mox, as usual, is speaking a lot of sense

the Loud American Tourist stereotype may be undeserved by most, but by definition, they're the ones who get noticed... I wouldn't say it happens a lot, but I notice it regularly too, specially now living in London - pretty much the same thing you mentioned, mox; loudly making fun of place names, accents, systems, the tube itself, whatever... even things that are less overtly immature and silly can grate sometimes (like the woman waiting in line for Neuschwanstein Castle in southern Germany, who called it 'cute', and who then produced a piece of paper and ticked off the countries she'd been to - each for maybe a day - telling her companion that she'd 'done' France etc )
while I was travelling, whenever I could, I would do a German tour, as opposed to the one done in English, to avoid all the loud silly comments which would invariably come

that said, seeing any of them actually OUTside their country and seeing someone else's is a great thing, because again as mox said, it doesn't seem to happen enough, and many Americans' general knowledge about the rest of the world often seems alarmingly limited

AND I will also add that Aussies abroad can be pretty embarrassing too, specially when they avoid the sights and head straight for the pub - and they're also known to be Loud Talkers sometimes - and I know some English people who are mortified about their fellow countrymen... none of us are perfect


as far as living there, DKM -
pretty much the first thing friends of mine say, after spending time in the States (and I know quite a few who have lived there for a while, whether my cousin's six months - appropriately enough, in Portland - or my friend's year, as well as just those who have holidayed there for a short time), is a compliment about the people; words like 'open, 'friendly', 'generous', 'charming' are pretty common... Americans are very well thought of on those grounds, and I have definitely seen that; I had a lovely time when I visited last year (thus far my only time), and I'd say this is definitely the rule rather than the exception

and as far as standard and cost of living, weather, etc, you're also pretty spot-on, and I wouldn't argue with you at all

however, I'm still pretty reluctant about moving there, and there are loads of reasons why... I moved to London over a year ago, and while it's just recently been ranked as the second most expensive city in the world (and I think deserves it), and obviously doesn't have the temperate climate of many places in the States, there is SO much I love about it... I love the proximity to Europe; I booked a flight to Germany the other day, just for four days, and will spend New Year in Paris, after travelling there on the Eurostar; since living here I've spent weekends in Portugal and Spain, been on a different trip to Germany, spent a week in Provence at a friend's wedding, and so on and so on... SO much to see, and right at your fingertips
and before you counter with 'but there's loads of variation in America too!' - I know, but it's not the same; these are different cultures (some of them ancient); it's just not like moving about within the borders of one place
even within England - even within London - there is SO much that I love; I love old place names, and beautiful old buildings - I often catch a bus, even when a tube would be quicker, just so I can sit and look at everything (sometimes things I've seen a thousand times before, but which I still love); it still gives me a thrill to catch a glimpse of the Tower, or Big Ben, or have to go up to Cambridge on business and walk by the ancient colleges, or whatever... SO much here is just steeped in history

and on a more subtle note - I find that people here in Europe tend to share my sense of humour, and understand my way of expressing myself, far better than people do in the US (or in Australia, for that matter) - it's hard to put the difference into words, but in my experience it comes down to literalness; so many Americans seem to take everything at face value, and not see the levels of subtlety or the dead-pan nature of the comment or the implied joke or whatever... I have seen this over and over again, and there's nothing WRONG with it; it just makes me feel like a foreigner, and like no one's speaking my language

so in the end, while there are things I think I will love about the States, at the moment I'm quite nervous about the change, and still really sad as I go about London and realise how soon I'm going to be leaving all these things I love


whew! sorry; a bit of a novella... will rein myself in a bit better next time, but I was just really interested in the discussion
thank you to anyone who bothered to read this far

---
I have taken Prettiest's advice (after all, she is The Prettiest) and posted a question on the Site-Related Forum just now, as a new topic. Everyone will be able to identify it, and I encourage your participation as you see fit.

T-B.

*simper*

someone else who likes monobrows!!

(and the best criterion for giving good advice is prettiness; glad you recognise that )

wow very well thought out answers. Sunshinegirl don't sweat it. If they catch that, which I highly doubt, it is easy enough to fix.

yes STP I do understand what you are saying. I've dealt with the same issues with my fiancee, she says the same things about Moscow that you say about London. Add on top of that the language barrier and its even worse. She's totally freaked out about leaving and giving up her career when she finally got into management. I hope you don't tell your man too much about how much you will miss where you are leaving because its rather distressing at times to be honest.

