Beijing Blue Zoo

Making use of the fine weather, we went to the Beijing Blue Zoo today which is an aquarium in the San Litun area of Beijing. This is my favorite area... fun, good restaurants, and kind of an expat place (so lots of western stores, etc. are around). We went with our new Aussie friends that have a daughter Gabby's age and another set of friends who are from Puyallup. They have a five year old daughter who gets along great with Gabby and is kind of a big sister type.  After a yummy lunch at the Kro's Nest (pizza), we headed on over... it was okay. As usual, a tad ghetto. They had a conveyor belt thing so you could stand and watch the fish while it moved. A scuba diver was swimming along with the fish and it FREAKED Gabby out. I mean FREAKED her out. The rest of the day she was asking if the "scuba diver went bye-bye." She really doesn't like people dressed up in things (i.e. Santa Claus and Mickey Mouse). While we were waiting to watch a movie, the girls were giggling and tickeling each other (it was all really cute) and someone took a picture of them... well that got insane as people were trying to pick up the girls to take more pictures. Needlesss to say, we left right away. I realize that blonde-haired kids are a novelty here but it gets weird when people start touching them. That night we had dinner at our house, the girls played, and the adults played some card games. Good times.

Beijing Zoo

The Tebo family took an unexpected trip to the Beijing Zoo today. The weather has been glorious. I mean, seriously amazing, so we decided to drive around and explore after our daily trip to Starbucks and 30 cent Beijing burrito stop. I've been bugging Travis to take us to the zoo, so I guess my female persuasion skills are still working. Hee-hee. I really just wanted to take Gabby to see the pandas, since she's such an animal lover. As with most Chinese tourist attractions, it was a little bit ghetto (i.e. not very clean, modern, and an abundance of gold trim). Gabby peed on the squatty-potty, which I thought was quite impressive. Anyway, the pandas were all mainly sleeping except for one that was eating. Gabby was amazed and loved it. We saw monkeys, giraffes, lions, the usual. The unfortaunate part was the bear exhibit. The bears looked skinny and depressed and the living area was small. The worst part were the people feeding the bears deliberately, even though the signs say "do not feed." It's one of those annoying things about this country... People don't respect rules (and animals).

Happy Birthday China!

It's the 60th anniversary of communism today. Yay! We celebrated it by watching the parade on TV, laughing about how lame it was, and ordering Indian food. Our friends were picked to be in the parade so we were looking for them. When the announcer said, "Here is the foriegn expert float," the camera turned and shot all the major officials sitting and watching the parade, so we didn't see them at all. Are you kidding me? 

I'm still sick, so moving slowly... it's a gorgoeus day, though. Blue skies!

Sick

I've been really sick lately and have been battling a cold for awhile, which is why I haven't written... Gabby was also sick so she missed school last week. I finally decided to see the doctor, since I had a fever, and got some medicine. Thank goodness for Chen and Travis! They really took are of everything. This is the first day in awhile that I've had some sort of energy. Gabby has been really sweet. She keeps asking me if I'm sick and says "it's okay!"

We have a week off because it's a national holiday in China. Yay!

Gabby's School Newsletter 9/14-9/19

Look for Gabby with the green tank-top and white shorts!

Kung Fu updates…
This week the children had a very active Kung Fu class with Zhang Laoshi. They did a whole lot of running, stretching and kicking!  
The children did a very good job on being safe and making sure that they have enough space for all the kicking.

Creative Movement

This month’s theme for creative movement is “Back to school”. We sang color songs, collected alphabets props, played the freeze game, rode the yellow bus, and learn new songs!

Sunny Weekend

Beijing was full of clear skies and clean air so we spent a lot of time outside. The weather is perfect right now... warm but no humidity... not sure how long this will last so we're soaking it up as much as we can. Our new thing right now is going on a bike ride to Starbucks mid-morning so I can get a coffee and she can have a snack. It takes about 5-10 minutes. I stop off beforehand to get a "Beijing sandwich," which is a type of street food that I have no idea what it's called but it's SUPER yummy and only 30 cents. We sit on some comfy chairs and watch all the people come and go. After her afternoon nap, we go swimming where we usually see other kids Gabby's age and people we work with. I think we'll start making this our everday weekend thing until the weather changes... I totally love living on a compound and enjoy the convenience. :)

Gabby Highlights: She knows her colors and shapes. She still forgets the number 5 (what is that about!) but will count animals, flowers, etc. that are in her books. We caught her reading a Chinese book out loud and it sounded like she was trying to speak Chinese. She cracks me up!

Potty Training Update: Who are these people that potty train their kids in three days? Seriously. To me, being "potty trained" is when they know they need to pee or poop, do it without me having to help, wipe themself thoroughly, and wash their hands. Needless to say, we're still working on it. Gabby pooped herself and didn't seem to care that much... so no, NOT potty trained yet. She was wearing her PJ's so we just threw those out. Totally not worth saving those!

Swine Flu Update: There are 8 confirmed cases at our school- all in the eighth grade so all of the kids in that grade had to stay home for three days. Gabby's school heard wind of that so anyone associated with ISB had to stay home too. I thought that was a bit harsh... she had no fever... I didn't read the email they sent all the way so we sent her there and the poor thing was sent home. :(

I Love Gabby's School

I copied and pasted some pictures and articles from the newsletter they send out every week. She's wearing a bright pink top and jeans- look for her in the background. I left in all the bad English in the articles because I think it makes it more authentic. Good thing I'm not sending her there to build on her English, though. But anway, she really loves this place and always asks if we're going to school. I understand that's pretty common for kids this age, but it's nice to know that she's enjoying it and learning some cool things.

Chinese Teaching Lesson

Zhao Laoshi read the book titled “Li Mao” which means manners in English. It’s a story about a Tiger learning his manners to show how much cares for his tiger friends and family. The children sang the song “ Ni Wa Wa” it’s about a doll teaching different parts of the body. They also sang the song “He Long Fang Kai” which is open shut them in Chinese.

Kung Fu with Zhang Laoshi
Children loves to run, jump, roll, crawl… and Kung Fu on Thursdays with Zhang Laoshi is definitely on their list of favourite activities to do. This week the children run in wide and narrow spaces using boxes. It is a challenge for some who loves to run super fast!