Embassy House's 8th Anniversary Party

The building we live in is FABULOUS!!  They have 3 big parties every year and a bunch of little ones throughout.  This past Saturday was their BIGGEST of the year as it was the building's anniversary party.  Here was the party layout...
     - Main Hall - dress up as Imperial Emperors, etc. (see below for evidence)
     - Great Wall Bar - Open Bar and Whiskey Trail (choose a number and drink one of 61 whiskeys - I pulled Glen Elgin but gave it away - yuk!)
     - Library - Calligraphy, Paper Cutting, Artists & Dough Figurines
     - Pool area - Fruit Bar and Foot Massages (FYI - foot massage are VERY nice with a good margarita buzz)
     - In the Garden - Live Band, Sushi, Indian, BBQ buffets

How spoiled are we!!??!!  Next Friday they are having a Halloween Party for the kiddos.  If only there was foot massages at every party!  But next time our ayi will be there to babysit.

A Good Deal at the Silk Market

So I gave you a teaser two weeks ago and now I'm finally getting to typing the story.  (I mentioned my over-commitment in the last post....well, nothing has changed.)

Beijing winters are COLD.  I'm a Southern girl whose winter experience is living in Chicago for 3 winters 16 years ago and an annual ski trip.  This girl's gotta shop!!

So Patrick and I went to the infamous Silk Market where tourists are bussed in by the hundreds.  We usually go to Yashow because it is in our neighborhood but the Silk Market is bigger (but more aggressive.)  For those who have never been to a market in China, it is really hard to imagine every stall yelling at you to buy something from them.  You learn to ignore the constant barrage or you do what my parents did and promise everyone you'd come back.  (Trust me, they remember you on the way back.)

 P and I wanted to see what the market had in down coats because I was thinking of having one made and didn't know what quality was available ready-made.  One of the first stalls we went to had a coat I liked so I tried it on.  It seemed to be good quality so we asked the price (as we didn't have a point of reference).  The lady (let's call her Ming) tells me she normally would charge 2800 yuan but since I seem so nice (yeah, yeah, right) she'll take 20% off to 2240 yuan ($337).  I tell P the starting price and he counters with 1000 yuan.  He obviously wasn't thinking b/c she immediately accepted.  Oops!  Too high for the counteroffer so a little back-pedaling had us leaving her stall saying we need to look around.

Ming proceeds to follow us for about 75 feet through the market, down different rows, shouting how we said 1000 so where are we going.  We honestly told her that we had just started looking so we didn't know the prices yet and hadn't seen enough coats to decide on which one to buy.  Ming then yells several times while pointing her finger at Patrick "NO, YOU LISTEN TO ME!!".  Ok, then...this does not happen at Target.

She then asks what we are willing to pay so to get rid of her, Patrick throws out 500 yuan.  Eventually she accepts.  We still want to look around for all the reasons mentioned above.  This was just not acceptable to Ming.  She storms off in a huff.

P and I wander the market (buy some jewelry, buy me a mahjong set) and eventually make our way back to Ming.  (Trust me...if I didn't like the coat we would have been long gone.) She has her arms crossed and refuses to look at us and is mumbling Chinese which I can only imagine was not positive.  When I ask to try on the coat again, she refuses.  She then demands a price before she'll take it off the coat hanger.  I am exasperated by this point and just ask her whether she wants to make a sale or not.  As I'm trying the coat on, I'm telling her she needs to relax.  This is the way Laowais shop...we like to browse, price things out, think about, etc.  P and I decide we want it but we'll only pay 400 yuan ($60), mainly b/c she was a pain in the @$$.  She puts up a fight for a few seconds and then snatches the bills out of Patrick's hand while yelling "YOU ARE A VERY BAD MAN!!!".  Alrighty then!

Now there are a lot of counterfeit products in China (NEWS FLASH) so you would assume that the coat I purchased is a fake.  Well I think it is a real because it is exactly like one I found online with all the same labels, tags, belt buckle, etc.  China usually just makes a bunch of coats and plops different designer labels on the inside.  You might see a coat with a Max Mara label on it but you would never be able to find that coat on any Max Mara website since it is not a Max Mara design.  Well, this Montcler coat is last seasons' design and it is currently selling on DownJacketSale.com for $306.99, originally $1134.99.  YAY!!  I love a deal!  Makes me love the coat even more...especially when there is a story to go with it.

♪♫♪ I love a rainy night♪♫♪ Such a beautiful sight♪♫♪

The pollution in Beijing has been 'hazardous' since Thursday.  Here's a view from our bedroom window yesterday.

The rain came last night and washed it all away.  The pollution level is now 'good'.  I even saw the mountains in the distance.  Yay!!

Has it really been 6 weeks?

What do you mean I haven't posted since August 15th?  Well I did post twice on that day so that gives me a little leeway, right?  Oh well, I shouldn't be surprised that 6 weeks have zoomed by since our 6 month anniversary in Beijing is this week.

