Mish Mash

Today, thanks to some new friends here in China, I was able to get my VPN working so I have access to my blog again!  For the last two posts I had to send the information to my Mom & Dad and get them to post it for me.  Not an easy task for them but I really appreciated it!

Now that I can post by myself again I thought I would share some photos from the last few days in Shenyang.

This morning we went out walking pretty early as we are still having trouble sleeping very late.  We ventured to a park about two blocks (long blocks!) away from our hotel.  We had our first experience crossing the street which was a great time!  It's quite scary as pedestrians do not have the right away at any time and you really have to be careful to dodge any cars, bikes or buses that might come at you.  This includes the sidewalk as occassionally they do drive there to get into various parking lots.  You can be walking along minding your own business and all of a sudden there is a car honking from two feet behind you and usually you can't hear them because of all the horn blasting that goes on.  It was all pretty scary but exciting at the same time.  I had to caution Tim as a few times when we made it to the middle of the street and a car started moving he would start to freak a little and say "Oh shit!" and Ryan would repeat him every time.  Anyone who knows Tim will understand this as he is very safety conscious and he doesn't like the idea of risking his life for the sake of going to a park.  I, on the other hand, find it rather amusing.

When we arrived at this park I was rather stunned to see so many people there exercising.  I heard about the Tai Chi but what we saw was beyond that.  There was a playground that appeared to be mainly for adults and they were all stretching on bars and doing pull ups, chin ups and any other kind of ups you can imagine.  There were parallel bars and uneven bars much too high for kids to use.  We only stayed briefly at this part but returned later for the kids to go on a slide there.  What we saw then was incredible and Tim and I had a difficult time not starring.  There was a man on the bars who had to be around sixty years old.  He was swinging around on the bar doing flips and spins and stuff that I haven't been able to do since I was eleven.  Some of it I couldn't even do then.  It was incredible!  I wanted to take a picture but the slide that the kids were playing on was so steep and fast that I had to make sure that I stayed to catch them at the bottom.  Truth be told I thought for a moment about letting them fend for themselves so I could get the guy on video but then those maternal instincts kicked in and I decided to stay and make sure they didn't end up splattered in the Chinese dirt.

There were hundreds of people in that park and some of them were dancing, some doing martial arts and many others playing a game that looked like a Chinese version of hackey sack except that instead of a ball they used something that looked like a lawn dart.  These were all adults, some of them quite elderly, kicking this little toy around and doing amazingly well at it.  I realized then that these are a very fit people.  I had better get my ass in gear if I am going to try and fit in!

Speaking of fitting in, we don't.  When we walked by all these people doing their exerices, dancing and games, we created a stir and had to keep moving on.  People would stop their games to come over and speak to us and coo at the kids.  I take it as a compliment but Tim started to get worried when a big crowd began to form.  He thought we were going to be mobbed.  Everyone is very kind about it but some get a little too close and like to touch a lot.  Before leaving Canada I did as much Mandarin language training as I could and it has come in handy.  I am able to tell people "His name is...He is ___ years old" and I even managed to answer a woman who asked us where we were from.  She gave me a thumbs up for my Chinese language skills and I was quite pleased.  The only problem with speaking the native language is that once I say something, they assume that I can understand them and they start trying to converse with me.  At this point I smile stupidly and just shake my head.  I have to learn more!

In our current, wonderfully cool hotel rooms we are on the eight floor and face a very busy street.  All of us, but especially the kids, enjoy sitting in the window sills from time to time watching all the happenings below.  It is quite fascinating.   At night the place is lit up like you would not believe - the Chinese love their neon!  It is very beautiful and quite a sight to see.

This, if you can imagine, is a hospital.  I think they should do this with the new Truro hospital - it sure would stand out!

When we had our city tour on Tuesday it was such a crazy day that I didn't get many chances to take photos.  Of course, we made three trips to the doctors office which isn't really great blogging material.  I did manage to get a shot of our interpreter and Nick's new best friend, Chloe.  She was such a sweetheart and we hope to see her again soon!

I also thought that I should post a couple pictures of the outside of our apartment building.  I'm not sure exactly which one is ours as they all look sort of the same in this area of the compound.  But you get the idea.

I'm almost sort of sure that this might be our building :)



Today on our courageous walk to the park we passed by a shop that, judging by their window display, specializes in wedding cakes.  Ryan volunteered to pose for a picture.

Also, we had our first visitors today!  Anna and David from Bridgewater stopped by the hotel to personally welcome us to Shenyang.  We had a great chat and a lovely afternoon.

I'm not sure what we will be doing tomorrow but I am confident I will find something to blog about (I'm getting a little addicted to this).  If not I will tell you about the bathroom in the park that I had to take the kids to today.  If only I had taken the camera in with me.  All I can say is that I'm glad I've got boys!

Finally, last but not least, I want to thank everyone for their comments and emails - keep them coming!  It helps us to feel like we aren't 10,302 kms away from home, but more like a mere 7,613kms.

Keep in touch and have a great day!