Morning TaiChi

Seen early Saturday morning:

I usually never get up that early so I usually don’t see the (often) older Chinese doing their morning exercises (see previous post of why I got up early!!)

We Went To The US For The Day

...Chloe Superstar

After a 6 o’clock wake up call and a 2-hour drive we arrived in Jacksonhall for a photo shoot. In the middle of nowhere, this villa development was built to recreate the image of what the Chinese think the USA look like and allows them to indulge in a stereotype of western country life style for their holiday.

The American Dream??!

Chloe had already done a fashion show for this clothing company a few weeks after we arrived in Beijing and she got called back for the shooting of some photos for their winter catalog... which were really interesting to shoot since it was probably 35 to 40°c (95/105°F) in Beijing!! Who said that the life of a supermodel was easy?

Looking beautiful is hard work

Spiderman Is In Town

Thank goodness I don’t have to wash the windows…

Two Spidermen in Action

Before	During	After
That's Why The Sky Never Looked Blue

Yikes It's High

The Famous Broadcast...

...or The Day I Made A Fool of Myself

After no editing from the radio station, you can hear me talk about...ME!!!

Where the Magic happened!!

My Bump....

...My Lovely Little Bump

You can never be too careful...

Extra protection everywhere you need it!!

Saturday Night In China

A radio and an open space… not a lot is needed to have a fun time on a Saturday night.

Radio Show, Fashion Show, Happy Hour...

...What Did You Do Today

Because this is what I did today. I know not everybody is a TaiTai but somebody’s got to do it and somehow I must have raised my hand!!!

Today was a busy day and it was funny how it turned out since every event was somehow linked to one another:

I started the day at a local radio station for an interview about the life of an expat. I met the host of the talk show at a INN meeting (International Newcomers Network) when she heard my friends babbling about me becoming the vice-president of the French group and was interested to interview me about my background as an expat in our previous postings and in China.

With Jane the Host

I then went to a Fashion show invited by my friend Violaine who knew the stylist. The link between the two events so far: well at the show I met Camille… Camille has LE blog of the French community here in Beijing and I used to read it a lot when I first arrived. But what’s funny is that this morning at the radio station Jane, the host, mentioned her to me because she interviewed here a few months back (she’s French, I’m French…. What other reasons do you need?) and I then bump into her at the show. I couldn’t NOT go and introduce myself, so I did (so out-of-character for me!!)

Fashion Show by Esmod

I definitely could not round up this nice day in front of the TV with microwave dinner and it just happened that INN was organizing an Happy Hour, where I also bumped into a girl I met at the Fashion show a few hours before (yet another French girl… they seem to be everywhere nowadays and invading my space). It was also a nice way of finishing the day and come full circle since I met the radio host at an INN meeting.

Happy Hour at Centro

And to finish up this article…here’s a quote to ponder upon:

There is no pleasure in having nothing to do;
the fun is in having lots to do and not doing it.
Mary Wilson Little

Défile de mode esmod:
http://www.aujourdhuilachine.com/article.asp?IdArticle=3410&IdVideo=2

Happy Hour at Centro (INN)
http://www.innbeijing.org/polkadots.htm

Stressful Week...

...For Chinese Parents

There seems to be a lot more people than usual on my street which has also by the way been banned to cars…. This requires some investigation!!!

A tad more crowded than usual

As I walk around the block the sign tells me what I wanted to know:

The sign says it clearly

On the sign on the right: “JiaoTong GuanZhi CheLiang RaoXing”; which roughly translate to no car allowed and with the sign on the left I get my explanation!!!: "GaoKao KaoChang CheLiang RaoXing" (“Big Exam” / Place / Vehicule / Deviated) - "YingHu GaoKao JinZhi MingDi" (English / “Big Exam” / Forbidden / Honk the horn)

The big exam in question is the 高等院校入学考试 – Gao1Deng3 Yuan4Xiao4 Ru4Xue2 Kao3Shi4 or 高考 Gao1Kao3 for short. The annual national post secondary entrance examinations is the largest of its kind in the world with more than 9.5 million Chinese students sitting the exam today and tomorrow (more than 125,000 in Beijing). The exam is regarded as one of the most important events for the participants and could change their lives in a fiercely competitive society. A record 10.1 million Chinese students have applied for this year nationwide college entrance exam but only 5.67 million will see their college dream fulfilled. It’s the 30^th since it was restored after the Cultural Revolution (Chinese universities were shut down from 1966 to 1976, due to the political turmoil).

No, They Did NOT

Quintuplet Named After The Beijing 2008 Mascots

From That’s Beijing Kids

Five Olympic Rings, Five Olympic Babies
Some people really have Olympic pride. Recently, a set of quintuplet form Henan province gather together for their fourth birthdays to receive their official names: “Bei”, “Jing”, “Huan”, “Ying” and “Ni”. Put the five siblings together and what do they spell? “Beijing Welcomes You” the slogan of the Beijing Olympics!

Eighteen Years Already...

...And Still Not A Word About It

An article caught my attention when it said that Flickr has been blocked in China in the past few days due to the upcoming "anniversary".

Here's what you get on Flickr and Google:

It's blocked really fast on Google

And now here's what you can see when you use a proxy:

And in case you have no idea what I'm talking about, here's the Wikipekia entry (I didn't want to type anything on the subject, hence the picture format.... but on the other hand the Blog is already blocked in China so I don't really see what they could do about it; double block it?!)

Click on the picture to enlarge Click on the "Back" button of your browser to come back to this page

DaShanZi...

