December, 2007

December celebrations around the world

Whether you celebrate or not, once December rolls around, the thought of Christmas is on everyone’s mind. “My family gathers together to share special foods, especially homemade tortellini, panettone and pandoro and gifts on Christmas Eve,” says Sara Platto, who is from Brescia in northern Italy. “There is lots of talking and singing and plenty of relatives gathered together to make it a big celebration. I am pregnant, and will be going home to Italy for Christmas and to have my baby, so this year it will be a double celebration.”

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Students from 3e International Kindergarten share their artwork to fill December’s Blank Canvas

Yatin Kukreja (4)
American

Andy Gong (5)
South Korean

Stanley Mao (5)
American

Sophie Holtus (4)
Dutch

Alma Chickering (5)
American-French

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Dec 4-12
Hanukkah

Celebrated over eight days, this Jewish festival commemorates the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Families come together to feast on special foods like latke (potato cakes) and light candles on a menorah with each passing night.

Dec 11
Tue
International Mountain Day

Celebrate the importance of mountains and the vital resources they offer! International Mountain Day was established in 2003 by the UN General Assembly as an opportunity to learn about, understand, and make positive changes to the world’s mountains and highlands.

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Come December, the feeling of Christmas – whether you celebrate it or not – can be felt in the air. It’s that warm, cheery sensation of generosity and indulgence. It’s a day most kids can’t wait for, and a day that most parents don’t worry about needing to force them out of bed, as they are usually the first ones awake, huddled around the tree.

But the holiday season means more than just gifts and presents. It comes with the urge to give back to the community, a desire to help others in less than fortunate circumstances, and there are plenty of people like that in Beijing – just look at some of the few we’ve profiled in “A Season of Giving: Beijing Charities That Need You”. Think one person doesn’t make a difference? Take a look at “Lessons in Life”, a personal essay about the experience of volunteering in rural China, and you may decide otherwise.

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Dōng Tiān
Winter
冬天

It’s fun to skate on Houhai Lake during the winter in Beijing.
dōng tiān zài běi jīng hòu hǎi hú shàng huá bīng hěn hǎo wán’r
冬天在北京后海湖上滑冰很好玩.

Foreign students are flocking to China in droves, with a 15.3 percent increase in total numbers since 2005, according to China Today, an informational database. These students come from over 180 countries and regions, and are studying at international schools, universities, colleges and other institutes. Korean students, at nearly 60,000, make up over a third of foreign students, followed by Japan (18,400), the US (11,700), Vietnam (7,300) and Indonesia (5,600).

Jingjing the Friendly fuwa has proved to be the biggest Olympic mascot seller amongst foreign tourists. Gongmei Emporium on Wangfujing, which sells Olympic merchandise, attests that more than 90 percent of tourists choose the indigenous panda over other Friendlies, according to a Xinhua report. In competition with Jingjing are Beibei the fish, Nini the swallow, Yingying the Tibetan antelope and Huanhuan the Olympic flame.

After a life of writing, teaching guitar, programming computers and doing a hodgepodge of various other jobs, 58-year-old Ben Thompson eventually left his home in the UK and made his way to China, where he has lived for the better half of the past eight years. After a brief stint teaching English, Ben now lives day-to-day as an actor: He’s appeared in movies, shows, documentaries and TV plays and hopes to continue acting as long as he can. But first he made an appearance at the International School of Beijing to answer questions from Malcolm McCormick’s middle school drama class.

Audrey (American)

Did you ever think of acting in your childhood?
Not really, no. My theory is that all children act, when they dress up and play. I think some just don’t grow out of it and they turn into actors.

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Calling all bilingual Harry Potter fans! The official Chinese version of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is now available. According to a report in China Daily, the final installment of the teenage wizard’s adventures is possibly the most expensive children’s book in China: Priced at RMB 66, one book would cost the average family about six percent of their monthly disposable income. Thus far, the Harry Potter series has sold 325 million copies worldwide and has been translated into more than 60 languages. The Chinese versions of the previous six Harry Potter books have already sold over ten million copies in China so far.

Train-hop your way through the city

The long-anticipated opening of Beijing’s Line 5 subway has eased the commute for those traveling north to south within the city. In addition to connecting numerous residential complexes to business and commercial areas, the new line has also unlocked a treasure trove of fun places rich in local flavor and culture. Here's our guide to discovering both old and new Beijing, and all within the Third Ring Road.

