December, 2009
Articles from prior issues of beijingkids can be found by checking out the archive links below for the month and year you are interested in.
The Choong Family
Philip and his wife, Marilyn, from Malaysia, have made Beijing their home for almost 10 years. Their two sons Joshua (3) and Jeremy (4 months) were both born in Beijing. Philip is the residence manager of the newly opened Ascott Raffles City Beijing. Over the years, they have witnessed the rapid growth and development of this metropolis. Here are their family favorites.
Yummy Mummy
Rock & roll is my blood,” says Australian Danijela Pavic, the mother of Dane (12), Mila (10), and Maksim (7) who has lived in Beijing for two years. Although she was initially hesitant to undergo a makeover due to the “cheesiness factor,” she just celebrated a milestone birthday and decided to embrace the offer. Danijela usually dons jeans, Converses and Ramones T-shirts that she shares with her son, Dane, and although she was a cosmetic consultant at David Jones in 1991, her daily regimen now is only undereye concealer and mascara. “Mornings are crazy. I prepare lunches for the kids and they also want a three-star breakfast, like omelets or pancakes,” she laughs, “and then I have to get them out the door in time for the bus.” The Sydneysider with Serbian heritage stays in shape with classes at Alona Pilates Studio three times a week: “I want to defy gravity as much as possible,” she jokes. She wanted a glamorous evening look, so hairstylists at Private I Salon and a makeup artist accentuated her olive skin and dark hair to help her achieve her goal. A gift certificate for an aromatherapy massage at the The Spa at Hilton Wangfujing completed the day of a luxury. Danijela’s list of things to do includes learning to surf and traveling more – but now she can cross off “Be a starlet.”
Parents Around Town
Marion Belliard
Where are you from?
France.
How old is your daughter?
Taissa is 11 months old.
What are you doing for Christmas?
We’re staying in Beijing. Our family will be coming over, and we’ve invited our friends.
Where do you shop for Christmas presents?
I haven’t gone Christmas shopping yet, but I plan on going to Hongqiao and buying a tree from the [Liangma] Flower Market.
What was your best Christmas present?
My baby! She was born on the 24th of December.
Favorite place to take little ones during winter?
The playground at The Place.
I Want to Be a Creative Director
Kelvin Mak, originally from Malaysia, began his advertising career in the US. Based in Los Angeles, Kelvin worked for clients including PlayStation, HBO, Xbox, Sony Electronics and Land Rover. He made the move to China when advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi asked him to be the creative director of their Beijing office. With the freedom to flex his artistic muscle, he created campaigns for brands like Nike and Volkswagen. Not just an ad man, Kelvin has also worked on events such as the award-winning “Nike Battle of the Nine Gates” basketball tournament inside the Forbidden City and the Mercedes-Benz “Symphony of Ice & Snow” in Harbin. Ready to step out on his own, Kelvin recently co-founded a creative agency inventively titled The Bag Ladies. Kelvin visited students at the Beijing City International School and told them how comic books inspired him, why he likes to make funny commercials, and what he’s working on at the moment.
Adorn an Orange
The scent of spices in the air makes wintertime cozy indoors. Tiny oranges and tangerines are in season, just the right size for little hands and small attention spans. These orange pomadors will keep kids of all ages busy and can be used as tree decorations, closet hangers, or even as mulled wine or apple cider spice balls.
Materials:
Ripe oranges or tangerines
Cloves 丁香 ding xiang (available at local markets at stores selling grains and spices)
Cheesecloth 轻薄棉布 (available at fabric stores)
Ribbon or string
Difficulty Level: Easy
Time: 20-30 minutes
Directions:
1. Beginning at the base of the orange or tangerine, pierce the peel with a clove.
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.
