Big and Mighty

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Picture of Dalian/ Foto de Dalian

Any big city you go in China is covered with skyscrapers after skyscrapers. We want to give you an idea of how many and how large these building are.  Some buildings are just like any others.  They are not "special", like the locals would say.  But some are "special" or different, like you'll see in the pictures below.  Living in such  a big city is overwhelming at times.  Especially when we first arrived, everything is in large numbers and it was hard to get use to the quantity of people, cars, buildings and food just to name a few.  Also not seeing the sun at times was different.  Even when it's not clouded in a large city with tall buildings we lack sunshine some days. 

Spanish Translation (ST):

Cualquier ciudad grande en China esta cuvierto con cantidades de edicificios.  Queremos darles una idea que tan grande son estos edificios.  Algunos edificios son "especiales" como algunos locales dirian.  (abajo ay fotos de algunos edificios diferentes ho "especiales)  Viviendo en una ciudad tan grande es agobiante aveces.  Especialmente al principio cuando llegamos, todo es en cantidades grandes como la jente, carros, edificios, comida etc.  Ay dias que no tenemos luz del sol, y no es porque esta nublado afuera, es que con tantos edificios ginantescos carecemos sol en ciertas arias de las ciudad.  


Picture of Dalian/ Foto de Dalian




Picture of Dalian/ Foto de Dalian



Picture of Dalian/ Foto de Dalian



Picture of Dalian/ Foto de Dalian

This is an example of no sunshine :(.

(ST): Este es un ejemplo cuando no ay luz del sol. :(




Picture of Dalian/ Foto de Dalian



Picture of Dalian/ Foto de Dalian





Picture of Dalian/ Foto de Dalian

This would be considered a "special" building.

(ST): Este edificio es considerado "especial".




Picture of Dalian/ Foto de Dalian



Picture of Dalian/ Foto de Dalian

Your not going to believe this but most of the that building is a mall.

(ST): No van ha creer esto, pero la mayoria de este edificio es un centro comercial.




Picture of Dalian/ Foto de Dalian



Picture of Dalian/ Foto de Dalian

Another "special" building.  We don't know what goes on in the building but the architecture is pretty amazing.  This building happens to be around the corner from our house.

(ST): Este edificio si que es "especial".  No sabemos para que clase de negocios usan ese edificio pero si es asombroso.  Este edificio solo esta ha la vuelta de nuestra casa.


Picture of Dalian/ Foto de Dalian


Picture of Dalian/ Foto de Dalian


Picture Shanghai/ Foto de Shanghai


Picture Shanghai/ Foto de Shanghai

We thought this building was absolutely amazing.  It only has 3 wall.

(ST):  Este edificio solo tiene 3 paredes.



Picture Shanghai/ Foto de Shanghai




Picture Shanghai/ Foto de Shanghai



Bingyu Valley

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Pictures taken: End of September 2009/ Fotos tomadas en Septiembre 2009

Bingyou Valley covers an area of 110 sq kilometers (27,182 acres), is located in Northern Zhuanghe City about 149 miles from Dalian City. (where we live)  The view of the place is incredible; the pictures don't do it justice.  It's full of rugged cliffs, astonishing peaks and wide rivers.  They created a theme park within the area.  With zip lines, boat rides and various water games.  Unfortunately, we went on the wrong day.  As soon as we arrived it started raining, preventing us from doing some of the games.  But that didn't stop us from having a great time.  This a great place for hiking lovers.  There's a lot of vegetation, great rocks for climbing, and if you're those types of people that are afraid to venture out and get lost...... there's trails too.

This place is definitely one of those places we would take our family and friends to.







We took a 15 minute boat ride around the area.






It's hard to see in the picture, but there's people standing on rafts.  We wanted to do that but were afraid to fall and that water was COLD! lol

 Ni Hao! Wo jiao Lee Aou Rong. Wo bu zhidao yingyu.  ( hello! my  name is Lee Aou Rong (chinese name) i don't speak English)


 Maria and Tom ( our driver)


 For the record, that boat behind us almost sunk.  People kept getting on after the first 12 people.



