Trip 3 - The Wedding Photos

I've been kind of slow with posting because we have been busy. On the 23rd Xin Jiao and I went to have wedding photos taken.  It took us 6 hours.  Aaarrrggg!!!!! 

Xin Jiao spent two of those hours in makeup and when they finished all I could say was WOW!!!!!!   She looked fantastic.  Of course they already had great looks to work with but really... she looked fantastic.  One of the women who did the makeup said she was really easy to do and the results were muy bueno.  (my translation.)

If they had spent two hours with me I still would have needed help with makeup. Needless to say they could have taken the pictures without me.  I look so much like my father in these pictures it makes me...  well...  look like my father.

They made me wear clothing for a very tall and a very fat Chinese man.  I told the photographer that I wasn't fat like a fat Chinese man but that I was a large American man with a middle aged spread.  All he did was laugh and say something in Chinese.  I think he said that I was fat.

The clothes didn't fit well at all.  There were areas in the clothes that I couldn't fill.  The end result is that the clothes sagged and we made out best attempt at hiding them.

The had to sew me into the shirts because my neck was way too large for the shirts.  It was very uncomfortable.  Then the last guy to wear them had a odor problem.  The clothes had been dry cleaned but they still smelled. 

Then the shoes?  Well forget it.  Once I got the toes in I had to smash down the back of the heals because they were about an inch too short so my feet were uncomfortable.  My toes were so wedge in the shoe that I think I lost the feeling in them 30 minutes into the first session and I'm not completely sure it has come back.

Then there was the photo session.  Since I am a full head taller than Xin Jiao and the photographer thought it was too much, he found unusual ways for me to stand so that I was just slightly taller than her.  I had to be a contortionist.  I would stand on one leg, bend the knee and had to stand at an angle so that you could not tell that the knee was bent.  Then the other leg was behind Xin Jiao at a slant bringing me down even further.  Then I bent over at the waist, kept my back straight and looked up to match the pitch of her head and I did all of that for 4 hours.  That blank photographer kept giving me motions to keep my back straight with my butt out.

Now, I am not really what you would call a drinking man but after that I downed a couple of Bud's.  Yes they have Budweiser in China but I had to drink it warm but at that point I didn't care.

But I have to say all in all the pictures came out pretty good; especially Xin Jiao.

I did have some fun.  I picked on and joked with and made faces at the photographer and made him laugh throughout the whole session.  I would kiss Xin Jiao just as the photographer was about to take the picture which meant that we had to do it over.  One of the things that would crack him up was that he would show Xin Jiao how to hold her frame or hands in a gentle female manner and I would do it too.  A couple of times he told her, "look like your husband."

Trip 3 - July 22 The Wedding Feast

The big day has arrived. Yes we are married but the BIG day is the Wedding Dinner.

The family began arriving the day before. Xin Jiao's mother, two older sisters, the oldest sisters husband, Xin Jiao's daughter and granddaughter came to the feast. The rest of the family was working and couldn't be there.

We all conveined in mother's hotel room next door to ours and talked. Rather they talked and I dozed because I don't speak Cantonese. I am being talked about, poked, patted on the head and I begin to wonder if I am the main course for the feast. This is like any other family we might know in the U.S. but they are in China. The more we think we are different the more I discover we are the same.

The restaurant where the dinner was held was one of the nicest restaurants I've been to since going to China. It was very elegant. We had the dinner in a private room. There were eight in total there. Many couldn't be there because of work. Xin Jiao's two older sister played the roll of older sisters very well. They put makeup on her face, would serve Xin Jiao and I food and even coached us how to hold wine glasses for the picture above. You can see the love for each other.

The food was fit for a king and queen. It began with turtle soup. I've never had turtle before and it is pretty good. I asked Xin Jiao what the soup was and all she would say was that it was good for me and she didn't know the English name for it. That generally means that I need to know what it is. I got up and peeked into the bowl and of course hammed it up when I discovered what it was. The family watched and laughed as went into my antics like I was going to faint.

