Thursday Jan 15

I'm still in Xuzhou. I can't wait to get back. It's kind of cold here. I was supposed to MSN with my wife at 10, but I fell asleep. She stayed on MSN sewing and waiting for me.

She's working on this Mickey Mouse self-sew pattern thingee. I'm trying to check email, it's so slooowwwwww here.

Jan 14 waking up in Zhangmutou, sleeping in Xuzhou

This is a picture of my wife and in the early morning of January 14. I love waking up in the sunshine with her beside me, but I always have to get up to pee. :)




AAAhhhh I need to get a new phone!!! I was in Xuzhou in my stupid back up phone is only tri-band I think, because I get no signal!!! Mei xinhao!



My wife was trying to call me and couldn't. She was pissed!!! Look at her face LOL.

Jan 13

Tuesday night we went shopping at TianHe in Zhangmutou.

We used my wife's camera phone. I thought I could get the pictures off using a USB, but her phone uses something different, it' close to USB.

Tonight my wife and I MSN'd with her friend Ahmei and son Brandon in Nanjing. Nothing else very exciting, we'll see more of her friends in Shenzhen.

Last night we went grocery shopping but I can't get the image off her phone, wrong USB!

This is from my arrival Jan. 11. YaoYao my wife and I are at the entrance to our place in Zhangmutou. I look tired as a I just got off 20+ hours of flights, buses, cabs. I think she's about to throw up gang signs...eeassttsidde!!!



This is us on Jan. 11 late in the bedroom ready to leave to go eat. I'm glad I brought my hat, it's kind of cold here, and the cold is different

packing is a biaotch!!!

My wife got me into eating apples every day. She eats one every day. Tonight when we MSN'd she watched me pack most of the time.

If I was a smurf

I get to see my wife in less than two days!!!

I haven't consummated my marriage in 2009 yet!!! Right now, if I was a smurf, I'd be handy...

Tui zi

Talked to my wife today, I mostly complained about having to go to a far away city when I'm in China for a few days and not be able to see her. I was busy so we kept the conversation short.



My Chinese barber told me what to ask for if need to get a haircut in China. "Yong tui.zi tui liang bian he __bian. Yong jian zi jian ___ ba" Crap I've forgetten some of the words already. It says use clippers on the side and back, scissors on the top

"I give you suprise!!"

Talked to my wife today, she can't decide what she is going to wear Sunday. I told her we can web cam and I can help her choose. But she said "No, I give you surprise!" She didn't even say "Suplize" like a Japanese person would. I asked her where she learned that word, she said from TV.

I hope the weather is ok for taking off out of TO.

Roasting Chestnuts on an Open Fire

Talked to my wife today, she answered the phone in English..."Helllllo" almost sounded like a native Canadian. She is in Shenzhen., Jan. 25 we get to go to her home village. Come back around Feb. 2. I'm excited for Chinese New Years, but the rest of the time it's going to be COLD. Froid! (french) We'll be sitting by the fire mostly. They had some snow. There's no indoor heating there. And I sleep alone we don't sleep in the same bed at her parents. It's a custom in the countryside, the daughter always sleeps alone at her parents.

I'll bring some books to read, I'm bringing these

DA BA!!!

DA BA!!! 大巴 That's my new favorite Chinese word. It means bus, but makes me think of Teletubbies.

If I was Chinese, I'd start a bus line, Da Ba Buslines. Da Ba!!! Da Ba!!!

My wife and I are taking the bus from the Huang Guang entry point to our place in Dongguan. INVADERS MUST DIE. That's the new Prodigy single. Youtube it. I like it, it's going through my head a lot. The synths are very Chiense-esque if you ask me, go to a disco there you'll see what I mean. Makes me think of entering China too , considering they've always had (at least for the last hundred years or so) a little animosity towards laowai.



My wife has something on her face she's worried about. I showed her the Coach shopping bag. I told her that was the bag she's getting. :) It fits her requirements! I fit two shirts in there. I could have fit a Teletubby too I think. Da Ba!

that's a fact Jack

"* September 7, 2008: Prime Minister Harper asks Governor General Michaëlle Jean to call a general election on October 14, 2008. She accepts the request.
*October 14, 2008: Elections held for members of the House of Commons in the 40th Canadian Parliament."

Canada can hold an election in a month. I've been waiting 6+ to get a decision if my wife can come over.

don't catch a cold

I talked with my wife today on break at work in the warehouse. The receiving door was open, so it was cold and she didn't want me to catch a cold so we kept the conversation short. I asked about giving New Years lucky money to her sister and brother. She said there was no need to give money to her sister, as she has a job. But her brother is still in school, so looks like he'll get something.

aaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. oh gawd. I did it. I got a bullsh!t handbag. The sales guy was kinda cool (and kinda gay I think but whatever), I explained to him how I had to like the bag, because I'll end up carrying it when I'm out shopping with my wife. He was Chinese, he understood. I think the people at Coach are paid hourly and not on commission like at Holt, you can feel those salespeople undressing you with their clothes but only to get at your wallet....

But I think I feel like I just got punched in the chest, only it hasn't happened yet. It's like paying $100 for a Big Mac. At least unlike buying a diamond it has some usefulness. I can't decide yet what I'm going to carry in it.

The machine is broken

Look, it's chocolate for 16 Chinese friends! And they can use chopsticks to pick it out of the bags. That's why I picked it, after the fact it was 60% off. I love Boxing Week.

la jee

Talked to my wife today, she used a word I didn't understand "la jee", it had something to do with after dinner. I think she meant 垃圾 lā jī as in trash. Apparently it's derogatory when used toward another person. It reminds me of the word 逻辑 luó jī meaning logic. I'll find out soon enough, I'll her something has 垃圾逻辑. We'll see.

