My little dragon

[Philip]

Yesterday, at 11.02, my wife gave birth to a son, Erwan, which means dragon. Mother and baby are fine. Photos to come in a few days.
Hospital has been OK, but they like to add ridiculous extra charges for silly things, some of which are easy to dismiss, others which we have to trust their judgement on. Anyway. as long as mother and baby are healthy, I'm not going to fight them on everything.
Altogether, it was relatively stress-free.
Next challenge is to pass the Chinese written driving test. Much harder. Last year, you could use a 'translator' to 'help' you do the Chinese version. This year that loophole has been closed, because the test has been translated into many languages. But the English one is so badly translated, some of the answers are contradictory and many are just plain weird. (Google Chinese driving test ridiculous) You must get 90 correct out of 100 to pass. So the only real way to pass is to learn the correct answers to the 1000 plus possible questions, learning them by rote. Are you up for it, Willy? Then of course you must cope with a completely different set of rules when you actually drive.
Oh well, in the meantime, I will just study my little son's expressive face, much more fun

[kenny]

Congratulations to you and your wife Phillip.

Good luck to you all and enjoy.

[RobertBfrom aust]

I kept telling my lovely maths teacher that 1 + 1 makes 3 , but she never did believe me , so Congrats to you 3 from Sujuan and me .

[Willy The Londoner]

That is great news.  I think you should call him Alex as his English name!  When we sat in that East London restaurant back in 2009 I think this day was not one you were visualising then.  You have one thing every Chinese man wants to achieve - a son.

My wife is going through the 100 questions practice. She failed the first attempt last week but that was without any reading practice at all. She has the full test next Wednesday she has at least 4 goes a day and for the last three days she has never scored below 90!  I hope the nerves wont get the better of her on the test day.

My friend here was able to hand over his Drivers Licence to the Traffic Police and they gave him a Chinese one.  He was able to collect it in just 5 days.  His drivers licence was issued in Hong Kong so did you not exchange your licence there for a Hong Kong one?  It would have been a lot easier than taking the test.

Hope you have been in contact with the Embassy to register your sons birth in the UK Births Overseas register.  It will make things must easier when/if you decide of moving back to the UK permanently.

Once again congratulations to you both.  I have gone through the first 8 months of having the our niece's male child around all day, it is fun but also very tiring.  The Chinese seem to think its OK for him to collect bumps and bruises as it prepares him for life!  Me, not having gone through his process before just want to protect him, AND he is not even ours. 

And you think your get looked at when walking around the city? Well just wait until you are walking out with a baby you will then know what being looked at is all about.

Willy

[Vince G]

Congratulations again.

Good luck on the test, if in doubt sidewalk is always a fair answer.

[Robertt S]

Congratulations! 

[Scottish_Robbie]

CONGRATS TO YOU BOTH MATE.....

[Jason B]

Congrats to you both.  I know what you are in for now. hee hee.  It is hard to believe that Laura is 7 months old already.

[Pineau]

Congratulations. We are anxious to see the photos

[shaun]

Congratz to all three of you.   All is well in Phillipdom.  Except for the driving test that is.

[Philip]

Hasn't really opened his eyes much, but then he loves to sleep.
Impossible to put a Chinese and an English name on the birth certificate (as I wanted) - the field for his name on the hospital computer only had space for about 10 characters - lucky his full English name has only 9 characters (10 including the space between first name and surname), so English name it is. I just hope I don't get any hassle when I apply for an entry/exit visa for him next summer.
At the moment, the little dragon loves sleeping, drinking milk  and pooing. He doesn't cry much, so I hope this honeymoon period lasts a little longer.
Anyway, don't feel sorry for me. I never did like sleeping in.

[Pineau]

Great photo and cute boy.. your lucky he is sleeping.  but I bet it wont last. haha.

Good luck.

[Willy The Londoner]

As I said earlier Phillip contact the British Embassy in Beijing of the Consulate in Guangzhou. The General Register Office in the UK maintained a record of births overseas to UK Citizens and the books could be examined in London along with the Birth Deaths and Marriage Registers before the online system came into being and they closed the Family Record Centre

I am sure they still have such a recording facility and it may make things easier for you in future.

Willy

[Jason B]

Beautiful and mum looks so happy too.  Mate do not worry about English and Chinese names, the family will pick one for him that is easy for them to say but very similar to his English name.  Laura gets called Lala and that is what we both call her most of the time now anyway.

[Willy The Londoner]

Can we have a pic with no hat on please?  I want to see who has the most hair. 

Willy