China Romance
All About China => Your trip to China => Topic started by: Jason B on January 21, 2011, 05:13:08 am
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Well folks the tickets are booked and may the countdown begin........in 22 days I will be back in Shenzhen via Hong Kong. I will be in China from 12FEB-25MAR. It is a direct flight and my mother is coming with me to attend Xia and my wedding and celebration dinner so all I can say is it had better happen this time. Mum is only staying for the week 12-19FEB and then we plan to travel around China for the remainder of my time here as a sort of honeymoon and to get the last bits of paper required to submit her application for permanent residency visa.
I have the form in at the moment to get a Single Certificate and pick it up on Monday and then I will take it straight to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) to get notarised and whilst I am there I will hand in the paper for our No Impediment to Marriage form to get done at the same time. Once these are both completed it is off to the Chinese Consulate in Camperdown to get Authenticated by the Chinese Consulate. Then I will copy the Single Certificate and email it to Xia to take to get translated into Chinese and take the original with me to China. Then once in China on Monday 14th we will go to Guangzhou to hand in the application for Xia's tourist visa and get another piece of paper about being divorced and am single to marry.
I know it sounds like a lot of running around and it is but after the last trip we are leaving nothing to chance.
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We will be waiting with baited breath this time Jason , so as you have left nothing to chance Sujuan and I wish the 2 of you have a very happy day and a lovely honeymoon , and nothing can prepare your Mum for the hustle and bustle of Shenzen .
I bet she will be welcomed with open arms and wonder in years gone past where she was told all the misinformation about China , regards Sujuan and Robert .
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Aussie Aussie rules
Glad to hear you finally putting your Footy down and I hope to see more pictures of you carrying your girl "a la specky"
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Jason, well it's about time. Good luck and I hope to hear good reports and stories.
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Well the bag is packed, only thing left to do now is check to make sure I have ALL the papers packed in my carry on luggage (taking no chances) for completing Xia's permanent residency visa and tourist visa and marriage papers. I will have no time to do it before Friday as I am working up till then, when I will go straight to mums from work and my brother will bring over my bags. Then on Saturday we will go to the airport to go to Hong Kong. I can not wait. The usual anticipation is starting to build up. I would have thought that after three previous trips that this would have diminished by now, but no and I can not wait to go.
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Jason
I think Xia would remove some important parts of your anatomy if you did not have every piece of paper necessary to "complete the deal" this time !!
Hope all goes well and you can report mission accomplished sometime in the near future.
My plane will be right behind yours I think...but about half way to China, I will turn left for Phuket ;D ;D.....and wont get frozen to death in Chengdu !!
I'm at the moment on a mission to buy bikinis for Ming...what a bloody rave...worse than buying lingerie...but at least I get to have some fun with the shop assistants !!!
Good luck...David
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Fourth time lucky! Best wishes to Xia and yourself on your upcoming trip..........Little red books on the way!
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Have a safe and enjoyable trip this time Jason and we hope to read MISSION ACCOMPLISHED in the near future , and do not forget the photos ha ha , regards Sujuan and Robert.
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Have a great trip and a successful mission.
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Jason,
Best of luck to you and Xia! I hope all goes well for you on this journey for you two.
Dave C
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good for you Jason,,hope everything goes well for you and xia,
wish it was me going to China again,,Best of luck,,regards from MinYing and John.
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Good luck Jason think you have left no stone untouched
those precious little red books are on there way
happy days :) :) :) regards joey and Sophia
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Thanks guys, the waiting is nearly over :). Speaking of the red books here is the picture that we had taken last trip and is going to be used for our books.
I will try and update as I can but we will be moving around a fair bit seeing some of China so the access to the internet maybe a bit hit and miss but I will keep a running diary and fill in all the missing chapters (those fit to print in a G rated website anyway ;)) when I return home.
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Jason,
Update us as you can, when you can. I sincerely hope to get a chance to meet up with you, and anybody else travelling with you, when you come to GZ, if you have the time. I hope you have great success this trip! Good luck and safe and happy journeys!
Dave C
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Hi guys, just a quick update to let you know that I am still alive and enjoying every minute with my LAO PO in China. I know that I have been very slack updating this trip, but I am sorry to say that she far out weighs anyone on here. So I will provide a brief update of the trip to this point.