Its been 3 days since a CSC NOA2. I hope Tuesday brings the first one of the week!

I do actually talk about it to my fiancé sometimes; it IS difficult, but I think it's healthy, and best to be honest... I always make sure I reassure him that it's not about him, and he knows that
I think we'll be fine

and I moved to London more than THREE years ago; I don't know why I said one

I have posted a reply in the other post. Quick answer is that there was a person at the TSC filing a K1 with a similar date to yours that had put 2005 instead of 2007. This increased the estimate artificially. Generally we have a few hundred timelines per estimation that generate the statistics but since people are not filing at the TSC anymore and since there were only six other timelines that went into your calculation the "errant" timeline date scewed things. I fixed it and it now reads Nov 5th. If you used the CSC you would get a similar date as they are clearly working the same files or at least very close now. Regardless it does appear that you are a bit late since there were six other timelines that filed within a few weeks of you and were all approved in early to mid November.

I am glad you pointed this out as well and I have improved a screen program I use to check for other potential data entry errors in timelines. Generally small errors are filtered out since we throw out outliers and also by the fact that with larger sample sizes (for the CSC we typically have over a hundred or more in the estimate vs. only 6 for yours at the TSC) the effect is minimized as well. This means that possibly like others were saying, the CSC seems to be more stable thant the TSC (since there are only a handful of TSC timelines left in the system used to generate estimates).

Hehe Moxie the thing with the French might not be that they have problems with Americans but they seem to have problems with everybody. I know some French language but just a little bit and wouldn´t dare speaking it yet. Though I can understand some if I try really hard So we were in France and nobody was serving the breakfast in the hotel. There was the sign there to go ask the receptionist. So we went to ask the receptionist and ofcourse I spoke English to her cuz mostly everybody learns English in France (they just like to pretend they don´t understand you or if they understand you they pretend they can´t speak it or I dunno what to think about them). And also you expect people in the hotel to speak English (at least the receptionist! lol). Ofcourse she understood me...but she was rude enough to answer in French. Which got me pretty upset but we just went to do what she told us to do and didn´t say anything. Then I decided that when we wanna check out I speak to her in my native language which is Czech. Maybe we would walk out without paying cuz she wouldn´t understand us lol Anyways she wasn´t there anymore There was some other guy who was nice enough to check us out and spoke English to us. That was dissapointing hehe Well next time I will be faster than them Just wanted to say that sofar about 95% of the French I met were rude like this. Like they think their country is so big that they never cross the border or what? I live in the center of Europe and so I am used to crossing all kinds of borders all the time and people speak various languages everywhere and if we need something we try to use English first cuz it´s expected that most people learn it as a second language or something. Then we might even find out we understand each other while speaking the native languages. Just the French are different with this and I don´t like it. Well maybe I just didn´t go to the right places or I dunno But I certainly didn´t feel welcome there...

Well I don´t think it should be a huge deal...if they notice and have a problem with it, they might send an RFE, but I don´t think they will fix it if he calls them. Well he can always try keep calling maybe they will or they will at least tell him if it´s a problem or not Calm down a little and do something that will put a smile on your face

Exactly! And everything in USA is sooo far away. You need to spend e.g. 6 hours on the road just to go through a desert or something... Wanna go "sightseeing" in L.A.? You better pick just a couple of things then cuz you spend the entire day in the car on the blocked roads, trying to get somewhere, then you get off for a while to see that thing you wanted to see and hop back in the car. I love walking so much here in Europe. We can walk everywhere and when we need to get somewhere we just hop on some public transport cuz the public transport network is so well developed here it gets you there fast no need for taking naps in the car while the traffic is blocked, you have so many things to see everywhere etc. I could keep talking about such a subject for long. On the other hand I think in USA they are more oriented on families and family fun so that´s what I will be interested in too if it´s true. So I guess there are things we will also start liking in USA but will just miss Europe lots...so we will see And it´s not like we are from Canada...we can´t just go across the border to go home visit family and friends ...it will be a longer journey for us so we can´t take it that often And I also agree with the sense of humour. Especially me, when English isn´t my native language and I didn´t grow up in USA I don´t get some of the jokes they start saying cuz it´s about something I have never heard of and it´s sometimes tiring when someone always has to explain what the joke is actually about. So sometimes I have to hear explanation first and then I can laugh. Also sometimes I like using sarcastic or dry English humour which I was told isn´t considered very polite in USA so sometimes it´s like I have to watch my mouth...


