For Iris Bula and her family, moving to China was like opening a door to valuable, priceless experiences that no book could match. The Panamanian family first moved to Beijing in 2011 for Iris’ husband Pedro Febles Cortez’s work, and from that point to on, it has been the most enriching time in their lives. From the beginning, they made an effort to get involved in the local community, and were especially interested in forming friendships with Chinese people and learning about Chinese culture, traditions, and day to day life. Since then, they’ve also enjoyed returning the favor, sharing some of their traditional Panamanian and latino culture traditions and food with their friends in China.

While the family have had the opportunities to celebrate festivities like the Lunar New Year, Dragon Boat Festival, Lantern Festival, and even traveling to their friends’ hometowns, meeting their relatives, parents, and grandparents, the benefits her family have enjoyed from moving to China run deeper. Bula’s daughter Tayra was eight years old and her son Pedro was six when they arrived and for both of them, Beijing is truly their home.  “One thing I am impressed is to see how much my children have absorbed Chinese culture.” Bula says “They speak the language and have adopted habits of the Chinese like showing great respect to adults and others and this is something I appreciate a lot which comes as a result of being here”.

Bula and her daughter in traditional Panamanian dress

By way of sharing her Latino culture with her Chinese friends, Bula has invited them to celebrate Christmas with her family, showing them how this holiday is done in her country and why it is special in the western world. Her friends have been especially interested in understanding the meaning of gift-giving, experiencing the special Christmas meal served at 10pm on Christmas Eve, and learning about the emotional and spiritual aspects of the holiday. Another Latino cultural highlight that Iris and her family have brought to show their Chinese friends is the way in which birthdays are celebrated for children. Besides having the child’s favorite meal prepared on their special day, the guests could enjoy other yummy food, cake, and drinks.

Sharing the Christmas fun with local friends

Bula also enjoys having her Chinese friends over when it’s time to try the food from Panama. The distinct flavors, spiciness, and different presentations and textures of this food are highly appreciated by her friends, especially as it’s not particularly easy for Chinese people to visit Latin America during normal travel times. “It’s bringing Latin America right to China without having to take a plane there”, she says. In fact, Bula’s love for cooking and her love for the Panamanian cuisine has allowed her to participate in a cooking show sponsored by CCTV made for Spanish speaking audiences called “De China a tu Cocina” (From China Right to Your Kitchen) in which she presented a few Panamanian dishes.

Iris Bula on “De China a tu Cocina”

Despite the great distance that separates Panama and China, Bula has no regrets about moving here almost ten years ago. “My family and I couldn’t be happier living all of these years in China. We are so fortunate to enjoy the good company of friends, the peace of mind of knowing that our children are safe here, the peacefulness I personally feel when strolling through parks next to ancient monuments, the time we have as a family for each other, the quality of life and more. For those planning to move to China or for those who have recently arrived, I say, keep an open mind, take time to learn and understand Chinese culture, and everything else will flow”.

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Photos: Courtesy of Iris Bula

I come from a beautiful tropical country, Nicaragua, located in the middle of Central America, a perfect destination for beach lovers, volcanoes, hikers, or anyone who loves to stroll through colonial towns admiring the slow pace life of the locals or the colorful colonial houses. And one aspect you can not overlook is authentic Nicaraguan food.

Being far from home, many of us expats don’t only miss family and friends, but also the meals that you grew up with or those special dishes save for special occasions. For me, arriving in China and seeing the exotic local cuisine with all the interesting ingredients and wide array of presentations felt like food paradise, but that feeling of missing the flavors from home was still there. It came as a pleasant surprise, therefore, to have found a few dishes here in Beijing that are very similar to some Nicaraguan dishes. Although not similar in taste, the bases for their cooking are.

Nicaraguan nacatamales vs. zongzi

Nacatamales is a traditional food made with corn dough stuffed with pork meat, potatoes, rice, onions, garlic, mint and seasoned with salt and sour orange ( and not just any orange: a particular type of orange used to bring out flavors in certain meat dishes). The one striking similarity to local zongzi is the fact that nacatamales are also wrapped in leaves for their cooking process. In Nicaragua we use the leaves of a plantain tree. People use two to three leaves to create a thick layer to place the raw ingredients on it to then wrap it tightly and tie-up with a string to be cooked in water for 3 to 5 hours. Here in China, zongzi is rice-based and stuffed with pork belly meat, mushrooms, chestnuts, shallots, and soy sauce. Zongzi are usually wrapped in bamboo leaves and tied up with a string as well. Different from nacatamales, zongzi can also come in a sweet form. Nacatamales are a very popular meal on weekends to enjoy for dinner or for your Sunday breakfast.

