Hmm, I'm in the same boat with Stephen -- he hates filling out forms, and absolutely hates legal stuff!! So I've been left to fill out most all this paperwork. And when I told him about Packet 3, more forms, he said who does that, and I said, they'll be sending it to you ... so you'll be doing it. And his response, can't you do it for me and send them to me? Puhlease .... what do I look like, a secretary Although, I feel a little more at peace filling them out myself, because he is not the details person of the two of us

lol for a second I started to think my second assumption could be that it is all up to the non-us citizens to read about the legal stuff and such but I am happy to read it's not like that xD

But... that does make me wonder if only the ones who read the legal stuff also come here to check things out oh well lol

hey I do not want to be mean or nothing but you have long time from this time on because this CSC is somethingelse I am telling you ..I have been waiting almost 4months after NOA1 but so far nothing ..just got one touched 12-27-2007 that is all ..so be ready at least 4 months for NOA2 and goodluck to everyone ..

- I'm glad we waited to file until January, so that we were able to assemble the package together.

I annoy him by, whenever I visit, making cleaning and tidying his room one of the first things I do. He's usually tried really hard to tidy it before I visit but it's never quite up to standard. Means his mother likes me, though.

Well, Jay did all the paperwork for the original packet and noone was more amazed than me that we didnt get a rfe, lol.

You're not being mean but being realistic. I think most CSC filers are already painfully aware of this, however!

To be honest, I don't expect anything before July.. I hope for an earlier date tho because you never know but I expect it to be more like July.

Thing is, according to the timelines on this site, they are already working halfway in November, this could mean they're speeding up but when I looked at the list provided by the USCIS itself, then I go for July. Also, I don't really think a touch has to mean something, if they just move you from one desk to another you're already touched.. only when it says 'NOA2' then I start to be for myself but until then I am for all those people who have been waiting for it as well and receive it all the sudden ^^

And for the whole thing to go through (meaning to have the visa in our hands), my wifey and I basically think it will be September or October.




And yet, still I am looking a couple of times each day to see if there is any change in our status but oh well.. we will get it when we get it






ps... I don't want to be mean or anything either but there are actually people with CSC who got approved within a month... it just shows that it doesn't say anything at all and that it is just a random thing we're looking at

@serdar: yeah we know we're going to have to wait. that's why we come on this forum to make time go a little faster, and be happy when we see approvals (because every CSC approval makes us a little closer to our own approval!). good luck to you, we hope you'll get yours soon.

@svache, Rachel, Amanda...: Same here too! I've been looking for information, I've been telling him what he had to file. And then after he filled out and printed his documents, I tried to check everything (maybe I'm a control freak after all...). but I'm sure if I hadn't done all this, he would have been the one searching on this website. He doesn't have to do it since I do it.

Maybe gmail is justified in sending those foods and diet ads.


NO! Not July .. CSC is picking up speed now so I am really hoping and praying you guys will start getting approval by mid-April. I'm positive there will be January CSC filer approvals before April ends. I can smell it in the air!

Mid-April would be awesome but you know what they say... expect the worst and it can only be better ^^

hmmm if it is really mid-April, then we could actually have the visa in June or July.. woah

Oh - on the subject of my avatar, someone (NOT me - I can't claim credit) made this comic:



(Click to enlarge)

Now, if only I could eat that much and not gain weight like that girl.

There was Chris, but you wouldn't like his posts anyway.

I was actually going to file all the paperwork in December, but.... Olga left out a couple of key words in the letter of intent due to a pretty bad cut and paste job on the example I sent her. By the time I had received another signed (and complete) letter more than 30 days had passed and well, I found myself with the rest of you January filers. Thank goodness, because this is a great group of people. If I do have to wait a long time for approval, I can't think of a better group to do it with.

Oh yeah, there was ChrisFuture also, a fellow January filer who filed @ CSC january 30.... poor bloke has been waiting 50+days already and he was probably expecting to have the approval in a week... it was just too much for him & his very patient fiancee. BLESS THEIR HEARTS! .

I think we would all like such a fast approval but yeah, the truth is different unfortunately :/

I think we all wish for that!

I have to admit; I went added sugar-free for the whole of February and my skin cleared up considerably (it's not usually too bad, but I went from a couple of spots to none) and I felt a lot less bloated. I think I'll have to make the effort to go added sugar-free permanently. It shouldn't be too difficult as my only real vice is chocolate - but what a vice that is!

Alex often drinks a soda or two a day but he didn't have any yesterday and said he felt less sluggish - so maybe it's a diet change we can make together.

