The best seat Air China offers |
Boston to Beijing
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Back from vacation...
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Fundazzle
The other night as I was putting Julian to sleep, I told him that sometimes when I feel anxious I like to imagine I'm in my favorite place, somewhere guaranteed to make me feel happy and relaxed no matter what. Mine is -- obviously -- Riley's Beach in Cotuit. I asked Julian where his favorite happy place is, and after a second, he said, "Fundazzle."
When I lived in Boston, my friend Whitney and I thought about opening up an indoor playground cafe, and while that project remains in the brainstorming phase, Beijing already has several of them. The best we've found so far is called Fundazzle. It's in what looks like a former warehouse and has a huge two-story jungle gym with slides going down into an olympic pool-sized ball pit. There's also a sand box, climbing wall and an inflatable pool filled with goldfish you can pay a little extra to catch with a net. So basically a four-year-old's happy place.
When I lived in Boston, my friend Whitney and I thought about opening up an indoor playground cafe, and while that project remains in the brainstorming phase, Beijing already has several of them. The best we've found so far is called Fundazzle. It's in what looks like a former warehouse and has a huge two-story jungle gym with slides going down into an olympic pool-sized ball pit. There's also a sand box, climbing wall and an inflatable pool filled with goldfish you can pay a little extra to catch with a net. So basically a four-year-old's happy place.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Pollution is gross
I knew before moving to China that the air pollution here would be gross, but this past weekend it was off the charts. Literally. Philip and I left the house Saturday evening to go to a dinner party, and I tried hard to imagine the spooky white smog was closer to Sherlock Holmes' London than post-apocalyptic third world mega city.
As we were preparing for our move, I tried to wrap my head around what it would mean to live in a city where the pollution would require us on some days not to leave the house. Back home, I was worried about parabens in my moisturizer and what chemicals they use in my dry cleaning. Here, toxic levels of micro-chemicals--and possibly lead--are all but guaranteed to be in the air we breathe here daily.
And its obviously not my but my kids' lungs I feel guilty about. I've tried asking other parents here how they feel about raising their families in Beijing, and I've found it's kind of like asking a smoker how he feels about his lungs: most respond, eyes down, kind of sheepishly that the evidence is inconclusive, and anecdotally at least, once they leave China, the coughs go away, all those little lung cells regenerate, and everyone seems fine.
This past weekend we dealt with it mainly by staying indoors (with Julian and Vera's little faces basically pressed up against our air filters.) We are lucky to have a pool in our building and some nice restaurants just downstairs, so there wasn't a need to go very far. But it's something I know I'll continue to angst over as long as we live here.
As we were preparing for our move, I tried to wrap my head around what it would mean to live in a city where the pollution would require us on some days not to leave the house. Back home, I was worried about parabens in my moisturizer and what chemicals they use in my dry cleaning. Here, toxic levels of micro-chemicals--and possibly lead--are all but guaranteed to be in the air we breathe here daily.
Indoor time! |
This past weekend we dealt with it mainly by staying indoors (with Julian and Vera's little faces basically pressed up against our air filters.) We are lucky to have a pool in our building and some nice restaurants just downstairs, so there wasn't a need to go very far. But it's something I know I'll continue to angst over as long as we live here.
Friday, January 11, 2013
GrandMich and Bapa
My parents headed back to Boston today after spending three weeks with us in China, and we are missing them already. They were total superstars for coming so far to see us and bringing a little bit of the Back Bay to Beijing. First of all, they packed one of each cold medicine CVS sells. And of course my dad brought a couple of his (literally) world-famous rum cakes. Then, for both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, my mom made Gourmet centerfold recipes downloaded to her iPad. Philip was worried she'd be a little lost without a Whole Foods, but at the butcher shop she got right behind the counter and pointed out on the half of a dead cow lying on the cutting board exactly which ribs she wanted to take home. By week two here, she had plugged her ipod into speakers in the kitchen so she and my dad could listen to the Beatles while they buttered up a chicken to roast. There's really nothing nicer to come home to.
Cooking class at the Hutong leaning how to make Lamb stew with red Chinese dates (the photo I wanted to post of her seasoning meat in our kitchen was censored since she was in her pajamas.) |
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
the Great Wall
Here are some from our trip to Mutianyu with my parents this past weekend. The weather was way below freezing, so we spent most of it by the fire at our hotel eating wonton soup and drinking hot chocolate. People always tell me that being from Boston I should be used to the cold, but just to put in it in perspective, Boston was about 40 degrees warmer than Beijing on Sunday. Still, my mother, Julian and I made it up to the Great Wall for a short walk and look around. I'll post our pictures as soon as I can get them off her camera. Stay tuned...
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