Easter 2012 in Beijing

I was so completely exhausted from my first very busy Easter in Beijing.

It all started with my usual sunday morning bus ride to church with my parents and sister.

After church, we went around the corner from the church to a big mall called Solana.

They had a central courtyard for us to walk around.

One part of the mall has everything for kids including ice skating.

Since I am not big enough for ice skating yet, I played in the little kids play area.

I really like going up and down steps now that I can do it by myself.

I see you.

Excuse me, coming through.

This was my first time in a ball pit.

It had a lot of very colorful balls.

It was very fun.

Where does the train go?

When mom and dad finally got me away from the play area inside, we went outside just in time for the Easter egg painting.

I found one just my size.

Here comes the paint.

This is fun.

We should have Easter every sunday.

Can we do this at home?

Many other people enjoyed Easter at the Solana Mall with us.

The mall is at the northwest corner of Chaoyang Park and this is what looks to be a giant fried egg.

Just playing.

Some times we have a small drip under the main valve for our heat and DJ likes to play in the swimming pool.

Girls and their fashion.

Now that's sitting pretty.

Guess who.

Thanksgiving and Deb's birthday dinner.

DJ and May and Deb.

One of our friends from the thursday social meeting we attend was kind enough to come with us to a restaurant to help us order and celebrate Deb's birthday and Thanksgiving.

 May also got Deb a scarf for her birthday.

George and Connie and Roxanne.

 

Chloe and Adam and May and Suzanne.

Carl, May, Deb, Suzanne, DJ, Chloe, Adam, Connie, George, Roxanne, Debbie, Archie.

One last Fall walk down to the river.

It was in the middle of the afternoon when we started our short walk down to the river and the light on the faux lighthouse was just right.

DJ and Spot both were getting apartment 'cooped-up-itis'.

Everybody took their jackets except Deb, but it really wasn't that cold. It was about 16 degrees C, but there was a moderate cool wind from the WNW.

DJ was really enjoying her stroller ride.

Spot loves going down to the river or the parks where he can roll around in the grass.

Early birthday dinner for Suzanne.

We had an early birthday dinner for Suzanne this evening at a very popular restaurant. Her birthday is September 30th.We invited a Chinese couple that live in the same housing community we do. His name is Jason and her name is Bella. She doesn't speak any English, but Jason isn't too bad. I was glad he could makeit, but the waitress was even more happy to see him because it would have been very interesting to try and order even with a picture menu.

This is a new family from England. They are from Essex county, just south of Suffold county where I lived for a while and graduated from high school. They just arrived a week ago. Her name is Debbie and works at Ivy with me. She shares a birthday with China's National Day, October 1. In the middle is her oldest son David who is 18, and on the left is her youngest son Archie who is 11.

Suzanne got this pillow from Jason and Bella.

She got a hair straightener and a few other things from her mom and 500RMB from me and $20 from her grandma back in the states.

The nice restaurants in China have seperate rooms for patrons. The smallest rooms are for eight people and you have to order a certain amount of food. Tonights dinner was 572RMB and there was plenty of left-overs to take home. We had pork ribs, fried shrimp, pepperd steak, asparagus, broccoli, fried rice, fried sweet tofu, spicy pork pies and brown sugar pies.

DJ's birthday party.

Deb had planned a birthday party early because I was going to be working all day on the 28th. The party was for everyone that could come, including Ivy, but most of them had to work or rest. We were going to have the party at our apartment, but then Deb changed it to the 2nd floor of one of the KFC's. When she showed up to set up for the party, she found that they were part of the city that had it's power and water turned off, without notice, for a little while that afternoon. So, she changed plans and had the party on the 6th floor of New-Mart at the food court instead, because they had power. It all worked out great in the end. Everyone that was coming finally got together and we all had a wonderful time. At first DJ didn't know what was going on and really didn't care. She was out of the house, at the mall and the center of attention. As she began opening the gifts, she started to look forward to the next one, but not without first complaining that she hadn't finished playing with the last one. She hated the candles, but loved the cakes. When I first went to buy the cakes, they wanted to sell me a layered cake, but Deb and DJ had already picked out what they liked and the bakery couldn't make them into a layered cake, so I bought two cakes.