I've already given up dairy and wheat (well, except when friends offer me lasagne) as milk and cheese give me a bad taste in the mouth and pasta bloats me horribly, but as I prefer soya and rice alternatives anyway this hasn't been too hard to do.



I whole-heartedly agree!

We were originally going to send out the package last September/October but for various reasons delayed it until January - it's all turned out for the best, though.

Exactly ... I haven't eaten a lot of sweet stuff since the beginning of the year ... I've seen differences because of that.

But no, yesterday he stops by a sweets bakery on his way home from work and picks up some EVIL stuff, and puts it in the cupboard. I go out to the kitchen to make a cup of tea and like what is that. So I ask him, and he's like, oh, I bought one of those for you So I had half of it this morning with a cup of coffee (it's a marzipan sweet - with a dense cake/bread outside -- had like a 1 inch thick layer of marzipan). Anyhow, yes, it was to die for, but wow, it sent me crashing ... I got completely tired after eating it!!! Complete proof that sugar doesn't always give you a high!!! Won't be eating that again .....

Or who knows, maybe it's clicking on me that I fly back home in 2 days hard to say at this point!!!!

That reminds me of when I was visiting Alex over Christmas - his parents usually eat very healthily; grilled lean meat and salad, so all of the chocolates and sweets his mother received she was passing over to me. 'If you don't eat these, Rachel, I'll have to throw them out.' Well, I do so hate to see food go to waste!

And it's always sad to leave. Always ruins the last week of the trip for me - we're just counting down by that point. Hopefully for you, me and everyone else here, this separation is our last!

So, yesterday I vacuumed the office and wiped down my desk and cleaned my keyboard - what to do today?! Maybe I'll finally update my website. I'm not quite sure with what, though. I have so many websites; gimmick sites, social networking sites and a journal that I rarely have anything with which to update my main, official site about.

LOL ... well I cleaned up the house before I left, so should still be in one piece!! So when I get home Sunday afternoon I can just unpack and chill.

So tell me, do you know if the time change happens this weekend in Europe? I thought I had read that somewhere, but can't seem to find it again. Just don't want to miss my flight Sunday morning because we forget to adjust the clocks ...

And you know, I have to wonder .... why on earth do they have different chocolate bars here (in Germany) and the UK by Nestle ... that just kills me. So love the mint Aero bar in the UK, nope, can't find it in the US (good thing though, because I don't need them) and then here, some bar called a Lion Bar ... yumm ... good thing can't get those over there either ...

But I can have an Aero bar in 3 weeks, haha .. have to goto Brentford, UK for 1 week on business. And might just come back over here since his interview might be end of April or beginning of May ... (if we are lucky)

yep, saturday on sunday... we'll miss 2am as it magically will go to 3am lol

gawd im so glad i wont have that either anymore once im moved

The clocks go forward this weekend, yes.

I don't understand the different varieties available in different places either. It's like how Heinz and Mars, although both American food companies, offer a larger selection of goods (including some better products, too!) in the UK.

Yep, I knew it, I'm going to lose 1 hour of my life this weekend!!! Like permanently. We had our time change in the US the first weekend in March, so I lost 1 hour there. Then I lost 5 hours in the time change flying here. So that's 6 hours lost, then add in the European time change this weekend, and I lose 1 more hour. So total loss of 7 hours, and I'll only gain back 6 flying home!! It's like the twilight zone hee hee! Only way to get it back is to come back in the fall when Europe changes time, lol!

Yeah, I have to admit, the options that some of the US companies provide in Europe are better than what we get in the states. And you'd think, with all the nationalities in the states, they'd have them there too. You'd be surprised though, US & UK Heinz Catsup are practically identical. German Heinz Catsup, doesn't even taste like Heinz ... it's got barely any spices to it! There is always World Market in the US to get some other country foods, but it's barely a dent in what is really available in European countries!

I know im gonna miss heinz salad cream cant get that anywhere in the states.

When Alex came to visit I sent him home with a bag stuffed full of British foods - mince pies, a Christmas pudding, chocolate digestives, tea, etc. - and a big bottle of Heinz salad cream.

Unfortunately I packed it in his hand luggage without thinking - of course it counts as a liquid. It was confiscated at the airport - big, unopened bottle of salad cream.

Oh well. I managed to bring some through with me when I visited the next year. I just made sure to pack it in my hold luggage this time!

I'm going to miss condensed milk and golden syrup - or am I? They're key ingredients in the most delicious recipes (i.e. chocolate caramel shortbread) but I suppose I may have a better diet this way.