There were about eight dishes and I was relieved to see that I would not be the main course when they brought out the chicken. I didn't get a picture of it but I did get a picture of what was left. Sorry if you are squeemish about these kinds of things. If you are you will be shocked daily in China.

Though I didn't eat the head I did try the delicacy of chicken feet. It wasn't anything to get excited about and a lot of work for a morsel of meat.

Back to the family. What a great family. My new brother-in-law Wong is a real character. The first time I met him two years ago he gave me a hard time because I wouldn't smoke or drink with him. We were in his home and he found and dusted off a coveted bottle of wine so I shared a little.

This trip Wang set out to get me drunk.  It took a little crafty method to avoid it but I managed to.  Wang, it turns out, is fond of brandy and since it was a wedding and at my expense why not drink some.  This was the strongest brandy I'd ever drank.  Every time I turned around he wanted to have a toast.  As he gulped I sipped.  Whew it was a close one but we both had a lot of fun.

It was a great wedding dinner and all had a good time except for the chicken and the turtle.  But I don't think they'll remember.

Trip 3 - July 19 Marriage Day

The day started out well.  We were in a great mood. Breakfast at 9:00am that consisted of Noodles, Eggs and Pork.  Mmmm...

We headed for the marriage office in a government complex.  The first thing was kind of strange, there was a key in the door at the marriage hall.  Xin Jiao turned the key and locked us out. She was confused so I told her to turn it back the other way and we went inside.  I wondered if it was a test.

Sorry the photo is terrible.  It was the best one taken by the marriage administrator. 

We were in this large room and one woman who sat behind the desk. We handed our paperwork to her and she looked at it.  She even wanted to see the English originals to compare.

Then the woman asked questions and I could tell by the look on Xin Jiao's face the questions were not good.

The issue was in the understanding of the word "residence."  Apparently in China it means something a little different than in America.  All I did was fill in the blanks on the form provided by the American Consulate.  The question asked where is her residence and I wrote she lived in Guangzhou which is true but the woman in the marriage office wanted me to write where she was born which is Shaoguan which is where we are getting married.  In China the paperwork must be perfect.

The woman provided us a copy of a document written in Cantonese that I needed to have translated into English, sign and have re-translated back into Cantonese.  So we had to go back to the lawyers office and thewording is renegotiated between the marriage office and the lawyers office and they came up with a new letter for me to sign.

Basically I had to sign a letter saying that I was stupid and filled out the form incorrectly and that I understood that she was born in Shaoguan.  This way no Chinese official made a mistake.  I swallowed my pride, signed it, and now we are married.

After we finished the woman told Xin Jiao that she knows about the error in the paperwork and that I should convence the consulate to change the wording of their paperwork.  I told them that we were talking about the American Government and Chinese Goverment changing things.  The woman laughed.

No, I will not let anyone see the signed form in English saying I am stupid.  All evidence will be destroyed and buried in China's politcal paperwork vault and believe me they believe in paperwork.

Trip 3 - Day 3 Getting Paperwork in Order

Xin Jiao and I took it easy sort of.  Breakfast at 10:00; back to the hotel and then take the marriageability form to the lawyers office to have it translated into Cantonese or as they say in this part of the world Guangdong.

We take the day kind of easy waiting for the lawyers office to call with the translated paperwork.  We did a little shopping then I tried to figure out why I was not able to spend more than a few minutes every 5 or 6 hours on the internet and forget trying this blog.  The internet simply shut down. The tech at the hotel kept tring to convence me that it was my computer and not the internet at the hotel.  Turns out it was the hotel.

About 3:00 the lawyers office called and we went to pickup the paperwork.  I didn't like what I saw and asked them to redo it.  Xin Jiao asked me how I knew it was wrong and I explained that there are basic patterns based off of the original document and they just were not being followed.  The lawyers secretary was surprised that I knew something was wrong and she corrected it.

