Orange in Beijing

Today the Netherlands celebrates its Kingsday, or Koningsdag, a celebration of the birthday of King Willem-Alexander. In Beijing, we already celebrated his majesty's birthday with a big cake and games last Saturday.

 
Mini version of the "free market" (which is kind of a flea market where, in the Netherlands on Kingsday, everyone is allowed to sell goods without permit or paying taxes). Our flea market had a lot of used toys. (Usually, as a parent you are so happy to finally get rid of some old junk...only to realize that your kids just used all the money to buy more crap at the same market.)

 
Water games. OK, I should have walked closer for this picture, but I was busy being a referee at the famous "aardappelrace" (kind of an egg-and-spoon race, but then with potatoes, to stay true to the Dutch heritage.)
 

 

Time to relax...

 

Confucius pondering about the inner virtues of the flea market.
 

 
Same expression...across the ages?

 

 
In the end, this is what it is all about. (Dutch bitterballen, a rare treat in the Jing.)
 

 
Simon discovered that the Dutch national colors are also perfect for highlighting his favorite team: the Washington DC Capitals Ice Hockey Team. Thomas proudly wears his new T-shirt marking the 10th anniversary of "The Red Lion," the Dutch language school in Beijing.

 

More Thomas, in case you can't get enough of the crazy hair.

 

In het Nederlands: Veel plezier met Koningsdag allemaal! In Beijing hebben we het zaterdag al gevierd met wat activiteiten georganizeerd door de Nederlandse school.

Brave New (Digital) World

As the homework goes digital, Thomas himself
(the third kid in line) turns into paper at the Elementary
School Open House

I still remember the first time I got an email account. It must have been 1995 or 1996 and I was the proud "owner" of a brand new Pegasus email account at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), where I was doing an Internship.

Not my children. Thomas is barely seven and Simon is almost ten, and at school they already have their own email accounts. And not only that: they also have their tiny little hands on the latest MacBook Pro. ("Mom, your computer [a 4-year old Sony Vaio] is sooo slow!") Simon of course already had some digital delights for a few years, but Thomas has now also joined the masses.

The boys' homework now also arrives through the digital world. No more excuses about dogs eating homework - the only possible excuse can be that Internet was down (which happened Monday night) or that the electricity was out (so far so good).

So--dear friends and family--if you want to follow along with the boys' academic activities this year, try this:

• Simon's class Website, with homework and a schedule of events each day. (You can quickly spot Simon in the top banner with his Heerenveen T-shirt.)
• The Grade 5 Website, with information for all the classes in Grade 5 (such as their upcoming 5th Grade Camp.)
• Simon's personal blog, a not-to-be-missed blog with regular updates, videos, and answers to homework assignments.

And, continuing to 2nd Grade:

• Thomas' class Website.
• Grade 2 Website.
• Thomas' personal blog (not that populated yet :-) ) 

Thomas also really enjoys checking the Website of his performing arts class, to listen to his teacher sing the songs they are learning in school.

Finally, even Dutch information is online.

• Grade 5 Dutch
• Grade 2 Dutch
• De Rode Leeuw, school information from the Dutch school, so eloquently named "the Red Lion."

It's a Brave New (Digital) World. If only Aldous Huxley could have blogged about it.

At the Elementary School Open House (where we, the parents, take copious notes on the ever growing number of blogs, "digital desks," and online resources our kids have access to.

At the Open House, an old-fashioned hand-written note by Thomas was waiting for us on his desk. I suppose the computer was not working that day.

In het Nederlands: Op de school van Simon en Thomas nu bijna alles digitaal: huiswerk, rekenen en soms zelfs ook digitale leesboekjes. Je kan op de blog van Simon kijken wat hij elke week (digitaal) uitspookt.

Picture Perfect

A friend sent me the following article:

If it's too smoggy for your tourist photos, Hong Kong has a fake blue-sky backdrop

Tourists didn't pay good money to go to Hong Kong and have their vacation Instagrams ruined by light-impervious smog. That's why the city has set up a backdrop showing a skyline against a clear, blue, entirely fake sky. (Read the full article here.)

Here is how that works:

   
Or like this:




Living in Beijing, I think this is pretty brilliant! How many lovely photos have been perfectly ruined by that nasty old smog. So, determined to at least improve our photo archive, I went outside and took the following picture:



Doesn't that look amazing? This year, this is going to be the backdrop for all our pictures. Birthdays, Sinterklaas, Halloween -- you might get familiar with this sight.

It actually hasn't been so hard to take some good blue-sky images of Beijing the last few weeks. The winds have been blowing and the pollution index has been nicely low:



Here are some other good-weather pictures.


At the bus stop around the corner from our house. The WAB bus already pulled up to pick up Simon and Thomas.

 
Lounging in the backyard...

