Broad horizons

I am going to Beijing!!!
It didn't seem at all real until I booked it. It hardly seems real now. It is a real odyssey for my Mum and me. I was born there nearly 36 years ago, and my Mum was only 24. She and my father grew up in a village in rural Nova Scotia and moved to the big city of Halifax and suddenly here they were, across the world in Beijing. Mum and I have been wishing this trip into possibility since I was approaching 30. It seems imperative to make it while she is still living on this side of the Atlantic. You may remember the first troll bead I bought was one called red china, that I chose as a pledge to live out this dream. And now here we are, 4 months to get our heads around the reality. My first step was to book myself into Mandarin lessons! And just so you know, I have no natural gift for languages, particularly out loud! I feel brave and adventurous (oh and scared too).

Beijing_mosiac_2

1. new generation of Beijing, 2. 798 Art District, Beijing, 3. The Kwik-E-Mart in the backstreets of Beijing, 4. Bu ke hui shou wu, Beijing, 5. 北京胡同 - "Hutong" in Beijing, China, 6. Beijing Rail Station, 7. Boat at Suzhou Market Street, Summer Palace - Beijing, 8. Bicycles Over Beijing, 9. beijing- great wall, 10. Beijing Hutong, 11. Industrial Beijing, 12. Beijing night, 13. Beijing - The Loaded Bike(c), 14. busy night of Beijing, 15. Hello Good Morning Beijing, 16. The Backstreets of Beijing, 17. streets of beijing  [2007], 18. Snapshots from the Old Beijing #1