Dogwood_Poet

Thanks for the condolences and the information. Yes, they kept papa in the house, Kathlene even showed him to me on chat. I remember my grandmother telling me about keeping the body at home back in the day.

No problem about the meals, but was just wanting to know more about the traditions.

Just a quick question about funeral traditions in the Philippines, my wife lives in Northern Mindanao and her father just passed away with lung cancer. She was able to get there before he passed and they were able to visit a few days. (I think he was just waiting for her to get home) They had the funeral last Sunday and I had a couple of questions.

Of course they had to have a lot of food for everyone coming by to see papa while he was in state. (different from where I am from in rural Kentucky where everyone brings food for the family)

Kathlene said they are supposed to have a meal 9 or 10 days after the funeral and again 40 days after. I did not ask her a lot about it because she is still upset about the loss of her papa, so I thought I would ask here about the traditions.

Honestly, I think the respect and traditions they have in the Philippines are great and I like the respect they show for the dead.

They seem to be getting more stingy with the codes. I try to use PayPal and I got a debit card to send to my wife's family.

I am still mad at Xoom since they raised the minimum to $50, Sometimes the just need a small amount.

I usually get an email every month with a code, but I haven't this month.

Just go to the first appointment date and take all three letters just to be sure. There should be no problem as the whole process takes about 10 minutes.

I just submitted copies of my paychecks with no stubs and they accepted them fine.

The only thing I did was to black out the routing & bank account numbers on the copies so you could not read all the numbers just to protect my employer's accounts.

Your employer may be able to give you a printout of your checks in a report form, but I think the copies will be fine.

My wife is from Northern Mindanao (close to Cagayan de Oro City) and I have always felt safe there. It is several hours away from the southern section where most of the problems from the MILF and other groups occur. Again, be safe and keep aware of your surroundings at all times. Honestly I feel safer there then in some areas of many US cities!

Plus the fact I have several of her five brothers with me most everywhere we go as a 'posse' LOL!

I think even if the initial results look negative, you will still have to wait the full 2 months to be sure. TB grows very slowly and they will want to be sure it is not present.

Just remember, the clock will start ticking once you have your medical. Your visa will expire six months from the date of the exam, not the date of the interview. If you have delays you may even have to re-do the exam.

Are your parents coming to visit or do they have a visa? If they are immigrating to the US they will have to have the seminar. Luckily, it only takes a few hours and you can usually get in without any problems.

They have offices in Cebu & Mania

When you take a job, they tell you the pay and the work expected.

I was talking about take-out only places where that is their only business.

I do tip, I just feel it is not my job to pay someone else's employees, that is why they charge me for the food.

Raise the prices and PAY YOUR EMPLOYEES ! ! !

I still believe servers should be paid a good wage by their employer, if they are salesmen, let the restaurant pay them a commission on their sales, NOT the customer.

I have seen servers slight me because I was dining alone to take care of a large group because they feel they will get a bigger tip out of the group.

Tipping is getting out-of-hand. Tip jars are appearing everywhere, even in take-out only places where all they do is ring up your order and hand you a sack!

And let's not even talk about buffets where they don't even bring you silverware any more, just clear tables and refill drinks.

I want my server to be paid a good wage and let the EMPLOYER pay his employees!

And yes I expect to pay more for my food, but it would be worth it for a tip to return to being a REWARD, not something expected to help pay their salary.

I also know this has as much hope as a snowball in . . .

When you receive your visa it will probably expire 6 months from the date of your exam. My wife had to wait on a sputum test, so she only had about 3 months left when she got her visa.

Unlucky 13. The number 13 -- and Friday the 13th -- are considered unfortunate in many places, and the reasons go back to the Bible. Remember, Jesus had 13 disciples until one of them -- Judas -- betrayed him.

Jesus had 12 disciples, after Judas died, they selected Matthias to replace him in the 12

Don't worry, I am sure you will be fine!

Just remember they will take two months off your visa since you have had to wait for the test results.

My wife's visa expired six months from the first exam date.

I work in retail (musical instrument sales and instruction) and we definitely have not seen any great recovery in our part of the US. I have noticed whenever gasoline goes up the dollar goes down vs. peso. I think disposable income in the US is at an all-time low, at least compared to the past several decades.

OH, I miss the good ole days of 50+ PHP to the dollar!

I wish the Philippines economy was going up enough to explain the change in rates, but I just can't believe it.

A friend of my wife and me has to go to Louisville, KY for ROC interview Tuesday. Since she will be in a larger city (we live in Paducah, in the western end of KY) she wanted to find a good store so she can go shopping and pick up some groceries while she is there.

She is nervous about her interview, so she thought some shopping would help her take her mind off the interview.

There are no asian stores in Paducah and the closest is an hour's drive away.

I was hoping some of our Kentucky pinoy friends could give us some advice!

Dress codes are a part of life,and have been proven legal in court.

The hair will grow back, and he can grow it all summer.

"The show was without any major gaffes, except for Miss Philippines' answer when asked what her biggest mistake in life was and how she fixed it.

"In my 22 years of existence, I can say there is nothing major," Venus Raj said.

Before the pageant, Raj was rated among the top contestants in an online poll on the pageant's website. She finished in fifth place."

AP Article

Gee, 22 years old and never had to solve a world crisis?

I didn't watch, so maybe something was lost in the translation.

She will have to have the K1 to enter the US, so they will see it in her passport if she travels and most likely make her take the CFO, so go ahead and get it done, it is not too big a deal, just be sure to have all her papers together when she goes.

Not necessarily certified, but at least delivery confirmation so you can prove they got it if it is a question at a later date. I would use a flat rate Priority mail envelope with delivery confirmation, that way you could track online.

My wife (Filipina) commented to me (USC) the other day: "Why can't Americans spell?" She is taking a class at the local community college and noticed the number of mistakes on some of the other student's papers.

I think a lot of it is the status of our education system. I know a lot of immigrants who's English is better than many of my friends.

As for bringing family into the US, as long as they are willing to go through the proper procedures, GO FOR IT!

I think the government should change their 'amnesty' laws, for every person given amnesty, a legal immigrant (or their petitioner) should be reimbursed IN FULL for all fees and expenses related to their visa.

My wife and I also spent the 5 hours between landing at midnight and flying to Cagayan de Oro the next morning. No problems, we just kept everything on a cart close to us all the time. I didn't sleep much, so I was able to keep an eye on everything.

(Plus I kept the strap from the top bag wrapped around my arm so I could tell if someone tried to move anything.)

Thanks everyone for the clarification! My wife and I got married in the Philippines, so I wasn't sure what to tell my friend since he is already in the US.

I will let him know and he can get the paperwork started.

How can he file I-130 and be in another country? I'm sorry , could you explain more detailed.

Sorry!

What I meant is he came on a J-1 visa, while he was working he met and married his wife, so they are both living in the US now.

What is confusing us is the fact a I-130 is a spousal visa with interview in the petitioner's home country. So we thought that would require him to return home for an interview. He said he answered most of the same questions on the J-1.