Elizabeth Hoffman is a high school psychology teacher at the Western Academy of Beijing. Her husband, Eric Emerson, is a partner with Washington, DC-based law firm Steptoe and Johnson LLP. Both originally from the US, they have two kids: Olivia (age 11) and Aidan (age 9), both students at WAB. The Emersons have been living in Beijing since January of 2009.
Rainy Day Activity
Laser tag at StarTrooper!
Nothing builds family togetherness like a gun fight in the dark.
Favorites Shops
Eric and I go shopping for furniture in Gaobeidian, sporting goods at Decathlon, and books at The Bookworm (pictured here). For kids’ clothes, we go to Decathlon and Yashow Market.
Favorite Family Restaurant
Baoyuan Jiaozi Wu. It’s cheap, of good-quality, kid-friendly, and you can get purple jiaozi!
Best Place for a Special Occasion
Black Sesame Kitchen
Kids Beg Us to Go
The Filling Station
New Discoveries
Indigo Mall in Lido and home delivery hotpot from Haidilao.
Favorite Dessert/Snack
Our favorite snacks are jianbing and
bingtanghulu. We also love dried hawthorn; we first gave these to our kids after
moving to Beijing around Chinese New Year. We still call them “New Year’s treats,”
and eat them every day.
Date Night
Apothecary to start, Mosto for dinner, and foot massages at Bodhi Therapeutic
Retreat to finish.
Favorite Neighborhood
Nanluogu Xiang, because it’s endlessly fascinating and always changing.
Favorite Day Trip
Mutianyu
This article is excerpted from the beijingkids December 2012 issue. View it in PDF form here or contact distribution@beijing-kids.com to find out where you can pick up your free copy.