Birthdays & other news!

It has been quite a while since my last entry and so much has happened! Ben and I had a very busy fortnight and in just over a week we are leaving for China. Today I’m going to report the things we did in the past 2 weeks and I’ll write another entry next week just before we go.


    The first piece of great news is that Ben has successfully got his TEFL qualification as already been offered a job in a language centre in Shanghai! This actually happened more than 2 weeks ago, but we decided not to let everybody know until everything is confirmed. In order to get into China Ben would have to apply for a visa, and the Chinese government recently changed its visa regulation which has made things a little bit complicated for us. He has already submitted his application and if everything goes all right he should get his visa next Monday. Fingers crossed!

The Chinese visa application centre in London – we have made a couple of trips there already.

Chinese visa sample

    The second piece of exciting news is that we have given our notices to be married! Again things were complicated by our different nationalities and future plans. Just in case we might have to change our plans and get married in China (but let’s hope not) Ben had to apply for a Certificate of No Impediment to Marry from his government to demonstrate to my government his single status and freedom to marry me. Therefore we made a trip to the Petersfield register office (there is no register office in Liphook) to apply for that and another trip to Winchester register office (that’s the only office which deals with international marriages in our area) to give notice of our marriage in the UK. We were interviewed separately by the officer but the questions were nothing like “what’s the colour of your fiancé’s toothpaste” (she said that was an urban myth) but basic questions like “what’s your name”, “what does your father do”. Oh, and of course, we were asked each other’s names, too.

Petersfield Register Office

Winchester Register Office

    On Friday (also my mum’s birthday and the 1st day of the Olympic Games) we went to Goodwood House to do our menu tasting. Ben and I are very easy to please tongue-wise but we still thought our guests wouldn’t be let down by what they had to offer. We absolutely loved the food and both stormed our plates. I was planning to take pictures of every course but after the starter I was too eager to dig into my main and only remembered to take a shot of the mess I made. We also got served very well by a butler and a maid and all our guests will get the same treatment on our big day!

to refresh your memory of our reception venue: Goodwood House

Starter: Oak smoked salmon on caper & chive blini with Avruga caviar & lemon crème fraiche

Main: Pan fried free range chicken with creamed leeks, fondant potato with cep & tarragon beurre blanc

Dessert: Sticky toffee pudding with honeycomb clotted cream and butterscotch sauce

    The following weekend we went up to Leeds/Hull to attend Andrew (Ben’s dad)’s parents’ golden anniversary party. We just had a party at home in May to celebrate Nicola’s parents’ golden and it is so sweet and encouraging to see such loving and long-lasting couples (especially when they are in the family) all the time. We stayed over at Ben’s grandparents’ place and they were so nice to me. I’m so excited about having another 2 sets of grandparents soon and will keep in touch with them often even when we’re in China. The past 9 years in England alone from my family have made me deeply appreciate family ties. I ring up my grandmother every Sunday and I know just hearing my voice over the phone makes her happy. We will all grow old one day, and I believe that we should do now for our parents and grandparents what we will expect of our children and grandchildren when we are old.


    I found this at Ben’s grandparents’ place. Apparently that’s how Western people perceive Chinese people. I hope I didn’t let them down.

    It was my birthday this Tuesday! The appointment of our marriage notice in Winchester happened to be on that day so it made my 26th birthday more meaningful.

A very special birthday!

    Ben got up at ridiculous o’clock that morning to make me birthday cupcakes for breakfast (with blue icing). How romantic!♥

    After coming back from Winchester we went to Sainsbury’s to get some cup noodles for lunch. It is a Chinese tradition to have noodles on one’s birthday and I really wanted to try British cup noodles. I have to say I was a little bit let down.

    The birthday surprise came at dinner when I was surrounded by presents from Ben’s family. I wasn’t expecting anything as in China the 26th birthday is not usually heavily celebrated. I was thrilled to find that all the presents were London Olympic souvenirs as I am a big British/Olympic fan. Thank you every one! This was the most special birthday I’ve ever had!

the birthday dinner that I “requested”: chicken, bacon & prawn pie with potatoes and peas

My birthday cake (I asked to make this myself with Nicola’s help)!