Churros vs. Youtiao

Nicaraguan churros or fried dough can come in plain, salty, sweet, or spicy flavors. Some churros are made with corn dough and others with flour. This popular snack can be eaten along with the main hot dishes or served as dessert. The one Chinese snack that reminds me of churros is this type of fried sticks you find in every store, youtiaou. It’s always fun to find familiar foods that can bring you a little taste from home.

Rice and Chicken vs. Fried Rice

Another popular Nicaraguan meal is rice and chicken mixed with vegetables. The chicken is shredded and the veggies are cut in small pieces. People usually add carrots, celery, onions, green pepper, and peas. The chicken is cooked separately as well as the rice, once the veggies are stir-fried and seasoned with salt and pepper you add the chicken and the rice to the mix and then add mustard sauce and ketchup. This meal is very similar to the popular Chinese fried rice. The flavors are of course different, the Nicaraguan rice tends to have a sweet and sour taste whereas Chinese fried rice is more on the salty side. In my opinion, both dishes are delicious!

Chop Suey vs. Lo Mien Noodles

Ok, ok, I hear what you’re saying: chop suey isn’t Nicaraguan! But this dish is extremely popular in Nicaragua and has been popular for so long that it’s developed in a uniquely Nicaraguan way. Nicaragua has a small population of Chinese descendants, and we can gather that the introduction of this form of stir-fried vegetable mixture came from them. Chop suey or ‘Chopsui’ as it is called in my country, is prepared with finely chopped cabbage, carrots, chayote squash, celery, onions, and seasoned with English Sauce, a type of Worcestershire sauce, Ketchup (yes! Ketchup!), salt and pepper. Whenever there are big family gatherings, Nicaraguans will prepare a delicious chop suey dish to offer their guests as it is considered a healthy choice as well as a cheap one, and the most important thing, your guests will come out satisfied with such a succulent meal. The great part of eating this dish is that it’s topped with churritos or a small plain crunchy fried dough that makes a bite of chop suey so good even if you don’t like some of the veggies in it!

Lo Mein noodles certainly reminded me of chop suey. They are similarly prepared with chopped carrots, celery, onions, or any other vegetables you wish to add to the mix. Lo Mein noodles are seasoned with soy sauce and stir-fried together with the vegetables to blend in the flavors together. No doubt a great dish!

Food is one of the best ways to connect different cultures. It’s something that we can all relate to regardless of our background and when we’re able to find similarities between two very difficult cultures through food, it’s a reminder that we’re not so different after all. No matter where you are or what’s available to you, experimenting with new flavors, and creating new memories can make these special connections with your home to your new environment. This is my second time residing in China and the flavors, tastes, and smells are already becoming part of me. Whenever the time comes for me to depart, I will be missing the food of the place that once was home.

KEEP READING: Recent, and Sometimes Shocking, Creations on the Beijing Foodie Scene

Photos: Ash Chuan (via Flickr), courtesy of Eloisa Duarte, Unsplash, Dianping

Little Park is not your typical nursery school. Founded by Nina Xu, a teacher originally from Henan province who has been living in Beijing for 10 years, it originally grew from a small playgroup in her apartment back in 2015 to a professional early education center with a loyal following of mainly expat parents who love the schools caring environment and play-based program, which is rooted in the Resources for Infant Educarers® (RIE) approach.

I caught up with Xu to talk about the origins of Little Park, how RIE comes into play and the launch of her new bilingual podcast, Amazing Parents 了不起的爸妈.

“Kids have the right to grow in a healthy, safe environment”

Xu’s motivation to start a nursery school came after she overheard an ayi telling a child that if he kept crying, mommy wouldn’t come back. Although she knew that it was quite a common thing for someone to say in China to stop a child from crying, she was still shocked by what she considered an outdated mindset and parenting technique that should have stopped with the last generation.

Xu was ready to make a change by teaching parents and ayis how babies can grow and develop by themselves if shown the right steps. Letting children grow and express themselves emotionally without fearing that something bad happening to them was and has been her philosophy. “Kids have the right to grow in a healthy, safe environment, not with the old traditional ways that are still very present in us. Many things in society grow and develop, like the economy for example, but the way we treat or raise our babies is still old”.

