“Normal” Life in Beijing for These Grandparents

Winter Break into Back to School 

Well, COVID cut into our winter break fun and usefulness, as we were out for the count much of the first week. But we managed to catch up a little between Christmas and the secular, calendar New Year. Rivah started back to preschool a couple of days before Mirah’s break was over. So, we had time for another sleepover, some shopping, and cookie baking.

Spritz Cookies

Our longtime friend (“Auntie”) Judy Winnik brought us some cookies shortly before we left Milwaukee. They were dainty, beautiful shapes, some resembling my favorites that come from Sciortino’s Italian Bakery on Brady Street.(served at Jonathan’s Bar Mitzvah kiddush lunch and Mirah’s post-baby naming Oneg Shabbat reception 31 years apart–traditional for me, if not for most people’s Jewish celebrations). How, I asked Judy, did you do that? Rolling and cutting? I feared the answer because I don’t do dough-rolling well;  my mother and I, though good cooks, didn’t inherit that gene from her mother, whose gorgeous and delicious pies and strudel were legendary. Chanukah cookies have always been a challenge. Hamantaschen? Forget it.

“They’re spritz cookies,” said Judy. “You just make the dough, push it into a press and the shapes come out.”

“Aha,” I said. “This would be fun with the kids.” Who knew? As I had never owned a press and this was about four days before our departure–hello, amazon.com! Got one in two days, yet one more thing in a box to be crammed into a suitcase.

Since COVID wiped out rolled cookie cutter Chanukah cookies (oh, well!), spritz cookies proved a manageable project. Rivah’s preschool started January 2, but Mirah had two more days of vacation. Eli and I decided we’d plan the project to include both after school on Rivah’s first day back. But, with a small oven (and only one temperature setting, as far as we can discern) and a single cookie sheet, we started earlier with Mirah to mix, press, and bake the cookies and continued later, so both could frost them. (Photos below.) I’m leaving this cookie press here and figure I will have to order another one at home.

Acting Like Grandparents

As the family lives so far away–and COVID increased the separation–we haven’t been accustomed to such activities as picking up from school. This was something we’d dreamed of the past two years–just because. Mirah is in the kindergarten year at British School Beijing, where they call kindergarten “reception.” Rivah goes to the same Montessori preschool where Mirah went previously. Jonathan or Amy drive both to their respective schools in the morning. But the respective dismissal times, school locations, and traffic make parental pickup too close, so Mirah comes home in a very nice school van that lets her off across from their building. Yesterday I went with Jonathan to pick up Rivah. Photos below.

What Do We Do With Ourselves All Day Long?

Somehow, the days pass. As in Milwaukee in winter, which we have tried to avoid since moving back in 2015, we read, watch something streaming at night, grocery shop, exercise (I swim an hour a day), walk, cook or go to the kids’ or out for meals, etc. It’s been cold but not snowy or icy, which helps the walking thing.

We’ve done excursions beyond the immediate neighborhood, including a walk to the iconic Beijing Railroad Station and to malls and commercial streets that have increasingly gentrified over the years. No more markets of vendors in booths selling everything from pashmina to jeans to underwear to jewelry to formal dresses–at bargain prices inviting more bargaining. The outdoor Silk Alley and its indoor successor, as well as other similar places, are long gone. Online shopping followed by COVID replaced them. Eli was looking for a new backpack the other day and finally found one at a sporting goods store–but lamented it would be easier in San Francisco’s Chinatown. 

Our Third New Year Coming Up

We’ve had Rosh Hashanah, the calendar New Year, and now Chinese New Year approaches. Officially, it’s Sunday, but here there’s about a two-week celebration. It will be the Year of the Rabbit. It’s Eli’s birth year symbol, so Amy advises him to wear red for good luck all year, and she bought him celebratory socks as a boost to his wardrobe.

With no more post-travel quarantine upon return and having already had mild COVID, the kids wanted to get away from Beijing for a warm weather vacation. With us. The major problem to be surmounted was our family reunion visas to get here only allowed single-entry into China, and everyone wants us back to celebrate my milestone birthday here. 

Somehow, Amy found out we might be able to alter our visas or get something else and pulled it off at the visa office. Yesterday we picked up our passports complete with new, three-year, multi-entry” visas akin to Jonathan’s residency permit. 

Thailand and Australia Here We Come

Friday we all leave for Thailand, where we will stay for two weeks. In addition to pools, beaches, and shopping, there will be eating, as the kids’ trips to Thailand include “research” to enhance their Thai restaurant brand, Pak Pak. (They also have visited Vietnam several times for the Susu brand.) Friends whose daughter is Mirah’s best friend, will also be in Thailand and with us part of the time (the husband is Thai, and they will visit his parents).

After Thailand, when everyone else returns to Beijing and school and work, Eli and I will go to Australia for nearly three weeks. We’ve never been, it’s a big country, and we’ve tried to choose a few destinations carefully to avoid an “if it’s Tuesday, it must be…Melbourne” craziness. 

“Xīnnián hǎo” (新年好) Happy New Year!