Thursday lunch social.

DJ was ready to go when I got in from my morning classes. 

We were going to our friends apartment for the weekly social meeting. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DJ tried on some of her new clothes she got for her birthday when we came home. 

 

See if you can guess this song.

Odds and ends.

This is DJ playing with another kid on a ride outside a convience store.

DJ likes to go fishing at the grocery store. 

 

DJ tries out her sisters heels. 

 

Spot's water. 

DJ figuring out how to use a straw. 

Eating corn-on-the-cob. 

Listening to music on sissy's MP3. 

I think she likes it. We know what to get her for Christmas now. 

Her new sip cup has a straw. 

This is at the entrance to our housing area from the main road. The three wheeled converted motorcycle has a truck on the back that holds all the tools and spare parts that a bicycle repairman would need. He parks here all the time. When he isn't working, his wife is.

This is a battery recycle canister just inside our housing area. You don't see these in American apartment complexes. They recycle a lot more than most people think. 

The construction that was started at the beginning of spring is coming along very quickly. They have mostly finished the outside of the five floor main building and have put up most of a two floor structure beside the main. The workers that are doing the construction live on the bottom floor. They put sheets up for privacy because the building isn't finished with doors, windows or anything else except maybe a drop light. They live here with their family. It is a difficult way to live for now but will be okay once they finish it, which I hope they do in the next month before winter starts. 

There is another long structure behind the main building that is only one floor right now that will also be two by the time they are finished.

Staying out of and getting into: trouble.

DJ is starting to learn how to swing. Her big sister had a swing ever since she was a little baby.

As soon as sissy isn't around or watching, DJ goes into her room to play. I think we will need to get a lock her door at the next place, just to keep DJ out of trouble.

Don't be fooled.

She was faking.

This is the kind of trouble she can get into. She found a pen that was leaking in sissy's room.

Riding Spot.

Good doggy.

Park outing.

There are only a few good days left for the summer that I will have most of the day off, so today we walked to the big park.

These flowers were very unusual to us. They are very stiff and almost looked fake.

Just as we arrived at the park, there were some fireworks being set off. Because it was daytime, the fireworks were in the form of colored smoke.

There was a large ceremony of some kind at the art gallery. There were many people of the press taking pictures and television cameras. As soon as they saw us, they turned their cameras on us. I am certain we will be in newspapers and on television all over China in just a few days. Susan was even surrounded by this form of 'paparazi' in the same evening when she went down to the river for a walk.

These group of drummers are famous in Jiamusi and some of them live in the same housing area we do, where they also store their very old drums.

This and the next several pictures show some of the ornate work on one of the pavilions in the park.

Just like our trip to Willow Island this year over last year, DJ is a little older and can better enjoy going to the park and looking at the fish in the pond.

Of course, she also had to make some new friends.

We stopped for lunch on the way home.

DJ took a nap on the way home and just as we were walking into our housing area, it rained heavily just until we got inside and then stopped. A fun, wet end to a nice day.

Saying goodbye to Nicole.

Nicole has been a friend almost since we first arrived and has always been willing to try and help us in anything we needed done.

She is moving to the provincial capital, Harbin, where her husband has been working. I know she will miss her family and friends here, but I also know she will enjoy being with her husband again. 

Several of her friends gathered to say goodbye. 

On the left is Sharon. She had just returned from a vacation back in the states. She has been a long time friend of Nicole's and hosted this going away party. 

Nicole was very moved by the love shown by her friends. 

Sitting on the right is Harold, Nicole's son. I know that he is looking forward to seeing his father more regular, even though he will miss his friends. 

We had a short Bible lesson. 

The man on the right is Leroy, Sharon's husband. He works at one of the local factories over-seeing an American companies interest. Leroy and Sharon have lived here for around five years. 

Some friends of Nicole's.

Willow Island trip: 2011

Come with us on our trip to Willow Island this year.

This is a short path we take from our housing area to the main road that leads down to the river. You can see the one story old housing that used to be everywhere in the city. Most of it has been torn down to build apartment buildings. There is still people that live here. They have not been forced out of their homes and made to purchase an apartment they can't afford. It must get very cold inside during the winter.

Just before we get to the main road, there is a church where you would normally find shops. This is on a friday morning. Not an empty seat to be found.