Later we went and had a nice dinner with Xin Jiao's daughter and granddaughter.  I gave the granddaughter a 2lb bag of m&m's.  They were inseperable after that.

First Two Days - More Travel Woes

Now I am in China and all of the issues over the flight to China quickly fade away.   Xin Jiao and I go to her sister Keiko’s home in Shenzhen. Keiko and I have talked on the internet several times before but we have never met in person. 

Keiko and I talked as Xin Jiao worked her magic in the kitchen.  She made Peking duck, some pork dish and vegetables.  Heaven in my mouth; boy can she cook.

A little about Keiko.  She is married and lives with her husband near Salt Lake City.  She is younger than Xin Jiao.  Since Keiko found a husband in America she helped Xin Jiao find me.

A couple of hours later Xin Jiao and I go to the bus station and take a bus to Guangzhou to spend the night.  Dragging around luggage for 3 people it not a lot of fun.  You might think but there are only two of you but realizing that I am an American and Americans always take enough stuff for 2 people.
 
We stayed in a very nice hotel near the American Consulate in Guangzhou. The next morning we went to the Consulate to fill out and have notarized a marriageability form. Then we met Xin Jiao’s son Jun for lunch at the train station.
 

After lunch we head for the train station to take the train to Shaoguan, Xin Jiao’s home town and the only place we can marry in China.  That is when the travel monster hits again.  The train was over 3 hours late due to the weather.

After a 2 hour ride we arrive in Shaoguan weary.  We look for a taxi but none will take us for such a short ride.  Finally after about 10 rejections we find one person who is willing and to the hotel.

The day will look better after a good nights sleep.

We're off... No wait Maybe we are not.

China had this site blocked for some reason.  So now I can finally update.

My trip to China began pretty rocky.

As I was driving to the airport a message went off on my cell phone notifying me that my first flight would be delayed by 2 hours due to the weather.  When I checked my itinerary my heart sank because I would miss my connecting flight in Atlanta.
 
One call to Delta and I was rescheduled to another flight. True to their word in two hours the airplane arrived but only the crew got off. There weren't any passengers. It made me say Hmm… The new crew arrives and we boarded the airplane. Just as they are about to back the airplane out disaster struck.  The auxiliary engine stopped working. The pilot called for a mechanic but it appeared the airplane would be down several hours so they order another airplane.  Now I will have to reschedule another flight.

When we got off of the airplane and the gate personnel wouldn’t even help us with our flight connection issues.  She told us to call Delta if we wanted help.  Needless to say I wasn’t a happy camper at that point.  After an hour on the phone I had a new schedule but no airplane to get to Atlanta on.  Finally the agent booked me a taxi from Augusta to Atlanta. I arrived in just enough time to get checked in and board the airplane but no wait.  There is another problem.  Due to the weather the crew is not there and we wait for them.

Finally they arrive.  The airplane is 40 minutes late leaving the gate.  Fortunately the gate agent understood my problems and moved me into first class so that I could hustle to the next flight.  While in the air the Flight Attendant told me that I would miss my flight to Hong Kong.

 
When the airplane landed I left like a rocket only to stand and wait for my luggage like everyone else on the flight.  It didn’t take long and once I got my luggage speed was my mode of movement.  Finally something went my way and the connecting flight was a little late.

The airline was Cathay Pacific and the people were exceptionally nice.  The agent put me at the bulkhead because, as she said, "we need a strong man to open the door in case of an emergency."  What that translated to was exceptional leg room on a 15 hour flight.

 
I arrived in Hong Kong at 4:30am and had to wait for the first ferry ride into China at 9:00am.  I arrived in China at 9:30am and went through customs and then expected to see Xin Jiao but she was not there.

I was thinking maybe she might be late but I wasn’t sure and my cell phone does not work in China.  While I waited I helped a young lady who was looking for a Austrian man she had never seen before. This is common.  He never showed up. 

