In my last post, I announced that I’m headed back to Malaysia soon. As my days in Beijing are quickly drawing to an end, I would like to share what they have been like here. It may not sound too exciting, but every single day has been special to me.
The alarm on my phone goes off at 9 am sharp. Usually I like to naturally wake, which means I end up sleeping in til late, but in Beijing at my grandma’s, I set an alarm to wake up at a decent time so she doesn’t think I’m a bum :P. But really, it’s actually pretty nice to wake up earlier and get more stuff done during the day.
When I’m up, my grandma and I head out to the community park right away. I ate soooo much food the first week of Chinese New Year that as soon as it was over, I decided that I need to get back on an exercise routine.
9:30 am: ready in my work out attire ;)
I love Chinese parks. They’re well used and well loved. The mornings are the liveliest and a good place to observe the social life of the elderly. The group dance (led by an 85 year old woman!) always draws in a large number of participants, most of them obviously regulars as they all know the moves. There are mothers with toddlers. There are tai-chi practitioners and sword dancers. There’s the neighborhood crazy who bikes around the park yelling out random words of encouragement. There’s the ping pong posse in the back corner, gossiping as they hit the ball back and forth.
9:50 am: at the park! Using the exercise equipment while watching the dance group
This daily park visit does both of us good. Not only does it allow us to get some exercise, it also allows my grandma to get out of the house and chat with her friends. My grandma used to be a regular visitor and has a circle of ping pong buddies (they had all pitched in money to build the little ping pong corner), but she hasn’t been here to play in 6 years – ever since that fateful day when she was playing at the park and my grandpa decided to walk back home alone and took a fall that changed everything.
Since then, she has remained at home caring for my grandpa. Her health has also deteriorated greatly these years. I’m really glad she can get out and start taking care of herself now.
Sometimes I join the dancers and attempt some moves, though I’m sure my image is laughable. When I give up, I use the park exercise equipment and happily watch them instead. There’s a little old lady who can’t hit a move worth a dime, but that doesn’t stop her from trying everyday. Most days, my grandma and I play this Chinese paddle ball (which always draws interest from strangers) or ping pong together. If my grandma bumps into her friends, we’ll stay and chat with them for a while. I swear, the average age of my social circles these days is 80. :P
10:30 am: grandma playing ping pong with a friend
Isn’t my grandma (the one facing the camera) the cutest?! She’s known as the 双枪老太婆 (double-gunned granny) because she always uses two ping pong paddles to play.
After the park, we walk out to the main street to buy some groceries to use for the rest of the day. This area is all residential apartment buildings, but the first floor spaces have all been converted into little shops. There’s our meat guy and our grocer and our grains lady. My grandma has been shopping with them for years. In fact, the day my grandfather fell sick, she rushed out the door to ask them to help carry him down the stairs to be taken to the hospital. I love this tight knit community. I feel like you definitely don’t get neighbors like this in America.
11:00 am: our main street with all the shops on the first floor
11:05 am: buying some groceries
My uncle said that in certain areas of the city, the government is cleaning up these street-side shops and converting them back into residences. It won’t be long now until they hit our neighborhood. I think it’ll be such a shame.
We buy a couple of bags of groceries and go back home to start cooking lunch. Today we’re eating soft pancakes. My grandma had already prepped the batter (carrot, onion, egg, and flour, and some water) in the morning while I was still sleeping. Spread out on the grill pan to cook (kind of like a crepe). Super easy. We also quickly whip up some stir-fry to go in them.
11:40 am: grandma making soft pancakes for lunch
12:00 pm: our lunch spread! Some dishes to wrap into the pancakes (burrito style) with sauce and spring onions
The afternoon is resting time. My grandma retires to her room for a bit of a lay-down. Her cat, Neko, is curled up fast asleep on my bed. The sun shines into the room right onto this corner of the bed and this is where you can find him most afternoons.
1:00 pm: Neko napping on his corner of the bed. I join him shortly
He looks so comfortable that it’s making me sleepy too. So I do as the cat does and lay down for a nap as well. I guess I adapt to other people’s habits really easily, so here with my grandma, I live the leisurely life of an octogenarian. :P
When we wake up, it’s time to start preparing dinner! We had bought some stuff to make dumplings earlier so that’s what we do today. You’re not a true Beijinger if you don’t eat dumplings at least a few times a week and/or don’t know how to wrap them and/or don’t have at least a few meals’ worth of frozen ones in the fridge.
My absolute favorite filling is pork + dill, so that’s what we’re making.
4:30 pm: making dumplings!
Within an hour, we’ve got a few platters of dumplings!
5:30 pm: dumplings! Mine on the left and grandma’s on the right. Can you tell the different shapes?
