katya_and_besik

So I had my AOS interview in Garden City location yesterday. The lady-officer was very nice and polite. She asked a lot of questions like

-how long have you been married?

-how long have you lived together before you got married?

-where did you meet?

-where did your wife work when you first met?

-did you have a wedding ceremony? (We didn't have an actual ceremony, but we explained to her that we were definitely planning to have one, later on, maybe when my parents are going to have a chance to come to the US; and she seemed pretty satisfied with the answer)

Questions to my USCIS husband:

do you know what your wife's parents do for living?

where do they live (which city in Russia)?

She asked me for my original birth certificate. I explained that I had a notarized copy+translation (my original birth certificate is in Russia), she looked at it breefly and gave it back.

We had only been married for 6 month, so we do not have a lease agreement or health insurance,

but we brought lots of pictures with my husband's family.

She took the original bank statements, even though I offered her the copies i had brought.

Overall I think the interview went well. The officer said that if they need something else, they will mail us a notice, otherwise I should be getting my 2-year green-card soon.

(FBI NAME CHECK???)

Well, since we're on cat stories.....

My wife had three cats back home where she lived with her mother in a flat on the 10th floor. I'd call her sometimes and she'd tell me about her cats and how they were doing, how they'd play or be lazy or pi$$ on the television set or whatever her mischievious cats would be doing.

So several years ago I call one day and she's telling me one of her cats is sitting with her and I ask how they're doing. She said "we now have only two cats." I ask why and she replies "because our one cat, he play on balcony and see birds. When he jump up to catch birds he flyyyyyyy from balcony off 10 floor."

OMG!!! "Is he dead?"

"We don't know because we not find him."

A few weeks go by and I forget about the flying cat. Even if I would've remembered there's no way I was going to bring that up! We're talking about something and she tells me, "My mother before find our cat who fly from 10 floor. He stay in basement and walk like hurt leg but he is alive and she bring back home and now he live very easy life because he still little bit hurt."

"Holy Shnikies! Did you say your cat that jumped from the 10th floor balcony..... survived?"

"Uh huh."

I guess he's down to only eight lives.

But wait, there's more! A year or so later I call and she tells me the stupid cat jumped up to catch some birds and flew off the 10th floor again! Gotta be dead this time for sure. Nope! Down to seven lives. Mama rehabbed him back to health and the next summer, one more time. So, it's become somewhat of a tradition for the old cat. Every summer he jumps off the balcony, falls 10 floors, breaks a couple bones and then heals up for a year and does it again.

By my count, he should only have about five years left.

this is not unusual... Russians are BIG CAT LOWERS my cat jumped / fell out of the window at least 3 times...

owww, that is so cute

you'll have a lot of fun studying

Happy New Year, Guys Hope everybody's journey is going well :thumbs:

does anybody have that 1-800-number to order IRS transcripts?

thanks

got both EAD and AP :dance: :dance:

waiting for the interview

) We haven't gotten a chance to change our bank accounts to have joint accounts b/c we only see each other on the weekends (when banks are closed) and we were saving his days off so that he could take a long vacation in December.

commerce bank is open on the weekends

My i-131 Application for Travel Document was approved today

Finally, after 3.5 years I can visit my family!!!!!

An interesting read, indeed, Russ.

I could almost understand, but being an American man, trust in my slovar I must.

I like the Cockroach poem as well, I'll see if I can find it.

Тараканище

К.Чуковский

Ехали медведи

На велосипеде

А за ними кот

Задом наперед

А за ним комарики

На воздушном шарике

А за ними раки

На хромой собаке

Волки на кобыле

Львы в автомобиле

Зайчики в трамвайчике

Жаба на метле

Едут и смеются,

Пряники жуют.

Вдруг из подворотни

Страшный великан,

Рыжий и усатый

Та-ра-кан!

Таракан, таракан,

Тараканище!

Он рычит, и кричит,

И усами шевелит:

"Погодите, не спешите,

Я вас мигом проглочу!

Проглочу, проглочу, не помилую".

Звери задрожали,

В обморок упали.

Волки от испуга

Скушали друг друга.

Бедный крокодил

Жабу проглотил.

А слониха, вся дрожа,

Так и села на ежа.

Только раки-забияки

Не боятся бою-драки;

Хоть и пятятся назад,

Но усами шевелят

И кричат великану усатому:

"Не кричи и не рычи,

Мы и сами усачи,

Можем мы и сами

Шевелить усами!"

И назад еще дальше попятились.

И сказал Гиппопотам

Крокодилам и китам:

"Кто злодея не боится

И с чудовищем сразиться,

Я тому богатырю

Двух лягушек подарю

И еловую шишку пожалую!"

"Не боимся мы его,

Великана твоего:

Мы зубами,

Мы клыками,

Мы копытами его!"

И веселою гурьбой

Звери кинулися в бой.

Но, увидев усача

(Ай-ай-ай!),

Звери дали стрекоча

(Ай-ай-ай!).