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♥The Flashback Corner♥

    How did we start to talk? It was maybe 2 weeks after Ben ran away from me embarrassed by his mistake in Chinese. He was sitting in a place called the “old gym” at our university and doing his Chinese homework and I went there alone and saw him, so we exchanged “hi”s and started to talk. I thought he was a very hard-working boy.


    Ben’s version: I wasn’t really working hard; the homework had to be handed in later that day! I enjoyed talking to Miki, she was humorous and sweet.

the “old gym” at Westminster

the “Deep End” at Westminster where we first met – under construction now

A completed course & some new clothes!

Last Thursday Ben and I had our second and also last marriage preparation course. It was still full of questionnaires but this time apart from questions like “who do you think should do the laundry” we had a personality assessment. It might sound scary (like what doctors do to patients at a mental hospital) but it turned out to be very helpful and surprisingly accurate!

all the questionnaires

    According to the results I am a “perfect melancholy” with a “peaceful phlegmatic” side, and Ben is a “popular sanguine” also with a “peaceful phlegmatic” side. I like everything in order and am usually cautious about things and reluctant to try new stuff; Ben is more adventurous but doesn’t really plan or think things through beforehand. Haha, it sounds like we are perfect for each other. We are attracted to each other’s characteristics which we don’t have, at the same time we still share some in common. Thus our life strategy should be: try everything with caution, and don’t be lazy! ^^

We are perfect for each other.

    Please allow me to quote from First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians 13: 4-8 here (Nicola read it out loud to us at the lesson, and we were all deeply touched).

Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast,
it is not proud. It is not rude,
it is not self-seeking, it is not easily
angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices
with the truth. It always proceeds. It
always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails…

    Now let’s write about the men’s attire! I’ll hand the stage over to Ben.

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Personally I do not often wear a morning suit. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever needed such a thing before; so Saturday’s adventure was certainly a new one for me. It was difficult, first and foremost, to arrange a date when all the groomsmen, the best man, the groom and the bride were all available. When the date was eventually set for Saturday we selected Godalming’s Anthony Hirewear based on a recommendation from my mum.

Godalming Station

    When we got there (all 5 men and a bride-to-be) the staff at the very small shop were rather surprised! Their website invites groups and drop-ins but I don’t think they’d anticipated the scale of workload we were presenting them with. I would later find out that they usually expect the bride and groom to come alone first, and then have the groomsmen come later. Unfortunately our rather unique timeframe didn’t allow for this.

    Despite their initial reluctance and slight exasperation at our collective lack of knowledge regarding suits, suit hire and what it was that we actually wanted, they soon warmed to the idea of sorting us out and became very friendly and helpful, surpassing the standard set by their highly worded recommendation.

    They suggested morning suits which I happily agreed to as I like the idea of a posh coat and tails for such a special day. As the groom I was the first model and we quickly settled on a black coat with striped trousers and a gold waistcoat, a classic English design apparently. We originally opposed the striped trousers and asked if we could switch for plain black, “no” was the answer. Because of the lack of contrast, a black trouser-coat-combo looks silly in pictures, so stripy it is. As groom I will wear a gold cravat to distinguish me from the others all wearing red which keeps our Christmas theme. A detail that may be hard to notice in the pictures is that the waistcoat is embroidered with Chinese dragons, a fitting touch we all felt.

the first two tries: red cravat & grey suit

The final piece!

with bestman Doug

Hair down!

Groomsman No.1: Ben’s 1st younger brother John-Jo

Groomsman No.2: Ben’s 2nd younger brother Ali

Groomsman No.3 (usher): Ben’s 3rd younger brother Marcus

a close-up shot of the waistcoat: dragons

    All in all it was an interesting day and all our goals were met. We were taught how to tie cravats, (just like normal ties but with a fatter knot) and we got our order booked. I’d like to take a moment to thank the willing best man and groom’s men for their co-operation and unfailing patience and also the staff of Anthony Hirewear, Godalming who were thoughtful, welcoming and skilled in all areas of their trade and are highly recommended for all your formal attire needs. Ok, next stop, car hiring!

