Like I mentioned before, I have been REALLY busy with work these past few months..not only did I start a new job but a totally new position so I had to learn a lot as things went but I love it!I can honestly I thoroughly enjoy my work, the students, teachers, the location, all great, but.....Living in China is still quite hard.
I have been here for almost a year now and I'm still struggling to communicate and get my thoughts across. It's my fault as I haven't put enough effort into learning Chinese...
2014 is over and by far the most important event of the year was GETTING MARRIED!So far I have only experience the civil 'ceremony'-I put the word in inverted commas on purpose as the event can hardly be called this way. I as warned that it is a matter of going into an office, paying a fee, submitting required documents and off you go as a married couple. Slightly different than in Europe then...Naturally, I wanted to make this event more special so we had flowers, took a few photos but still, I couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed.
Of course my new husband and I received the Chinese version of a marriage certificate, the famous 'red book'.
Unlike Chinese couples our civil wedding took place in my husband's home province's capital as that's the only place in the province where foreigners can get legally married. Another difference was the fee, normally it is less than 100 yuan but as I'm a foreigner the fee was nearly 500 yuan! What was interesting was my father-in-law kept giving away lots of various sweets to all the office workers! I was told that was the custom, however when I asked my Guangdong friends about it, they were very amused to hear of such strange custom so clearly it must be a Hubei thing.
I still have my wedding ceremony to look forward to....or not...It seems in China it is vastly up to the parents to do the planning and the young couple has little to say, however I'm hopeful that my case will be different as my parents-in-law are very kind and understanding. Like I said, I'm hopeful.
2014 is over and by far the most important event of the year was GETTING MARRIED!So far I have only experience the civil 'ceremony'-I put the word in inverted commas on purpose as the event can hardly be called this way. I as warned that it is a matter of going into an office, paying a fee, submitting required documents and off you go as a married couple. Slightly different than in Europe then...Naturally, I wanted to make this event more special so we had flowers, took a few photos but still, I couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed.
Of course my new husband and I received the Chinese version of a marriage certificate, the famous 'red book'.
Unlike Chinese couples our civil wedding took place in my husband's home province's capital as that's the only place in the province where foreigners can get legally married. Another difference was the fee, normally it is less than 100 yuan but as I'm a foreigner the fee was nearly 500 yuan! What was interesting was my father-in-law kept giving away lots of various sweets to all the office workers! I was told that was the custom, however when I asked my Guangdong friends about it, they were very amused to hear of such strange custom so clearly it must be a Hubei thing.
I still have my wedding ceremony to look forward to....or not...It seems in China it is vastly up to the parents to do the planning and the young couple has little to say, however I'm hopeful that my case will be different as my parents-in-law are very kind and understanding. Like I said, I'm hopeful.