A birthday party or two

And so it came to Wednesday the 16th January. 1 year after my daughter Hannah came into the world. She may have realized something was up when the nanny gave her a new scarf and hat--nice and think and also bright green so we can't lose her in the snow (it snowed again today). As has happened a lot during the winter nanny took Hannah to an indoor kids playground in the afternoon for her to get some exercise and then she dropped her off at my office.

That was when the best laid plans began to go wrong. Most of the office were waiting to see Hannah and some had gifts too. But when Hannah arrived, at 6pm, she was asleep. Worn out from the playground, but having not gone to sleep earlier since she was so busy playing. Once she hits the buggy, she often falls asleep quickly, and so it was on this day. 20 mins later she woke up, groggy and not in the best of moods to receive presents. But receive them she did and then we took off to find the local guy who stands down the road selling helium balloons. Except that day he was not there. All the other local street sellers were. He was not. We asked around. We realized we were getting late. We were planning to take a little three wheel motorized bike-cum-taxi to dinner but nanny had brought the buggy (originally she was just going to bring her in the carrier). So i couldn't get the two of us and the buggy in the little three-wheelers. There's no taxis around at rush hour, so we looked for a bus. Didn't see one and so decided to run it.

a 15-minute run later, we got close to the restaurant. Hannah was getting a little cold, a friend was a bit lost, and then all of a sudden, at the turning to the little alley where the restaurant was, there was a guy selling helium balloons. Crazy. The big shopping/eating area was about half a mile away but i guess the guy had decided to leave there early, and i have no idea why he picked our alley to go up. But he did, and as I found my somewhat lost friend who had turned around to find the correct alley we bought half the guy's balloons and managed to get into the restaurant only 1 minute late... but still the first. So i had ensured the half-German baby was on time to her first birthday party. Surely a good omen for her future!

We had not invited kids, since they all go to bed around 7pm, just some of our adult friends who knew Hannah well. They slowly arrived in dribs and drabs, and then we opened presents, ate and drank --she got some books, clothes, a rug, some toys, well the usual really. I realized the benefit of Hannah's late nap (she normally sleeps around 5pm not 6pm) was that she was able to stay up until 9pm until she collapsed asleep in Andrea's arms. A pleasant evening all round (well until Hannah woke up at 10pm as we got her dressed to go into the taxi... she was not happy waking up and cried a lot until she passed out again once the movement of the taxi kicked in).

Three days later we had some of her baby friends around at our house, which we'd filled with regular balloons (as well as the helium balloons). Thankfully most people also arrived a bit late, waiting for babies to finish naps etc. I say thankfully as at 2pm Hannah was on her backside naked as we had to change her and wash some clothes that she'd soiled. Great way to start!

Five or six of the babies were between 8 months and 15 months so were not really yet into the whole "playing together" thing. But they played around, were curious about each other and us adults chatted. A couple of older kids were there, and they enjoyed showing Hannah how to open (and play) with her presents. Earlier that day we had prepared a birthday cake of sorts. Mostly mashed potato with a layer of boiled carrots in there too, it proved a bit of a hit amongst the babies. We had even spelt out a message on the top using boiled celery too. So it was a nice healthy birthday cake. And Hannah loved it. Just as she loves eating everything else we feed her too!

Anyway it all went well. Today she skype videoed home to get her birthday wishes. In less than two weeks she'll be back in Europe and basking in a lot of attention one imagines!

Some surprisingly interesting museums in Beijing. Really.

Two weeks into 2013 and all the beautiful blue skies typical of
Beijing's winter have been replaced with smog. As much as I wish it
was a sign that Spring is on the horizon, it clearly isn't (even if
the smog does bring the temperature up somewhat, almost to freezing).
Well, we just turn the air purifier on, go out less on weekends (not
that we are outside that much when it is so cold anyway) and i've now
taken to wearing a small mask on my bike ride to work. I wear a scarf
over my mouth and nose anyway to stay warm so it is just one more
thing to put on in the morning.

Since we don't hang out outside too much, but do like to get out (so
to speak) we decided to try a few Chinese museums. We went to three in
the last month or so, which is three more than the last three years
combined! Well i did most of the interesting museums years ago and
never bothered to go back (apart to the Town Planning museum which is
a good one to take guests as it's good a good intro to Beijing, large
scale model and some movies). So we went to the National Museum, which
after a major renovation is supposedly the largest in the World, and
managed to see one exhibit properly, skip through another and couldn't
find anything else of particular interest (we're not really big into
art, sculptures or pottery). Unfortunately most of the museum is the
same as most other Chinese museums, which do get boring after a while
unless you really like pottery and chinese paintings. The one exhibit
we actually explored properly was one with all the gifts that foreign
dignitaries had given to the Chinese President when they came to
visit. Although the first few decades of the PRC's founding were quite
sparse (not many countries actually recognized PRC instead recognizing
Taiwan), after that the visitors poured in, providing all kinds of
pretty interesting things that represent their country/show
off/impress their Chinese hosts. Well worth visiting. Unlike the
exhibit on Chinese underwater archeology finds. It's safe to say the
Chinese don't yet know how to scuba-dive since it seems they've found
so little, it was a very embarrassing exhibit.

