On Monday, we decided to mix things up a bit. Instead of seeing the typical tourist sites we went to visit a school and then headed over to an area of town where ex-pats hang out.
One of the striking things about WAB was the art work they had hung up all over the buildings - these were done by 3rd or 4th graders and they were absolutely beautiful...
The school we visited was Western Academy of Beijing (WAB). My favorite teacher growing up was my fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Hite. We actually kept in touch over the years (after I was in her class, she became quite close with my family). After teaching in Swampscott for a number of years she headed abroad and started working at international schools, including in Beijing. She’s not here in Beijing any longer, but when I was planning the trip I reached out to see if she could recommend a school for us to visit and she pointed us to WAB and introduced me to the Head of Early Childhood Education and the Elementary School.
WAB starts in pre-school and goes all the way through high school. The campus is pretty incredible – any type of facility you could want for a school, they had it. The students are mainly ex-pats – you need to have at least one parent with an international visa to be able to attend (Chinese government rules). This makes for a pretty international and interesting student population – also one that has a lot of turnover as typical ex-pat assignments are 2-4 years. In fact, while the school teaches Chinese, it is not immersion – the language pathways would be pretty difficult to manage with such a changing student population.
Like Presidio Knolls, the preschool is Reggio-inspired – in fact, our kids immediately felt right at home in the preschool classrooms and started engaging with the various projects the kids had made and with the teachers.
Maile Girl in her element at the arts and crafts table...
The PKS kids checking out the marble mazes made by the preschool WAB students...
One thing that was immediately clear while at the school was how much the smog and air quality was a part of every day life. Even the youngest kids knew the pollution levels. On the day we visited, the smog level was quite high (over 300 AQI). 300 is basically the worst, most hazardous level. On days like this, all outdoor activities at the school are cancelled. We sat in on a Kindergarten class and the pollution level was one of the things they covered in the morning meeting time.
Stretching out the legs on one of the many outdoor fields...
... that certainly weren't going to be getting much use that day due to the pollution.
Posing with Teddy Roosevelt statue with Michelle and Olivia
Even though one day in the pollution wasn’t the end of the world, we decided to adjust our plans for the rest of the day and do some indoor activities instead of hitting the park like we intended. Our host at WAB recommended an indoor playground called FunDazzle, so we decided to check that out. It was perfect for the kids – basically a huge indoor play structure with the biggest ball pit we’ve ever seen. The kids had a blast!
The FunDazzle indoor playground - yeah, this will do for an hour of wearing the kids out a bit!
Biggest. Ball Pit. Ever.
After running them ragged, we continued our ex-pat adventure, by heading over to a local italian restaurant (Annie’s) that lets the kids make their own mini pizzas. We had a nice lunch and then headed back to the hotel for our favorite afternoon activity – the pool!
Daddy and Maile after our afternoon swim - we LOVE swimming!
All in all, a fun day. The school was pretty incredible. I was definitely jealous of all the great space they had; but decidedly not jealous of the smog and what an impact it has on day-to-day life here.
(Click here for the video.)