The young woman called Xin Jiao for me and I found out that Xin Jiao missed the first bus and was about 10 minutes away.  She arrived at 10:15am and all was good because I was back in Xin Jiao’s arms.
 
I only arrived 9 hours later than my first flight.  Not bad but Delta has to be the worst airline for customer service and problems.

Trip 3 - Prologue

I am off again tomorrow morning for China.  I'm looking forward to the trip to China. It is quickly becoming a second home to me.  Who would have thunk it.


I just got off of the Internet with Xin Jiao and she is ecstatic about the trip.


I leave on Delta from Augusta at 9:55am Saturday the 14th and arrive in Hong Kong at 7:30 on the 15th.  I hope to be on the ferry to China at 8:30 and in Shenzhen at 9:00 and in Xin Jiao's arms at 9:01.  She will be on the other side of customs waiting for me.


The bags are packed, I don't think I have forgotten anything.  Today has been a mad dash tying up all of the loose ends and now I will try to sleep.  Yea right.  That is why God made drugs... for nights like tonight.


The next time I write on this blog I will be in China.  I think....  No pictures on this post but more to come...

Trip 2 Final Thoughts

Trip number two was a great trip.  It answered a lot of questions for me and all to the positive.  Xin Jiao is a wonderful woman and one I could spend the rest of my life with.  We fit well together in that we are a lot alike and seem to agree on many things.

I think I began falling in love with her shortly after we began talking on the internet.  I wouldn't allow myself to dwell on thoughts like that or even speak those words because it was after all an internet relationship.  It took me two trips to sort all of that out in my mind. So on the second trip I asked her to marry me and she said yes.

Life has not been easy since making that commitment.  There is the separation because of distance, the language barrier and there has been the horrible economy.

I was not able to go see her last year because of the economy.  My store bit the dust last summer reducing my income and all I has was my bus driving job.  That created a lot of issues between us but we pulled through it.

Life hasn't been easy for her either.  She was planning on moving to the U.S. last summer but issues prevented that also.  She began a new jobs selling insurance and it has been very difficult for her.

I discovered that when things get really bad for her and she stresses out then she gets sick.  She has been sick a lot lately because of her job.

At one point we were both so stressed out that we broke up with each other.  It didn't take long to realize what a terrible mistake that was and how miserable we were so we got back together in less than 24 hours.

Xin Jiao is a great woman and I would be blessed to be married to her for the rest of my life.  She tells me she feels the same way.

So for trip number 3 in just a few days we will get married in China.

This is one of the reasons why I began this blog but now I am see a vision much larger than just that for this blog.

I hope to journal the day to day blessings and trial of a long distance relationship with a woman from China.

It isn't for the weak.  A person has to be committed to the idea, the person, and for the long haul.

Here are a few more pictures of my beautiful bride.

Back at the Amusement park.  Posing for me.

Xin Jiao was singing a song for her granddaughter.

 

Grandma?  Are these birds safe?

She'll make a good wife in America.  She likes pancakes.  We're at McDonald's eating.

Look who is smiling!  Happiness in my arm.

Xin Jiao listening to her oldest sister.

Xin Jiao and her granddaughter where Xin Jiao grew up. Notice the red shoes on Sisia.  She wears them everywhere.

Soon I'll be a grandfather with a beautiful bride.

Posing at the port into Hong Kong.  Xin Jiao's first time out of China.

At the beach sitting on a boat.  Mmmmm....

Having fun in Hong Kong.

Beautiful...  Just beautiful!!!

Trip 2 - Part 4 - Xin Jiao's family

I have met a lot of Xin Jiao's family.  There are two siblings I haven't met.  She comes from a very nice family.

This is her mother Laifeng.  In this picture she is 75 years old and still maintains a garden for the family all by herself.  It is about 1/2 acre and the vegetables there looked great.


Xin Jiao's father passed in 1998.

