UP Dates.

Here is a surprise for me. I have not published anything here for months. Not days, but for months. Yet,  when today I peeked in the stats of the blog, I realized that some people are still looking at it. It is too bad I am not able to know who you are, and why you read me, yet it is interesting to know it is still drawing interest.
 
So for those of you stumbling on this link, here is an update: We are no longer in Beijing, we moved to Brazil mid-august. And here is my new blog, where I humbly try to make sense of our new place, Brasilia:
Oscar and I - Brasilia from the inside.
Hoping to see you there!

PS: start from the older post, you'll get a better idea of what you have missed!

Damocles

Dear readers

Yes I unkindly abandoned for a few months. February went by and bam: I was no where to be found on this blog. What a shame. Shame on me. shame shame shame. soooory! (I feel embarrassed about this, not helping my case in writing something meaningful here...)

So beyond some of my best lame apologies, and a set of very valid excuses that are too long to write here (or should it be the reverse? best apologies and lame excuses?) I will try via this post to share with you some of the joys of expat living.

And over the next few posts, I will try my best to give you a recap of what you missed.

So what happened? Well, teaching, doing some research, traveling, working some more, trying to write something consequent (for work), and doing some of what I do all the time, kids stuff, friends, yoga, running around in circle trying to be productive. So yes, my blog fell through the cracks.

So in the middle of this usual frenetic living, we also have been living with some kind of Damocles sword above our head. When we signed up for this assignment, we knew that we would have to leave China before our 5 year mark. And as 2011-12 is the fourth year, we knew that would be eventually coming. But sometimes, there is hope (and different ways to stay) and we hang on our hopes until March, where finally we were told we needed to move. Out. Of. China.

Gulp...

That is probably when I dropped all together writing to you dear reader. What for if it is to tell you that well, this is coming to an end?

So our sword was there well sharpen above our heads, closer. What is the next destination? Where are we going to move to? Where are we going to live? What languages are we going to have to learn this time.

So since March, we have been in some kind of strange position, one that I initially imagined being rare. Most people learn they need to move when the business gives them a new post, right? Well, right, but not always right. In fact, I have met this spring so many families with stories similar to ours, that in the end, I could only be making fun of ourselves... Our kids are still very small, so the delays in registering them in a new school is probably not too critical.

Since March we have talked about possible destinations, discussing them as if we would discuss the purchase of a car, or the new dress of the new princess.  What if we get posted in Africa again? Would we be happy going to Cambodia? How about Kiev, would it be too cold? Would I be able to find a job in Brasilia? What could I do in Washington where the economy is so dead? Would going back to Dakar be fun, would old friends be around? What about Haiti, is this an option for us with the kids? Would Sydney, despite being such a cool city, clean, green and hip, would be some kind a golden trap, where Pauli would be traveling more all over the Pacific island than being with us? What kind of education could we give our kids if there is no French school where we end up? Would Moscow be hard with its grey winters and gloomy housing projects, or would it be interesting, with all its art and history. How would I like to learn again a new language? How are the kids going to react to a new place? yadiyadiyada, as Sienfield says.

This endless list of questions, match with an exhaustive list of possible destinations, was in fact not really occupying all my head, despite what one would think. In fact, we are not really having the last word. My dear hard working husbands needs to be applying to a job opening, wait to see if his name is called for an interview, he does the interview, and then we wait. So we have been waiting a lot recently.

Ironically, last year, when I flew back and forth between Canada to attend my mom's last days I sat once beside a young european academician. After chatting a bit about both our work, he was amazed to realize that we already were expecting a move at some point, but that we would not know until early 2012 if we were actually going to move (and where). He was absolutely horrified that we would not know where, that moving would be imposed on us. He was unable to imagine himself in our situation (which in theory at the time, was that we would be learning 6 months ahead our new posting).

At the time, I thought that learning about a move 6 months ahead is quite reasonable. I still think it is. Now even if I strongly believe it is best, I am surprised to see that despite it all I have been able to keep a good sense of humor about it all. I think yoga has helped.

That was until last week, we ended up going to the furniture store, and then I realized that not knowing meant that we would not be able to buy the perfect chest for our new (unknown) place, or garden furniture for our (possibly) future garden. How upsetting!!! But in the end, maybe I should go back and buy it anyway (even if it means storing it later.) I think we would deserve some amazing departure gift, nah?!

Cubed water

With the CCTV tower, the Egg and the Bird Nest, Beijing stock of architectural icons is significant and impressive.  Also an iconic figure of Beijing's cityscape, the Water Cube really tries hard to be more than just a boxed memory of a great year – the year when China became part of our conscious universe. (hint: 2008)

Like many other Olympic cities, Beijing prepared to cast an unforgettable show, and created a stock of facilities that were in themselves real architectural and engineering prowess's.

Designed by the Australian group PTW, the international engineering group Arup and the Chinese group CSCEC, the Water Cube - which housed the Olympic Pool - is a simple steel structure covered with translucent plastic panels. Their unusual shape, bulging out of the metal structure that frames the building, makes them good solar captors, allowing to save about 30% on heating, pretty much as much as if its roof would be covered in solar panels. From the inside, the ambiance is pleasant; a nice flow of light comes in, no matter if the polluted smog hovers around or not.
Exactly two years after the Olympics, the Water Cube started his new life as an aquatic park.

