David's Big Adventure in China

There’s not much new to write about this time so this will be a short post. I’ve been working a lot as we’re still trying to finish our yearend close and get caught up on the January and February closes. We’ve also been busy answering the auditors’ questions and they’re looking under every pebble as a result of the irregularities I mentioned before.

We went to a reunion of some of Bonnie’s high school classmates. It was interesting because I was the only spouse who attended and there was no discussion about spouses or family. I found that very strange considering how important family is here. Well that’s all for now………..short and sweet!

It’s now the last night of my Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) holiday and I have to go back to work tomorrow (Sunday) after 7 days off. This is the most important holiday here and is the equivalent of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Eve all rolled into one. We had two family dinners this week, the first on Spring Festival Eve which is the traditional family dinner time and another one a couple days later which we hosted and was our “marriage party” dinner with the family. The custom for Spring Festival is to give red envelopes with money as gifts and there are customs about who gives and gets envelopes. For the dinner we hosted we had to reserve a room in a restaurant several weeks in advance and also pay a deposit and order the dishes a couple weeks in advance.

Except for the family dinners we haven’t done much this week except relax and watch movies. We took Bonnie’s mom with us one day for a boat ride on a couple local lakes. The two lakes (both manmade) are connected by a lock. We also started planning our trip to the states as we plan to be there pretty much the whole month of August. We’re thinking of spending some time in Branson, Missouri and if any of you have been there I’d appreciate your recommendations.

Work is still crazy and we’re still working on finishing the yearend close. There are still changes happening but it seems we’re heading in the right direction. Well that’s all for now.

Well it’s another Christmas in China. It’s nice that it fell on Sunday so at least it wasn’t a normal work day but we’ve been so busy at work that Bonnie and I ended up ... [Continue reading this entry]

If you haven’t heard the news already, I got married on 11-11-11. We went to the government office that handles marriages involving foreigners and spent about an hour there filling out the forms and getting ... [Continue reading this entry]

Below is part of an article from China Daily. You can find the entire article on the China Daily website if you're interested. As far as I know, I've never consumed any placenta. Try not to think about ... [Continue reading this entry]

It’s unusual for me to post 2 updates in the same week so if you’re reading this one make sure you read the one I posted just a day or two ago. This update is about buying ... [Continue reading this entry]

Mid Autumn Festival holiday was on September 12 and it’s similar to Thanksgiving in the states. It’s traditional here for companies to give mooncakes or other gifts to employees and officials. There was an article in ... [Continue reading this entry]

The big news for this post if you haven’t already heard is that I recently became engaged. I proposed to Bonnie on August 28 on the top floor of the tallest building in Nanning (59th floor) with a view ... [Continue reading this entry]

Wow, it’s really been quite a while since I posted an update here. I spent 2 weeks in the states in mid July going to a wedding, visiting family in Indiana and then visiting friends in Florida. I ... [Continue reading this entry]

June 23 through June 26, Bonnie and I took a trip to some places in Northern Sichuan province called Jiu Zhai Gou and Huanglong. They are not far from each other in a fairly remote area. They are ... [Continue reading this entry]