⚽️ Football ⚽️

When I knew I was moving to China I was immediately keen to check out some local Football. The Chinese Super League is growing in popularity but as a westerner, it’s something I generally only hear about when players that are over the hill go there to play out their final seasons.

It’s a bit different to European Football especially as the Chinese Governing body has limited each team to only three foreign players per match. This is designed to promote local players but means that foreign players demand a premium to appear. Given that the overall standard is low it’s not a place where the worlds best come to play in their heyday.

Anyway… I headed to the Chinese Workers Stadium for the final game of the season to watch the the mighty Beijing Guoan take on Shandong Luneng. Arlo was dead keen to come. I explained that at its core football is very boring and it would be very cold and long and boring. But he insisted.

We had to buy tickets from a tout which was fine. Then baggage X-ray check. Then my passport got scanned. I’m not kidding. These guys take security seriously.

After a few more security checks we found our seats and started to soak up the atmosphere. It was really busy. People were properly up for it.

What followed was a magical father/son 90 minutes. Arlo couldn’t get enough of my footy knowledge and I got to explain defensive approaches and zonal marking and off side rules and possession strategy.

Not.

Anyway. Had a great time. He loved it in his way. I loved spending time with him and the footy was great. 3-2 to Beijing with a last minute winner after Marouane Fellaini had scored for Shandong. Good times.

The week following all this fun Emma was off in Tokyo for a few nights. She’s in Guangzhou this week delivery some big presentations to hundreds of delegates. She’s finding her new job really challenging. The time difference means there are often calls in the evening and it’s really tough. But she’s doing amazing and clearly already scored some big early wins. She’s doing great.

Whilst she was away I took the kids to the British Embassy Christmas Bazaar which was cold but Christmassy. Something Beijing is generally lacking. Christmassy that it. There’s plenty of cold.

Lyra continues to flourish at the school. Her Autumn term report was glowing and she received a “Star Citizen” award in assembly for her hard work, friendliness and kindness!! Yay.

I’ll end on this. Went to the supermarket with Ezra. Carrefour too, so not the locals market (that’s another story 😳), and either they’ve laid on some free wildlife fun for the kids or your supposed to eat these fellas.