We walked along the river for a ways to get to the boat that goes across to the island. The parks are very nice and our favorite part of the city.

DJ stopped to play a little chess with some of the other kids. The pieces are too big and heavy to move.

We are finally on the boat and pulling away from the city side of the river. People are sitting down below and standing along the rail.

We stood inside the wheel house.

DJ enjoyed this trip on the boat across the river better than she did last year I think.

Once on the island, we took another ride. The boat was 12 RMB for both ways for all of us. The horse or camel rides wanted 10 RMB each. We finally talked one of the drivers into taking all of us for 20 RMB.

There are many carnival boardwalk type games on the island, as well as rides of all kinds and several haunted houses. There is also lots of places to buy food and drink and increased price. It is a great place to get away from the city if you don't bring a lot of money to waste on the games.

I think DJ liked the buggy ride the most.

It is a little different walking along the river on this side looking back at the city.

They were setting up a stage with lights for a concert down by the river along the beach on the city side. We did not go to the concert.

DJ made friends with this little girl and they played and had a good time at one of the little outdoor restaurants on the island.

Birthday suit.

The director at the school I work for bought this suit of clothes for DJ for her birthday. It was an early birthday gift that she had to try and just loves.

New swimsuit for Suzanne and new haircut for Deb.

This is almost the finished product of my cutting Debs hair. I thinned it out a lot and then cut it away from her neck and ears. 

We are going to go swimming next week and Suzanne needed a new swimsuit. 

DJ got some bubbles to play with. 

If you check last months, you will see an update for the building they have started putting up near our apartment. This is the latest update. Next weekend, they are going to switch off the power to our area while they connect to this construction. 

Baby tired. 

Dog tired. 

This is what Deb's hair looked like before I got started. 

A boy down at the river gave DJ this fan. 

 

 

Walking the river walk. 

 

 

 

 

We have some pics of this monument on the blog already from last year. It is a monument to the local people defending the city along side the soldiers during WW2. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A group of people playing croquet. 

There are several people growing gardens along the river bank. 

 

 

Odd how a lady in America is facing charges for growing a garden in her own front yard while people in China can grow a garden on land that isn't even theirs. 

 

 

This is a passenger train crossing the river. 

 

 

We got a taxi at the main road near our apartment and had him take us across the river to the north for a drive in the country. The plan was to go see a lotus pond I found on Google Earth. It was a nice drive in the country but the lotus pond wasn't in use. 

 

 

Water ride and fun house.

We went to the local amusement park again and this time we tried some things we hadn't done before. There was a maze and a fun house. The maze was a bunch of glass walls that you had to find your way through. 

The fun house had a couple of really fun rooms in it, including one that had the floor leaning one way and the walls leaning the opposite. 

 

Another room had a walk-way with a rotating drum of lights. 

This picture isn't very clear, but it does show just how tired DJ was after all the fun she had. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kids come first in China.

DJ is having fun eating some ham. 

This hat was her great grandfathers hat when he served during WW2 in the Pacific as part of the Seabees. Suzanne has it now and was letting DJ play with it. 

 

 

 

DJ really likes a good sucker sometimes. 

DJ listening to music with some wireless headphones. 

 

Suzanne was wearing one of her new shirts that fit a little to well, because she got stuck trying to come out of it. 

 

 

DJ in one side and Suzanne in the other side of some of my new shorts. 

She ran out of energy again in the middle of playing. 

Here she is refueling with cucumber, tomato and chicken. 

Deb and Suzanne got caught in the rain while they were out walking. 

 

Because of the one child policy, kids are the most important part of a family. Kids are special to any family, but they really understand that here more than in the states I think. Some times it is taken to the extreme though, because parents can dictate to a school how they should be teaching, whether their child should be advanced, or even if the fully qualified teachers are even good enough based on if the teacher has been teaching their whole life or not. Where I come from, I learned to respect everyone, at least until that respect wasn't warranted for what ever reason. Here, respect is demanded always, but never returned.

A 6 kilometer walk to the southwest side of the city.

We are getting out and exploring the city again now that summer is here. This is the Jiamusi Hotel. The name of the hotel is on the front in Chinese, English and Russian.