All is going well.  We are enjoying our first National Week where almost everyone in China is off of work.  A bit busy everywhere you go (to say the least) but beautiful weather to enjoy some of those parks I mentioned in my last posting.

 The girls started school on August 30th.  I think they were ready for it and so was I!!  They like their new teachers and are excited to go (almost) every day.

 My Brownie troop started meeting last month and it is great fun.  Fiona seems to LOVE it and it doing the Girl Scout sign at every opportunity....in her PJs and in fancy dress.

My troop has 12 girls in it and I am testing all my organization skills to get 12 girls to be entertained and learning something.  We'll see how it goes but so far so good.

Fiona had her House Competition last week which is why she is all fancy above. The Green House (the Saxons) sang "Money, Money, Money" by ABBA and Fiona was in center stage and shared one line with 3 girls. Very exciting!

 

The other BIG news in the McVeigh family is we bought 2 guinea pigs.  (I plead temporary insanity.)  Fiona named hers "Fluffy" and Isla named hers "Pet-ty".  It didn't take long for Isla to get mad at poor Petty for scratching her so she tossed her in the air.  We didn't think poor Petty would pull through but she is still alive.  Petty is no longer Isla's pet but mine!  His name now is Spike.  They are both very sweet and will hopefully be alive the next time I blog.

I am keeping busy with Girl Scouts, class rep for Isla's class and now Secretary of the PTA.  I know!!  Totally over-volunteered but there was some coercion involved in the PTA thing.  I play Mahjong every Tuesday afternoon after exploring the city with a group called Tuesday Trotters.  The founder, Eleanor Liu, is 90-something years old, lived in BJ for 30 years and has taken ladies around the city for 21 years.  She even wrote a book called "Off the Beaten Path in Beijing".  Fascinating lady!  I am happy to be a part of the group.

Eleanor is in the front in black

Our exploration of Beijing parks has continued.  I just posted a bunch of pics from September on Facebook but here's a few of my favorites.  The parks are absolutely the best thing about China.  Every time I go, I am amazed at how much fun the Chinese have dancing, singing, playing, etc.  They are so NOT self-conscious and being with their community means everything to them.

Dancing in Ditan Park (Isla on her bike)

Ritan Park

Bike Ride to Houhai

I'll be posting a funny (crazy) story from the Silk Market.  A little teaser...you know you got a good deal when the shop lady calls your husband "a VERY BAD man!"  Stay tuned...it won't be another 6 weeks....

What China Does Well...Parks and a Sense of Community

We discovered a new favorite park today called Jingshan Park.  Here's a little history from Wikipedia.

Jingshan is immediately north of the Forbidden City.  The 45.7-metre high artificial hill was constructed in the Yongle era of the Ming Dynasty entirely from the soil excavated in forming the moats of the Imperial Palace and nearby canals. It is especially impressive when one considers that all of this material was moved only by manual labor and animal power. According to the dictates of Feng Shui, it is favorable to site a residence to the south of a nearby hill (and it is also practical, gaining protection from chilly northern winds). The imperial palaces in the other capitals of previous dynasties were situated to the south of a hill. When the capital was moved to Beijing, no such hill existed at this location, so one was constructed. It is popularly known as Feng Shui Hill. It is also known as Coal Hill, a direct translation of its old popular Chinese name. Jingshan is especially a popular place for elderly people socializing and gathering. One can often find elderly folks dancing, singing opera and doing other cultural activities, such as kuai ban, at Jingshan.

Ok, enough education...it's a beautiful park and it was a beautiful day to be there.  We didn't know what to expect but we walked in to see dinosaur skeletons and over 30 animatronic dinosaurs scattered throughout the park.  Surprise!  Only in China!  While wandering through the park we also saw people skipping rope, playing their version of hacky sack but with feathers, dancing, playing the violin and the accordion. 

Look at Fiona's face...she still LOVES Dinosaurs!

 The point I'd like to make...the Chinese have a real sense of community and are not in the least bit self-conscious.  I thought it was wonderful that people just find a park and hang out in it, doing what they enjoy with the people they want to spend their Sunday with.  I saw 5 middle aged people skip roping together and a 50+ year old woman dancing by herself.  None of them cared we were staring, they just smiled.

The Forbidden City from the top of Coal Hill (pretty big, huh?)

It was such a clear day you could see the mountains.  This lake is in the park called Beihai.

There's this great picture of my family when I was about 8 and Amy was just a baby.  My parents and the 2 of us were dressed as frontier people and it was shot in sepia.  I'm sure you've seen something similar.  Well China has its own frontier photo op...here is the 3 of us in the Imperial garb of the Ming Dynasty.

Each time I post about a park in China, I say "it's our favorite" so now I'm going to say "It's our favorite SO FAR..."  The Chinese do their parks very well.