jim404sea

Sure there is! Marry them! lol ! i think you meant to be talking to the other direction, this is the choir youre preaching to over here !

i'm on a national geographic mailing list and saw it that way... the story about how they just throw up a brand new town with factories included, all in a month or 2, is just awesome to me - again and again i had to stop reading it and just sit in amazement and how efficiently you can do things on the scale of millions of people when you don't have the problems that come from the people being (for good reason) cynical about who will profit from government decisions. Anyone who reads that edition and doesnt see why China will be running the world economy in a very short time is not paying attention there's really just no way to compete in the long-term with a culture that's still healthy after a 4-5000 year head-start, is there

aha ! the key to a gold mine ! my weekend is now officially absorbed i have a feeling that the lyrics will not be in english if i could find them but that's ok, i love just listening to the flow of the language even i have no idea what is being said - thank you soooooo much !

thank you thank you thank you ! baidu makes me crazy, I know there's so much I would like there but if you can't read and write the language, forget it sure wish they would make an english version, or at least some subtitles that say click here for the oldies, here for the female pop, here for the male pop, etc oh well, one more thing to spend time doing with wife and daughter next time I'm there, memorizing what is where

hmmm if the husband is that bad, you would think he would notice there's some symbols or spoken words (I'm not clear if it's just a written language of secret symbols or actual words that no one understands if they haven't been taught) in the picture guess it would work if her problem is that he mostly ignores her, but not so good if he's the controlling type

who's kidding who, women have always had the secret language they use to back each other up with - never knew there was a written version tho seriously, this is fascinating... no speakers here at work - is it just new symbols for words everyone knows, or is it really a different language with new words ? does the clip give any clues about why they needed a secret language and why it's coming back now ?

my all-time favorite is short and sweet and simple and that's what makes it so powerful from the guy that led the way for me thru so many ups and downs, like the older brother I never had - Love is real , real is love Love is feeling , feeling love Love is wanting to be loved Love is touch, touch is love Love is reaching, reaching love Love is asking to be loved Love is you, You and me - Love is knowing we can be Love is free, free is love Love is living, living love Love is needing to be loved John Lennon The music is really nice too, but the video is not so great if you don't know what's going on and why -

I love seeing this side of you, man... and the new stuff in your timeline spot is so right on I think ms. rabbit got lucky (as tom petty might say)

At work now so no time to dig deep, but youtube searches do come up with hits for: Zhao Yonghua Jiang Meiqi Vivian Xu Wan Fang Na Ying Tian Zhen Liu Ruoying Liang Jingru Chen Huilin Fan Xiaoxuan Xu meijing Wen Lan Lin Yilian Su Huilun Fan Xiaoxuan Xu Ruyun In other words, almost all of the singers you list I'll be looking forward to doing some new playlists myself, thanks !

let me re-phrase - tea from china, well of course, no big deal medicine ? hmmm we better check into this now, read between the lines your bags, you wont freak about official attention like she might

my impression is that either way can be tricky There is a type of tea (that is not a medicine but is a mix of several ingredients) that is served with every meal at one of our favorite restaurants in guangzhou. I asked my wife to send me some and she said the postal people told her it is not allowed, because one of the ingredients is considered a medicine. And of course when boarding the plane to come to this country, they check the carry-ons on both ends of the flight. On this end, would they allow something thru when they have no idea what it is ? (you can bet that they won't have a clue) So far, what has worked for me has been to put it in the checked luggage, and on the US side, be sure on the little customs form to declare that you are bringing in some tea.

yeh, she's great huh ? hard to believe she came in 3rd in some kind of tv contest

oh you want to load your ipod ? here's my playlists, I think you'll find some stuff you like - http://www.youtube.com/profile_play_list?user=jim404sea also, there's some good music (but no videos) at a site that uses music to help people learn mandarin - go to china-8.com and sign up for a free account (don't worry, I've never gotten any spam as a result). After you log in to the account, you will see a menu choice at the top for 'chinese songs' and that will take you to a screen where you can pick from 20 pages of songs, 25 songs per page, and save them into a playlist too. If you like superstar, you'll probably also like the ones by Jolin Tsai - I had not idea that there was such a thing as Chinese hip-hop, but there's some really good stuff there, I think. Lots of good oldies too. I got the names of a lot of good singers that I could then search youtube for. And my wife and I's favorite love song of them all is an oldie there, # 15, called 'tears of a lover' 情人的眼泪 by a famous singer from the 60's called Cài Qín 蔡琴 - she has a voice that makes you want to cry even if you don't know why There's several versions of the same song in my youtube playlists but nobody can touch this woman's voice. neither youtube or the china-8 site is set up to make downloads for your ipod easy, but it can be done