United Foundation for Children’s Health: Medical care for those who need it the most
As the temperature drops, the United Foundation for Children’s Health (UFCH, formerly UFCO) is bracing itself for an influx of sick children. UFCH is the non-profit branch of United Family Hospitals (UFH). Every year UFH donates one percent of their gross revenue to the organization, which then uses the funds to provide vital life-saving surgeries, vaccinations and health checks to orphans and underprivileged children. Most of the children they see during the winter months are from foster homes or orphanages and who have come down with bronchitis or pneumonia. “These kids are premature and they can’t defend themselves,” says Jenny Yang, the Treasurer at UFCH.
CAI: Teaching Life Lessons to Migrant Children
Moved by the plight of migrant children in China, Judy Shen established CAI (pronounced cai) in Beijing in 2006 while undertaking her Fulbright Scholarship. “The reason I chose to work with migrant children is simply because I was struck by the large number of them in this country – 20 million by last estimates,” says Shen. The name, CAI, from the Chinese character 才, translates as “talent.” Her organization’s mission is to encourage and nurture this quality in migrant children.
Sweet Tart: The Incredible Haw Fruit
One of my favorite things about Beijing winter happens the
moment the air turns the slightest bit nippy: ruby jewels
appear, strung on branches and hitched to the back of bicycles. It’s bingtang hulu (haw fruit) season. The tart, hard little fruits of the hawthorn tree are seeded (when the vendor isn’t lazy), skewered on kebab sticks, dipped in caramel, and cooled until the sugar forms a sugary, crispy skin. Biting into the fruit brings the deeply satisfying extremes of sweetened tartness, like fresh lemonade. Haw, the name of the actual fruit, is native to the north of China, so even 20 years ago, when oranges were considered luxuries, haw was everywhere. Nowadays when a vendor rides around on his bicycle with a tree of candied fruits behind him like the tail feathers of a proud rooster, they’ll have more exotic fruits on display: strawberries, oranges, and even dragon fruit. I’m not big on all this peacocking. Nothing will trump the traditional candied haw in my heart.
So when I recently thought about revamping holiday dinners, I naturally turned to the ubiquitous haw. You can find these quintessential winter fruits everywhere after mid-October, assembled in giant piles on street corners, being sold by the farmers themselves. The extreme tartness and color lend obvious parallels to cranberries, and for all those North Americans who desperately miss their continent’s addition to the holiday table, I thought a savory walnut, orange and haw relish would work so much better on a turkey than a cylinder of jellied red goo shipped over from its indigenous land. It’s also delicious in sandwiches made with store-bought turkey.
The Funny Man Talks
Have a five-minute conversation with American, Richard Robinson,an entrepreneur who has lived in Beijing for nine years, and you won’t be surprised to discover that his labor of love is Chopschticks, a comedy company that hosts stand-up comedians in Beijing. Robinson, who performs stand-up himself, lightens the mood often, whether with self-deprecating comments or traditional “So a guy walks into a bar…” jokes. The father of two, Declan (5) and Aidan (3), sat down with beijingkids (moments before he was due to speak at an entrepreneur conference) to discuss the latest label to add to his profile: children’s book author. Robinson penned Beijing ABC’s, a fun, rhyming book. Money from the book will go to the charity Magic Hospital, a foundation that strives to improve the quality of life for sick, hospitalized, handicapped, orphaned, abused and at-risk children.
Beach Holiday for Three
The Travelers:
Veronica Neresoff, Daniel Urdaneta, and their son Andres (1).
The Plan
This family of three was in need of some serious R&R, and a sunny beach in Thailand sounded like just the tonic. They flew from Beijing to Bangkok, and then to Phuket, an island in the south of Thailand. In total the trip took approximately eight hours. Upon landing in Phuket, the family stayed at the Mövenpick Resort & Spa located on beautiful Karon Beach.
