Battered and Tired in Beijing

We are operating on more than 24 hours without sleep. And in amongst the 6800 miles travelled we have already consumed copious amounts of noodles, brothy soup and everything else they offered on the plane; enjoyed a very late night traditional Beijing dinner with our colleague and his friends and settled into our very touristy hotel. Before turning in for some much needed z's I wanted to post something short. To my surprise (or not) our free Internet does not necessarily mean free access -- Google and Facebook are being selectively blocked. Luckily I am married to a tech wiz and we have a work around. 

The size of Beijing is unfathomable to me; the 40 million population of the city exceeds that of my own entire country! First impressions: a crush of people everywhere; towering buildings lit in vibrant colour - purple, pink, neon green; western labels - Tiffany, Calvin Klein, and food chains - Pizza Hut, McDonald's, Starbucks -  screaming into the night. KFC rules here, as does Porsche, Audi and Mercedes.

As we circled the airport there was an unmistakable odour of heavy fuel fumes; this smell intensified when we disembarked and began the hour and half foray into the rush hour traffic to get to our hotel.   The sky is coated in a thick layer of haze -- and how could it be any other way with the sheer volume of vehicles on the road.

I taste-tested pretty much everything this evening -- and enjoyed about half of it.Not a fan of the corn starch like thickener used in the soup and sauces nor the organ meat. But the fish was delicious and the tiny little pork balls weren't bad either. The traditional schnapps (my word) tasted like tequila but we used it for toasting so I was a trouper.

Off to bed as we will be early to rise. We are off to see the tourist sites - Tienanmen Square and the like - but I think we will fore go the traditional rice porridge and get a western style breakfast to start the day and then wing it the rest of the day. 

I am a pitiful tourist who can't pronounce "thank you"  xia-xia worth a dang!

Night folks.

China Bound

I'm packed and excited for our trip - despite the expression reflected on my Chinese visa. I am travelling heavier than usual with luggage loaded with gifts of of Nescafe, mini Appleton rums, 5 pairs of red Olympic mittens and  several tetra paks of Pinot Grigio (for me),  winter clothing: boots, scarves, hats and work out gear. I slipped the glass bottles of rum into the shoes. We have cashews, raisins, craisins, granola bars, almonds and even a jar of peanut butter in case the exotic food fare doesn't go over well with hubby.

I didn't tell him but I slipped a set of cutlery in amongst my pj's to carry in my purse just in case the chopsticks don't deliver for him. So now all I have to do is get a good night's sleep and wake up for our great adventure to China. It's a 13.5 hour flight; just enough time to watch a few movies, finish a book, brush my teeth a few times (thankful I got the root canal this week instead of waiting for a crisis), devour a few of those culinary delights the airline serves and maybe catch a few z's. 

So stay tuned for my posts from Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai. I predict lots of pictures of food! 

Have a Heart

Valentine's Day has never been a huge deal for hubby and I -- well, maybe not since the first one we shared, when we looked for any excuse to impress one another. These days we don't like being  hostage to Hallmark and pretty much wing it on a year by year basis. There was the year hubby made me breakfast "to go" - complete with heart shaped toast (hand cut); and then the time he researched on the Internet how to make tissue paper red roses; and then of course one of the best -- when he turned his skills inward and developed a customized electronic Valentine's Day card complete with animation, music and pictures. Did I say that we didn't care about VDay?

This year's version was a funny card with a sweet message tucked inside my work tote. When I spotted it there this morning as I was about to fly out the door, I couldn't contain myself, "cr@p!" I forgot completely about VDay. As I compiled a mental list of why it was ok to forget -- we don't care about it anyway -- I frantically searched for a pen that worked why do we keep pens that don't work??? and used the envelope from his card to scribble out my own version of romantic. I think I may have used too many hearts and happy faces, and xxx's and ooo's but what the heck - it was a VDay message.