well, I can't keep quiet on this topic... I didnt make these, I've just made a hobby of collecting them into playlists My wife and I really like the oldies but I've also been surprised by some really good pop groups - it's a kick to see rock feels just as good, no matter what language it's in... 'superstar' makes me feel like I'm 20 again are they all love songs ? got me - they all make me want to hug my wife tight, that's close enough for me http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PETLiEzazxA...36D&index=0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcZY7vJjQwY...48&index=25 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61CNwn5vdrg...548&index=0

Darnell - Whenever you get back around to making this real, or if you need some more hands working to keep it rolling while youre dealing with the other business and financial matters that you mention, call on me. I'm itching to throw a little speed bump in the way of these stuffed-shirt, little tin gods. If you havent already nailed down the name of this NGO, I think it would be great to call it the Rabbit Protection Agency - anyone asks, we can direct them to tsap

trade ya some info for an answer - the info: expat links for Guangzhou, some better than others (I was mostly looking for a place to get things like plain old yellow mustard, western-style hot dogs, etc) http://guangzhou.asiaxpat.com/directory/ex.../groceriesfood/ http://www.alloexpat.com/china_expat_forum/index.php?c=24 http://guangzhou.mychinastart.com/ http://bestofguangzhou.com/ http://expatacular.ning.com/group/guangzhou http://www.moveandstay.com/guangzhou/info_...expatriates.asp http://www.expatfocus.com/index.php?name=F...pic&t=10026 http://www.orientexpat.com/forum/index.php?showforum=55 http://www.arnoudforyou.com/guangzhou-blog-china/index.php http://www.newsgd.com/enjoylife/living/shopping/ http://www.xianzai.com.cn/ezine/gd-h-en/current.htm http://guangzhou.ixpat.com/links --------- the question: I understand about buying houses, starting a business, etc, all pretty much have a requirement of having a Chinese citizen being the majority owner... but what about the simpler question that's the reverse of what we're all dealing with, the visa/citizenship red tape ? If youre going to move to China to stay, the little tourist visa is going to be practical, so what are the options for someone who is already married to a Chinese citizen ? (my wife's daughter was already 18 when we married, so it's not looking good at all for avoiding a separation of about 5 years if my wife emigrates to the good old family-values u.s.) Longer term &/or permanent visa requirements, dual citizenship, naturalizing, etc ? To make it simple, let's say it's what seems to be normal for this crowd, ie, someone with little Chinese language and who is within a few years of retirement age ?

Yes, this is from experience. All the transactions so far have been in Guangzhou, but the location would not matter at all to paypal. When she first tried to use it, there were problems, because I did not know at the time that before it can be used in an ATM, the paypal account needs to have cash in it, ie, it would not automatically draw the money from the bank account that I had tied the paypal account to for this purpose. But once I moved some money into the paypal account from the bank account, and after she had the experience with an ATM that didnt work correctly, she was then able to make several cash withdrawals from 4 other machines with no problem. There is a $1 fee for ATM withdrawals, and a $3 fee if using it at a bank. Once we were satisfied that it was reliable in this way, she then went to the mall and used it not for cash, but to pay directly for some jewelry, and there was no problem at all with that. Like any debit card, there is a daily limit, but there is also a screen in the paypal account where you can adjust that limit to some degree. If she is mostly going to use it for cash, not merchandise, you will need to be aware that moving the money into the paypal account from a bank account will take 3-5 business days to process, and you will also need to contact them by phone to have them clear it for use in a foreign country - the restriction is only removed for 2 weeks, so you need to remember to contact them again every so often to have the removal of the restriction extended for another 2 weeks. One other note - it was bumpy getting all the restrictions figured out and learning about having to have money in the paypal account for cash withdrawals, so I ended up calling paypal support 5 or 6 times over a weekend. They were consistently very helpful, easy, and pleasant to work with, and that's worth a lot in itself. Happy to help

there's probably always going to be exceptions where there's a bank employee who has their personal reasons not to help, but in general it shouldnt be a problem, since pinyin is, after all, their invention in the 1st place my wife had a problem with an atm that withdrew money from our paypal balance even though it didnt actually give her any cash, and the bank didnt question that the card belongs to her, or that her card was the one involved because atm's do malfunction, and because the fee for atm's is only $1, I encourage my wife to make several small withdrawals instead of 1 big one also, the card can be used to make a direct payment to the merchant, and then there is no atm involved, as well as no fee since it's a debit card, I imagine that the merchant could care less whose name is on it, as long as the pin is accepted