Left Sydney and the weather was warm about 28-30 degrees Celsius. Just nice and comfortable and upon arrival in Hong Kong it felt like the temp was about -30 although it was about 12-15. Very cold for me anyway. Off on the mini van to Shenzhen and to the Holiday Inn Hotel with mum to meet Xia.
After they met it was almost like I was the 3rd wheel. Insuperable, mum and Xia did everything together and I was the bag holder, picture taker and general hand for them both whilst they did some shopping and looked around.
Then after a day or two we went to Guangzhou and got the final piece of the puzzle a Stat Declaration saying I was free to marry and then to Huizhou and we finally got married on the 16 February 2011.
Then we went back to Hong Kong for the weekend with mum before she flew out to return to Australia. What a first week this was and a happy man at the end.
Back to Shenzhen after another day in HK and Xia and I started going through the mountain of paperwork required to be able to put in for her permanent residency visa and tourist visa. Thank God for Starbucks Coffee and their free wi-fi we were able to complete the whole lot of paperwork minus her passport details. Still awaiting them to get back to us with the new passport, hopefully tomorrow or Monday. Once this is received off to Guangzhou and the embassy to submit every thing and every piece of paper we have. They can decide if they want it or not, but they can never say we did not give them anything about our relationship!
After all of this was completed we decided we needed a holiday so off to Beijing for 5 days, Xian (where I am writing this) for 3 days and then to Xia's home town of Cheng Gu for the weekend and then back to Shenzhen with my new mother in law in tow, she is a little over bearing but we get on fine enough. I will give a complete update on all of Beijing and Xian when I get back home in 15 days time. Boy where did the time go? I have been here over a month already and it still feels like I have only been away a week!
I have so much to add about the trip, but the most important thing to come out of it is IT DID HAPPEN THIS TIME..... :)
Take care everyone I will post pictures and a more comprehensive story when I return to Sydney in about 15 days time........hopefully Xia will be with me with her tourist visa so we can start to establish our family home.
Cheers Jason in Xian.
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Congratulations Jason and Xia, Another happy couple, all the best from the crew down under and enjoy every minute of the rest of the stay in beautiful China, It will pass so quickly, I really hope you have better luck with the tourist visa than i did, Pictures please, keeps all with a smile on or faces when we see more of happy couples in China when we are so far apart from our loved ones, Again congratulations from MinYing and John.
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Congratulations, sounds like you are having a fantastic time.
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Congrat's Jason , enjoy hearing good news from one more Member as always . I guess now your Boat Building will take a time out ? ???
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Congrat's Jason , enjoy hearing good news from one more Member as always . I guess now your Boat Building will take a time out ? ???
Sorry to PUNish you again Arnold, but those lonely nights when Jason misses his wife he needs to either keep at his hobby of boat building - Argonuts
Congrats Jason of finding your Golden Fleece.
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I would like to add my congratulations to you both as well. May you have many wonderful years together :)
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Heartiest congratulations to you Jason , and also to your beautiful bride Xia , from Sujuan and Robert .
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Congratz Jason.
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I remember reading about your first trip not that long ago (September last year maybe?)
It's amazing how your life has changed for the better in such a relatively short space of time and have met someone special in Xia and are now married.
This is a great story that inspires the rest of us. Congratulations and enjoy the remainder of your trip.
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Congratulations Jason! I hope that the two of you will be very happy.
Dave C
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OK guys I have been home in Sydney since Saturday, and like so many here I miss my Lao Po more than anything. Unfortuantly she was unable to get her tourist visa in time to accompany me, but we are still hopeful that Xia can come this weekend or early next week. Still awaiting the passport to come back from the Consulate.
Speaking of the Consulate on the day that we submitted the tourist visa we also submitted her permanent residency visa application. 5 days later she recieved an email that told her that the application had been accepted as a valid application and that she is to do her medical now as this is the last piece of paper they want from us and then to submit the results with her passport to the Consulate. Is this the normal practice and time frame from any of my fellow Aussies? It has us a little concerned; how can she come here on her tourist visa if they want her passport in China? She rang the consulate (a little tip here; do not ring them before 2pm Mon, Tue, Thurs, Fri - no phone on Wednesdays) and spoke to her case manager and the case manager ask Xia a lot of personnel questions about us, my family, work etc. pretty much what David E put in the Requirements pages of the Forum and after about 40 mins of questions told Xia that she had just done her phone interview and they do not require her to go to Guangzhou at all.
