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Archive for March, 2009

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dedicated to dad

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

by a daughter
Beijing, China

We turned into the alley our first day here and wondered if we were in a construction site, and not a youth hostel. It turned out we were, and each day as we have walked by, we have stopped to watch the craftsmen at work.
On one occasion Rob took a photo of the roof construction, which, four days later, is now complete…then when he turned around, look what was coming up the alley!

and finished:

It’s quite interesting to consider that here in this modern city (where you can see major feats of engineering wherever you look), old time skills such as taking a tree trunk and turning it by hand into beams and planks of wood are still practised.
Snap – the Grandpa wrote exactly about this today as well – he’s got some more great building pictures too (especially the very last one – a close-up of a guy tiling the roof) if you’d like to take a look here.

Jboy13 noticed, there are helmets a-plenty, but not a steel-capped boot to be seen – everyone is wearing soft canvas slip-ons! Never mind the safety aspect, there must be some freezing toes!

Posted in craft, housing, postcard: China, tradition | No Comments »

TRUST

Monday, March 30th, 2009

by an uncharacteristically impulsive buyer
Beijing, China

“In God we trust”, the official motto of the United States and emblazoned on their currency as a daily reminder, has its counterpart in China. Here bus stops routinely declare:

Aha, education is the answer to the world’s ills, a common misconception that with the right knowledge, we will be saved.

And in the meantime, there’s the other answer, already long-accepted in the West and becoming increasingly familiar in the East……in all the subway stations Glory Mall advertisements promise “The paradise of colorful shopping. One-time aesthetical experience of consumption.” If we can just buy enough, we will be in heaven.

And so we went shopping. Actually, we were always planning on a wee shopping expedition in Beijing as the little boys had not yet procured “dragon shirts”, which they had been hoping for. Checking out local shops when we arrived had proven unsuccessful and there were some despondent faces when they realised time had run out. You see, today was supposed to be Visit The Forbidden City Day, but with a couple of family members feeling under the weather and preferring to spend the morning at home, the Forbidden City became the Abandoned City and the clothes hunters took their one-time opportunity for an aesthetical experience of consumption. But not at GloryMall.
We transported ourselves across town on the fast, efficient, cheap go-anywhere-for-two-yuan (NZ 50 cents) well-signposted bi-lingual easy-to-use subway….to the Pearl Market, where we had been assured we would find all manner of clothes, including dragon shirts. Ask and it shall be given unto you! We came away with dragon shirts, long-sleeved shirts for the girls who needed them, a t-shirt for little boy who had accidentally ripped his, a pair of replacement socks for a Daddy whose favourite pair is riddled with holes and a replacement shirt bargained for by a boy and purchased out of his own money, because he had intentionally ruined a shirt in order to get a new one.
It might have seemed like paradise if we hadn’t had to “haggle like hell” (to quote Lonely Planet). There was a huge range of goods and sellers were keen to part with them, imploring you to “Step inside lady, have a look” “Small i-phone, you want which one?” “Please lady special price” “Children’s watch for you” “I have t-shirt, how many you buy?” “North Face jacket for you lady” “Underwear, you need new underwear”
In just two hours of crowd-jostling and hard-bargaining we were done, we had consumed, we were ready to leave Utopia and head back to the Hutong.

Such success raised everyone’s spirits (maybe shopping really is an elixir) and the decision was made to sneak in a quick visit to the Olympic Buildings. Smallest family member refused to put her boots on, so Mama none-too-reluctantly agreed to remain at home with her. (So often her whining is met with lollies here, so it was beneficial to be able to provide a less desirable consequence for a change). Mama and Baby then zipped out to buy gloves, but came back with jeans! When a shop assistant measures your waist, scrambles around in a pile of plastic bags on the floor under a display and brings out a pair that you insist is too small….but she insists more vocally that they are stretchy and will fit (at least I think that’s what she said)…..you try them on and they *do* fit…..well, what would YOU do? You’d buy them. Especially when they cost under NZ$8 and the skin-tight pair you left home with are hanging saggy-elephant-baggy on you now. So I splashed out in glorious consumption.

