Happy 30th Birthday to me!

I will start doing random posts from different events in my life. Wow, 30 years! So many memories...how time flies!

Irene, the baby years

This is the day I was born. Haha. I don't really remember what I was thinking that day so I can't talk about it. I was born in Lemoore, California. Yes, Lemoore not Livermore!

I guess my love of Barbies and hippos started at an early age?

My cousin Margie and I love this picture so much because its so vintage! The other people in the picture are my Uncle Mars, Auntie Vangie and my mom! I think this picture was taken in San Diego, CA!

A picture of my dad and me! In Oklahoma..

This is a picture of me next to the building where the tragedy took place in Oklahoma! A bit creepy...but I look happy and innocent in this pic! :)

A picture of me trying to ride my trike...and contemplating and being stubborn (as usual!)This was taken in Oklahoma..

More to come! I'll try to update when I can but I am having problems logging in to www.blogger.com! :(

Happy Day of Love!

Its been a while but I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day! I folded (with the help of Jerry) 100 origami irises in honor of the spirit of love and what it inspires! And I truly believe that "love conquers all." I can't help it! I am a helpless romantic!

Chinese New Year's just passed. It wasn't filled with many people or family but we still had a good time and cooked and ate traditional Chinese New Year foods. There were tons of fireworks!

This was a yummy dinner which contains traditional foods of beans, fish and chicken!

Fireworks from the balcony! Fireworks sporadically going off for the pat 15 days! It sure is quiet now!

This is my take on "East Meets West" holiday celebrations! :)

I have been on a 5 week break from school. Last semester was pretty hectic as I was working past my workload. So I didn't really have time to do much besides prepare lessons. :( They didn't pay us for winter holiday this year (as we are now paid by classes we teach) so I didn't have much money to spend during this break to travel or entertain myself. Therefore, I found free entertainment in the Facebook game, Pet Society. I have learned a lot about my bad spending habits and inability to keep a budget from this game as well! LOL.

I can finally access blogger again. But I've lost the daily routine habit to blog now! :( I'll try to be better about it now. I'm turing the big 3-0 in a few weeks!! Ack!

Back from America!

Do people still read my blog? Haha. I went back to America for 5 short weeks and had a great time seeing family, old friends and traveling around. I went to Las Vegas, Seattle, and San Diego! I also went to San Francisco and Auburn on day trips. Many lives of my family and friends have changed - engagements, babies, new homes. Boy, does time fly! I'm back in Beijing now and the new schoolyear has just begun today! Wish me luck!

Happy Birthday to me! LOL!

Hahaha...Before my birthday (Friday - Leap Day!), Jerry and I shared an "early" birthday meal at Paul's Steak and Eggs! SO, SO, SO, GOOD! I got a Chicken Cajun Sub, potato skins, Jerry had a breakfast sandwich and a meatball sub....MMMM....I wish I brought my camera but I was too hungry to consider that at the time. I live in the 5th ring area of Beijing and Paul's is in the 3rd ring - near the Friendship Store!

On my actual birthday, I went to the HouHai (Back seas) area of Beijing to celebrate my birthday with two friends, Rodin and Corrina. We walked, talked and ate traditional Beijing snacks! Then went shopping! It was a fun day! Then I had coffee, cake and birthday flowers with Bond and Jerry! :) Hey, I should celebrate the whole month! LOL!

HouHai

Aye, to be a child again!

Birthday cake and flowers! (My eyes look sleepy due to some weird skin "chapping" on my eyelids and corner of my eyes! It stings!)

Back from a six month retirement!

Hello again...

What's new since I last posted? Hmm..let me think. I went to Dalian, China (so nice to be by the sea!) in October for China's National Holiday. Then had a series of holiday events and home-parties such Halloween "horror movie" night, Thanksgiving dinner at Paul's Steak and Eggs, "Something Red" gift exchange, Christmas turkey dinner and Chinese New Year's! I'm pretty partied-out at the moment! My friend, Allen, also created "Euro Club" and we had a weekly dinner to practice our Native European/Western Languages. The intended goal was to practice another Western language and not continuously speak our native languages but that wasn't always the case! Its now 2008...and I hope it will be an awesome year for everyone! It really hurt my motivation to keep this blog updated when I realized that I needed to use a proxy to view it...why put a firewall on someone's travel diaries?