This all seem very strange and fast to us, any comment guys? Are we reading too much into this and just hoping that we are processing quickly?
I have attached some photos of our trip that I just managed to save onto a memory stick prior to my computer throwing all of its toys out of the cot. I got to watch the power light slower dim and extinguish itself like the terminator one week before I left Shenzhen to come home. So now my computer has decided that it does not want to be play anymore and is happy just to be a paperweight. I will take it to the shop and see if they can atleast retrive all the pictures of my trip and videos from the harddrive then they can bury it.
Any comment welcome of course.....
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Jason
Your experience with the Consulate is very similar to Ming's...they had her interview done and requested her passport only a couple of weeks after we submitted the paperwork for the Visa.
We have now gone 100 days since the submission, and from some "internet " source or other that she has where she talks to other LP's who are waiting for visa, she tells me that many women who submitted paperwork in December have got their visas last week (both from Guangzhou and Shanghai)....so we are sitting here with fingers and legs crossed hoping for some resolution fairly quickly from now !!!
We did "lose" 10 days of processing time with our holiday in Thailand...so that may have put Ming a little back in the queue....but here's hoping
My Lawyer tells me that their internal "benchmark" is 9 months from document submission...but most applications are taking between 2 and 4 months to process.
In your particular case, I believe they want Xia's passport right now so they can affix her Tourist Visa inside it, and return it quickly so she can come to Aus. At some time later, they will re-call her passport to affix the Spouse Visa...I understand that she MUST be out of the country before they will process the final Spouse Visa details.
Good luck
David
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Jason , as is usual the left hand may not know what the right hand is doing , so they probably do not realise they already have her passport as I bet someone else is looking after her tourist visa , although I was suprised about the tourist visa in leu of a temp spousal visa , but then as we here have confused the immigration system totally , I am glad that we have a smart lawyer looking after us , as Sujuans daughter returning to China confused the issue as she was appalled at the poor teaching in year 10 , so she has gone back to board in an International school in Shenyang , but we chat several times a week and she does have family that she can stay with on a weekend , regards Sujuan and Robert .
Oh and my computer died a couple of months ago and I lost a hell of a lot of photo's so I quickly learned to back up ha ha .
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Well Xia had her medical on Friday and passed with flying colours. The doctor will send the results to the consulate on Monday. We are going to bite the bullet so to speak and take the tourist visa so she can come here next week. The way we are looking at it if she gets the permanent visa soon (as her case manager seems to think) all the better and I will gladly buy her ticket back to China to pick it up, but I do not want us to be sitting here in 3 months time without the permanent visa and saying why did we not use the tourist visa.
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I am in shock.............Xia has recieved her Partner (Provisional)(Class UF) subclass 309 visa already!!!!! It was only submitted on 21/03/11.
We will be making plans in the next couple of days for her to come here permanently.
As I say I am shocked about the decision coming so soon, for all those still waiting I have everything crossed for you and know you will be typing a similar post soon.
I will update on the final processess as they develop.
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Wonderful news Jason , terrific how quick that was , guess that was to get ahead of the next boatload of you know who's , now things will never be the same for Sidney ha ha , regards Sujuan and Robert .
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Another good result posted today. First Jimmy and now readin your good fortune Jason - atta boy ;)
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Jason wow that was quick.Congratulations to you and your lovely wife.
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Great news. I like many others are happy and jealous all at the same time. ;D
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Jason
WOW !! That is really good news and so quickly !!
I must admit to being very envious ;D ;D ;D
If only Shanghai were as efficient with their processing I would be just as happy.....but we wait :-[ :-[
David
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Jason
I understand that tomorrow is the big day when Xia arrives in Aus ???
Hope all goes well and that "tomorrow is the first day of the rest of your life"
Cheers...David
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Dave, you are correct and beat me to posting. Currently 710pm Sydney time and she is at the airport in Hong Kong awaiting her flight. To say that tomorrow is begining of the rest of our lives is an understatement. I can not wait for her to be here finally. I do not know who will get the least sleep.....the one in the plane or the one on land....but I will be at the airport tomorrow
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Party time Jason as your ship has finally come in 8)
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Great that the X day has finally arrived , I am sure that we will all await photo's , when you have time that is ha ha , regards Sujuan and Robert .