Top Five Places to … Bite into a Burger
Vineyard This hutong café is well-known for their hearty breakfasts, and though their poached egg selection is tempting, branch out and try their amazing beef burger served on crusty ciabatta. They also have vegetarian burger options, and a heart-stopping bacon burger. Though very kid-friendly, the Vineyard fills up on weekends and a reservation will save you a long wait in the cold. 31 Wudaoying Hutong (just north of the Confucius temple), Dongcheng District (6402 7961). Tue-Sun 11.30am-10.30pm, closed Mon. 东城区五道营胡同31号
10 Ways to Get Into the Holiday Spirit
1) Skating on Houhai Lake
Celebrate the holidays Beijing-style by making Houhai your personal rink. Traditionalists can rent a pair of skates for a spin on the ice, but for a bit of adventure, try an ice unicycle or the two-seater sedans that require either a bit of pushing with ski poles or a willing parent with a strong back. Prices from RMB 15. Be sure to hang on to your deposit slip, as you won’t get your refund without it. As with all sports, exercise common sense – stay away from the roped-off sections, where the ice is less solid. Amani Zhang
Hope in a Backpack
The River of Grace Church is running its annual “Packs of Hope” drive to collect backpacks full of toys, school supplies and goodies to send to underprivileged children in rural China in time for Christmas.
The packs will reach children, from Shandong to Henan to Yunnan. The bags are distributed through NGOs who have close contact with the church in these regions, who will take the backpacks to schools or orphanages. Members of the church will go to Shandong to aid the distribution of the packs in that province and spend some time with the children. Packs of Hope organizer Sonya Tetley, describes the scene of the presents being handed out: “It becomes a community event and whole villages come out to watch.”
The project is asking Beijingers to fill a backpack with school supplies (pens, pencils, notebooks, crayons), hygiene items (toothbrushes, toothpaste, comb) and any other items that you think a child would enjoy. Please note, however, that the church cannot accept certain items; see below for more information.
Like Father, Like Son
As my columns have stacked up over nearly three years, I’ve wondered how long I can get away with obsessing about myself in print. Admittedly, the column is called “Beijing Baba,” so I have a fair amount of license to do so, and describe the pleasures (and the pains) of being a learner parent. Still, I’ve felt lingering guilt that the real central character has been left loitering offstage. After all, what is a baba without his erzi?
Say Hello to Beijing's Smallest
Raymond Earle Mills, Jr.
Filipino/Canadian.Born on Apr 16 to Raymond and Mercy Mills at Mactan Doctor’s Hospital.
Chrismakkah
I have a vivid memory of lying across my mother’s lap in the backseat of our Chevy Suburban (before SUVs were an environmental faux pas) on a chilly Texas night. My father was driving, my two older brothers were probably horsing around in the “way back” seat, and my mother’s parents, visiting from Los Angeles, were riding with us. As we drove home from dinner, I distinctly remember our family singing, “Silver Bells” and “Holy Night” while my mother ran her fingers through my hair.
However, no one in the car had ever celebrated a traditional
Christmas. My maternal grandparents are Jewish, as is my mother – and my brothers and I were being raised Jewish. My father, on the other hand, had been raised Catholic in a Chinese household. But memories like these are common from my childhood – lighting the menorah for Hanukkah with a Christmas tree in the background, finding stockings filled with Hanukkah gelt, and singing Christmas carols and our favorite Hanukkah songs. We knew that we were the luckiest kids in the world because we had both holidays. Kids at school would gape in awe, sputtering, “You get Christmas and Hanukkah?! You must get so many presents!” In reality, we probably received the same amount of presents, only they were given at different times and with a different wrapping paper color scheme (blue and white vs. red and green).
Just Google It
Students are more technologically advanced than ever – when they’re not taking notes on their laptop from the electronic whiteboard, they’re using their electronic dictionaries and reading the latest news on their iPhones. But are these
gadgets useful when it comes to legitimate learning? As more schools embrace new technologies and shift their curriculums online, beijingkids asked students at the Sino Bright School whether the Internet and electronic tools were helping or hindering the learning experience.
Say Hello to Beijing's Smallest
Annabel Julia Sargeant
Australian/Chinese. Born on Jun 28 to William Peter Sargeant and Wang Yiqian at Beijing Fuxing Hospital.
