A note on Why

When we came to China, we only expected to be here for a month and then head back to the states. I think our coming to China at all for a honeymoon confuses most people, and completly baffles people as to why we have stayed so long. I realize China isn't on the top 10 list of honeymoon retreats in the "Honeymoon Fantasy" section, but it fit us just perfectly.
When Andy and I first met, he asked me to come to China with him, and I had every intention to do so. Unfortunatlly, circumstances prevented that, and we didn't see each other for a year; Andy in China and myself back in ole USA. Fortunatlely, when he returned, we found that nothing had changed; we still loved each other and upon seeing each other again, couldn't resign to being without each other again. Two years later we were married.
China was an obvious choice for us. There was so much we missed in that time, and now we had a chance to fill it.
Moreover, we had business out here and our client offered to pay for the ticket and expenses. We just pulled a wedding out of our ass and were pretty strapped for cash. A free honeymoon? Who can say no?
The honeymoon was not what one would expect. With Andy injured, we weren't able to go everywhere we planned, but we made the best of it. Mostly, we were dragged from Karaoke bar to bar, drinking, singing, dancing (or limping) and gombai-ing with the locals. Wayne, Andy's father, had us staying at his extra apartment in a western style apartment complex at the edge of town which had it's own tennis court, pool and snooker room, workout room, and my personal favorite; a local massage shop where you can get a full body massage for about $5 an hour US. In not much time, we befriended the local foreigners at "Friends Bar" of whose name is almost too appropriate. We'd stay at the bar until 6 in the morning, playing dice and reign of fire until none of us could stand.
Near the end of the honeymoon, Andy and I kept catching each other's eye whenever returning to America came up. I think we were both trying to gage each other's prefference. China was a nice break. It's cheap, easy going and we found that we suddenly had so much time on our hands...free time. No day job...no unbarrable meat market to serve drinks to people so intent on grabbing my ass that I was constantly prepared to twist the arm, kick the knee or crack the jaw of any over confident asshole. No one whistled at me here, none of the men leaned out their windows waggling their tongues at me when they passed by, no one tried to pull me into their car and no one slapped my ass. It took me a while to recognize it was missing, but I was more than happy to see that asspect of my life fade away.
The bar wanted me to sing, and we were meeting a lot of people we might be able to work with.
When it came down to it, it was an easy question to answer. Yes, we wanted to stay. We were both tired of the States. We had been dragged through the mud, pulled up by our bootstraps and thrown against the concrete time and time again, and it was time for a break. We could make it work out here and we could actually enjoy life for a while.
It's foreign, it's strange and not a lot of people understand the lure, but we like it here. We're free here to do what we do best, to do what we love.
We've met with directors and producers, engineers, scientists, singers, musicians and good friends. I'm currently being quote on quote, packaged, for my singing, acting and painting debues in China, Andy is designing the official mascots of the Olympics out here, and we're looking at making a whole lot more movies.
LIke anywhere in the world; life is life. People lie, cheat, steal and hurt. Life goes up and down. Sometimes you question the validity of the human soul when meeting people, and sometimes you bask in everything life can give. It's life, but here we feel just a little more free; like we have a little more room to spread our wings.

I miss my family and friends, but what I'm doing out here has nothing to do with CHina and everything to do with our life. I think it's a great start really. After we got married, we were able to tear away everything but ourselves and see where we're going, and know that it's a strong and very real path, because we made it with our own hands and with open clear eyes.