Dinner at My Old Place

My family-to-be!

The Carter Boys – 11 years later~

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♥The Flashback Corner♥

Ok, for this flashback corner here’s my version of the time Miki and I met. This is going to be embarrassing so readers prone to squirming at outpourings of emotion look away now! (I will be looking away as I type.)

    As Miki explained I was happily sitting doing my homework at university with a group of friends from class. As a second year Chinese student I was beginning to feel like I was making some headway with the language and getting to grips with the basics quite well. All of a sudden this unbelievably cute Chinese girl walked into the hall dressed in a thick white coat and blue top. I didn’t know who she was but I thought I’d very much like to get to know her. In typical embarrassed fashion I fixed my eyes on my book as she sat next to me and studiously avoided saying anything at all, it was then that Richard, already a mutual friend told her to look at my work, “perfect!” I thought, “My Chinese is sure to impress!” I leaned back so she could see and heard “You wrote that character wrong.” My heart sank and I looked again at my homework. Oh no. I had meant to write “how are you?” and because the last character was wrong it read “you good horse.” Caught out on an elementary mistake so simple by this lovely girl, what a way to start!

Photos, videos, the Grand Meeting & much more!

In the past week we have made some further progress, both in terms of the wedding and our future life in China. Let me start with the wedding first.

    In my 3rd entry I wrote that I bought a lot of wedding magazines, and many of them give suggestions on wedding planning in terms of dates. 1 of them provides a checklist, and apparently according to its editors (and the reality) we should start planning 18 months before the wedding (at least that’s when the diet should start and I’m already more than a year behind schedule and still haven’t made any moves). I also downloaded an Apple App called iWedding and am digitally monitoring our plans with technology! ^ ^

The Essential Wedding Checklist, click here for a version readable with the naked eye

iWedding

    After some research, we have decided to ask Peartree Pictures to be our wedding photo/videographer. They were the hands behind some of the stunning pictures I posted of Goodwood House a few entries back.

)Ö(

^ ^

    We were also seriously considering the other two photographers and a videographer that Goodwood provided in their directory: Barrie Downie, Janda and Bloomsbury Films (YouTube). We think Barrie Downie’s pictures look very artistic but too impersonal; Janda’s pictures are the best among all the photographers we’ve looked at but the price is also the highest; Bloomsbury is very professional but we also gave up because of the price.

Barrie Downie’s splendour (with a Chinese couple)

Janda is very sweet and classic.

    On Saturday evening Nicola, Ben and I had a “Grand Meeting” on wedding planning. 3 of us first each brainstormed all the things we still need to do before the wedding (even before 11th August because that’s when we’ll be leaving for China) and combined them in a chronological way. Nicola also made Post-it notes of all the to-dos and dedicated a piece of wall to it.

to-do wall

    Apart from photos and videos, we are going to try out some groom/bestman/groomsmen/usher attires on Saturday with all the boys and after that we’re going to 1 of the most authentic Chinese restaurants in the UK, Old Place, to have dinner. Should be lots of fun!

Ben wants to wear a morning suit.

    Also, on Monday we had a happy reunion with an old friend from uni. He’s a Kent boy and married a Chinese girl (Now they have four children!) and had lived in China for more than 8 years. We got a lot of useful tips from him. Meanwhile Ben just completed his TEFL exam and has already got quite a few job interviews from Shanghai. The future is looking more and more promising and we’re going to give notice of marriage on my birthday!

    Ben and I had a few arguments these days about working attitudes and how we can make our parents happy. I feel we are growing closer and closer together. The more arguments we have, the more we can discover from each other, the easier it can be for us to solve problems. Last week we watched The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel together, and I was really inspired by its tagline: Everything will be all right in the end… If it’s not all right then it’s not the end. That’s it! That’ll be our motto!

