Spring in Beijing - Part II

After a week back in the big city, I am determined to show you the really amazing and beautiful parts of this mega city. The flowers are in bloom, the weather is heating up and knowing smiles appear on the faces on the bus, street and at the shops. It is spring and we are all feeling a bit better—more hopeful, more healthy and more free.

When I compare the natural beauty to my parents' 7 acres in rural Illinois or our 3 acres in rural Minnesota, it is unfair. There is no real trash to contend with outside of a few ditches and limited wide-open spaces. What I will tell you is this: change creates appreciation. I have always said “I love change!” This is one of the reasons teaching is an ideal career for me. It is also one of the reasons I love to live in locations where there is a clear change of seasons; just when you can’t take it anymore, it changes. I remember the first amazing morning here when the breeze has a bit of warmth in it. The hopefulness that appears in our heart—it only can occur because we sense the rhythm of what is coming next. 

Living in the big city makes me appreciate the “country life”—the lawn mowing, raking, long walks on country roads and viewing all the stars each evening. City life is more about finding those parks, noticing those blooms, finding places to eat and sit outside and, in my case, checking to see if I can see the mountains off in the distance from our 21st floor apartment. It is in the distance, but it connects me with what is right outside the city.

The spring renewal has me walking the 5 kilometers to work two to three times per week. It has me bringing my laptop outside to write this blog. My colleagues took me to “Dragonfly” on Friday for a Top to Toe massage: imagine yourself in a serene room on a lounge chair with one person massaging your head and neck and another person on your legs and feet for an hour. HEAVEN. Daniel and I played in a Quiz Night event with teachers from the other 50 international schools in Beijing. (Daniel would want me to point out that his team won the quiz; my team didn’t do quite so well.) We discovered Chaoyang Park this weekend and a lovely new breakfast spot to satisfy Daniel’s need for an American breakfast. We will be getting some bikes soon and braving the streets to ride.

So … on my walks to work this week, I took some photos to show you some of the more beautiful sides of Beijing. My thoughtful spring state reminds me of Max Ehrmann’s poem “Desiderata”—“With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.”