This blog lacks in words but makes up with many videos and links to photos. First of all, the photo shown here was taken in Shanghai for use in the wedding license that Elva and I both received. There are many more photos located in my Picasa Web Album.
Marriage License Photo
The following content is a list of videos I took during some key moments of the past 3 weeks. Most were taken in Shanghai and a couple in Beijing. If you don’t watch all of them, be sure to check out the automatic mahjong at Elva’s grandparents home. I’ve played the game a couple times while in China, but table launched the game into a new dimension. Too much fun!
The two videos were the most recent take at wedding #3 in Beijing. The term wedding is used very loosely in China, and in fact these weddings were nothing more than a few friends and family getting together for dinner and sharing gifts and laughs. Wedding #3 was mostly Elva’s step-father’s family and friends. Some of the kindest people I have ever met.
Beijing Wedding #3 (Table 1)
Beijing Wedding #3 (Table 2)
Wedding #2 was located in Shanghai near Jing An Temple. The people here were Elva’s good Shanghai classmates and workmates. The similarities between her friends and my Illinois hometown friends is uncanny. Investors, advertisers, computer programmers, lawyers, etc. were all there to wish us a happy future…
Shanghai – Wedding #2 introduction
The people in attendance at wedding #1 in Shanghai were all of Elva’s mother’s family. They treated me like I have been a part of their family for many years. If you look at my Picasa web photos you’ll see a family photo we all took the day after the wedding dinner. They are all great people…
Shanghai – Wedding #1 Diner Family Introduction (1)
Shanghai – Wedding #1 Diner Family Introduction
Shanghai – Wedding #1 Elva Chatting
The bride and groom are required, by traditional Chinese wedding custom, to give gifts to all the people in attendance at the wedding as well as friends and family who are not able to attend. We spent 3 nights sitting around a table putting together little red boxes and stuffing them with candy and stuff. We’re not finished yet, since wedding #4 is still to come. I’m really not looking forward to folding those things…
Shanghai – Making Wedding Gifts
The next two videos are in Elva’s grandparents home. One is playing mahjong and the other is just sitting around the dinner table eating and having a good time. Her entire family excels in cooking, a skill that we both lack in…
Shanghai – Mahjong Table
Shanghai – Dinner at Grandparents
Some tweaks I added to this blog can be found to the left. Family Locations show on a map where my Elva live and work and a couple other locations. The other link is Google Latitude’s link to my most recent phone location. It seems a bit intrusive, but I’ve grown fond of it.
The next blog will explain the differences between American and Chinese weddings. Since there is still one to go, and it will have a good ol’ southern Buddhist twist, I thought hold off and wee what it’s all about. Elva’s father’s family decided to take a trip from Yunnan to visit us in Beijing for a wedding dinner on the 30th. Some of the younger family members have never been to Beijing, so they’re planning a week long tour around the city. This wedding dinner will include some of my friends from China, most of which are students who are students who traveled to other countries to attend college and they are back in town for the summer. I’m really looking forward to this one.
I’m really trying to get this updated weekly, but It’s very difficult considering everything that has been going on lately. busy, busy, busy…
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