Qing's arrival and beyond .

[JimB]

Ni hao Qing, welcome to the USA and the forum.  As has been said Arnold is crazy in love with you.  You are all he can talk about.  I told him to be thankful because he is one very lucky man to have found a woman such as yourself.  I hope to meet you someday.  When my wife gets here, i am going to take her on a motorcycle tour of the US.  Hopefully we can meet then.
Jim & YunXiang aka Mrs. Burk

[ttwjr32]

welcome to the forum and welcome to the usa.
best wishes to you two from Sisi and Ted in
 Guangzhou China

[Arnold]

Guy's , whoever Qing and I would have the chance to meet ..whould be such a great thing . We are all brother's with the same goal . After meeting Jo-Ma and Sly in Person .. I'm definitely looking forward of meeting many more if possible .

Anyway , believe it or not .. I did have to use Maxx's 24 Hour rule already :icon_cheesygrin: As I am a very neat Person about pretty much everything and I'm like picking up after many things .. but realize not everybody is the same and she is still very nervous in a very new place for her . I know , I need to be very careful before acting or saying things I might feel sorry/bad for afterward's .

Otherwise , it is total Heaven . We even did do our first Grocery Shopping at a big Asian Market in the S.F. Valley . I could see Qing's face light up and I call it now the Happy Market for her . Tomorrow it's to my Uncles house for Thanksgiving ( a day early ) . She will meet many of my Cousin's there .

Forgive Qing , if she is not yet very comfortable with posting ( she is shy about this ) but it should get better soon , as we are going to install Chinese version into my Computer , so she also can write to Mama and Baba in Character's .

Hope all else is still going great with everybody else , as I don't have the time right now to keep up with it all .

[Arnold]

Hahahaha ... had a good laugh yesterday , as we both decided to go Chinatown here in LA . Of course it's about 65 miles from my House , but as Qing found out already .. the very need for a Car here . Everything is soooo far ! Anyway , we arrived in Chinatown around noon and of course I alway's thought of it ... well pretty nice to take her there . But , after spending a few hours and a nice late Lunch of some Dim Sum and going to buy many more Item's for Cooking ( Sauce's , Rice Cooker , Steamer ect. ect. ) we were ready to head Home again . This is .. when I looked her Qing and ask her how did you like Chinatown ? She said " It's soooo small " only one Street !! I had to laugh out loud , she though it would be most likely be like ... well a little Town by itself . But , being among her own kind and talking to many ( which are mostly from HK or Guangdong area ) so mostly Cantonese which she does not speak . But at the Place we had Lunch , I could practise my Mandarin and both the Waiter and my LaoPo where impressed as both understood me for a change .:icon_cheesygrin:
So today , it's off to my Uncles House to meet many of his Kids and my Cousins for Turkey Dinner . I know .. Thanksgiving a day early ? But that are Germans for you , like Oct.fest in Sept. ... why wait

[David5o]

Arnold,

I'd be a little careful about going round picking things up and what have you, especially at such an early stage.... Qing could quite easily think, that she is not good enough for you and a bad wife!!!

This is going to be a difficult time, being together 24/7/52/365 but also FUN too!!.... This is now the real thing, and nothing like the short trips that you have both been used to. A lot of learning on both sides to go through, and of course Qing is in a totally strange environment so cut her a little slack.

 I know what it's like, as i'm a lot like you, i basically like everything neat/tidy and everything in it's place. But i realised quite early on, the house isn't mine anymore, ...It's OUR house!!
So don't worry about it too much, because everything eventually comes round to a feel good situation where your both happy with your surroundings... honestly!!  hahaha!!

As i said before, this is where your marriage really starts, ....the vacation is over!!  hahaha!!

David.....

[chen yan]

Arnold and Qing,It is so happy to hear the good news,when you two stay together,it looks so harmonious. Happy thansgiving day to you all!

[Arnold]

Thank you Chen , for your kind words .

David , your obsolutely right and I realize that of course .. this is now .. well , what I came here for Qing came here for . To share a Home together and make it the Home we both are comfortable and cozy in . One just needs to take it one day at a time , but look at the long term ... so for it to work in both our favour . It is truely a Dream come true though , the way she takes care of me in many little details .. even though she is going through this large change herself .
I include some Photo's form Chinatown visit and Thanksgiving Dinner at my Uncles House .

