dstarsboy

These are near Chongqing, I think. That's where I'll be going in a few weeks. hopefully I'll get some nice pics to post up here and finally have myself a gallery. I know absolutely nothing about these dams, but apparently, they're a big tourist attraction.

This is a great idea. Why don't you have her mom or a relative come visit you for a month?

She would need a Chinese access number to call first. "1-800" is a US or US and Canada number. "1" is the country code for the USA and Canada. 199395[/snapback] Ah! I found it! Thanks!

Sorry to bring this old topic up again, but I took Jim Julian's suggestion and went with eDynasty and its awesome. However, I'd like her to be able to give me a call whenever she wants as well. For those of you that don't know, eDynasty works with a typical 1) Call this 1-800 number 2) Enter your pin 3) Dial her number 4) Talk and be merry! Can I give her my pin so she can give me a call, ya know, if she's bored or is in trouble or something. Please take into consideration.. my SO does not have a computer. She does not even have a lan line, she uses a mobile phone (I guess this is normal there). Also, if the pin thing will work, do I have to add country code and bunch of other stuff to my number and the 1-800 number before giving it to her?

Some people can't afford to support two people, with time or money. I think if my SO came down here and brought a friend for a few months, it would be really tough for me. I would be honest and say so, at the risk of you sounding like you're not a very good provider. (lose lose situation?) Anyways, if its not about money then it sounds like it may only be an inconvenience, not a problem, really.

EEEK!! I wonder if www.SwedishGirlsRUs.com is still available so I can find a new SO... JUST KIDDING. Thanks for the scare guys, I guess I'll have to suck it up (and I really mean suck!) and sing if asked. I think the goal is to sound awful (normal?) and then she wont ask me to sing again... but then again... awful singing will probably lose those brownie points with her family. Whenever I come visit in the future they'll refer to me as, "yeah, you remember... that American" "what American?" "you know.. the one that one with the awful voice." "Oh yeah, that one." :sosad: :sosad: :sosad:

Are you serious?! 198901[/snapback] And don't even think of getting out of this... She will be very disappointed if you refuse! Get out a song and practice.. they don't vote based on quality, just participation !! 199002[/snapback] I guess that explains William Hung. Anyways, maybe I can explain to them that in American culture.. its bad luck for males to sing.. or something............................... or I can practice a song. Thanks alot guys, and I thought I was nervous to meet her before!!! Ugh!!

Are you serious?!

So there I was... chatting with my SO about life and what not, then out of the blue she says,"Wait, I sing you." At first I thought I mis-heard her. I'm sure she meant "missing" or "something for"... not "sing". But Lo and Behold, she starts this beautiful Chinese song and sings magnificently for about 2 or 3 minutes. My jaw just dropped. I've dated many women here in the US... do you know many have sang to me? NONE. Not even after dating them for a couple of years were they comfortable enough to sing to me. I sing my brains off in the shower and while driving, but I would never sing to someone I'm interested in. However.. here I am... 5 phone calls later... listening to the most beautiful thing I have ever heard. Ok, I'm guessing one of two things... 1) I got lucky and my SO is just a confident, unique wee bonnie lass. 2) Everyone's SO sings to them and singing aloud is pretty common in China. What's the dilly-o?

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I did call an immigration lawyer and he suggested that I naturalize before starting the process as well. He said the process will take around 6 months and will cost 400 dollars. His fee for doing the paperwork is another 500 dollars! Ugh! That killed it. I will need to start working on this myself (screw you and your 500 dollars!! Argh! Haha) but everything I googled came up with only regular naturalization forms, nothing related to Permanent Resident - Naturalization. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Also, that's a great idea Randy, I suppose I can bring her here under a student visa (she wants to go to school anyways) so we can be together while this whole process works out.

Well, I was down here for school but now I'm here to stay. My career and home and everything is here so I will have to naturalize to the US. How long does naturalization usually take?

Now this is where you really get into trouble, because you are only a man and obviously don't know what's right for you. It has nothing to do with what you think is right or wrong, she's Chinese and that settles the whole discussion. http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/emoticons6/24.gif 198059[/snapback] http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/emoticons6/24.gif HAHAHAHA, yes this is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooo true. As a man you do not know what is good for you. She, the woman, the wife, the SO, knows how to take care of you. She knows what is good for your health, your diet, your budget (which she controls - one way or the other - I think ), and what car, house, suite, socks, bath time, bed time, kids education, her education...........whew! Listen and learn. But for privledges, number of kids, that seems to be up to you, I think. Seems like. Have I got the rules yet? 198128[/snapback] HAHA, now I know what to say when she makes a decision for me that I don't like.... "Yes, ma'am!"

Sacre bleu!!! Thanks for the advice guys, I guess if my SO and I really hit it off I'll be saying goodbye to Oh Canada! (sniffles) Thanks again.

hey peoples, I am a Canadian citizen living in Phoenix, AZ with a permanent resident card. I am wondering, if I marry my SO, do I even have the legal authorization to start processing her visa to bring her to the United States... since I'm not even a US Citizen? If not, can I do it through the Canadian government (God forbid, I can imagine how confusing and time consuming that would be) or would I be better off applying for American citizenship?