So during the peak of winter, at a period of the year auspiciously called Spring Festival!! - don't get me started about this - what can we do when it is a few degrees below zero outside without any snow, with some free time with the kids, knowing that most friends have escaped under more auspicious weather? Beat the climate, put on the bathing suits and get our feet in some warm water!  Water Cube, here we come!

First we packed a picnic to avoid some dreadful Chinese fast food (imagine pogo meat sticks of unknown source, sweet old popcorn, ramen noodles, super deep fried chicken bits - more batter than meat - and bad coffee).

We did fail at our first attempt. Going the day before the national holiday was supposedly not wise, the security staff told us.  The day before the national holiday is that important night you have to be home. (chinese logic is somewhat elusive to me at times). So we kept our lunches ready and headed there the following day, on the national holiday, not really knowing what to expect.

And we were happily surprised!!!
The main is space is taken by a fairly large beach-like pool with warm water, with a hourly set of waves, complete with typical Chinese animation (loud music, group hand clapping and door prizes). There are some kiddies pools and slides of appropriate scale, in colorful arrangements. Then towering these, for for the big kids, some crazy fast slides (me and Pauli each tried our own). There is also some very very impressive inner tubes rides, large than one could imagine possible. And on one side, around some very colorful fun slides and inner tubes cool rides, crowned by a large box constantly filled with water, periodically tipping over its content on the unsuspecting crowd. More inner tubes rides for various ages are colorfully organized under that area.  
Furthermore and more surprisingly, the water and the beach are relatively clean, lockers rooms in good order – after three years in China (among which we logged a canceled gym membership due to lack of cleanliness, an aborted hot spring romantic afternoon due to sanitation reasons, and several other tiptoeing exercises in random places), we admittedly were ready for worst.  Maybe this was due to the high entry fee? Indeed, 200 RMB is rather a steep price for working middle class Beijinger.

When we left, Noam said he did not have fun; he really wanted to do the large rides with his friend Ofek… Next year!!! But we were guarantied a good night of sleep, with all this splashing around!

Dragon us away!

Here is a beautiful dragon that Yameng, my sweet chinese friend and former teacher-assistant sent me.

Yes, it is a first for our family! For this Chinese New Year, we have not joined the mass exodus, but rather stayed in Beijing.
In fact, this is the time of the largest migration on earth - the entire country moves east to west, south to north, north to west; most people return to their villages, migrant workers leaving their construction sites, ayis leaving families they care for, waiters and service people taking a pause, store owners closing shops. Regular life takes a halt - everyone hops on an overcrowded train, and goes home.
Well, it should be that simple. This year again, buying the train ticket was like playing lotto: tickets are made available 10 days before departure. Now imagine the entire country trying to board trains to arrive home (wherever it is in the country) at the same time. In the past years, people have started lining up as early as midnight to get a ticket in the morning. Now this year, they started allowing online booking and phone booking... 14 days in advance. Which means that those who needed it most - the migrants, illiterate and without a computer - could hardly get a ticket when the ticket office opened 4 days later.
All this is important stuff for these people. Celebrating the new lunar year in family is a major event, but it is also the only real holiday most workers get in the year. For several of them, it means going to see their child, whom they had to leave with the grand-parents, as schooling  in the city is too expensive for children of migrant workers. What a hardship! I cannot imagine been away from my kids for a few weeks, even less a full year!!!
So this year, for our lovely Ayi, we felt generous. As we were not able to let her go for her usual 2 weeks  (the official holidays are 3 days, and most workers will work over the previous and following weekends to make up a full 7 consecutive days off-work, but her and others are often able to negotiate a longer break). She is from Anhui, a southern province, a long journey home. To help her maximize her stay, we offered her a round-trip plane ticket (shh! it is a secret - other ayis should not know, some might get jealous!). I even took her to the airport; as it was her first-ever plane ride, a little coaching ensured a smooth departure.  Here she is ready to go!

For us expatriates, Chinese New Year means something different. Oh! What promises we heard: noise and chaos, impossibility to sleep at night due to the number of loud bangs from the fireworks, no stores opened, no restaurants, no local travels due to lack of tickets or crowded destinations, overcrowded temple fairs, blablabla. But despite the bad omen, we stayed on. And ...  in retrospect (even if it is not completely over - the fiesta lasting well over 2 weeks!), these days in Beijing have been simply fa-bu-lous! yes yes, FA-BU-LOUS!! What a bliss!!!
First, for a whole week and half, there is NO traffic!!! just that is absolutely amazing. Then, as there is not much happening, everywhere we went, it was just low key, no crowd, no stress.  And having the kids with us at home, without our work schedule interfering, was nice: no suitcases to pack, just the regular small chores (lunches, laundry) but yet the feeling that we were all there for each other, together... And then, furthermore, work-wise, everything is kind of slow, so even if there is work for some, it is usually not too stressful.

