Donna Scaramastra Gorman
Best Dining Spots for Families - Shunyi
Blue Frog
Best Family and Date Night in One
Cuisine: American
English-language menu: Yes
Kid-friendly food: Hamburger, hotdogs, milkshakes
Three healthiest items for kids: Hamburger, salad, fruit juices
Kid-friendly staff: Yes
Bathroom: Clean
Kids’ play area: Includes computer stations with computer games and a separate enclosed area with toys for younger children.
Juggling, Holiday-Style
The holiday season is upon us, which seems as good a time as any to tell you about my son’s P.E. teacher.
Mr. Callahan has a voice that can be heard from the top of the bleachers, and an air of confidence that is a requirement of P.E. teachers across the globe. And speaking of the globe, he pretty much spins it on its axis, according to my son, who will do anything Mr. Callahan tells him to do. He tells my son to jump – the boy jumps. He tells my son to run – the boy sprints. I tell my son to wash his hands before dinner, and he grumbles as he slouches toward the bathroom, looking like a kid who hasn’t run or jumped a day in his life. I’ll bet he’d wash his hands if Mr. Callahan told him to.
And here’s something else you didn’t know about Mr. Callahan: He can juggle.
New Hope Foundation: Helping to heal underprivileged children
When Robin Hill and his wife, Dr. Joyce Hill, came to China 16 years ago, they had no idea they’d stay on so long. “We were living in Lido, working as expats,” explains Robin. “Around the time we were getting ready to leave China, we felt called to take sick children into our home.” The pair retired and established a home for children in southern Beijing. Seven years ago, they moved to Shunyi District, where they built a place big enough to house 12 babies (now 56), and the Hope Healing Home was started.
Learning Disabled in the Capital
Many expats in Beijing have trouble choosing which school their children should attend; after all, there are so many choices, each with quality teachers and gleaming facilities. But for a smaller group of expats, those whose children have a learning disability of some kind, it can sometimes seem as if there are no choices at all. “Three years out, and we’re still not sure we’ve found the right school for our child, who doesn’t quite seem to fit in anywhere,” said one parent of a special needs child, who asked not to be identified.
Time Stands Still
I’ve been here more than two years now, so you’d think, wouldn’t you, that I’d have everything pretty much figured out. By now I should be able to find what I need, get where I want to go, and even understand why turn-right-on-red trumps drive straight-through-green. You’d think. But you’d be wrong. Take, for example, the case of the broken watch. Pay close attention here, because this story actually starts almost two years ago.
Welcome to the Motherhood Club: Worry lines, silent prayers and crossed fingers
Nine years ago my first Mother’s Day seemed like a game. The word itself, “mom,” as it applied to me, was still new enough to sound strange on my tongue. Like all new mothers, I carried my baby everywhere, proud to be the mother of such a perfect little creature.
Exhausting though it was, this mom gig was a lot of fun. Talk to the baby, change the baby, take the baby out, watch the baby grow into a healthy, productive, appreciative adult – what could be simpler? Fast Friends
This past week, no fewer than four people burst into tears in front of me. Back in the States, that happened, oh, maybe twice a year? It’s not that my expat friends are more unstable than my friends back home (okay, maybe they are, but that’s a topic for another month). It’s that I know these friends so well. We’ve reached a comfort level with one another that allows us to drop our guard, to show flashes of sadness, disappointment, and yes, even instability, in front of each other.
This always surprises me. Not the fact of it – everyone I know here has experienced a burst-into-tears-moment, when they’ve been pushed just this close to the edge. What surprises me is the speed with which we’ve become so open about our emotional shortcomings.
Back home, I had lots of neighborhood acquaintances, people whom I knew enough to chat with but not enough to unload on. And I had a few friends, mostly other moms whom I could call in a pinch. But these friendships took time to build.
Marking Time
A family’s life in Christmas ornaments
Everywhere the Gorman family goes, we take our Christmas trees with us. The first is an eight-foot-tall, bendable plastic spruce, bought on sale one hot Washington summer right before we moved to our first overseas post ten years ago. The second, purchased a few years later, is smaller, sized to fit in a tight corner somewhere.
They might sound tacky, these plastic trees of ours, but they are really quite beautiful. They go everywhere we go because we haven’t always lived in countries where it’s possible to buy Christmas trees. And we are a family that needs a tree.
Expat Economies
Make your money work for you in times of financial turmoil
I’ve been hiding the bank statements from my husband. Watching the balance drop is stressful enough without getting into arguments over what we should be doing with the money that’s left. Should we keep investing steadily in mutual funds? Move our funds to our savings account? Or find some middle ground? We don’t have any easy answers right now. No one does.
Though the financial crisis unfolding right now in the United States might seem far away, the credit crunch has affected expats of all nationalities here in Beijing. Thanks to the recent troubles of the US banking system, your retirement accounts and college funds have probably taken a hit, and the money that you squirreled away for a rainy day has probably dwindled. By a lot.
