Olympic Sailing

The Olympic games in London might be history, but just last week we were still celebrating the Beijing Olympics of 2008. Simon had a birthday party in the middle of Beijing's Olympic rowing park, about 30 minutes north of our house.

The kids got to sail and kayak for a couple hours, and the parents enjoyed the pretty park and amazing view. It was a clear day and we could even see the mountains in the distance.




As if it were yesterday!



Boats at the Aofan sailing club.

Some basic sailing instructions...

Time for action.

At least they will be safe.

Ready...Set....

Paul and Simon set out for some Olympic level kayaking on the official 2500 meter rowing course.

Hurrah for birthday cake!

In case you can't remember where you live.

It was a great party and a looooong day. At night, the boys didn't even make it to their beds.

In het Nederlands: Afgelopen zaterdag had Simon een verjaardagsfeestje by de Olympische roeibaan van 2008. Ze mochten lekker een paar uurtjes zeilen (onder begeleiding) en kayaken (meteen in de hoek gewaaid). Het was superleuk... en lekker vermoeiend.

Novak Djokovic

Last night we watched the number 2 tennis player in the world, Novak Djokovic, beat Michael Berrer to advance in the China Open. And earlier in the day we watched Jo-Wilfried Tsonga win his match against Denis Istomin.

It was a pretty exciting afternoon -- though not if you are only six or nine years old. After a couple hours the tennis got a little boring; and I suppose popcorn can only entertain for so long.

(If you are into tennis or would like to see how we age, see my post about An Na & Li Na from last year :-).)

I did record Djokovic's match point though, which I thought was pretty cool. Reuters, here it is:

Match point! Djokovic is in red; Berrer in white. Note that the Dutch don't waste any time in packing their bags and leaving. :-) We thought the match would have been settled in two quick sets, not three. The final score was 6/1, 6/7, 6/2 for Djokovic.


Here are some more pictures from a fun afternoon:



First Tsonga (blue) against Istomin (white).



Then red against red: Djokovic and Berrer.

The pop corn bag is more interesting than watching Djokovic.

A captivated fan.

So close to the trophy... yet such a long way to go!

A glimpse around the tennis area. It's commercial bonanza.

"Hello Simon"

The Dutch audience section.

Good night moon, good night tennis balls. I certainly hope someone was telling Berrer and Istomin a bed time story ;-(

Hutong bike ride

On October 1st, China's National Day, we biked around our neighborhood. I apologize for the "Blair Witch Project" kind of camera work, but with one hand on the iPhone, one hand on the steering wheel, one eye on Thomas, and one eye on the traffic, I couldn't do any better. The clip is just under a minute, but should give you a bit of a sense of the street life here. Now, if only I could also send you the street smells! :-)




In het Nederlands: Een rondje om de kerk. Nou ja, er is geen kerk hier, maar afgelopen maandag, op China's nationale feestdag, fietsten we een klein rondje door de buurt. Nu ik het clipje weer zie denk ik eigenlijk dat de geluiden nog meer zeggen dan de beelden!

Educational Saturday - Trip to the water source

On a recent (sunny) Saturday, we took a little trip around the corner to explore the origins of our tap water. Because we live in a housing compound with modern houses with running water, heating, and air conditioning (and bathrooms), we are a bit separate from the rest of our Chinese neighborhood, the villages around us.

The water treatment plant -- it turns out -- actually takes water from a private well in the skimpy woods behind our compound and cleans it up before it is is pumped to the homes. In our house, we then have an extra filtration system at the sink downstairs, to further clean the water, before we drink it. (Everyone I know either has this kind of filter at home, or buys their drinking water in big bottles, the kind you use for water coolers. Sadly though, there have been quite a few reports of people tampering with these bottles of drinking water and just bottling unsafe tap water, sealing it, and selling it as drinking water.)


When we arrive at the plant, first we dress up as scientists. Thanks to a four-year science degree I still remember which way to button my lab coat.

We're off to explore.

We were lucky to have an English speaking guide. My Chinese lessons still haven't covered "water treatment" and "filtration."

Storage tanks with clean water. 

A personal tour by Thomas.

The m.a.d. scientist.

One of the lead scientists at the place.

Checking the pH. Phew, pretty good.

pH findings confirmed by a second assessment.

I felt right back at home, as if it was 1992 and I am taking "Waterkwaliteit 1", an introduction to water quality, at Wageningen University. I even explained the concept of color titration to the boys, though I am not sure it made a lot of impact considering the vast knowledge they already have about Harry Potter style experiments.

And this is what it is all about!

In het Nederlands: we maken een tripje naar een waterzuiveringsinstallatie die hoort bij de wijk waar we wonen. We wonen hier niet echt in een Chinese wijk, maar in een "gesloten" wijk speciaal aangelegd voor rijkere Chinezen en buitenlanders. De huizen hier hebben allemaal water, electriciteit en W.C.s, wat in China nog niet helemaal de norm is. Het water in ons huis komt van een bron vlakbij. Nadat het gezuiverd is, komt het naar ons huis. Daar filteren we het zelf nog een keer en dan kunnen we het drinken. Gewoon kraanwater kan je hier in China niet drinken.

The art of eating...

Recently we went to a restaurant in the Huairou district, which is a bit north of us, towards the Great Wall.

We went for lunch (around 11:30am in good Chinese fashion) and had some yummy food. Because we were with Chinese friends, we were even introduced to a couple new dishes we had never had before. Hurrah!

The restaurant not only had great food, but it was also a pretty place to visit. Simon and I took lo-o-o-o-o-ots of pictures.


 

Walking in. (Number nine does not seem all that cooperative...)
 

