LaurenAmber

I'm going to get the DVD once i get some money. I saw this before but not all the way through. I want to ownit because it's a very humbling movie. It reminded me of reading "Farewell to Manzanar" in highschool. It made me feel so ashamed to be western.

In all seriousness tho, these things scare the heck out of me. Anytime there's contaminated food i go a little nuts

Thank you and You're welcome hehe That's what it is?!?! Wow! I wish we would've checked it out now! lol hehe and Thank you for the compliments hehe. I'm working on trying to post to the gallery but it keeps erroring out on me Thanks so much. I'm glad you guys like me and aren't annoyed with me LOL. My whole life i've been "one of the boys" which some people like and some people hate haha. I'll gladly stick with y'all. Heck these forums are the reason i'm not going bat**** crazy with depression right now. This whole thing makes me more emotional than i had ever thought. Y'all are really a ray of hope, humor, and happiness. Thank you

Ok so i figured i'll go ahead and do my name change before the process begins. It'll help keep me less stressed and organized. I found a great site ( missnowmrs.com ) but i'm getting a little worried. Those of you that have been married in China will understand this... Our marriage lisence is in Chinese. Usually you're required to send in a copy of your marriage lisence to prove the reason for changing your name. I'm pretty sure these offices won't even be able to read it. What do i do?? I know it's mostly guys here and you guys haven't dealt with changing your name, and it's different for the USC than it is for your chinese wife. Are there any women USCs here that have done this? or anyone that knows what i need to do?

A difference that i've noticed is that it's easy for me to tell when someone is Christian usually with how they live and act. They just have certain things that tell you, or they're very open about it. Yet with Buddhists i am always suprised to find out someone is. I have a fairly good understanding of Buddhism, yet outside of a temple i never would've guessed my own husband was Buddhist before he told me. Not saying he's a bad person at all, but there's not really any "defining" Buddhist nature in him or most any other Buddhists that i know. I don't knwo if that applies to everyone, just something i've noticed.

Thank you so much. i was very suprised about the seperate window too. Then again Xiamen is directly across from Taiwan. Also it seems that a lot of foreigners live in Xiamen because there are so many foreign corperations Thank you! I have lots of other photos that i'm trying to upload them to a gallery on here

Got it and working on uploading stuff now Yup! He's from a small village about an hour outside of Shao Wu

There's a Candle gallery??? I'm still learning to use this site lol. Becaus eyou said that i just noticed the link at the top of my page. I don't know why i didn't put two and two together hehe And thank you so much for the compliments

http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/15/l_c2abcd0476f146d58018abe118a44a07.jpg View of Xiamen from the top of the mountain at South Putuo http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/48/l_1cc608c09b9a443c88bf54ceecb1f7fc.jpg An Ox decided to follow me for a while lol Ironically... my husband's year is Ox lol This is in the grandparents' village. http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/1/l_de2bdcc79c3f42f68343afde3356a513.jpg View of the grandparent's village while riding home.

http://a611.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/118/l_3756b2beb2ca98c2faa6bdd803969e72.jpg The marriage registry office is relatively easy to find lol This is in Fuzhou http://a235.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/13/l_fd5dd51a9944666d3f3c3a999e00a4e2.jpg Can anyone who's been to Fuzhou tell me and Jiexi what this building is?? We thought it was amazing but had no clue what it was http://a505.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/46/l_b8896a1f81552dfe2c9f75f9d7ebdae0.jpg This is the city part of Shao Wu http://a656.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/46/l_abee2e52c58d20c0fa5c774c97a0670f.jpg On the beach in Xiamen http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/1/l_2f13fc0164214465ac3965861e3cc989.jpg South Putuo temple

I figured i'd post these here since a lot of my pictures are from around China. I'll just post a few, i'm trying to set up a public photo album, so i'll update with a link to that once i'm done heh I hope you guys like them http://a973.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/71/l_83cd8d6d2c6aa51599c98c95435f3c2c.jpg My Husband and I before going to Gulang Island http://a554.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/43/l_95dda9f327636dea127675acc8103f79.jpg The wonderful beach of Gulang Island

My husband and I actually lived in the countryside with his parents. His granparetns (on both sides) are also from villages very similar to this girl in the OP. But as one person said, most of the poor people in our villages were rich in their family, laughter, love. My husband is a great example of "getting our of that" in a way. Everyone from the village treated us like a pleasent freak show because it was the little boy who used to run through the village and live up in the mountains with his grandparents, and now he was a sharply dressed man with a pretty American wife. I thought we would be resented, but actually people were proud of him. However a lot of them even have the ability to move into town or even to a bigger city, and they make a concious choice not to. They do have very poor and (what we would consider) terrible lives, but they happily choose that over moving into the city because they said they can't adjust. I think no one can ever fully understand another culture, even if you're married to it. It's always so sad to hear stories like these from anywhere.