The oldest child in the family is Xin Jiao's sister Ming.  I hope I am remembering that name correctly.  I'm sure if I don't Xin Jiao will make me correct it.


Ming's husband in that picture is Wong.  He is retired and we are standing in Ming's store.  They are a delightful couple and can't wait to see them again.


That isn't beer on the table it is green tea.

This is one of Xin Jiao's brothers.  With him is his wife and one of their two daughters.


He is the one who has the family farm.  I'm not sure where he is in the order of children but I believe her is the 4th child.  I've got two different orders so I'm sure we are not understanding each other on this.


I also wish I knew their names.  I'll learn them on the next trip.

This is another brother and I think the youngest child in the family.  In the picture with him is his wife and of course my lovely Xin Jiao.


In this picture we've just polished off the largest cantaloupe I've ever seen.  It is about twice the length of American variety.  The limousine version.


This brother has a degree in mechanical engineering and works in Shanghai.  Long way from home.

Xin Jiao's oldest child is her daughter.  She is 25, married and has 1 child.  Yan used to have her own small clothing store but now works in an office of some kind.


This picture was taken in Yan's store with Xin Jiao.

Xin Jiao's son is 22 and is not married.  His name is Shaojun.  Everyone calls him Jun.  Currently he lives in Guangzhou and works for Xin Jiao's former boss selling the company products on the internet.

Finally and most importantly is the one who appears to bring Xin Jiao the most joy each day.  


She is a delightful child and a little stinker all at the same time.  I have a lot of fun talking to her on the internet and she blows kisses to me.  She can't wait for me to return so that I can take her to the amusement park.  This Sisia the daughter of Yan and the only grandchild of Xin Jiao to date.

She deserves at least one more picture.


Here is is at the amusement park with her grandmother and some old American man she calls Yaya.

Trip 2 - Part 3

This post will hopefully be more about Xin Jiao.  I do try to include pictures to the story and sometimes the picture governs what I write.


I mentioned in the previous post that Xin Jiao is the third child of six children.  She was also the apple of her fathers eye.  The siblings will tell you that she was her fathers favorite.  He took her everywhere and she learned his work ethic.


Her father was farmer but was also in the government.  He was kind of like a county extension agent for the farming community.  He knew everyone in the area and so does Xin Jiao.  I tell you that because in the next three situations I think there was more going on than just an incident.


Since I've know her I have only seen her get angry at three different people.  The first was a waitress who was making passes at me right in front of her.  I have a feeling they knew each other.  Xin Jiao chewed her out in public which you almost never see.  The waitress just stood there are took it and said she was sorry.


The second was a taxi driver who was trying to cheat me out of some money. He quickly gave me the correct change and drove off.

The third man I caught pick pocketing me.  It was kind of funny but I learned how well we work together for each other.  We were looking in a shop that was having a going out of business sale.  I felt a tap on my right shoulder then a tug on my left pocket.  I yelled hey and turned to the right and saw him sticking my pocket translator under a news paper.


Xin Jiao because I said hey turned and saw the same thing and hit the newspaper real hard.  The translator fell to the ground as I grabbed the man by his shirt near his throat.  He said in English it is OK, you have it. it is OK...

I was about to punch him in the face when Xin Jiao told me to stop.  Then she pointed to the crowd behind us.  They were all watching.  Then she gave him a tongue lashing like I've never heard before only in Chinese hence I've never heard before.


She let the man go but I was worried that I was about to be lynched by the crowd behind us.  Xin Jiao told me to not worry.  She let the man go but said if I had hit the man the crowd behind me would have joined in and finished him off.  They would have likely killed him and the police would have done nothing because he was a thief.


Xin Jiao continues to amaze me.  I'm not sure but it wouldn't surprise me to learn that the knows that man's family and she spared his life.


The pictures above have nothing to do with this story.  The one up on the left was where we were in front of a restaurant the same night this happened.  It is a very nice place and everything was good until I discovered the bird I was eating was a pigeon.  Kind of lost my appetite.  The picture above on the right was next door to the place where the man pick pocketed me.