Also, if you have a paypal debit card in your name, you can get a 2nd one in her name with no questions asked - have them mail it to you, then you get it to her, wait till she receives it, then you activate and tell her the pin That way it will have her name, not yours, if this happens again, plus since both names are using the same account, that goes towards establishing a bonafide relationship

I would agree completely Jim... It works for us... B) amen, brother i wonder if it's because we obsess about different things and so have no conflicts, or is it because it just takes an extra 15 years for a man to be experienced enough to (sometimes) keep up with a woman's emotional zigs and zags and find them interesting instead of frustrating

it's probably a regional thing - here in the seattle area, tutors get $20-35 per hour for 1 on 1, 15-20 for 2 people, 10-15 for 3 or more do a search at craigslist.com for 'chinese' or 'chinese tutor' in the 'services' category to see what the local rate is while she's looking for the right situation, she might also want to pick up some part-time work translating letters and/or business documents, too - you'll see listings for those at craigslist too

my wife lives in gz and she was telling me just last week about seeing an article in the local paper that said a difference of 15 years or more is what makes the happiest marriages no idea what kind of research, if any, was behind that pronouncement

What some people will do to try and trick others. They should of at least got someone that could do a better job with the picture. on the other hand... I would really really like to take a ride on that train ! The views must be spectacular in that part of the country.

my god, what an awesome culture we have been so lucky to get involved with http://www.asianoffbeat.com/default.asp?Display=1278

I thought I was doing pretty good about staying on top of the news here but this is the 1st I've heard about this - which part of cfl do I need to be keeping a closer eye on for this kind of news ? Each and every post in these 4 sections. You catch bits and pieces here and there,but it all adds up. It took me over 2 months when I joined to read each post going all the way back to when CFL started. Each member has the choice to stay around and joke in TC and such, or become informed, the choice is always yours. http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?showforum=20 I was referring to where he said the policy is 'now' to not process, which contradicts all the previous bits and pieces I've seen, and which sounds to me like a recent change, and I was wondering how I missed news about a recent change since I'm staying on top of the new posts that happen every day Sorry if I have given the impression that I'm only here to joke - it's just my way of trying to balance all the things there are to worry about and analyze to death in all of this Public Notice November 14, 2006 USCIS Announces Transfer of Form I-129F (K-3-spouse of U.S. Citizens only), Petition for Alien Fiancée Beginning October 23, 2006, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) National Benefits Center (NBC) began transferring Form I-129F, Petition for Alien Fianc(e), (petitions for K-3-spouses of U.S. citizens only), to the California Service Center (CSC) and the Vermont Service Center (VSC), depending on the location of the related Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative. This transfer is being implemented in preparation for Phase 3 of the USCIS initiative to use centralized filing and bi-specialized adjudication. Through this Bi-Specialization effort, USCIS continues to align similar workloads between two ¡°sister¡± service centers, CSC and VSC, to better manage cases and improve customer service. USCIS will continue to forward approved Form I-129F (K-3) petitions to the National Visa Center (NVC) for consular processing. However, it will retain approved Form I-130 petitions, based upon a mutual agreement with the Department of State. USCIS will retain all approved Forms I-130 for retrieval upon the beneficiary¡¯s eventual application for adjustment of status (Form I-485), unless the petitioner clearly indicates on Form I-130 that the beneficiary will use the consular process. USCIS will store approved Form I-130 petitions at its National Record Center (NRC)...... thanks Roger, sorry you had to spend time on this but it's a good thing you did and I do appreciate it, because I see now that my confusion was from thinking that this was something recent - I never would have found something from back in 2006. So now I'm confused instead about the posts that have been made since then, where people here were still talking about doing the 129 and the 130 both, then picking whichever went fastest - why didnt somebody slam them at the time for not being informed, instead ?! It's all good - figuring out which end is up and what's acceptable here is good practice for dealing with the feds, I guess.