FB and sent them to her teachers email).

She was all smiles this morning when she left for school.  I literally can't wait to go pick her up to hear how her day went!

While Julia was away Ella and me played...but she starts school tomorrow!!

Ella and I lunching at Jamaican Blue

Ella and our neighbor, Annique

Annique and Ella

My new Australian friend and neighbor Tracy

I just though this was a pretty view behind the pool

While Julia was at school, Ella and I grabbed a bite to eat at the Jamaican Blue restaurant, in our neighborhoods community center, and then met our Aussie neighbors for a dip in the pool.  We had a great day together!  I think the best part of this experience for me, is that I get to be more of an active and present parent in the girls daily lives.  I loved my job but this has definitely been a blessing to get this special time with my girls!!

Julia's first day of Middle School at ISB

It was Julia's first day of middle school today at the International School of Beijing.  She received her Mac Book Pro computer yesterday that most of her assignments will be completed on.  She was pretty excited about that.  Then today was her first full day of school.  She met her homeroom class and was surprised that she was the only American in her class.  There were kids from Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, Korea, China, Australia, France, Italy and India.  They all speak fluent English though (or American if you ask Julia).
She got to pick from a list of enrichment classes (additional fun class options) such as digital photography, photo editing, cross fit, team sports, drama, film production, stock market exchange, mushu warrior (martial arts), dance, band, orchestra, barbecue on the grill, table tennis and the list goes on and on.  I am wondering if I can go back to 6th grade!!!!!!
At the end of the day we met her at the front door, where I took the picture of the 30+ Charter buses all lined up waiting to take the kids back to their respected neighborhoods.  There were so many it look like there was a senior bus trip special at a casino!!!  Julia and Ella were mad because our neighborhood is so close to the school that we can walk and what kid wouldn't want to ride a bus like that to school everyday! 

Julia's first day of 6th grade

                                                                   school buses

She had a great day but was exhausted by time we traveled 30 minutes through horrendous traffic to make it back to the hotel.  I think it will be lights out early tonight!!

Meet the Chinese Ella

Since the girls have been living at a hotel for 2 weeks, they have become friends with many of the staff here.  They all cater to the girls every whim and spoil them rotten......I'm afraid they have created little monsters!  Their favorite has to be a Chinese gal named "Ella".  She is a sweet, beautiful girl, and she is the manager of the executive lounge where we eat our meals sometimes and get endless amounts of fruit, snacks and beverages.  They even have after school snacks ready for the girls when they come up!  They don't see very many kids here so they really enjoy looking out for the girls and providing entertainment (painting nails, listening to American music, watching the Olympics).  Love the staff here, I am going to miss them when we move into our house!

An evening of haggling at the Silk Market

The Silk Market

The girls from work would have died and gone to heaven with all the knock off purses they have!

                                                       Subway.............eat fresh

  We headed out to take the girls to the shopping center in Beijing known as the Silk Market.  If you are looking for a quiet, peaceful shopping experience....this is not the place for you.  Anyone who knows me, knows that I do not like confrontation.  Everything about shopping here is confrontational.  Kelly is quite the bargainer though (SHOCKER).  He thinks of this as a competitive sport.  The shop workers will shoot you a high price then you go back and forth until someone caves.  Usually, they will chase you down and try to drag you back to their shop.  "I give you best price" or "very good quality here" is what you would commonly hear being shouted at you.  It was painful for me and Ella, but Kelly and Julia were having a ball.  They have everything from electronics to any kind of knock off  clothes, glasses, purses, shoes or coats that you could imagine.  We made it out with 3 pairs of Beats headphones and 1 enormous headache (mine).  We then enjoyed a sandwich at Subway.  It was very close to being like our Subways in the US with the exception of the chip flavors they have.  Roasted chicken flavored, cheese lobster flavored and some bazaar fish flavored one?!?!?!?  We included a picture for my sister and brother in law that own 2 Subways in Florida!!  I am not sure how well you "eat fresh" there considering it was like 100 degrees in there and the whole glass front of the store opens up, but we enjoyed every single bite!!!  All in all, we had a lovely night together and all enjoyed the city lights as we drove back to our hotel!

Random thoughts with Valerie and Co.......

We decided to take a walk down to the DQ for a little ice cream treat today.  These are just some random thoughts and questions that came into my head as we walked a few short blocks down the busy streets of Beijing.  #1)  I am not sure that adult women should wear clothes that have panda bear stuffed animals sewn onto them.  #2)  Is it strange that I am more afraid of being hit by a bicycle here than a car???  #3)  Ella, "Oh no mom it's raining."  Me, "Honey, that is not rain, that would be all the air conditioners dripping on our heads."  Seriously needed an umbrella!  #4) Look out Ella there are some more blond fan stalkers looking at you.  Walk a little quicker.  #5) Yes, finally we are at DQ.  We look at the pictures in the menu.  Julia, "Oh yes!  They have mint Oreo blizzards."  Ummm,  yeah,  it's green and there is definitely chocolate cookies in there, but note to self:  green ice cream in China is NOT mint!  Green ice cream here is actually green tea flavored ice cream.  BLAK!!!  #6)  There are A LOT of interesting smells in China.......very few are good.  #7)  They are very cost effective here.  To save money on diapers,  they just don't have their little ones wear diapers or pants.  Brilliant...I have seen more nakey babies butts here in week than I had my whole life.  #8)  Julia, "I'm pretty sure there is so much air pollution because everyone here smokes!"  Ella, "Their lungs are gonna be trashed anyway,  does it matter?" 
So far, there is never a dull moment here.  Everyday is an adventure and a blessing and I am so glad I can see this all through my kids eyes!