Mr. Borkström

I got my green card in the mail yesterday, so this will most likely be the last NVC filers monthly thread I'll post in (i will continue to post in different forums).

I want to thank everyone here for your help and support, especially Saylin. You guys rock!

lol Thanks. Root beer... what's not to like? I also like ginger ale btw.

My wife prefers A&W root beer. Of the three or so different brands I've tried, A&W is definitely the best.

God I hate insomnia. I couldn't sleep Sunday to Monday, couldn't sleep last night, and now this ####### again. I've been up for almost two hours. For most of the time I've been here (got here December 23) something's been off. Cold, bad back, insomnia... I love it here, but this s**t with something being off is getting old.

So, it is 4:50 am Danish time, my husband gets up for work in 40 minutes and I have yet to make his lunch. This is no good.

For the first time ever he saw Mountain Dew in the stores here and purchased it...I drank two of them and I think that might be why I am not sleeping yet. I normally have like a coke and 10 cups of tea a day, so I don't get it.

Mountain dew is crack! I actually havent had any yet (only last time I was here in Pittsburgh in 2010) but I will cave sooner or later. I also dig root beer. We have a type of chewing gum in Sweden called Jenka - root beer tastes like liquid Jenka.

Furthermore I like cherry 7up. And I don't even like cherries. Soda (or pop as pittsburghers call it) is definitively my biggest vice.

Yah your smart phone just "P"ed at me.

I know. My fat fingers aren't used to the touch screen.

I'm very insistent on the fact that the midwest has no accent.

If they did, then the majority of movies wouldn't be made in that accent and celebrities wouldn't take classes to speak with it.

I am from the midwest, but I have a weird accent compared to everyone I grew up around/with.

I just elongate certain vowels for no reason at all.

I'm aware of it, and I realize I have a weird accent.

I think I have an accent.

Ok maybe I should have said dialect or better yet variation. BBC English is a variation of English. General American English is a variation if English. At least that's how I see it. Even a standard is, in a way, a variation of a language.

Ugh. I need to stop making posts when I'm on my "smart" phone. Lol

Everyone speaks with an accent.

didn't know the difference between a top sheet and a fitted sheet

What is the difference? I'm sure it's just one of the million things I am uncertain of, despite my being fairly proficient in this here English what'chu-ma-call-it... language... But I really don't know what the difference is between those two thingamajigs you mentioned.

Uggghhh, my husband does the same thing but in both Danish and English. Every time we talk, I have to be like "shhhhh inside voice". It does get a little louder in Danish, but they are just loud all the time. I get such a headache whenever I'm sitting close to Danes talking.

You should have married a Swede instead, we are a lot more sophistimacated.

Don't worry Izola, that's something this place is good for in my humble opinion; venting. That sounds like a messed up situation. I'd be annoyed too.

And no, no green card yet.

I just called USCIS for the first time in my life. Eh. I am annoyed because the embassy spelled my wife's name wrong at some point. Today I got two notices of action (basically saying the production of my green card has been ordered) and my wife's name is still spelled wrong. I don't know why. She sent in copies of her birth certificate and passport when we started this whole process.

I first talked to one person but he couldn't do nothing to change it, so I got transferred. A woman got my info and said someone will call me back within 48 to 72 hours.

I just called USCIS for the first time in my life. Eh. I am annoyed because the embassy spelled my wife's name wrong at some point. Today I got two notices of action (basically saying the production of my green card has been ordered) and my wife's name is still spelled wrong. I don't know why. She sent in copies of her birth certificate and passport when we started this whole process.

I first talked to one person but he couldn't do nothing to change it, so I got transferred. A woman got my info and said someone will call me back within 48 to 72 hours.

I get where you're coming from with trying to explain that you don't have to be rich to travel to Germany hahaha. You have no idea what a genius many Americans think I am that I can speak, read and understand English, two forms of Norwegian, Swedish and Danish!

You understand Danish? You ARE a genius!

my neighbors are quiet.. their dogs or not

One of our three cats is absolutely insane. It's the coldest day of the year so far (5 degrees F this morning), and he thinks he's on American Idol, singing his lungs out, wanting to go outside. My wife says they gotta stay inside when it's this cold. So sorry Shorty, I know what you're trying to do there, but I'm not falling for it (that is to say he's probably singing so much cause he thinks he can trick me into tossing his furry a@@ out in the snow - ain't happenin' bro!). He may be driving me nuts, but I am NOT falling for it.

2) Thinks im weird for putting ketchup on my bacon/sausage rolls or sandwiches. Is this not the primary reason ketchup was invented?

It was invented so people could put it on pasta with meat sauce. Duh!

12) After spending xmas with my family in England, we went back to Wales and went food shopping as i mentioned I wanted to buy some stuff for sandwiches. In the shop he was mumbling a few things about the bicket we were going to buy. I was like the what? He said you know the bickway you wanna get. I finally asked him to point out what it was he was trying to say. It was a BAGUETTE. Aww well done babe

lol That is hilarous.

