Paul goes to China

[Paul Todd]

Thanks guy's

There's going to be 150 plus people there so no pressure at all. Cheers Mike for the info on the string, no presure at all!!!!:icon_cheesygrin: If I don't drink before I start or drop the rope , oh thanks for the reminder Rob and co.:-:dodgy: or accidentally put someones eye out with the bow and arrow or 101 other things I think it should be no problem at all !!!. Errr to say the least, I'm a bit nervous about this. I think I need a drink and I'm only thinking about it!:-/

[brett]

Is the ceremony different depending on the wife's religion? I'm not sure which religion my wife is, or even if she is religious (her profile says no religion). But after visiting many temples in Hong Kong I decided I am a Taoist :angel:.

[Paul Todd]

Brett I'm not too sure, well there's a surprise!  From my understanding the ceremony were going to have is a traditional chinese wedding and the buddhist blessing will come latter in a temple.

Yesterday we had an Australian english teacher and his wife over for lunch. He has been teaching here in Baoding for 6 months now. Nice guy with a lovely Chinese wife, he said that this year in the state sector alone they are 14000 english teachers short. This does not include private language schools. They are so short of native English speakers that they are trying to fill the gaps with Chinese students in there final degree years. Upshot is there is a lot of work over here guy's. For private one on one lesson's he said that 150 yuan an hour is not hard to find and that if you are a native speaker qualifications are not required except for the best university places. He got his place at a very good school by being approached in a bookshop in town by a teacher from the school on the look out for stray laowai's. So in his case he did not even have to try to find work, it found him!
Lunch turned into dinner and then the brother inlaw arrived with a case of beer and that was that really. A fine day.

This morning it was sort the food out for the wedding. We went off to a catering companies office and were presented with a range of set deals, based on a table rate. Well this being China my wife asked for an individual breakdown of all the dishes involved then set about getting a discount on just about everything.  Then she put together a package that suited her, I just sat there smiling as usual. This done and a price worked out she then set about getting a discount on that!  She has awesome bargaining skills:heart:. It must have gone very well because she was extremely happy with herself when we got outside. Then it was back home to meet her old english teacher who has been invited to the wedding to help me out!  We went through the whole thing and worked out a cunning series of prompts and signals that in theory should make the whole thing run very smoothly indeed. I'm feeling much better about it anyway!
 Now I think we have to go and buy special tea for the big day, but I might be wrong!!!:icon_cheesygrin:

[brett]

Thanks for the advice about English teaching. I actually work at a Uni with a world class reputation for language teaching, so I might be able to do some courses here. I know anyone can teach english, but with some qualifications you could probably pick up some really decent jobs (and get lucrative private tuition gigs on the side).

I want my lady to move to the UK for a while though, as she could learn English much more quickly here and I need to pay off more of my mortgage.

I'm also not sure I'd be able to live in her home town, in summer the average temperature is 37C :@.

[David5o]

Paul..


Hahaha, Get used to not knowing mate, and don't be under the illusion that after she speaks perfect English, things will change!! ...they Wont!! You'll always be the last to know what's going on.
A big tip here, ....try and get that sorted out as soon as humanly possible, it'll save a lot of upset and arguments in the long run.  Oh, and it won't be easy either, they actually think there helping you, by taking away burdens/stress from you...hahaha!!

David.....

[brett]

Well we have 1000 or so Chinese students here, so I'm acutely aware that even their most academically gifted can say or write complete rubbish sometimes. Also people who are used to writing Chinese characters often have strange English handwriting, to say the least.

It's all part of their charm though, and I will never tire of the funnies my lady sometimes comes out with (like telling me the Yangtze gets very decadant in Summer!).

I've just found out my lady has a very large family, so we might need to hire a soccer stadium should we get to the wedding stage!

[MLM]

Paul,
David is right, it'll never change, you'll still be standing in the back smiling as she get the best prices for every thing she can and, don't be suprised if one day you're standing in a Walmart with your chin on the floor because she got the manager to give her a discount on something, then you know, she is among the best discount hunters :icon_cheesygrin:, there will also come a time when you will go out to eat and want to order a burger and she will say yes and order you something very healthy for you instead, just grin, bear it and eat it. Hahahaha !!!
Good luck and best wishes bro.
Mike

P.S.
Wait until you put your dirty socks in the laundry hamper with all the other dirty cloths, I want to be a fly on the wall for that one, oh yeah !

[brett]

Yikes. My lady appears to live on nothing but healthy food, so my McDays are numbered it would seem. She has got me into the habit of eating pomegranates though.

[Scottish_Rob]

He he there must be some sort of LAW against your lady making you eat healthy

I am not even there yet, and this was said to me about 4 months ago in an emf

"...Honey, when you will be here, you will must need to lose weight, it is fine because I will make you eat healthy food...":s

NOW I am scared hehehe

[Vince G]

My lady is the opposite. I already eat "Healthy" I rarely have junk food. Only when traveling and in a rush. She said she wants to fatten me up?

[brett]

I am scared. My lady snacks on fruit, and when she's out with her friends drinks tea and coffee :angel:. Most British girls drink pints when they are out with their friends ha ha ha!

My lady also does a lot of exercising, which is a good thing because I reckon she's extremely bendy :icon_biggrin:.

I don't know if my lady will make me lose any weight. But she is in for a battle because I'd sure like her to gain a bit of weight. With a few more curves she would look truly sensational! I'm sure as not saying anything at all about her weight though, so I assume I can stealthily make the adjustments through my cookery skills :-/.

[shaun]

If any of you have places or links to teaching English in Changsha please post them or PM me.   I've been looking and haven't found any yet.

Thanks,

Shaun

[Scottish_Rob]

Sent you a PM mate

[David5o]

Brett,

BOY, ....have you got a lot to learn about Chinese ladies. You'll learn all about the meaning of stealth, but it will be YOU on the receiving end, ''NOT'' her !!

David.....

[Paul Todd]

I must admit that I quite like the fact that she takes care of everything and I enjoy not quite knowing whats going on. It's her unpredictability and humor that's part of her charm. I have never been a control freak so this idea of taking away stress  from my life sound good to me!  I believe what she's doing is for my own good!  So grinnng and bearing it is no great problem. Never in my life have I had a woman care this much about me and my well being.

Mike I remember the walmart story from a while back, I understand it much better now!  Think I might put my socks in the laundry basket tonight just to see what happens!!!:angel:
 
Meal times are interesting, almost everything that I eat has been explained to me in terms of what it's good for, hair, eyes, energy levels,and I'm not sure I believe it all. I have tried to question some of the things but I can see, even from this early stage of wedded bliss that I'm not going to be able to change these views. EVER. So best just live with them I think.
 
Brett, I'm with david on the stealth thing, These women have got it down to an art form, if they let you slide in an area it because they have a good resone too. Believe me you are not going to slip anything past them, and even if you managed it once it would never happen again!:-/

I've just re-read this post and I think the training is working!!!!:huh: