What's Happening

It is Thursday morning here. Easter has come and gone. It was more like we didn't even notice it over here. I am up this morning as usually catching up with wedding related emails. It's taking up my free time at this point, which is not a lot.

I can't not express how difficult it has been to plan a wedding, of the size that we are having, from a country on the other side of the world. What were we thinking!??!?!

In a few minutes I have a call with our wedding coordinator to just catch up and see how everything is going. I am glad that I have a team of helpers and family members who are willing to make my wedding extraordinary, but it also means managing everyone's feelings. Which has proven to be really difficult when it's over the phone, over email, etc.

We have barely gotten off the ground with the wedding, but I know it will come together and I am so glad I have six weeks in Austin to really manage it all this July and August.

Update on the work situation: It's either Beijing or move to Hangzhou at this point. I go back and forth each day on which situation would be better. Oh and there's also the possibility of moving to Hong Kong. So that's in the mix. I think I should have it figured out in the next three weeks though.

Tonight we go out to dinner with friends. So finally, after living in the Jing for about 8 months we are having the first wave of our friends go back to their countries. Last week it was Morgan. But he should be back in China, just not in Beijing. And then, Fabio, who is from Germany but he's Italian. I guess that is what happens when you live in an international city. There is a constant flux of people coming and going so friends are pretty transitory. Unless you start making Chinese friends, then they are for the long term.

Alright, gonna go make this phone call and head out to work.

Dad Visits Beijing

So we had our first visitor to Beijing. My Dad! He came this past week to spend some time with us on his way to India. He had never been to Beijing and it has been his dream to visit mainland China since he was a young boy, he later told us. So it was an honor to share with him our life here for the past several months. 

The first day, Chase picked him up from the airport and we decided to go out to dinner at a HotPot restaurant. We were hurting the next day because the food was so spicy. 

The next day, we sent him off using the subway to see TianAnMen Square and the Forbidden City. He managed on his own which I thought was great that he had that adventurous attitude. I know my first few days in Beijing were holed up in the Robarts' home just adjusting to my new work. I didn't dare do anything touristy for a week or so. 

On Wednesday, Chase and I took the day off to go to the Great Wall with Dad. We chose to do a grueling 12km hike along the Great Wall. We started on the JingShanLing Section and traversed the ridgetops until the SiMaTai section. 

As usual, I am having trouble putting the pictures in order. So they are backwards from the end of the trip to the beginning. 

Here is Chase at the edge of SiMaTai East on a suspension bridge we crossed. I don't know what used to be there in terms of a wall, but nowadays you pay 45 Kuai to cross over to the other section. 

Here's Dad at the end. His quadricep was cramping up but he managed. What a trooper! 

Here are Dad and I climbing a section. Dad bought a walking stick to help him along the way. 

Here's a view from the JingShanLing section. It was a really great day to hike. The air was crisp, the sun was out, and there was very little wind. 

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Here is one of the many sets of steps we had to climb. Can you imagine that guards used to run up and down these one a daily basis to get to their posts in the watchtowers? Much of these two sections of the Great Wall are being redone but there are sections where you can see crumbling stones that are original. 

Thursday was a recuperation day as we were sore. We treated him out to a delicious Buddhist vegetarian meal at Pure Lotus (remember we ate there a couple of weeks ago and loved it). He left early Friday morning. We had a great time with my Dad and can't wait for him to return in a couple of weeks. He's staying just for one night on his way back to the US.

We love being hosts so please come visit us in Beijing! 

Bayby Does Yoga

Bayby came to visit us the other day. We had a blast with her as always and are very fortunate to have the chance to play and look after her. It really makes my absence away from Lola more manageable. 

While I was doing yoga, she was running circles around me- up, down, across the sofa, in between my legs. Finally she began to do some yoga of her own. 

Here she is in Eka Hasta Bhujasana prep. (Really, she's scratching herself with her leg behind her head.)

Simhasana. Lion's pose. ARG!

This is her version of Savasana (corpse pose at the end where you lay there and let everything from you practice be absorbed into your body).

And here's an attempt at straight-armed Urdhva Dhanurasana from me. 

We Have So Much Fun in Beijing

Living in Beijing means going out more to meet people we know. Otherwise, we would never see them. We don't really see our neighbors. Actually, we just have one neighbor currently. The other two apartments on our floor are under heavy renovation. Go figure. Beijing is basically one big construction project. 

So in Austin, we used to always have something to do on the weekend that was social, at least one night of the week. Here in the Jing, it revolves around going to bars and clubs and events throughout the city. We try and make it cultural as much as we can, though.

Last weekend, we skipped any cultural outing and just went for the good old stand-by: Ladies drink free at Tun. That's short for SanLiTun, where most of the bar crowd hangs out. I only managed to drink one Long Island Iced Tea that night (technically, before 12am).

Here are some Californians by way of Colorado that we know. Ryan and Briton. They attend the same language school that we do. 

Ryan and a girl named Lilian from NYC.

Our good friends from Monday night dinner club Ben and Roma. Note that Chase is pre-hair cut. We have had a tumultuous time with Chase's hair over the past few years. You may remember him giving himself a mohawk when we lived in Austin. And then he proceeded to buzz his own hair for about two years. And finally he began to grow it out last summer in preparation for the wedding. So this picture was taken about one week day before his last haircut which he has received many compliments on lately, by the way. 

