We really loved Beijing, much more than we expected. As I noted before, we were very nervous about getting to China, but once here, it surpassed our expectations. We actually extended our stay by a few days, as we didn't quite feel ready to leave.
It was tremendously helpful to have friends in Beijing. Luke and Maggie's former teacher (and our friend), Tami and her daughter Ella recently moved back to Beijing from San Mateo, and so having "locals" (or Beijing-ren as we learned they are called) to guide us was key to getting us settled and helping us get our bearings in this sprawling metropolis.
The weather did force us to modify our plans a few times (good thing we saw the Wall in January!), but it did mean that we spent some time inside catching up on schoolwork, planning, and blog posts (which haven't all been posted because our blog provider is blocked in China, and we only have a VPN on one computer, so posting takes an incredible amount of time - we hope to have more up soon on our blog and the kids'!)
Some of the fun things we did in Beijing:
Shopping at the Dirt Market, eating a traditional Szechuan lunch, and finding a park for the kids to play soccer (and rollerblade!).
Did I mention that Maggie LOVED having Ella to play with:
Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and visiting Chairman Mao, who has been embalmed and laid out to view in a giant mausoleum. We aren't convinced it is really him. He was pretty orange.
The Summer Palace where the royals used to relax just outside the city. While we enjoyed the buildings and the views, most of the "locals" spent time staring at Jacob who was wearing shorts that day. We must have had 10+ people approach us to talk about Jacob's shorts - and since none of them spoke English, there really just was a lot of pointing, nodding, and smiling. I'm pretty sure they thought that we are horrible parents who didn't dress our child appropriately. (Note: I told Jacob that morning to wear pants, but he refused. In case anyone thinks we are horrible parents).
Visiting Tami and Ella their school (International School of Beijing) outside the city, and then going trick-or-treating with Ella that night in their neighborhood (boys stayed in watching TV, Maggie's costume was made 20 minutes prior with the help of a pillowcase, scissors, pen and 2 bobby pins). The school was amazing - the kids are all ready for Brian to get some sort of international assignment so they can go to an international school. Lucky kids, those ISB-ers.
Brian, Luke and Jacob watching the Red Sox win the World Series from a tiny bar in a little hutong. Since games here start at 8am, finding places to watch the games wasn't easy, but they scored a perfect location with Red Sox fans to watch the Sox win at Fenway. I'm pretty sure they won't forget that game for a long time!
Shopping, and bargaining (ugh...not that well!) at Yashow Market down the street from our place. Maggie got a Chinese dress, Jacob got a soccer jacket and jeans, I bought a puffy jacket (to fit in...everyone owns one here...), and Luke got cards.
Walking around the 798 Art District in Beijing where we took lots of pictures with all the artwork displayed everywhere. We could have spent a lot more time here - so much to explore!
A highlight - being approached by English speakers in a restaurant where we were having dinner on our last night in Beijing because we seemed to know what we were doing and they wanted advice - we actually felt like Beijing-ren!
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