The second museum we went to was the Beijing Police Museum. Also
recently refurbished and in an old Western style building (originally
the Bank of New York about 80 years ago or something) it's a good
museum, complete with little stickers for Hannah (and security guards
to play with her). Exhibits on the history of the force, the uniforms,
traffic, guns, mafia, major arrests, tools and detective equipment and
all sorts. It was all there and quite well done. There were some
interesting quips on how many of the force died or were sent to the
countryside during the cultural revolution which was surprisingly
honest, a moving sculpture in memory of all those who died whilst on
duty, and some fun displays (and amusing ones too, e.g. the detective
equipment they used 40 yrs ago). I found out where my dad's old mobile
phone went 20 years ago!

And the third museum was the Ancient Archaeology Museum (or something
like that) which is actually in, and on the grounds of an old temple.
Unfortunately the doors were open and there was no heating, but it had
promise. And we'll go back again when it is warmer. Some well done
exhibits on different archaeology styles over the millenia, features
on different buildings from across the country, examples of bridges,
walls and all sorts. Also worth going to. And we were, literally, the
only ones in that museum apart from two ticket people and two guards.
The Beijing Police Museum was busy in comparison. At least 30 people
must have come through in the hour or two we were there, many with
kids.

Museums, well the ones that are warm, are great for kids. Clean, big
spaces for walking around with interesting things to see that are
usually behind glass so cannot be disturbed, and full of either other
visitors or staff both of whom like playing with kids when they have
nothing else to do. Shopping Malls are similar actually; often fairly
empty, warm, full of interesting things and full of staff with nothing
to do. Unfortunately they do not protect their wares behind glass
allowing a little 1-year old to gleefully pick things up and throw
them around. But at least that gives the staff something to do and
they still can't take their smile off their face when they see the
white baby, with light brown/blonde hair and blue eyes!

So we've hit up some shopping malls recently, some of them have kids
play areas too, though we mostly do the kid-playtime in one particular
place where we bought a monthly card so Hannah can go whenever she
wants. She does love to run around with the balloons, crawl in a
revolving cage like a hamster, crawl up the stairs to the slide and
slide down, or sit on the swing, roundabout or whatever else is in the
indoor playground. She's usually the youngest since she's a quick
walker, but holds her own*. She even began to enjoy (and not be scared
of) the ball pond!

So that is weekend life at the moment. Along with a bit of walking up
and down our hallway, kicking a football, pushing a shopping trolley,
or pulling a little toy horse. Hannah does all three I might add. We
just try to keep the shopping trolley away from the walls as she's not
yet mastered steering.

Now I come to think of it there are a few other interesting museums in
Beijing - the military museum full of propoganda and tanks; the air
force museum full of airplanes outside in the countryside; the
underground city museum that is unfortunately closed but used to be
pretty cool (takes you into the underground city/bunkers) built in
case of an air raid are worth a shout out. The tour books talk about
some of the more bizarre museums that we'll have to go to one day: the
Tap museum, the Watermelon museum and so on. I expect we might go to
the railway museum at some point. And maybe the China Film museum. How
can they not be at least mildly interesting? At least i hope they are
not full of art and pottery. The highlight, by all accounts, is the
(also brand new, if you get the recurring theme here) science and
technology museum that supposedly rivals the London version for fun
things for kids to do. We may want to wait a year or two for Hannah to
be able to fully enjoy it, but I'm excited to go sooner!

Anyway, it's quite enough for one day, and time to go to bed. A long
day tomorrow to get through a pile of work and make sure a prompt
departure is possible on Wednesday from the office for Hannah's first
birthday. Wow, a year does go fast!

*unless clotheslined by a two-year old. But Hannah, stunned, just got
back up and kept walking. It was accidental.

The year that was 2012

So 2012 was over. Work was solid; some highlights being a report on
our work helping companies provide volunteers to build charities'
capacity and several events in London, Beijing and Hong Kong to
promote that report (which is here
http://ciyuan.bsr.org/data/resources/Lessons_of_Localization1.pdf).
There's been progress elsewhere with the CiYuan project, some other
projects and there are some exciting things in the pipeline. It's also
been another crazy year for FYSE with things happening non-stop and I
continue to learn a lot from listening and occasionally helping with
Andrea's amazing work.

Elections have come and gone; nothing hugely exciting in reality and
certainly not compared to the Olympics which were a fantastic
experience and one I am so glad I could have witnessed and that London
hosted. It's clear the London way was about spirit, sport, and heroes.
Which is what it should be, not about impressiveness, grandeur or
efficiency as others have been.

Clearly the year was dominated by the arrival of a daughter, a month
spent in England and Germany, and adapting to being a father. Well to
be honest there was not much adapting necessary. I suppose the 9
months are there so you can prepare really, so we did, in our own way,
which means, we did not do much preparation. We met a few people with
kids, read a book or a book-and-a-half, and bought a few bits and
pieces. And that was that.

In fact the most remarkable thing is not, as I originally thought, the
five seconds transition from living in a closed environment full of
water with eyes closed and breathing and eating through a tube to
breathing through eyes and mouth, using (sort of) eyes, witnessing
sounds and chaos and moving freely. And yes, even despite the
horrendous nature of those five seconds, it's not that remarkable.
That is, compared to what happens afterwards.

In a year, which is not really a very long time, that little baby that
can barely move much, learns to use eyes, ears and other senses to
such an incredible extent that the baby can manipulate things, crawl
and walk, identify things and recognize things. The baby's brain
develops so much within 12 months it can remember things, think in
order to predict, communicate and more. It's quite incredible to think
about it really. Of course it will continue for the next few years; as
the toddler learns to talk, jump and eat. In retrospect, I'm not sure
I've achieved much in my last 12 months... or even the past 25 years
in comparison.