9.5 years now and I still haven't sold him on peanut butter and chocolate.

My wife got me hooked on those Reese's Cups.

Unforgiven. Hadn't seen it on about a million years.

Tomorrow I will have been here four weeks. Half that time I've suffered from back pains. The livingroom couch is too soft. One time I fell asleep, watching tv when my wife was at work. Thursday last week I sat on it, and it messed up my back again.

I've learned my lesson. I'll be using the armchair in the future.

I actually plucked up the courage to walk along the main roads (no sidewalks of course) to reach the County Library (a distance of two miles each way from the house) which I was desperate to join for books and dvds etc. It was scary, I have to admit, on some of the roads and I did get some funny looks from motorists as I stumbled along the lawns belonging to the 'posh people' which was the only place to walk at times but I did it and actually managed to reach the library and actually join! I had a bad moment coming back when I attempted to walk through a drive-in ATM to draw out some money (the only ATM I could find). I felt such an idiot frantically trying to work out which way to put the card in etc whilst looking anxiously round for cars! The 4 mile round trip was nothing compared to what I was used to walking in the UK, but people just do not expect pedestrians and seem to head straight for you and swerve at the last minute which is a bit disconcerting. Anyway, I got back to the house (note I don't say 'home') to find my sister in law had posted this video on my facebook page. I laughed and laughed my head off and so I would like to share it with my VJ friends in the hope that it cheers anyone up who feels a bit down at the moment. The humour is very 'British' so I apologise to those who find it completely incomprehensible!

Good job True Brit! Keep at it!

My wife's 12yo daughter gave me a look when we were at a mall and I was getting cash from an ATM and put the card in but didn't take it out again right away (in Sweden your card is in the machine until you're done with your transactions and then the machine spits the card out again right before you get your money). She looked at me like I was from a different planet or something. I think she asked my wife "Mom, do they have ATM's in Sweden?" LOL

PS. The video is hilarous!

I brought two Swedish keyboards for my Mac. My wife is getting a laptop when she gets her income tax back. At that time I'll set up my Mac where she has her PC now. I write on a blog for people back home to read so they can keep up to what I'm doing, but I can live with typing without the umlauts for the time being. I will be very happy once I get "back to normal" though.

My wife gave me her old smart phone and bought a new one for herself and added me to her plan. She set "my" phone up so I can use both an American and a Swedish keyboard on it.

I watched Pa Sparet (man I can;t wait to set up my own computer so I can start typing like a normal, civilized person again - sure miss all the umlauts) on my smart phone. I downloaded an SVT Play app. I could not watch An Idiot Abroad though, I'm thinking that's probably because SVT's own programs, like Pa Sparet, they can broadcast anywhere cause they own the copyrights) but An Idiot Abroad is, I think, a BBC program, so SVT can't broadcast it in other places than Sweden/Scandinavia. I have heard of a channel called SVT World or something, but I haven't checked it out.

Ooh awesome. Thank you so much for the information.

Considering how much you've helped, half ye green card probably belongs to you.

We're here!!! YAY!! I guess I don't need to mention to anyone here that the flight was way too long. It took me about 45 minutes to get through immigration. All they asked was how long we've been married and then why we hadnt moved here sooner. Since he spent 20 minutes looking through my paperwork before calling me up you'd think he had noticed that I had a greencard previously, but oh well.

It's 21 degrees celsius and sunny. I'm happy Second interview or whatever it is coming up tomorrow morning, so time to get nervous about that!

Nice. Fingers crossed for you for your interview.

The green card can take up to a few months to receive. It depends on how fast the POE sent your package to USCIS and it depends how big of a backlog USCIS has to process your papers.

There was no question about it on the forms, you of course get the green card automatically. What you're thinking of is the SSN. And if you did check off yes, it's still a hit and miss. If you did check yes, and it's been more than 3 weeks since POE, it's suggested at that point to go to a local SSA office and apply in person. That's what I had to do and I then got my SSN in the mail 10 days later.

No need to get into touch with anyone about your green card. They'll just tell you it can take a few months to receive. Plus, the visa in your passport and the stamp you received at POE acts as a temporary green card for up to one year. So there's 0 reason to worry at all about the green card, unless you're at like month 11 of waiting.

I see. Thank you sensei.

I did get my SSN# in the mail like a week or so after I got here.

Oh I see. I did get my ssn # though.

Thank you for your input and your quick reply. I appreciate it.

Question: I arrived on December 23. Still no green card. I am fairly sure I checked the box that asked if I automatically wanted to have a green card made, or whatever the form said.

Who can I get in touch with to find out about the green card. I live in Pittsburgh, PA. Is there an office I can go to, or do I e-mail/call someone?