 Surrounding area.


 Tom

 What can we say, there's tons of people everywhere you go.  Don't matter where.....

 Uhm?.. Yep, that's Arturo supporting the Chinese habbit of peeing in the bushes. lol





 Those are clouds, it was very foggy that day.









Lunch Date with Kim

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In China, it is a great honor when a Chinese person accepts you into their circle of friends and invites you for a meal.  One day after our very brutal Mandarin lesson my teacher Kim invites me for lunch.  (BTW, I gave my teacher her English name Kim :)
She first asks me if I like see food and being the brave person that I am without hesitating I said "yes, of course".  You see when someone mentions seafood in the U.S. it's the usual, shrimp, calamari, fish, oysters all the well known sea creatures that we all know and love.  When someone mentions seafood in China, surprise surprise, it's not always what you expect.
I mentioned to Kim that I LOVE crab and shrimp, so she made sure to order it for me.  She was very excited  to say, " I ordered something special for you to try".  My eyes opened wide when the waiter comes in with a black prickly thing that was still moving on my plate. lol  If you've ever tried sea urchin you know that it's served alive.  I guess it's the most tasteful.  Kim looks at me with those exciting eyes of hers only waiting for me to take my first bite.  I had this big smile on my face, held my breath (because it still smelled fishy) and went for it.
You'll all be surprised to know that Maria Lagos is still alive after that gutsy adventure! lol
This particular sea urchin was served with soy sauce mixed with ginger.  It's supposed to take the fishy taste away.  Did it work?  Not really.  Let's just say this particular seafood is not my top 10.  It's a different experience when you eat something alive.  All the guts and legs moving is not very appealing.  Would I try it again?  Probably.  Would I cook it at home?  Maybe not.

But overall it was one of those things that you'll always remember and can be proud of trying.





Kim





Doesn't that look just delicious!




Here goes nothing.


My favorite.

Maria or Sha'll We Say Mrs. Lagos

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I (Maria) never thought I would enjoy teaching as much as I do in China.  I finally found my calling and what I'm good at.  I teach English to Jr. Hight students.   I know what you're probably thinking JR HIGH?!  Yes, Jr. High.  Jr. High in China is very different from the U.S.  They are eager to learn, especially from a foreigner.  They feel sincerely privileged to be taught by a native speaker, that they look forward to each lesson.

 I've spoken to teachers from the U.S. that have taught Jr. High and I they can't believe how different Chinese students are to American students.  First of all, most Chinese Elementary and Jr. High students attend school from 7am-5pm Mon- Fri.  Not to mention they have tons of homework that takes them until 11pm to complete.  When I told my class that most American students attend class from 8am-3pm they couldn't believe it.

In class students are very disciplined, they don't speak unless spoken to.  Which can be a good and bad thing.  At first it was hard to get them to participate.  (To this day I struggle but not nearly as much as I did the first day. )  I would think to myself, " are they scared of me?"  "Am I intimidating?"   The truth is they were trained not to raise their hands for questions, brainstorm as a class or do games.  I changed all that within a week and I could tell that it was different to them.  At first I would get the "deer in the headlights" look, but I found that they enjoy American style lessons.
I prepare slideshows and they enjoy all the funny illustrations that I use to get my point across. I can't lie, it's nice to be called Mrs. Lagos.  :)  Some also call me Mrs. Teacher, I'm trying to fix that. lol



You can see  how attentive the students are in the pictures.  And nooo it wasn't just for the camera, my kids are so well behaved. :)












Extreme Scream!

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Pictures taken on October 2009


After taking a nice walk around Xinghai Square we saw this cool ride that just by looking at it gave us butterflies.  The park has a reasonable size amusement park with a few accelerating rides and this ride was something we've never tried before.  We've seen these type of rides in the U.S. but never had the guts to get on one.  We figured since we're in China, what the hell, everything is an adventure.





aaaayyyyy mama!