Many places of business start the day with the employees either marching, singing or dancing in front of the store or restaurant.

This is a restaurant across from No.1 high school.

This is looking east along a tree lines road.

Looking at the park across from the Jiamusi Hotel.

I thought I would include some pictures of some of the kinds of transportation they use around here. This is a motorcycle converted to act as a kind of small taxi. There is much government regulations on these so prices per trip are negotiable.

Here is another version that is a little longer.

There are also motorcycles that are converted to small trucks.

This a lady peddling a bike cart. It looks like she is selling baked sweet potatoes or something.

There are lots of city buses and tour buses around town. There are even some double-decker buses. You can get a better look at the bike cart in the foreground.

No.1 high school. The two colors of flowers are arranged to say something in Chinese. The way the public schools work in this city is that students are placed in schools according to their test scores. The better the score, the better the school. The students can be placed in the better classes in a school if their parents give money for placement preferrence. No.1 high school has the most students with the highest scores to enter college.

No.1 high school campus is really big and nice.

I don't teach at No.1 high school but I do have several students in a class at Ivy that attend No.1. They are the students we had over to the apartment last week.

A closer look at the motorcycle truck.

There are also pull carts.

You can see a small electric three-wheeled scooter. You can also see a worker waiting for employment. There are numberous places in the city where people who are unemployed wait with the tools of their trade or trades and signs advertising to passerbys what they can do in hopes for employment.

The only Good Year store we have seen here.

This is at the end of a road in a very nice gated community. The streets are lined with various shops.

Here are some ladys playing cards in front of one of the stores. Right next door to this store was a  Mahjong house.

This little boy wanted to pet Spot but the mother told him that dogs are dirty and he shouldn't touch. This is a commun view here.

This is looking back to the north along a very busy road on the west edge of the city.

Here is a big round-about at the southwest corner of the city.

You can just make out the mountains to the southwest through the city haze.

Jiamusi University is a large university and popular with locals and many foreigners from all over the world. The university is on the southwest side of the city. This is the university's football (soccer) stadium.

Another view of the mountain in the distance.

This hill is next to the stadium and part of the campus.

This is looking to the east along the northern edge of the university. You can see the guy on the scooter looking back at us. This kind of thing happens everywhere we go.

Deb checking out the stadium.

Spot was very tired after our long walk.

It was nice to rest at the park next to the stadium.

There were several students relaxing or studing in the park.

Construction is everywhere in the city, but especially in this part of the city. The area where all the cranes are building are shown Google Earth as nothing but old one level small homes.

Looking at the mountains from the pavilion on the hill top.

I would like to go visit the large building in the distance and find out what it is.

An armored car.

The government banned rickshas pulled by people except in high tourist areas, so now they are peddle powered. If you don't have your own car, there are four kinds of transportation available not counting bicycles: taxi, bus, ricksha or walk. How you get around depends of how far you are going, how much you want to spend, the weather, whats available and how much time you have. Many people will take a variety of modes of transportation. The rickshas are enclosed during the winter and have plastic to go over the tops during the rain.

Sometimes they actually use a motorcyle as a motorcycle.

I was this on top of a building a little over a block away and thought it was nice.

There are four christian churchs in the city. This one has sevrvices on tuesday, wednesday and friday with one of them in English. We have not been yet, but have gotten some dual language bibles for some Chinese friends from this church.

There are some horse or donkey pulled carts around town.

Because there are so many bicycles, you can find several places where people have set-up shop to repair bicycles.

At one point we had to go under the train tracks connecting to the northern part of the province from Jiamusi. We saw two trains while going this way, but didn't get a picture.

Here is a three-wheeled truck that is powered by a very unique engine that makes a noise that sounds like it is saying 'tug, tug, tug'. The "tug's" come in a variety of sizes and really are a workhorse.

This is the Chinese version of an 18-wheeler.

This banner shows what an area that is under construction should look like when complete, including a Wal-Mart.

End of school party.

These are some of the high school students from Ivy. Today was there last day of school and I invited them over to our apartment for an end of the year movie party.

Everyone had a great time and I was very happy to have them come over.

They all brought something to snack on during the movie.

This is Joy and Susan. They have become friends.

