bosco

I will be arriving at GZ airport (CAN) at 10:45pm on the 21st. Mr. Yang emailed me a note for the taxi driver in Chinese that includes the address of the hotel and Mr. Yang's cell phone number along with instructions for the driver to call Mr. Yang so he can meet me at the gate to let me in. Could you imagine a U.S. hotel making the effort this man does? Unbelievable.

That's a great reading list but it will offer very little towards helping any Chinese national understand modern U.S. society.

The TV and some other stuff got tossed today. Next in line, a trip to Goodwill to dispose of some chairs I don't have any room for.

I took a variety of American movies over and left them. I have also sent many issues of "The Asian Reporter" for Ling and her family to read about the Asian community here in Portland. The rest will just have to be culture shock with me as her primary therapist.....

fingers and toes crossed for you.....

You have gone through 1 2 and 3 and still have a hard time. That is depressing. I wonder what it would take for you to become fluent. I wonder about one of those 2 month immersion progams like they have in israel for newcommers. You live with a faimly and speak it everyday. Do you have a chinese practice partner or do you just use the CD's ? I have had a tutor meet with me for 1.5 hours weekly for a little more than 1.5 years. I am not gifted with learning languages but as a former professional vocalist I have a good ear for sounds and an ability to mimic them. My weakness comes because I am not great at memorization. I learn a new thing and remember it by seeing connections to other things I already know. In the past 9 months I have progressed enough to have been able to communicate with Ling's family when I was just there for two weeks. They all have great praise for how much I've progressed since I last saw them in May of 06. I am not yet what you would call conversational but I can participate in family diaglogues as long as people don't get going too fast.

That reminds me. I've got a 32" in the garage I'd better get tossed before Ling gets here.

Yes, Pimsleur is the best out there, and people will understand you, but the problem is when they answer at normal speed. Huh? I suppliment Pimsleur with CDs that I make myself using a small digital tape recorder. I ask my SO how to say certain words with variations in context. When I have an hours worth, I burn them on a CD. Its a nice thing to listen to on my commute. Typically I have to listen to and repeat a phrase at least 50 times before it sticks. She refuses to teach me any dirty words. I hear you! What is frustrating is to watch a Chinese movie with English subtitles. I know what they SHOULD say to convey that sentence but I can't hear it when they say it. I tried renting a chick flick Chinese film in hopes of lots of slow rhythmic speech. Zhou Yus train is the name of it. I can understand a little. It is a bit better than the Kung Fu flicks I have seen in terms of speaking. I sometimes wonder if they are actually speaking mandarin. I'm fixin to start Pimsleur 2. anybody finish that one ? I use the speech Rec sometimes for that purpose. Your idea about burning your own CD sounds good. Might make a good present My goal is to be able to achieve the ability of 6 year old chinese kid. I've gone through Pimsleur 1,2 & 3 many times and do ok with the family in China for VERY simple exchanges but I still couldn't even remotely keep up with the 4 year-old in the household over Spring Festival. Ling wants to teach me to read and write in Han zi when she arrives (we only use pinyin now). I've heard that my pu tong hua will improve rapidly as I learn to read and write properly.....I hope so.

I've been all over China and have seen plenty.

No, I find that to be very incorrect. Child wellbeing needs to be addressed by the parents. Not public policies. Not the government, not congress, and certainly not the UN. Parents. Whatever happened to personal responsibility? Thats where child welfare should begin and end....with the parents. A "fricken" men, Brother... And when parents DO fail--for whatever reasons--the kids just have to take care of themselves???? I can't believe how shallow and selfish so many here are...........

My friends and I have fought (of course more quietly) over who gets to pay for years.....Maybe the people in the NW are like the Chinese and far less selfish than other parts of America.

Right the F on, Rak. I'm sick of all this socialist, new world order mumbo jumbo. Let's see... how many people in the world would rather raise their children here in the U.S. than in their home country? How many would trade their health care system for ours? How many of us would want our children to have MORE vaccinations? How many of us would trade our system of easy access to private transportation for a lower youth accident rate? People vote with their feet and a lot of them wait a long time to come here (ring any bells for anyone here?). Rak, Jim, and Mike, I am totally with you on this. The US is considered the NUMBER 1 country in the world by many. You hear that Roger? Wow you guys spent the whole night beating up this report... Sorry I don't do evenings... Obviously Rak has some pretty strong feelings on it and I respect all your opinions... But let me ask just one question??? Why is it that so many people from other "less-devloped" countries would like to come to the US??? Is it at all possible that the only thing they have on their minds is...$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Yes as everyone all over the world KNOWS... In the US the streets are paved with gold...Everyone is GIVEN $4,000/month by the benevolent government (this is what laopo was told by people in her hometown who know all about it... ). You've nailed it Rog. I've spent two weeks in Shenyang living with Ling's family in a two room apt. The only questions I've been asked about America by her relatives have been about my family and how much things cost and how much money different jobs earn.

we plan on staying there 3/22-3/31

http://www.userfriendlyonline.com/pics/congarat.gif

I hope this really is an earlier indicator that things will finally be moving for you again soon. (is it just me or have the people at DOS being much more friendly and helpful lately?)

