By Katrina Beikoff*
And so it comes to an end.
Our grand China adventure will be over by the end of the year due to the siren call of cash and job security back in Australia.
We have made our decision with a mixture of excitement and regret. Getting to spend more time at the beach should help […]
By Katrina Beikoff*
Every now and then, when living abroad, there is cause to wholeheartedly embrace the country from whence we came, when we can throw aside our deference to where we are living, our efforts to embrace the culture, the people and the oft-confounding mores, and revel purely in the essence of our homeland.
It can […]
By Katrina Beikoff*
I was doing did my best, in the nicest possible way, to fob off the agency seeking my daughter’s participation in a children’s clothing catalogue photo shoot on a kindy day.
‘‘Very sorry. Timing just doesn’t work for us,’’ I texted to the agent.
Her response was quite unexpected: ”Who is timing?”
It just goes to […]
By Katrina Beikoff*
Can’t Handle It, Never Again.
It’s been one hell of a China day. Make that a week. Maybe a fortnight.
My partner has lost track of how long I’ve been unable to shake my present China funk.
The milk has been poisoned, we’ve come perilously close to suffering more traffic accidents than normal, the air is […]
By Katrina Beikoff*
As mothers, our obligations are many. Not the least of which is embarrassing our kids.
While mine might be aged only two and four, it appears that I have begun doing just that. I’m so proud. China is helping this family hit some developmental milestones so way ahead of schedule.
It happened because, though I do […]
By Katrina Beikoff
I wish I could win Olympic medals and have abs like super mum Dara Torres. But I’m too damn tired.
And I’d miss my kids.
After I had my first baby, it was all I could do to make it to the shower each day, let alone contemplate training or swimming 100 laps.
For weeks after […]
By Katrina Beikoff*
His driving was wildly erratic, his sense of danger frighteningly out of whack, but I can almost see now that his logic made perfect sense.
It was in Phuket and we nervously asked our driver why he kept crossing to the wrong side of the road, only narrowly missing on-coming traffic that seemed determined […]
By Victoria Hazel-Boland
Baby Jay, an orphan from Henan, has arrived at Shanghai
Children’s Medical Center this morning. He was quickly admitted into
the NICU. He is only 9 days old. His treatment will need to start
right away to try to get rid of his brain hematoma, then the 2nd stage
is to see if he would need […]
By: Joyce Lee
Many parents want children to be generous, courteous and cooperative. They want their children to be sharing people. Sharing is a life long process that we go through. It is one of those areas in life that we constantly need to evaluate, define and negotiate. Sharing may involve objects, emotions, space, the people […]
By Katrina Beikoff*
We’ve been away from Shanghai for two weeks. And have now come home.
It is the first time we have ever referred to Shanghai as home.
It’s something I wasn’t entirely sure would ever happen.
It wasn’t that we desperately missed China — lounging on white sandy beaches, spending hours in the sea, exploring rock […]
