Richard & Li

That's interesting. I had always thought the same as Avs81 (due to influencing the interview). That would be a valid reason. But, lack of space? That's weak. I agree with the incredulous comments about it.

Excellent suggestion. I am a member of toastmasters. I plan to get Li started eventually. However, I think (for her) it is a bit too soon.

I've thought about the same thing for my wife. While she is a bright spot in my life and home, and she has job skills acquired over a successful career in China... I can see how the need to explain things more than once to get complete understanding and inevitable miscommunications would make working in an environment without the support of other Chinese women very stressful (and possibly unsuccessful) for her. Failure in the workplace would result in much loss of face. So, she has been working weekends at a job that is more menial than her experience and skills would dictate. But, she is working where Chinese is spoken as much or more than English and she seems happy with that for the time being. She goes to adult ESL classes during the day while I'm at work M-F and studies hard every evening. I know with the kind of effort she puts forth her fluency will eventually allow her to work in her field in America. As for resumes: They are, by definition, strictly business. I don't know how you can get into a resume that she's sweet, honorable, and diligent. (Everybody claims to be that, the fact that our wives REALLY ARE just about needs to be demonstrated after being hired.)

We used chat transcripts from MSN. I saved every conversation we had (editing out things I wouldn't want read by a third party), dated it and stored it. When it came time to submit the I-129f, I printed out some of them, and sent them with the other documentation. When I went to China to accompany Li to Guangzhou, I printed them all out. (It took two reams of paper.) I put them into a huge business type binder and we took them to Guangzhou. Yeah, it made the luggage heavy. But, if it helped (who knows???) it was worth it.

No way I could say it better. Based on that criteria, we went for the K1.

I'm happy for ya Tsap! I know you've been waiting too long to make this trip. Very best wishes!!!

Nope. Its safe I tell you. Safer than walking down to the corner store to buy a quart of milk. You can certainly be cheated out of money,or lied to about 'we will fix your visa' over and over again. Anybody looking to spend 3 to 6 months in China can do a bit of English teaching in a small town or village,just throw a dart at a map. In larger cities you can get $10 or $20 for hour long private tutoring sessions if you are good at it. This is small change. My Mexican friend has NEVER BEEN TO AMERICA,yet he told them he was a 'native English speaker',then led DIRECTLY to a classroom full of students. Of course thats the extreme. Its very safe,even for a college age single young woman to backpack alone just about anywhere in China. Nobody likes those filthy dreadlock hippy backpackers,usually found in SE Asia,but the backpacker style travel books are used by all kinds of people. Even stupid people can travel safely in China if they just follow their travel book. "Independent Traveler" can be used if you feel ashamed to call yourself a 'backpacker'. You misread 'unsafe' into my words. China (from my experience) is a much safer environment than most countries. However, you failed to get my meaning: "looked down upon" = very unpopular. Or, not generally viewed as acceptable. Of course, there is a tendency for some young people to not care what anybody else thinks of their activities. Unlike our experiences in China (the vast majority of people liking and respecting us) most people will not like 'backpackers'. However, my impression is that you've already made up your mind and those of us advising caution are pissing in the wind.

AH! I misread your question. I was thinking she arrived in December. You should be fine filing jointly. I determined that we could and your circumstances are similar to ours.

IRS publication 519 specifies the rules regarding a non-resident alien opting to be treated as a resident alien for the first year of tax filing. I believe one restriction is that the non-resident alien must have lived in America for 30 consecutive days during 2008. I'm not a tax expert. I had a similar question and looked it up.

There is one within delivery range of us. They drive a refrigerated truck here once every couple weeks and people who've placed orders drive to the designated parking lot to pick things up. I've heard no complaints. They carry many items that the small Asian markets here don't have. However, Illinois is too far away...

I just rechecked this thread. Thanks Dan! I'm gonna try that this weekend. I'll let you know how it turns out...

Did you know that 'backpacker travel' in China is looked down upon? China has no love for foreign kids trying to squeeze every penny. China has plenty of poor people, they don't need foreign kids 'joining the crowd'. Don is right about teaching. Legitimate English teaching jobs for qualified people are a bit risky. Getting involved with people who are circumventing the system by default is just asking for trouble. Be careful with your advice, especially if the advisee is young and naive.

Hi Mike, Yep, I'd say it means that a P4 is in your immediate future. The processing times can vary a bit. But, checking the timelines will give you a good 'guesstamate'. Good luck - bring her home!

