Ice skating

Being the proper Florida boy I am, I've only ice skated about twice in my life. Near my home in Beijing there is a huge ancient artificial lake that freezes over from December to February. Said lake is called Houhai (后海), and while just 15 years ago a typical neighborhood, today it's a big bar and restaurant center complete with ancient ceremonial towers...and in Winter ice skating. Silvia, some friends and I went the other afternoon, and I learned to ice skate!

So while we skated, on this one opening in the ice some old Chinese people thought it would be perfect to jump in. I've only seen things like this on television, and now feeling how cold days like that one really are I remain more confused than ever on why Chinese people will only drink hot water all year long, then jump into a frozen lake in Winter for health purposes.

Christmas Crafts

I taught a special Christmas class early Christmas week. All the kids loved it because they got to make ornaments and cut out snowflakes. Here are some of my favorite students and their artwork.

A visitor

A good friend of mine from high school, Jackie, came to Beijing last week. She's a dancer at the
Martha Graham Dance Company and made it here on tour. I saw her perform last Friday night at the Egg, here next to Tian'anmen Square. It had been a really long time since we'd last seen each other, but everything was just like high school. In fact better, because we're both pretty damn happy where we find ourselves in our lives. We caught up and laughed a bunch, and I took her and her company friends out when they weren't performing.

My favorite breakfast place in Beijing, Cafe Zarah. We met up early one morning and had a fantastic breakfast. My coffee (on the left) is a café au lait served in a bowl, something Jackie found funny.

雍和宫 (YongHeGong) is a temple just half a kilometer north of my apartment. It's one of the most famous sites to see here in Beijing, and embarrassingly, I'd never been it. So Jackie and I went together.

We had so much fun. I miss her so much already :(

Her swank hotel in the financial hub of the city set up a n awesome gingerbread town with lights and all kinds of delicious looking stuff. The first sign of Christmas...

Thanksgiving Weekend

Early in the week, I made traditional Thanksgiving hand turkeys with my kids. I think they get it, but I'm not too sure. Thanksgiving's symbols are mostly alien to Chinese people so trying to tell them why they should care about pies and Pilgrims sometimes gets muddy.
FUN FACT: the Chinese word for turkey is 火鸡 [huǒjī] which is literally "fire chicken"

Thanksgiving happened at our local Friday's. It was a fairly trashy choice I guess, but we enjoyed it. A bunch of appetizers and a bunch of long island iced teas helped make this Thanksgiving memorable. It was a dream come true of sorts to have a fancy cheeseburger Thanksgiving dinner.

Friday morning we saw a sheep get killed just down the block. I think Ross noticed it first just outside my bedroom window. Some of our neighbors (I figure) brought the sheep into our complex, laid it onto the ground near a sewer drain, and slit away. I must tell you this is the first time I see anything like this by here. I must be lucky.

downstairs balcony garden

I made it a point when I first came back to China to buy a bunch of plants in anticipation of Winter. Beijing is a surprisingly green city, there are many public parks and tree lined streets. However, this looming Winter will quickly wipe out nearly all the green in the coming weeks. There are plants pretty much all over the house, but most are in the living room balcony.

above and below: the plant balcony with all kinds of tropical plants, cacti, and spice plants.

just inside: a newly flowering jasmine just like one from a house I grew up in in Miami. It makes the whole apartment smell good and strangely like my early teenage years. The smaller plant is something called a money tree. It's some Feng Shui (风水) thing that's supposed to bring money. Hope it works!

the downstairs...

a look into our new apartment...


The stuff above the couch; some of our paintings and some of our cool stuff, and me.

It's clearest I think to show a panoramic of the balcony (on the right), living room, stairs and entrance (on the left). The downstairs also has the kitchen, a bathroom with a washing machine, and two bedrooms one with a wide balcony we use to hang dry clothing.

upstairs...

The second floor is a big open space we use as the dining room. It has a large and comfortable common area, an enclosed balcony, an open balcony, and Silvia's bedroom room and bathroom

The open balcony with two giant David heads that came with the apartment. The one on the right broke somehow, I suspect it was some cats I've seen around. This balcony is at the top of our building and gives us a view of our whole complex and, on very clear days, a view of the mountains.

recently...

Halloween was fun. We went out to a party and a foreigner bar all dressed up. Our Friend Ruby (above) from Xi'an joined Ross and Silvia in a "dead 80's" theme

I went dressed as a XinJiang chef. This Muslim minority group from far out in the west of China are a fairly common sight all over Beijing. They have restaurants all over the city where they sell their closer to Turkish than Chinese style dishes. They also sell barbecued meat on a stick called 串 (pron. CHwar in Beijing accent Mandarin). The Chinese character represents two peices of meat skewered on a stick. I made my own 串 out sponges, I think they made my costume a success.

a memory of warmer days... just a few weeks ago it was easy to go out in a T-shirt. These last few weeks have been significantly cooler, and this weekend it's been down in the 50's midday and the 30's at night :(

I VOTED!

Even all the way from Beijing I managed to do it, so there's no excuse for anyone who didn't. I'm listening to an NPR stream of the results as they come in, eating breakfast and freaking out just a little bit :)
All of us on this side of the world should know the winner by early or mid-afternoon. We're all really excited around here, I had a pretty rough night's sleep as all the voting was going on in America. Let's hope there's big cause for celebration tonight!

Same old , same old

So, Beijing looks basically the same. Who'da thunk it? more details coming soon, in the meanwhile here are some recent pics