Here's some photos:

Dalian, China

A four day tour around the beautiful coastal city of Dalian! Took a rather "rip-off" taxi tour around the local beaches, then went to the Aquariums (3 of them in one "rip-off" package). I really enjoyed the aquariums and was able to see Emperor Penguins and sea turtles! I loved all the animals there! Just wish they had a more natural living environment - unless, of course, they couldn't take care of themselves in the wild. The area were these aquariums were located felt like the Santa Cruz Beach and Boardwalk! Went to the "Golden Pebble Beach" where there is a Disneyland knock-off called "Happy Kingdom." Many people take their wedding photos there, especially at "The Sea of Love" park! Really beautiful stone figures (such as "dinosaur drinking" rock and "turtle looking for son" rock) and blue waters. There was this young-looking animated and energetic lady who was in her 60's! She was MY IDOL! I hope to have the stamina to travel the world, as she is, when I reach her age! There is also a "Russian Street."

"Golden Pebble Beach" in Dalian, China

"Golden Pebble Beach" in Dalian, China

The windmills remind me of a fairytale land where dreams come true and stories have happy endings...

Dinosaur drinking rock

Turtle looking for it's son rock

The "tram" to the "Happy Kingdom"

"Happy Kingdom" - LOL

"Something Red" Gift Exchange

Everyone had to bring a gift that was "red"...

The girls

The guys

"Mini" Growing Christmas Tree

The "second" and "last" time it snowed in Beijing of 2007...

EURO CLUB GANG

There was a mixture of Germans, Chinese, a Canadian and of course, Americans!

I sure miss these people! :)

European Memories from Tianjin, China

I had a fun time in Tianjin, China yesterday. The day started off at
5am and we arrived at the Beijing Train station at 6:30am.Our train
was at 6:50am. We arrived in Tianjin, China around 8am. The train was
like an airplane seating...with row seats and pull down trays for
food, if needed.

Sunrise at the Beijing Train Station

Once we got to the city, we were lost for ideas. We ended up eating
breakfast and went to the Ancient goods area. Afterwards, we walked
over the bridge of the Hai River (literally, Sea River--it leads to
the sea). It was a very charming, European sight with European
architecture.Heavy French influence. There were even little boats!

Then we went to Tianjin's famous restaurant, Gou Bu Li,
which is famous for their steamed buns. Really pricey and not worth
the hype, as it always is.

(We didn't eat at this location though!)

Not just any baozi - it's GOU BU LI bao zi! :)

Here's one of the more "ancient" looking areas in Tianjin.

Then we walked along Tianjin's "bu xing jie"--shopping district--(literally means street for walking to go shopping!). But, its huge and never-ending so they have cars that disrupt the "walking street." Boo!

After that, we decided to go to UBC coffee and sat for a while and rested. (We got train tickets back to Beijing that day for 10:17PM) Then went back to Buxingjie and enjoyed the nightscapes of Tianjin. Very Parisian and Venetian feel.

There was a guy who lit tealights in small dixie cups that spelled out "I (heart) U." Then there were fireworks and some girl got a bouquet of flowers. I think
it was a marriage proposal! Hehe. A romantic setting! :)

We arrived in Beijing at 11PM and took a long "taxi ride" (a Tori Amos
song) back home to Tongzhou (which is a suburb of Beijing). Much like
Folsom is to Downtown Sacramento. The taxi driver complained because it was so far
and he probably wouldn't get any passengers on his way back to Downtown Beijing. LOL.

~`RIP to the 9-11 victims and Addio to Lucenzo Pavarotti~

Alas, a new school year begins!

Tomorrow is the official date for a new school year at Beijing Wuzi University! I am teaching Oral English for both Freshmen and Sophomores ( 8 individual classes total; 4 classes per grade level; each class repeats 4 times) as well as a Reading class for sophomore (non-English) majors. I am a little anxious as to how these new groups of students will interact. We'll soon find out! :)