Beijing and Jinzhou

I'm so excited about going back to visit china. It has been about 4 years since I had last visited my grandmother and grandfather, my cousins, and everyone in the family. It is hard keeping in touch with family halfway around the world but the spread of broadband and the internet has definitely made it cheaper (almost free) and easier. We call each other on Skype, chat on MSN, and email pictures.  However, nothing beats going back there to acutally visit and experience the hussle and bustle of China.  I can't wait to eat all the truly 100% authentic Chairman Mao approved Chinese cuisine like peking duck and pedestrian, yet wonderful streetfare like bottled yogurt and fried "pancakes".

During my last visit, I used up almost a dozen D8 tapes. I wanted to preserve the ephemeral memories, although everytime the smell of the exhaust of a bus brings back images of Jinzhou and beijing. This trip, I got a new Kodak 5 MP camera with 1 gig SD card. That's enough for almost 700 pictures and I intend to fill it up within the first week. That's in addition to god knows how many hours of tape on my video camera.

YAY!!! Only 25 days left until Take OFF!!!

Ok. It's 9:23 pm. The flight doesn't leave for another 7 hours. Should I go to sleep? I don't even think I can go to sleep. Maybe I should watch a movie to relax. No. I still need to pack. Cameras, binoculars, laptop. Is there even an outlet on the plane? Whatever, i hope 3 hours of battery is enough...And I hope i'm not missing anything. Seriously. I bet i'll forget the batteries or the memory card or the charger. Or my brain!!!!! Ok. No. No. Command and Conquer Zero Hour Generals. That's always a surefire way to relax. Maybe i'll play as the chinese general this time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cya in China!

oh, and it'll take 22 hours.
oh and i can't believe how fast 25 days flew by.
and i hope they fit!

We got up around 3 am to drive to Ronald Reagan national. The plane lifted off at 6 am headed for Toronto. We stayed there for a few hours waiting for the connection flight to Beijing. Needless to say, it was a veryyyyy loooonng flight (12+ hours). All I could do was sleep, watch movies, listen to music, sleep, eat, and more sleep.

We finally arrived. It's funny, now that we're US citizens, we had to wait through the slower "Foreigners" customs lane, while all the chinese nationals got to zip by.








And here is our house, on the second floor. It's "historic" (ie. old).









But it is maintained and taken care of with a lot of love.










And this is how much Beijing has changed.  Less than a block from the house, there is this colossal Capital Museum that was built in preparations for the 2008 olympics. It's huge! and it just opened 4 months ago.