Beijing is a wonderful place to live… for the most part. If we are being honest with ourselves, living in Beijing, especially in the first few months after moving here, can be a bleak, waking nightmare. Okay, maybe not as bad, but it can be a little annoying or frustrating.
The issue of a language barrier aside, Beijing throws up a few barriers in the way of socializing. If you were once a social butterfly back in your home country, Beijing at first, tries to stamp it out of you by starving you of opportunities to be your best social self. People work incredibly long hours, Beijing itself is a mammoth city so even if you and your friend happen to be on the same schedule, you might not be in the same area code to take advantage of it.
That is, of course, assuming you have friends outside of your immediate family and Ayi. And no, your work colleagues who constantly drag you to drunken KTV nights don’t count. Until the gods of social luck smile on you, you might be stuck in the house ordering Waimai trying to think of ways to amuse yourself outside of a movie on Netflix.
However this city is bursting at the seams with places to go and things to do. Even though it might take a few tries, you are more than likely to find a tribe of sorts with similar interests, who can help you explore and expand your repertoire. Failing that, you can take the same approach that Nadia Learned and many other expats in the city have taken, and create your own.
Though frankly, if you have the winning combination of fine art and fine wine like Learned does, I struggle to imagine why you would wander elsewhere.
Learned is the mastermind behind Sip-N-Paint, a group of folks who gather together on a regular basis to chat, paint, and enjoy a glass of vino, with beautiful results at the end of the day. We spoke with Learned about how she combined her passion for painting with her love of fine wine, and fostered a tight-knit community in the process.
How long have you been in Beijing and what initially brought you here?
This is my forth year in Beijing. I came here to teach art in one of the international schools.
What was the social scene like in Beijing for expats such as yourself? Was it easy to find social groups you could be a part of with people who shared the same interests as you?
Being an expat, a stranger, I found it was not easy to find a group of people who shared the same interests as me. It’s not the same as in your home country. Plus, most people who came here to work usually have no time to search. As a result, the circle of their communication is limited to the circle of their coworkers and having a beer on Friday nights is the only highlight of the week.
What was the initial inspiration behind Sip&Paint?
I think the initial inspiration behind Sip&Paint was the idea to create a place where expats could do something else. It’s true that after a busy week, people want to relax. During the Sip&Paint event, people can relax, meet other people, have a glass of wine and create a painting.
How are you able to find the artists that you work with for your ‘social club’?
Since creating a painting is a guided, step-by-step process, everyone can succeed, without a need of having any previous experience or an art background. And this is the beauty of it. People, who have never painted before, create a painting in three hours. It raises their self-esteem. I didn’t expect it to be quite so effective, but it really works as an art therapy of sorts. I am pleased to see when people are happy with their results and say how many positive emotions they are enjoying.
How has the group evolved between when it started and now?
We paint pictures by different artists, but the most popular [seems to be]paintings depicting China, and in particular, Beijing. This is understandable; people want to keep and want to memorialize the city in which they will spend a few years. Even though it’s not easy to paint architecture in three hours, we manage to get it done.
What sort of people attend the event?
These events attract a wide variety of people, mainly expats of various professions. Teachers and students, engineers and diplomats, stay-at-home moms and couples. This event is slowly becoming a place where they can all can connect and let their hair down.
Tell us a bit about the parent angle. How have you been able to open it up to kids and their parents and make it a family-oriented space?
Recently, more and more people ask if they can come with their children. Of course, three hours of painting is not an activity for younger children, but starting from 11 years old, it works to be an enjoyable activity. I have moms coming with their children, as well as entire families. I would say, that would be a place for parents to bond with their moody teenagers, but I will admit that is not always easy.
Photos: Courtesy of Nadia Learned
