lele

I have already been teaching her some German, and a lot of lingo "like, oh my god, whatever!" to say to people being annoying etc. I wonder how it would go if she broke out in some german in response to a question for which the interviewer already had the information? Not a good idea I guess (she knows not to do this), but it sure would be funny!!!

The other two (that I know of): 1. the Hokkien one (Fujian and Taiwan province people mostly) is in Flushing Queens 2. the new and growing mainland chinese one is in the Astoria Area (but this one is only in its infancy). 3. It also looks like there are massive numbers of mainland Chinese moving into Edison New Jersey. This trend makes sense, as it is currently has the highest Indian Population in the US in its boundaries. They seem to be very open to people and have a quite good public school system. Although this is not an area where tourists will want to go, if you want to see a chinese community, it could be worth a shot, especially if you are wanting to make a stop between Philadelphia and NYC (and it is winter time, so one will choose not to go to the NJ Beach as an alternative stop). If you want really good chinese food that is not cantonese style (for example sichuan style) then check out some of the places popping up in Astoria or the one new branch in the old Hell's Kitchen Area (9th Ave between 50-52).

My cat never used to run away either. She would always return within 20-30 minutes. Until that was she was very old and ill. She decided to run away for one time, and her last time. The vet said that she had maybe a month or more to live at most only 2 days before. I think that she escaped into the large wooded area just 2 blocks from our home. No one ever saw from her again. It was very sad for me, I was still in my teen years at the time. However, I now realize that she may have been doing it to save us the pain of seeing her pass away. When I look back, I can understand that most of our mammalian pets are far more intelligent than we give them credit for, and I think that I understood. It is possible that your dogs did the same thing. I agree, I would call people to help, in case this is not true. But, if it is, let the animal go for its final few days. Best.

Hey! That is not exactly true... Little Italy still exists...well, about 2 blocks of it! What is really interesting is the portion of chinatown that is now extending into the lower east side... Oh yes, that and the $10 bus from chinatown nyc to chinatown boston!

from what I have seen in person growing up in and around NYC, there are *multiple* china towns in NYC. at least 3 that I know of. The one you are talking about is that way because most of the people there came from Guangzhou and Hong Kong. There are two others, one is mostly populated by hokkien speaking people from fujian and taiwan provinces. The third, which is still quite small, is populated mostly by people from the rest of mainland china. The people here tend to be the more open-minded, and in my opinion serve the most authentic food (since they do not water it down for western consumption). It seems as though the non-southern Chinese actually have an easier time fitting into american society (although they have been the population here the least amount of time). If anyone knows of one or more chinatowns in NYC that I have missed, please fill me in! In Atlanta, what time and from where did the Chinese immigrate from? From my experience, this makes all of the difference. An interesting story though!!!

1. This is her HuKou (please see the long thread that I asked about changing the hukou for more information on this). It is a booklet which shows the proper location where she is legally registered to live. This should be really easy to get a hold of. 3. In China, especially in many of the non-eastern or non-south eastern cities, the work unit is still the primary unit for conveying legal status. If she is from a large enough city, the police in this city could likely grant you a document which would be sufficient to take care of this. Good Luck!

THis has been a rather tough topic talked about on other parts of this website. I can not remember the threads exactly. However, here is a summary of the ways that I can remember: 1. go to hong kong, trade your RMB for HK$, and then ship these abroad any way that your heart is content (wire transfer, bank transfer, traveler's cheques, etc) 2. go to macao and do the same as above, but instead with patacas 3. go to thailand and do the same as above, except with bhat 4. open a business allowed to do monetary transactions (it must be a business involving both china and another country) 5. obtain a category "z" visa 6. just take the rmb with you and when you get to the US, find some students going back to china and make a 1 on 1 private transaction with them (as they can not easily trade their excess US$ into RMB upon arrival) 7. someone listed a bank in NanJing which would trade them (on a black market possibly??). Be careful, as these schemes may give you phoney money, or may be illegal 8. stand in the airport and offer to (you, the USC) trade them with incoming tourists/business people, offering a *slightly* better rate than the bank (I know in the Beijing airport, there were people doing this). Again, you may want to keep a low profile, as I think it is not legal good luck!!

Well, The amazing thing is that the currency is *hard* for many of the surrounding countries. If you go to Vietnam or Thailand, for example (both are excellent for up to 3-4 weeks of vacation time) the currency can often yield you a better exchange rate than US$! I am not so sure about in the US, but if you know people on short term US Visas heading back to China (like the students on F1's) you can trade with them. Others I know just want to hold it and wait for the RMB to be repegged to the Euro to make a mint off of the switch. Enjoy your travels with it would be my recommendation!

