Vietnam...

...In Pictures

Coming up soon(ish?!).

We're Outta Here...

...See You Next Year!

After working this morning (a proper paid job this time), finishing packing our suitcases, we are just hours away before going on our Christmas holiday. This year we decided to skip snow and cold weather whether in France or the States and instead favor sun and next door neighbor country.

No it’s not the Chinese flag with some missing stars!!

Pictures of Hanoi and Halong bay, HoChiMinh/Saigon and the Mekong Delta, Nha Trang…. When we come back… in the meantime: Merry Christmas

It's There...

...It's Not There!

Hot from the press: aah Photoshop…

Before…without boots

After… with Boots (wrong one on her right foot by the way!)

No wrinkles to take care at this age…

No Time to Talk...

...Got Some Shopping To Do

I had not finished my Christmas shopping so I went back to try to find a bargain:

Saleswoman: I give you a good price because you are so cute.

The "being cute" tactic

Jeremy: You must be joking…. You think I’m a tourist! I live in Beijing. I lose face…I’m going somewhere else.

The "walking away" tactic

Salesman: My friend, I will give you a good price.

The “I lose money” tactic

Jeremy: No...I give you this and that’s it.

The “I don’t take no for an answer” tactic

Jeremy: So let’s see how much it is in €/$

The “I think I didn’t go low enough” dilemma

Maman taught me everything!

From Beijing, China. Jeremy Q.

Recommended and Forbidden

...Words

Jeremy made sure they were using the proper language.

I might never know what point 8, 9 & 10 mean… maybe it doesn’t apply to foreigners who didn’t make the effort to learn Chinese

Click on the picture to enlarge

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I'm So Excited...

...I'm Finally Able To Watch French TV

After almost 10 years of not watching French TV (we even managed to keep our British Cable when we move back to France a couple of years ago –that’s how much we miss it!!) we are finally getting TV5 (French language TV). The management of our complex (with a lot of crying from the growing French community) has decided to add the channel to the basic cable package. Sooooo what’s on tonight…

The image is not that bad…is it?

Update: The image is much better now. But that’s not the only problem…if they could fix the programming too we might start trying watching!

Let It Snow, Let It Snow

...Let It Snow

Here’s what Beijing look like this morning:

Blackish snow

No it’s not white pollution…it’s snow and if I had woken up at my usual time (i.e. later!) I probably wouldn’t have seen it. I don’t think there is even enough to have a snow ball fight let along make a snowman!

Meanwhile in Colorado (Jeff’s dad’s home):

Pure white snow

We don’t compete in the same league that’s for sure!!

It's Party Time...

...With The Frenchies

Pekin Accueil the French association which keeps my daily agenda full and my evenings busy throw their Christmas party tonight at Dashanzi…. If this name sounds familiar it’s because I was there 10 days ago and 5 weeks ago. The venue was fantastic even if it might not be the best choice in the dead of winter

"Feérique"

Little recap: It all started innocently 6 months ago… would I like to get involved in the French Association Pekin Accueil (a sort of newcomers welcome group for French speaker)? No thanks, me and the French group sometimes we don’t see eyes to eyes… but after a nice long email from Christie, who will become the president, I somehow ended up vice president and ‘in charge’ of the website… website that will become my new baby and everybody knows that new babies need a lot of attention. So my evenings are busy because our webmaster is in France (ie 7 hours behind Beijing). It does make it easier to have somebody who can reads and writes in French (we’ve got all those weird accents!) and because he’s also the son-in-law of one of our members, he gave us a break on the bill (and that’s not counting the numbers of time I skyped him either when I have a problem) but it does make me work at odd hours. So here’s the before and after shot:

Out with the "old"

Make room for the "new"

And because you want to see it for real… www.pekinaccueil.com but for the important page just click here!

We Are Back On...

...Not That We Really Stopped Either!

After several months of lack of planning on my part I decided to revive our Let’s Do Lunch Group.
It just happened that it was my friend Jodi’s birthday and one of her first big-person-only outing since the birth of her son Kai Thomas. So Happy Birthday Jodi.

The Girls don't want to be on the picture anymore, they are afraid they'll end up on the blog... and they are right!

Some of the LDL Girls

The B. Girl:

Totally slip my mind that Jodi has Celiac disease… More cake for me!!!

Her new man in her life:

A couple of months ago at his first Starbuck outing

And The Winner Is...

...China, again!

After this article about Mr World, a competition which took place 6 months ago also in Sanya and where China came in 3rd place, I’m starting to doubt the voting process of these Mr and Mrs World competition.

It's her!

If you want to check out the losers other contestants it’s here

Zi Lin Zhang, from Beijing, beat the other 105 contestants to become the first Chinese winner and the 57th Miss World in Sanya, China.
Her victory vindicated the decision of the Chinese government to lift its former ban on beauty contests and pay the organisers of the competition to host it for four out of the last five years.
Since it was first held in Sanya in 2003, Miss World has become an invaluable publicity vehicle for the Chinese government. With a global television audience of more than two billion, according to organisers, it is one of the most-watched events on the planet.
This year, contestants helped promote the 2008 Beijing Olympics by singing the official anthem of the Olympic torch relay.
The arrival of Miss World in China has created a craze for beauty pageants, after more than 50 years of being banned by the Communist Party as decadent and demeaning to women.
As recently as 2002, police closed down the Miss China competition, saying it was not officially licensed.

Watch Where You Are Going...

Guess what this is:

It is used by blind people to guide them on the sidewalk. But like everything else, in China there is a twist:

When an idea starts great…

Becomes a challenge…

And ends up plain stupid…