Chinese New Year’s Eve Wednesday February 6 2008. Words cannot do justice to the fireworks we viewed across the city from the rooftop of the Hilton Hotel at midnight. It was so cold Josh had trouble holding a camera. It will go on every night for a week,
Josh says!
Last Friday I went to the Yew Chung International School of Beijing with Amy, my daughter-in-law.
Seventy five years ago an optimistic young woman, Madame Tsang Chor-hang, barely graduated from a teacher’s school, emerged from a calamitous time in China and founded Yew Chung in 1932. It grew into the Yew Chung International School in Hong Kong and then expanded to Shanghai in 1993 and later to Beijing in 1995. Now, Yew Chung International School Silicon Valley in Mountain View California emphasizes E-Learning which means that there are now no longer any geographical constraints to learning.
The director says that “Yew Chung has pioneered an exciting new paradigm in international education that leads students to an inner transformation whereby they become both Eastern and Western. There are now massive opportunities for improving the human condition but we need to develop new concepts, new instincts and new politics of decision-making whereby we are first a global citizen, second a national citizen, and third a local citizen.”
The web site goes on to say that global education emphasizes global awareness. Teachers and administrators, who are informed and committed, empower students to realize they can make a difference…to go out into the world with a “common purpose and a deep commitment to resolving global issues confronting the planet.”
Wow…!
Students have to have a foreign passport. The school offers the International General Certificate of Secondary Education affiliated with Cambridge to students in years 10 and 11. It offers the International Baccalaureate to students in years 12 and 13.
Amy teaches modern history to 9th, 10th and 11th level students…mostly children of business people, embassy workers and workers in other organizations. The students come from all over the world…her 11th year history class that I sat in on had an Indian, Singaporean, Korean, an Italian-Chinese, a Malay, an American Chinese, a Caucasian American, a French and a Thai.
I was truly amazed. Both by the students and by Amy. Amy is an excellent teacher…giving energetic narrative to complicated historical events…and the motivations behind them. The students were even more amazing. So well-trained…so eager and ready to learn. All classes are small and taught in English…not the first language for most of these students. Mandarin is a mandatory subject and all students become bilingual in Mandarin/English.
The staff is truly global. Examples: Dr. Sandy Pike is the secondary coordinator and biology teacher. Her father was a British Medical Officer who lived in Hong Kong, England and New Zealand. She got her degree in biology in Hong Kong, then did 18 months of missionary work and teaching English in the bush in Zimbabwe. She left the mission a few days before it was overun by rebels when all her friends, teachers and students were murdered. She stayed in South Africa for awhile after she met her husband (the physics teacher) and they have taught all over the world…Africa, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and now Beijing. One science teacher is a white South African who has been on staff for 4 years. One teacher is a Black from Ireland (not black Irish), another is a Chinese-Canadian, several other Canadians, a few Caucasian Americans, some from Australia and New Zealand, Koreans…the list goes on.
A dream job in a dream school.
In the airport, while waiting for my luggage to show up, I scanned the crowd of people in the waiting area and had no trouble spotting Josh…three heads above all others. Eye candy for me! This is the first time I have seen him since we left our sublet in Brooklyn in January 2006!
So now I am ensconsed in Josh’s high-rise two bedroom apartment in “Lido” which is a relatively new neighborhood off the 4th ring road (there are 6 ring roads) in the neighborhood of the Lido (Holiday Inn) Hotel on the east side…not far from the airport. Beijing has 15.4 million of China’s 1.3 billion people! But traffic is relatively minimal here and not much honking…and as in most of China (and most of the rest of the world for that matter) there are no lanes and we get a real kick out of watching the intersection below from our 11th floor windows. Turning from no-lanes into absolutely the wrong “lanes”, they are so hesitant…so careful not to bung up their new new cars. (Josh says that 6,000 new cars appear on the roads in Beijing every day!) Every few minutes all cars stop…tied up in the middle of the intersection…until someone moves and it begins to unravel. No road rage. No one is upset that someone has turned in front of them. There could be a lesson here for the U.S. where everyone expects the rules to be followed and noses get bent out of shape if not.