But that’s not the only shopping we’ve been doing. Last night we made our biggest purchase ever (apart from houses). Without even seeing the item, we bought something mechanical (ie has the potential to break) from someone we don’t know who lives in Germany and will take our money now. We’re trusting she’s not Nigerian!
Crazy? Maybe. Stupid? Quite possibly. Downright dumb? We’ll see. Completely Idiotic? Time will tell. But, worst case scenario, we’ll have a roof over our heads in Europe! Ideally, it will even take us many adventuring miles.
We had been watching motorhomes on E-bay for months, having ascertained that this was going to be the most fiscally responsible way to go (responsible – hmm, yes, well maybe buying a motor vehicle sight unseen does not fit with that descriptor). Last week we saw the best one yet in terms of layout, in a can-hardly-get-better-for-us location, at a price that was not too far beyond our budget….after getting the go-ahead from a GermanKiwi friend, who assured us the fine print contained no surprises, we emailed the Seller and asked if he could hold it for us for six weeks, whether he would be willing to sell to us (some haven’t been up til now) and all manner of little questions that Seemed Necessary To Ask To Make Us Feel A Little Responsible. Everything came together positively. The only factor holding us back was (as usual) the price. Should we use the SOFORT KAUFEN (BUY NOW) and perhaps pay more or bid on the auction and maybe get it at a lower price – or possibly miss out if bidding went too high or someone else snaffled up the buy now bargain? So we slept on it. By the morning we realised we would be more disappointed at missing out than paying a wee bit extra. So we hit SOFORT KAUFEN.
But we were not entitled to buy as we were registered in New Zealand. AAGGHH! The time difference meant Seller was tucked up snugly in bed, blissfully unaware of our predicament while we were trying all manner of options to overcome this obstacle,  attempting worldwide solutions, with not a skerrick of success.  When we had exhausted all possibilities we hit Tiananmen Square and put das Womo out of mind.
Fast forward to the afternoon. Come home. Check computer. No word from Seller. Another bid is placed on the auction. Spend afternoon checking email again and again and again and again!
Go out for dinner.
Return. Bidding is heating up. Eleven other people want this baby! Check email. Seller has been able to fix the we-live-in-New-Zealand-problem, allowing us to “click”. Without further ado, without leaving time for second thoughts or are-you-sure-s or do-you-really-think-we-should-s, we SOFORT KAUFEN. Wir haben ein Womo gekauft!
We trust it’s not a lemon.

Any ideas what we should call her?
The latest addition to the family was called “Dumpling”,
so we are obviously in need of some assistance!
(that was a soft toy dog, not a baby – heehee)

Posted in children, dress, God, housing, money, parenting, postcard: China, price, transport | 8 Comments »

Snow on the Square

Sunday, March 29th, 2009
by an adult who thought it was pretty cool too Beijing, China Never mind the cultural or historical significance of standing in Tiananmen Square, facing the Forbidden City, it was SNOWING!!!!!! So they may not have been the biggest snowflakes, and they ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in children, history, justice, learning, parenting, postcard: China, weather | 5 Comments »

staggering

Saturday, March 28th, 2009
by Rach Beijing, China

 

Badaling is apparently where most people view The Great Wall from. We went in the opposite direction to a less-populous more run-down section, one with the promise of a ten kilometre ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in children, postcard: China, postcard: Mongolia, recreation, weather | 3 Comments »

hostel in the hutong

Friday, March 27th, 2009
by the accommodation-finder Beijing, China hutong = narrow alleyway And there are a couple of thousand of them criss-crossing the city, warrens filled with an eclectic mixture of Qing dynasty courtyard houses, modern brick outhouses (many of the homes do not have ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in housing, postcard: China, recreation | No Comments »

finally chilly

Thursday, March 26th, 2009
by the Mama, who loves to have an excuse to wear a shawl Beijing, China

 

There’s nothing quite like admiring a sunrise and feeling like you have a head start on the day. And nothing ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in children, postcard: China, transport | No Comments »

north south east and west

Wednesday, March 25th, 2009
by the Mama, who listens keenly all night on the overnight train from Xi’an to Beijing, China At a crossroads. That’s what it feels like. We’re onto our last China leg, the ninth stop in seven weeks. We’re leaving Xi’an, the easternmost ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in children, dress, food, health, parenting, postcard: China, transport | 2 Comments »

One Big Wall (and not the great one)

Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
by Superwoman Xi’an, China As well as being the most complete city wall that has survived in China, Xi’an’s wall is one of the largest ancient military defensive systems in the world. And today after one cold false start we set ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in children, God, history, numbers, postcard: China, recreation, weather | 4 Comments »

in praise of writing

Monday, March 23rd, 2009
by the Mama, who paints her pictures with words Xi’an, China It’s a rare day that goes by without any journalling. In fact, it might even be accurate to say we have journalled Every Single Day so far. And it’s been interesting ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in book, children, craft, learning, postcard: China | 4 Comments »

The ego of a tyrant.

Sunday, March 22nd, 2009
by Rach, who was truly fascinated Xi’an, China As if conquering six kingdoms before he turned 40 was not enough, the first ruler to unify China (way way back a couple of hundred years BC) also overcame dialect issues by standardising ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in children, craft, God, history, housing, postcard: China, tradition | 1 Comment »

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