Desperate housewife in Beijing

Hongqiao

2005-12-01T20:40:00.000-08:00

Went to Hongqiao with my S'porean friend today. She is a veteran expat in Beijing, having based here for more than 12 years.
I was here about 3 years ago and so my memory of this place is abit vague. But after being here for about 2 hours, I came to this conclusion:

3 reasons why I will come to this place again:

A. There is a famous roasted chestnut shop near to this place and the nuts are heavenly.

B. There is this Aladdin's cave of jewellry in the 5th and 6th level of the market.

C. I can do my wet marketing at the same time.

3 reasons why I will not come to this place again:

A. The place stinks of fish because it has a wet market at the basement.

B. The variety for clothes and shoes are more limited than Xiushuijie and Yaxiu.

C. It is further than most shopping markets on my list.

It is near the Tiantang (The temple of Heaven) which is world heritage site. It is under construction presently to be ready for the 2008 Olympics. As the car approached it, I just suddenly felt a pang in my chest. I realised that I missed that place cos it is really quite heavenly. It is by far the most unique in architecture and beauty in Beijing. I hope they complete it quickly so that I may visit it again in slowmo this time. What you see in these pictures are taken 3 years ago. The intricacy of the design in the temple is breath-taking. Not a single nail in the whole big dome. The colours are aptly gaudy.

Imperial Palacce

2005-11-29T22:33:00.000-08:00

What is Beijing if you do not pay homage to the imperial palacce by visiting it.
We went last Saturday afternoon and were surprised to see quite alot of people even in winter. The entry ticket is abt S$10 per person. By my estimation, if there are abt 10 000 visitors in one day (maybe more but let's round it up), in one month, it will earn the govt $300 000. In one year, it will be $3.6 million. That is not including all the food, drink rentals and side exhibitions. Not too bad. But I think the masses is taking a toll on this 14th century monument.
Walking through this behemoth doesn't make me feel envious about the luxurious lifestyle of the emperial household. On the contrary, I feel a sense of deprivation and sadness for the isolation. All the pomp and grandeur couldn't hide it. I guess it wasn't meant to be cosy and warm and happy. It was meant to intimidate the lay person and elevate the throned one.
We started at abt one o'clock and finished in about 2 and 1/2 hour by walking in a straight line from south entrance to the North exit. We were pleasantly surprised that none of us actually had to look for a spot to sit or squat. 3 years ago, the kids had to struggle to finish. Guess 3 years is alot of growth and the cold weather is not as wearying as the late summer's.
By the time we finished, we were all more than ready to visit our favourite foot reflexology. It was well earned massage.

The other princess in my life

2005-11-25T03:57:00.000-08:00

This is happy Michelle - as usual. The world is a friendly place where everyone is her friend. She loves and equates school to the number of pals she can make there. Her form teacher, Mr Tom Flannagan likes her plenty. Calls her the little scholar becos she has no problem absolutely with her math (she finds them too slow), science (her favourite becos they always have experiments), arts (up her alley exactly) and PE (brings out the best in her fun self). The only hiccup she expriences is chinese. She complains that the chinese teacher speaks funny. I think she means the heavy beijing accent. She says the teacher keeps curling her tongue. She begs me to let her go to the slower class which is doing the S'pore Pr 3 syllabus. Her argument was that she can't catch up with them since they are already almost half way through by the time she is on board. Of course you know where I keep her.
Michelle declared that she is the 2nd most popular girl in class after her best friend, Michelle Jong. She says everyone wants to be in the group. She has been lobbying for her friends to come over to play after school. So far no success. I guess its becos the school finished almost at 4 everyday and it is dark by that time (winter) and the traffic is terrific.

The "princesses in my life"

2005-11-25T03:00:00.000-08:00

This is Rachel in her chinese class. Not very enthuse abt it as you can see from her posture. Her chinese teacher is good. I sat in becos it is open house. I thought it was well done and interesting. The rest of the pupils in this advance class are good becos they had attended the local chinese schools before switching to Dulwich. Some are Taiwanese.
Rachel loves her science class especially chemistry. I think her teacher, Ms Walkear is a very good and dedicated teeacher. She encourages them to drop into her office to talk science with her. If they take up her invitation, she'll reward them with marshmellows and interesting talk abt science. They carry out alot of interesting experiments. Rachel comes home with a glittery googy substance one day.
Arts is another subject she loves. Mr Ballard is a funny teacher who encourages them to express themselves. They do "art attack" programs. Miss Quinn is the music teacher who is busy preparing them for the Christmas play and choir singing. She is teaching Rachel to play the flute. She is so far not an apt pupil. She still can't master the blowing technique.
Another subject that she loves is History. Nic was green with envy when he learnt that she is doing Queen E and her father, Henry the 8th. He was sore abt the fact that RI had made him hate history by making it so boring. Rachel and her mates had fun doing a play on Henry ordering the death of Queen Anne Boleyn.
Rachel loves all the subjects in school (except chinese). She likes the friendliness and approachabiliy of the teachers. Some of the students address the teachers by names but I am glad that years of ingrained respect for teachers do not allow her to do so.
The school encourages alot of exposure by allowing the kids to take part in various activities after school 3 times a week. They have quirky stuff like learning dodge ball, how to repair and paint a bike, making bead jewellry, jazz band, etc. It also carries out the traditional ones like football, basketball,etc.
This is the upper school temporary premise. They will be moving to a newly built premise next school year with a shallow decorative pool that can be turned into an outdoor iceskating rink during winter.
This school is good for Rachel becos she is expressing herself more confidently. She sings more now and is even looking to join the drama club next term. She will be getting her braces end of the year.

Nick in Beijing

2005-11-18T04:00:00.000-08:00

Nick is having the time of his life in Beijing. He loves school for the first time. I mean really enjoys going to school. He will wake up without me calling him. He will bathe and slick his hair before setting off on his school bus. I know what you think.....Does he have a girlfriend there? Your guess is as good as mine. However, I think it is more like he rules the waves. He confessed that he is a big fish in a small pond here and really enjoys it. Almost everything is so easy for him, so I told him that he will have to give me 8 As for the 'Os'. Read it - I am getting paranoid. Can the British exam be so much easier than S'pore? If so, everyone get ready to send them there.
Nick is heavily into music in his school. I think I send him to a music conservatory alright. The school is very proud of its strong music background. It got a Juliard school grad to teach him his grade 8 piano (he flunk his this year). He's into a jazz band, playing the bass, wants to pick up bass guitar, sings bass in the school choir and plays the bells for the school christmas concert. He has to compose an original piece of music for his music class. Well at least when he is out of a job his father says he can play in a bar. Hahaha....
He enjoys his literature class which is doing 'Romeo and Juliet'. He enjoys almost everything except for sports. The school is crazy about soccer - so British, isn't it? Poor guy is clueless about team game. The whole pack went after the ball and he tried to be clever and break away so that the ball can be passed. Well, he is left standing like a dummy while the coach hollered that he is not participating. The poor bloke is now playing goalie and shivering in the cold of less than 5 degree in his school shorts. I told him to tell the coach to let him wear pants as he cannot run in goalpost. The poor bloke would rather freeze to death than having to run after a ball.
Well, what can I say? One cannot be good in everything. You win some, you lose some.