I know this is old but I figured I'd put in my 2 cents. I have a friend who's had their passport application denied because of a small blemish on their photo, however, I must admit this is for a Canadian passport. I am not sure how strict the United States is in this regard.

I have not been in an argument with my SO yet, however, my rule of thumb is this. If she's making a decision about herself or something that will involve a sacrifice on her part, then I take a very hands off approach (aka, if she wants to take English lessons, if she wants to work here, etc). She's a mature adult and can make those decisions herself. Just be ready to support and help her out if her decision is wrong. The only time I would argue with her is if she makes a decision that directly affects me and I think that the decision is a wrong one. So far, nothing like that has happened so I have no advice in that scenario.

The show I'm worried about my SO watching would be more like "Desparate Housewives". ;oP

My general rule of thumb is not to buy a girl any clothing items without her present. Guys are biologically not meant to do it and we lack any skills involved in this process.

Does everyone convert all of their USD to RMB at the airport/bank once you arrive or just convert a little here and there as needed?

I guess we all know who to mug at the airport... hehe. I'm glad this topic was posted, I was about to post the exact same thing. Do banks or credit card companies charge you any additional fees to do the exchange that comes with normal card use in China? Also, 100 bucks a day?... not including hotel? Yeah, you will probably be living quite comfortably.

Its funny you mention this, I actually met someone about a week ago who married a Flip gal. Anyways, she actually makes very good money (in the 40s) selling statues, art and other trinkets that he imports from her home country (I guess Philipino Americans are very prideful and traditional so they have no qualms about paying high prices for stuff related to their culture.) I don't know any of the details on her business but I have my doubts on the validity of it, concerning the source. The guy seemed a little shady.

I don't follow the news/current events often and I have a gay friend, so this is how the conversation went. Gay Friend: "Hey, lets go see Brokeback Mountain." Me: "Sounds lame, what's it about?" Gay Friend: (pause) "um.... its... um... a war, action movie, you'll love it." Me: "Oh, Ok, I guess." I think I would have enjoyed it more if I wasn't tricked into going, however, I must say Ang Lee is a great director. I did find it hard to relate or understand emotionally, my friend, however, was crying through the whole last half of the movie and I really had no idea why.

Good comment. I agree. I feel it is not a one-way street. Exposure can be one of the greatest learning tools. Also, for Jie and I, talking on the phone has only accelerated our progress. Plus, hearing her laugh at my attempts is worth millions .A laugh is common in any language. It is very powerful. 191446[/snapback] How true. I worked out a whole sentence in Mandarin. I thought I had it nailed. I called my SO and tried it. She didn't understand a word I said. We laughed until it got silly. Oh well, back to the books. 192247[/snapback] Hi Ron, Mandarin is a tonal language (4 tones) with modifiers for rising and falling tones also! It CAN NOT be learned from books! There are websites that will give examples of spoken Mandarin, but there is also a 4 CD Intro from Pimsleur that you can put in your car and work with while you ride around. -James 195934[/snapback] Yeah, the intro Pimsleur CD is great to learn a few easy phrases and its cheap too. However, I suggest having some form of written dictionary to work through the CD with. Some things the speaker says you can't be certain about, such as: Did he just say, "mi" or "ni"? Did he say "gong" or "cong"? I had a hard time with "guan" and "quan" myself, been saying it wrong for months until I looked it up. Also, if you're serious about learning Mandarin (and swimming in money), I would suggest doing the full 3 lesson packages from Pimsleur, they're about 200 bucks a pop. Hours and hours and hours of material in there that you can handle in your car. In the end you'll know enough to carry on a semi-decent conversation in Mandarin.

[quote name='Cody' date='Feb 26 2006, 10:10 AM']My wife and I decided that we wanted to start saving for our future in a different currency, the Chinese RMB.  From what I've read in the news and from my gut feeling, I think that the RMB will rise in value in the near future. However, we are living in the U.S.  Is there a way to save my funds in RMB? [right][snapback]193773[/snapback][/right] [/quote] This is a good investment idea. I figured converting money was easy somewhere. For some reason I was under the impression that everyone who sends their SO's a monthly allowance would send it in RMB. I never tried to actually convert anything myself, but its obvious my assumption was wrong.

Just an update, my second phone call just happened (week later) and it went really well! Everyone is right, it gets way better. I think everything everyone mentioned completely helped a bunch and makes sense now, but one thing that I found helpful that some have not mentioned (maybe no one has this problem?) but it seems really important to end the call when it seems its starting to go down hill (running out of things that the two of you can say to each other that you both understand) rather than trying to prolong the call by making up odd questions out of the blue that make no sense or scrambling around looking up translations. That way it ends on good terms and you're pumped about the next call. Also, my solution for when to hang up was that I would say, "Sai-Tien Ma?" when there's a bit of a lull in the conversation, that way she can either say, "yes" or say "no" and ask me another question. But all in all, phone calls are AWESOME now! Now... if only i can get her that computer and a webcam...