But at the end of the day, I stand by my claim that expressing love, doing those dopey mine, cute his little gestures, and making the one you love feel special, is something that we should try to do in our daily lives together regardless of the Hallmark holiday.

That being said, I bought hubby a chocolate cupcake and tried to earn back some brownie points. Chocolate makes him very happy! And nothing says I love you like chocolate.

The Gift

They were waiting for me when I got home from work yesterday - propped  precariously against the front door. A birthday gift for Kidlet - or so I thought. The note taped to the plastic sleeve was addressed to me so I carefully peeled back the tape, released the bouquet from its wrapper, and opened the card. It confirmed that the flowers weren't for Kidlet -- they were from Kidlet.

She gets it. So on the twentieth birthday of my youngest daughter, I received a precious gift- and not just one that is fragrant and flower-full. She is learning the value of giving and gratitude. And for that I am very grateful.

Birthday Buddies

February 9th is an important date in our family - the biggest birth-day of all. My mom, sister and I all had babies on February 9th - and my other sister was born on that date. What are the odds? They say things happen for a reason, and although I haven't figured that out yet, I do know that it is a pretty cool club to be in! Happy birthday dear loved ones! You are in good company.

20 and 25 - TODAY!

Birthday Buddies

Surprise

Surprise! She's a beauty... comfy grip, light, and all shiny brown and black. But the best part is her inner beauty. She focuses in an instant, operates in candlelight, and captures live action in high definition. Hubby sensed my disappointment with my current cameras, both of which are in various states of unreliability, (maybe my teeth gnashing and shrill anguished shrieks tipped him off), and remedied that situation with a "new baby".
And  I LOVE it. I've already pranced around the entire house snapping shots of everything that filled the viewfinder - flash, no flash, close up, long shots. Finally some depth of field.

It's an early birthday present and Hubby assures me that he got a great deal. Oh how it warms my heart to have the love of my life acknowledge something that is so important to me. And oh the pictures I will take - in China, and for years to come. Maybe by candlelight.

How lucky am I? The luckiest. Case closed. And for that I am eternally grateful.

Get the Picture?

I was the kid who kept mementos from my "firsts"; stashed keepsakes in shoeboxes; and pressed shamrocks and wildflowers in pages of books. I saved the label from the bottle of musk oil from my first boyfriend; the notes I exchanged with Jilly during English class; the corsage I wore to prom and pictures of my pregnancy tests.

From an early age I had the urge to preserve artifacts from and document my life. And from the very first moment my mom tossed her Brownie Hawkeye camera my way, a whole other world opened up to me. Instead of standing awkwardly in front of a camera trying to convert my smirk into a smile - on cue (which I never mastered - despite the countless hours of practice!), I called the shots looking down into the viewfinder of that box camera. I shot roll after roll, sending the film off to far away places and waiting weeks to receive the blurry fruits of my labour in the mail. I was hooked. I became the documentarian of our family and they were willing subjects. My camera became my closest ally - capturing moments, expressions, and milestones to be shared and savoured again and again. No judgement - just the truth.

When I was thirteen I handed my dad two years of babysitting money ($315) so he could buy me my first SLR in the big city while he was on his business trip. My Fujica ST701 was a heavy beast but she came everywhere with me - work, school, walks and every family occasion and she helped me fill countless shoeboxes and photo albums with snippets of my life. Ironically, when you document your life, you are conspicuously absent from the story. But it is where I chose to be. I viewed many important moments through the eyepiece of a camera.

I think I have always understood that his life with which I have been be-gifted is just that - a gift of a lifetime; the length of which is undetermined and in which the possibilities are infinite. I am a tourist, seeking out the highlights and bright spots as well as the lessons and messages scribbled on faces. I enjoy those lazy afternoons or night hawk capers when I  break open those dusty shoeboxes and release the past as the audio track runs silently in my head  - the gifts that keep on giving. And  I am grateful for the inner pack rat and hoarder that drove me to collect, document and preserve these precious nuggets from my life. And it continues ... get the picture?