timb

You may be right. After telling me she asked me if I love her... Kind of ironic also because she just finished shopping for new clothes for them for the new year, and this was also their "Benming" year. I thought there might be something wrong with the relationship when I was in Shenyang. Just a few days before were to go visit her family, and for me the first time meeting them, her father called her. All I knew at that time, is my girlfriend crying. Later she told me her dad was not coming to the meeting. I don't think it was job related, more perhaps to do with not wanting to be with the mother. Later he changed his mind and went. I did get he feeling that all was not right. I think you're right. But she feels a loss of face. Divorce is still frowned upon in China. People are expected to find a way to work things out. She may be afraid that you will judge her by her parents' marriage failure, perhaps decide she is damaged fruit from the tree of her parents' failed marriage? She might not be able to put it into words, so asking her directly might not help. Dunno.

Last night my girlfriend informed me that her parents have divorced. Apparently it was the mothers decision, and as told to me, the mother is happy about it. Her father and younger brother work in another city. My girlfriend waited a few days to tell me and was a little worried how I would react. Her mother has three daughters, and one son, the son is the youngest of the family. I thought about it and didn't see any direct effect on our relationship. Does anyone see something I do not?

This video is about Hong Kong, but I know this takes place on the Mainland too. CNN video

Delusion no. I think this is more along the lines, is my gf put up with Lina, and remained friends with her up until her and I could communicate on a good level and I could understand her. She probably didn't respect Lina as a person, and felt Lina is not the sort of friend she liked. There were things along the way that gave me the impression my gf didn't like Lina and didn't trust her. Lina asking for $100 to put her photos and information on a free website is one of them. Perhaps it's things Lina confided in her that gave her the impression Lina was a capitalist and if the opportunity arose, she would, or could interfere with the relationship. In any case, I'm taking my time to really understand this girl and not jumping in with two feet. I'm proceeding down the path to be with her, but I know anything can happen. So we will see. Glad you got it resolved. It was starting to sound more and more like this kind of situation as your posts went along. Sometimes it's a man-woman thing and not a Chinese-Western one... I guess it's only resolved if Lina is TRULY after Tim... and if she's not... then someones a bit delusion or jealous in a scary way.

This topic came up again. I feel my girls English was getting a bit better so I inquired about the exact discussion between her and Lina. I asked her why she felt she must lie to Lina, and what the lie was, and was it to save face. She said no, it was not to save face. She was very clear in that she did not like Lina, and that Lina was a Gold Digger. She felt that Lina was turning her attention to me, rather than the man she was already talking to because she found out he didn't have the money she originally thought. She basically told Lina that her and I were finished because I didn't have much money and that in itself, would keep Lina away from me and being interested in me.

I just signed up for Packet 8 Mobile Talk. It's for Mobile phones. $0.01 cents per minute to china. Works great on my iphone. Basically it routes your call to a local number to your cell phone, then runs in through VOIP. Just signed up for it today. Mobiletalk Vonage just came out with a mobile app today for the iphone, but I noticed it has flaws and does not allow you to use your existing vonage account, which to me is useless.

Does sound odd, someone who has his number should call him. I am with you here! Last time he was on was: 14th September 2009 - 10:23 PM a few hours after this post and this was his last post on the board. Now you got me worried for the Montanan too! His wife is not set to go to China until November.

My girl likes to pick mushrooms. I hope she will break that habit once she comes to America. Would your wife like these? http://home.comcast.net/~tim.babb/Mushrooms.jpg

Does she need to apply for the K2 or K4 at same time, or can that be after she receives her K1 or K3? Once a person has a K-Visa, the child needs to follow on their K-2 or K-4 visa within 1 year after the parent. If not then the US Citizen spouse will need to file an I-130 for an immigrant visa for the child. Other requirements for filing I-130 is that the marriage needs to take place before child's 18th birthday. After that and only the green-card holder can file the I-130 for child, and this is subject to visa number quotas so can take years to get a visa for the following child.

My girlfriends best friend wants to know, if she comes to the USA on a K1 or K3 visa, can her daughter remain in China for an indefinite amount time until she feels it is safe for the daughter to join her in USA? If daughter will remain in China for an undetermined time, does this change the K2 or visa process? Please advise.

