Botanical Garden and Clubs

The transition from Maine to the The Middle Kingdom, from Bangor area to The Beijing area was quite a change. The biggest challenge though was going from a comfortable home and a setting with close friends that could always be called upon to a city of 17 million, none of whom we really knew. And also the transition from busy days getting the house ready to sell, packing up a lifetime of things we had aquired and moving everything, all this meant long days leading up to the infamous moving day with a start at 6 AM and a finish at 3 AM.
And then : Waking up in China as a "trailing" spouse, with each day an empty canvas. I was therefor very happy when Janet (Brooks, her husband is a OB/GYN at the hospital
) asked if I wanted to come with her to "The British Club" and "The Newcomers club" Beijing has about 500.000 expatriots, and most accompaning spouses can not find work. Daytime clubs therefor flourish. They generally meet once or twice a month for coffee and a talk. Their main purpose seems to be to bring people together and also give some information.Most also do some fund raising for fosterhomes and orphanages,
The Newcomers Club really try to introduce people to Beijing. Tables are set up with information about schools,medical care,different civic groups etc. And the monthly talks are also helpful to new people. Last week the topic was vegetable/fruit markets in Beijing, plus the speaker had brought a table full of produce that might be new to
someone moving to China.
The British Club was probably originally for Brits, but now welcome anyone with a foreign passport. They have had talks about jade/what to look for, how the railway developed in China and how it changed the country, a trip to The British Embassy etc. Last week they arranged a trip to The Botanical Gardens which are close to The Summer Palace (One hour trip) Missing my garden, this was a must!! And what a feast for the eyes! As we entered we were met by a flower sculpture of a man plowing his ox. And then, suddenly we felt as if we were transported to Holland.Tulips in every color stretched out in front of us, it was really breath taking. Only the photos can try to do this sight some justice, so I refer to the slide show. (Some people have had trouble viewing some of the photos, please let us know if this is so)
As in every park here, people were milling about everywhere: preschoolers, elderly men and women, teenage boys- we even came upon a bride and groom.
Next we walked up a hillside, planted with 630 different species of peonies! The regular herbacious peonies were not quite out, but the tree peonies (or Japanese variety) were all in perfect bloom, a sight that cannot be described. (Again, see photos)
I walked around with Janet and Therese (Her husband works in financing at the hospital) We just could not move away from this sight, snapping photo after photo. The Botanical Garden covered a large area, but it would have been an injustice to the tulips and peonies to remove ourselves from this spectacular seasonal sight. So we opened our lunch bags among the peonies, watched the bees and the butterflies work, and returned to our bus four hours later, sated and satisfied. - Astri