June, 2008

Every summer my sister treks halfway around the world from her home in Oslo, Norway to Beijing to visit my mother and me. This annual tradition the last six years, has been an especially important one since our father passed away in early 2002. 

These past two times have been particularly special to my family because both my sister and I have both had kids within the past year and a half. My nephew Emil-Alexander was born in the early spring of 2007, and I was lucky enough to see him twice last year: the first time in Norway last July, and just a few weeks later when my sister came here to Beijing to visit.

My half-Norwegian-half-Chinese-American nephew is, as you’d imagine, adorable. Though he was born a few weeks premature, he has grown into a feisty, friendly and inquisitive little toddler – especially here in Beijing, where both and he and his mother have been staying with Lao Lao (姥姥, grandma) over the past two weeks. 

• Read more

Couples in Beijing who are hoping to get hitched on August 8, considered the luckiest day of the year by many Chinese people, can now go to local affair bureaus in their district to book the day for their marriage registration, according to an article on CRI Online.  

The reservation period is June 20- August 5, during which all the marriage registration bureaus in Beijing have a special service for booking to dengji (register) for marriage certificates on August 8, 2008. Brides and grooms-to-be can go to the bureaus during this time and submit photocopies of requested documents and photos, then return on August 8 and sign the marriage certificates. This way, the procedure only takes 1-2 minutes for each couple to get their marriage certificates. The local affair bureaus are expecting to process 50-100 pairs of newly weds per hour on August 8. 

• Read more

The tbjkids June/July issue presented a guide to traveling around China, but for those of us spending most of our time in Beijing this summer, check out the summer program at the Beijing Concert Hall, Gateway to Music.  

From July to August, Gateway To Music, is a series of various concerts to introduce kids and families to the world of classical music and stimulate intellects during the lazy days of summer.  

Gateway to Music will feature performances by first-class musicians, including violinists Peter Winograd and Sheng Zhongguo, violist Daniel Avshalomov, cellist Wolfram Koessel, and pianist Seta Yuko. 

• Read more

2008 may be the Year of the Rat, but so far it’s seems more like the Year of the Panda as China’s most famous furry icon dominates headlines and the silver screen. 

• Read more

A Chinese survey conducted earlier this year shows that 295,000 kids in Beijing are overweight, according to www.china.org.cn. This worries experts at the Capital Institute of Pediatrics who ran the survey because of the diseases that obesity causes, such as diabetes and high blood pressure. 

• Read more

Every year around the middle of spring and the beginning of summer students from all over the world, ranging from ages 14 – 18, take exams that have a large impact on their future. A few weeks ago I was one of those students; as a student at a British international school, I took my GCSEs, a series of ten tests in different subjects. For students in Chinese schools their biggest worry around this time is preparation for the National Higher Education Entrance Exam, which is commonly known as Gaokao. 

• Read more

Bringing Taste Buds to Life

Both my parents were raised in small towns in Ontario, Canada. While my mother’s father was a formidable baker and my dad’s parents grew fresh ingredients on their farm, neither was offered a particularly stimulating dining experience in their youth. Luckily, growing up in a gastronomic wasteland instilled them with a pressing need to try new – and generally delicious – food. 

Growing up in Russia, Pakistan and China, my brothers and I were taught to finish everything on our plates, and to try everything - no matter how unidentified and unappealing - at least once. Upon returning to Canada each summer we were shocked by the squeamish palates of our relatives – one aunt made separate meals to accommodate to her son’s ‘sensitive’ tastes - and bored by the bland food we ate at family reunions; a dainty sprinkling of sea salt cannot compare to Pakistani spices and Sichuan peppers.  

• Read more

In my household, my father never received an elaborate Father’s Day celebration. We’d usually hunt for the latest gadget to get him, and we often failed. My brothers and I usually ended up giving my father a stunning new tie, but he didn’t seem to really mind. We focused most of our attention on Mother’s Day – showering my mom with flowers and pitching in with household chores. However, ever since my siblings and I left the nest, our gifts to my father have gotten better over the years—but your family doesn’t have to be as uncreative as mine was! tbjkids has compiled a few activities, gift ideas, and imaginative ways to show dads you really care on Sunday, June 15. 

• Read more

 After only having watched half an hour of Amir Bar-Lev’s  documentary My Child Could Paint That, I turned the TV off in disgust. The film depicts 4-year old painter Marla Olmstead’s rise to celebrity status. While she grins at the camera, refuses to be interviewed or sloppily spreads globs of paint around a canvas larger than her “pint-sized Pollock” body, the darker truth surrounding her artistic ‘genius’ is revealed.

• Read more

I bet you won’t finish reading this...

I know this because, unfortunately, the addictive nature of web browsing is something that I am well accustomed to. I am ashamed to admit that I have, on countless occasions, stayed up all night browsing useless websites, all the while ignoring that little voice in my head that’s telling me to do something more productive.

It’s safe to say I’m not fighting this battle alone. I have watched helplessly as my own friends and family struggle to tear their eyes away from the enticing web pages of the Internet, and I am not surprised that the cause of the shrinking attention span of teenagers and children is being pinpointed upon this very phenomenon.

• Read more

Did your baby kick a lot during pregnancy? Did you think he or she was going to be the next David Beckham? tbjkids is looking for new mothers who would like to share a bit about their pregnancies and how mothers interpreted the behavior of their babies before labor, such as kicking in the womb, etc. If you’re interested in being part of the next issue, please email jessicapan@tbjkids.com to answer a few quick questions about your pregnancy. So if you’d like to share your experience, let us know by June 14!

If you, the kids, and your friends are searching for a great way to bond during a team sport, get some exercise, socialize with other parents and kids and contribute to a good cause, sign up for the Charity Netball Tournament on Saturday June 7th 10am-2pm hosted by Dulwich College. Don’t let these photos fool you—the tournament will be a mixed gender event with 9 people allowed per team entry. 250RMB per team and proceeds will go to Sichuan Earthquake Disaster Fund and the Guang Ai orphanage.   For more information, please contact Joanne Harris at joanne.harris@dcbejing.cn. 

To brush up on the basics, here are a few sites to visit:

Quick Intro to Netball

• Read more

At a visit to Chaoyang Park this past Saturday, a sign at the gate said that due to “Children's Day,” kids under 14 years old could get in for free. Jealous of the xiaopengyou (little friends) that got to enjoy a whole day of free rides at the playground, I couldn't help remembering the Children's Day of my youth.

• Read more

The best thing about having a younger sister is the excuse it gives me to re-read all those children books I loved so much as a child. Upon re-reading Beverly Cleary’s “Ramona the Pest,” I was happily reminded of the mistake Ramona made while singing the American National Anthem on her first day of kindergarten. The 5-year-old Ramona mishears the line “dawns early light” as “dawnzer lee light.” I found this exponentially more humorous than my younger sister, who stared at me blankly as I laughed until I cried.  

To redeem myself, I mentioned the incident to a friend of mine, who reassured me that Ramona’s mistake was indeed a funny one. She also mentioned a couple of similar mistakes she made as a child. To her, “The Wizard of Oz” was the “Wizard a Foz,” and up until two years ago the commonly used phrase “play it by ear” was misheard as “play it by year.” Hearing this, I again burst into a bout of embarrassingly loud laughter, while my friend glared at me.  

• Read more