Happy Holidays!

It's like Thanksgiving and Christmas.....only different....

As this week winds down, the residents of Beijing are gearing up for a week-long holiday from school and work. Beautiful floral arrangements adorn the front of many businesses, schools and apartment complexes. The supermarket displays have all changed to highlight expensive gift boxes of moon cakes, fine wine and instant coffee. The rhythm of the already busy streets and sidewalks is beginning to change as shoppers stock up on food and gifts for family and friends.

Next week two major Chinese holidays collide: National Day and the Mid-Autumn Festival.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month--this year, September 30th. On this day of the year, the full-moon is at its roundest, and people make it a point to visit (or at least think about) their extended family, exchange moon cakes and admire the night sky. People typically enjoy a day-off from school and work for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

National Day is celebrated on October 1st, and commemorates the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st, 1949. Traditionally this was a day marked by speeches and political gatherings, but when the economy took off in 1999, the PRC declared the week of National Day a seven-day holiday so that people would have time to enjoy their prosperity.

What are we doing for the holidays?

On Friday we visited the Great Wall with our language school. The weather couldn't have been more lovely for this trip, and we became better acquainted with a few of our fellow students.

Blue skies over the Great Wall of China.

Cute girl on the Great Wall of China.

Ian and I standing in one of the watchtowers. Look how tall he is!

Here we are with some students and faculty of Beijing Open University

Today is another lovely day, so we took a long bike ride (through many dangers, toils and snares), to a large park that is located several miles to the west of us: Yuan Ming Yuan. After exploring only a sliver of this vast and scenic park, we found a Subway sandwich store nearby where we enjoyed a late lunch. This restaurant is the first place we have visited so far that offers a free refill of your soda, so everyone took advantage of that!

Lily pond at the East enterance.

 

Good spot for a rest.

 

Interesting floral displays

Black Swan and Cygnets.

Amy took this lovely shot.

Still to come:

On Monday we are having the host family of our English class over for dinner--our first Chinese guests! Since this family plans to move to California at the end of the year, I thought I would make chicken tacos for them. We'll see!

There are still a few things we need to purchase for our home, and several home projects to do as well, so we are glad for the break to be able to get some things done. We all did quite poorly on a character writing quiz in school, so our teacher gave us plenty of homework to do over the break; but overall, it should be a restful time together.

From our family to yours, we wish you a very happy holiday season!
Love,
the Andersens