April

Jeff and I took our wedding pictures in my hometown AnQing when we went back visit my parents in April this year. We got great pictures and everyone is happy with them; In SH or BJ of China, easy to find place for wedding pictures; In NanJing, there's also a lot of choice... Just go to XIN JIE KOU, a piece of cake...

sorry, forgot that guys who're here may not read Chinese,i'm writing my info again: We gonna have a big reunion of east-coast USA for girls and their gg and kids if they have,and we have agreed to put it on 1/3/2004 a Saturday lunch or dinner together in Chinatown of New York,those who are interested to come just take a few minutes to send your info to traderate@yahoo.com, and i already got the confirm from the following girls: (name shown as ID on 001) fwjwhy ÃùÃù (mingming) ttcc (dazhongguo) ShanghaiJJ JiQiMao MyIsLandTree april&jeff welcome more to come,

ÇëÈ·¶¨1/3/2004²Î¼Ó¾Û»áµÄjm¾¡¿ì±¨Ãû£¬²¢»¶Ó­½¨Òé·¹µêÃû³Æ/µØµã¡£ ÒÑÊÕµ½ÐÅÏ¢µÄÃûµ¥ÈçÏ£º (name shown as ID on 001) fwjwhy ÃùÃù ttcc ShanghaiJJ JiQiMao (is that TTCC?) MyIsLandTree april&jeff ÇëÆäËûjm£¬ÓÈÆäÊÇÀÏ´ókaka·¢ÐÅÖÁ traderate@yahoo.com P.s. dazhongguo¼°gg²»¿Éȱϯ£¬Ð»Ð»ºÏ×÷£¡

here's ours: Date Entered the Country: Mar 16th,2003 Type of Visa: K-1 Marriage Date (if applicable): APRIL 1ST,2003 Date Received SSN:soon after marriage,don't remember the date Date Filed AOS/EAD/AP: May 18th,2003 Filed in person or by mail? In person Where filed? BOSTON BCIS Receipt number received? the same day of application EAD Granted: the same day of application First Appointment Scheduled: Sept 2nd, got Temporary Green Card on the day

LILI&BOB, We met in Boston Chinatown lunch, remember? happy to get a group to play in Cape Cod some day!

where are u exactly in Cape Cod, Sarah and Dave? My husband is also from Cape Cod,and we spent our Labor Day long weekend there too with his family. We went sailing,BBQ and shopping... Maybe we can see each other next time we go back to Cape Cod!

thanks so much for Eric's list! i went with my husband to BCIS to submit my files in person on 5/15,and i prepared all my docs based on the list Eric posted here. I found that i missed a year of tax-return forms from my co-sponsor the day before i went BCIS,i was worried i'd meet problem with that,but the fact is the lady who checked my files seemed ok with this and didn't mention anything about it,hopefully she just didn't notice it,though she spent an hour on my files, Here in Boston,we're required to file in person now.And the benefit is i got my 1-year EAD,AP and fingerprint notice on the same day i went to submit the docs,and luckily,i got my AOS Interview set on Sep 2nd,which is before many K1 girls who submitted the files before I,the girl who went the same day as I got her interview date late in Nov. Really the requirement will be different from each BCIS and will even be different from each clerk there.U'll see...They just work in a way u can never tell the reason and order is..

well,my answer is:YES

HI EVERYONE HERE! I Haven't got a credit card yet,and i'vd seen so many kinds of credit cards here in the States,would like to get advice and comments from you guys which card is better for me to apply to,sure i want the following: 1.which i can easily use at China also,and at a cheap charge on interest for overdraw 2.which card has the low interest for using the money in advance 3.which card can be applied for someone like i who has no credit record yet also,i've seen many big stores have their own credit card which can also be used as discount cards there,willl that be of any good deal? one card is enough? or more is better? thanks to u all for any help!