Im sure i saw tate and lyle golden syrup there.

I know you can get condensed milk and golden syrup here.. they use alot in St Lucia (lots of British products there) and I have seen in my local grocery stores... We have some good stores here in Maine. I am sure you can find things.
:-)

Now for me I would love to find some good salt fish and breadfruit! LOL

You did? Awesome if so! I've never known any Americans to have even heard of it, but it's probably stocked in some specialist stores.

Oh my what it is that lol

I'm intrigued as to what breadfruit is!

Saltfish is just that - Salty Fish!! Most people don't like (here in states anyway) But I grew to love it!
Breadfruit is a big round starchy veggie... I loved that too.
I guess I dont really need either in my diet!! LOL

Just wikipedia'd it - never heard of or seen breadfruit before! Mm, they sound really tasty.

Thanks for explaining Irie.

Breadfruit looks good! I wonder what it tastes like.

I'm going to miss French bread
And also the chocolate doesn't look as good in the US. But French bread is going to be the worst part

Breadfruit is like white potato - sort of. Not a fruit at all. :-)

You can find good chocolate at specialty places.. I love dark chocolate. Chocoholic!

Mawnin Irie I got the NOA2....Breadfruit with ackee and saltfish is DELICIOUS. You can boil, fry or roast the breadfruit

Oh I am so happy for you!!! I was thinking about you and wondering if you got it!!!! Yeah! Celebrating this weekend I am sure!! Wahoo!!

You've heard of Captain Bligh and the mutiney on the bounty and all that? Well he was on a mission to get breadfruit and bring it back to England at the time. Unfortunately he never quite made it back and the breadfruit was all thrown overboard - that's how close you came to being intimately aware of breadfruit.

Please, you expect English schools to teach English history?

Actually I have heard of it, but was unaware that breadfruit were involved!

Well in the bigger cities in the US you can find good french bread ... when I used to live in Chicago, it was staple. But moving to North Carolina, I've only found one smaller chain market that makes decent french bread ... anyhow, the point being, you can find it, just have to hunt it down!!!

As for the chocolate, I must agree ... after having been in the UK many times for business and now Germany -- the "sweets" and chocolate are way better over here -- so maybe it's a good thing he's coming to the US ... I don't need all the options in that department, at least not available to me on a daily basis!!!!!

But you know what I would die for in the US ... some Cornish Pasties .... everytime I am in the UK, have to get that

And Irie is right ... you can find decent chocolate in the states, just have to go to a specialty store, or high-end store. World Market has some of the common European chocolates, and some upscale. There is also a smaller market chain "The Fresh Market" they have European chocolates and sweets year round.

That's who I was referring to.

Blessed Sunday everyone... I hope this week will bring more good news for both the VSC and CSC filers.

I hope it does too!

Good Monday morning, everyone. The UK is finally starting to see some sunshine! I actually feel optimistic for the week!

Good morning Rachael, yes feels like spring.

Doesn't feel like spring in France though. It was raining all day yesterday, and today the sky is grey. And it's cold.
But that's not too bad, at least there isn't any storm (I'm trying to be in an optimistic mood today )

I hope everyone had a good weekend!

I often wonder with leaving this British weather how long it will take me to get used to the Southern Sun, and the humidity,

The humidity will be the killer.

Dry heat is fine, I find. Just remember the sunscreen (I didn't think I was that pale until I visited California and the strong sunshine turned me ghostly white in photos) and stay indoors during the hottest part of the day.

America's generally much better with having air-conditioning.

Sorry, Cecile! Our weather was awful last week so we must've pushed it on down to France.

Ah as long as it doesn't have the same humidity as we sometimes have here in my country, I am all fine (plus, sometimes it actually gets over 100F over here, where I'm going 90's is the highest they see ).

Anyways, yah, we have some sun as well over here at the moment but as the clock was changed this weekend, I feel like $&$# bleh... Seriously had not enough sleep (that and I seriously don't like my company lol, I so wish it was weekend again lol)

It just struck me that you'll get to divide your lives between The Netherlands and Hawaii - sounds like an idyllic combination to me! Actually I suppose that we are all very lucky - few others get such a combination of cultures as are found on VJ.

I've had about four hours sleep. I haven't looked in the mirror yet but assume I look terrible.

Lol yeah to the time change.

I went to see Jay in July one year and omg it was so hot like 120 degrees, im gonna go into hibernation. ha ha. Im sure we can find something to do in the air conditioning lol.