rogerinca

This may be old news to some of you senior members here; however, I just read, in the notable posts section, the 9 Letters of Happiness. Wow, so touching and so true. The last segment, S is for Special, made this big guy choke up, upon reading and reflecting over it¡­..Thank you, CFL !! PS: It is so nice to have a forum where one can share and exchange so much valuable information, insights, and feelings, about what has got to be, the most important aspect of our individual lives....

Your comments are very funny and at the same time touch my heart so much !! My favorite word to hear my sweetie say in English, is "personality" !! She says it in a soft way with almost a slight lisp to it. She always drives me crazy when she speaks and I hear her soft/darling voice !!! :) Wow ! Why did it take so many years on this Earth, to finally be truely in LOVE !!

FYI, There is a web site, IMDB, which is billed at the world¡¯s largest movie data-base. Within it, is a sub-site which lists, in alpha order, all movies that contain Chinese subtitles. (See attached link) I have found this useful, to locate subtitled versions, when I bring American DVD¡¯s to China to view with my wife and daughter. This listing makes it easier to find a Chinese subtitled movie, rather than trying to read the small print on the back of the DVD case. Romantic movies such as Sleepless in Seattle and also most, if not all, of the action/drama Clint Eastwood - Dirty Harry type movies contain Chinese subtitles, as well as dozens more. She can understand a lot of English now, but the Chinese subtitles enable her to capture more of the feeling of the film, in concert with the English dialogue http://www.imdb.com/Sections/DVDs/Subtitles/Chinese/S

Your question is a good one and it is surely not "stupid" !! When it comes to these matters of such importance, there is no such thing as a stupid question !! I know, I have been thinking about this for some time now.....I too, think that consistency is of great importance, no matter what you do. My wife is keeping her Chinese given name, so I am leaning toward just maintaining the status-quo in this regard.

I cannot comment on the K-1 vs. K-3 conversion issue; however, I have gone through the entire single status procedure just this past three weeks, for my marriage in Guangzhou on Dec. 7th. The one aspect that I was very happy with, is that they now offer the complete English to Chinese document translation service, very quickly, for about $20 at the civil affairs, marriage office in downtown Guangzhou. The entire procedure, paper process, document translation and red marriage book issuance, took about two hours on a Thursday morning. The total cost was about $80 to $100 with the document translation. I was too excited to remember exactly how much I paid !! I was fortunate in that she lives right in Guangzhou. If your fiancee lives elsewhere here is the process: .... The appropriate civil affairs office will be the one in the jurisdiction in which the Chinese citizen is registered (the location of the hukou). Because you are a foreigner, you must go to the provincial capital to register the marriage and say the marriage oath and get a ¡®red marriage book¡¯.... Then you must register in your SO's hometown as well.... On the USA side, I followed the steps off the Chinese Consulate office in San Francisco (it will be Los Angeles for you since you live in AZ) and I downloaded the two or three required forms and had them all notarized and then went to my Secretary of State office to have them certified. The process varies slightly from state to state. In California, you must get the notarization done before going to the Sec. of State office, as they do not notarize; they only certify that the notarization is not a fake and is valid. One last thing that may cause some confusion....If you go through the single certification process here in the USA, then you do not have to make contact with the US Consulate in Guangzhou. Their service to certify your single status is only for those who are already in China and cannot utilize the process in their respective home state. I made the copies of passport etc. and mailed it all off to SF, with a stamped express mail return envelope, and had it back so fast in only three working days without any express service fee at the Consulate !!! My thanks to the efficient handling by the Chinese Consulate office/staff in San Francisco !!! Roger