On a brighter note...I wanted to share the news I have with you....I have medical tomorrow and the interview in a week so I better get all my stuff ready now

it's a weird thing about the French... I've heard SO many first-hand stories about rudeness and so on, so it's not like I can doubt it, but it's very rarely been my experience... I've been to Paris four times, Lille once, and spent a week and half in Provence (all spread out over a 12 year period), so it's not like I've not spent a bit of time there and been in contact with different people; I just... have generally found nice ones
of course, the time in Provence was with the family of a friend, so you'd expect them to be pretty pleasant

oh, and interview in a WEEK, Marta?!

how very VERY exciting

hope you're still going to hang out in here afterward though

of course

Before I start an international incident , I just want to add that my experience in France wasn't all or even mostly bad. Like Scott & Marta, my bad experiences had mostly to do with staff. The people on the street were for the most part really friendly, and the further I got outside of Paris the nicer people were. I think that's true of any metropolitan area.

My worst "staff" experience ever was in Moscow, at the Sheremetyevo airport. An Aeroflot customer service agent, as she was handing me my boarding pass, literally said to me "do not come back to Russia." To be fair, even Russians are treated this badly by Aeroflot.

Also, congrats on the interview Scott & Marta!! Please let us know how it goes.

'do not come back to Russia' ?!

why on earth - ?

It's a long story, I posted it here.

One clarification to the story, in case my SO ever decides to read these forums: When I said the red-headed Russian woman was the most beautiful woman I've ever seen, what I meant to say is that she was a hag with warts and scales. Warts and scales I say!

[/quote]

I have posted a reply in the other post. Quick answer is that there was a person at the TSC filing a K1 with a similar date to yours that had put 2005 instead of 2007. This increased the estimate artificially. Generally we have a few hundred timelines per estimation that generate the statistics but since people are not filing at the TSC anymore and since there were only six other timelines that went into your calculation the "errant" timeline date scewed things. I fixed it and it now reads Nov 5th. If you used the CSC you would get a similar date as they are clearly working the same files or at least very close now. Regardless it does appear that you are a bit late since there were six other timelines that filed within a few weeks of you and were all approved in early to mid November.

I am glad you pointed this out as well and I have improved a screen program I use to check for other potential data entry errors in timelines. Generally small errors are filtered out since we throw out outliers and also by the fact that with larger sample sizes (for the CSC we typically have over a hundred or more in the estimate vs. only 6 for yours at the TSC) the effect is minimized as well. This means that possibly like others were saying, the CSC seems to be more stable thant the TSC (since there are only a handful of TSC timelines left in the system used to generate estimates).
[/quote]

---
Hooray for the Cap'n!

T-B.

that's one helluva story, moxman

those are the best stories, AFTER they're safely over; you can trot them out over dinner for years

*** DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS E-MAIL ***

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Application Type: I129F , PETITION FOR FIANCE(E)

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IM GOING CRAZY RIGHT NOW!!

another one for CSC!! congrats, JCochranUSA!!

Definitely. I wound up making it through immigration with just a few minutes left until my Visa expired. The immigration lady looked at my Visa, looked up at the clock, smiled and shook her head, stamped the Visa, and waved me through. That's when I was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief and just start laughing about the whole process.

And congrats JCochranUSA!!!!! Nice to finally see a CSC approval!

Wow sent a week after mine, nice! Now I see how those people felt when they got passed by in the approvals process. Oh well, I'm happy for you!

Russians are told not to come back to Russia too?

Thank you I will let u know

Congratulations

YEA!!! Congratulations!! Happy dance time!

I will be joining the happy dance Congrats

Worse. Russians are told to come back immediately. (kidding!)

I have the same NOA1 date!! I hope I am soon!!

Wait until you see people approved who sent it in 1-2 months after yours.. that's even worse.