It's 7:30 am, I'm tired.

My wife has figured out I have started a blog. She doesn't like her pictures, surprise surprise. She wants me to put up some 'nice' and 'good' pictures.

the intardet in Jung.guah is slow

I talked with my wife this morning using MSN.

She reminded I have to get chocolate for a few of her friends....only 16!!! Laura Secord here I come!! Maybe I can get some Christmas chocolates on clearance :)

All the computers were not very good according to her. But the internet in general in China is slow. It doesn't make sense, they have all these nice new roads, buildings, skyscrapers in Shanghai, but their internet speeds are second rate. Didn't they just announce a stimulus package? I hope they included internet infrastructure. This gave me an idea - all the new university grads you see at job fairs there, in the thousands, they look like a mosh pit, President Hu just met with grads in Beijing to assure them of jobs etc, they could be employed to police the internet in China, maintain the Great Firewall. Problem solved!!! Awesome internet (using some of the 2 trillion in US debt), and employed grads! I am a friend of China ;)

Hey muthaf**kas I know you hear me calling you

I just uploaded my itinerary for my trip to China and address for this blog to the Hong Kong office. Maybe next month they'll get around to it...

-----Original Message to HKONG (IMMIGRATION)/Message d'origine à HKONG
(IMMIGRATION) -----

This is an automatically generated message

This will acknowledge receipt of your email to the Hong Kong visa office.

WTF is up with women and hand bags????

So I thought it was cool that when I got married to a Chinese girl, that I didn't have to worry about wasting money on a diamond ring....the DeBeers Corp hasn't had a chance to work their brain washing marketing magic in China.

But instead, she wants a handbag! A real one, like this


It's Chugly!!! That's a new word I made up, it's when a Chinese girl wants something ugly. Don't get me started on how she can get a perfectly good functioning fake one, and how a real bag is the biggest waste of money ever. Sure a real bag has a lifetime warranty, but I know that next spring you'll just "have" to have another bag, another fix.

I saw this link, on how women hide their purchases .


I got the go ahead at work today to get this book, too late for this though.



But this whole bag dilemma it makes me upset, because I'm just thinking about compound interest, that's all.

Do you know what that is????

the mighty Zhangmutou

That's Jang-mu-toe for you non-Pinyin readers. Tried calling my wife today, her phone battery was dead. I couldn't understand the automated voice, other than "Duibuqi..." = Sorry, Then later she called me, she was staying at her friends and couldn't talk loud since they were asleep, we are going to MSN tomorrow.

3am Eternal

So YaoYao (my wife) calls me last night at 3:30am.ish. ...so late...! She called me to let me know we are to MSN at 9 pm Saturday I think...She is in Dongguan with her friends...

I've heard of Facebook stalking, I wonder if this will start Blog stalking???

Entering Canada vs. China

I applied to China for a visa Dec. 16, I they printed it Dec. 17. It is good for one year. China is a communist country. You know, Iron Curtain, Iron Ricebowl....supposed to be a hard place to deal with no?

What do you think happens when someone from China applies to come to Canada on even just a visitor visa and they have plane tickets back and forth? ...

but we live in a 'free' country, technically, I can say they government SUCKS and not be afraid, but what does that get me?

It's hard trying to explain to my wife how her friend can get a visitor visa in England so easily, I can come to China no problem, but the Canadian government makes us feed paperwork to some guy in a desk in Hong Kong who has nothing to do with her or me...why can't I vote if he keeps his job or not?

CHRONOLOGY of my Application

June 6, 2008 - I applied to bring my wife to Canada, the processing center in Mississauga received the application

July 4 - They opened the application, it only took them 1 month!!

July 6 - I was approved as a sponsor

July 14 - My wife received a letter from the Beijing embassy, stating that her application was to be processed in Hong Kong, oh joy!

July 21 - My wife's file was received at the Hong Kong Consulate. Their staff's english skills are not so great, they asked me to fill in question #15 on an application form concerning her address which basically stated to fill in "Your mailing address if different from residential address in #14" They are the same so I left if blank originally!!! But she moved so it worked out that I gave them her new addy.

Sept 1 - I emailed the HK consulate, to see what was up.

Sept 2 - they opened the file for her, finally!

October 31 - they sent a letter her, and my copy to her, even though they were to send correspondence to me (bad english skills again) stating that they needed more 'credible' information of a spousal relationship. I brought my mother to her freekin' village in Guizhou for our wedding, that's not enough????

The deadline given was 60 days. They received my package December 15ish.

Jan 1, 2009 - I just submitted my phone bills to her for the last 2 months, next I am going to send them my plane ticket and visa.

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a good New Years. Thanks to the Rogers network being overloaded until 1:00am or so, I couldn't call my wife until then. She was in Dongguan when I called. She wants to MSN by webcam, and said she'd call me when she was at a 'Wang ba' - internet cafe.

I just got my Rogers bills and sent them to the Hong Kong Consultate...$120 for December!!!! ouch.. I have to keep my calls to her every day shorter. But everytime I tell her "I have to go", that seems to be a signal to her, that we can talk for 20 more minutes. I don't think women understand this concept, when a man says "I have to go" it means we have to end the conversation in 30 seconds, not start negotiating our next MSN meeting time, or go off on just one more tangent...

I have to find out where to get Coach bags tomorrow from the girls at work, more on this later...