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYBODY !!!

[Irishman]

You had baozi at your uncles house for thanksgiving?
Nice pictures Arnold, one day I hope to live the dream like you are now, I will have to live it vicariously though you for the moment!

[Chong]

So SiFu,

What does Qing think of "America" so far
How does the Chinese food compare to back home for her tastebuds

Happy Gobble Gobble Day    :icon_cool:

[Sylvain D]

Many thanks for the photos shared, Arnold, and happy thanksgiving to you and Qing
Well, I'm laughing a bit too (sorry) because of your story in Chinatown ^^
By the way, I'll be in Beijing in February, I think you'll not be there because busy somewhere else
I'll use your contact there, and I hope my photos could be like yours

Oh, how is Qing by now, in U.S.A? will she train to drive a car?
Anyway, I'm really happy you're together forever, right now

[kenny]

Hi Arnold,

Congradulations to you and Qing!

I am curious about Chongs question too, how does she like it so far? She may have never had a thanksgiving dinner like that right? I asked Linda about this and she has never eaten turkey. Anyway i wish you both all the best!

Kenny

[Arnold]

So SiFu,

What does Qing think of "America" so far
How does the Chinese food compare to back home for her tastebuds

Happy Gobble Gobble Day    :icon_cool:

Chong , in her own words .. she loves America so far . The only Chinese Food so far was at Chinatown for Lunch in the Photo and Qing ( and I ) thought it was excellent Dim Sum as good as in Shanghai .

Sly , she will need to learn how to drive at some point ... but slowly . I will let her go her OWN speed .. so to speak .

Kenny , yes it was her first big Turkey Dinner with all the fixing's . Also , not use to seeing so many Family member's ( all my Uncle's kids and grandkids ) on one Table . Seven kids most with Husband or Wife , 13 grandkids and us two . Quite a sight for Qing , coming from a chinese Family of two children at her time (60's) .

So now over to my Neighbor's house for round two . haha
Mexican Family's are pretty large also , so it should be of no surprise ... except if all the Dancing start's afterward's ?

[Martin]

Arnold...sorry for the late entry here, but I was too busy seeing someone else, to read this forum.  Congratulations to you and Qing.  It has been a very long road for both of you, but you have finally made it to the end of this road.  Now you find yourself on an even better road...this one has room for the two of you to walk together.

[Arnold]

I also thank you for a wonderful Blog'ing of your second Trip with Allison . Being apart from your Wife is one of the hardest things we must endure ... but it is a small price to pay for such wonderful Wife's / Families . The few weeks we get to spend with them before coming together finally , does mean so much more afterward's .. as we got to share the good and the not so good right from the beginning , only to make us so much stronger as a Couple . This is "something" special that only us here , looking for these long distance relationships can experience . Takes our appreciation level one step higher , than any other relationship . That is a great thing to start any Marriage .

The second part of the Turkey Fest was a total success . As my Neighbor is not only like a brother to me , but now Qing also knows WHY I have alway's claimed that from him . She really has won the heart's of my neighborhood and was welcome with open arms by all . Deep down .. I knew she would .

[Arnold]

Today , was Washing and Mopping/Vacuuming day . As Monday comes near ( first day back at work for me ) I had to show Qing all the Tools of those chore's around the House . She now knows pretty much where everything is , that is of any importance . After doing our Cleaning together of the House , we went to Visit my Friend and his Wife that came to our Wedding in August from Washington State . They had moved back down here , because they were tired of all the Rain up there . After that nice meeting again , we decided to Cook our first Shanghai Dinner together . As she cooked and I kept up keeping most the Pans and other dishes clean as it went along , it was amazing how she whipped us Dinner on the Table . I tell you , it was just like eating her Dad's cooking . Delicious !!!
I had a look outside , to double-check if I was not in Shanghai .:icon_cheesygrin:
It is great to get the close-up's of how they do the magic they do . Tomorrow , I will start to get her familiar with the Car she will use to learn how to drive here in the States . But not to the driving itself , as the Neighborhood is not fore-warned yet .:icon_cheesygrin:
So far , it has been a wonderful week together . What I need to do next , is get more chinese style dishes to suit her needs more . Not that I need to , but I want to for her .