Kathy & Paul's Adventures Abroad

Today we thought we would publish some photos of the daily sights we see on our walks and outings in Beijing.

Yesterday we went to Wumart and bought our new bikes. The first ones we had were very cheap and had no gears so they were very hard to ride. Paul pretty much wore out his with all the riding he did during the first term and Kathy gave her’s away so we could both have [...]

We arrived in Beijing too late for the Chinese New Year (or Lunar New Year) on February 14, which is the start of the Spring Festival. It is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays.

The origin of the Lunar New Year can be traced back thousands of years involving a series of colourful legends [...]

A new bakery has recently opened a fifteen minute walk from our place or five minutes by bike. It is located next to the entrance of the new Merry Mart grocery store. They even have a website and the address is www.bjxqs.com.cn.
Our friend Mike introduced us to the owner Barry who gave us [...]

North American style fast food is infusing itself into the Chinese culture. The first and most popular was K.F.C. followed by McDonald’s and Dairy Queen. A meal deal at KFC costs about 25 RMB or $4.00 Canadian. Yesterday at Dairy Queen we paid 41 RMB for two large blizzards, about $7.00 Canadian.
By Chinese standards [...]

Hi everyone! We arrived back in Beijing last night at 7:00 p.m. local time. We went to friends for fresh dumplings and stayed there until about 10:00. Then we went to our apartment and yes, the key still fit which was a relief. We opened our luggage and did a bit of putting away and [...]

The school takes up an entire city block. Its students are the children of Beijing’s elite. This new campus was built three years ago.

One of seven school gates and security checks.

This twelve storey building is where the foreign teachers and some Chinese staff members stay. We call it
” The Hotel”.

Track and field area with the [...]

We’re leaving Beijing tomorrow to visit our son and his family in Calgary, Alberta. We’ll be there for a week and then it’s off to Ontario for another two months holidays. Yes, you read that right, two months holidays!! I can’t believe it either, since it feels like we’re already on holiday. But we can’t [...]

The Beijing bus system efficiently covers the entire city. The photo below shows Tangli Road. On each side of the centre lanes are sheltered bus stops. To the left are four more lanes and to the right are four lanes for a total of ten lanes. As you can see the mediums between the sets [...]

On Friday we have a weekly lunch at our apartment and invite all the western teachers in our office to come. This week a small group arrived around 12:00 – Jeannie, Max and his girlfriend. Hamish, Mike and Henry often show up to sample the menu. Paul does the cooking on our hot plate and [...]