ZJ and I are less than a month from celebrating our first marriage milestone: a year of marriage. It’s, however, a technicality as September 25 is the day we registered our marriage and received our red books.
In China, wedding photos are taken before the ceremony so images of the new couple are displayed. We held our Chinese wedding ceremony in February, and for most families in China this is when you are officially married in their eyes. My husband’s hometown served as the locale for the spectacle.
A ceremony is comprised of several stages and thus, there are a plethora of photo essays, entries, and write-ups on Xiananigans. There’s an entry about getting ready complete with photos of the ceremony dress, preparations made the day before the wedding, photos of picking up the bride from her temporary home, the hotel; evidence of a countryside wedding, a write-up I did for the local English-language publication in Xi’an, and the long road home courtesy of Mother Nature.
We’ve reached the two-month milestone of transitioning to life in the US. You can read up on the moving back from abroad sentiments here. There’s more sentiments to come about cultural differences, observations, reflections, rants, and what we’re up to.
What milestones have you recently surpassed? Start a conversation in the comments. Xiananigans likes hearing from readers 🙂
Xiananigans on the Prairie 
Congratulations!!! I never knew which anniversary to celebrate: my March 30th Hong Kong civil ceremony or my July 25 Hubei banquet. My American family recognized the Hong Kong one and my Chinese family the July one. This isn’t really my milestone, but my son Jake just completed the first week of his semester in Israel!
Thanks for commenting…looking forward to Sept.17. 🙂 That’s certainly a milestone worth mentioning. I hope he’s having a great time in Israel!
Thank you so much! I can’t wait to meet in person! He is having a wonderful time, thanks. The program takes such great care of the kids and they are working hard, but able to see the country, too. And the loveliest part of this story is that Cai will visit him in Israel this autumn! Hooray!
Reblogged this on zhangjian14.
Congratulations!
Thanks 🙂
Unfortunately, the whole “You speak English so well!” type of comment will never go away. I’ve been in the U.S. since I was a teenager and no one would have thought I was born and raised in China unless I told them (they all think I was born here). But once they learned I was born in China and came over as a teenager, that comment just immediately pops up. It gets more irritating the more people do it. It’s as if less should be expected of you simply because you were born elsewhere.
Exactly, why should less be expected of you simply for where you come from? I expect a lot from my husband and hoped that everyone else would, too. I appreciated the fact that when we were in China people expected a whole lot of me.