I've bought computers and accessories in China. Don is right: There are no real savings and the OS will be Chinese. As you said, a laptop can be a nice data recorder & transporter. I'd buy it in America and take it. If you get an extra-large laptop bag, it'll give you a lot of extra carry-on capacity on the airplane.

That's what I'm talkin' about! Have a great time!

We've made them quite often. (Just like the picture, only bigger.)Once, in America, we even got a UFO report. White plastic lights up better than clear... A hair dryer can give the initial 'boost' needed for the candles to 'take over'. One the kids love: Self destruct at 1000 feet with fireworks delay timed using the candles.

Did you hear that Cuzin???????? Your bass maybe made in China? I don't mind a chuckle on my behalf: But; I didn't see where the name of the bass was mentioned. There is no doubt in my mind that guitars in the $2000 price range are made in China and are worth the money. China produces many precision instruments, there all levels of quality right up to the rare and beautiful. The perception that all Chinese products are substandard is American propaganda. That chuckle was an insider musicians' joke. Quality guitars sold in America are certainly not made in China. Now I am talking about guitars that are played by gigging American musicians. The best quality guitars are generally designed my Leo Fender and Les Paul. There are others but they are not made in China. We are not talking about "all Chinese products", we are talking about guitars. I still make a living playing quality instruments made in America and Cuzin Tsap did the same years ago. I'll let him tell you where his bass was made. Bottom line, America makes far superior guitars than China has ever done. Ah. I understand. Still, I'm a bit surprised that some enterprising Chinese hasn't decided there is a market & a profit to be made from manufacturing guitars of the highest quality. But, the bottom line is: I, who know virtually nothing about guitars, am going to shadup.

I don't think the article was a blame piece, it was just written in the easy-to digest without thinking to much, and shocking attention-grabbing way that pretty much all news stories made for general public consumption here in the USA are. Even an article about a cat stuck in a tree, a sinkhole, a kidnapping... same style. And since it's sensationalist to a degree, if you don't agree with it, it tends to piss you off. If you do agree with it, it tends to make you more sure of your opinion than perhaps you should be. And those are BOTH outcomes that they want. Either way you pay attention to it, have a reaction to it, and remember it. I think you've hit the nail on the head. I get so tired of that kind of tripe being passed off as 'news'... B)

Do yourself a favor. NEVER buy a funny looking guitar. Ok. But, if I was playing it, you couldn't tell the difference anyway.

Good idea! I really like tea eggs. I think all you need to do is boil the eggs in strong black tea then crack the shells when the whites are solid. But, I'm guessing... http://growabrain.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/02/01/egg_pair.jpg

That's the way the article would have looked if it was unbiased and not an attempt to blame China for the disaster.

I'm really sad reading about your experience. It sounds to me like you are able to remain rational even in the face of the most grevious pain. That's good. There is still process remaining to be attempted. (Others here are much more knowledgeable about that than I.) There are some here whose experience parallels yours. I hope you meet them and you strengthen each other. I'm glad you've found CFL. Welcome. May you find help here in how to proceed from this point forward.

I guess I should also explain why I'm perhaps a bit over-sensitive about this particular topic. I was in China when the earthquake occurred. I have family members in Chengdu some of them are police officers and were directly involved in the relief efforts. I saw the compassion of the Chinese people in person. Li & I were only days from a planned vacation in Jiuzhaigou, where we might have had serious problems if the earthquake had been a few days later.

Larry, I wasn't criticizing you. It was all about the content of the article. You said you found the article interesting. So, did I. But, I strongly disagree with it and explained why.

I'm always skeptical of articles of this nature. I have been accused of being 'over-sensitive' to 'China bashing' in CFL, so I'll be concise. These speculations are based on wild conjecture. If the point was to establish a scientific theory, it would not have been printed. The disclaimer "Scientists generally agree that a reservoir, no matter how big, cannot by itself cause an earthquake." can be found in the middle of the article. If the article was about a real probable cause of earthquakes, why is the 'Tainted Milk Scandal" referred to in the middle of this article? The fact is this: The Chinese government and people responded to this disaster at a speed and efficiency that should truly embarrass America after the way we handled the hurricane Katrina disaster. This is a desperate attempt at turning the accolades deserved for heroic effort, compassion and real disaster relief into blame for causing the disaster. Ridiculous!!!