About half of what we make goes into the freezer for a lazy day dinner, and the other half goes straight into a pot of boiling water. Cooking fresh dumplings is super fast, so within just minutes, we each have a steamy plate of boiled dumplings in front of us, to be eaten dipped in black vinegar.
I’ll spare you yet another dumplings photo. But here’s my view during dinner most days:
As soon as we sit down to eat, Neko comes out from wherever he’s hiding and starts begging for food. He puts his paws up on my chair and meows horribly. Neko is a temperamental cat who does not dole out affection easily. I feel a small tinge of pride that I have somehow managed to capture his affection during my short stay here.
The rest of the evening passes quietly with my grandma reading the newspapers and me working on my laptop. It’s a simple life we lead here. Maybe even a little humdrum. But you know what? It’s also pretty perfect. :)
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Can I come hang out with you and your grandma, like, next week? :D I love neighborhoods that have business on the ground floor, it’s the same in most of France, too. All those shopkeepers are really the best “neighbors” I’ve ever had or met! I hope your grandma’s neighborhood is preserved! I think your next post should be recipes for both the carrot crepes (that’s what they sound like to me!) and those dumplings!!! Great post, Anna!
Oh no unfortunately, I’ll be gone by next week, hehe, but next time I’m here, you’re welcomed to visit ;). I love these little neighborhoods too where people actually say hi and ask after each other. I really hope they won’t get rid of the business too! And I was thinking that I’ll do a dumplings recipe post, since I took pictures of the process! :)
Ahh, the neighbourhood crazy. You got to have one of them. At least he’s yelling encouragement and not abuse!
I like the sound of these days!
Hahaha yep! Though most of the time, he just talks to himself or yells “aunty” at random people. These days have been so nice and I’m sad to leave, but I’m also looking forward to moving on. :)
It sounds so nice and relaxing! And your grandma really is the cutest, I love that picture of her with her two ping pong paddles :)
Hehe yeah she’s so cute! She’s still really good at ping pong even though she hasn’t played in years!
Your grandma is really cute with the two ping pong bats! I know what you mean about community parks in China. My parents used to spend about a month in China every year (because they reckoned it was cheaper to live in a hotel in China than to stay in their own home in Singapore) and I decided to join them one time and they took me around those community parks. People were just doing Taiji and using huge paintbrushes to do calligraphy on the floor with water… Pretty cool stuff. #TravelTuesday
Yeah! I really love that the parks are such a social place. I’ve grown kind of fond of the group dance, haha, and I’ll miss it when I go! I’m kind of surprised though that the Chinese in Singapore don’t get together at parks like this! I thought maybe this is something Chinese people like to do anywhere.
such a cute cat! how nice of you to help your grandma:) #travel tuesday
Thanks Tanja :). It’s been really fun with her and living such a leisurely life haha! The cat is a pain though ;).
That is so cute! I thought the workout of the ladies and/or elderlies in a park in China is just a cliche. :)
Haha!! Nope! It really does happen. I think it’s so cute that the elderly get together to do group activities like this. I feel like they must be some of the world’s happiest elderly!
YUM more dumplings! And I love how that in any Asian neighborhood, you’ll have the usual elderly dance/tai chi groups in the center of town. Always always always. And I would loooove napping. For some reason, whenever I set time to nap, I’m never actually tired anymore! Hahah
We seriously eat dumplings at least 3 times a week, hehe. I know, I love the park and the sense of community in these China neighborhoods. And I’m really enjoying my daily naps. It’s like my body just automatically get tired now around naptime, haha I’m getting so old!
Awww, that all is pretty perfect. I LOVE the ping-pong photo and how great Beijing parks seem to be! That sense of community is absolutely wonderful! I never again want to live somewhere without knowing at least a few of my neighbors. It really can make anywhere feel homey.
I’ve never heard of black vinegar but I’m sure it would be delicious with those dumplings! Man, this post is not helping my serious Asia craving right now. #europeproblems
It’s so weird because I’m generally not a fan of vinegar (any kind), but because I grew up eating dumplings in vinegar, I cannot eat dumplings any other way now!! If I have dumplings outside of China and it’s not served with black vinegar, then I feel like something is wrong and it’s not as enjoyable.
I love this sense of community too! Where I lived in the States, I didn’t know any of my neighbors. Here, I love that we always bump into people in the park (or even strangers will just come up and chat) and my grandma knows all the shop owners.
Your grandmas is ADORABLE! She must be a machine at ping pong with those double paddles. I can barely use one! I wish there was that type of workout culture in the US, but I guess towns are too spread out to have community-wide workouts that are easily accessible. It would really help the elderly to not only keep up being physical but social as well! Can’t wait to see your posts when you’re back in Malaysia!
