Elisa is jumping rope on top of the yoga mat and trying to do a cross jump. She’s getting frustrated because she can’t do the cross and there is a school skill competition tomorrow. I watch her technique and besides thinking she is jumping too high, I have no idea. What do I know about cross jumps. She tries a few more times and the I hit on it - YouTube to the rescue. And sure enough there are plenty of YouTube instruction videos. We pick one. Tights are not good on everyone. The instruction is good, Elisa is rapt with attention, playing parts over and over again. She still can’t do it. She’s frustrated. I ask her to take a break. She asks me if I think she can do the cross jump tomorrow. Yes, I lie. ...

A story about child abuse at a well funded, well known kindergarden chain in China showed up in the western media. Over the course of a few days the story changed from abuse that could be widespread, to a specific school in Beijing, then to a specific teacher at that school, and finally that a couple of parents conspired and made the story up. I have no idea what the actual truth is. ...

I am playing basketball in the All Soul’s schoolyard. Metal nets, slightly elevated asphalt. I am shooting uphill because the rim is better and the downhill side often meant you were chasing the ball. Off to the side of the court I hear a deep recognizable voice say “Allio”. I know why he is there and I am filled with dread. A few days before some classmates and me were “exploring” in the church basement. We came to an unlocked room and looked inside. It had full candy bars and M&Ms. My entire life to that point I probably never had a full candy bar. I took one. The next day I went back and took another. I knew they were not free for the taking and someone told me they were meant to be sold at Bingo night. The was no ambivalence about whether it was wrong, I knew and I still took it. ...

I’m in the Starbucks of Yang’s apartment about to pick up Elisa for a morning performance of Disney on Ice. I text up to see if Yang and the kids want anything. Vanilla Frap for Aidan, Chocolate Frap for Lydia, decaf coffee for Yang, and pita bread for Elisa. I’m thinking this sure ain’t breakfast food when Sabrina says she wants the New York Cheesecake. We get upstairs, fortifications in hand. Talk with the older kids while Elisa gets ready and Yang puts on some pants. Sabrina books a car and we take off. ...

I am standing in front of the hotel check-in counter with my then young son Aidan. I am waiting patiently for one of the two clerks to look up from their paperwork and process us. A man walks up behind my right shoulder and talks over it at the clerks. They look up and one of them gets him his room. The other goes back to ignoring me. I am in line at Starbucks waiting for the cashier to finish processing the previous transaction. A near middle age man walks up, stands between me and the cashier, and starts to order. I tell him I was waiting and in excellent English he apologies and steps back. We are exiting the arena. There are hundreds of people trying to get down the flight of stairs and into the arena lobby. A woman decides to stop in the middle of the stairs and put a jacket on her two year old, slowing everyone down as they try to avoid them. The intersection is congested. A car is blocked by traffic from making a right turn holding up cars behind it. A driver honks, but doesn’t just honk, leans on the horn relentlessly as school children and parents walk by. I am driving and waiting on a long red; testing my patience The light turns green and I get ready to punch it when I notice an e-bike speeding in front of my car. And then another. I go into the Jack Jones clothing store because somehow I ended up at work without any underwear. A young clerk greets me and follows me as I walk into the store. There is nothing flirtatious or about it, she’s just doing her job. As she stands right behind me, and I mean right behind me, as I look at the underwear selection. ...

