Author Topic: my love story  (Read 123714 times)

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Offline john1964

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Re: my love story
« Reply #300 on: October 09, 2011, 04:37:53 am »
AAARRGH Chnlove, I have always praised the Handan agency and never thought that they were also crooks, Talking with MinYing the other night and the conversation turned to internet cafe,s, I asked my wife early on in the relationship if there were any cafe,s in Handan and the reply was a plain and simple NO, Anyway, MinYing asked me why we never went on QQ a long time ago as there ARE internet cafe,s in Handan,  >:(
I could not believe what i was hearing, I replied to her that she told me in a EMF that there were none in her city, She replied that this was not true and she would have went to one just so we could see each-other on cam as she never had a computer at the time, Boy was i pissed when hearing this, 14 months of daily EMF,S to and from all ads up.
Now we do not use the agency at all as we speak every day on QQ for many hours at a time, MinYing tells me that now she also thinks the agency we once praised is very crooked and she is NOT TOO HAPPY, Any way, on a lighter note, The wedding Dinner, Ceremony is booked for 05/01/2012, Anyone from here going to be in Handan at the time ??. MinYing and John.

Offline Pineau

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Re: my love story
« Reply #301 on: October 09, 2011, 06:37:08 am »
He John, do you feel violated now?  You can be thankful for a happy ending although they still extracted their price.
Don’t give up when you still have something to give. Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.
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Offline lfputman3

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Re: my love story
« Reply #302 on: October 16, 2011, 12:12:07 am »
John, great story, sorry I haven't kept up. First, yeah, we had some recent issues with the agency, but it's behind us. We had her going on when we were going to go to Shijiazhuang and we only exchanged a couple messages through them early on. We had an issue when we were actually chatting on QQ and I had sent an email at 9AM, Handan time, she 'replied' at 10AM, while still sitting in front of the computer in her mama's shop...  We went to the agency and got a lecture from them, that's when we did some creative deception to make them think we were not getting married anytime soon and that I didn't have the correct paperwork.  ;D

I wouldn't worry about them now. I will give them props, they are great about introductions. However they will stick it to you where they can. They tried to convince me it would be ¥3,000 for us to get married because they were going to do the paperwork for us and escort us to Shijiazhuang. Granted, they would have used the train, we both agreed about that and that would mean no us squeezed into the back of the hamster-mobile.

As for 2012/01/05, sorry mate, I have to head back, January 1 starts income tax season here and I've got some last minute update training on software the 6-7th. However, I'll still be in Handan from the 12/11 through 1/5.

Good on the apartment idea, it's fantastic to have home cooking, just beware of her mama coming over to cook, or in our case, she and mama share the apartment so mama packed 15 pounds back on me, after I lost 35, back to work on that problem.

Wedding photos, if it's Handan, it's probably Paris, they are the most popular, probably the most expensive too, they love to torture western men, the photographers will have you smiling in pain and the stylist will have you hating being a man...  At least from the clothing standpoint... I'm gonna post a couple of our dressing room pics for everyone over on my story...

