Week 1-4: 2020, New Year's time, Ice lake, Year of the Rat

A new year has begun, after fantastic 3 weeks in Germany (with great encounters, Christmas and 1 week Centerparc) we started our 2nd semester in China.

Here in China, it is deep winter, it snows a little from time to time and we have constant temperatures from 0 to -8 degrees.

The children have to give their all again in school and the Chinese New Year (the biggest festival of the year here in China) is just around the corner. We are slowly saying goodbye to the year of the pig, the year of the rat is about to begin. The streets and department stores will be decorated with red lanterns and all sorts of decorations.

The lakes are frozen, one of the biggest in Beijing: the Huahai Lake now offers fantastic ice fun.

You can do everything from ice sledding to ice biking. Take a look at the photos. We went there several times. Really great. With a delicious hot tea, it's perfect.

The first 2 excursions with the sponsors also started in freezing temperatures. The first one went to the mentioned lake with 30 women. We rocked the lake :), had great sled races, and then we had delicious food in the temple restaurant.

The second one went to the mountains, outside the gates of Beijing. But this time it was something very special. A frozen river hike along a frozen river. Over 12 kilometers. The landscape covered in snow, always along thick ice. It doesn't get any better than this.

We also had a great New Year's celebration at Volkswagen, for the whole family. With live music, entertainment program, photo points, game stations, delicious food. And all sorts of stalls. We are looking forward to the next few weeks.