The girls surrounded DJ. This is usual anywhere we go with DJ.

DJ wasn't too thrilled to be sitting in Teddy's lap.

There were 14 students in all.

Some were from my class and others were from other classes at Ivy.

Some of the students they came were not used to dogs and weren't sure what to make of him.

We will have to get together again and play some games next time.

Earlier in the day, the Ivy teachers went to a lunch hosted by the director, Mei Han.

The lunch was a welcome for one of Ivy's foreign directors from London, who is visiting during the summer. The beauty on the left is the London director. Her name English name is Tina. She has two girls, about two and four years old. We will have to arrange a play date for them and DJ. The other beauty is of course Mei, who thinks she is 'no beautiful'.

This is Roxanne. Roxanne is from South Africa and Scotland. She just started with Ivy, but is on break until the end of summer. George and Connie were able to make the lunch also, but Andrea and David were busy.

It was a large spread as usual. I will start with the peanuts at the bottom right and go counter clockwise to tell you what everything is. After the peanuts is some broccoli with peppers, mushrooms and shrimp. Next is some kind of rib. Then there is fried shrimp. After the shrimp is a kind of cold salad. That is followed by some fried chicken. Next is a cold spinach salad. Then there is some seasoned beef. The plate after the beef has several different kinds of stuffed pastry. And after the pastry are some stuffed pastry balls. Finally, there is a glazed pork and eggplant dish.

Dinner at Nichole's.

How lazy is this? He has such a hard life here in China.

This is out back of our apartment. All three kids sitting and resting.

We went to dinner at a friends apartment on the southeast edge of the city. This is looking back to the north. You can see some of the low farmers housing to the left if you look closely.

The apartment where our friends live is right next to the toll gate for a busy road. Every city charges you a toll to enter or leave.

DJ and Harold get along great.

Nichole did a wonderful job preparing dinner.

DJ watched everything Harold did.

Then it was her turn.

Dead eye DJ.

She took us down one by one.

Not even her big sister was safe.

Look out DJ!

The apartment was a little smaller than ours but still nice for its age. They bought it when they got married in 1997 and in a few months they will be moving to Harbin where Nichole's husband is working.

This was just out back of the apartment. It is a local group doing organized dance marching to music.

The food was good. She cut some tomatoes for us to eat and asked if we wanted salt or sugar. I am glad she asked, because they never eat tomato with salt, only sugar. They also do not cook their rice with salt. I suggested she try it sometime.

Deb had bought me several games and we brought them with us to play. Harold and his friend wanted to learn how to play chess. It was nice to have someone to play with again.

After getting a good lead, I let them start to win a little. That was almost a mistake, because they were are both very smart. In the end they saw that I was not going to let them win.

Some things change and others don't.

Here is a recent family picture. Usually one of us takes the picture so we don't all get to be in it.

This is Sarah. She was the one who took the family picture for us. She was also very thoughtful when she heard it was my birthday. She will be leaving Ivy this week, but will stay in Jiamusi to study Chinese at the local university and live with her boyfriend.

Deb and Suzanne got me a lot of different Chinese games we can play. I just need to learn how to play them now.

This is the T-1 class at Ivy. They are the most advanced class at Ivy. I have them every saturday and sunday from 7:15 to 8:15 in the evening. They are all high school students. From left to right is Eva, Ruth, Joy, Michelle, Meg, Sorrow, Lily, Bill, Suzanne (she came to visit), Yan (she is the teaching assistant), Teddy, and Ariel.

It is amazing how much things both change and stay the same in a years time. Last year, Ivy throw a big birthday for me and all the staff gave me gifts. This year, nothing. Last year, they were all warm in welcoming me to the Ivy family. This year, nothing. Last year, it seemed as though I was going to be pretty good friends with George. This year, my family and I have received a very cool shoulder from not only the Maxey's, but also anybody they are friends with, including the Alexander family and even the new teacher from England. I am not sure how all this started, nor do I care. I am very happy not being friends with people who feel that I am not good enough to be in their little circle. I will welcome anyone to be my friend, if they will also welcome me. Last year was a nice birthday, but this year was more honest. Thank you Sarah, Deb, Suzanne, and Destiny. Destiny told me "Happy klajfpiqurhg."