This part of the city where many expats live is a striking contrast to the hutong near Tianamen Square in the center of the city where I stayed last time I was here in 2004. I found french pastry and great coffee in the Parisian Baguette up the street and the citibank ATM was very generous with me.
Waiting for Amy to get home from teaching in her school, Josh and I discuss Chinese commodities. I had lugged a duffel full of bath sheets and body cream to Beijing. The towels cost almost a $100 each here. I bought six at a Macy’s sale in Portland for $89. Travelers expect luxuries to be ridiculously cheap here. But, Josh says, goods made in China are shipped directly to foreign markets. The locals don’t get them…unless they are traded back into China which results in a very high price…like the towels. Nuts.
Josh took me to a great Korean restaurant my first night here while Amy finished preparing for her last day of school before the Chinese New Year holiday break. Then he turned on the little green and white froggy whose ears blow steam next to my bed. We are living on the edge of a desert, Josh says, so we keep the humidifiers on.
Email from my son who is chef de cuisine in one of the restaurants in the Hilton Hotel in Beijing…to his friends and family:
On Nov 19, 2007, at 5:24 PM, Ryan Goetz wrote:
Happy Thanksgiving!
I write this now because in two days I am fully booked. I run a T.G menu for 4 days and will not have a chance to come up for air until next week. I ranked the #1 place to have thanksgiving in Beijing. It was not hard to beat out the American cafe called steak and eggs and then HOOTERS. Yes, they have thanksgiving at Hooters in Beijing! It is not a very long list of American restaurants in Beijing, but it is Distinguished!!! I never thought that my name and the boob and chicken wing restaurant would be named in the same article, but anything is possible in China!! So, if your jonesing for some Turkey then try hooters, because I am fully booked. I guess that is something to be thankful for.
On another note, Malcolm is at home and doing well!! He went for a walk with Phil, who flew to Hawaii to see his dad. He is a tough guy and even with a portion of his heart dead, he is still walking around. Phil says he is out of the woods and is being very “normal”. He is an amazing man! So that is another thing to be thankful for!
Amy and I have booked 10 days in Vietnam for xmas vacation, shopping, history and some warm weather. Beijing is really dry and cold!! There is snow on the Wall already. I am researching skiing in Japan. They are some great resorts there. Some in the North, near Sapporo and some right outside Tokyo. Lift tickets are around 4800 yen or $us 44 a day for 32 lifts !!! They say Japan has some of the driest powder in the world. I plan to check in out over a long weekend in Feb or March. They had the winter Olympics in Sapporo in 1972. They were supposed to have it in 1940, but the Indo-Japanese war took them off the list and then world war 2 which took Germany and Japan off for 1944. I wonder if we will lose the votes from the I.O.C. because of Iraq?? Probably not. These are the things you learn when you are married to a Historian! We are a great Trivial Pursuit team!
I know some of you have been planning vacations. I will have some time between now and April, but March to September are out of the question for me and anyone thinking of coming to Beijing this July- August is Out Of Their Minds!! The Olympics are going to turn this place into a Zoo. I am planning a wine trip (and Surfing) to Australia in the Fall, their Spring, in 2008 with a possible stop over in Bali. Anyone interested in Bali??
Cheers and Thanks,
Josh
My sons and daughters-in-law, Luk, Doug, Josh and Amy on Koh Samui in Thailand for a week. Bob, their dad, took the picture. Doug and Luk live on Koh Samui. Greg, in Las Vegas, and I, of course, missed out. Amy flew back to her job teaching history in an international school in Beijing after a week. Josh had dental work in Bangkok (much cheaper than Beijing) and is staying a few days with Bob at his house in Johmtien which is south of Pattaya on the east side of the Gulf of Thailand before flying back to his job as Chef de Cuisine at the One East On Third restaurant in the Hilton Hotel in Beijing.