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Great. Much joy for the both of you.
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Great News for for you Jason.
But in my usual pessimistic way I do warn everyone that living overseas is not the bed of roses for many Chinese woman that us men think we are giving them.
Chinese are very family orientated, and I mean very very wide family orientated.
They will seriously miss their family when overseas. You call you country home - they call it foreign country.
Many relationships end before getting to the altar this because the thought of moving to another country is the final nail in the coffin.
The relationship was fun in the run up but at that last minute any number of excuses will come be given except the real one and that is they are scared to leave.
I say before marrying make sure that the women has a chance to see your country, your home, your lifestyle. Make sure that she has the money available in her account should she really want to return to China. Make sure that this is there for her before she arrives. Since being here I find that the women often to saved a dollar here saved a dollar there to scrape together the fare home. Yes the fare HOME as some never call their new country home. And in that time they had one gaol to go home. Never telling the man till they had the fare together. One unhappy person in a relationship means it aint working.
My wife did not like UK at all, not many people, the Chinese food available was not real Chinese food, she was unable to cook herself. As Chinese she likes to talk 24/7 if she could. So we had to visit Chinese Restuarants just so she could have conversations with people. But as you all know UK is not for ME. It is not the same country that it was when I was born and which I grew up in.
The women that have returned who I have spoken to have said mainly the man was not who they first thought he would be. Once living together the mans true self came to the fore. Most of these women have had a bad marriage before and they did not need a second one so home they came.
You guys who take your women home have a lot of work to do to ensure she settles in. And the work starts many many weeks before she arrives.
Willy
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Sometimes I wish Willy would not make so much sense :)
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I would be willing to leave Willy the sense if I could keep the dollars, but yes he does have a good word of caution.
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Undoubtably Willy makes some sense with his words of caution.....
But...
There is another side to this coin...
What about those of us who cannot/dont want/will not consider living in China...and there are many reasons why not all of us can make this move...financially/Business wise or emotionally.
What are we to do...accept that there can never be a happy marriage with a Chinese Woman who is far from her "home"...or recognise that there will be difficulty and try to plan and anticipate accordingly ???
Surely, as in all marriages there is a success and a failure rate...we none of us get any guarantees when we set off down the track of finding a Chinese wife....just the same as there are no guarantees when and if we marry a local Woman (as most of us can attest).
I have been over the differences between our Countries with Ming many, many, many times and I know that she only has a vague idea of what I am getting at.
Willy seems to suggest that because of family/language/poulation density and such that we are all doomed to fail anyway.
I know of quite a few Chinese women who came to Aus and were shocked to find that their new husband was nothing like what she originally thought....in fact I know of one woman who arrived here to find her Husband had no job, lived on the dole, had a 1 room apartment and did not even own a bed...and he told her she must go out to work immediately or she would not eat....unfortunately, more fool her for jumping in so quick...and a plague on him for being a decietful slob !!!...but nevertheless, she is now stuck in Aus WITHOUT a return air fare and with a very poor prognosis for her future happiness.
Maybe therein lies a big part of the problem...go to China for one visit, meet and marry a woman, get a visa ...and disaster.
That is why we must make several visits and try earnestly to really get to know each other.....before we make the irrevocable committment.
But win, lose or draw, we can only do the best and honourable thing and try with all our heart and mind to make things as easy and uncomplex as possible, accepting that our Wives will not find integration a piece of cake as the "rose coloured glasses" might indicate.
For me...I would rather try hard and fail, than never try at all...but Ming and I dont intend to fail.
So give us a bit of encouragement Willy and at least acknowlege that it CAN work sometimes
David
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Great News for for you Jason.
But in my usual pessimistic way I do warn everyone that living overseas is not the bed of roses for many Chinese woman that us men think we are giving them.
Chinese are very family orientated, and I mean very very wide family orientated.
Willy
Amen to that :)
It is said that you can get your girl out of China,
but you will never get the China out of your girl....