I know right??? That was something i noticed a lot of! And every since we had moved back home with the folks, hubby was always sick to his stomach. I told him it had to be all that spicy food that he wasn't used to eating lol Heh i think the meat thing i might have covered haha. I'm in the south afterall lol it's pretty easy to find meat with a high fat content lol. But when i got him to try bacon (which he fell in absolute love with) he didn't like the pieces with lots of fat. I dunno, that may just be trial and error Yeh i can kinda tell. It won't be the same with my stove right now. So I might try to check the asian markets and ask them what i need. My father lives in Atlanta and he just told me he's right near Chinatown. So that actually will be a big help. I'll be spending each holiday with him for about a week so i'll take that as a great chance to learn alot. And they are mostly PRC. There's a couple TW (I watch dramas with them lol). There's a LOT of Chinese people here, most of them i havn't even had a chance to meet yet. The Chinese church here is also one of the bigger churches, my husband is excited about that.(He wants to go to church but is afraid he'll get lost with the english) I'll make sure to talk to the PRC people for tips. Thanks!

I must admit, in my depression of not being with my husband, this random veggie humor has made me LOL pretty hard heh

Yes, it's actually very easy if you go through the site: www.VisaRite.com I got my certificate super fast and for not much money. They also do tourist visas and you can save on shipping and time if you get both through them

For me right now i'm still in the shock of not having him here. So i'm trying to keep myself busy with all sorts of preparations for him to come. (like organizing my giant closet into two halves, or repainting the bathroom). I guess i'm just going a little nuts trying to stay busy haha Weeeeell, he CAN cook... just not anything that anyone other than him will eat lol. I'm sure it's great to him... just not anyone else lol. Also one of my friends wants to give him a job when he gets here (he was that impressed by my husband's portfolio) and working there would get him home that would be a bit too late ot cook dinner. My job has me home early enough to cook

Thanks, Jetlag is TERRIBLE! That's why many of my posts on here may seem a bit nonsensical right now. Sorry bout that. I'll definitely do a google sweep. I also asked hubby to take some pictures of his favorite food when he has them. That way i can maybe decipher what it is and try to fix it. I had checked my library and it didn't really return anything. I'm not in that big of a city. It's growing, but most real chinese cuisine you will have to get from one of the many chinese families here. I've got a regular stove, (not those flat top electric, and not gass, that heated round coil thing yanno?) I don't have a wok, i figure it's essential to buy a proper wok for cooking. My kitchen is nice with really good room for cooking, it's just very basic. and OMG i didn't even consider it was an MSG allergy!! I told him i had no problem with some of the chinese food in America (I'm limited due to allergy to mainly carrots and mushrooms, and a couple others) but now that i think about it, most of the places i've eaten have those big signs of "NO MSG USED!" It really would explain it, hmm. I'll have to bring that up at my next allergy test. I swear i have so many allergies it's a little insane. I'll swing him a PM, because that would work really well. Because it's not like i think the food tastes bad, it's that it had REALLY adverse affects on my body (Tho there is some that i thought tasted really bad lol) We don't have a Chinatown but we do have enough people here that one is probably on the horizons. We have a couple of asian grocery stores. It would probably pay to ask the owners some questions ne? It's always a little intimidating when i do go in for a couple things. I always get strange looks like they think maybe i got lost and that's why i'm there. I guess i'll just go straight in and ask them instead of trying ot putz around on my own lol I didn't get to watch Mama at all. She actually made a point of shutting and locking the kitchen door until dinner was done. I'll definitely check oout that movie. I also found a Taiwanese drama called Rolling Love (Hey it's got a member of Fahrenheit in it and Danson Tang, it already wins with me lol i love TW dramas) it's all about cooking and my husband saw some eps and remarked on the food looking delicious. So i guess i'll study that too hehe Thanks so so much!