The tables all consisted of four parts, each displaying some kind of item. The big circle on top is the part of the table that will later carry all the food. You turn it around in circles so that everyone can easily get to the food.
 

Ordering food is a breeze, especially when others do it for you :-)
 

Getting ready. Thomas is already swirling the glass top on which they'll later put the food.

So under all the table tops are these kinds of items. This is a close-up of one of them, presumably some white beans. Simon made it a true art project (and in the process killed the battery in my phone). Here's the art gallery:
 

 

 

 

 
 
 

Eventually, some items also appeared on top of the table!

 

This might not be your grandmother's home cooking (unless you are Chinese), but it is delicious.

 

And this is what a good swirl at the dinner table looks like :-)

 

 

In het Nederlands: Een paar weekjes terug waren we in een mooi restaurant een stukje buiten de stad. Het eten was lekker en de vele kleurtjes binnen waren een genot voor het oog. Simon maakte een hele fotoserie van de verschillende voorwerpen die in de bakken onder de tafels lagen. Bovenop de tafels zie je de typisch Chinese draaischijf (deze keer van doorzichtig glas) om de schalen met eten mee rond te draaien zodat iedereen er goed bij kan.

 

 

Saving the world - one edit at a time

 

In the busy run-up to the summer, I completely forgot to tell my trusted readers that the book I had been working on for so many months (as one of several editors) had been published.

In between fixing the run-on sentences and straightening out the jargon, I actually learned something about how China's cities might reduce their dependence on fossil fuel energy.

Interested?

Here's the one-page overview, taken directly from the World Bank's website. I couldn't have said it any better myself :-). (In fact, when I said it, it took 516 pages in English and 325 in Chinese, after the translation.)

---

Sustainable Low-Carbon City Development in China.

Cities contribute an estimated 70 percent of the energy-related greenhouse gases and are therefore crucial to meeting China’s carbon reduction targets. With China set to add an estimated 350 million residents to its cities over the next 20 years, the case for urgent action is strong.
 
There is a strong alignment between low-carbon and locally appropriate sustainable development strategies for cities. A low-carbon city is, above all, a sustainable, efficient, livable, and competitive city.

An estimated 40 percent of city emissions comes from power generation and industrial activities each, with the remaining 20 percent from transport, buildings, and waste.

• Cities will need to act on multiple fronts, from improving their land-use and spatial development to energy-efficient buildings and industries, from public transport system to efficient management of water, wastewater, and solid waste. Also climate change adaptation needs to be incorporated in the planning, investment decisions, and emergency-preparedness plans of cities.
• Actions affecting land-use and spatial development are among the most critical because carbon emissions are closely connected to the urban form. Spatial development has also very strong “locked-in” effects: once cities grow and define their urban form it is almost impossible to retrofit them because the built environment is largely irreversible and very costly to modify.
• Five key cross-cutting actions for low-carbon growth include: setting the right indicators to encourage low-carbon growth; complementing administrative measures with market-based approaches and tools; breaking the link between land use, finance and urban sprawl; encouraging more intersectoral and interjurisdictional cooperation; and balanceing mitigation and adaptation measures.
• Actions will need to focus on addressing specific sectoral challenges, particularly those related to energy, transport, and other municipal services including water and waste management services. There are lessons to be learned from the experience of Chinese cities and World Bank-supported programs.
• Implementing a comprehensive multisectoral policy agenda requires coordinated action from a range of stakeholders including different levels of government, civil society, and citizens.
• China has an opportunity to implement low-carbon strategies and approaches during the 12^th Five-Year Plan period and beyond. This will make its future cities more sustainable, more efficient, more competitive, and more livable.

From: Sustainable Low-Carbon City Development in China.



You can buy the book on Amazon, or just download it on your Kindle. It's only over 500 pages of blood, sweat, and tears (see photo). :-)

In het Nederlands: In mei dit jaar is het boek Sustainable Low-Carbon City Development in China gepubliceerd. Ik heb daar als editor aan meegewerkt. Zo blij was ik met de publikatie dat ik helemaal vergeten was dit heuglijke feit even te melden op mijn blog!

Cake time!

Zhu Siming shangri kuai le!  Yesterday was Simon's birthday and his Chinese teacher made him this super cool chocolate brownie cake.

The text used to say "zhu Siming shangri kuaile (祝思明生日快乐!)" or "To Simon Happy Birthday." The Chinese lesson didn't last long though, because the "zhu" was quickly gone. :-)

Today at work I got my own cake: a golden box of mooncakes to celebrate the upcoming mooncake (or mid-Autumn) festival.

The exact date of the mooncake festival is based on China's lunar calendar, so the date is not the same every year. This year, by chance, it's just one day before China's National Day on October 1st, when the country celebrates the foundation of the People's Republic of China in 1949. To celebrate this joyful event, kids have a whole week off from school and offices also close for a couple of days.  Woohoo: this year in China, you can have your mooncake and eat it too!

The wrapping says it all: a pretty bag for my cookies.
 

Out comes a golden box.
 

 

And in it are delicious (?)  mooncakes. These actually don't look like the traditional mooncakes you often see, but I am sure it's the real deal :-)



My two mooncakes with "their" birthday gifts.


In het Nederlands: Gisteren was Simon's negende verjaardag. Hij kreeg een leuke chocoladecake met gestippelde felicitaties van zijn Chinese juf. Zelf kreeg ik vandaag ook vast cakejes: twaalf mooncakes (maankoekjes) om het aanstaande maanfeest (ook wel mid-herfst feest genoemd) te vieren. Dat komt mooi uit, want volgende week hebben we ook nog de hele week vrij om China's nationale feestdag te vieren.