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1) tbjkids Meet Santa

Santa Claus is coming to Beijing on Dec 9! In a pre-Christmas visit, Santa will join tbjkids for a day of family fun at Le Cool Ice Skating Rink at the China World Shopping Mall. Enjoy a complimentary sandwich and cup of hot chocolate after a swirl on the rink. Plus, all kids will receive gifts! RMB 50 per person for 90 minutes of skating (includes skate rental). Ages 3 and up. Tickets are required and limited to the first 160 people that sign up before Dec 6. Event starts at 11am. Call Nancy Ding at 5820 7700 ext 853 or e-mail marketing@tbjkids.com to reserve a spot.

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Finish off your gift-wrapping with a personal touch

Beijing Tags
Find some small red jian zhi, or Chinese paper cuts, available at Hongqiao and Yashow markets. Using a glue stick, carefully attach your paper cut to white paper then cut around it with decorative-edged scissors. Paste the tag to a larger piece of red card and trim to size. Make sure you leave a space at the top to punch a hole for ribbon. Flip the tag to write your Christmas message and attach it to your gift.

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Experiencing the Bushland

The Travelers: Zimbabweans Kevin and Sue Thom, and their children Ryan (13) and Kiana (11). The family also took Sue’s parents Derek and Carol Spencer, who live in Australia.

The Destination: South Africa and Zimbabwe

The Plan: The family had not been back home for three years and it was high time to return. Getting out of Beijing’s summer was also tempting. The family first flew to Johannesburg for three nights, then to Durban for five, and then spent four days in the Madikwe Game Reserve (a three-and-a-half-hour drive from Johannesburg). It was then on to Harare and a light aircraft trip to the Zambezi River.

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The sparkle of a fairy light, the gleam of a glass orb through snow-covered branches – this is the stuff traditional Christmas trees are made of. Whether it’s aromatically authentic or fabulously fake, decorating a Christmas tree is one of the most delicious parts of the holiday season. But why not branch out a little and make this year’s Beijing tree – whether real or faux – something truly special? Inside, find some ideas for Christmas ornaments which involve the whole family, and perhaps inspire kids to create their own masterpieces.

Sweet Candy Tree

Materials:
• Wrapped candy
• Ribbon
• Popcorn
• Needle and bright red thread
• White cardboard
• Glue or tape
• Scissors
• Twist ties

See how long this tree can last before all the ornaments end up nibbled! Try to purchase Christmas-themed candy if you can; otherwise, any other brightly colored candy will also work.

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Luis Nettleship

Australian-German. Born to Claudia Wink and Gary Nettleship on September 26 at Beijing United Family Hospital.

Lyndon Alexander Darker

German-British. Born to Julia Schwendemann and Jolyon Darker on August 13 at Beijing United Family Hospital.

Sean Gao

Canadian-Chinese. Born to Mo Ting Cui and Meng Gao on October 9 at American-Sino OB/GYN Service.

Elijah Marcel N. Lee

Filipino. Born to Edwin and Janet Lee on April 21 at Beijing United Family Hospital.

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The successes and failures of volunteering in rural China

By my third day of teaching in Dongbaoquan village, my voice had grown hoarse from repeated attempts to talk over 30 raucous 7-17-year-olds. They had been shy the first morning, silently watching and following us like the Pied Piper as we approached the village schoolhouse. This morning’s scene was far different: irreverent boys on tabletops bludgeoning the floor with their unoccupied stools, flinging chalk at an angry group of girls.

After confiscating their weapons and regaining order, I attempted to carry on my English lesson on moods, praying that the students would still remember the words for “happy,” “sad,” “angry” and “excited,” which we had spent the better half of the morning drilling.

“Yu Kan,” I called on one of the chalk launchers in an attempt to distract him. “How do you feel today?”

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Adding ginger makes everything nice

A spoonful of sugar does help the medicine go down, and ginger tempered with sugar makes it much easier for kids to stomach the spicy root. Ginger heats up the body, gets the blood to circulate and induces sweating, all of which helps to ward off colds. At the end of each year, when the winds pick up and the air loses its summer humidity, ginger tea works as a great remedy at the first sight of a runny nose.