CONGRATS!!!!! Omg that is so wonderful!!!!!

Since im just about to start my K3 i have lots of time to prepare for his arrival. My biggest worry is how to cook Hunan-style cooking. I have no idea even what "Hunan-style" means, it's just what my husband asked me to do. For him, the biggest adjustment issue he will have is the food. My family largely prepares meals with main ingredients like bread, cheese, pasta, and dairy products. It's obviously something my husband is not used to at all, and the times he's tried anything with cheese, he get's sick.(seems like lactose-intolerance). So i want to learn how to make "Hunan-style" cuisine to help my husband feel a lot more at home. I'm a pretty well trained chef so the difficulties of dishes are not a problem. However, i seem to be allergic to most Chinese foods. I don't know if it's certain spices or certain ingredients, but most things just straight make me sick. That means no ability for "trial and error" of food. So it seems i need to use recipes or, of course, as you wonderful people. So can anyone help me to learn what "Hunan-style" food is? and how to prepare it? Thank you so so much

My husband tried to offer that to me to which i was like NOOOO

I don't think it should be outlawed parsey, but definitely not encouraged. Much like any alternative lifestyle, it's not for everyone. i think outlawing or promoting any alternative lifestyle is wrong. I can not/will not ever do polygamy. I don't want people pushing that it's right to do it. A lot of people don't approve of gay relationships, but some are the msot loving couples i've ever seen. I could never be gay, but i don't hate people that are. I don't hate polygamist, but the idea of myself getting caught up in it makes me sick to my stomach. I have too much bad blood related in that field to even begin to understand why someone would even want to. Again only my two cents. I'd hate to offend anyone on here, but there's few things you'll see me get up in arms about, this is one of them. I'm dealing with enough drama of my husband's father teaching him it's ok to have women on the side, and that i should know about it and be cool with it. We're burning that ship right now as my husband is realizing that does nto fly with me and he's seen my complete breakdown because of him thinking it's ok. It's a hard road but he's getting so much better and understands a lot more. Sorry but i could NEVER do polygamy nor can i understand it. I've read this entire thread attempting to wrap my head around it and i just can't

I just was gonna add my two cents that i can not stand polygamy. Then again i was raised in a super strict household. My parents are divorced (Just couldn't make it work) and ended up with new spouses that had affairs on them both. I have a deep hatred for anything outside of monogamy because i saw it practically destroy the hearts of both my parents (My dad the worst, 3 wives, all had affairs). My husband attempted to say that if my parents had been open to polygamy or polyamory(sp?) that they wouldn't have suffered heartbreak. I feel entirely different and am changing his mind as well. I'm sorry but this is one thing i will not budge on. My parents did not deserve to be hurt for "not being open". When they said thier wedding vows they pledged themselves to that one person and that one person alone. What is the point of getting married if you intend on having multiple partners? Security? Family? I don't get it and I never will. If both (or more) people in the relationship agree then i guess whatever floats your boat. But personally for me i could never do it and nothing will ever change my mind. Sorry to go on a bit of a tangent. Just arrived back in America, about to start K3 process... my nerves are on edge.

I actually got a bottle WITHOUT a snake. I'm in the airport now and everything seemed fine. They asked me and i said they were gifts to my father and grandfather. They thought it was funny and sent me on through. *shrugs*

Thanks guys. I didn't think there would be a problem with me changing my name. I just didn't know how much of a hassle it would be during the paperwork process. But it seems like everything will be fine. And a definite WOW to the info about the CR-1. I'll be combining that with the attorney info i gained from my last post. I'm sitting here in the Xiamen airport right now about to head back to America. I'll be honest, i'm on the brink of tears. I feel like i'm about to fall apart with the combo of leaving my husband and the stress of this we're about to undergo. It really does make me feel so better to have you guys to talk to and to help me. You're all so wonderful. Thank you.

Soo... It's LA back again with another question lol. I'll try to keep it non-novel form this time lol Is it allowable for me to change my last name during the K3 process (or before we begin)? My family's very old fashion, they expected me to change my last name the say it happened. I convinced them that i kinda needed to haev the same name as my passport to come home lol. I was just wondering if it will be OK to do, or when should I do it? I have a few factors(aside from my family) that make me want to do ti as soon as possible. (my father >.<, and having the same last name as a popular character which has lead to interesting harassment lately) Thanks in advance