Finishing the list

[aadler]

One of the last things I delayed posting about because I was busy with it at the time: our son Kevin visited from China last month.

His company had him scheduled for another convention in Las Vegas; this time, he put in for some time off when it was over, and we arranged a flight for him to our current state. (Last year, we met with him in Vegas itself, but his job kept him so busy we had very little time together.)

We stayed busy this time, too, but most of it was together. On different days, we got together with each of my brothers, their kids and the kids’ spouses, Susan’s brother and sister-in-law, and our daughter’s godmother (who’d gotten to know Kevin well while she and Susan were working together). He also went to Mass with us at the hilltop church we’ve been attending, and we got his name put onto a joint checking account at our bank, so we now have means for transferring money to him internationally without jumping through numerous hoops.

While all that was going on, I had him in a small cabin at our RV park, which kept him closer and was cheaper than renting a room for him in town. Then, toward the end of the visit, we drove to center-state so he could meet with old college friends, also married now; this did require hotel rooms, for him and for us, but considering how infrequently we’ve been able to see him (not counting the two months in China last summer for our newest granddaughter’s birth), that wasn’t any real problem.

Susan very much wants to live in China — Shenzhen — so we can be closer to those granddaughters as they grow up. It can’t happen any time soon, because she has to have any number of follow-up visits as she recovers from the gastric bypass surgery; plus, we’ve done much less actual traveling in our three years of RV life than I had intended, just from one cause or another, and I’d like to do a little bit more before leaving it behind. That’s the goal now, though, to get her where she can be happiest. We’ll see how that goes.

Comments

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

Moving to China would be a huge adjustment. How has your son coped with it, though it seems his moving there was his own choice.

[aadler]

Though not completely predictable, it’s not altogether surprising that our son’s move to China was prompted by … oh, yeah, a girl. She was an exchange student, he was studying Chinese language and history, they kind of liked each other. After graduation, he lived in China for a year before they were engaged (his mother and I flew over to meet with her parents so the betrothal could be done properly), they were engaged for a year before they were married, they were married for a year before their daughter was born … and the daughter is now 10½, so time really has flown.

As far as the adjustment Susan and I would have to make to move there, most of that has already been covered by three things. One, we sold our house (and dispensed with most of our possessions) three years ago to start the RV lifestyle. Two, we’ve been to China five times now, for anywhere from two weeks to two months at a time. Three, we have family there: not just Kevin and his wife and daughters, but his in-laws, who are wonderfully welcome and helpful.

An adjustment, yes. It won’t be like jumping into the unknown, though, because we have some groundwork in place already.

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

Yes, it does sound as if you're fairly close to "footloose" now, so I can see why a move to China might appeal. The culture (mainly, the government and its policies) might be less than ideal, but I'm sure the people are nice. I would find the language barrier and the printed signs daunting. Really, both China and Japan would be very challenging, but Japan at least sometimes uses hiragana (an actual alphabet) rather than just the individual characters that represent words.

My sister-in-law and her family lived in Tokyo for 4 years, and found themselves mostly clinging to the ex-pats. It didn't help that Tokyo's streets were created in feudal times, in additional to the signs being in Kanji. So the streets wind around unpredictably and it's easy to get lost. :O

[aadler]

I have serious issues myself with the government of China (it would be a shock but not much of a surprise if we found ourselves at war with them next week) but, as you noted, the individual people we dealt with have always been courteous and helpful; for that matter, the few police we’ve had any interactions with have given no cause for complaint or alarm. Some of this has to do with Shenzhen being a heavy business/tech center, with lots of international business, so the inhabitants are accustomed to dealing with foreigners and see good relations as being of benefit to them.

By the same token, most of the signs there are in Chinese and English (English being the most common second language and the one most favored for international business), which helps with a lot of things. All the same, if Susan and I do move there, we’ve already determined that we’ll want to get professional language tutoring so we won’t always be dependent on someone else for translation.

And, yes, we intend to be heavily involved in the expat community there.