Congratulations to the approvals... YAY... come on CSC pick up the pace...

Scott and Marta... whooo hoo on the interview next week... almost 6 months (exactly) to the day since you sent in your application ... that gives us all something to strive for <grin>

to all the story tellers... love em...

have a GREAT day folks....
Tracy
:-)

Thank you all! And good luck to all of you with finally being able to be with your loved one(s).

This forum helped me keep my sanity...thank you all.

I'm off to do some more happy dancing:)

Yeah - I think I love this place too much - I have made some great friends here and I don't want to leave them behind - especially when we are all going to have so much to get used to living in the US and with our partners as well as the whole AOS stuff and everything after - we are prolly going to need a support network for a long while yet



Yay! It's official!! That means I can officially expect my NOA2 any day now Gratzies!!!

I see SadEyes just got their NOA2. They were RFE'd in October and it took this long? boy I sure hope I don't get the RFE, that's a ridiculous turn around time.

that's 3 this week.

#259 Naomi and Raymond NOA2 approved 11-08-2007 - waiting for information that NVC has sent paperwork to Manila. Time is getting short and longer by the day. Soon I will receive Gods Gift to me, a treasure without compare. Ray

VJ K1 Petition Completion % Through Dec 1 as of Dec 4, 10:00 PM Eastern US Time
* Includes CSC, NSC & TSC through July. August through November includes CSC & NSC
* Includes only VSC through July. August through November includes VSC & TSC

Can a VSC'er share a story too?

As background for those of you who are not familar with Colombia, it has not exactly been a popular tourist destination and with good reason. They have been involved in a 3 way civil war for over 40 years. Combine that with the extensive drug trade and you've got a country with a lot of problems. Kidnapping foreigners was quite the growth industry for awhile. The US State Department comes right out and says don't go there. And when I was researching my trip I read several travel sites that said whatever you do don't hail a cab on the street in Bogota which is the capital. Apparently the cab drivers sometimes had friends jump in the cab after the unsuspecting rider and then they take the foreigner on a tour of the ATM's in town before roughing him up and leaving him in an alley somewhere.

So... with that as a foundation and not having travelled a lot I was just a little bit nervous about my trip to Colombia to meet Bella for the first time in person.

I get to Colombia without any problem. Bella and the kids are at the airport as planned and we easily made it to the apartment I had rented. On the way to the apartment I noticed lots of murals on sides of buildings of characters from The Toy Story. Well, how dangerous could a neighborhood be if they are fascinated with Buzz and Woody? But just to double check I asked Bella, "Is this apartment in a good neighborhood?"
"Yes, yes, very good!"
"OK. I made it here. This is your country so I am putting myself in your hands."

I was soon having second thoughts about that decision.

First order of business is to go buy groceries so what do we do? Walk up the street and hail a cab. Oh crap. But before I could explain why I thought that was not such a good idea we were in the cab and on the way. Much to my amazement I was not beaten and robbed and we we made it to the grocery store without incident. That is if you don't count the panic attacks and stomach lurches as the taxi sped the wrong way down one way streets and made high speed left hand turns from the far right lane of a 3 lane highways. "Bella. where are the seat belts? The what? The seat belts! Oh, only the driver needs those." Oh crap.

We were in the grocery store for 5 minutes and her son disappears. Poof. Gone. We could not find him anywhere. Bella is starting to panic and I am asking myself, "Why did they kidnap the boy? Why didn't they take me? I'm the American!" About 15 minutes later we found him happily perusing the toy section. After giving him a good scolding we finally finish the shopping.

OK, that crisis is over now lets get back to the apartment before it gets dark. So back to the street to hail another death taxi. Only one problem. Neither one of us could remember the address of the apartment. So we wander around the neighborhood for an hour or so trying to find the stupid place. Meanwhile it gets dark and the going is slow. Why? Because the police on motorcycles are herding men in handcuffs down the street. Uh Bella, I thought you said this was a good neighborhood. "Yes, yes, very good!" Oh crap.

So we continue on our very expensive cab ride looking for the apartment. Suddenly the boy is yelling at the top of his lungs, Buzz! Buzz! Being a HUGE Toy Story fan he recognized one of the Buzz Lightyear murals that was near the apartment and we soon found our way home. I will be forever grateful for Buzz saving my life!