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

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♥The Flashback Corner♥

I apologise for not writing this corner in my last entry because the content was quite serious and I got carried away.

    What was our first conversation about? It was a couple of weeks after I first saw him, and it also happened in the dining hall (We call it the Deep End at Westminster, I’ll take some pictures the next time we go back.) at lunchtime. Ben already had his lunch and was doing his homework as I happened to sit next to him. Richard (the Kent guy I mentioned earlier in this entry) was sitting opposite to us and he knew both Ben and me. He said, Miki, Ben is really good at Chinese! Look at his handwriting! I turned and looked at his homework and I could tell Ben was already very embarrassed, but I didn’t make it easier for him.

    “You wrote that character wrong” was the first sentence I ever said to him.

“How to survive being married to a Catholic?”

Today I’d like to write about my spiritual preparation for our marriage and I apologise in advance that this is going to be a wordy entry with fewer pictures. If you are not interested in the survival of a Catholic marriage please feel free to skip this entry.

    Last Thursday Ben and I had our first marriage preparation lesson. It was given by Andrew and Nicola at home, and we were joined by another couple, who are getting married in August. Before the lesson I was quite uneasy; I was worried it might be one of those lessons which scare people with all the difficulties of a married life, but it turned out that my worry was very unnecessary. Although we did talk about the common differences between males and females, and the problems that might rise from them, it was done in a humorous and relaxing way. Andrew and Nicola gave us quite a few interesting questionnaires. For each question we needed to think of answers both for ourselves and for each other in order to see how well we understood each other. The result was encouraging and it helped us to see what aspects we needed to improve on.

the questionnaires

    Nicola bought me a book called How to Survive Being Married to a Catholic and I finished in 3 days. It’s a very good book and it answered a lot of my questions, but at the same time raised quite a few, too. Every time a new question came up I’d go to talk to Ben and it always ended up in a lengthy discussion. I think we both enjoyed this experience and Ben said he’d like to read it as well after all his exams are finished this week.

How to Survive Being Married to a Catholic

    I think it’s important for me to openly state my religious belief at this point. Although Ben and I have discussed and discussed (or rather, argued and argued) about it many times, it is still necessary for me to record it now; so in the future when I (or our children) look back, we can see the wonderful changes that took place in me.

    My father is a Chinese Communist Party member (they must be atheist), and my mother believes in Buddha. My grandmother (my father’s mother) has been a devoted Christian for over 50 years. I was born into such a religiously mixed family background so my views toward religion were quite messed up.

my religious upbringing

    My grandmother used to read me Bible stories when I was little, and she took me to her church once, but I didn’t enjoy it at all. I was only 6 or 7 then. It was a cold and rainy day and the priest kept weeping when preaching; so did the audience. It was like attending a funeral and I found that so scary that I cried out loud too, and refused to go with her ever again. My first church experience was cold, wet, sad and scary.

    She never gives up trying to talk me into Christianity though. But the only impression I get from her is if you pray to God, you can go to heaven instead of hell, so “God” has become a scary, pushy and unreasonable being to me and I rebelled against him. On top of that, all the schools I went to in China taught us Marxism and Maoism and I became an atheist like my dad.

    On the other hand, God and the church have always been part of my life. I went to a Catholic school in England and joined the choir (just to get to know more people and practise my English). And the landlady I stayed with for 3 years is also a Christian and I’d go to church with her on Sundays when I had the time. But I never felt I was part of the community and still kept rejecting God’s existence. At that time I was only thinking that if I went to church I could please my grandmother.

my choir days

receiving a “singing medal” from the school’s chaplain

    If I keep going on like this I can write for another 3 pages. Now I’ll write about my basic understanding of Catholicism at this moment, and my stand point and psychological preparation of marrying Benedict Edmond Paul Carter.