 
At the school, where a traditional lion dance opened up the new school year. (There are two guys sweating away inside that lion costume!)

 
After the lion dance, the kids work in teams to accomplish some wet and wild assignments. The purple building in the back is part of the WAB Elementary School where Simon and Thomas go to 2nd and 5th Grade.

 

It was mighty hot that day!

In het Nederlands: Het is de laatste weken PRACHTIG weer. Heerlijk warm, maar met een briesje en een prachtige blauwe lucht. We genieten erg, ook omdat we weten dat het dadelijk -- zo rond eind oktober -- allemaal abrupt weer afgelopen is. Het wordt dan snel koud en de lucht ook vaak vervuild vanwege alle kleine kacheltjes en later ook de centrale verwarmingen die weer aan gaan.

Not Four But Seven Seasons

I may have already alluded to the fact that Beijing doesn't have four regular seasons. Spring barely seems to happen at all here. From a deep cold winter, we plunge straight into a hot summer. One day you are wearing heavy Ugg boots to keep your feet warm; two weeks later you are in flip flops.

What’s more, a year in the international expat community where we live is not really a year. It’s just ten months at most, basically as long as school is in session. Simon and Thomas’ school is closing next week so people are already packing their suitcases to go “back home” or on a long vacation (and then “go home.”) And some of the families won’t even come back at the end of the summer. They might be moving on to a new country, continent, and school.

I love my life in Beijing, but this summer-going-home-saying-goodbye ritual is both fun (lots of parties) but also quite disturbing (does anyone actually live in this place?). Here’s my perspective on the (somewhat overlapping) seven seasons in a year in this odd but lovely place I now call home…

Leaver’s Season—Time to say Goodbye

Mid-May to mid-June
To start out, right now we are in the middle of "leaver's season." As the summer rains are starting to pick up, everyone is preparing to leave Beijing—either just for the summer or forever. From the end of May to early June you may typically spend your Friday and Saturday evenings at “goodbye parties,” sometimes even two on one night. And if you are not busy being at a party, you are probably out shopping for a gift for a dear friend who is leaving, or you might be preparing for the end-of-year parties for your kid's class room. (Presuming of course you don’t actually have a real job!) It’s a time of memories, parties, and sad goodbyes to the friends that are leaving forever.

 

Simon's end-of-year party for his fourth grade class (left). 

Thomas enjoys his end-of-year celebration (right).

Early Summer Calm
Mid-June to early or mid-July
In early summer, you forget Beijing is pretty much a desert. Instead of walking around with cracked skin, you now actively worry about the mold taking over your house. If you didn't leave the very second the school doors closed, this is your time to relax and profess that Beijing really is your home (“See! I didn’t catch the first plane out!”). It’s rainy, but the community pool is open and summer camps are in session.

Deep Summer "Desperation"
Mid-July to early August
From mid-July to early August, it seems only the poor souls who have no other choice remain in the neighborhood. Either they have to work (someone has to pay the bills) or it is winter in their country of origin (think Australia, Argentina). If you choose to stay, you dwell in a community of mostly men. But some families stay put and the few kids and women will often head to the pool to make the most of this time of year.

  
Simon receives a medal for participating in school sports activities. Just one of many celebrations at the end of the academic year. On the right is a piece of fourth grade art by the master himself.

New Arrivals
August
From the beginning of August onward, families are starting to return to Beijing and new families are arriving in time for the new school year. Imagine that a third of your neighborhood is new. New people are everywhere and soon you can’t remember if you already asked them where they are from. Or how many children they have. How long they plan to stay. And where there husband works. It’s a happy social time and great opportunities for new friends await. You still miss your dear friends who left before the summer (in fact, you miss them for the first time now, since in the summer they would have been gone anyway), but a new year has begun and it’s time to reach out...



Simon shows off his art work titled, "Femur" (as in "femur bone"). 

First Half Year
Mid-August through mid-December
Finally, in mid-August the first real half-year of school and life in (expat) Beijing takes off. School is in session and life is returning to normal. This “half year” is really only four months. And if that's too long, you just take a little break around the October 1 National Holiday. It’s a time though of hope and promises. There are new friends, new teachers, and new activities. Sports clubs are in session and the weekends are packed with swimming, soccer, and social happenings.


Balloons at Thomas' end-of-year class party.

Winter Vacation Season
Mid-December to mid-February
As you are just getting the hang of it all (school schedules, activities, work), everything comes to a grinding halt around mid-December. This mid-year vacation season begins with a three-week winter or Christmas holiday, followed by a few weeks of school, then completed with another week of vacation for Chinese New Year. Chinese New Year is not always on the same date every year, but typically falls somewhere between mid-January and mid-February. If you think you just got started after Christmas, Chinese New Year will remind you of the fact that you are really in China, as pretty much everyone in the country will travel home for ten days or more.  