Hope to see you in Handan in December, but not on Photo day!  haha

Lloyd
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Offline john1964

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Re: my love story
« Reply #303 on: November 05, 2011, 01:05:51 am »
Well here i am, nearly two months since our interview in Shanghai, I sent some up-dates to our immigration lawyer about MinYings latest changes, MinYing is now in full time training to learn manicure and this "fingernail art", She wants to be able to find a job very soon upon her arrival here so we discussed her employment options, She is a beautician but wanted to be able to have other options for employment and this is something she finds enjoyable so she has a months  training ahead of herself and loves every minute of the course, This information was sent to Joyce Wang in Shanghai and also the dates and information about our wedding reception and photos, We got a quick reply from Joyce thanking us for the "abundance" of information and also stated that my wife's visa was under consideration as this time, I am a little nervous at this moment as most of you can understand, JOYCE was also happy that i was sending MinYing more money each month as she is now un-employed as for the training, Now just a waiting game.
The other week there was a national holiday in China so MinYing returned to the family home for the usual family feast, I called her on mobile QQ and we had a video conversation, As soon as her father saw me on the phone screen , he got the phone off of MinYing and went around introducing his WESTERN son-in-law to all of the family that i have not yet met, I could hear MinYing in the background laughing and asking for her phone back but he would not give it to her, At first, This man was DEAD AGAINST the thought of his daughter to be with a western man but now he is only too happy to hear of my next return and he insists that we spend many days at the family home where he fills my belly with much food and the dreaded bai jio.
Well not long  now, 6 weeks and 4 days until i am again in Beijing, Not that i am counting  ;D, 28 days in minus temperatures but i am looking forward to every minute.
We have our fingers crossed that there will be a good out-come for the visa and it would be soooo good too bring her home upon my return to Australia in January,
Ma ma  is coming to terms that MinYing will be leaving her soon so she is a little saddened , MinYing is spending more time with the family now as she is also feeling the impending separation from them all,  She will see them every night on QQ as the family has a computer which we use many times when she is at home.
Every night she rushes home after training so we can talk for hours on end and most nights it is hard to get her to sleep as she keeps me on-line till early hours of the morning, She does not see her friends so often now as she just wants to talk to me, Her English is improving as we learn every night, she has a good memory and can read English well but understanding is a different thing.
Today she has taken the day from training so she can go with her girlfriends to  Shijiazhuang to a big leather store just to look at clothes but she refuses to buy anything as she always tells me that she needs nothing, I knew that she had  to wake at 4:30 this-morning as the train left Handan at 6am so i gave her an early morning phone call to wake her and she was  elated to hear my voice so early , Upon her arrival at the leather market she called me on mobile QQ just to introduce me to her girlfriends that i have never met before, They were happy to see the westerner that was the husband of their friend.
I was looking through some family photos of MinYing when she was previously married  and i must say she looked terrible, She had no pride in the way she dressed and her hair was a birds nest, To me it looks nothing like the  MinYing of today,  Not a smile on her face and she looked so drained, I am happy that she had the courage to leave the un-happy marriage and today we are both very  happy together,
Well guys and girls, My beautiful wife is on line now so i must close, bye for now, John , photo of her today.
« Last Edit: November 05, 2011, 05:11:00 am by john1964 »

Offline Peter Arnold

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Re: my love story
« Reply #304 on: November 05, 2011, 05:04:31 am »
John, all I can say is that you are a lucky man and I wish you all the best. Have a good time in December.
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Offline john1964

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Re: my love story
« Reply #305 on: November 23, 2011, 02:36:09 am »
Here I am, 4 weeks and counting the days for trip number 5 so My bride and myself can be reunited at Beijing airport, Every night I see her on QQ she is so full of smiles and reminds me of how many days left until that day, Every day I come home and turn on my computer and I find many messages and photos from her, She is very excited about the up and coming wedding photos and reception, She asked me to buy a suit for the occasion as I am a little larger than the average Chinese man and trying to get clothes to fit is a little problem, Every pair of pants I tried on over there were a little short in the leg.
I paid for my airfare about 7 weeks ago and now China Southern Airlines do the same flight for $500 less than what i paid >:(, That is a lot of Yuan.
MinYing has gone and managed  to buy me some thermal underware  ;D, she does not want me to get pneumonia again, And I certainly do not want to go through this again, -4 degrees this-morning in her home town  :(, Only going to get colder in December.
Family have insisted that we stay in the family home again , An invitation that I am always happy to accept as they always welcome me in to their home, Dumplings and bai jio,  :P And many other delicious dishes, Minyings father is always happy to hear of my return and takes time from his job in another city to travel the distance home to spend time with us, He tries very hard now to communicate with me with help from the pocket translator and our nephews  English ability, some things get lost in translation  but this is to be accepted.
It seems that the whole family are like celebrities now as word travelled  fast around the home town that their daughter married a westerner, Apparently no one else from Matou Town has done this deed before as it is a small town and I am wondering if I am the first Australian to set foot in this place as from the stares and shocked looks on peoples faces when they see me, But I have to say that they are the most friendly people that I could want to meet and everyone wants to say "hello" when they see me.
It seems that we have another wedding to go  to on January 1st ,An old school friend of MinYings and then our wedding reception 4 days later, I hope her fiends wedding is as much fun as the last one I went to in September as we had a ball together.

