We’re well into our second week in Beijing and each day, we’re getting ever closer to the ever-elusive idea of being settled. Our US phones are still not functioning properly, which sucks, but is ultimately fine as we’ve sorted out basic communications with friends and family. We did finally get a food ordering app set up on our Chinese phones and that has been a game changer.

Our little neighborhood is growing on me. Walking through the alleyways and little public courtyards to and from the nearest shopping area where we get our groceries, find a quick bite, or even grab a pint or two makes me feel like we’re getting to experience ‘the real Beijing.’ We are not in the middle of several twenty-story plus high rises that, just by looking at them, scream anonymity–as if you need more of that in a metropolis.

And now for my week two observations:

• We’ve hired a nanny, which is what nearly every ex-pat family with young children does. She has been amazing. There’s no way we’d survive these two years without her. It is, as one would imagine for my wife and me, a bit of an odd thing. When it comes to parenting, neither one of us are the in-your-face, micro-managing sort and so we’re never quite sure if we’ve given enough instructions or too much. And as we’ve learned over these last three years, parenting is as much a fake-it-till-you-make-it enterprise as it is about establishing a controlled stable environment. This often doesn’t lend itself to providing a generalized framework for nannies or other folks to lend a hand, as it’s more about feel and less about science. But also, we both come from backgrounds where hiring help is simply unheard of, solidly middle-class families with no pretenses above our station. Because of that, despite all the upsides, I’m still not sure I’ll ever be comfortable with the idea.

• Their watermelon and fried chicken game is on point. As a guy who is both Southern and Iranian, this discovery has warmed my soul.

• On aggregate, the accommodations we are in are probably the most luxurious I’ve ever lived in. I suppose it makes sense, but at the same time, it’s still a wild thing to realize.

• When I came, I fully expected the craft beer industry to be early in development. Instead, what I’ve found is a community that isn’t just burgeoning, it is matured, it has arrived, and it is producing quality products that can rival some of the best craft breweries in the States. We have a craft beer bar in our building and I plan on using that to take a deeper dive.

• Their spicy garlic chili sauce is next-level hot. And there are no categories of heat here, it’s either hot or not. Start slow with a small amount and then build from there. Otherwise, pain is all you’ll taste.

Weekly Photos

On Father’s Day, my family and I took a walk through Chaoyang Park, close to our apartment. It sits on the eastern side of the city and, from what I’ve read, is the starting point for several trails that were built in an effort to add more greenery to the city.

I was finally comfortable enough to bring along my camera and snap some pictures of the area. The gallery is linked here and in the pictures attached to the article.

What I’m Reading

Joe McGinniss’s The Miracle of Castel di Sangro.

Part travelogue, part memoir, McGinniss details the long and arduous journey that was, and maybe still is, the 1996-97 Serie B season from the least likely of all places–Castel di Sangro, a small village of 5,000 people situated in the mountains of Abruzzo. Through a miracle beyond anyone’s wildest imagination, the local club secured their promotion to Serie B, Italy’s second division of professional soccer, after fifteen years of promotions from the lowest levels of the Italian pyramid. Often loud and brash himself, the author plays a major role in the drama as it unfolds. It is both endearing and exceptionally annoying. The season itself is filled with the sorts of ups and downs one could imagine. It is, after all, a long season filled with tragedy, head-shaking idiocy, and reveling cultural anecdotes that all gives us a tiny glimpse of both life in Serie B and that tiny little hamlet in the mountains.