hi, here's something helpful: http://www.mandarintools.com/

Two quick stories about my wife, before we were married, once in Shanghai, once in Boston. She and I were travelling to Shanghai, and went out to an outdoor restaurant in the end of August in the nicer part of the city. La di da fancy. The place was so nice, the waitresses and waitors brought us over some hot wet napkins for us to wipe with after a fantastic meal. They brought the bill, and my girlfriend (at the time) took it and checked it for the "foreignors discount" (you know that "pengyou dazhi" which really means add another 50% to the price). And found the napkins, which we each used one of, cost 3RMB! Understandably upset, she took the initiative. She called the wait people over and said, roughly, "I won't pay for this. Take it off our bill." "No, you used it" was the response, and the haggling ensued. It came down to this: being in an ouside restaurant, which we had no intention of frequenting, we could just leave, and moreover, charging us for something that other places are free without informing us that they will charge us is simply wrong, so they didn't charge us. Did I mention that this whole process took about 40 minutes, and I'm sitting there the whole time saying, "its only 6 RMB, who cares? That's less than a dollar!" Story 2: The wedding dress. My fiance (at the time) and I went out for a good Chinese food breakfast and went to get the ring, one sunday, before we got married. All the jewelry stores were closed, so it was dress time. We went to 6 different places. Each place had beautiful dresses, which she looked lovely in, though some places didn't have any that fit her. It was late, cold, and rainy, and we were really tired of walking, so we gave up. This was two days before our marriage, so we REALLY needed a dress though. So finally, we get on the T to go home, and end up on Newburry Street. Jenny McClintock. We are in there, and find a dress my fiancee loves, but it is the wrong size and no time to fix it. So we find another (after about 1 hour of trying things on). We bring it to the register after she complained to me in private on how many people must have tried this on, so she thinks there should be a new one in the back, and if not, a discount. I agreed, of course. So at the register, I say, "got any like it in the back?" "No." "I see. So what can you do for me?" "Nothing." Then some boss who heard her complain to me said, "Give'm 10% off, we've done that before, it's okay." And my wife, still not satisfied said, "can't you just make it 100?" (it was 130 before) "No. we don't just do discounts, has to be a percentage." My wife's hero, I argued that because the drycleaner would have to do this for next day, and it clearly needed to be drycleaned, making it at least a 20 dollar discount would cover that cost. They said they couldn't. But then, tired of us, the boss came over again and said, "we've done 15% before, give them that." and they did. which worked out to be about 20 dollars, so we were all happy. We didn't get it drycleaned, the dress was fine. So, now that you've read the long stories, here's the short of it: bargaining is not only a Chinese tradition, or a Midde East tradition, it is a HUMAN tradition, and applies just the same in Meiguo as in Zhongguo. It's all the same, people are people. Just don't let yourself be walked on. And as that other guy said, if they aren't willing to sell it to you for a price you are willing to pay, just walk away. who cares? Get it elsewhere. If you can't, then you are willing to pay this vendor's price, right? Yours, Jeff (proud and loving husband of April).

i'm a little confused here.Now i live in downtown Boston,here i see people all have mail boxes and almost have mails everyday except Sunday;but i haven't seen any open mail box,each mail box is locked and only the owner has the key;when we send a mail,we just put it in a big mail box outside on the roadside which is easily found each 20 or 30 meters(no idea on feet or mile).

LAO in LAOPO or LAOGONG doesn't mean old,like LAO in LAO WAI(foreigner).Some of u have learned Chinese and would know that. Lao here is some supplimental character(ZHU CI,i forget the English word for this) which helps to make a word,the meaning of the word all on the last character,like PO,GONG,WAI here. and ZHANGFU,QIZI is some words we use when to talk to the 3rd party,not to each other between couples. B)

many people,mostly university students,learn English,especially American English by watching movies and listening to American popular songs;I don't feel that helps me to learn English,though i also watched lots of American movies,but all with Chinese subtitle; I'm bad at listening to English,tell u guys a secret,i can easliy fall into sleep by listening to it,if it has nothing to do with me.I'm here in USA nearly a month,TV is something like a background sound to me which won't bother me at any work,the only problem is that if i watch it on the sofa,before i understand what the show is about,i'm in my dream.So i also can't say listening to VOA is a good way to learn English,even i do hear some friends benefit a lot from VOA. My English teachers played some movies for us as a tool for teaching English also,but most of us just were interested in the movies,which usually had chinese subtitles,not the English.We tried to ask the teacher to give more movies for we love to get classes into watching movies. To learn English by movies should be a good way and i hoped there're some with English subtitle which will really help,also,they should be some movies where characters speak clear English,not to fast or too local to catch,i still remember one movie SLEEPLESS SEATTLE" i watched then,which is really a good one for this purpose; Also,if u can get some shows like SIMPSON or SOAP OPERA,it'll also help to learn living Engish.Many Japanese majors get to speak very good Janpanese by watching those tons of SOAP OPERA,most are love stories;for girls,it's easy to get interested in those and move on with it,so they will really try to hear and understand,which is what really helps u to learn something;and because they're all of daily English,with simple but useful words,which will be easy to learn and remember.

exactly what i have experienced in QINGDAO with my husband! when we talk of that city,we'll say where the driver is crazy... but we have to note the truth is that the population there is not so high as most other cities in China,the road is clear to go fast.

