Snow joke

[Willy The Londoner]

Hi Phillip,

Just picked up a point on your last posting.  You say you did sign language in the UK and you were able to communicate with deaf Chinese people.  So is the sign language international?

Willy

[Peter]

I think this fear from our Chinese women is nothing strange if you think of how close they are to their family and parents. My wife also had some serious discussion with me about moving to Sweden. It is not only of insecure but instead of concern of the future and how it will be. I was very lucky to connect my wife to a Chinese woman living in Sweden for a couple of month so she could get all the facts by a fellow countryman...
I also thank QQ for making it easy to connect to China. My wife and her daughter use this almost every available time they have... I also have a cheap phone company that so the cost of phone calls to China is not very high..
Now my wife is living in Sweden with me and she said she like Sweden very much..  I just hope it will be like this in the future too..

[brett]

Yes we might have all underestimated this female jealousy thing. If I moved to China would I be allowed out of the house on my own? I'm not so sure...

[Willy The Londoner]

Yes we might have all underestimated this female jealousy thing. If I moved to China would I be allowed out of the house on my own? I'm not so sure...

If you two lived in Colchester would you be allowed out of the house on your own?  I'm not so sure........:icon_cheesygrin:

If you moved to Barrow in Furness would any one want to leave the house at all? :icon_cheesygrin:

Willy

[ttwjr32]

i think thats because a lot of westerners come here to teach and
they seem to think the chinese women are easy to get. yes i have been told that by many of the young
teachers i meet here. they always tell me teaching is good because you meet many
women that way. so i guess since they have tightened up on this teaching thing
maybe we wont be looked at like that by quite a few. before anyone gets upset by this
i am just telling you what many and i do mean many people i meet in my wondering around
who say they teach. this is what they tell me

[Philip]

Hi Willy,
sign language is not universal, but there are connections between the different countries' sign languages.  Chinese fingerspelling started well before pinyin, so the first system was based on Visible Speech, a system of phonetic notation devised by Alexander Melville Bell (father of Alexander Graham Bell) in 1867. This Chinese fingerspelling system was called ?. Following the adoption of pinyin, a corresponding pinyin fingerspelling system became official in the PRC in 1963. But while there are some similarities between pinyin and U.S. fingerspelling, Chinese sign language is quite different.
The Chinese don’t have anything near the big D “Deaf culture” that exists in the US, therefore the deaf are treated as disabled (???just like the blind or people in wheelchairs, etc. When talking about deaf vs. hearing or blind vs. sighted, instead of referring to the sighted or the hearing, the most common term used in Chinese is indeed ??, which means healthy person or, perhaps a bit more polite, non-disabled. Most who are deaf, however, will use instead.

see Wikipedia for a more detailed description and history
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Sign_Language

[Philip]

New Year's Day, and we had lunch with her best friend, did a bit of shopping and stored my presents for her and the children at her friend's very modest apartment ready for her to pick up when she went home the next day.
Coming to the end of my second visit, I am happy with our relationship. We have a lot of fun. We share an easy intimacy. We like exploring the great outdoors together (and the great indoors!) We are learning each other's language slowly, with patience and amusement. We discuss our problems and worries seriously. I'm sure you can sense a but comimg up (not a butt!)
I have not met our children. I have discussed when I will meet them, saying I would love to get to know them as soon as possible. She tells me they will like me, that it is not a problem, that they have loved the presents I have given them. She suggest that they will still be busy with their studies when I visit in April, and that they will have time to spend time with me in the summer. We have some discussion about the fact that I don't want to be a stranger to them when they come to England. She thinks it will be difficult for them to take time out of their studies and come and visit us in Changsha. (they are currently being looked after by her sister-in-law in Hengyang, where my lady lives). I ask why we can't visit them in Hengyang. She tells me that there are many unscrupulous people in Hengyang, who she doesn't want to know that she is seeing a foreigner, because they would exploit that information. So she said it wasn't a good idea for me to go to Hengyang. I stressed the importance for me to meet the children and to get to know them face to face, but I never got to the bottom of the issue. Our discussion was reasoned, she understood my need to see them, but she remained quite adamant. I get the idea that she is trying to protect them, protect me, protect herself and protect our relationship, but it is a bit frustrating to be out of that loop. Any advice would be gratefully appreciated.
We had a lovely last night, and set off for Changsha airport. We don't do tearful goodbyes (well, not until after we've separated)
I had trouble with my ticket. When the KLM guy arranged an alternative flight coming, he inadvertently cancelled the return( having insisted that there would be no problem.) So, having blagged a flight to Beijing, I spent the best part of a day with patient China Southern staff, trying to sort it out for my return (not helped by the 7 hour difference between China and the Netherlands - KLM headquarters) A sweet China Southern rep told me she would 'solute' all my problems - I told her the word was 'solve' - lol! In the end my flight was delayed for about 10 hours, due to -18 temperatures in Beijing. I missed my connecting flight in Amsterdam, spent a lovely few hours in the wonderful Sheraton hotel and explored the canals of Amsterdam for a few hours. Returning to Heathrow on the 4th, my luggage didn't come with me (I have just got it back yesterday)

Here are some photos of us, the river and the impressive new Changsha station

[Willy The Londoner]

Hi Phillip nice photos - looks to me that you two are close.  

Hengyang - my lady comes from that city.  She agrees that it is not a nice place.  Plenty of people to take advantage of you and to pick your pocket.  If your lady is registered there then you will have to go here eventually for the marriage office.   Unless you can marry in any city within the province of Hunan.  I will have to check that out as my lady also comes from Hengyang.

