Winter break season is here, and while your friends may be traveling off to other cities or distant countries, you may find yourself with a problem that happens to almost everyone. You get bored. If you are not traveling, or maybe you have a week at home before you begin your winter break adventures, you might discover you have nothing to do. If you need ways to entertain yourself during your time at home, here are some tips so that you can prevent yourself from turning into a boredom zombie.

Are you an artistic person? If you are, then this one is for you. YMM Art Education, 汤旅级艺术教 is a wonderful place where you can test your art skills to the limit. You can find YMM at Indigo Mall, they also have a Solana Mall branch. This art studio can also prepare you for art competitions. Each class is typically one hour and a half long, art competition classes are four hours long. Like everything in Beijing, their class package can be very expensive; however, if your mother is a shrewd negotiator, you may be able to bargain for a good deal. If you really enjoy creating art, these classes may be worth the price!

Secondly, if you like the feel of being in the water and enjoy swimming. Fire Dragon Swim Club runs private and group lessons throughout the week at the Canadian School and East Hotel. You can take group classes which are based on your swimming ability, from beginners to advanced!

At Fire Dragon, you will be taught stroke mechanics with different drills and even diving and flip turn skills. The more intense coaches will have you do stretches before you swim, and there are benches near the pool where your family can sit and watch you as you swim. What my parents like about this swim club is that it is affordable. One group session is a reasonable RMB 190 for one hour, they also offer private lessons at the East Hotel is over RMB 300. The best thing about this swim club is that you do not have to really commit to a set of classes, instead of having to buy a huge package all at once, you can register for a class 24hrs in advance to reserve your spot.

Winter break is also a perfect time for doing some shopping. Sanlitun Taikooli is a good choice for window shopping and get some good ideas.  But a warning, do not bother coming here for Page One Bookstore, this location is permanently closed much to our disappointment!  There are other Page One branches throughout Beijing you can visit. Sanlitun Taikooli is also home to a new French handbag brand, Polene.  My mother was thrilled when she discovered this storefront! This store interior is very nice, staff are super friendly and helpful, and they sell very good quality leather handbags. Don’t have to fly to Paris for your own Polene!  After your shopping time, you may get very hungry. Though there are many restaurants in this area, there is one particular restaurant that is my favorite-Pink.  This is a Vietnamese restaurant that serves legit Vietnamese cuisine. If you are craving an authentic bowl of pho, this place is just right for you.

If you want to keep your Chinese skills sharp during the winter break, you can sign up to go to the Bridge School at Guangming Hotel, where you can learn Chinese at your own pace. You will be assigned a teacher, and you can have a fixed time and a fixed day of class.  A package of 26 lessons at the Bridge School is RMB 160i per class.  Teachers are nice and flexible with time scheduling.

Lastly, being bored is not always a terrible thing. Being bored is a good way to explore your creative juice and indulge in your hobbies. You can order some supplies and do some arts and crafts!  For example, I spent a lot of time hand-drawing Christmas cards for families and friends. With this week free from school and afternoon activities, I was able to do some into creative writing.  It’s also a good opportunity to learn a new skill too, I am hoping to learn how to knit or crochet! This is also a chance to spend some quality family time by grabbing lunch with your working parent. I don’t get to eat lunch with my father during the weekday,s so it is nice to be able to catch lunch with him during this winter break! Anyhow, the possibilities are endless.

So there’s another article from Clark Yap! Happy Holidays Jingkids Families! And as always- Stay tuned, stay reading!!!

Find it:
Fire Dragon
Contact: Kelvin
Weixin ID: dfkhua

Find it:
Bridge School=
Contact Lily
Weixin: TheBridgeSchool2021

Images: Clark Yap

Though it may take over 1,000 photos (or frames) to produce a single minute of footage, there’s something special about the painstaking process and artful technique that goes into stop motion animation. Maybe it’s just nostalgia, or the hours of Gumby we grew up watching. Regardless of the reasons behind our fascination with this antiquated medium, we are pleased to announce that Atelier will be hosting a three-day workshop from Apr 29 – May 1 (10am-4pm), to guide students in the process of making a short animation of their own.

This is a great chance for your budding little film director to learn the fundamentals of animation by watching examples, making a flip book with photographs, learning the essential elements of storytelling, sculpting colorful characters, and designing a set. Many of the techniques that will be covered can also be applied to other aspects of the filmmaking process.

The workshop was organized by Liu Yaonan, a graduate of Beijing Normal University, who studied art and film in France at the Fine Arts School of Avignon, and has since worked as a screenwriter for films and TV. Liu will be your guide into this wonderful world of stop motion animation, and before you know it you’ll be on your way to making a Nightmare Before Christmas or Fantastic Mr. Fox of your own.

Contact Atelier to sign up, but be aware that space is limited to six people (aged eight years and up), and the course will take place at their Sanlitun location. The price of the class is RMB 2,600, or RMB 2,200 for Atelier students. Check out their event listing here for details, or get over to their website to sign up today, and introduce your little ones to the magic of filmmaking with this great three-day workshop.

Photos: courtesy of Atelier, dailymotion.com