Oh yes, believe me, I've told him this- but I can't erase the image from his mind cuz the airplane crash is just so much more vivid. Amber, You could look up and recount to him the more than 4000 deaths that have happened over the last month alone due to driving in China. It is such a large number, and it is so sad. But, if he wants to get serious about the numbers, I think that you can win the argument. However, I think that the approach I mentioned above would be more fun (the boat followed by the train, one way...I bet he begs to take the plane back!).

Amber -- Just use the cold and hard facts. In China every year, the second least number of deaths for long-range transportation is in airplanes. Trains are better. BUT, busses and cars are far more dangerous, as are motorcycles, and even walking! I know that you have both taken the bus together. This should be a great reassurance to him. Also, if push comes to shove, maybe you can actually take the boat to Qingdao or Yantai and then take the sleeper train from there (at least one way, showing him what a pain it will be to get there, and then he can decide to take the plane back???)! If you want more statistics, I can find them for you two.

Wonderful News. Relevant for everyone traveling for a vacation or wanting to send money from China outside, or when you move on your new Visa. People are now allowed to carry with them much more RMB than before (well, effective January 1 that is). http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-12/...ent_2289356.htm

There is the difference of customs. Puerto Rico is a commonwealth, and hence it is not prevue to a customs check. However, guam is a territory, and hence is prevue to a customs check. So legally, although the difference is small, in this case, it may actually be important! I wish that someone who was really knowledgable about this could help however.

Anywhere that has no immigration ports are fine. Puerto Rico and the 50 states are fine. I *would* stay away from Guam and those territories however!

tong yi!

Rumours are abounding that China will make a move. However, not the floating of the currency that everyone thinks. Instead, the rumors that the econ people I talk with here, especially those knowledgable about the China situation talk about is a re-peg, at the same rate, but to the Euro. This would make sense for them if they were worried about chen suibian, which I definitely think that they are. This is, unless the US can raise the value of its currency. However, with China purchasing so much of the US deficit, I am not sure why the US can not raise its currency. I know that the current situation favors the few who own the exporting companies, but it hurts so many more of us. What do people think of the intercombination of the political and the economic issues? Just imagine how strong of a counterpunch the US would be hit by if china suddenly sold 1.5 trillion US$ into Euros at the same time that chen suibian decided to push the issue. Would the us currency be even strong enough to pay its troops in the field for the next month? I am guessing that it would not. Or, possibly, this is just being used for China's own interest, as they may see a brighter trading future by diversifying their sales to Europe? Again, what do people think?

I just tried to go to the Chinese Consulate websites for NYC, SF, and Washington DC. It seems that they are not accessible right now. Is this some new tactic that the seperatists are using to try to reduce our travel to China? @*! I need to download the visa form and wanted to check on their office hours in NYC. Does anyone have a non-broken link? I even tried the Canada and UK websites to no avail...

Air China allows you to trade your flight date. They say that they charge US$50, but I got the switch for not even 1RMB extra. The only issue may be that they only have direct flights to Vancouver, SF, LA, or NYC (I think!).

It is next to Hong Kong, so I bet that they see a lot of english. Even large cities such a Shanghai and Beijing can not guarantee you delivery if it is in English. My advice to you would be to use Chinese. Also, do not send ANYTHING OF VALUE in the mail, as it may get lifted (and the rest of the package along with it!).

For me, I just have learned to write the address in Chinese characters. I just send it through the normal US Mail service, and it always gets there. It is true that some of the mail people in her city can not read English and even some can not read pinyon. The only reason why I write in pinyon is because sometime the people on the US SIDE want to know where it is going. It always arrives in a short amount of time. If you send it global priority mail (not the next day service, but the other one), you can even track it. Good luck!

What does it stand for? MM stands for Mei Mei (young sister) Well, now I am really confused. Why would one have their 'Mei Mei' (or young sister) bring wedding rings to an interview? I guess I figured out that 'ur' is supposed to mean "u=you r=are", but that doesn't work in the context of the sentence because "you are" has a lot different meaning than "your" (possessive adjective). Oh well. Sorry for my confusion. I hope yuanfen42 doesn't take any offense here. I certainly don't mean any. I just didn't understand the question. I suppose the gist of the question is whether there would be any advantage for the [fiancee] to bring wedding rings to the interview. Answer: I suppose it might show more sincerity to the VO, especially if the wedding rings and engagement ring were obviously a matched set. Then again, it depends on the VO. It seems there is some indication that 90% of the decision has already been made prior to the interview. meimei can refer to young sister, or anyone who is younger and a close female, including cousins, very good friends, or fiancees or wives. However, again, I have the question of a jiejie. What if she is older? (Also, what if it is a male going in for the interview. This is again why I would prefer to use SO.) I hope that this helps! Can anyone think of the reasons not to use JJ or DD or GG accordingly for the proper case??