Exactly! I think it’s so awesome that the elderly retired people have somewhere to be social and exercise a little. I seriously think they must be some of the world’s happiest elderly. I’m actually going to miss this group dance thing when I leave, haha! But I’m excited to be back in Malaysia too! :)
Anna, this is one of my most favourite posts you have written :) I loved it! I love the sound of your routine, especially the morning spent with your grandma – it doesn’t get much calmer than that. I’m a morning person so I definitely agree about getting more done when you rise earlier.
Awww thanks so much Marcella!! This is my favorite Day in the Life too, because it’s more personal and special :) I’m really loving our routine too, especially the park and naptime, haha! Given the choice, I would still just sleep in until whenever I naturally want to wake up, but I guess I don’t mind getting up earlier as long as I can take a nap later ;).
Double-gunned granny!!!! That’s properly tickled me. What an awesome granny you have. And there’s no shame in living the octogenarian life! I would if I could! All your food shots look great, particularly the pancake/burrito lunch. I may have to try and recreate that myself, although I’m sure it will be no patch on the original. Thanks for sharing a day in your life, it’s a really nice insight.
Thanks for reading Rachel! The pancake thing is really easy to make! Basically you just grate whatever veggies you want to have (this one was onion and carrot, but we’ve also done zucchini), and then mix in two eggs and some flour (how much depending on how doughy you want it), and some water so it can spread like a batter. If you don’t have that kind of grill pan thingy, a regular round pan works too… just cook on one side and then flip!
I love these day in the life posts – so interesting! I agree, your granny looks super awesome. I lived with my grandparents for a few months back in the day and also adapted very quickly – for me it was endless cups of tea and watching crime dramas before an early night haha.
Haha! That sounds like a nice day too. For us, the days seem to revolve around what to make for food, and then naps in the afternoon and an early night as well (though I stay up later). Isn’t staying with grandparents the best? Hehe.
What a day filled with nice activities! I would like to have more time for cooking, walking around the beach and going to the library. In short, time to do the things I enjoy. In addition, it has been a long time since I do “normal” things with my family. Last time I visited my mom, we went grocery shopping, we went to the mall and to her favorite restaurants. It sounds simple but I missed all those activities.
I love the simple everyday things! There’s no need to do fancy stuff… just spending some quality time together is the best :). Ooh going to the library is something I miss! I miss browsing books and checking them out for free.
Food looks delicious! So wonderful to spend quality time like that with grandparents. Simple, everyday moments like these are just as precious and important as the big, travel adventures. #TravelTuesday
I completely agree! I like these simple moments with loved ones even more :). Especially since it’s so rare to get this kind of time with the grandparents now!
Aww your grandma is so adorable! Sounds like you’re having a lovely time with her. Those dumplings look delicious. I love freshly made ones, but they always seem to take forever!
There’s really no comparison to the fresh handmade ones! I think the time spent to make them is worth it :). Its actually not too troublesome, and kinda fun to chat as you make them and before you know it, they’re all done!
hehe grandma’s playing ping pong, that’s something that I’ve never seen before :) love the pictures, which camera are you using?
Hey Paul! thanks :). I use a mix of iphone 5 and Cannon G7x. Most of the one in this post is actually from the iphone (except for the dumplings photos and the selfie).
Ah ok I’m actually in the market for a new camera and was looking at the option of buying a good phone to replace the DSLR. Looks like it’s still some years away (lens options aren’t that great yet, and no filters). But I figure this will become possible at some point, for most use cases.
I really like the Cannon G7x because it’s small (I could fit it in my jacket pocket) and still has really good quality like a light DSLR. :) I like that it’s not such a hassle to carry around.
Yeah I love small things also – can you attach separate lenses to that Canon G7x?
I love wide angle shots, so when I buy a new cam, I want to be able to attach a wide angle lens, and also a polarizing filter.
My main inspiration for Photography is biyaherongbarat. He really makes some stunning shots, see: http://biyaherongbarat.com/201…
P.S. did you get the change to read my reply to your email?
I love the sound of this near perfect, beautiful simple days with fresh, home cooked food like you can’t get anywhere else and a community so close knit. I imagine it’ll actually be pretty hard to leave something so pure and precious.
I’m actually leaving tonight, and I am sad about it :(. But I’m also looking forward to traveling again! Since I have the freedom, I expect that I’ll be back in Beijing more regularly now to keep my grandma company :). This time back has really made me fall back in love with my childhood neighborhood.
I can’t imagine it very much different from your day to day life when you’re on the move. I guess your life is pretty much the same now that you’re back in KL. Just… substitute walking with Uber-ing and the neighborhood with the mall, and everything else should be pretty much the same :P .
LOL! I guess I would need to substitute the park with the hotel gym too. Except I doubt that would be happening is because there is no old people group dance at the gym. And I would also need to substitute grandma’s home cooked food with someone else’s restaurant cooked food. :P