Have we mentioned that we are in crunch-mode? And yes, today is Christmas! The past 2 months we have been researching, marketing and preparing our business plan & application as we gear up to open our Ice Cream Parlor in our beloved city. These months have been quite busy with numerous details - countless trips across town, insurmountable phone calls with officials/businesses/consultants/friends, brainstorming sessions, recipe experimentation, price comparisons, overall cost-estimates, etc etc....and 2 weeks ago (Dec 11) we handed in our first draft of our Business Application to be translated in to Chinese! After a few edits - it was turned in for the first Official step (Dec 20) to have the name of our Shop approved. This was a very stressful day, but overall - we got the "stamp of approval." In the process, we were asked to change the name, but it was minor Chinese semantics. Last night (Christmas Eve) we made another trip to our Consultant/Liason's office to sign a few papers. She is working on the 25th, and will be turning in our updated application for its next step in the process - clearance with the Project Approval office. Each step is obviously crucial in the overall process, and we are hoping for smooth sailing at each office. We have a 
wonderful Liason, who has really streamlined the procedure. The main reason for the time crunch, is that we need to get approved by January 12th....so we can change our Visa's out of country. In the meantime we are searching for the perfect Location (also crucial to success)! We'd love to be centrally located, highly visible, and near lots of foot traffic - maybe schools, restaurants, hotels, and bus routes. By the way - we chose a name!! It will be translated into 3 languages!
In English = Ice Mountain Creamery
In Chinese = Xinjiang Bingshan Bingqilin Youxian Gongsi 新疆冰山冰淇淋有限公司
In Uyghur = Muztagh Marujna Shirkiti
We chose this name (Muztagh) because it is a famous Mountain in this area of China. The mountain is over 24,000 feet tall and is known for its beautiful glaciers & ice-capped peaks. We hope our Ice Cream will be associated with its clean, clear, fresh glacial ice. Here is a picture of our glorious namesake....
So yes, we are amazed that the process is coming along, and we hope the TIMING continues to be on target!