Where did your SO live? Where do you live now?

[clayton2103]

My SO is from Nanning and in the near future will living here with me in Nashville. Our home will be in a downtown condominium, 21 stories above the beautiful, mostly sleepy city below.

 

Nanning population: 2.8 million

Nashville population: 610,000

 

I have spoken to her of the difference of the amount of people, vehicles and lack of hustle and bustle as she is most familiar with between our two cities. I tell her of my worry of her missing all the excitement of a big city....Her response, "Darling, I not care. Only care with you forever." And, I know she means it!

[NewDay2006]

My wife is from downtown Chengdu and loves the city... Now, we are living in Marietta, a suburb of Atlanta. She doesn't like it because it's too country. But, she keeps wanting to get chickens, goats, and rabbits. She wants to have a huge garden and plant lots of fruit trees. So, I am not sure what to do... Even in China, she tried to have a small garden in her kitchen.

 

Marietta is too country?? What does she say about all the cars and crazy drivers??

My thought exactly.

 

My wife is from Beihai, a small city in China, but it still crowded.

 

I live in a suburb of Atlanta. She is amazed she won't be able to take a bus from our house. I feel bad, she will be stuck to the house and depend on me to take her places. There are some stores and shopping within walking distance, but she will need transportation to get a job. I guess we will cross that bridge when the time comes.

Edited June 28, 2007 by NewDay2006 (see edit history)

[The Jeff]

We live in a sleepy college town in northern California. We can walk to the supermarket, downtown shopping with little boutiques is just a few blocks away, and it's green. The only difference in the lifestyle is that there are few night snacks to be had in Chico. The missus is from a subburb outside of Changhsa, Hunan province so the size of the towns are pretty much the same.

 

But we enjoy our little town. It's very clean. People don't smoke and pedestrians have the right of way.

 

But the absolute best thing we like are the fruits that are in season right now. We've been going pretty overboard with all the cherries and strawberries on sale at the farmer's markets and roadside stands just outside of town.

 

California has the best fruits and nuts.

[toy_rn65]

..... fruits and nuts.

 

As in San Fransico and L.A.?

[credzba]

I live in Austin TX., my wife lives in Suzhou Jiangsu.

 

The latitude of the two cities is almost the same with Austin being slightly south.

 

Suzhou is of course much prettier than anything we have in Texas. It is heaven on earth.

 

We plan to live in Austin until we get our children out of college, then run home to Suzhou as fast as possible.

[dstarsboy]

That's a good topic. I'm a city boy at heart and she's a city girl, so we'll definitely try to live in a loft/condo downtown at some point, so there's really no habitual culture change for her.

 

I am very interested in how an SO growing in densely populated cities will adjust to a ranch or a large piece of land away from the city. Keep me posted.

[rogerinca]

..... fruits and nuts.

 

As in San Fransico and L.A.?

 

 

Bad Cop !! No Donut !!!

[Dennis143]

My response doesn't count, but I'll add it anyway.

 

We live among the largest Chinese community in the United States. Most of our friends, heck all of our friends are Chinese.

 

Downside is, it is taking Leiqin longer to learn English than if we lived away from Chinese. Upside is I am learning Chinese, well a little bit (e din din).

 

 

 

 

Travis, Some adjust to the isolated life in the country and some don't.

[SirLancelot]

We live in a sleepy college town in northern California.

 

People don't smoke and pedestrians have the right of way.

 

 

Sleepy little town, perhaps, but certainly with a very big reputation and quite well known throughout CA, if not the USA.

 

No smoke? Hahah.. I know Chico as the collegiate pot capital of the US. I can't imagine everyone not smoking there.

 

 

My SO is from Shanghai. She's now with me in a suburban town in Northern CA. She accepts being here but would rather live in SF, or even more, NYC.

 

Compared to Shanghai, she feels most cities in the US are still only rural towns, only huge metropolises, like NYC or Chicago, are considered real cities, in her opinion. Not even San Francisco is considered a "real" city in her opinion. Now having said that, she concedes that the standard of living and the quality of life is dramatically higher in US cities of all sizes as compared to the average Chinese living standard or quality of life in their respectively size cities. Nevertheless, there's not a lot of "real" cities in the US in her opinion. She does also concede that San Francisco is amazingly beautiful--much more so than Shanghai--but it can't beat Shanghai with regards to being a "true" city feel with all the accompanying dynamism and pure energy.

 

That's her take. She did like Maui a lot and wouldn't mind moving there if I could afford it.

[toy_rn65]

..... fruits and nuts.

 

As in San Fransico and L.A.?

 

 

Bad Cop !! No Donut !!!

 

How about a "Latte Grande"?

[NUWORLD]

..... fruits and nuts.

 

As in San Fransico and L.A.?

 

 

Bad Cop !! No Donut !!!

 

How about a "Latte Grande"?

 

I'll pass on the "Latte Grande"

But a Bud Lite and a crispy cream Donut would be nice!

[rogerinca]

We live in a sleepy college town in northern California.

But the absolute best thing we like are the fruits that are in season right now...............

 

Yeh, but when the fruit is out of season, the best thing about Chico, is the great Sierra Nevada Ale !!!!

 

I have taken the Sierra Nevada brewery tour twice now. Also, try their in-house restaurant !! Really great food !!

[tsap seui]

Very good topic, and interesting to see the responces of how y'alls wives are adjusting to the different environments.

 

On my first visit I saw that my girlfriend had grown up and lived her whole life in a city of 1.3 million. Crowds of people jammed tightly together on the streets with taxis and buses are her way of life...LOL...I live in a rural town of less than 2,500 people. Hell, she has more than that many people in her block.

 

She lives in a city that is dirty with the surrounding landscape flat and austere. My home is in beautiful lush and postcard scenic mountains.

 

It is going to be very interesting to see her face when we drive from Dulles International, just outside DC, to my home.

 

Once, at a family gathering, one of her older brothers asked her how many lived in my hometown. What a totally confused look he had on his face when she told him "two five zero zero". He told her that there surely must be more zeros.

 

Maybe I'm lucky she comes from a "small" Chinese city. I often feel claustaphobic in her concrete canyon of a city when we go shopping and I've wondered how she will feel in a home with a big sky, lush green mountainous landscape, and without a zillion people bumping into you when you do something simple like going to a bank or shopping for food.

 

Hopefully in August I can report her feelings about life with "elbow room"....or maybe in October.

 

tsap seui

[jim_julian]

Most of our friends, heck all of our friends are Chinese.

 

 

Jim checks his passport and looks in the mirror ....

[Dennis143]

Most of our friends, heck all of our friends are Chinese.

 

 

Jim checks his passport and looks in the mirror .... Too funny!

Oh, sorry, Jim. I get confused.

 

OK, some friends are not Chinese, I guess.