Little Park grew from a small playgroup in Xu’s apartment

With that in mind, Xu prepared a corner of her living room to start a children’s playgroup. She was eager to put into practice her knowledge and continue her observations and research on child development in the early years and posted a sign on her apartment window advertising a child playgroup for 0-3 years. After a full month of no one showing interest, someone finally knocked on her door to see about this playgroup idea. The rest is history, and parents were so impressed with Xu’s methods that word quickly spread about her unique school. Every educator’s goal is to impact their students through their teaching so that they will eventually make a difference in the future, and this was Xu’s purpose too: bring change to the ways we traditionally raise our children in the early years, even if this change is done on a small scale.

Xu is a certified high school teacher, however, she has taught throughout all grade levels. Her desire to continue learning about the newest trends in education led her to find an interest in education for the early years. Her school adapts the RIE approach for Infant Educators which is based on the idea that children are capable and understanding of the world around them, able to learn and flourish if given a safe space and freedom from too much adult direction.

Problem-solving, respect, and understanding boundaries are fundamental to the RIE approach.

According to Xu, teachers serve as a secure base to support children in their social skills, and at Little Park, children are given opportunities to solve problems among themselves with little intervention from adults. “I teach them to say no, thank you, and please. It’s ok for children to say no when they are not ready to share. If another child says no to them, they won’t feel bad or rejected, they will understand that sometimes a child is not ready to share, that they need more time”. Xu tells us. These personal boundaries will teach children mutual respect. “If their decision is respected, they will respect other children’s decisions as well. We also model and show them ways on how to deal with emotions. Children should be able to express their emotions, not telling them “don’t cry” but to guide them and give them opportunities to solve problems among themselves.”

Much has changed in the last few months, and in order to stay connected with her community of parents, Xu recently created her own bilingual podcast as a way to maintain ongoing support during the closure of the school. She invites parents to share their educational experiences, professional knowledge, or any parenting tips. “Parents are a great source and have valuable information that will help us grow”.

These past five years with her school, Xu  has felt that she has grown professionally, mentally, and personally thanks to the support and encouragement from her families. This gives her the ongoing incentive to keep her nursery authentic and pure as she intended to do when she first founded her school. Her vision will always be to educate and support parents and keep the focus of her school into making a difference for those that she can reach out to.

Little Park Child Development Center
Jingda International Apartment, 11 West Road Chaoyang Park.
朝阳公园西路11号院 京达国际公寓
WeChat: 15011273676

KEEP READING: Meet “el Moraito de Pekin” the Man Behind Casa Flamenco

Photos: Courtesy of Little Park

When you think of flamenco, Beijing is probably not the first city that springs to mind. Yet the Spanish art form, which is most famously expressed as flamenco guitar and flamenco dancing has millions of fans the world over, and China is no exception. Here in Beijing, fans head to Casa Flamenco, to learn the all about the unique art from founder Qiao Liu, who has been teaching there since 2010.

The colors, the dance, the stories, the music, the rhythm, and the sheer passion is what first drew Qiao Liu to flamenco. Liu began studying guitar at a young age, and once he mastered the instrument he moved on to learning different performing styles which soon led him to discover the fascinating Spanish guitar.

Living so far away from Spain and having no one to teach him in Beijing, he began to download music sheets from the internet and watch videos on YouTube. But that wasn’t enough, and to truly understand flamenco, Liu decided to travel to Spain to learn the language that gave birth to the passionate art form.

Qiao Liu in action

Since founding Casa Flamenco ten years go, Liu and has been practicing and passing his passion onto others, regularly inviting other Spanish flamenco artists to come to his school so his students can learn from a wide variety of experts. He also hosts regular ‘tablaos’ (small flamenco shows) and performances at theater venues and has made himself a beloved member of the Beijing Latino community, to the extent that he is even known as “the Moriato of Beijing”, in reference to the late great Moraíto Chico II, who is considered one of the greatest flamenco guitar players. 

Now a father to two twin boys, Liu intends to pass his passion for flamenco onto his children and believes that it is not so dissimilar from one of China’s most famous cultural exports: martial arts. For Liu, they both contain the same contrast of still, concentrated poses, and explosions of energy and force, and he also notes that they are both well-choreographed, colorful, and rhythmic. But it’s not just the poses or music, but also the beauty of the costumes, the feelings and the stories that performances tell that make it such a compelling, intense art form.

