Aha! Yes, thank you Dawn. You are absolutely right. I guess I've been bogged down (blogged down? ha ha) with friends asking me the superficial details about Martijn that it escaped me to tell the really important things about who he is and why I'm in love with him. So here's goes... you know the body, now here's the soul:

First of all, he's an incredibly intelligent and an interesting person. I knew that we were clicking when we'd be at a club or bar in Beijing and all we wanted to do was go home and talk to each other. In fact, my couch is where we spent the majority of his vacation. I can't even think of all the things we discussed -- personal details, politics, religion -- you name it, we talked about it. Now, of course, this is a normal aspect of the beginning of a relationship, but more than that, M is a naturally curious and intellectual person. I think I will always have interesting discussions with him.

He has a fanstastic sense of humor. Okay, so at times, he'll make a stupid joke, but he says it with such confidence (despite how bad it is) that you still have to laugh. Noooo... really. He's a funny guy with a VERY dry wit.

He's adventurous, much like yours truly. He's not afraid to try anything. I appreciate this part of him very very much. It makes me feel as though life will always be new with him.

He's kind. Case in point: I told him that I'd never had a birthday party before (you know, with balloons, cake, my friends, etc etc) Now, he couldn't get my friends over to China for me, but when I arrived home from work one day, he'd decorated my apartment for what he decided was my 33rd b-day. (5 months early) I even had chocolate cake. (not the easiest thing to find in China)

He's strong-minded and self-confident. Though he's kind, he's definately not a pushover. He's not afraid to give his opinions and argue if need be. I respect this.

He's creative, but, luckily for me, also "engineerish" enough to balance out my... well... flightiness. :)

Okay, so I hope this gives you a better sense of why I'm willing to move to be with him. In addition, there's an intangible aspect to this relationship that defies explanation. Pheromones, fate, voodoo? Who knows? I can't put my finger on it, but all I can say is that I haven't felt this way about anyone since I met my ex-husband. I feel happy, in love and safe with this person.

And Two Cents: I don't feel I need to justfiy myself to you. Whoever you are. (but it's obvious from your post that you know me. I don't think I've written here anywhere that I quit my job to go to China, which by the way, is not accurate.)

But go ahead and chuckle. Yes, I'm in love with this man. Very much so. And yes, you're right. I like adventure. I'm not ashamed of that at all. But... if this was all for adventure, I wouldn't be moving to a small, quiet city in the Netherlands and signing up for the relative poverty that I'll be living in for the next year or so. (Sorry, M, I know we won't be poor... it'll just be tight.)