...798 Art District

Having a rare, free afternoon without the kids we ventured to the art district of Beijing. I first went to Dashanzi or 798 Art District a few months after we arrived and I liked to wander around the different venues and always wanted to show it to Jeff. The summer is a great time to visit the area either to see art exhibitions, have a drink on the terrace of a café or, my favorite: just walk around without a purpose.

A few pictures around DaShanZi

Click on the picture to enlarge
Click on the "Back" button of your browser to come back to this page

From http://www.798space.com/
"798" is located in the Dashanzi area, to the northeast of central Beijing. It was the site of state-owned factories including Factory 798, which originally produced electronics.
Beginning in 2002, artists and cultural organizations began to divide, rent out, and re-make the factory spaces, gradually developing them into galleries, art centers, artists' studios, design companies, restaurants, and bars.
It became a "Soho-esque" area of international character, replete with "loft living," attracting attention from all around. Bringing together contemporary art, architecture, and culture with a historically interesting location and an urban lifestyle, "798" has evolved into a cultural concept, of interest to experts and normal folk alike, influential on our concepts of both urban culture and living space.

Let's Get Comfortable

For Chinese people, their nap is sacred and you often see them taking a short snooze after their lunch either on their desk, three-wheeler, a bench, etc…

Siesta time!!

This one got smart and made the most of it by getting a bed right next to his small business (probably a bike repairman)

Smarty one!!

Another Hard Day At Work...

This is the back side of Jeff’s badge when he goes to the sites. It’s a long list of recommendation of what to do and not to do…

Please read carefully

A few hand picked “rules”:

• Love our motherland
• Love our crew and comply with disciplines
• Love our jobs and career
• Greatly devoted, dedicated and conscientious
• Mutual respect
• Energetic
• In high spirits
• Warm-hearted and earnest
• Healthy life style
• Hygienic
• Safety first
• Abide by laws and regulations
• Protect environments
• Pursue excellence
• Honest and credible
• Quality service
• Convenient and timely
• Satisfy needs

What Are YOU Up to Today?

When I take a look at my agenda it looks like I’m a spy because it’s full of codes; which makes me laugh because when I started to work in PR (public relations for the profane) in Paris we used to make fun of ourselves because we always talked in acronyms. I guess I’ve come full circle since nowadays my days are full of them!!

Thank goodness for Google Calendar!!

I finally know what to put on those nice Business Cards I made when we first arrived: VP of PA, Member of INN and BCB, Founder of LDL and let’s not forget CEO of Suiter Inc.

Vote For Me!!!

Today is a really important day since the 250+ members of Pekin Accueil (Association of French Speakers; aimed at expats living in Beijing) get a chance to vote for their new representatives!!!!

After much begging (and a nice email that convinced me) I decided to get on the list as future Vice President of Pekin Accueil (P.A). There was not much of suspense since we were the only candidates and everyone was relieved that we decided to sacrifice our life for the future of the Association. They still can vote no to our list….

Update - The results are in:
Only 68 people came to vote (that's an impressive 73% abstention!!) 67 votes OUI and 1 vote NON… Christie, Magalie, Hui Ying, Valerie and Myself are the new face of Pekin Accueil. Now if I could get an hold of the one who voted NON!!

Peace Sign

...You Mean PeacH Sign

My peaches are trying to tell me something… Smile, be Happy!

Can I Borrow Some Arm And Hammer

...You Mean Hammer Noodle.

My cakes are so fluffy when I use Arm and Hammer Hammer Noodles

They'll copy anything

Happy Mother's Day

...Two Down, Two to Go.

You see I’ve got 4 Mother’s days to celebrate every year.

Chloe was born in Argentina and they celebrate Mother’s Day on the third Sunday in October (It’s spring there…so it’s easier/cheaper (?) for the flowers), Jeremy was born in Scotland and there it’s on the 4th Sunday of the Lent or 3 weeks before Easter Sunday. Then we have the US one (same as China by the way) for Jeffrey which is on the second Sunday in May while the French celebrate their Mother on the last Sunday in May… But really isn’t it every day Mother’s day?

Good thing I’ve got Google calendar to keep all the dates straight

Mother’s Day
Fête des Mères
Día de la Madre
母亲节 Mu3 Qin1 Jie2

Hot Under Mao's Collar

Because they say it better than me:
http://www.china.org.cn/english/government/210587.htm
Man Detained for Damage Chairman Mao Portrait
Beijing police has detained a man who attempted to burn the portrait of late Chinese leader Chairman Mao Zedong that hangs above the gate to the Forbidden City across the street from Tian'anmen Square.

Gu Haiou, 35, a jobless man from Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, hurled a self-made burning object to the portrait around 5:46 PM Saturday, which caused a slight burnt mark in the lower left part of the portrait, said the Beijing Public Security Bureau. […]The Tian'anmen Administration Committee will replace the damaged portrait with a new one of the same version Saturday night, the bureau said. Armed police are guarding the area and visitors are forbidden to enter the Forbidden City. […]

The portrait, six meters high, five meters wide and weighing about two tons, is a reproduction of the fourth edition of Mao's portrait that has hung at the historic spot since the Republic of China was founded in 1949.
The first edition painted in 1949 showed Mao wearing a military uniform and a cap. The second edition, hung between 1950 and 1952, showed Mao in a green suit. The third edition, painted in the 1950s by portraitist Zhang Zhenshi, was put up between 1953 and 1968. (Xinhua News Agency May 13, 2007)

To Turn Left...

...Go To The Right Lane

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Not at all confusing!!