My son Josh is Chef de Cuisine of “One East On Third” in the Hilton Hotel in Beijing. He was sent by the Executive Chef to Bangkok last week to check out some restaurants there. Luk, a delightful Thai girl who is married to our son Doug, had been visiting Bob at his rental house south of Pattaya so Bob, took Luk with him to Bangkok to join Josh. (Doug is currently in Oregon and will return to Thailand in a couple weeks.) This was the first time Josh met his sister-in-law, Luk.
This is Bob’s description of the visit…made me salivate reading about the Thai food!
“Josh missed his scheduled flight to BKK so arrived one day late. I extended my stay to allow for an overlap. He had hotel and culinary related meetings but we shared a few meals and today roamed around Chatuchak Market which he seemed to enjoy.
Josh let me choose the restaurants. I was the tour guide. (Although Josh has been to Bangkok many times!) He ate his evening meals with the Hilton folks first night and his second night at the Four Seasons. I think they had steaks at the Hilton as Josh’s hierarchy wants him to offer more steaks at the restaurant. Steak apparently is in demand in Beijing.
When we went out I gave him the option of streetside or upscale. We settled on Jim Thompson’s restaurant on Soi Saladang (we ate there before.) Had pomolo salad, gai with lemongrass , shrimp in a coconut curry, a fish souffle and morning glory in oyster sauce. All quite arroy (delicious) except the chicken. Second day we ate at a sit down restaurant at Chatuchak Market. Had a spicy Thai salad, fresh spring roles and sticky rice with mango and coconut milk. Josh enjoyed the cuisine.
At Chatuchak he purchased many items of Thai motif as his restaurant is going to do some things with a Thai theme. He would buy one item and then plans on having it reproduced in China. I think he wanted to buy more but was limited by what he was capable of carrying.
He appears to be doing well. Both he and Amy, (his wife did not make this trip) are apparently adapting better to cultural deviation. He says that Amy’s sudden unemployment left gaps that have resolved with her new job teaching history in an international school. They will return to Thailand in May to spend time in BKK again and then venture down to Samui where Doug and Luk live.
Luk was traveling with this huge suitcase (with wheels fortunately) that she could not lift. When going to BKK she insisted on high heels that were the stilletto variety with a single small strap across the forefoot. If you can recall BKK’s sidewalks and then picture her trying to get on and off skytrains and navigating all on the cobblestones and drains etc. Also I ended up with the suitcase as well as booking her hotel room. She remains pleasant company and generates many laughs.
Josh and Luk
Amy’s (son Josh’s wife) last blog post: “For the new edition of Timeout Beijing they listed the top 50 restaurants in the city. And, yes, you guessed it – One East on Third was on the list!! It was one of only 3 hotel restaurants chosen. Here’s what it said in the magazine.”
“Hilton’s swish new eatery has been transformed thanks to the culinary master of American-trained chef Joshua Goetz, who serves up a creative new breed of contemporary American cuisine, influenced by African and European flavors.”
(Timeout Beijing, January 2007, page 37).
I was so proud I started crying…makes it all worth it, says Amy!
My youngest son, Josh and his wife Amy are living in Beijing. Her entries are best read from the bottom up.
Nov 25, 01:45 AM
The first week I was here Josh had a huge dinner to put on for the Chaine Society. Originally founded in France as one of the first guilds for goose rotissieres, the Chaine Society is now a world wide society though now less focused on rotissieres in favor of hoteliers. Since Josh hosted a dinner he was invited to the next gala event – a black tie event for which neither one of was really prepared. Rather than getting a tux, Josh had a custom Chinese formal suit made – dragon brocade, Mao cut and all! I wore the one black dress that I have in China with completely inappropriate shoes and spent the night hoping that I didn’t run my pantyhose cause they’re the only pair I have! Still, I think we looked pretty good all things considered!