And yet you completely fail to understand that the majority of Americans do not have any savings? That the majority, for good or ill, manage to get by and even pay for a few extras like that trip to China but being hit by another substantial fee makes life more difficult? This is my point entirely, this attitude that "what is good/right for me should be good enough for everyone" is severely off-putting. It comes across as sheer arrogance when there is no evidence whatsoever of even a marginal attempt to understand another's life.

http://www.userfriendlyonline.com/pics/congarat.gif

Repeating yourself for a third time without addressing (or showing any comprehension thereof) a single point those who are insulted by your posts doesn't help anything. Are not both participants equal partners in deciding and making a marriage????? Your words continue to suggest otherwise and you seem incapable of seeing it. If a poor person meets and falls in love with someone, do they not have the same right to marry as a person with more? Certainly if a poor person were to misrepresent his/her financial status there is a problem. But then, if the person he/she has met would change their mind because the person doesn't have enough, well then their wasn't that much of a solid foundation of love there in the first place. How does one "drag" another into poverty???? Does not that other have equal status and the right to choose what is most important to her/him? Your words would only hold true if 1) One person really was more important/better than the other. 2) One person misrepresented the situation enough that the SO would be coming to the US to find a big unpleasant surprise. Your words seem to suggest the former condition more than the latter. But I find both possibilities to be utterly repugnant.

And you sir have utterly failed in basic reading comprehension of the ideas expressed by those who responded when you wrote essentially the same thing earlier. I didn't have to promise anyone a better life to convince her to come here. We met, fell in love, and decided we wanted to find a way to be together. Money was discussed as were many other things but it has never been the reason or motivation for either of us. But you just can't seem to comphrehend this. Your words have the effect of sounding like marriage is a financial rather than social/emotional contract. If most of the people here or even nationally were young people just out of school who have never had to manage for themselves, then I might find a way to agree with you a little--young people should perhaps wait awhile before marrying. But I would guess that the majority of people marrying citizens of other countries aren't 20 years old. Enough of everything else has been said. I think I'll just go pull up my bootstraps and earn a few million today so I can "afford" to "buy" me a good wife......I'm truly sorry to be so blunt but intended or not, that IS how some of the people here sound sometimes. (Walks away from wasting any more of my time with this--shaking my head in bewilderment)

yet another nail in the coffin.....

Amen Brother! But your idea of Heaven and my idea of Heaven may differ......ie. some people see Heaven as an "after-life" while I see Heaven as in the "here and now." PapaBear I didn't quote that for my behalf, but for those who seem to view the poorer members of our society with disdain who might subscribe to that particular faith. Some of the posts in this topic, intentionally or not, do read as a criticism of the "income challenged" and frankly these kinds of statements truly disgust me. There are many families managing on incomes above the 125% number required by immigration. But to impose a $600 fee on such a family would still cause undue hardship that you or I might not face. These people manage financially by being very careful and working very hard. Should they be denied the chance at happiness because they lack our earning power? As I said a few posts ago. Should we impose standards for all Americans to meet before they can get married? And if so, who gets to set the standard???? Most politicians have far more money than me. Perhaps they believe that no one could possibly support a family on less than $100,000 per year. I've met plenty of people who think $100,000 is a meager income. I know plenty more who do ok on far, far less. Who decides what is enough???? The .gov has decided 125% of the poverty level is enough. Asking someone who is making "enough" but barely to fork over $500, $1000, $2000 more could easily put the option out of reach while for some of us can pay that without blinking. Is that fair? This isn't about buying a ferrari vs buying a 15 year old Chevy. Cars, houses, etc. are property, whatever you can afford and want is no one else's business. But families are the most fundamental part of our existence and no legislation should EVER be allowed to restrict anyone's access to having a family with which to share one's life.

For many, to have a better life means to have a special someone who loves them and wants to share their lives together. MANY people live poor but happy lives BECAUSE they have family and friends. "Blessed are the poor for they shall inherit the Kingdom of Heaven."

So maybe we should be passing laws requiring everyone to have "x" income and liquid assets before they can get married?????? Gee, maybe we should pass laws to limit having children by anyone who doesn't have the means to raise a child from birth through college. Perhaps put $250-500k in a secured account before you can have a license to make a baby..........

This subject has nothing whatsoever to do with illegal immigration. Stop conflating the two--it doesn't help anything. Every time someone brings up illegal immigration in any conversation concerning legal immigration, the whole idea of legal immigration is darkened becoming a little more suspect. I think that of all of you, Ted Kennedy is closest to the mark. Kennedy wisely observed that these fee increases will serve to freeze out many from having the means to qualify for immigration. I will take that thought one step further. I believe it is the INTENT of the current admin to make it so that only the wealthy and privileged can take advantage of U.S. immigration. Just as the proposed new tax break for health-care/insurance in fact makes health-care even less available to more people. This proposal is just one of many designed to give further advantages to those who need it least. (O/T example: Exxon's record $39.6 billion profit included $6 billion in tax incentive bonus received as direct payments from the .gov) ok, I'll stop now.

Is this just a public service announcement or was there supposed to be a question in here somewhere???? I hope my SO keeps her name. I like "Ling"