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WE GOT PINK!

shadeOgray

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shadeOgray

shadeOgray

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Thank you everyone so much for the help and support. Ting and I are thrilled and have been catching up on some much needed rest.

We picked up the visa today at the post office, was a HUGE pain in the ass to find it. Apparently the near useless map they provide you is not only hard to read but also printed UPSIDE DOWN! :ph34r: , yes folks South is up and North is down, I think it was GUZ's last ditch effort to F&^K with people. Remember that when you try to find this place. I'll make a better map and post it here for every one later. Were getting our bags packed now and leaving tomorrow noonish to Baotou to see the family then fly back on the 18th and fly home on the 19th to Florida.

 

GUZ MAP

 

There's the map :ph34r:

Edited by shadeOgray (see edit history)
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HelloWorld08

HelloWorld08

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Thank you everyone so much for the help and support. Ting and I are thrilled and have been catching up on some much needed rest.

We picked up the visa today at the post office, was a HUGE pain in the ass to find it. Apparently the near useless map they provide you is not only hard to read but also printed UPSIDE DOWN! :Dah: , yes folks South is up and North is down, I think it was GUZ's last ditch effort to F&^K with people. Remember that when you try to find this place. I'll make a better map and post it here for every one later. Were getting our bags packed now and leaving tomorrow noonish to Baotou to see the family then fly back on the 18th and fly home on the 19th to Florida.

 

GUZ MAP

 

There's the map B)

 

Cool :lol:

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shadeOgray

shadeOgray

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Well were still not over the jet lag but were definitely much better. It's been very busy since we returned.

 

We went to Baotou on the 14th to visit with family where they promptly tried to kill me by feeding me too much. I had to let out my belt on my uniform this morning before going to work, it will be diet time again Monday.

Now the bottom floor apartment is where the family stayed. Granddad, Grandma, Mom, Dad, Aunt #1 and uncle #1? and of course Ting.

Aunt was in bed sick recovering from a brain clot. The grandparents, especially grandfather kept telling me to sit and eat every time they saw me. Grandfather is so funny, have a great clip of him singing a folk song at a restaurant.

They had me staying in the newly finished upstairs apartment, Ting explained to the parents for me before about sleeping with other family members in the same bed was not going to happen, so this was the solution. Grandma kept asking why I was being put upstairs, that I would be lonely, she is so thoughtful but it's hard to explain to someone her age about the social differences.

We had a formal wedding announcement dinner to the family at a local restaurant that filled about 5 tables of just the closest family. I do remember at one point I reached for what I thought was a cup of water and gulped it down, yeah, bad move on my part, turned out to be that clear moonshine paint thinner tasting liquor. I thought I was going to die, my stomach was not happy for two days after that. Got to meet a lot of family for the first time and we had a lot of fun. We did get a few red envelopes that amounted to a nice amount in Chinese terms. Ting and I both agreed to let Mom have it, we wanted to make sure they were well off before we left, it's tough for us financially right now but is harder on mom and dad and we had to make sure they were taken care of.

On the day we got dropped off at the Baotou Airport even dad cried a little bit and I had to comfort Ting on the other side of the security check, it's a huge change for anybody.

We landed in Guangzhou around 10pm I think, I didn¡¯t want to screw around with a bus so we jumped in a cab and headed out to Mr. Xia's.

We got to his office and something happened to where he could not put us up for the night and we would up having to stay in the worst 4 star hotel I ever saw but it was still the best room yet we rented.

Mr. Xia helped us with our bags that night and also showed up bright and early in the

morning and helped us out again. He also paid for the shuttle bus to take us to the airport which was very nice of him. Now we had our seats already assigned so we could sit together the entire way. The ticket agent at the counter asked what seats do we want¡­ I had that weird WTF look on my face because I knew our seats were already assigned in business class but we would be sandwiched between other people. I would MUCH prefer an isle seat though so we don¡¯t have to climb over people etc. So we told her IF she had an Isle seat and could sit us TOGETHER we would be happy to get those seats. She said sure no problem, gave us our tickets and off we went. After going through security we noticed something was amiss with our seats. We were both isle seats in different rows!

It's times like this that my temper starts to kick in a bit over Chinese customer service and sensibilities. We practically ran to the boarding gate to get it fixed, of course no one was there till just a few minutes before boarding started. The first young lady was saying she couldn¡¯t do anything etc¡­ which being an experienced traveler I knew she was full of shit and just being lazy. This was confirmed when another young man came to the counter and he helped us out no problem but now we were sitting in the very rear of the jet instead of comphy business class seats. Live and learn, once you have ok seats, hang onto them with a death grip in China.

We landed in Tokyo and this was officially the first time Ting had ever been out of China. While walking down the corridor to get our boarding passes for the next flight Ting was looking around curiously then said to me "What's that smell"?

I said "Honey, that¡¯s called clean air" "oh? wow", she said. She has developed this habit that brings a smile to my face every time, she just starts blurting out at random signs she sees. I noticed this while waiting for our baggage at some point. I heard "Customs!, Lavatory!, McDonalds!" and I started looking around trying to figure out what she was doing, when I finally figured it out I just smiled and watched her.

Ting has noticed on western flights, particularly on the flight home that our flights are much colder, to which I was thinking "Thank God" LOL.

When we landed at Dallas the first words was this is the first time in her life she was a free woman, to which I replied "I have your visa in my pocket so you're not free quite yet LOL" Then gave her the visa. The Dallas Immigration was VERY fast compared to Washington DC. We both went to the window and after looking at our documents the officer took us down to another window to our right at the leery end of the row. Apparently K-1's and other such visa's are transferred to another window specifically for them as not to hold up the other people waiting just to get there passport stamped. It also happened at there shift change so we had to get up again and go in a back room to be processed. Ting was getting nervous at this point and I had to explain to her what was going on and why. She didn¡¯t relax though until everything was done. Took about 15 to 20 minutes for the entire process and every one was very nice.

After rechecking our bags we got on one of those jets about the size of a pack of gum and headed out to our final stop at Pensacola.

She was so nervous I felt her hands shaking while she had a death grip on my arm.

The Family was all there to meet her with a couple bouquets of flowers and taking photos. Ting was very excited and the kids instantly hugged her and said welcome home mommy!

The next day after a good nights rest and a hot shower we headed off to get her a cell phone and our marriage license. The marriage license concept was a bit odd to her so I had to explain it a few times. After explaining it so many times in different ways it occurred to me the entire marriage license thing is stupid and just another way for the county to get cash out of your pocket.

So far TingTing loves it here and were going to get married in just a few hours so we can get all the paperwork rolling and her medical coverage and military benefits.

In a few months when we have cash again we will do an actual ceremony on the beach.

 

More photos to follow soon... :D

Sorry it took so long but to say I was busy is an understatement.

 

Ting also told me last time we were in Beijing together and had dinner with Uncle #3 and a couple of his buisness partners that later the buisness partner was picked up by Chinese security and questioned about me, who I was, why was I here etc...

 

Nice huh?

Edited by shadeOgray (see edit history)
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Bert

Bert

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Yep were officially 100% hitched now B)

 

Mom and Lee said it's legal for her to beat me now :unsure: :o

 

You mean its not legal before you get married? I have to have a talk with Jie :ph34r:

 

Let me ask a question or two about marrying as soon as possible. I will probably go the same route. Apparently, she doesn't need a social security number to get married in my state. So, is it best to wait until after marriage to get the social security number? She has to have it for a driver's license. Can there be a name change, or does she need to keep her current name until her status is adjusted?

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