My first step, with Yan, my lovely Chinese Takeaway, was
to enlist technology. We have one entirely Mandarin (winXP)
computer in our network, a webcam and endless broadband
- so she "sees" her family regularly - most evenings in fact...
Second part was to send her back to China, to visit her family
'in the flesh' as it were. She was enthusiastic about
going 'home' until she actually got there.
It was a 36 hour train trip to Harbin and she was greeted with
-30 degree temperatures. Then the pollution, the noise, the
PM10 levels, and the 1 person per sq M got to her;
within a week she was even more enthusiatic about coming back to NZ.
Third part: to be the husband she always wanted... she was unhappy with
Chinese men for gambling, infidelity and smoking and not treating their wives
with respect. I've not sucumbed to any of these (yet) :)
She like flowers - so we take trips to the local rose gardens...
( Yes, it literally and figuratively CAN be a bed of roses ..... 8)
She like the outdoors - so we pack a tent in the car and stay overnight
in some of NZs national parks (no bears, snakes and scorpions :) )
This (and more) gives her the space to unfold as the wife I've always wanted..
It also helps to learn a little Mandarin ... as a mark of respect... and it gains
the respect of her friends :-)
Next up: bringing her 20 yr old son here...it will give him opportunities
that will not be available in Harbin.. and as Willy says, keeps the family
links .. see the article on Roubinis predictions for Chinas economy :o
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I gota say, after reading Willies post i was worried, even though, like David E, I have talked about this ear ea many time with my wife and she says she is looking forward to the quiet life I still have concerns that it might be too quiet . I live in country SA, a rural setting I have 11 people that neighbour me and the local town of 1000 people is 8 kilomiters and Adelaide is 170 Ks . However after reading David E's post I felt a little more comfortable and then David K's post I felt much more confident. I'm really at that stage now where I like to hear about how other blokes are getting on after there wives relocate. There's no way you can prepair for everything but I go over it in my mind all the time and I am as prepaired as I can be for now, I know all women are different but I would like to hear the likes and dislikes of you blokes wives, it would give me an in site of what to look out for, and the stories are interesting too.
Cheers
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Clayton , here in OZ I like think that we have less hassles than in some other countries , here in the burbs of Melbourne Sujuan has had no problems joining up our 2 cultures and when she is talking quickly in Mandarin to one of her friends she will stop and tell me in English what is being said , from not speaking 1 word of English 18 months ago so that is great .
I would be suprised that even in a town of 1000 that there is not another Chinese speaking lady , I would assume that you have a little land and most ladies if given help will beg to have a vegetable patch in which will be grown lots of vegetables many of which will be strange to you maybe , but when cooked are yummy .
If you haven't already checkout Adelaide's Chinatown as I would assume they have one so you know basically what is there , but your otherhalf will soon find out where to buy Chinese vege's etc , but the 2 things that I have found that they are not used to are freezing meat and not buying vege's fresh every other day which is why I suggested a vege patch seeing where you are .
You may also find that there is a branch of the Asia/Chinese - Australia Association in Adelaide , I will ask them here in Melbourne if there is a contact point , regards Sujuan and Robert .
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Though I unify with Willy's words of wisdom, I believe what he wanted to express is.. A marriage is not so easy and can have disappointments. I think the point to be made is Don't Assume.
There is no way to know for sure until it happens. I see it as a individual issue. Just asking if they want to move to your country isn't the solution. What do you think her answer will be? They all say yes but may not comprehend it. Be prepared.
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Be prepared.
Vince, were you ever a boy scout? ;)
And yes I agree with you that Willy wasn't trying to be negative but just trying to forwarn us, as that is how I comprehended his remark.
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Cub Scout
Same Motto & Oath
I promise to do my best
To do my duty to God and my country,
To help other people, and
To obey the Law of the Pack.
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She's happy. I'm happy.
Is there something I'm missing here?? 8)
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No David, I dont think you are mising something....quite the contrary !!!
What you have described is what I was trying to verbalise in my post.
If we as a husband make a determined and honourable effort to understand the possible uncertainties, language and cultural differences and work hard together to minimise the negative impact, then we have given the relationship every chance to succeed and grow.
There will be many differences where somebody must give way and change, and many issues that are no big deal and can be easily negotiated with some quality communication.
