Julie Yu, from Korea. 

Mother of two beautiful kids. 

Julie Yu，韩国人

两个宝宝的妈妈

My husband, Lewis, is Chinese and we met in Vancouver, Canada when we were both 20 years old.  

Lewis是我老公，他是中国人，20岁的时候，我们在温哥华相遇。

At that time, we were attending the same ESL schoo land none of us could speak English fluently. Yes! How did we communicate each other, then? I don't remember exactly, but I don’t remember having problems either.  

我们读同一所大学，不过我们的英语说的都不是很好，那么我们是怎么交流的呢？我也记不清了，但语言并没有妨碍我们交流感情。

But, I do remember his first words to me very clearly.

"你喜欢吃苹果吗?"

Of course, I had no idea what it means at that moment.

He then said it again, and eventually I could guess what it means.

"Would you like to eat an apple? 

我还清楚地记得他对我的第一句话。

“你喜欢吃苹果吗?”

那个时候我当然不知道这是什么意思，一头雾水。

然后他用英语说了一遍，我大概明白他是什么意思了。

"Would you like to eat an apple? 

Later on, he explained why he spoke to me in Chinese. Turns out he grabbed an apple to give to me from his homestay, and he practiced a thousand times just to ask me that simple question. He was so sweet… and he still is today.

后来，他跟我解释了为什么用中文跟我说了第一句话。当时他从寄宿家庭拿了一个苹果，练习了无数次第一句话。就这样，我们度过了五年的甜蜜时光。

Five years later, my parents called me and told me to come back to Korea. I could not leave him alone in Canada, so we went to Korea together. We got married. We had a daughter. Four years later we had a son. Today, we are the proud parents of an 11-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy.

有一天，我父母突然叫我回韩国，我不能让他自己留在加拿大，所以，我们一起回了韩国。后来，我们结婚了，有了我们的第一个女儿。现在呢，我们的大女儿11岁，小儿子7岁了。

Around 10 years ago, I came to Dalian with my husband and my daughter for the first time. My daughter was only 4 months old then. We lived near Zhongshan Square. We’ve made lots of memories during the years of our stay. Zhongshan Square is my favorite place in Dalian; it is beautiful with its trees and pigeons in the summer, and it always is a romantic place with all those lights and old buildings around the square at night.

十年前，我和我的丈夫还有4个月大的女儿一起来到大连，当时住在中山广场，在那里我们留下了许多珍贵的回忆。

During that time, however, I didn’t have many friends.To tell you the truth, I was very lonely. I could only take a walk and wander somewhere whenever I felt lonely. I didn’t have any real contact with anyone because I could not speak English well. And that lasted until about three years ago.

其实我的朋友很少，甚至，在这里我感到有些孤独。因为我的英语说得不是很好，闲暇时光我只能到处走走。中山广场是我最喜欢的地方，夏天那里很漂亮，树木郁郁葱葱的，广场还有很多鸽子。尤其是在晚上，老建筑在灯光的映射下显得十分浪漫。

In 2014, we left Zhongshan Square and moved to Kaifa Qu. We brought with us all the memories we made there, and we have no intention of forgetting any of them. Deep down, I still love the place where I used to live, but things are getting even better here eventually. Now, I think I know more places and have more friends than my husband does. My Chinese is also getting better so I can communicate with him and others in Chinese. Things are falling into place for us.

2014我们搬到了开发区，但相比之下我还是更喜欢中山广场。现在的我，知道的地方比我的丈夫要多，认识的朋友也比我丈夫多，而且，现在已经能用中文和他交流了。

Today, Dalian is like my second hometown. My husband, my kids and I; we all have made lots of memories here as a family. Dalian is a place that I won’t ever forget, and it is a place that will forever be in my heart. If there’s one statement I have to make for this city, I’d undoubtedly say: “I love Dalian”. 

大连就像我的第二故乡，我和我的丈夫，包括我的两个孩子都对这里有着美好的回忆，最后呢，我想说，我爱大连。