But what was really hilarious was the “decorations” that Chaine members wear – collars made of brass plates and fake jewels with their names on them decorated with different colored ribbons signifying their position (ie. hotelier, GM, chef, etc). I forgot to take a picture of the real thing (Josh was monopolizing the camera taking pictures of the courses) but just imagine the necklace sort of thing that foreign ministers wore in Elizabethan England.
The food was underwhelming but the people watching was great! Read more…
Read More
On the e-hotelier.com web site a friend found this description of son Josh’s restaurant in the Hilton Hotel in Beijing where he is the Chef de Cuisine:
Hilton Beijing stars as Lord of The 3rd Ring
Jul 31, 06 | 1:57 am
Catch Hilton Beijing this month as it shines at the premiere of The 3rd Ring. The critics and glitterati alike have been eagerly awaiting the opening of this new, multi-outlet dining and entertainment concept. If sneak previews are anything to go by, it�s clear that The 3rd Ring will consistently perform to sell out crowds – keen to catch a glimpse of the stunningly made-over restaurants and bars that line the tri-level ringed atrium at Hilton Beijing on the Third Ring Road.
A hush falls over the crowd. The music starts up � this tune definitely has a toe-tapping ring to it. Saucy Ring Masters hit the screen first, leading the way to fresh and innovative cuisine as well as signature cocktails and superlative wines. An award winning performance from all of the new restaurants, bars and cafes. The excitement builds to the tantalizing grand finale, with dancers, musicians and DJs and stealing the limelight. There�s no doubt about it, Hilton Beijing truly is Lord of The 3rd Ring.
“One East On Third: Without a doubt the luminary of the show, it�s hard to fault The 3rd Ring�s signature Western restaurant. The a la carte menu offers modern American cuisine, with a twist. Order individual dishes, or opt for the tantalizing six and eight course Tasting Menus � delicious creations complemented by exquisite wines.
Showcased in the glass encased �Vintage Bank,� replete with an area for private tastings, One East on Third features an extensive list of new and old world wines, including the largest selection of US varieties in town, which you can enjoy at the restaurant�s bar before or after your meal.
But despite all the attention and praise, One East on Third remains remarkably down to earth, with an inviting southern mansion interior not dissimilar to the original Louisiana Restaurant. A difficult act to follow.”
Enough to make a mother proud.
My sons Josh and Greg have flown onto the island of Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands from Beijing and Las Vegas respectively. Josh and Amy will have Malcolm Miner, a close friend and retired Episcopalian minister bless their civil union that took place last September in the Brooklyn courthouse.
Amy drove from New York to Denver where she dropped off her car at her mother’s home and then flew to Hawaii to meet Josh. About 20 of their friends have flown in from all over the U.S. to witness the event and doubtless to party it up.
Josh, as Chef de Cuisine, will open one of the Hilton’s restaurants in Beijing upon arrival back into the city. Good luck with jet lag Josh! Amy will join Josh in Beijing in September after she finishes-out the term teaching history at Rutgers University. Don’t think she realized what she was getting into when she married a Goetz!
CONGRATULATIONS JOSH AND AMY!
Son Douglas and his wife remain at their home on Koh Samui Thailand where yesterday a strong wind caused a palm tree to fall onto some electrical wires and shorted out all their electrical equipment…stereo, washer, fans…everything! “What problem do you have,” I asked Luk, Doug’s wife, when she called me. “Oh, nitnoy” (just a little bit) she says cheerfully! That’s Luk! That’s the Thai attitude!
I remain in Oaxaca Mexico, Bob in Salem Oregon, Amy’s mother in Denver and her father in Florida. Amy’s sister and her husband are taking their young son, Gabe, home to Hemet California today from Loma Linda Children’s Hospital where he has been recovering from a bone marrow transplant to treat leukemia. A miracle in a global family!
Laughingnomad 