For myself, I know I must guard against automatically expecting Ming to change something just to comply with my view of the World as it exists here in my patch, in my environment and that will be an easy trap to fall into. I must learn very quickly that our life together must eventually end up as a set of compromises between our two different Worlds, then we can BOTH be happy with the end product ;D ;D.
You have clearly adopted this approach in your relationship and good luck to you...I fully intend to try always to do the same.
There are many stories on our Forum where despite everything, things dont work out over the long term, but I also think that as I said before, there is always a failure rate in any relationship...not necessarily to do with Nationality.
I dont have a magic formula to guarantee maried bliss forever...but I will do my utmost and try my hardest to do my bit to make it work...because I have found a beautiful lady, who is my Princess and I so, so, so want us to be happy together.
Cheers...David
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Good on you David E as a little caution will help increase the chance of success. And David K I also agree with David E as you have found your own way to handle the situation. I just think Willy is looking long term, after the glow of adventure living and discovering a new land and becoming more familiar with each other. Every relationship will have growing pains.
But unfortunately, Willy's one advice about her visiting your own country first is next to impossible for a few of us. I know for Canada it is very rare that someone can sponsor a woman to come here on a tourist visa. We also do not have the option of a fiancee visa.
This back & forth between using David E & David K might soon become confusing like following the bouncing ball at the DAVIS CUP
:o
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I do agree that this kind of relationship.Does take allot more work.Than say your average relationship.And it does come with it's own special problems.And you do make compromises.From the way you would normally do things.But at the end of the day it all comes down to the couples attitude.And how willing they are to make something like this work.
Take Willy for example.He doesn't want to live in Jolly old England.And Neither does his wife.So there isn't a problem.But what if Willy's wife wanted to live in England.Doe's Willy kick her to the curb? Or do they work out a compromise where they spend 3 or 4 months out of the year in England.And the rest of the year in China.The only one who can answear this is Willy.And Willy only knows what his real answear would be.If his wife put the question to him.
About 3 years ago my wife came to me and said.I want to go to China and stay for 2 months.My answer was no.I can't afford 2 households at this point and time.So I told my wife give it a couple of years let me pay some bills off.And then we can talk about it.So we made yearly trips to China and stayed for about 2 weeks.She would mention to me.From time to time.That she wished we could stay longer
This year The whole family flew to China on April 16 .I flew back to the States on April 26.My wife and are sons stayed in China Till the 20 of June.I flew back to China on the 16 of June.And we all flew out of Beijing on the 20Th of June.My wife and are 2 sons are laying in the middle of the living room on a blanket sleeping right now.And everybody is happy.My wife got to spend some time with her parents and friends.And I got some stuff done around the house that I couldn't do With 2 little boys.Who think that I need there help.
So it all comes down to the couples attitude.And what you both are willing to sacrifice to make this work.I wouldn't miss going to China.I've ben there and done that.But it makes my wife happy to go.And I only whine for a couple of days.So I go to make her happy.She does things with me she doesn't like to do.But she knows that they make me happy.So She does them.And with each passing day all we do is grow closer together.
If I remember correctly.I think this is what this little adventure we are all on is about.Two people from different countries with different cultures and customs.Trying to work this all out.so both people are as happy as this life will let them be.I've said this many times.This little adventure is not for everybody.If you are set in your ways.And can't change them.Or bend them to fit your girlfriend/wife it isn't going to work.It takes two people.Willing to bend.To make this work.With both peoples attitudes in the right place.
One of the worse things you can do in any relationship is get caught up in the little things.If it isn't the end of the world.And nobody is going to get hurt or killed.It probably isn't worth getting in a aurgument about.
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If you are set in your ways.And can't change them.Or bend them to fit your girlfriend/wife it isn't going to work.It takes two people.Willing to bend.To make this work.With both peoples attitudes in the right place.
Right on Maxx...
And you are in good company.....
Consider the following from LaoTze, some 2,500 years ago :)
PS: The translation is by John Patterson, a New Zealander...
PPS Ever wonder why it takes such a long time to get it right???
