BobandNicole

The story I get about the sprouting potatoes is that the sprouting point is poison. Thus, even if there's a little bit of a sprout going on, the potatoes get dumped. For over 50 years I just cut the sprouts out. Guess I was courting danger the whole time.

Egad, the driving lessons. Wife's doing her Arizona license learnin' at this point. Luckily, she got a good head start back in China, she had taken driving lessons and gotten her DL there. A bit scary though, as I had to be "practice coach" there in China, and our vehicle there is a manual tranny full sized SUV. She did ok though except when she tried to add a drive-through kitchen to my friend's pub. Oh well, most of her experience before that was racing Karts, and she was rather fast and competitive racer. One thing, learning to drive in China has no bearing or correlation to learning to drive here.. in China, rules? What rules? After driving for a few months there I had a hard time making the transition back here, I mean, come on, you can't even drive on the sidewalks here! And you actually have to stop for red lights. Gimme a break!! So, she's passed the written, and even found an error on the test nonetheless. And now the driving part--I've set up lessons so she can get proper U.S. training, curiously enough the instructor has another Chinese woman student, which doesn't sound so strange except this is a pretty small town and there's not a lot of Chinese in the area. But she can't tell right from left. "Turn right, no, the other right" Bob

Zhi Xian can't stand KFC or McDonalds, I think it's because of our trip to Australia a couple of years ago. We took an RV (caravan they call it) up the coast from Sidney to Cairns, and for about 4 days straight all you could get was fish and chips and roasted chicken. I remember her eating roasted chicken 4 meals straight. So, she intensly dislikes deep fried foods, and won't let me touch it. Probably a good thing in long run. Pizza Hut here in Donggaun only arrived about 4 months ago, before we had several very good italian restaurants making pizza one using wood fired oven, poolside in a garden setting. The bit with the meat on the skewer is the Brazilian Charasco that has become very popular here for some reason. Several of those restaurants open. New place opening up across the street from the apartment complex, we can't figure out what type of cuisine it is, not Cantonese, and the sign reads somethign about "traveler's rest stop" so it holds no clue to the food. Can't wait to try it. Bob and Nicole

Bob, It took us over 120 days for the process and we LIVE in China and I filed direct with consulate CR-1, so be patient. Have seen a couple of posters talking about quitting their jobs, cashing it in and moving over here.. here's some advice from a long timer. I've lived here 8 years, seen a lot of changes. None for the better. Oh yes, our little burg of 2 million permanent resident's and 6 million transient factory workers now has Pizza Hut, KFC and McDonalds, soon toget a Hard Rock Cafe, Starbucks and Burger King, and next month will open the largest shopping mall in the WORLD... But, the pollution has gotten terrible, the water and electricity is off for 20 percent of the time, and it has gotten too crowded, noisy and way too many cars, driven by drivers with little or no driving talent. This may sound like China bashing, but the local official Chinese language paper complains of the same thing. What they don't mention is the gasoline shortage.. Long lines at the pumps reminicent of US in the 70's. Nicole's had it with here, and all of the expat's stress levels are way up. The walk to the grocery store 2 blocks away has gotten to be a challenge, what with bicycles, motorcycles and cars driving on the sidewalk. The only reason we're still here is the 6 figure salary, plus other lucrative benefits. Rent, groceries and general living expenses are not any cheaper then U.S., actually my home town in USA is cheaper to live in. And at least property values are going up there, unlike here. I'm trying to start some internet businesses, but the internet only works half the time a lot of the sites I need to access are "blocked" A two week visit is fun, especialy when you are treated like a "royal visitor" but to quit a job and move here full time? Unless you've got a good job with a multi-national, think long and hard about that one. Plenty of teaching jobs here for native english speakers, if you like living in a Chinese dorm room and making 1000 U.S. a month, maybe, if you can get them to pay you. Sorry for sounding jaded, but this is a developing nation, and a Communist country, with a culture very different than anything you are prepared for. Anyone who claims to be an expert in China culture is telling "B.S." For more information, check out my website and the links on the site. The day to day challenges of Southern China. Bob and Nicole

Lately my mom has been getting calls from someplace in St. Louis, finally she got to answer the phone, first the person asked for me, then asked for miss "Zoy", pretty much blowing the pronunciation of my wife's name. I remember something about some office or another concerned with the immigration process being in St. Louis, wondering which one it is, and why they would be calling. The woman on the other end refused to give her name and what she wanted, said she would send a lette. We recently bought a house and wondering if some goverment agency is trying to track us down on that one.. Any guesses?? Bob and Nicole