I have been with my lady for 4 months and i have never ever seen her children yet.  The youngest is in school in Changsha the older is in Shenzhen working.  I will not be meeting tyhem until after we marry.  Unless the children live with the lady it will be rare to meet the children before marriage.  Mainly because they do not want the children to become attached to you before in case you then go off and leave them before the marriage.   Plus people may start putting prices for things up not just for her but for her children if it was known that there was a foreigner in the wings that may be ready to pay up for them.  

I must contact the consulate tomorrow to find out about the marriage office we can use and I would prefer to go to Changsha rather then Hengyang now that I have heard what your lady said and what mine confirmed.

I hear that it was colder in Chagsha than in Zhongshan but I bet not so cold as in London now.

Willy

[Philip]

Hi Willy,
thanks for the info. My lady's home town is ChangNing, a district of Hengyang.

Considering that you are now engaged (congratulations, by the way), it makes sense for us to have a double wedding in April. We could launch a double-pronged attack on the corruption in Hengyang. If you get them talking, I will pretend to do my shoelaces up behind them and you could just give them a push. Maybe we can think of some more underworld measures to deal with them. I am, after all, only a stone's throw from the Blind Beggar!
 
Thanks for the info about the children. It makes sense the way you said it. Doesn't stop me wanting to see them before the summer, but explains her possible reasoning a bit better.

[Willy The Londoner]

You may be close to the Blind Beggar but Ronnie is a long way from it now and cannot help any more - and the Undertaker is no longer around to clear up after us!!!!   Mind you Ronnie would have wanted to give them more than a push but it would have been just as dangerous for you to have bent over in front of him!!!!

My God we will have the rest of them thinking of about that first two lines!!!!:icon_cheesygrin:

I am only going for the wedding registration in Hegyang.   No idea when that will be as I have not got my papers yet!!!!   Most of her family is now in Zhongshan and they want to have a dinner here.  

My is also from ChangNing, Hengyang.   They may have been neighbours.   Maybe she is the daughter I haven't seen yet!!! If that is the case you only have to call me Daddy in private!!!!!!:icon_cheesygrin::icon_cheesygrin:

I will show her the photo later and see what she says.   sSe upstairs at her Nieces flat at the moment - will be there until the current tv soap ends at midnight.

Willy

[ttwjr32]

looks like it is all good with you two philip  congrats

[David5o]

The Blind Beggar Pub, Jeez, .....Been years since I've been in there!! You brought back a lot of memories about my youth, and the pubs Me and the mates used to frequent!! haha!!

One pub that came to mind was the ''something'' pudding in Stratford, it had a disco upstairs at the time, ...Used to go there a lot.... and another was ''The Flower Pot'' in Tottenham.

Funny story about the first time we went there.  We were having trouble finding the place, so we pulled up beside a copper on a patrol bike. I wound down the window and asked directions tho the Flower Pot. Hahaha!!...he looked me and my friend up and down, and with a straight face said, ....Who the bleeding hell are you then, ...Bill and f**king Ben!!! ...lol!!!

Oh to be YOUNG again, .....but i think best, knowing what i know now!!! hahaha!!

Sorry to all you poor buggers that are not British or Londoners, cause you won't have a clue what i'm talking about here ...haha!!!

David.....

[Philip]

Hi guys,
like Ronan, I am feeling pretty loved up at the moment.
 Last night my lady and I told each other how much we meant to each other. She is not usually one for flowery words, so it was rather special to hear her tell me her feelings for me. I detect in her words that she has been doing a lot of thinking recently, and has made some decisions about our relationship.
And, lo and behold, she turned up on the webcam this morning with her 7 year-old daughter, both of them grinning from ear to ear. This was the first time I have met her daughter. As Willy says, it is a big deal sometimes to introduce your children, so I take this as an important step in our relationship. Her daughter sang for me and did a little dance. I tried out my rudimentary Chinese, which got a laugh.
We have a lot of laughs together, but she is essentially a serious person. Nothing about her is superficial. I do think she worries too much, but she has an admirable attention to detail, and she wants to make sure that everything is in place for us to make this relationship work. I think she will be the wife I have always wanted.
To watch her laugh and be affectionate with her daughter was a beautiful thing. I can't wait for April, when I will see her again.

[rockycoon]

You know Philip, a lot of times if your not sure of a person or relationship, it is unwise to introduce them to the kids right off.  The kids can sometimes get the wrong impression.  I think she was worried how the relationship would go and there might have been some mistrust at first.  But after your trip, and letting you visit with the daughter, I think she feels a lot better and the trust is building in her towards you.  So I'm thinking you both are going to have a great relationship and family.  Congrats on whipping their butts in badmittion
as that shows great face and the fact that you guy's are no slouchs when it comes to game's !!! (a force to be reconed with)....haha

Willy, you had me going on the first couple of lines, until I realized that your "PUBs" have those nice frilly names.  In America we just call them "BAR'S"...:icon_cheesygrin:  you don't tell your wife, honey I'm going out to the wilting wallflower for a drink, we just say, hey woman, I'm going to the bar for a beer, trouble is most American women say...I'm going with you....then you know you have to dance in front of all your friends...imbarasing to say the least...:icon_cool::s:s  specially if you can't dance.

[Vince G]

On the north shore of Long Island, NY there is a bar named "The Library". I was doing some job and the guys aunt said she's going to the Library? After she left he told what it was. I went there a few times following that. Walls covered in books of course.