Trip Two - Part 2

I have literally hundreds of photos from this trip and sort them out for this blog has been quite difficult because so much happened in 28 days.


I may take little ventures about the Chinese people and culture but I continually remind myself that this blog is about Xin Jiao and me.  That being said let me tell you about Xin Jiao.

Xin Jiao is the third child of six children.  The first two are girls.  Their mother died and Xin Jiao's father remarried so she is the first child of her mother.  She was born and raised on the family farm and that is why there are so many children in the family. i.e. the one child rule.  She wasn't born in a hospital but in the home to the right.


I was surprised at the size of the house because it larger than any home I had seen in China.


Because she grew up on a farm she is quite comfortable around animals. Back at the Amusement Park there was an attraction that kind of freaked me out a little.  A woman had white pigeons that you could feed.  The birds were not afraid of people and would sit in your lap, on your hand or arm, and even on your shoulder or head.  

That isn't the part that freaked me out.  It was their eyes.  The iris was gold giving them a demonic look.  Xin Jiao having grown up around these animals wasn't freaked out at all.


Freeeaky!!!!  But I like the beautiful woman the bird is perched on.  To the left is Sisia who is kind of afraid but getting closer to touching the bird.  I think she is asking why Yaya is standing so far back.  Sisia calls me Yaya which is grandfather in Chinese.

Xin Jiao is an unbelievable cook.  When family is around she is the one who cooks.  They all like it.  She loves to stir-fry and make cakes.  Cakes are not like what we eat in America.  They are generally made with sticky rice or what she calls grass but it is a weed called wormwood.  They will have a lot of spices, some vegetables and a meat and you would eat it hot.  It clumps together somewhat like a cheese ball.


She does this in a kitchen which is nothing more than a closet by our standards.  You can see the Wok right behind her on the right which is the only cooking surface, a small sink to the left and the vegetables she is about to cook behind her on the washing machine.  Below on a shelf is a rice cooker and a electric pressure cooker.


It just goes to show you that you can make a meal fit for a king with limited space and utensils.

One of the most amazing things about Xin Jiao is all of the friends she has.  Everywhere we went people wanted to be with her.  Many friends would insist that she was to visit them.  One of her previous bosses told me that I had better be good to her because she was well liked by all.


Here are a few pictures of her friends.

  

Trip Two - Shaoguan Part 1

In June 2010 I went back to China.  There were so many unanswered questions for me.  I mean after all I had only spent 10 days with Xin Jiao and we did talk on webcam everyday, sometimes twice.  But I wondered if we really were as compatible as it seamed we were.  So back to China and this time for 28 days.


This time I flew Delta and let me tell you I don't have much respect for them anymore.  They may have low prices but I wouldn't put it past them to begin charging you for toilet paper.  I can tell you that they will offer high fly mileage but they will steal it back from you.  I've had over 40,000 miles taken away from me.


I took the boat to Shekou again and then we scurried by bus to Shaoguan.  Xin Jiao had moved back there to live.  It is much cheaper to live there than Shenzhen.

Sisia, Xin Jiao's granddaughter was a lot more friendly this trip than on the previous one.  Of course it helped that I bought her a red pair of sandals and took her to an amusement park in town.  Who says you can't buy love.


She is adorable as you can see in the picture but she is also a little stinker.  I asked Xin Jiao if she was like her grandmother when she was a small child and she blushed and said yes.


The three of us had great fun that day.  It rained off and on and Sisia loved to hold both of our hands as we walked so she could splash in the water.  I guess that is universal way to have fun with children around the world.  At the end of the day Sisia was very tired and I carried her home as she slept on my shoulder.  Awe...

The next day Xin Jiao was taking me through the market where she used to work years earlier.  Now she didn't tell me what I am about to say but her sister who already lives in the U.S. did.


