Dan R

I haven't done that but I've heard people say they had a great time with it. Public or private school? I have also heard some bad stories of teachers who get placed at poor quality schools. Back in the 70's I taught ESL in Japan to all ages and in different schools. It was a wonderful experience.

We were born guys Trigg, I don't think there was ever a chance for us. Fate, man or ming if you prefer the Chinese.

I just realized, that what she asked for a couple weeks ago, she may have been expecting to receive on Valentine. Anybody have extra room in their dog house?

The traditional day for lovers in China is 7/7 on the Chinese calendar. The tradition has an interesting legend attached to it. You can learn about it by searching on line for chinese valentine. I have been sending flowers to her on that day. It is not widely celebrated today but I liked the story about seperated lovers. That is a theme we can all relate to, right? You can find ecards for it online also. For flowers and proper holiday gifts I have found http://www.chinaflowernet.com/index.htm to have excellent service. They will send moon cakes to the family at mid-autumn holiday. I have had deliveries sent to rural areas as well as the cities.

I use Guaranteed China Express out of LAX. For air letter you are doing fine with that price. Packages are where the savings are with this service. Just check around SF Chinatown. I'm sure they would have something like this there. If they don't you can show how you checked the prices and used the cheapest. Good husband material, she'll be proud. B) I was told to stop sending packages because the things are cheaper in China, oh well. . Although she just sent a request for something she needs while she waits there.

Check out courrier services if you live anywhere near a Chinatown. I am sure they will have a Chinese service. I use one in Monterey Park. Costs 60% less than USPS and guaranteed delivery in 5 days anywhere in China. On Chinese holidays they give 10% off.

Officier, it was posted by the other guys. No they don't represent me. i would never say anything like that. Besides I am grateful for the ease and speed of this process. You have made this completely stress free and I am amazed at how well my tax dollars are being spent. Did I mention how much safer I feel at home because of how well our borders are controlled? Can she come over next month, please?

Imagine if any of what is required of us was required for 2 U.S. citizens. this would either be the last generation of Americans or there'd be a revolution

If you have a tax service do your taxes they should have it in the computer. For future reference you are required to keep any tax records and supporting records for 7 years in case of an audit. For your W-2 record you can request to your employer who also must keep employee records going back 7 years. At work I am getting files out of storage because an employee is being audited for the 98-99 tax years.

Congratulations Phil and Jiening!!!!! Welcome home. Try to explain that it doesn't always rain here.

To Whom It May Concern: I have submitted this petition because I wish to marry _________ and reside together in the United States. We have waited for this interview since _____ and now our fate is in your hands. Please grant ___________'s visa so he/she may enter the United States for the purpose of our getting married within 90 days of his/her entry to the country. Thank you for your assistance in bringing us together. Sincerely, Ok I am sure everyone noticed this is not an easy letter to write. All the expletives you are thinking as you write it must not make their way into the letter. What is said may seem obvious but this is government formality. The papers say a letter of intent and if you forget to dot an i the whole process is invalid. Also this is the part where they make sure you are not doing this for illegal purposes. If you say your intent is to import a man/ woman for the sex slave market in order to retire with the money or you write that you and your spouse are bored with each other and need a third to spice things up or you own a garment factory and good workers are hard to find, then you are likely to be denied. So once more control the rages and be good. This is the last hurdle before you are together. Don't blow it (the recent letter of intent is part of the screening process in case you forgot to cancel the petition when you got married last week in the U.S.). Once this is finished you move on to "what can they do now to drive us c razy, since we are now together in the U.S." as seen in many posts by senior members here.

Answer a question with a question. What's wrong with that? Are you sure she isn't from the Chinese Jews of Kaifeng? Seems like a reasonably clear conversation to me. Maybe I wont have such a hard time after all.What do you think? Trigg has been gone awhile, should we try to rescue him?

Trigg have you ever thought of applying for work with the diplomatic corps? Now I'm doubting if I should use your famous response to why I didn't wash after pissing. Ok now you're acting like our leader. Even at our ages you mean we can learn new tricks? You really didn't say anything? Even after you got home? Seems training is setting in. Has she ever studied Pavlov's experiments?

This is really good to hear. I have heard so many people who had their in laws refused to visit. Maybe things are improving. I know the Shenyang consulate is now approving tourists and business visas which they had nearly stopped for over 2 years. Later I hope we can have her young nephews visit for a summer.