*Svetha pats herself on the back for persuading Chase to get a "mop" haircut.... quoted by a recently admirer "totally trendy, but worth it"

Me and the girls from the language school. 

Post from Macau 3/21-25

Well, it seems that I've been pretty much out of touch lately. After starting Chinese lessons at my new language school and having a change in my weekly schedule, Chase and I are booked 24-7. We are tired all the time, but really enjoying getting better at Chinese. My class is review mostly, but I have forgotten so many characters (hanzi) so it's useful for me to be there just so I can get better at my reading and writing.

So we decided to take a vacation. This weekend we are in Macau! We made a few last minute changes to what was supposed to be a yoga vacation to Shenzhen to take the Anusara intensive. It became too expensive (as most yoga is these days for me) and I think at this point I am just more ready to take an Immersion or something that will further my studies. I know that even Intensives are going to be "useful". I am not saying that I know enough, but given that it was going to cost almost half of a year long membership to a Beijing yoga studio, I thought I would pass and save for the Immersion. Look at me, I am trying to justify my reason, but I am fine with it. I know there will be yoga in my future. 

Here are some pictures from the weekend. I am having trouble loading them so they are out of order. 

Here we are at the MGM, then a Chinese hotel called the Star World hotel had dancers in front of it which intrigued us to say the least, a light show including a dragon and a lotus flower at The Wynn, and the Grand Lisboa Hotel which I write about below.

So back to the narration: 

So we arrived yesterday in the afternoon and after we got checked into our hotel, Chase made it just in time for a poker tournament going on at the largest and most glamorous hotel in Macau, The Grand Lisboa. It was built by Stanley Ho, the founder of gambling in Macau and it really is a glitzy, golden, structure sticking out for all to see. I can't really explain the Chinese version of opulence... maybe gaudy, wild, over-the-top, comes to mind. So while he played poker, I went back to the hotel room. I watched non-Chinese television. By that I mean I watched Sumo wrestling. The Chinese would never broadcast a national sport of Japan, are you kidding?! And then I took a shower. A long shower. In our apartment in Beijing, we rarely get hot water for more than 5 minutes per person. We have talked to our landlords about this but somehow we just don't know to get it to work. So I sat in the shower for 30 minutes. It was great! I got all dressed up and sat at the bar while Chase was in his tournament. 

When he busted out I was pretty lit up on my one apertif and two glasses of wine. So we had another and then walked around the hotel and out to the Lisboa Hotel which is the old version of the Grand Lisboa. My high heels were carving holes into my heels so I was walking barefoot around the hotel. We were in the search for food and ended up on the lower levels of the hotel underground where there are many stores, restaurants, and high end shopping. So it was like a shopping arcade just for the hotel. Low and behold, the shopping arcade was just a place for prostitutes to prowl. It was so obvious because they just walked from one end of the shopping arcade to the other making eyes at anyone who would notice. It seemed so sad to me to see them sell themselves in that way. Chase thought it was amazing to see how they paraded themselves in such an organized fashion and in public so easily- in China. Remember, porn is banned here. 

So the rest of the time we were in Macau, we relaxed, ate good food at a restaurant that is the sister restaurant to Southern Italy's most Michelin starred restaurant. It was called Don Alfonso. 

We made it to Hong Kong the next day where I had a job interview. And now I must break the news. I am actively looking for another job because my current situation did not turn out as I wanted it to. I had a good interview at a school that I have had contact with over the past few years and then we went to Discovery Bay to spend time with Aruna and Ruchita (my cousin Venkatesh's wife and their daughter). We treated them out to a meal on the island and then had to leave the next morning to have another meeting with a fellow Montessorian I have had contact with in Hong Kong (this time it wasn't an interview, it was an inspiring session to talk about Montessori in China and Asia and its future) and then make it back to Macau.

Our flight was pretty uneventful except that when we got home to Beijing, it really felt for the first time that we were returning home! What a great feeling that was. After so many months in Beijing we feel that we have a place to return to that's ours once again. We really hope that because of my current job situation, we won't have to move again. We really do like our life in Beijing. So I will keep you updated in the next few blog posts, which will be in quick succession because I have been behind on posting. 

I look forward to you reading my blog and thank you for you continued support. It's nice to have readers who enjoy a glimpse into my life. 

Today

I was going to go to dance class today but find myself glued to the couch. I was so motivated. I came home made dinner real quick and then couldn't move.

I really wanted to practice yoga today so I think that after my food digests, that's just what I am going to do.

Chase and I practiced together on Sunday and I think he did great. It was just hard for him to get going because he has to accept instruction from me and that's difficult for him to swallow. (He's used to being better at most everything we do together- biking, running, climbing, etc.) And I can't say that I'm the most forgiving teacher. He's a beginner so I just forget how beginner my instruction needs to be. But once I helped him over the hump and we got going, it was great.

Well, it's time to study some characters and then practice.

Ode to the San Lun Che (Pedicab)

On dreary winter mornings,
I've put my faith in you
My three wheeling dynamic buggy
Usually have been late to work,
But you work the cold streets

Weaving in and out of traffic
Going the wrong way, sideways,
Just to get 2km to SOHO
What a relief to get there on time
My five kuai well spent

But my conscience is heavy
As I smell the dirty fumes
From the noisy three stroke engine
And remember my poor bike
Collecting Beijing dust inside

So from this day forward I say goodbye
Happy days they were, my san lun che
Spring is coming- have no excuse
But to use my own two feet