Nearly three months now since we had our interview in Shanghai, 10th of October I received an email from our immigration lawyer saying that our visa application was under consideration and no more information was needed at that time, I will wait until the week I leave for China and ask my lawyer to contact our case officer an see  how things are progressing, Maybe I will be lucky enough to bring my wife home with me from freezing temperatures to the middle of the dreaded Australian summer, She tells me that the first thing she wants to do is swim in the ocean as she has never done this before, Lucky we are not too far from the beach and it is always nice to cool down with an early evening swim.

Maybe I will be lucky enough to catch up with Lloyd (ifputman3) this time and share a bottle of bai jio  :P , Thats all for now, keep you posted, MinYing and John.
 
« Last Edit: November 23, 2011, 02:37:41 am by john1964 »

Offline shaun

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Re: my love story
« Reply #306 on: November 23, 2011, 09:10:44 am »
Very happy for you and MinYing.

Offline Martin

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Re: my love story
« Reply #307 on: November 23, 2011, 11:06:30 am »
Great update.  I look forward to hearing about this next trip...it reminds me of where I was when I was in China.

Offline john1964

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Re: my love story
« Reply #308 on: November 29, 2011, 10:18:44 am »
Heavy snow in Handan today, MinYing slipped and badly broke her wrist, She is in pain and has a cast up to her elbow, Wish i could be there right now but i  have to wait another three weeks.
She has to wear the cast for three  months so she has cancelled the wedding photos and reception dinner,  :(, Never mind as it could have been much worse ,Looks like i will have to find my on way from Beijing to Handan , Glad i have been using my Chinese every day so i hope the locals can understand me when i ask for a ticket to Handan  ;D, Hope i don't end up in Shanghai ;), John.

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Re: my love story
« Reply #309 on: November 29, 2011, 11:30:38 am »
Two words... Flash Cards.  That's my plan as well as an app on my phone that translates with speech. Covering all the bases.


Sorry to hear of her injury. Must have been some tumble?
« Last Edit: November 29, 2011, 11:34:02 am by Vince G »

Offline Jason B

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Re: my love story
« Reply #310 on: November 29, 2011, 11:48:42 am »
sorry to hear that John, lucky it is winter in China, imagine being in an Australian summer with your arm in a cast?  Sweaty and can not go swimming.........yuck.   As for travelling you will be right as suggested get some sort of translator to help you or do the old tourist point and hope.
I WILL have my revenge for having to be clean shaven......once I learn how to tame my Dragon.

Offline shaun

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Re: my love story
« Reply #311 on: November 29, 2011, 12:32:56 pm »
Sorry to hear that John.  Hope she gets well soon and heals properly.

Offline Willy The Londoner

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Re: my love story
« Reply #312 on: November 29, 2011, 08:02:58 pm »
Two words... Flash Cards. 

Thats what I used when I first came to China. I had a friend here write me list of where I may want to travel to or what I may want to buy etc on small cards and I kept them in my pack to show to taxi drivers and others. Made travelling easy in those early days.  I could even talk to women with them. 8)

They were ideal until I learned the names of places and items myself.

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Offline JamesM.Roberts

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Re: my love story
« Reply #313 on: November 30, 2011, 06:21:26 am »
Dear John very sorry to hear of MinYing's fall-hope she is feeling better soon. Understand your pain of not being there to comfort her. I believe that is the hardest part of a long distance relationship ........the helplessness (miles and oceans suck)
I swear if it wasn't for that little thing we like to call the "Pacific Ocean"-I would have took off walking a long time ago.
Sorry I haven't kept up on your love story completely-(Please help me understand) You and MinYing already had your interview? what is the hold up? Seems 3 months is a long time for a decision? especially when additional paperwork isn't required.
Again I am sorry if I am making you repeat info if you've already posted, just trying to understand.
Hope you have a great trip and hope your "Lovebird' wing mends
Anyone can pick up an apple off the ground, but the sweeter ones take a little work to get to!!

Offline john1964

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Re: my love story
« Reply #314 on: November 30, 2011, 08:34:00 pm »
Thanks guys for the well wishes for my bride, She tells me that the pain is tolerable now and she had a good nights sleep last night.

James, I guess that the visa process takes time as there are many applicants in the same queue as us,  I was originally told that the process could take nine months but during our interview, our case officer told us that it would be between three to four months, They also have a mountain of paperwork to check and probably check up on previous and current employment and addresses and make multiple phone calls to various places to make sure all information is legitimate , This is why i think it takes so long, I am sure that many other people here can shed more light on this subject as many have been through this process before me, John.