So the problem with marrying in the rooster year is that the bride will be a widow? Seems for most of us that may mean good luck. Like me I see that many men in here are a tad (ok a mess of years) older than their intended. I guess our ladies have managed to turn a curse into a blessing. This assures they will live long. They wont have to worry that there wont be someone around to care for us in our dotage. I think this is a lucky Li Chun year. So tell your fiances the good news. Trig how do you like that for rationalizing.

Good luck old man. I think I'm starting to get a vision of next year Chinese New Year.

It is easy to gloss over anyplace by ignoring what is around one. Happiness is more from the little things. China is in change and it should be interesting to watch. By marrying us our spouses have increased their options and we have too. I know I am anxious to begin exploring the possibilities. Growing up as a minority in America, I don't see a whole lot of difference between the countries as Rup describes. I'm glad to say things have improved from that stand point but unemployment and low wage jobs are increasing in America while China is showing improvement in that (yes as the economy changes job displacement is a real problem). Perspectives differ but everyone hopes for a better future.

We have talked about this a little in case we have children. We both feel at least the early schooling should be in China. We are hoping to set up a lifestyle that will allow us to live on both sides of the Ocean. A bilingual family gives a child a great development boost. Multi language ability is important in the global society of today. I suspect the child will have the two most important languages in the world of 20025. Now how do I encourage learning Spanish?

Congratulations to both of you and Best Wishes. What a way to start the New Year. Don't count on her liking the local grocery store. If it is like here in L.A. they can't match the prices and selection of the Asian market.

of course that's the middle of the month on the chinese calendar right? So where does it fall on the Julian calendar? Did she say April or the fourth month? That would be may on the Julian calendar. Luckily I am not superstitious. However we may have a problem keeping dates straight. I will celebrate New Year in October by the Jewish lunar calendar. She will celebrate it in February or there about and we both use the Julian calendar for scheduling. This will take some careful planning. And we did make plans last year.

What if the bride's year is Rooster. Does that make a difference?

I always use Korean Airline, also a partner with Delta. It arrives at the International Terminal along with the Delta, AA and United International flights. You must go to the International terminal. You will find everyone waiting at a ramp that exits from customs. There you will watch her coming out and be near the front of the crowd so you are ready to take her bags. You can wait for a shuttle at the bus island in front of the terminal or if everything is on erollers just walk it. It is a long walk though. If you can handle the walking and carrying she can too I am sure. Walking carrying and waiting in lines is not unusual for Chinese. When I have been there Ping parks me outside the crowd and takes care of what ever. She is much better at navigating crowds than I. Lines??? gee come to think of it I rarely saw those in China. Have a great trip home! I wish it was our turn. A friend of mine's fiance has her ticket for the 16th. OK I'm feeling a bit blue, but I'm happy for the two of you.. Chinese New Year is the 8th, what a New Year's present you're getting!

Both of you are submitting documents that would show a marriage if you were not single. (i.e. tax forms etc.) Since a marriage shows up in personal documents it is necessary, for those of us that have such a record, to prove we are no longer married. That is why proof is only required of those who have been married. Since bigamy is not accepted in the U.S. inability to prove you are no longer married would disqualify as a fiance intended on marriage. In our case we both submited divorce records. I hope this helps clarify and not make things more confused. Good Luck!

Thank you so much for the detailed information. I'll try tomorrow morning. I started calling at 5:00am PST (they open now at 7:30am EST). After 8 redials I waited about 2 minutes on hold and got my first operator. Her computer was down so she advised me to try again as only some computers were down. I redialed 3 times and got another operator after only a minute on hold. She asked my receipt number, which I gave. Then the beneficiary's name and birthdate which I almost forgot (birthdate not name) as I was getting excited. She then told me WE MAILED IT ON OCT 27 to Guangzhou! Now I have the GUZ number. Thank you so much for the help.

Hi, We received our notice of approval Sept 8,04 and the notice said it would take 4 weeks for NVC to process. After 3 months I can't get any answers. The NVC number is always busy and doesn't allow you to hold so reaching them is just a chance. I have emailed CSIS and get no answer. How long has it taken you to receive the next notice? I have seen some here that had the NVC notice in 5 days. Is it so fast? What is NOA 1 and NOA 2 ? I have my first notice giving the receipt number and the second saying approval and transfer to NVC. Anyone know anyway to check up on this. phone or email? Thank you for any help you can give. With all the horror stories I've heard having papers in an unknown limbo is unsettling. A friend of mine applied 10/2002 and she will be interviewed 12/29/04. We all have our fingers crossed.