March, 2007

Mix up something special for the younger set

Who says you need to have alcohol to have a good time? Well, most of us, but that’s not the point. These special sippers are fun to make, great to look at and, most importantly, supremely drinkable – no matter your age. So mix away, and offer guests of all sizes something a little more exciting at your next family shindig.

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Hit The Park
Activities in fun-packed Tuanjiehu Park center around the lake, which is popular with skaters in the cold months and boaters in the warmer ones. The sandpit just to the north of the east gate might seem a little old hat, but it’s great not having to worry while your little treasures throw stuff around, fall over and generally make an unholy mess. The best bet for spring, though, has to be the bumper cars (9.30am-5pm, RMB 5 for three minutes). These funky inflatable dodgem buggies are located at the northern end of the island in the center of the park.

Tuanjiehu Park
Free entry. Daily 6.30am-9pm. Tuanjiehu Nanli, Chaoyang District (8597 3603) 团结湖公园, 朝阳区团结湖南里16号

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Fifteen minutes after my little brother Teddy was born, he was in my arms. I was 5, wearing shorts, and sitting on a cushy rocking chair in my parents' bedroom, and he was brand-new, wrapped in a blanket, warm and red faced and real at last.

In January, I sat on a couch in San Francisco and got to hold Ted's 7-day-old daughter. She was the youngest baby I'd held since the August afternoon that I met my brother. I hadn't remembered how heavy a newborn feels! Or how warm - Jaya was a little furnace. She was an absurdly cute little furnace with puckered lips and downy dark hair. I didn't want to put her down.

In your hands right now is our newborn baby - the first ever issue of tbjkids. Okay, it weighs in at just 2oz, and it's cool to the touch, but it's here at last, and we're proud and excited! If we smoked, we'd definitely light you up a cigar.

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The Indanan family – Tormuzie , Carolyne, 5-year-old Zianne Caitlin, 2-year-old Ryan Alexander and baby Zaeila Camille – have lived in Beijing for six months. Tormuzie, a diplomat and CPA, and Carolyne, a nurse, hail from the Philippines; and their kids were born in Manilla, Bangkok, and Beijing! When the Indanans moved here from Bangkok this winter, Beijing treated them to their first-ever snowstorm. “We had lots of fun playing in the snow,” recalls Tormuzie. “We were ecstatic when we first saw it.”

Here are some of their Beijing favorites:

Beijing snack food
Tanghulu. Before we came here, we took this short Mandarin class and our teacher told us to have a taste of it. Since we tried it, we can’t walk past a vendor selling it without buying a stick or two.

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Slipping past ayi’s radar after a night on the town

I cherish my afternoons with Elsa, my 17-month-old daughter, but let’s be honest: four hours of repeated clucking, mooing, barking and other barnyard imitations can leave one with a rather dry throat. Thankfully, especially for a single mother living on a part-time salary, one of the biggest perks of life in Beijing is the affordability of childcare. When I got thirsty for a night out in London, I’d have to pay a babysitter the equivalent of a Chinese ayi’s wages for an entire week. Here, I can actually afford to have a social life. Cheap as it is, though, my Beijing freedom comes with one definite price – the ayi’s censure.

I felt bad asking my ayi to work too many evenings, so I followed the advice of a friend of mine, a seasoned expat mother, and hired a second ayi as backup. Now I can get out whenever I want. The only downside to this handy arrangement is that I’m made acutely conscious of the fact that swanning off to the local drinking establishment is not exactly the usual, accepted maternal behavior over here. Both ayis are very warm, generally accepting people, but the backup ayi has been known to comment. I was mortified some months back when I returned from an evening out and was greeted with a pointed look and a muttered “jiu.” I’m embarrassed to admit that I instantly regressed, shamefacedly squeaking back “just two glasses!” like a naughty teenager.

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Shaping fates, tricking ghosts, and staying on the right side of the emperor

Names are a big thing in China, where parents believe that the right or wrong moniker can have a large impact on their child’s destiny.

Sure, scientists will call it superstition, but why tempt fate? Better to choose an auspicious name that reflects your blessing. A safe choice would be Changshou, which means “longevity,” or, for parents who have their own fates in mind, Yaozu, which means “make your ancestors proud.” In the past, parents disappointed by the birth of a daughter might try to bring future blessings on their own heads by naming their baby girl Zhaodi (“looking for a brother”) or Laidi (“bringing brother”).

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Beijing's cold winters cause heated debates between parents and ayis

Nothing gets parents and their ayis hot in the face like Beijing’s cold winter days. Mom turns her back for just a moment, and junior’s buried under yet another layer – take it off, and ayi’s face sours, letting mom know she’s wondering if Western parents really do care about their children as much as Chinese parents do. It’s a classic clash of cultures, a battle that often leaves both sides convinced that the other has no idea how to look after a child.

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Thoughts of a soon-to-be-dad

I’m not yet a father, so it’s odd to be writing a column as a Beijing dad. However, on May 7, give or take a few days, I am due to become one. Genealogically speaking, my new baby will be half-British, half-Chinese. But judging from my experiences in China so far, it’ll take some efforts to keep things this balanced when it comes to the baby’s upbringing.

You see, ours was always going to be a pregnancy with Chinese characteristics. After all, it has always been a marriage with Chinese characteristics. Since we arrived in Beijing three and a half years ago, my native-Beijing bride and I have shared a hundred square meters with a Pekinese named Bubby that has a taste for foreign flesh, a terrapin (that, to be fair, causes little trouble), and two irrepressible in-laws.

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The Great Wall at Mutianyu has some competition. A small group of old China hands and locals from different walks of life have transformed an old abandoned elementary school in the village of Mutianyu into The Schoolhouse – a tourist destination for families offering a restaurant, an art glass studio and an art room.

Sunlight enters the renovated classrooms that house the restaurant through yellow, green and violet windows and each table is topped with a bunch of wild flowers. Hungry, antsy kids can be distracted with crayons and blank placemats or sated with a handful of the complimentary – and highly addictive – roasted nuts, which are harvested locally.

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