Oma und Opa sind da !

I know I have been lazy lazy lazy... and haven't written for a long time. However, today is a special day and I have to tell you about it. Why? .... because Oma und Opa sind da !

Yes, I am very happy because, even though I see them very often on Skype, we hadn't been together since last August before we came to Shanghai. I have to confess that when I saw them coming into the house I was a bit shy but... after a short while, I really enjoyed throwing myself into Opas' arms and laughing when Oma started pulling funny faces. Of course, needless to say, I have also enjoyed all the toys and presents they have brought from Germany !

Oma and Opa are going to stay here in Shanghai for 3 weeks so we are going to have plenty of time to do many exciting things together. Now I am going to go to bed because is late and I am a bit tired after a day so full of emotions. I need to load some energy to ask them so many things ! about uncle Klaus, auntie Jessica and my cousin Marcel... uncle Herbert and the snow in Pirk.... the little duckies at the See Cafe in Neumarkt....

Off to bed now but I just wanted to tell you how happy I am. It has been a long time but, in a way, I feel is as if we had been always together. Oma & Opa, I love you very much.

Temples

It is not the first time I visit Chinese temples but I have never seen them as beautiful as in Taipei. There are a lot of interesting things going on in Chinese temples...

First: you can find them everywhere. I mean... some of them are really really big but you can also find small temples in every corner.

However, both big and small ones have several things in common: they are beautiful, there are a lot of people praying and... there is a funny smell all over the place (mom & dad said it is incense!... well,... I can't know it all, right?).

It is funny because in Spain and in Germany when people go to church everybody is very quiet but here it seems to be a totally different experience (except for the incense). People move around all the time and they gather in groups to talk all the time. I kind of like it because, as lately I am pretty much into screaming, I was not that loud after all.

People run around with those incense sticks between their hands while they pray, they buy beautiful papers with nice golden pictures and (take this) they burn them !!!!

Another interesting thing is that temples are the houses of many different Gods so, in a way, is as if there were many temples withing the same temple. That's probably why people run around with those sticks from one place to the next.... because they have to go and say "Ni Hao" to all the Gods, otherwise... they could get upset.

Here you can see me with papa in one of the corridors of the Baoan temple. I really liked this one because it looked very old. You can see the different rooms for each of the Gods and some of the people with the incense I told you about.

Very close to the Baoan temple is the Confucius Temple. It is not as busy as the other one but I also liked it very much because it was very simple and nice.

Papa told me later that this Confucius guy was a very spiritual guy who liked to live with little. I couldn't help think of what face would this Confucius have if he opened mom's wardrobe !!! He would certainly agree with dad's comments about the 5000 handbags :-)


Here you have another nice picture of dad & I at the Confucius temple. Isn't the bell cool? not that they let me play it but I think that, considering how big it is, its sound must be nearly as loud as my screams !

So, what do you think about our temple tour?

This is one if the things I have enjoyed most during this trip but... don't you think this is all we have seen ! there is much more to come and I will continue writing tomorrow.

Good night !