John's Blog» John’s Blog http://www.zhangzk.com/blog Life in China, among other things | 中国生活 Tue, 23 Mar 2010 01:55:14 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 14 Days in America – Part Two: Met the Parents http://www.zhangzk.com/blog/2009/10/14-days-in-america-part-two-met-the-parents/ http://www.zhangzk.com/blog/2009/10/14-days-in-america-part-two-met-the-parents/#comments Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:11:29 +0000 John http://www.zhangzk.com/blog/?p=245 Last time I was in Los Angeles was a year and half ago when I went back to visit my parents.  More than a year later, I’m back and I brought my wife with me.  My parents have not met my wife before (only communicated via phone and seen her in pictures) so this will be their first time.  While traveling over the Pacific, my wife voiced her nervousness; she asked a sorts of questions from what should I call them to how much should I eat at the dinner table.  She asked me to give her a rundown of my parents’ likes and dislikes; she was especially concerned about my mother’s.  I listed a few and told her everything is going to be alright and my parents are nice people.  However, I sensed my pep talk did not help much.

We arrived at LAX on time and customs was without incidents for both of us.

As we waited for our parents to pick us up that the airport, I can sense my wife’s uneasiness, and in fact, I was getting uneasy as well.  All of a sudden, I saw my parents pushing a luggage cart into the terminal where we were waiting.  I ran up to greet them and introduced my wife.  My wife called out “Hi Dad, hi Mom” and my parents answered with a smile; we loaded the luggage onto the cart and then headed for the parking lot; nothing more and nothing less.  It was nice.

In the car my Mom and wife sat in the back talk while my Father and I were in the front discussing about our itinerary in the next two weeks.  Even though I was talking to my father, my attention was on my wife.  I was concerned that she would feel awkward in a new environment meeting two people she has never met before.  But I do worry too much and it seemed my mom and wife are hitting it off just fine.

Waiting for us at home was delicious food my parents have prepared ahead of time.  BBQ ribs and fish filet and stir-fried Italian spaghettis – all the things I love!

That night we sat around and talked about life in Beijing, our feature plans, job, and our impending vacation.  It’s been a long time since I’ve talked face to face with my parents and with my wife besides me, I felt perfect.

More tomorrow…

]]> http://www.zhangzk.com/blog/2009/10/14-days-in-america-part-two-met-the-parents/feed/ 3 14 Days in America – Part One: All Good Things Must Wait http://www.zhangzk.com/blog/2009/10/14-days-in-america-part-one-all-good-things-must-wait/ http://www.zhangzk.com/blog/2009/10/14-days-in-america-part-one-all-good-things-must-wait/#comments Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:53:27 +0000 John http://www.zhangzk.com/blog/?p=238 I’ve just came back from a 14 days trip through the American west with my wife and I have to say the experience was fantastic.

In the past 14 days, we’ve traveled more than 3,000 miles through 3 states (California, Nevada, and Arizona) and saw some of the tallest, deepest, and most beautiful natural wonders in the world.

Day One: At the Airport

Our journey started back in Shanghai, China and it didn’t quite start smoothly.  We bought China Eastern Airline’s ticket and that required us to stop at Shanghai before departing China for Los Angeles; Shanghai is also the place where we have to pass through customs and that’s where the trouble started.  An airport attendant has asked me to fill out a customs form and sign my signature; I gladly complied and returned the form to the custom agent.  I thought I would be done with customs in a few seconds and head for the trans-pacific airplane which was waiting for me at the terminal.  To my surprise, the agent took a minute to look at my passport and then told me that there’s a problem with my signature.  According to the customs agent, the signature I have provided does not match the one on my passport.  I told the agent that the signature on my passport was signed 8 years ago, its normal that the signatures do not match up exactly.

Well…he ignored my comment and went back scrutinizing my passport.  Five minutes went by and he found nothing conclusive.  So he called his superior (I assume) to have a look.  His superior came over and the two men started scrutinizing my passport.  Fifteen minutes went by and they still couldn’t decide what to do.  Mean while my plane is getting ready for boarding and I’m getting nervous.

The two agents fondled my passport as if it contains some kind of secret map to a treasure island.  I not sure if they don’t know what they are doing or just not convinced that my passport is real, but after awhile they called in their colleagues.  Five agents huddled over my passport trying to decipher it.  After 5 minutes, the 5 agents still couldn’t make a decision.  I told them I’ve been in and out of China many times and this is the first time someone ever questioned my passport signature.

After some time, the customs agents decided that my passport was real and the signature discrepancy is passable.  So after more than half an hour of delay, I was on my way out of China and on a plane to Los Angeles.

More tomorrow and pictures coming soon…

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