Archive for the ‘Road to Wedlock’ Category
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Love will keep us together
Today marks Maggie’s and my 18 month anniversary. I didn’t think it was a thing to be celebrated – Maggie set me straight.
Though it’s a lot more just a quirk that my wife like’s to celebrate things, I found it interesting that 18 (yāobā) is considered lucky by Chinese superstitious mumbo jumbo.
In addition to that relatively useless thought, I’ve been pondering the whole “marriage” thing a lot lately.
A good friend of mine told me recently that he’s getting divorced. That split will officially mark me as the sole torch-bearer for successful matrimony among my four buddies from…
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A reminder of the way things were
Maggie returns home today after spending the Spring Festival holidays at her parents’ place up in the North East.
For the last nine days I’ve been thrown back into a lifestyle I had nearly forgotten – bachelorhood. Now before images of me out all night sniffin’ coke off the scarred ass of a 50 kuai hooker spring to mind – let me assure you, such is not my meaning. My deviated septum doesn’t allow for that anymore. 
No, what I mean is, I’ve had the run of the house. Responsible for its cluttered and…
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The dreaded Canadian visa process
After a failed start last Thursday*, Maggie’s application for a visa to go to Canada with me this Christmas has finally been submitted.
Why is it that governmental bodies, no matter of what nation or for what purpose, always have the ability to make even the most innocent person feel like a criminal?
For something as simple as trying to visit my homeland with my wife and I feel like I’m under a lamp and hooked to a polygraph. To get to China, I showed up, walked past the FLG pamphlet dispensers, gave them $60 and came back the next…
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Road To Wedlock VIII: Thai’d The Knot Pt. 3
… continued from Part 2
We were both a bit sad to leave Koh Chang, and like most of the places I’ve been in Thailand, I’d like to return and explore it properly one day.
The bus ride back to Bangkok was much the same as the ride there – complete with loud, boastful foreigners talking between themselves for the whole bus to hear. Adding to the oddness of the characters on the Thai tourist buses was a middle-aged Canadian sitting beside me.
Shortly after leaving the port I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye, and…
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Road To Wedlock VIII: Thai’d The Knot Pt. 2
… continued from Part 1
Where were we? Right… Koh Chang – or rather, the journey there.
I’ve travelled most the various forms of mass transit in Thailand, and when possible I’ve avoided the VIP tour bus solutions. I’m not entirely sure why, maybe because I heard packs were commonly rummaged through in the luggage compartment, or because I just hate listening to a bus full of foreigners talk about how great they are and how many places they’ve been.
However, the deal with the bus to Koh Chang was sweet (600฿ round-trip, incl. ferry), costing the same (or…
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Road To Wedlock VIII: Thai’d The Knot Pt. 1
It’s been over a month since we returned from our honeymoon in Thailand, but I’ve only just found the time (or rather the patience) to wade through the hundreds of photos I took and pick out the ones to put online (and to print for our little honeymoon photo album).
So, without further adieu，here is the long-intended honeymoon post.
After seeing my family off at Shanghai’s Maglev station, Maggie and I found a netbar and decided it was high time we got some idea as to what we’d be doing and where we were going when we arrived in Thailand…
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Road To Wedlock VII: One Beachin’ Wedding
Alright, I know this is sort of out of sequence, but I really didn’t have the time until now to put an entry, nor the photos, together. However, I journaled this on the trip home from Hainan – and so here it is reproduced from paper, and accompanied with photos from the newly created Wedding Gallery.
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February 18, 2007 – A little past 1 pm
Leave it to me to forget my journal behind in our rush to get to Shanghai’s Pudong Airport.
A wedding, greeting my family, introducing them to my bride, 20 some-odd plane tickets and…
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Road To Wedlock VI: 到了 (arrived)!
Alright, I had big plans to be able to squeeze in a post giving the details of the wedding sometime during the last few days of being in Suzhou between tropical islands (Hainan – Koh Chang) … alas it was not meant to be.
So, this is all I’ve time for at the moment – a fire on the keys update just to say all went well, despite looking grim a handful of times. The ceremony went off without a hitch and my family’s visit has gone quite well – luckily they’ve no blogs to contradict that read more...