Um, what should they do first thing in the morning? haha, didn't chris rock say that in a stand-up? apparently there's a wiki of chris rock stand-up and this was in there (from his 2004 routine "Never Scared"): "Women hate women. You get any two girlfriends in this room, been girlfriends for twenty five years, you put a man in between them ¡­ 'f&$% that b!%@#," " f&$% that b!%@#.' Guys are not like that. Guys actually think that there are other fish in the sea, and if a guy introduces his boy to his new girlfriend, and when they walk away, his boy goes, 'Oh man, she's nice, I gotta get me a girl like that.' If a woman introduces her new man to her girlfriend, and they walk away, her girlfriend goes, 'I gotta get him, and I will slit that b!%@#'s throat to do it.' Every girl in here got a girlfriend they don't trust around their man." My favorite part of that routine is his advice about what married men should do when they wake up in the morning. Very funny, and also rather good advice.

Hmmm.. I didn't ask him where he got that. Perhaps. haha, didn't chris rock say that in a stand-up?

There is no doubt that my gal felt threatened by Lina. A co-worker and good friend once told me he felt it's the way men and woman think. When a man sees a woman he likes but she is already with someone, he will say "I want a girl just like that", but when a women sees a she likes, she will think "I want THAT man"

There are many complexities with this relationship that I didn't understand until now. I'm not quite sure why my gal think she needed "Lina", her older ex-friend, but I think since Lina had nabbed a guy who adores her, my gal looked up to her as someone who knew how do find a good guy. Lina told her give me $100, cause that is what it costs to advertise on the net for her. I think this was lie number one. I don't think there were any places she was advertised, other than the place I found her, and that place didn't cost anything. When I was in Shenyang, Lina told us, she had gotten a gift for me and/or my sister. My gals other good friend got me a gift, and showed up on the last day to help with my send off. Lina did not do this, so if she did say she got either me or my sister a gift, she neglected to give it. So this, in my gals view, was a lie. A lie she felt was not from a true friend. I got the feeling, even before going to see my gal, that there was an issue between them. But since Lina spoke good English, and my gal knew at that time I trusted Lina, she didn't mention anything to me because she knew she could not explain it properly and it could jeopardize my going to Shenyang at all. My gal has told me many times now, she does not like Lina, and she really does not want anything more to do with her. I'm sure there are more things about Lina I don't know, but my girl does not bad mouth her. I think the lie to Lina had more to do with not giving Lina any more reason to have contact with her. As far as I know, Lina has not spoken or talked with Lina since that time, which if she really were my gals friend, you would think they would be speaking more often. I have no reason to doubt my gal now, and I could not detect any attempt to deceive me. Yes, she is capable of lying, and I've understood her reasons for doing so. I'm sure as her English improves I will learn more.

Yes, I was referring the Star Trek learning module. Yes it is. The "Culture & language Discussion" forum is the place for posts on language learning Chinese or English.

So what is that? I don't have a Chinese pod account. I do like star trek though....

Just in case anyone uses this for communication with your Chinese friends, the QQ Application for Iphone is out now and seems to work well. Does not support voice or camera, but the text chat seems to work well.

Won't that butter turn putrid?

I got a little more clarification today. Apparently the friend of my girlfriend told us she bought clothes for my sister. She never produced them and never showed up at my departure to give them. So my gf thinks her friend is a lier and now does not like her.

Question 1 - Does offering to get a gift for your boyfriends sister imply that the friend would an interest in the boyfriend? Question 2 - What purpose does it serve to tell the friend that she and the boyfriend are no longer together?

Well I thought that was the case, but was not quite sure.

Since my return from China, my gal has told me she no longer likes her friend that introduced us, and has broken off contact with her. She told me that her friend, during the time we all three were together, mentioned something about getting a gift for my sister. I didn't put much into this, but my gal thinks it's a big deal. Also, my gal said her friend didn't bother to show up and bring a parting gift, such as fruit or food, on the day of my departure. I was surprise to learn my gal told her friend that she has broken it off with me, Which was a lie to her friend. Does this makes sense to anyone?

I've read the many threads about GZ and how messed up it is, so I was just curious, is it required to use GZ? There is a Consulate in Beijing, Couldn't that be used?

For any of you that met your wife though blossoms, I am curious if your wife or girlfriend can tell me if Blossoms was free for them, and if there is a different website for their registration, or is the registration the same from blossoms.com Please advise. Tim

ju hua [cha]