Nicole got her CR-1 at GUZ in March issued on our second wedding anniversary exactly. It's a visa paper stuck in the passport, I -155 or something like that. Did POE at LAX at the China Southern terminal, which is different than Bradley terminal, which is much bigger. She got a paper saying it would be 6 months before recieving her green card, and we had to go to SS office to apply her SSN. Did that the following Monday as we arrived on a Friday for our 3 week home leave from China. By the time we left to head back to U.S. Nicole had recieved her 10 year green card in the mail, as well as her SS card. So, about 2 weeks in our case. Mileage may Vary. Bob and Nicole

Have to go to GUZ tomorrow to have some doc's notarized for house purchase in US, wondering if GUZ is still on the island or if they've moved yet. Nicole seems to think they've already moved but haven't updated everything, which would be par for the course. I called ACS but got the usual recordings then finally the recording that said "now ones here to take your call" recordings still said the address on the island. Another question, we have several docs to get notarized, both our signatures..does anyone know if they charge by the "notary stamp" or if they just charge the same whether it's one document to be notarized or 4 docs.. Notary could be more expensive than the house was. Bob and Nicole

Nicole and I came through LAX end of April, China Southern flight from Guangzhou. This makes a difference because you come into a different terminal and go through a different immigration area than the other flights which arrive at Bradley. When we came in we talked to the immigration "traffic director" and she pointed us to two booths on the left hand side of the room. Immigration officer there took her paperwork, went into his booth and typed on the computer a bit. Came back out and gave her a letter saying her green card would arrive in 6 months and the stamp in her passport made the visa a temporary I-155. Also she would have to go to SS office to apply her SS card. 3 weeks later she had her green card and ss card in hand, happy camper. Come to think of it, I don't remember them "checking me in" as we stayed together the whole time. Bob

As it turns out, just having the first part of her given name and then family name on SS card isn't much of a problem after all What WAS a problem was AZ didn't want to issue Nicole an Id card until her green card arrived. Said they needed an I-94. Since she's IR-1 there is no I-94 Finally the local office faxed over to the head office in where ever that is here in Arizona and they said ok, but she'd have to renew the Id card every year. Can't wait to see what the green card says, from what I have read on other posters it rarely comes out correct. Bob

Gee, this sounds like the same problem we had. ZhiXian's name in the computer when we got to SS office was just Zhi then family name, they left out the Xian. Did you all come into LAX by chance by China Southern Airlines? Wondering if this is the guy at the immigration counter that don't have a clue. SS card arrived today, about 7 working days. bob

Ok, another dumb questions, when my wife uses up all her visa pages on her passport, do they issue new one like some countries do, or do they just add pages like US does. We'll be traveling some before the green card arrives, and could have the problem of running out of pages in her passport. Seems everyplace she goes she needs a full page visa addition.

Yep. can't just go to the DHS office, have to make appointment. I wonder thouhg if we should just wait until we get back to China and deal with it at the DHS office at GUZ. No appointment necessary. Bob

Hi Jenny hope you all are doing ok,. I thought so too, the SSN was supposed to come automatically, but the officer at LAX said we had to go to SSA to apply for number, and the greeen card wouldn't arrive for 6 months. Got to SSA office and found out ZhiXian's name was entered in the computer incorrectly, they only but the Zhi part, left out the Xian. So now we're wondering if th green card will be issued that way, and what the ramifications are of that. Since there's no number at DHS we can call to talk to a real person that I can find, means trip to the DHS office, nearest one we can go to based on where we live is Phoenix, 4.5 hours away. Vegas is 1 hour away, but infopass won't let us schedule an appointment there. Bummer, Good luck, sure wish they were more clear on this, if Jack hasn't gotten his card yet and it's over 10 days, need to visit SSA office probably Bob

Hi All We finally got back to the US last Friday, just now getting over jet lag. No problems we thought getting through LAX China Southern terminal, Nicoles IR-1 processing was no big deal. DHS officer handed her back her stamped passport and told us to take it over to Social Security office for that card, and the i-551 permanent Green Card woudl take 6 months. So, went to Social Security office to get her SS card on Monday, and surprise, who ever put Zhi Xian's name into the computer that SS links up with only put in the Zhi part, not the full name. So, ss lady said in order to aviod a big delay, just put Zhixian's name on the card the way it is in the computer, when the green card shows up see what name it has on it, and then get the whole mess corrected. So will the GC have the same wrong name on it even though the visa in the passport is correct? Nearest USCIS office is 4.5 hours away. Does this mean we need to make the trip to find out if the card's really going to be screwed up? Anyway we can find this out with a phone call? ARRRRGGGHHHHH. Fat fingered typist needs typing lessons. &^%&^%(. Bob

Depending on what area of China you might want to contact a removal company like Allied Pickfords or someone similar. Allied Pickfords moved my stuff from US to China, and I had no problems with China customs, etc, they handled the paperwork very well. Shipment included stuff like Webber gas grill, my PC and office stuff, furniture and kitchen stuff like plates and such. Bob