Sunday, December 17, 2006
Celebrating XiaoWei
The Beijing Adventure
When Betsy was in Dalian for the October Holiday, she mentioned that she wanted to plan a 
surprise birthday party for our friend, XiaoWei. His lunar birthday this year fell on December 15, so Leslie and I started planning on going to Beijing for the weekend of December 9th and 10th. This mini adventure had been a carrot all fall and now it was actually upon us! Becky decided to accompany us so we set out directly from school on Friday, the 8th. We have met a wonderful woman in JinShiTan, who drives the Canadian teachers here and there, so she picked up right as the kids were leaving at 3:45 and whisked us to the airport. We w
ere were in Beijing by 8:10 and checked into the same hutong hotel that Leslie and I had stayed in this summer near Tiannamen Square. It was very cold, but we were greeted so warmly at the hotel and ushered into a cozy warm room. We took a crisp night walk all around Tiannamen Square and fell into bed. Well, the next morning as we were contemplating our schedule for the day, who should knock on our door, but XiaoWei! He was so excited that we were in Beijing and he was there to escort us where ever we wanted to go! As it turns out, XiaoWei had called a few days before to let the hotel manger know that we were coming on Friday night and to have him warm the room as they usually are not.... Nothing like having a friend who can pull strings!
Saturday included a trip to a large open air market where one finds furniture, trinkets, jewelry, carpets, fabric, art and all sorts of other arts and crafts of China. It is an amazing and lively place. I went on a shopping extravaganza and had a great time bargaining. At lunch time, we went for Peking Duck at a restaurant where XiaoWei had once worked. He was greeted with open arms and we were treated to a tour of the kitchen where the ducks are roasted. From our lunch we went to the large Foreign Language Book Store in the center of the city. Buying three novels in English was the heighth of decadance! Well okay, maybe the foot massage that followed was really the heighth of decadance.... or maybe it was the delicious Indian food and wine that we had that evening in the luxury of Betsy's apartment. Is it really possible to pack that much fun and comraderie into one day?
Sunday, Becky, Ann ( Betsy's friend who was in town from Minnesota) and I get XiaoWei to take us back to the market for more shopping. The whole thing was a ploy to keep him out of Betsy's apartment so that decorations could go up and food preparation could happen. Everything went with out a hitch and we got back at 12:30 as planned. XiaoWei was beyond surprised. He was
surprise birthday party for our friend, XiaoWei. His lunar birthday this year fell on December 15, so Leslie and I started planning on going to Beijing for the weekend of December 9th and 10th. This mini adventure had been a carrot all fall and now it was actually upon us! Becky decided to accompany us so we set out directly from school on Friday, the 8th. We have met a wonderful woman in JinShiTan, who drives the Canadian teachers here and there, so she picked up right as the kids were leaving at 3:45 and whisked us to the airport. We w
ere were in Beijing by 8:10 and checked into the same hutong hotel that Leslie and I had stayed in this summer near Tiannamen Square. It was very cold, but we were greeted so warmly at the hotel and ushered into a cozy warm room. We took a crisp night walk all around Tiannamen Square and fell into bed. Well, the next morning as we were contemplating our schedule for the day, who should knock on our door, but XiaoWei! He was so excited that we were in Beijing and he was there to escort us where ever we wanted to go! As it turns out, XiaoWei had called a few days before to let the hotel manger know that we were coming on Friday night and to have him warm the room as they usually are not.... Nothing like having a friend who can pull strings!Saturday included a trip to a large open air market where one finds furniture, trinkets, jewelry, carpets, fabric, art and all sorts of other arts and crafts of China. It is an amazing and lively place. I went on a shopping extravaganza and had a great time bargaining. At lunch time, we went for Peking Duck at a restaurant where XiaoWei had once worked. He was greeted with open arms and we were treated to a tour of the kitchen where the ducks are roasted. From our lunch we went to the large Foreign Language Book Store in the center of the city. Buying three novels in English was the heighth of decadance! Well okay, maybe the foot massage that followed was really the heighth of decadance.... or maybe it was the delicious Indian food and wine that we had that evening in the luxury of Betsy's apartment. Is it really possible to pack that much fun and comraderie into one day?
