Interview scheduled for Wednesday... Very nervous!

[duraaraa 203]

Dude, c'mon you guys are fine! Be calm and don't let her sense your anxiety. Time for the poker face!

The consular staffers are not there to try and trip her up with off the wall questions. From what you have said you have submitted, they will already pretty well have their decision made and will ask a few things to confirm what they have seen in your documents and photos.

I have been on VJ for a couple of years now and compared to what I have read about other places, Ulaanbaatar is one of the more sensible consular posts.

Bayaraa and I have actually had the opportunity to meet and chat with Ambassador Addleton who was quite engaging and interested in our backgrounds.

Anyway, don't sweat, worry is an abuse of the imagination.

MBT

Your comment is very much appreciated. I hope it goes as smoothly as you describe!

[SteveKarlaMayer 21]

God be with her on her interview!

[TBoneTX 43,059]

Ulaanbaatar is one of the more sensible consular posts.

This observation would give ME confidence that all will be fair. Good luck, si man.

[duraaraa 203]

A little less than 8 hours until the interview. I slept better than I thought I would last night. Somehow, I found peace.

Ironically, my fiancee, who is usually cool, calm, and collected, was rather nervous when I tried to prepare her for the interview -- her Mongolian started to sound somewhat like mine

To be honest, I think she will do okay, and I think we will get it.

[Possiblymaybe 371]

So exciting!!! Please update us when the interview is behind you!

[Anna Grant 169]

I have seen many people posting about their forthcoming interviews but never I have I been rooting for someone so much as you and your fiancee. The very best of luck to you.

[duraaraa 203]

Well, an update. We're about 2 and a half hours away from the scheduled time, but she's planning to go to the embassy early. I just got off the phone with her, and we both assured each other it should go well.

I know that she won't get the visa because she wasn't able to get the medical done due to missing vaccination records which she needs another week to get. The embassy knows this too, and told her to come anyway, though.

I'm thinking they will interview her and tell her that it is approved pending submission of the medical exam, provided that my worst nightmare of denial doesn't happen.

Obviously, my heart has been gradually beating faster all day. I can't remember ever having anything so important hinging on one interview... It kind of gives me an idea of how an innocent defendant feels when the jury is about to announce a verdict at a murder trial... if they get it wrong, you're totally screwed.

Anyway, I'm hoping for the best, and hoping that my case can be yet another one where someone was way too nervous and the easy visa issuance is almost anticlimactic. I'll keep updating this thread, and I'm very, very happy for all of the support everyone has been so kind as to show me. I wish that I could buy you all ice cream.

[misterbigtoe 45]

I wish that I could buy you all ice cream.

Better yet, tongue salat from Zaluun restaurant on Baga Toiruu across the street from Petrovis! That was one of our favorites!

Hope your night is anticlimactic!

Edited May 22, 2013 by misterbigtoe

[duraaraa 203]

Better yet, tongue salat from Zaluun restaurant on Baga Toiruu across the street from Petrovis! That was one of our favorites!

Hope your night is anticlimactic!

Haha, now you're just making me nostalgic. I've never been there, but I know exactly where you're talking about. I also might be the only one to realize that you didn't just misspell salad

My favorite place to go out was Namaste in the Flower Hotel. Better Indian food in Mongolia than in Los Angeles... it blew my mind. Dodo pizza was great too, although I think that had opened only recently.

My fiancee was able to cook Mongolian staple foods really well... although I don't think the meat is as gristly here, so it wil be less authentic, I can't wait for her to cook for me again.

Although I really, truly am hoping for an anticlimactic evening, I can't help but start putting on my gladiator gear and filling up my phone card balance, to wage a telephone war with the embassy in case something goes wrong.

An anticlimactic night would be so, so awesome.

Edited May 22, 2013 by duraaraa

[duraaraa 203]

And I'm pretty sure she's in the embassy now. I'll report the results in a couple hours.

[TBoneTX 43,059]

I'm tempted to stay up that late just to hear, dude. Really pullin' for you.

You're right -- be thankful that you're not dealing with a devious hellhole like Guayaquil.

How (and why) did you learn Mongolian? How difficult was it? How (dis)similar is it to other Eastern languages?

[duraaraa 203]

I'm tempted to stay up that late just to hear, dude. Really pullin' for you.

You're right -- be thankful that you're not dealing with a devious hellhole like Guayaquil.

How (and why) did you learn Mongolian? How difficult was it? How (dis)similar is it to other Eastern languages?

To make a long story short, I saw a documentary about Mongolian orphans who lived in manholes during the winter (it gets below -40º there). I was inspired to volunteer, so I started a volunteer organization.

I ended up working not so much with orphans, but with families, especially those with single parents, living on the outskirts of the city in felt tents, who couldn't afford extracurricular activities for their kids. Being around kids who speak Mongolian make it only natural for me to pick it up.

When I met my fiancee, we started spending more and more time together. I went back to the U.S. for three months after I had some trouble with the partner I started the project with, but I found a job in Mongolia, got a new visa, and went back and lived with my fiancee. That was when my Mongolian got really good.

As for what kind of language it is, it's very different from, say, Chinese. It's written in the Russian alphabet and has many Russian loanwords specifically for new technology, but it's a SOV language like Japanese or Korean. So, in Mongolian, one would say "I store-to go" as opposed to "I go to (the) store."

I guess for most people, the pronunciation of the letters Г(g) Л( L ) and Ө(ö) are the hardest. Luckily, I didn't really struggle with it -- foreign languages are my strong suit -- I can speak five.

Edited May 22, 2013 by duraaraa

[TBoneTX 43,059]

That's a great story that I'm not sure I ever heard. I'm even more confident that the visa will be granted.

How many people in Mongolia can speak, read, or understand English? One would imagine that it would be difficult for a gringo to get around, with no knowledge of the language.

The tent is a "yurt," right?

[duraaraa 203]

That's a great story that I'm not sure I ever heard. I'm even more confident that the visa will be granted.

How many people in Mongolia can speak, read, or understand English? One would imagine that it would be difficult for a gringo to get around, with no knowledge of the language.

The tent is a "yurt," right?

Surprisingly, there is an upper class, and they usually have knowledge of English ranging from decent to perfect. It's actually one of the reasons I am a bit worried about my interview -- I think most of the Americans who marry Mongolians marry the Mongolians who can speak English, and who were able to go to private schools and the like to learn it. My fiancee is on the other end of that spectrum -- she was orphaned when she was 3 years old (her father was in his 70s when she was born), but had many older siblings, as well as the communist system, to look after her.

Speaking of the communist system, when it was in effect, there was not a lot of difference in classes in Mongolian. Everyone had work, nobody was super-rich. Since that ended in the early 90s, there is a huge divide between the rich and the poor, and it is what caused the problems which lead me to go and volunteer. It's also a reason I seem like such a commie on the Politics and Religion board

Gringos who go to Mongolia can have a very gringo-friendly experience, for sure. I would say that the experience would not be dissimilar to an eastern European country. The Mongolian upper-class tend to have a very European attitude, as they have described it to me. On the other hand, if a gringo were to get more immersed in the Mongolian language and culture, said gringo could enjoy a very unique and rich cultural experience, especially out in the countryside.

The tent is called a "ger" in Mongolian, but yurt is, I think, a word we took from the Russian word, yurta.

Edited May 22, 2013 by duraaraa

[duraaraa 203]

And now, I wait for the phone to ring. Her interview was scheduled for 17 minutes ago.

It's amazing to have an event which will alter my life's trajectory so drastically, yet I have no say in the matter, being unable to do anything but wait... I just have to leave it up to the consular officer and my fiancee.