i used to use that company but since i started using annie flower Chun said these arrived much fresher looking.... problem is you can never tell what kind of flowers they are sending 236946[/snapback] Interesting. It must depend on the local florist being used (aka FTD here). We've had good luck with the florist used in her city; the arrangments were always fresh and matched the order. 236965[/snapback] I had used cnflowers before, but now I ONLY use Annie flower.com !!! Here are my reasons: I feel that Annie Flower has the best selection, the best prices/value and the freshest flowers and the most responsive service by far !! During the holiday periods, cnflower raises the price Annie does not !!! Also, cnflower started to charge me an additional $9.00 delivery fee, as my fiancée lives 45 min outside Guangzhou, in the Huadu District. Annie Flower never has charged me extra to deliver there. Moreover, when I order flowers in the morning, she will get them always in 4 to 5 hours. Last, I have found that some other florists feel the man will never know what is delivered vs. what he has really ordered. Sometimes I discovered with other florists, that they will deliver a different color or type, or even a lesser amount/quality. I never have this worry with Annie Flower. I always ask my Hongxia to describe exactly what she has received, and sometimes she will send me a photo of the arrangement. She is always so very happy with the very fresh product Annie Flower delivers, and so am I !! I have used Annie Flower at least 15 times now in the past year. I hope this helps ?? Last, I always use Pay pal to make the transaction as it is so convenient and easy to use.

WOW !!! How exciting for you !!! So cool !!! So fast for a K-3/K-4 !!!!!!!!! Yes, there is a God in heaven !!!!! B)

Phil, Even though it may be frustrating, I think that you are taking a very mature approach to your situation. I agree with you and some of the others that the system has flaws and that we as humans certainly have flaws which will lead to unfortunate situations such as yours. I don't think GUZ and the FEDS are out to "get" us. I can't imagine all the paperwork that gets passed through this system. Good Luck! 235949[/snapback] To Phil, having read all of your situation the past three days, and like so many others here, my heart goes out to you and your Yun !! I understand and also share the strong emotional need/urge to express shock and anger, based on severe frustration with a very bureaucratic process, coupled with a massive dose of disappointment !!! You are surely entitled to your human feelings, given what has happened !! While I know that the return to LAX yesterday on flight CS-327 was not under the desired circumstances; I am hopeful that your feelings of frustration will soon turn to those of JOY, in a very short time !!! And to you Rob, thank you for your personal insight and information !! One must always be able to step back, take a breath, reassess, and then be able to move forward. Next, having heard of and read so many mixed reviews, it is indeed refreshing to learn, from at least one member, that the staff at GUZ can be responsive and capable of compassion. Having just recently retired after over 33 years in government (law enforcement manager) here in California, I can truly understand this equation from all sides; however, ‘public servants’ must subscribe to the tenant that they exist to deliver high quality service to the public, and not fall into the trap of becoming just another bureaucrat....no matter what the workload. Moreover, it is the duty and responsibility of the individual government agency to continually assess local unit workload and staffing, as well as train its managers, supervisors, and subordinate employees in the concepts of ‘high-performance’ service delivery to its client base, namely the public they serve !! These concepts apply at all levels of government, local, state and federal !!! The management concept/strategy of employees being able to think ‘outside the box‘, must be continually trained, reviewed and reinforced, coupled with appropriate staffing level support from their upper management team. Further, as part of my education derived from this forum, I was surprised to learn from Rob’s comments, that there are “Chinese nationals“, working in such an essential capacity/function at the Consulate !!?? I had always assumed that only American citizens were authorized to conduct these critical interviews; e.g., Chinese Americans or other American citizens who are conversant in Chinese ??? Accordingly, I think that maybe the GUZ should create a position (or positions) that are filled by US citizens, which functions specifically in a [liaison] capacity to be available to assist American citizens and/or their SO’s in any situation like, or similar to this, so as to avoid leaving any citizen with that feeling of twisting-in the-wind and helplessness !!?? An individual who would have access to the key decision makers/staff in GZ, and who could be available on-site and/or by phone to attempt to answer questions, provide simple directions for those who are confused and or intimidated, cut through local red-tape, help resolve both the large and small issues that seem to slip through the preverbal crack, and provide insight and a human face/ dimension to any situation encountered there?? Great forum and great work/support/thoughts here from all members !!!! Roger and Hongxia, California/Guangzhou