Taking a bow at the end of a ‘tablaos’

From his passion for guitar, travels to Spain to learn the dance, acquiring a new language, and the founding of his own school, it’s clear that Liu knows what it takes to make one’s dream a reality. “We all have talents, we all can achieve what we set ourselves to do, we just have to work hard at it, never giving up”, says Liu with a big smile. His plans are to continue teaching and bringing flamenco to Chinese people with the hope that they also fall in love with this captivating form of art, just as he did.

To get in touch with Casa Flamenco contact them via WeChat (ID: casaflamenco) or call 8532 1915.

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Photos: Courtesy of Liu Qiao, Unsplash

Beijing is one of the largest cities in the world, with a huge population of foreigners, including a big Hispanic community. Meet three Latino expat families who came to Beijing with their hearts ready for new adventures that only a city like ours could fulfill.

The Bonani Family

Juan Bonani moved to China from Brazil in Feb 2015 to teach one of the most popular sports in the world, football. After moving to several different cities around China throughout the years, Bonani decided to settle in Beijing with his wife Chanel. Since he had lived abroad as a child, moving to China didn’t come as a big challenge to Bonani and he arrived with an open mind and accepted the best of what the country could offer him. As well as being a football coach, Bonani works at the Beijing International Bilingual Academy (BIBA) as a PE teacher. He is grateful that international schools provide long breaks, especially during the summer so he can make the long trip back home to catch up with family and friends. Bonani’s advice to other expats living in Beijing who are trying to make the best out of their experience is to come with an open mind and always remain positive. As for himself, he plans to stay here as long as he can in order to continue taking the great opportunities Beijing has to offer.

Claudia Besnier and Her Family

Claudia Besnier, her husband, José Miguel, and their five children, Martina (6), Catalina (9), Sophie, (11), Andre (14), and Tanya (16) arrived in Beijing ready for a new start in Mar, 2015. Although settling into a new country and learning your way around is always a challenge, they felt they were ready for the change and always kept a positive attitude when confronted with the struggles of being newbies in a foreign country. Besnier believes that the key to making the most of your experience is to stay busy and connected to other expats in order to learn from each other. For spouses that have little to no work, taking time to learn the language of the host country, keeping yourself busy, and joining activities offered to the expat community, all serve towards your happiness and tranquility. She also mentions that she highly values dedicating her weekends to quality time with her family. A positive aspect of living in Beijing that Besnier brings up is how secure it feels when moving around the city. For many expats who come from Latin American countries, this is a major bonus. Overall, Besnier and her family feel very happy here. The enriching cultural experiences and the meaningful friendship connections made is something they value and appreciate. Currently, they are all in Chile and hope to return to China in the near future to their home in Beijing.

Teresa Rodriguez’s Story

Finding himself suddenly unemployed and having to seek a job outside of Mexico, Teresa Rodriguez’s husband had to look even farther away from home to continue supporting their family and secure a future for their daughters. Therefore, the story of how they moved to China comes with an array of emotions.

In May of 2011, Rodriguez’’s husband had to make the trip to his new job in China alone, leaving his family behind. With tears and sadness, they all said their good-byes and promised to stay strong and to support each other despite the distance.

In June of 2013, Rodriguez’ decided to join her husband in Beijing while both their daughters stayed in Mexico to continue their university studies. Things were a little difficult for Rodriguez’ at the beginning. She was often lonely and missed her daughters dearly while she settled into a new place so different from home, but that changed when she decided to explore the world outside her doorstep and began to connect with others around her. She tackled lessons such as Mandarin, cooking, Tai Chi, and photography. Rodriguez also reached out to the expat community and established several friendships, and even volunteered up her time as a translator at the Beijing United Family Hospital.

The challenges were there and the thought of being away from her daughters was also hard for her, but the realization of being in a place with such a vast and rich culture gave Rodriguez the motivation to immerse herself into discovering what each day could provide for her. During her seven years in Beijing, she has seen many positive changes especially regarding technology which makes life easier for foreigners (translators, WeChat, cashless transactions, Didi, etc).

Rodriguez’s motto has been to look at the silver lining, leave the negative aside, and absorb the unique experiences that only a city like Beijing can deliver. China will always be in her heart!

As expat experiences go, sometimes it seems like it all boils down to one thing: getting yourself out of your comfort zone and out of your bubble. The trick to enjoying your experience is to explore the city that you now call home and experience all the wonderful things the experience of living abroad has to offer. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience that should never be taken for granted.

Eloisa Duarte is a translator and language instructor who is living in China for the second time. Her interest includes languages, writing, Latin culture, music among others. She lives here with her husband Joseph and two daughters, Katherine and Sofia.

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Photos: courtesy of Eloisa Duarte