Being in Beijing

As always, the days are full when Clan Flett gets together.  It doesn't help that Erica is a teacher and even though Alex and Connor are on holiday from school, they get a fair amount of tutoring when they are with us.  During this visit Connor is working on his handwriting and letter writing and Alex is taking practice tests to get ready for the GCSEs.  He and dad have also started their own bookclub and are reading The Kingdom by the Sea by Robert Westall.  Naturally, Alex is 3 chapters ahead of Eddie.  

Alex is really enjoying meeting with his tutor, Alex Schuur, a fantastic teacher from The Netherlands.  Each day they play games (Alex wins every time), do a bit of handwriting, creative writing and journal writing.

While Alex is working with Alex, Erica and Connor get together for a bit of work as well.  Connor's done a beautiful job mastering joined-up handwriting and his putting his lovely penmanship to use by writing letters to friends and family.  

Each day we do lots of exploring and one of our favorite things to do is to have lunch in a different restaurant.  We really enjoyed Musto Gusto in the Sanlitun Village - duck pancakes and spicy hotdogs! Sanlitun Village is a busy place - people selling balloons, kites, flowers and tack.  There are a million cars and bikes and taxis.  It's noisy and it's smelly.  But it's no matter - it's China and it's home to Clan Flett.

For dinner we usually cook at home (or connivence dad and Erica to take us to Fat Burger!) One night we made blueberry muffins, jello and egg rolls.  It was delicious!  

The National Center for Performing Arts (otherwise known as The Egg) was the perfect place to go hear the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra.  On our way there we passed Tiananmen Square - it was all lit up and was beautiful with the red star of China shining in the distance.