You’d think these three things would have nothing in common but they do. The other day the kids came home from school starving(which they seem to do everyday) and I was hungry myself. We ran over to the little grocery store that is in our apartment complex, April Gourmet. We try and not go there very often because it is a gourmet store and quite expensive. They do carry some things that are hard to pass up on like, green olives,twizzlers for Miles and nutella. Yum. They even have yummy fresh sourdough bread.
We ran over, grabbed some ravioli’s and treats and came back to the apartment. As we were sitting at the kitchen table eating our food, we kept looking out the window and loving how clear the skies were. Well, Miles didn’t really care but Sofi and I were really happy about it. I had no idea that there are mountains around Beijing. I knew there were some farther away because I’d been to them when I went to Mutianyu to see the great wall about 2 yrs ago with Mark and some of this coworkers. I just had no idea we could see them from the city. I was so happy. I’m sure it would take over and hour to get out to the mountains because of traffic, but I felt some comfort in knowing they are there. Ok, we’ve covered the raviolli’s and mountains and now you must be wondering how Shaq fits in here? I’m curious why he is a part of Chaoyang park that is across the street from our apartment. There is a statue in the park of Shaq that must be a least 30 feet(or 914.4 centimeters which we are having to learn and I’m having a really hard time, why didn’t the US ever switch over to the metric system, dang them) tall. From our kitchen window on a clear day we can see the top of Shaq’s head and part of his right arm. Why it’s there I have no idea. I was trying to get Miles excited to go see the statue one day but he could care less about basketball or who Shaq is. Sorry Shaq.
For about 5 days now we have had clear blue skies, that means we’ve also had a lot of wind and cold weather but I’ll take wind any day if I can just see the sky and mountains. Our apartment is really nice and our furniture is in and looks good. Now if we can just get our stuff out of customs and decorate the bare white walls with our paintings and photo’s, it will look much better. Right now the walls are all bare. The kids have adjusted really well to their new school. We hear good things from their teachers that they are fitting in really well with the other students in their classes and that they are doing good in their Chinese class. The sub-district where we live offers free Chinese classes and some cultural classes like Caligraphy and Tai Chi. A woman from church has invited me to take some classes with her. I’m excited to get into a class and start working on my Chinese. Words and sentences keep coming back to me but I can’t remember the tones or the correct grammar. Plus it will be good to get out and take a class with someone. Hope this finds all of you well.
Ravioli’s,Mountains and Shaq
8 Responses to Ravioli’s,Mountains and Shaq
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Have been following your blog as I am exploring an opportunity in Beijing. Was in Beijing about 2 weeks ago, and the smog was really bad. Do you kids have any problem with the smog?
Yeah the smog was awful a couple of weeks ago. The kids seem to be fine, the school keeps them in doors when the air quality is bad.
That Shaq thing is weird. Seems very random for a park in Beijing. 🙂
It was just a week ago we had bad smog. Mark always finds the positive in life(like while living in WA for almost 7 yrs he always said it didn’t rain that much, HA). The kids do fine but every once in a while our 11 yr old will say she can’t breath. How much of that is her being dramatic, I’m not sure but both her and our son had asthma as toddlers so it could be having some effect on them. We will have to see but they are doing good and like Mark said, the school keeps them inside on bad days and we don’t really go outside and do much outdoors on those days either. It’s kind of like living in WA, you have to find things and places that entertain indoors while the weather is bad outside.
Thanks for the reply. Will be going to Shanghai next week and will try to drop by Beijing again on my way home. This likely going to be my last visit before I decide whether to take up the offer … and move my family to Beijing. Following your blog has help a lot in the process. Thank you and pls continue the posting …
I love to hear about your China adventures. Wish we could see you there and what it is like so far away. I tried to imagine what the mountains look like there from the city. That seems beautiful. I am sure Mark has taken a picture of that, so I will have to check flickr. Thanks for posting and giving us a glimpse of what it is like.
Boon Heng, where are you from? How old are your children? I think it’s a wonderful experience for kids. It’s overwhelming for sure but I think you find things that are familiar for those times when the kids feel overwhelmed or need some normalcy. We just bought Miles a bike and he’s now totally excited about our complex and that he can ride all over the place. I think you have to work a bit harder maybe but I think the pro’s outweigh any of the cons and so far we haven’t seen any cons to living here with the family.
Hi Stancey, I am from Singapore and my son is 4 yrs old. Our biggest worried is his health given all the stories about the smog. Your stories and experience really help us. Thanks