Second Half Year--“Are You Still Going To Be Here Next Year?”

Mid-February to mid-June
Mid-February is a good time to pick up the pace again. But all of the sudden you realize it’s just another four months till the end of the school year. Cruise control time is over and you need to start thinking about next year. The most often asked question at this time of year also is: “Are you guys still here next year?”

And that question actually takes you right back into "Leaver's Season"... A year has whisked by. People will be leaving and new friends are bound to arrive. If you are coming to Beijing you can leave your Spring clothes behind. But if you move into an expat community, just be prepared for these other kinds of seasons.




More fourth grade bone art.

A Week in the Life of Thomas

Rumour has it that people have been waiting for an update from China. (Hallo ooms!)

Well, the last week it seems like all we have done is focus on Thomas. You might think I am a tiger mom, but I honestly had little to do with this boys' overscheduled life this week (other perhaps than giving birth to him 6 years ago.)

Here is his week in pictures.

 

 

Wednesday February 8

Thomas turns 6!

In the morning we open presents, including a package from grandma in the Netherlands.

 

 

Thomas' class gives him a book with drawings for his birthday. (Thomas is in the back with the checkered shirt.)

 

 

Birthday cakes at school.

We had cup cakes for everyone in Thomas' Kindergarten class.

At night, Paul is back from his trip in China and has more cake (and "rode kool") with the boys.

Grandpa and grandma are on Skype to wish Thomas a happy birthday.

The birthday boy shows his presents to tante Johanneke and grandpa and grandma.

Thursday

100 days at school!


On Thursday, all the Kindergarten kids celebrate that they are exactly one hundered days at school. Everyone brings some artwork to illustrate the number "100."

Thomas and a friend in front of Thomas' one hundred days project: 100 silly faces. (It took me one hundred times of reminding Thomas that we still had to do his project :-)


Friday
Show of the "Greedy Triangle"


On Friday morning it was KG Assembly time, which meant that all the Kindergarten and Grade 1 classes gathered in the school's theater. And this  particular Friday, Thomas' class was the "host class," so they did a show for the other classes.

Thomas was a "greedy triangle" who wanted to "get one more side and one more angle," which for the mathmaticians among you means that he turned into a square (which was another kid), then a pentagon, hexagon, etc, until the greedy triangle had become a circle, but still was not very happy. You can check a self-help book to figure out how the circle became happy again.


Saturday
Jedi Training

On Saturday morning Thomas' friends came to our house for his Star Wars birthday party. The kids were "younglings," who had to prove themselves worthy of becoming true Jedi's. (SPOILER ALERT: All the kids became Jedi.)

Two Jedi in the making.


Sunday
The birthday celebration continues.

Another friend, anonymous, comes over for Thomas' birthday. They have so much in common!

Monday and Tuesday, we actually don't do very much--other than rehearsing the lines for Wednesday...


2nd Wednesday
KG Art Show


On the second Wednesday, a week after Thomas' birthday, it was time for the KG Art Show. All the Kindergarten kids presented their artwork -- painting, crafts, singing, and dance -- in a show for the parents. This is Thomas' self portrait. I wish I had a broccoli leg. (Or actually, considering my athletic abilities, perhaps I do have broccoli legs.)

In the entrance of the school was a display of the kids' art work. It was part of their exploration of "homes and buildings," which was the topic of a recent Unit of Inquiry. (The units of enquiry at the school are overarching topics that guide the curriculum, so science, math, reading, and art, are all related to the topic of the unit of inquiry.) 

Thomas' home. Kind of funky FEMA trailer.

After the visual arts, there was the performing art show with dance and singing. Thomas is in the top row, second from the left with a purple scarf.

2nd Thursday

Orange Day!

On Thursday, Thomas got an certificate for knowing all the "orange sight words," a small collection of words (back, just, much, like, then, and so on) that they are learning to read.

On Thursday evening, the Orange Day continued, with Thomas' kongfu class.

 

Together with a friend he performed the right sequence of steps and punches and got his orange belt in a mixed martial arts program.

 

 

So I hope you understand we were a little busy this week!

 

 

In het nederlands: Het was een drukke week voor Thomas! Vorige week woensdag werd hij zes en op donderdag was er feest op school omdat de Kindergarten klas precies 100 dagen op school was. Op vrijdag gaf Thomas' klas een voorstelling voor de andere Kindergarten klassen en op zaterdag was Thomas' kinderfeestje. Op zondag was er weer bezoek en de woensdag erop nog een voorstelling, deze keer een kunstvoorstelling voor de ouders. Tot slot haalde Thomas op donderdag zowel een oranje certificaat voor het lezen als een oranje band in zijn gemengde "martial arts" klasje. Pffew. Dit is geen normale week hoor - volgende week doen we het weer wat rustiger aan (hoop ik).