A taste of the city we live in

Friends, welcome to Shenyang, Liaoning Province, People's Republic of China. Is is located in the north-eastern part of mainland China. The city is the capital of the province. Liaoning's population is 41 million. Shenyang's population is 7.5 million.

The city is under a constant state of construction. Huge skyscrapers seem to be being built on every corner. The people are very friendly and often call after us foreigners with an excited "hello!" to test their English skills. Karli and I are often called "very beautiful girls" by both men and women.

As you can see, even just walking through a street the crowds are always huge (Dad you would LOVE the slalom walking there - but we would never find you again!).

On Saturday night we went to Government Square. You can imagine the kind of attention nine foreigners all in one place attracted in a city that huge that only has 10, 000 non-Chinese living in it. Everywhere we went twenty, thirty people would just follow us and circle tight around us to see what we were doing. It feels kind of like you are pretty special - a celebrity of sorts.

All in all, it seems to be a perfect city for us. Big enough that there are all the amenities and atractions we could ever need, but not so westernized that we forget we are even in China. I love the culture here and all that I am learning about. Last night (September 18) at 9:18 PM, sirens went off in the city to commemorate the invasion of Shenyang by the Japanese in 1931. What a thing to remember - and for us foreigners to learn about. So important. I just want to take in as much of this experience as I possibly can. I am so lucky to have the opportunity to do this.