1. Catholics are not “above” us; they are ordinary human beings as well, and they make mistakes just like we do. I think this is absolutely crucial for me to understand. Due to the lack of acknowledgement of that, I used to have unreasonable expectations of Ben (like asking him to change a 10-year-old habit and require it a.s.a.p.) and that caused a lot of arguments. I used to lash out on God whenever Ben failed to do what I asked him to do, even doubting the validity of Christianity. That was very wrong of me. Vice versa, if I failed to do something, I’d be very hurt if my parents got the blame too, as I was blaming God; it’s not fair. If we have let each other down, we shouldn’t blame each other but look for the real reason and what we can do for each other to make things better.
2. Although I have no obligation to become a Catholic after getting married, I should still show my full support and cooperation to Ben and in the upbringing of our children (they need to be brought up as Catholics). The book, however, is very “itchy” about that matter. It says that it’s absolutely the Catholic partner’s responsibility in the children’s religious upbringing and the non-Catholic half needn’t carry the burden. To me that sounds wrong. On agreeing to spend the rest of my life with Ben I’m aware what it means and what it’s asking me for. I don’t think a family can be truly harmoniously happy if the parents have significant disparity in religious beliefs but the children are only required to follow one of them. I think the non-religious partner needs to compromise. I will get as much involved as possible in my future family’s Catholic life and I’ll let our children know that even though I may not be one of them yet, I still highly respect God and think very highly of Catholicism. I hope our children can be loyal to God, like their father, and at the same time be respectful to other people’s religions and beliefs (living in China you can’t get away with that, really).
3. Catholics don’t allow divorce and artificial-contraception, let alone abortion. I used to take the “non-divorce” strategy as a safety net and think it as a wonderful solution to a happy marriage. But if Ben and I don’t work on our marriage hard enough, it can still end up being a bitter one. As for contraception, I shall not discuss it here because it is a highly personal matter, but I strongly support that idea after learning the reason behind it; and abortion is unbearable to me anyway.

    It’s very difficult for me to write my feelings down all at once so I’ll stop here today. Sorry if I’ve bored you tremendously. Meanwhile I’m very looking forward to the next marriage preparation session and it’s time to start packing my bags, we’re going to China soon!

We’re gonna get married here soon!

More cooking and a gift honeymoon!

Ben: Goodwood is booked! Our venue is finally set and we are now free to move into the next stages of planning. There’s still a lot to do: guest lists need finalisation, entertainment needs arranging, decorations need to be sorted out, and food and drink need sorting (Miki: Ben I think there’re some problems with your priority). On top of all that there will inevitably be a million other details that we still need to get our teeth into; wedding planning isn’t easy (take it easy, there’s still another one waiting for us).

the contract and the envelope

    In other news we were visited on Monday by my Godfather, Father Howard James.

Ben with his Godfather Howard and Godmother Gina

24 years later~

    Miki put a great deal of effort into welcoming him with a fantastic Chinese meal of four different dishes, I helped a bit too (You helped loads!).



the ingredients

preserving the chicken and beef

Dinner Time!

    After dinner Howard told us about his planned wedding gift to us: 5 days in Rome with a guided tour of the Vatican! We are still in shock about this, it is a better honeymoon than I dared to dream of (originally we had planned to put off honeymooning until later on when our finances were better balanced). )Ö(

Rome and Vatican see you at New Year!

    I won’t write about the details of the trip because this blog is not for gloating and a honeymoon is something between a bride and groom, not for sharing with the whole world!

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♥The Flashback Corner♥

I’ve decided from this blog on I’m going to write a little something of our stories: i.e. how we met; how we started going out etc. Let’s start with my first impression of Ben today!

    Ben and I both studied at University of Westminster. His major was Chinese and mine was English. He had a 4-year programme with 1 year in China and I had a 3-year programme. The first time that I saw him (which he didn’t notice) was in the dining hall at uni. He was doing his homework (well I think, at least he was writing/drawing something with a pen) and I was walking by with a friend. Guess how I noticed this boy? Yeah of course because of his hair and the first movement I saw him doing was flipping back his hair. So my first impression of him is gay (please excuse my lack of knowledge of the distinction between hetro- and homosexual people).

Ben has inherited his mother’s beauty