It seems that Xin Jiao is well respected among the vendors in the market on the street.  That much was apparent when she introduced me to friends of hers.  But the story goes that when her children were small Xin Jiao would wake up about 4am and go to the market to buy food to make breakfast for the business men on the run in the morning.  She would bring the stuff she bought home and prepare it.   Then she would take it to the market, lay out a blanket on the street and sell her food.


About 8:00am she would go back home, wake up her children and husband, prepare breakfast for them and take the children to school.  Then she would go back to the market to sell her food.  The amazing thing is this.  When a person leaves they generally lose their spot on the street, but not Xin Jiao, the ladies there had so much respect for her that they would sell her goods and protect her spot until she returned.  It was apparent to me that they liked and respected her every time we went there.  It was kind of funny in that they were like little school girls around me.  Laughing and joking.  They would speak what little English the knew from movies then end up calling me uncle. Everyone called me uncle.

While we were there in the market a store owner walked up to me and asked me if I were an America to which I replied yes.  He said good that I would be his new friend there in Shaoguan.  Every time we passed his store he wanted me to stop, drink tea and talk in English with him.  It was a good thing because I wouldn't have been able to speak Chinese with him.  He and his family were delightful and he continued to stop Xin Jiao and ask about me after I left China.


I still think back on how friendly the people in Shaoguan are.  It is absolutely amazing to me.  I look forward to seeing him again.  Guess I'll call him uncle.

Trip Number One - Shenzhen - Home

After meeting the family Xin Jiao made our way back to Shenzhen for the last few days before I would return to Georgia.


The trip was long from Shaoguan to Shenzhen. Xin Jiao and I slept on the bus most of the time.

One of the reasons I went to China was that I wanted to start my own line of scrubs to sell catering to larger women.  I had a whole concept of what I wanted to do.  I took a few scrubs with me and bought some fabric when I was in Guangzhou.  Prior to leaving Shenzhen for Guangzhou I met with the owner of a sewing company and gave him a few 3X patterns.  They thought I was crazy.  They couldn't believe this size was correct and I told them that I would go to 5X but that we were starting with 3X.


I sent them material from Guangzhou and was looking forward to seeing what they had done.  You can see the owner of the shop, Xin Jiao and me.  Also in the picture is some of the finished product they made for me.

This next picture is a part of the shop.  He has a rather small shop in comparison to others.


Unfortunately we couldn't get the price where I needed it to be to be competitive with places like Walmart.  Xin Jiao got her brother involved who had worked for a sewing factory while putting himself though college.  When she told him the prices we were being quoted he said the sewing factory prices were very good and mine were unreasonable.  So I abandoned the idea.  Walmart being as large as they are can do it for much less.

The next day Xin Jiao and I had the distinct pleasure of having dinner with a friend I made from Canada, Ron and his lovely wife.  We ate at an Italian Restaurant for something different.  Xin Jiao had spaghetti and didn't like it very much.  She saw noodles and thought it would be good.  They were Italian noodles and not Chinese and I think the sauce was too rich for her.  I tasted it and thought it was pretty good.  She ate all of it though.

Ron and his wife Yan (I think) were delightful.  We had a great time with them.  We went to a children's play that Yan had to make an appearance at.  It was different.  It was backlit cells along with a Chinese narration of Children's stories.  Not knowing Chinese Ron and I created our own stories which amused the both of us but got the kindest of scolding for making too much noise.


Yan and Xin Jiao have become good friends and talk to each other on the internet.

My final morning there Xin Jiao and me had breakfast at the Holiday Inn down the street from her apartment.  Needless to say we were both quite sedate because from there I was getting on a bus and heading for Hong Kong.


I really didn't want to go.  I wanted to get to know Xin Jiao more.  We seemed real compatible with each other.  There was definitely chemistry and much interest from the both of us.  10 days just isn't enough to make a life changing decision but it was a good start.  This final picture is how she looked at that final breakfast and a look that was seared into my mind for a long time.


Now for the trip home.