So I think maybe I can finally relax now but nope. Turns out there are no matches for the stove. So Bella mutters something about taking care of the kids and takes off alone down a very dark street. And she does not come back. 5 minutes. 10 minutes. 20 minutes 30 minutes. Oh crap, she is not coming back and how in the world am I going to take care of these two small children!? Was this all part of her plan? I don't have any food, I don't know a soul and I barely speak the language. Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!

Thank goodness she eventually came back with matches in hand. I have never been so glad to see someone in my life.

And after surviving my first day I wound up having a wonderful time. For a moment that night I was tempted to kill her for putting me through such stress but before the week was over I decided to marry her. Funny how the heart works. Doesn't listen to the brain at all!

And by the way, Bogota is a wonderful place. The people are marvelous and I feel as safe there as I do in any city in the US. I have been back 5 times and will go again in a few weeks.

great story, Bill
FAR better than 'well, I was sort of drunk, and she was standing at the end of the bar...' like too many people have

thanks for the stats, too... I would have thought more of July was done

Hmmmm....that's pretty much exactly how I met my gal!


Now now....we won't be prejudiced against people who met on the internet if you won't be prejudiced against people who met out at a bar while having a few....

who's prejudiced? I simply said it doesn't make as good a story, and it doesn't, does it?

thats too funny and Bill I enjoyed your story. I felt the same way my first fiew days in the Philippines. Not as bad but I love it there now

WAHOO!!!!! We got approved on December 4th!!! I am so excited!!!

great news!!! Congrats!!!

Ha! Great story! I definitely know what you mean about being paranoid when your feet hit the ground. I met my SO on a business trip to Russia, although don't tell StillThePrettiest, she still thinks I met her while I was drunk standing at the end of a bar. Everyone warned me about Moscow, and how taxi cab drivers will mug you, take you on the ATM ("bankomat" in Russia) tour, etc. So what happens? I'm running late to catch my connecting flight (you pretty much have to take a cab between the international and domestic terminal), and the cab driver says we'll never make it because traffic is completely jammed up inside the airport. So then he says "don't worry, come with me, we'll take my personal car. I'm parked outside the airport." HUGE alarm bells go off in my head, but there's only one flight to Kazan a day and I needed to be on that flight. So off we go, and he starts leading me through an active construction site. I'm hauling my luggage, and we're dodging backhoes, trenchers, cranes, and hopping over all kinds of construction materials and trenches. We finally get to his car after squeezing through a chain link fence, and sure enough he gets me to the domestic terminal with no problems. Turned out to be one of the nicer guys I met over there. I did wind up missing my flight anyway, but it wasn't because of him.

You just can never tell what the reality of a place is until you get there. I mean, I don't think I need to go to Darfur to believe the stories, but I do think a lot of what we hear and what the State Department puts out is just a little too paranoid. I've talked to another guy who's been to Bogota and said the same thing--nice city, nice people, never felt threatened.

Goog luck to you, hope your approval comes soon!!

Yes, the same viewpoint I have about China !! I feel safer in any major city in China, than I do walking at night in L.A. or S.F. !!!

APPROVED!!!!!!!!!!!

Application Type: I129F , PETITION FOR FIANCE(E)

Current Status: Approval notice sent.

On December 4, 2007, we mailed you a notice that we have approved this
I129F PETITION FOR FIANCE(E). Please follow any instructions on the
notice. If you move before you receive the notice, call customer service.

I am so happy and relieved, I can't even begin to express the emotions!!!! I called Tony and his whole office was yelling and wanting to talk to me. I'm grateful this step is complete..... now to the next leg!

I wish everyone speedy approvals!!!!

Congratulations!!!!

have I trodden on a few toes?

Thanks for sharing Bill...what a great story!

Hello kids so now I am so called officially healthy

Lol - I met my OH online about six years ago and we tried making a go of it then - it didn't work, we both ended up freaking out and didn't have much contact for a while then we met up online again, fell in love again, met up in person this time and never looked back... well... not much anyway

I'm not a writer - Jeremy is much better so if you want the anecdotes and details then you'll have to check out the website!!! Lol

I think I consider 87 and 79% for April and May filers a pretty low number

Gratz on the medical!!!