What does it stand for? MM stands for Mei Mei (young sister) Oh! BUT---what if your wife is a JieJie? Should one then refer to her as a JJ? This is why I much prefer the one "SO" -- Significant Other. Ok, thanks for the explanation!

I am not sure what a MM is. However, let me take a stab at this! My darling and I have decided that purchasing wedding rings in china is a smart idea as they are far less expensive for the same quality rings than on can obtain here. Is this what you are talking about??? Do people think that this will be helpful or even matter at all?

My darling's father wants to go with her to the interview if it is during a time that due to my school I can not attend (see the other thread about that). However, for them both to take the train from northern china (much further and more expensive) we have estimated that the total expenses, including spending 1 week traveling around for two, would be not more than US$700. I do not see the money connecting in the case that you have mentioned. I would also wonder why you have not spent so much time with her. Getting married is a serious commitment! It is quite possible that there are health issues, or that she is from the countryside NEAR nanning and claims to be from nanning. I have seen issues with power shortages, or at least wang ba shortages in the rural countryside. But in cases like this, I am thinking of places like litang sichuan, which is about a 24 hour bus ride from the nearest city which even has a train station. In the end, your heart must be your guide. Do not worry about money. Do not worry about anything. It comes down to trust. The time and the distance can tear apart something which is special. It can also allow more pure intentions to be well recognized. I do not automatically think that she has duped you. I feel it could have been real, but the time pulled you apart. It could still be real, but there are just issues on the side, such as depression or other forces in her life. However, I am really quite surprised that you have only seen each other for 1-2 weeks in the past year. I have tried to spend at least 6 weeks to 2 months a year on average together with my precious while we wait through this terrible process. I talk with her parents and she with my parents on the phone whenever it is possible. We send snail mail and use the wang ba when it is possible as well. I do know that people who have medical situations are often loathe to talk about them or to spend some money on them. Please do look through some more posts about this too. I am not sure if all is lost or not, but if you ask for the money back, it almost certainly will be. I would recommend a compromise instead: offer for her to use that money to purchase you a ticket to come to china at least 1 week or 2 weeks before the interview (if there is time left) for you two to be together. If it all works out, just bring the cash with you to help them to go to the interview. If she can not, or if it does not work out, then it is only some money down the drain. I know, money is hard for most of us (it is hard for me!), but in the long run, is not your peace of mind, your love, and your life worth more? Good luck, and please, do not just jump to conclusions. I would say, you have been in it this far, and take some time to figure it out better. How well do you speak chinese? Have you been learning at all? Good luck, get into the situation and really figure it out, so that no matter what happens, there will be no future regrets! LeLe

The sad thing is that the government *did* list the rules 30 days before they went into effect, as is mandated by law. There is this *huge* document called the federal register. All rules must be placed in there before they can become law. However, most lawyers I know do not even have the time to read and digest the entire thing. What I did was just carefully read the website at the DoS and asked the photographer to take the photos to the specifications that I found there. They were confused, but listened, and in the end, it worked out to be ok (some nations for visas require a litany of things for the photos, and it seems that the US may be one of them).

I am glad to see that they seem to be speeding up. However, from what I have read, I can not understand why they still handle such a small number of applications. If they really have 10 VOs who can give an interview each day, and if each interview takes 15 minutes, and interviews are given for 4 hours a day (so that other work can be done besides the interviews) then that is a total of 160 people a day being interviewed for Immigrant Visas. I am not sure what percentage of this are people going in for marriage based visas, as compared with other family IR visas, H1B or other excellent person work visas, other work visas, or adoption visas. However, I would think that 160 people a day, if they worked for 20 days a week (includes many holidays) would be as many as 3200 people a month. Are there really more than 19,000 people in the backlog which causes a 6 month wait to occur???? I am sure that the current VOs are working hard. And I am sure that if they were given more help that it would certainly help the process. I wish that this could be done. There are other staff in china at other consulates. Could they not just dedicate 100% of GZ to doing IV's and make all of the people for short term visas go to Shanghai or Chengdu? This would definitely help the understaffing issue. However, all of this aside, the numbers seem not to add up to me. Assuming 3200 a month, and assuming that only 20% are marriage based, this would mean about 640 a month, or roughly 21 a day. Are they really interviewing this many people every day and that we just have such a small sample size that we are not getting the full picture? If someone had more information on this, it would be most appreciated. Good luck to everyone, and may those of us who are in love and who are not able to be together, and those of us who are worked hard and not given the resources that we need, granted the extra resources and fortune so that we may all live happier and better lives! Ok, sorry to end on such a sappy note!