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Road To Wedlock V: Right, The Ceremony!
Alright, I know this “Road To Wedlock” series has been taking up a lot of the focus of this blog lately, but it’ll all be over by the end of the week! Then, apart from wedding photos, video and pictures from the honeymoon… I’ll be back to less nuptial posting and more “What the hell am I doing in China” posting.
With my parents arriving tomorrow night and us off to Hainan the day after, it’s become top priority to get the stuff we’ve left to the last minute done… you know, small things like cleaning the apartment, confirming…
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Road To Wedlock IV: Lord of the Rings!
They’ve arrived! The wedding rings are in-hand (but will have to wait 2 more weeks to settle on fingers).
We ordered the rings online via Gillett’s Jewellers – a company out of Australia that has a very slick Website with loads of helpful information regarding rings, wedding rings, different metals, various gems, etc.
We decided to go the online route as we – rather “I” – trust jewellers in China saying “it’s real” as much as I believe the DVD dealers that say the same. The fact is, it’s just too commonplace for jewellers here – even the ones…
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Stereotypewriter: Welcome to the ‘Get With A Chinese’ Club
It’s an interesting statistic that my friends in China have changed over the two years I’ve been here from those that are just visiting to those that are here and have serious Chinese relationships (read that how you will – wife, girlfriend, etc.). It raises an interesting question about whether there is any other reason to stay in China?
I’m sure there is – and I’m sure there are plenty of people not married to, going to marry or otherwise seriously dating a Chinese national that find China a perfectly comfortable place to live – but to put it in…
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Road To Wedlock Part III: The Stag & Doe
I’m beat. Not bested, but completely exhausted. I’ve spent most of the day, technically most of the month, arranging flights and hotels for my family’s visit next month.
Today marks the 30-day count-down until Maggie and I officially become husband and wife (though we’ve been doing a trial run since getting the license in December).
The wedding, as I may have mentioned, will be in Hainan – the southern most province of China, and a tropical island that boasts the same latitude as Hawaii. My father, stepmom, two sisters, and a good friend will all be coming over for…
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Road To Wedlock Part II: Barely Legal
Gawd, the amount of misplaced search engine traffic I’m going to get from that…
So, it’s done. I’m – in the eyes of the People’s Republic of China – married. And here’s the kicker: how many people do you know showed up for their marriage unshowered, unshaved and not having brushed their teeth? Well, to be fair, how many people propose over shredded cow tongue… apparently, conventions are not my strong point when it comes to marriage.
Anyway, just to be clear, this whole “marriage” thing is only a legality. Though it’s been a bit of a trip calling Maggie…
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Cross Your Fingers and Hope To Fly
Ok, it’s a minute before midnight and I need to be up at 5am to catch a bus to Nanjing – so this needs to be short. Mags and I are off to Nanjing tomorrow to catch a plane to Dalian. Monday morning we head down to Dalian’s marriage licensing office and hopefully settle all we need to be considered legally wed in the People’s Republic of China.
I’ll post in greater length when I return, well-stuffed with seafood and as a husband, on Tuesday. If e-mails or comments go unanswered until then – this is why.
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Road To Wedlock Part I: I Swear I’m Not Married
Alright, I've started a new category here at Adventures of the Humanaught. The Road to Wedlock category will chronicle my journey towards marriage, in hopes that it might help any other poor saps looking for information on this rather complicated process. This category should cover the gambit from first kisses to "我愿意s"…
So, I just returned from Shanghai, having completed the first step in the marriage process. Wait, I guess the first step was that fateful meeting nearly two years ago… or was it when I read more...
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Respokenly Bespoken
I've always been rather impulsive with the things I want to say.
This blog tends to be a written testament to that, as I've more than once just spouted off on something with entirely too little thought as to where I was going to go when I got into the idea that was trying to leap from this candy-coated shell I call a head.
I've also always been pretty romantic. I'm not total goo about things, but I can respect a good film super-saturated with the love. I'm often too pragmatic for my own sensibilities, but frequently I find I'm…
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