The Fortunate

Our return to Maryland brought us face-to-face with 3 strangers squatting in our backyard. What happened to our lovely little guinea keets?? Well, in a nutshell- the resident fox nabbed three birds, a red-tailed hawk flew off with one, and our dog Ed made a raid too. But with an extrafortified coop the remaining three fowl grew by frightful proportions. Our dogs now keep their distance and the turkey-sized creatures roam free during the day keeping our yard pest-free...at least for now. Notice 2 of our darlings enjoying a nice fresh dust bath!
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Good Fortune

The final week in Asia was spent getting reaquainted with Hong Kong after a 9 year absence. Scott dropped by to take in the sights too. We were so pleased to see that our favorite home was still the same, yet much more squeeky clean, likely due to the past health scares. A typhoon followed us onto the island offering a bit of excitement. We hiked our favorite trails at Tai Tam Resevoir, and received fortunes at Wong Tai Sin, the largest Taoist Temple in the area.
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Shoppers Paradise

"Is your Christmas shopping list completed?" This was one of the first things my mom asked me when I called home. Given the amount of goods imported to the US from China, one could imagine Beijing as a bottomless Target store. I dreamed of finding a complete set of Louis Vuitton luggage, while Ana was hoping to secure something a bit more practical- a 220V hair straightener to use while in China. We know straightening irons exist in Beijing, but with a culture of straight hair it can't be a big seller. We'll just browse for now.
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Inner Mongolia and more

The kids and I ended the mainland China portion of our trip with a visit to Inner Mongolia. Highlights included camel riding in the desert, with a night in a yurt in the Mongolian grasslands. Ana and Sam have become much more comfortable communicating in Mandarin thanks to the absence of English speakers. Ana found the marketplace an excellent training ground to hone both her Putonghua (Mandarin) and negotiating skills. On the other hand, I offered our group a good laugh when I instructed our taxi driver to "make a left at the 3rd noodle"...

Beijing Street Foods

In the eyes of Sam Clements food is not just sustenance, it is a mulitdimentional, time-occupying pleasure. Beijing street vendors offered us new levels of creativity with questionable hygene to boot. The Jianbing, or Egg Mc Mao as we called it is a huge egg-coated crepe. It is made to order often from a make-shift griddle on the back of a bike. Costing about 25 cents, this delicacy became Sam's breakfast fave.
And if balloon animals weren't already cute enough, they have competition. Street vendors heat up bowls of molassas into taffy. A small piece of the taffy is stretched and air is blown into it to create a snack that remembles a blown glass sculpture on a stick. Could this be the perfect summer internship for Sam??!
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Wo Ting Bu Dong (I Don't Understand)

Ana, Sam & I arrived early last month in Beijing, China for an intensive Mandarin language camp. The kids have been studying Chinese in school since 3rd grade, so we thought now was a good time to put that knowledge to practical use. The camp, located at Beijing Language and Culture University is primarily for the kids with me acting as part laundry service, cheerleader and keeper of the passports. The dorm living is certainly not fancy, but gives the kids a taste of managing themselves in a college atmosphere. There are about 60 students here from 12 or so countries. Like me, 10 other parents/grandparents have accompanied their children on this adventure. While the kids are in class my days have been filled with varied cultural activities, amazing meals (often costing $1-3 per person), oh and yes, a bit of shopping too. Everyone knows about the fifty cent DVDs, but Ana and I will return with a nice stash of Tiffany jewelry instead. Take note of the copy Burberry rain coat with the sales clerk sewing in a Max Mara label!
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