After dinner Lydia and I are walking to 7-11 for some snacks and she’s playfully asking me how tall Allio’s get. I say, “What do you call a tall Allio? A mutation.” She laughs. At 13 she can appreciate my wit for she has the same sometimes sharp tongue. And I feel connected. When I first started my “kids weeks” four years ago, it was loose footing as Mr. Mom. Or what I would tell the kids “baba ayi” (father nanny). There was the morning rush getting them up, some semblance of a breakfast, and into a car or rickshaw to school. Then home, out to dinner, back home making sure they did homework, endless laundry, then shower and sleep. When the following week came and I sent them off to school I would feel relieved and strangely accomplished. I would have the following week as the “single” part of my “single dad” status although mostly that meant watching TV episodes and thinking about dating. A night out would typically be with one of my few guy friends and involve a beer or two. Then I started dating and had a real relationship. Then a second, which is the current state of things. Now back in the present time, Aidan and Lydia and increasingly Elisa can take care of themselves. I cook dinner for them about half the time, about half the time we go out. It is important to me, as it was to my mom, that we sit with each other and talk during dinner. We have our routines, from pizza party movie night, to utown ramen, to taco night. Lately Elisa and I have been playing Monopoly and Uno. It is now Monday again - I keep the kids Monday to Monday - and I’m taking Elisa to school. We are not talking too much this morning, just sitting the back of our didi (China’s uber). We get to her school and my heart tugs when I say “have a good day, see you next week” and then she’s gone as loud speakers blast Chinese music that I don’t understand. I feel the same when Aidan and Lydia take off on Monday morning for their school. That I will miss them terribly. I no longer look forward to my life being single with a sense of accomplishment, the week instead greets me with a sense of longing and isolation. Isolation because I’ve become more isolated at work being the only non Chinese speaker in my group. More isolated in relationships since the few good friends I either don’t see or they have left China. Isolated in relationship since Sabrina works crazy startup hours and I often only see her during the week when I kiss her goodbye in the morning. They kids have left the house quite a mess. I guess I could clean in. But it’s a happy mess. ...

Yang sends me a WeChat that Elisa’s school will have her participate in some government event this week. I text back that Trump is in town on Thursday. “That must be it”, she says. I am added to the WeChat group with the other parents of the 10 American kids selected from Elisa’s school. There are instructions in Chinese and English including dress code. The coordinating teachers ask for photos of what the kids will wear and we dutifully send. No black stockings for Elisa, white or grey is ok. Some details trickle in - welcoming ceremony, outside of great hall of the people, kids up front. There is no direct mention of Trump. We all know. ...

When I first visited Beijing in 2000 my then girlfriend and future ex wife took me to the Sanlitun bar street. We ordered a beer but it wasn’t just any beer. It was a warm Heineken. And it came in groups of six which the waiter opened at the table. We moved to Beijing in 2005 and the next summer was our fifth wedding anniversary. I was looking in the expat rags for somewhere to celebrate came accross Bar Blu, which was in Sanlitun but not on the main street we visited back in 2000. It was on the back street. Yea. It was empty at 8pm. I really didn’t know anything about going out; certainly not in Beijing. That would change over the next few years as we discovered place after place. Not always Sanlitun, but often. The DVD shop was the starter drug. And even if the night wasn’t centered around Sanlitun if often started there and finished there. Often at The Tree and often on the street having chuanr. We had a gang of folks who went - the steadies of Mike, Charlie, Fanny, Steve, Yang, and myself. There were many additions on any given evening and many adhoc toasts. It was a place of bonding with coworkers. Sometimes it was just a stare from across the room. The Tree was nearly a once a week pilgrimage. The rude waitresses grew on us and somehow treated us well, like a bully’s best friend. We sat near the pizza oven in winter and near the bar in summer. At some point the tree became less interesting and committed the mortal sin of having mediocre pizza. It was about that time we capped off night near our 10th anniversary and I whispered to a young woman in our party “a personal best”. First Floor was a late entry into our Sanlitun universe and was witness to some epic evenings. My brother Don even went there when he visited back in 2011. A lot has changed since then. A lot has not. First floor is where in 2012 I told my two best male friends in Beijing that my marriage was over. One’s response was to go to the restroom and cry. The other said “shame on you”. We’ve done a couple of “get the old gang” together reunions at Sanlitun since 2012. It was fine, fun, maybe healing even. But it wasn’t the same. The crews came earlier this year and tore down all the rogue shops on one side of that back alley as part of the city’s beautification project. One could argue but I won’t that replacing the pseudo illegal structures and businesses with fencing and decorations is an improvement. Like dental floss to a dentist. This past week they came in and destroyed the other side of the street. Sanlitun may rise to see another day. But it won’t be the same. These things never are. ...