Fabulous Friday!

Today was an incredibly nice day in Shenyang.  The skies were clear (finally!), it was hot but not humid and there was a nice breeze.  We couldn't have asked for a better day so by the time Ayi arrived just after 9am, we were almost ready to go outside.  We decided to go to the park in front of Eastern Venice.  Nicholas wanted to bring the diggers and Toughest Mighty Dump Trucks while Ryan wanted the kite.  We brought both.

Ryan trying to figure out how to get the dump truck down the stairs.

Nick The Director

Rocks!  Hooray!

Locals who were watching us...

they came over to say "Ni Hao".

Tiny frog from the pond.  I wonder if they eat these.  It would be like chewing a Chicklet.

I think they were picking dandelion greens.

Eastern Venice

Nick The Photographer

Up to no good

Hun River and south side of Shenyang in the background

Bikers in WuLiHe park

Ryan The Climber

We came back into the apartment complex (having never flown the kite) and I saw this woman roaming around looking up at the pink buildings.  She was obviously searching for a particular one but there are six on each side of Eastern Venice so the chances of me being able to help her were slim.  She had stopped to call whomever she was visiting so I figured she would find them eventually.

We continued walking toward our apartment and as we went around a corner the kids stopped to play in some dirt.  When they did I could hear someone talking loudly on the telephone and looked up to see this woman the balcony of her sixth floor apartment.

As I listened for a few seconds, I quickly realized that the two women were talking to each other.  The one on the balcony was looking down to find the other lady who was looking up at the wrong building.  I went back to where I could see her and waved at her to come to where we were.  When she caught up to us I pointed out the woman on the balcony and the two were united.  It was magical!  I guess language isn't always a barrier.

We came home to have some lunch and a rest then it was back outside for the afternoon.  First to the sandbox.

Then on to our 'woods' and some shade.

We went for a walk to the store and along the way we saw this.  These guys were ripping the styrofoam off this building and it was flying everywhere.  What a mess!  It's so strange how the management people here will spend so much time looking after the flowers, grass and gardens but then allow this to be done.  It looks so gorgeous here until they do stuff like this.  It will be horrible again when there are no leaves on the trees or bushes to hide the garbage.

Ride at the corner store.

Back to the construction site.

The rest of the pictures are of a 'fountain' the kids have found to play in.  It hasn't been looked after and the only water it sees is from the rain.  

I am rather disappointed with how the fountains in Eastern Venice aren't ready to run and in fact only one is actually working.  They all need work and it's really too bad because they are very beautiful.  The theme here in China, or at least in Shenyang, seems to be that they build these grandiose places that are incredibly nice but very few are ever looked after.  Within a few years a lot of them are crumbling to the ground.  Outside our bedroom windows are eleven houses that are part of Eastern Venice, Francis lives in one of them.  I don't know exactly how old they are, but from what she has told me I believe them to be about six years old.  Here is what they are doing to one of them now.  There used to be a wall in that gaping hole.

They had a jackhammer on the roof today.  No one is living in this place (obviously I guess), the one next to it or the two in the very front.  It's a shame to see these houses falling apart.

On a happier note, when we went to the corner store outside the complex gate there was a little crowd gathered to watch us pick out our ice cream and bananas.  That's not the happy part.  The people were talking among themselves in Chinese and I managed to pick out a word - "Mei guo" or 'America'.  I said, "Mei guo? Bu shi.  Wo shi Jianadaren." or 'America? No.  I am Canadian.'  One of them was able to understand so she smiled and told the others.  I guess I didn't pronounce it perfectly but at least she understood.  They then asked me how old the boys were and I answered that one with no problem.  It felt good to be able to use a bit more of what I've learned.  From there on it was more charades to try and understand what they were saying but I'm getting there.

Well, that's it for now.  After a great game of hide-and-seek with Tim the kids are off to bed then we are going to start preparing our lunch for tomorrow.  I have my heavenly massage in the morning so it should be a good day.  Wish me luck with my duck!