And the best of all, for me, is the fact that we got a personal firework by our place every night. The first night was interesting: it started out in a crescendo - small and sporadic, coming from a few directions around us, sometimes in the street just below our place. Then as midnight approached, it came from everywhere, from behind every building I could see from our windows, from down in our street and from across the stadium and form further away, and it was popping all over and went completely wild when midnight rang. It was truly beautiful, loud and magic. Yet, my three men were sleeping like princes waiting in vain for their princesses. And even if I went to wake up mon petit prince Noam to let him watch this magic scene (I like to play the princess), he could not care less, and just wanted to get back in bed. So I ended up sitting by myself in the TV room, sipping some wine while gazing at this urban orgasm of lights, toasting the new dragon in town.

2012, year of the Dragon!

Honey! I forgot the suitcase home!

We just realized that it has been three years already! Three years here, in Beijing, three years of discovery, and of learning. And continuing.
It just happened that this is a long weekend here in China, the "Golden week" (黄金周), a combination of a three-day holiday celebrating the creation of the country, and the reshuffling of the work-week, to end up with 7 consecutive days off, allowing many to return visit family in their villages.
We just did what the Chinese do, and headed to a village, Wuduhe, 100 inhabitants, near the Great Wall. (ponder on this number in comparison to what is called here a mid-sized city, with one or two millions inhabitants).
We are fortunate enough to have friends who found a courtyard house in the countryside. They are renting it with some friends, and for that special weeks, nobody was using it.
We packed up with electric blankets, warm night wear and thick comforters, since the nights are now more fresh (10 degrees), and the house not heated. We also took lots of food to barbecue. We sailed out of Beijing while the kids were napping in the back of the car, heavy with all the gear needed for 3 days out of the city.
It is always so nice to drive out to the countryside, and it lovely to arrive to the house, meet the owners, let the kids roam.
All was well until we realized that our suitcase full of our sleeping gear, diapers and toiletry was forgotten at home. After pondering a few long minutes about the possibility of driving back to Beijing to pick it up (for a 4-hours round trip), I opted to head out to the nearest town, on a mission, but skeptical about what I could find (PJs are easy, but contact lenses solution?) I first got into a typical street market to find regular Chinese pajama (think thick lined cotton) sold in a small shop directly on wooden tables.  I basically bought half the inventory of the lady, each piece for about 30 or 40 RMB each (someone was happy from our mindlessness at last!)

Fashionable Chinese winter PJs - (this picture was taken in Beijing). 
Then I drove out in direction of a more "modern" street, with small stores. Not only I easily found the diapers (don't forget, most kids are still using split pants here), I could choose one brand from another.  And then I left in search of an eyewear store (at this point without any notion of Mandarin it would be Mission Impossible). I drove away, turned at the indicated intersection. I was told I could not miss it. Indeed:  I found myself in front of an immense mall filled with latest fashion - something at par with Beijing's downtown shopping malls: all lights and adds on the outside, all loud music and expensive items inside.
It was an amazing discovery to drive from this tiny little village and found such a modern city, so near. I guess on our way to Wuduhe, we passed away from it, on the highway, giving us the sense that we are heading to a more isolated, more rural area than what it is.  In any cases, point made, our rural countryside house is kind of just beside a fairly large city (named Huairou), with all conveniences. So next time we run out of butter, we know where to go.
I entered the mall, searched the eyewear store, found one, bought the solution, walked out through the back door, where I discovered another set of 5 similar stores tucked away. It happens that this solution is not a rare commodity in this part of the country.
Thanks g-d.
I drove back and 20 minutes later, I entered Wuduhe village, trudging carefully along the narrow concrete road between a deep ditch and the villages houses' walls, whose inhabitants are already in the dark ready to sleep. I finally reached the house, tucked away at the end of the village, just beside the chestnut orchards. It was 7:00 PM, I felt I had moved in that amount of time 50 years back in time.
The kids put on their new super-duper chinese thick PJs, we tucked them in bed, and we sat back and toasted to the last 3 years of our life in a country that never cease to surprise us.

Sprouts springing up!

Here is the invite!



It was fun!!! Too bad you did not make it!





Subtext:
No we do not give booze to the kids yet. The photographer had to free his hands.

Subtext 2:
A certain amount of effort was given in the cake making exercise by the maternal element of the family unit (but unfortunately the photographer missed a global shot of these oeuvres d'art).
An orange and green dinosaur was created thanks to a good old cake mold (and admittedly some cake mix). In addition, despite a couple of failed attempt at the creation of small engines and wagons (yes, cake mix are hard to do), rescued by the creative use of colored glazing and candies, a small train was prepared, and enjoyed by the small crew of invitees. Cake mix with colored (edible) sparkles created a certain type of effect ensuring no parents would consider taking a piece away from their kids.

Subtext 3:
Each of our boys had another birthday celebration in their respective school on the following Wednesday. Since then, Noam is convinced that he is now 5 years old. His teacher said so. We need to go talk to her tomorrow morning to correct this situation.