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I take heed of all advice here but my responce is mainly to Robert from Aust, I guess the one thing that bothers me is that when Yan gets here she may want to change everything , I'll go out of my way to make it comfortable for her like renovations to the house, i have painted the bed room , new carpet and bed, but i have purposely left other rooms to do for when she gets here so she can put her stamp on the house. I sent her some photos of all the rooms inside the house and a few out side. She told me her house mate laughed at my old furniture, people in Shenzhen have modern furniture, like the TV, it's a big one but not modern, and i explained to her that some of the furniture is family heirloom stuff , anyway i really had my nose put out of joint and thinking that she might want to change it all, i could be wrong, hope so. As for her garden patch well i have on raised garden bed under cover at the back of the house for herbs and what ever and more raised beds out side next to the orchard ( 20 trees ) with chooks roaming around through them so there will be plenty to do for us there i have about three quarters of an acre here. There is nobody on Yorke Peninsular that speaks mandarin that I know but I'm still looking, but Adelaide is only 2 hour drive away where i have a niece who's boyfriend has Chinese origens and they both speak Mandarin, they will be our emergency translators by phone if needed, i have to say, Yan and I communicate very well I think, it's been a long time since we needed a human translator when we QQ she uses Google and I use QQ translator and that works really well for us.
The other thing i have in place is my neighbour only 100 MTS down the road was a English teacher and has offered to teach Yan but i have reservations about that, you see this teacher has a very strong Irish, Scottish accent and i don't want Yan to end up with that accent haha, I love the cute little accent she already has.
So all in all I don't know what Else i can do until she gets here then there is plenty to do. Oh Yeah I've been to China town in Adelaide , next to the market so we'll be visiting there no worries.
Cheers Leeroy
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.......you see this teacher has a very strong Irish, Scottish accent and i don't want Yan to end up with that accent haha, I love the cute little accent she already has.
Ok mate I gotta come in here... :o What is wrong with the Scottish Accent..... :o :o ;D ;D
Nothing wrong with a good old "See you Jimmy" in broken Chinese with the Scots accent...hahahaha
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Leeroy, I too have valuable Antiques in my house. Peggy said, "old furniture." She kept telling me she wanted new furniture and I would tell her it was not going to happen for the most part. I'd be willing to change a few things but not everything.
I though I would start teaching her the value of Antiques but nothing did it more than selling a 200 year old 4 post bed for a huge sum of money. I also own a small used furniture store. Her opinion has changed and now she likes it.
Also, she didn't want to sit or sleep in something my ex-wife sat or slept in. That has been changed.
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Actually Robbie this accent thing is quite funny, Yan uses the google translator so she can hear how to pronounce the words or sentences and of course it's American and the I repeat it after she has said it and I sound different to the translator and it confuses her a little bit so i explained that we say some things different to other countries. I find myself watching what i say these days, like a young kid she picks up on some words very quickly like when I was up there recently something happened and i just said, Oh bugga, and now when any little think wrong happens she says bugga. It's going to be funny when she gets here and says it,
But I'm sorry bloke. i don't want her to change her accent cos i want to be able to understand her haha
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Sounds like you are all organised , the one thing I find funny is Sujuan will on a Sat or Sunday go down stairs early and by the time this lazy dog gets downstairs the Living room , dining room and sometimes even the kitchen furniture will be moved around , I just go with the flow happy wife = happy life , regards Sujuan and Robert .
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Leeroy, I too have valuable Antiques in my house. Peggy said, "old furniture." She kept telling me she wanted new furniture and I would tell her it was not going to happen for the most part. I'd be willing to change a few things but not everything.
I though I would start teaching her the value of Antiques but nothing did it more than selling a 200 year old 4 post bed for a huge sum of money. I also own a small used furniture store. Her opinion has changed and now she likes it.
Also, she didn't want to sit or sleep in something my ex-wife sat or slept in. That has been changed.
Shaun , this brings up .. what I showed to my LaoPo . I have valuble Hockey Cards/Set's worth in the $1000's and besides 90% of all the Beatles LP's in good shape .. Qing looks at them like you said .. old and useless . Hahaha .. no wait a minute ! I should cry , what after I'm gone .. she'll throw them out or give them away to someone willing to gladly take them of her Hands with a big smile and running to the Bank . :'( We do must teach them , this is NOT China and we do pay dearly for "OLD" stuff .. as crazy as it might seem .