According to traditional Chinese medicine, there are two types of common colds: the “hot cold” (fēngrè gǎnmào, 风热感冒) and the “cool cold” (fēnghán gǎnmào, 风寒感冒). The symptoms of the former include a sore throat, coughing, extreme thirst, a yellow tongue and sweating, in which case ginger will aggravate the situation. But should you have aching muscles, no sweating and a thirst for warm liquids, then it is more likely that you have fenghan ganmao, for which ginger is a suitable remedy.  

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Experience Beijing’s first and only indoor ski resort

Ski season: It’s coming. The freezing winds and low temperatures will soon force the water vapor in the high reaches of the atmosphere to freeze, condense and fall onto the rolling hills of Beijing’s ski resorts. The lifts will start running, and revelers will come in droves and queue up to take nosedives into mounds of soft, white, powdery snow. But before you dig those salopettes out of the closet and head for your nearest ski resort, it might be best to fine-tune your skills in a more controlled environment, and the perfect place to do so is Qiaobo Snow Dome.

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Building up the excitement before going home for Christmas

If my upbringing was more firmly steeped in tradition than the British Royal Family, I wouldn’t be surprised. My parents hosted Halloween parties for all the kids in our lane until we were well into our university years. Every spring, my siblings and I would don our Wellingtons and traipse across muddy fields in search of the Easter Bunny. And to commemorate my mother’s North American roots, each successive golden retriever in our family has been named after a Canadian prime minister.

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Can one test really make such a big difference?

Acquittal. Mirth. Jocular. Just the sight of these words sends shivers down my spine. But, in the run up to my PSATs, I was forced to spend countless nights memorizing them.

Originally, I had planned to study these words during the summer, and I bought a thick stack of SAT preparation books. At first, I felt motivated and confident burying my head in them, but this momentum was somewhat lost after about a week. 

Then, two weeks before the PSATs, I decided to take my books out again. It was only then that I realized I had been focusing so much on the vocabulary that I hadn’t even read the other half of the book. As I flipped through the grammar section, my eyes started to widen. Then opening to reading comprehension, my jaw dropped. A glance at the math section brought a sigh of relief, but when I got to the writing section, I shut the book in horror.

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A traditional look at how the Chinese predict a child’s future

While most Chinese people no longer believe in it, zhuā zhōu (抓周) – an ancient method for predicting an infant’s future career – has been delicately preserved as a traditional custom. Many Chinese parents still hold the event on their child’s first birthday. Zhua, or “to pick,” and zhou, meaning “first anniversary,” is a ceremony at which parents place a variety of objects, each symbolic of a future career path, on a plate and then have the child pick one. Supposedly, the object the child selects will not only reveal their future career but also certain personality traits and interests.

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A yoga session fit for youngsters

Beijing’s cold winters tend to keep most people indoors, but this doesn’t mean youngsters need to give up exercising! A simple session of yoga can do wonders for your kids: strengthen muscles, improve circulation and teach ways to enhance concentration. The following poses are suitable for kids from ages 4-10.

Tree

Stand straight with the feet together. Lift your right knee and place your right foot on your left upper thigh. Keep your knee pointed outwards. Put your palms together; breathe gently and deeply to stay in balance. Exhale as you lower your right foot and stand again with your big toes touching. Repeat the pose with the other leg. If challenging to balance with your foot on your thigh, lower your foot to your calf or ankle.

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Beijing Charities That Need You

It’s that time of the year again, when families who have much to be grateful for look for ways to give back, and there are plenty of places to do so, even when you’re far from home. Feel the need to help those less fortunate but aren’t sure what you and your family can do here in Beijing? Read on for ways in which you and your kids can lend a hand to others this holiday season.

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After nine years of living in Beijing, Wai Hing Lam from Germany, Gloria Rodrigues from Malaysia, and their two girls, Elli (4) and Edna (2), have come to call it home. Pictured here with their housekeeper Xiao Hong, they share some of their family’s Beijing favorites.  

Place to Bring Friends From Home
The atmosphere at Panjiayuan makes everything interesting for our visitors – people are everywhere, vendors sell everything under the sun and the best thing is that all our visitors go home with something they really like, whether antique or new.

Indoor Play Space
Definitely A-Z Kids. Our girls like the ball pit and the mini supermarket with all the plastic food.

Getaway
Our family goes to Hong Kong once a year during big sales. We stock up on children’s items.

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