Sunday, Becky, Ann ( Betsy's friend who was in town from Minnesota) and I get XiaoWei to take us back to the market for more shopping. The whole thing was a ploy to keep him out of Betsy's apartment so that decorations could go up and food preparation could happen. Everything went with out a hitch and we got back at 12:30 as planned. XiaoWei was beyond surprised. He was
flabbergasted and thrilled. There were at least 30 people present and it was a gorgeous mixture of Chinese and Western folks who absolutely adore this young man. What a celebration of his 25th birthday. We fell onto a plane at 7:10p.m. Sunday and there was Danny to pick us up at the Dalian airport. We were tucked into the Kerren Hotel in KaiFaQu by 9:00. The weekend adventure felt like a week long action packed vacation.
Holiday Season is Upon Us...Thanksgiving in China
Thanksgiving found me at the Shangrila Hotel in Dalian proper. Most of the school staff made their way there to partake of the well-know buffet dinner. While the Chinese staff ate the many offerings of seafood, the Americans on the staff went for more traditional plates of turkey, dressing, twice baked garlic potatoes and steamed pumpkin. Yum! Our Romanian P.E. went for huge plates of meat, meat and more meat.
We commandeered the luggage cart in the hotel lobby for a picture of many of the women of the group. Poor Tom, the bellman reluctantly joined the picture. I am sure he was very concerned about the decorum of this fancy, shmancy hotel lobby being compromised.
November Brings a Bike and Glorious Rides
One lovely weekend in November, Leslie, Becky and I bought bicycles. We toured KaiFaQu on the Saturday that we bought them and then on Sunday we rode them out the main highway to school. Riding along with huge trucks, buses, vans and cars speeding by us was a harrowing adventure. We made ride in about an hour and then happily rode our bikes up and down the hallways at school, much to the amusement of the guards. Since that day, I have gone out to ride my bike on three seperate weekend days. Each ride has taken me in different direction from school and ended up in small villages along the seaside. What glorious countryside and amazing sights and sounds. It is currently too cold to take a ride of any length, but I look forward to moving into the apartments and going for quick, BRISK ride on a clear, blue winter day. A wider exploration of the Golden Pebble Beach area will have to wait for longer and warmer day in March.
Pictures for Where To Start
I bargain for a basket
Quite the height contrast!
Tiny and sweet, Mrs. Jin's mother is a great cook.
Quite the height contrast!
Tiny and sweet, Mrs. Jin's mother is a great cook.
Heat is piped under this raised bed from the kitchen behind this room.
Had to document our "spa" experience
Had to document our "spa" experience
Where Do I Start?
So dear blog followers, you are probably wondering how it is that I fell off the world for a while. It started out innocently enough since when I came back from the October holiday, I really did have to start teaching. Yes, you heard me... I had to work. We moved into our beautiful new DAIS school and I had a classroom to set up, curriculum planning to do and 6 darling children skipping into my room each morning! Well what with one thing and another the blogging took a back seat. While I cannot post pictures of my kids, I can post pictures of my classroom and the school. What a huge facility and wow, do we rattle around in it.
When I finally could get my head back into blogging to let you all know about the new phase of my life in Dalian well guess what???? Blogspot was being blocked in China. There were many many weeks when I did not have access to post even when I was so moved. Then Becky's brother was able to reroute our access through his computer in the US, but I was overwhelmed as to how to catch up with all that had been happening in my life. So dear readers, your best best for filling in the gaps is to read the blogs that Becky and Leslie have written. The Becky birthday spa trip of mid October is especially riotous. A Hong Kong massage.... fabulous; scantily clad girls hanging from bars over you to massage with their feet....fascinating; the red-light ambiance of the whole experience...an absolute giggle, hoot and laughing and gasping experience. Oh the memories I have with which to entertain myself in my older age.
Our countryside meal at Mrs. Jin's parents was an incredibly touching and wonderful adventure. The meal that they prepared for Leslie, Becky, XingLi and me was too incredible to describe. We could barely make a dent in the 19+ dishes that were served. Mrs. Jin and her family are a most generous and sweet group of people. Mrs. Jin was one of Mao's Youth Guard. I look forward to spending more time with her and hearing more of her story about her youth and the time that she served in the army.
The countryside where her parents have a stone farmhouse is spectacular and I purchased my first basket in China. It is a well used basket that brought many colorful gourds to the roadside for selling. I was able to bargain with the vendor and buy the basket. She was baffled as to why I would want it. It serves as a charming place to store my growing collection of colorful scarves.