PJ is the one who set this BBS? I've heard some stories and really think it's unfair that such a nice guy has a bad experience... Hope u a good stay in XIAMEN,the beautiful city,and got to prove:Kind hearts will always get good return! I have a close friend WENG ZHAO-XIA in XIAMEN who works at the Customs,and her husband is also an engineer,call xxxx if u need any help there, just tell her my name APRIL is ok. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- I snip the phone number to prevent unwanted calls. Please PM PJ to give him the tele number. Tony

i don't know how terrible SARS really is now...only get to be scared by newspaper and Tv...So i suggest if u don't have anything urgently to go to those dangerous place,delay your trip when things become better... I was in GZ last Dec for my K1 visa interview,and didn't see anyone with mask when i got out of the plane,while i was the only one with it for i was well prepared I was in GZ this Feb to pick up my visa,and i still got masks with me for more and more bad news spreading everywhere in China.I got my friends laughed at me so much when i entered the room with a big mask on face, My sister is in GZ now for CANTON FAIR,and she told me almost no buyers there this fair,only some from HK or some black people from INDIA or AFRICA... but still,GZ people live a life as usual except no so many people eat outside now,while GZ is a city which was so popular on restaurants

wow,such a professional piece by TT! and i agree that English Edu is really a problem in China,like it's a truth we were taught BRITISH ENGLISH before university,but American English since we get into an university or college. Listening and pronunciation is the most terrible problem there,though now it has been improved a lot;for many years,what we learned is called 'DUMB ENGLISH" for we are much better in writing and reading than listening and speaking.

thanks for sharing this,especially the "direct deposit",which i'll keep in my mind for i'm hunting a job here now, i'm in downtown Boston,and always lots of people on street,and i feel very safe,though now i know i'd be careful also.Well,when typing "lots of people",i hesitated for really there's much less than i usually saw on street in NanJing,China,but just many more than i saw in towns,like my husband's hometown CAPE COD.

Dear Owen, i've read a lot on this BBS recently,and i'm pretty sure u understand much more of China than other Americans here,and enjoyed reading your posts here,still,i suggest u use "SHENYANG" or the City or the town u saw what u wrote about instead of "CHINA",otherwise it'll mislead many guys here.I'm a chinese girl who travelled a lot in China on my work,and i can tell,things are sooooooo different in different area in CHINA,like TAXI price, in my hometown,a small city in AN HUI Province,it's starts from RMB3 for most TAXIs,some good ones starts from RMB5,and u can bargain before u take any taxi,though not all drivers will be willing to talk to u on this, in NanJing,where i spent my university time and where i worked,it starts from RMB7; in BeiJing,it starts from RMB10,same sas SHANGHAI; in ShenZhen,it starts from RMB12.5 it's far from the story "usuallyIt varies somewhat city by city but usually flag fall starts somewhere in the range of 5-7 RMB", well,it's just one small example,there're something else like this can't be judged as "CHINA";also some guy else here would say China is "MODERN" than USA on cellphone,who doesn't know that CHINA just begins to use CDMA tech,and it's so IN now for CDMA is said to be of better connection and music and more healthy to People.

i applied for SSN on 4/4,and got it by mail on 4/12.I'm in Boston.

Nice Enight, thanks for your tip! thinking here for those GG who read English,but sure also supports Chinese,for it's A Candle for Sino-Us lovebirds, and Jim, U ever in NanJing? where's your MM,BTW? And it's much better now that people's curiousity on foreigners,my bf was sick of "hello" from strangers in the street,but now it's much safer from such trouble here and I've been in NJ for over 7 years,never got your chance to see naked-runner on the street,

wow,now i see,it doesn't support Chinese characters here!

just see that u guys are talking about it also,i got the article from my bf this morning and posted on 001 Chinese,now copy our discussion there for ref, e-mail-order brides !!!!! (19×Ö)(enight ½ñÌì12:51 ÔĶÁ 1) Ëñ! µ±ÎÒÃÇÊÇËÕÁª°¡! i dislike it, (390×Ö)(april&jeff ½ñÌì13:15 ÔĶÁ 0) though it's something to push for our visas,but i really dislike their words and some ways... like all GG always hate to meet girls who'll marry them for GREEN CARD,JM who's in true love also hates GG to marry for a home servent,but not a love-in-life. can't understand that at all,if for that,can't u just hire someone to do your chores,why go through all these long suffering waiting? ÆøSÎÒÁË! (267×Ö)(enight ½ñÌì13:08 ÔĶÁ 0) ob Malovich found his future wife on www. asiafriendfinder.com, where $65 gave him unlimited access to ads of hundreds of Chinese women. The headlines on their ads promise unconditional love: ''Beautiful and easy to please''; ''Eager to build a happy home.'' I have read it (140×Ö)(bluejess ½ñÌì13:35 ÔĶÁ 1) and also sent a copy to my GG and told him i don't like the tune of this article - i don't like the way they think about girls from China!!!