Dan R

Christmas in Asia is nonreligous. Asians enjoy a good celebration and merchants promote anything that boosts gift giving and sales. Last year for the first time Christmas was nationally celebrated from Japan to Indonesia (the largest Muslim nation in the world). Of all Asian nations only the Catholic Philipines is Christian. The holiday adds to traditional Year End Celebrations and is viewed as a Western way of celebrating these (with the blessings of most businesses). Anything that boosts festivities during winter is welcomed. What can do this more than bright lights, trees indoors and a jolly white guy in a happy RED suit.

Such a bargain! Don't tell my wife. She still remarks how I paid less than any of her friends. So those of you at this stage do as Lee says. Check with your local health department first. It may be one of those rare opportunities to be a hero.

The SO working later on at a hypothetical job is not a factor. The earnings of the petitioner are, as others have pointed out, a clear cut requirement. This is perhaps the only thing you can be sure of in the process.

Best of Luck!

First Congratulations! I'm glad to here she was well enough to go to the interview. You on the other hand were not since it was your job to bring the evidence Now get to it and submit to the government! I must say I couldn't be happier that we didn't have to be interviewed. Soon it will be behind you and you can geyt on with living.

Be there a terrorist spy amongst us???? China visas would be a sure sign of it Tomorrow we will see how it goes at the Mexican border.

I have always used ketchup in my stews. My stew was a hit with Chinese guests.

Soon you will find that you can never clean enough. Whether it is you, the home or the clothes. \000/ Brudda

It is so obvious who is in waiting Look at your timeline friend. Training is about to begin. So tell us later this summer how many showers you take a day.

Mick you have to stop wearing your wife's stuff

You got it

Mark how are incoming calls? The problem I had with the router sometimes caused the busy signals and a few wrong numbers. It works great now. I'll try it for the next month or so before giving up the land line which costs $8.00 more a month without long distance calls.

I think many of these are "testing the water" or "looking before leaping. Many consider a foreign marriage in the first place because they want security in a China that is changing rapidly and sometimes leaving parents destitute.

Like any world capitol Beijing has a multitude of things to interest. I would recommend you check it out and ask other tourists as well as residents on http://www.virtualtourist.com . It is to travelers what CFL is to visa seekers. I even now have a good friend in China from this site. There was a Shenyang meetup before. Check it out. Jim I'm sure there must be a pyrotechnics company somewhere in Beijing

No problem here. I don't have any. However she was clear from the beginning she doesn't like animals in the house. She does seem to like my sister's dog though. There are times I look over and wonder if she is trying to decide if I belong in the house or outside.

italkbb fixed the incoming problem we had. It turns out that it wasn't their problem at all. It was a problem with the linksys router. Finally with my wife (speaking Chinese) me (able to understand the computer instructions) one tech speaking English and two in Chinese the problem is no more and our phone works fine. For all those that follow this official CFL guinea pig be aware that not all routers support voip. There is however a patch or upgrade on the linksys website to correct it. My router is a version 5 (v5). If anyone has this problem I can now walk you through it. With italkbb you select the number you want by area code. This would allow you to have a local phone number for family in another U.S. area code. You also get a Chinese 17951 number. This is like our 800 numbers whivch do not charge the caller for long distance. The 17951 numbers are Voip special phone numbers. Since you can forward your calls, your SO in China or family members can call you toll free anywhere in the U.S. You can also take your adapter with you while traveling, plug into a dsl or cable router and a phone to use your line anywhere. With the calling history you have proof of communication as evidence when needed. Gee I still can't believe we can stop gathering evidence. Now that we resolved the only problem we had I may soon cancel the old land line. THis would mean that at less than my regular land line's monthly bill we have unlimited two way calls with China in addition to all service the phone company provides.

Now that Ping has the GC in hand she is itching to use it. So, we are planning a day trip soon down to Mexico. Have to break that card in. The funny thing is now that she has the card, the home sickness vanished. Liaoning Sheng is shaping up as a major subgroup of CFL. Maybe some day there will be a Liaoning get together. After all DongBeiRen are a different breed than the generally perceived Chinese culture. Must go back to North and South Dynasties and President Li of the Confederacy

Lactose Intolerance is the more common and well studied reaction to cow milk. Mine is an actual allergy which is less common and my allergist knew of no studies of it. Lactose free milk causes the same reaction from me. Everyone has explained about food allergies. The Chinese system that calls food "hard" is Taoist Medicine which attempts correction of allergies with herbs to acheive a balance witch changes the immune reaction. This is not as effective as the western system of identify and avoid. Many spices are seeds and a person can be allergic to any plant seed.

The adapter is the same for European switching to U.S. so it is a general item. Online you can order the 110 to 220 step down converter. That is the opposite of the adapters you need to use U.S. appliances in China. Check the appliance first though. Japanese rice cookers are often made for both. Now many Chinese goods are starting to also make 110 to 220 volt products as more electrical things start coming from China. Here are all the converters you may want. Be sure to check the wattage. http://www.dvdoverseas.com/store/index.htm...catalog1_0.html or here http://www.welectronics.com/transformer.shtml

Dan...Congrats on your second gold thingie!!! After this post I need 40 more to get my first silver!!...of course, I hope I do not get deleted 209237[/snapback] How many did you say Richard? You might want to recount that. At this point I figure 39

OH MY!!!!!! Did you see that? I just got my second gold thingie on that post!

Ah you switched them to your left hand. A no no in many parts of the world including Asia. I'm left handed so even after eating a meal with chop sticks I'm sometimes told, "too bad you can't use chop sticks.". This happens more in Japan than in China. In China most did compliment my use.

Well here is one more. The welcome letter arrived 4/20. Her AOS receipt date was 12/6/05. But more importantly by the end of the day I will have 2, yes you heard right 2 GOLD THINGIES!

Thanks James! We wish both of you a speedy process.

Well I guess they liuked what they saw because the Welcome letter arrived today. That's right no interview and we are home free for the next 21 months. A piece of cake