По лесам, по полям разбежалися:

Тараканьих усов испугалися.

И вскричал Гиппопотам:

"Что за стыд, что за срам!

Эй, быки и носороги,

Выходите из берлоги:

И врага на рога поднимите-ка!"

Но быки и носороги

Отвечают из берлоги:

"Мы врага бы

На рога бы,

Только шкура дорога,

И рога нынче тоже не дешевы".

И сидят и дрожат под кусточками,

За болотными прячутся кочками.

Крокодилы в крапиву забилися,

И в канаве слоны схоронилися.

Только и слышно, как зубы стучат,

Только и видно, как уши дрожат.

А лихие обезьяны

Подхватили чемоданы

И скорее со всех ног

Наутек.

И акула увильнула,

Только хвостиком махнула.

А за нею каракатица

Так и пятится, так и пятится.

Вот и стал таракан победителем,

И лесов и полей повелителем.

Покорилися звери усатому

(Чтоб ему провалиться, проклятому!).

А он между ними похаживает,

Золоченое брюхо поглаживает:

"Принесите-ка мне, звери, ваших детушек,

Я сегодня их за ужином скушаю!"

Бедные, бедные звери!

Воют, рыдают, ревут!

В каждой берлоге

И в каждой пещере

Злого обжору клянут.

Да и какая же мать

Согласится отдать

Своего дорогого ребенка -

Медвежонка, волчонка, слоненка,

Чтобы ненасытное чучело

Бедную крошку замучило!

Плачут они, убиваются,

С малышами навеки прощаются.

Но однажды поутру

Прискакала кенгуру.

Увидала усача,

Закричала сгоряча:

"Разве это великан?

(Ха-ха-ха!)

Это просто таракан!

(Ха-ха-ха!)

Таракан, таракан, таракашечка,

Жидконогая козявочка-букашечка.

И не стыдно вам?

Не обидно вам?

Вы - зубастые,

Вы - клыкастые,

А малявочке поклонилися,

А козявочке покорилися!"

Испугались бегемоты,

Зашептали: "Что ты, что ты!

Уходи-ка ты отсюда!

Как бы не было нам худа!"

Только вдруг из-за кусточка,

Из-за синего лесочка,

Из далеких из полей

Прилетает воробей.

Прыг да прыг

Да чик-чирик,

Чики-рики-чик-чирик!

Взял и клюнул Таракана -

Вот и нету великана.

Поделом великану досталося,

И усов от него не осталося.

То-то рада, то-то рада

Вся звериная семья,

Прославляют, поздравляют

Удалого Воробья!

Ослы ему славу по нотам поют,

Козлы бородою дорогу метут,

Бараны, бараны

Стучат в барабаны!

Сычи-трубачи трубят!

Грачи с каланчи кричат!

Летучие мыши на крыше

Платочками машут и пляшут.

А слониха-щеголиха

Так отплясывает лихо,

Что румяная луна

В небе задрожала

И на бедного слона

Кубарем упала.

Вот была потом забота -

За луной нырять в болото

И гвоздями к небесам приколачивать!

Absolutely Love Esenin

Here is my favorite

C. Есенин

Мне осталась одна забава

1923

Мне осталась одна забава:

Пальцы в рот и веселый свист.

Прокатилась дурная слава,

Что похабник я и скандалист.

Ах! какая смешная потеря

Много в жизни смешных потерь.

Стыдно мне, что я в Бога верил.

Горько мне, что не верю теперь.

Золотые, далекие дали!

Все сжигает житейская мреть.

И похабничал я и скандалил

Для того, чтобы ярче гореть.

Дар поэта — ласкать и карябать,

Роковая на нем печать.

Розу белую с черною жабой

Я хотел на земле повенчать.

Пусть не сладились, пусть не сбылись

Эти помыслы розовых дней.

Но коль черти в душе гнездились —

Значит, ангелы жили в ней.

Вот за это веселие мути,

Отправляясь с ней в край иной,

Я хочу при последней минуте

Попросить тех, кто будет со мной,—

Чтоб за все за грехи мои тяжкие,

За неверие в благодать

Положили меня в русской рубашке

Под иконами умирать.

Did anyone get their interview notice yet?

Since you guys can read Russian so well, check out these pics of Nasha Russia (Our Russia)

May be looking at these pictures will make you remember some more funny stories :)

http://trinixy.ru/2007/10/04/nasha_rasha_c..._169_shtuk.html

my personal favorite is the escalator that goes straight into the ceiling

I get that a lot with the - "Durak. Primitivny muzh" (starts to knock against the wall, or my head) "took took took."

LOL You guys are so funny

I've gotta know, Katya, how on earth do you Russian ladies turn your anger on and off so quick? It's freaking scary!!

Let's just say it's a "Russian Thing" lol

One thing I found interesting was that most Russian people I know who have washing machines have no set place to situate them. Some were in bathrooms, some in kitchens, others in living rooms

This is true, the so-called "Khrushchovkas" (panelled or brick 3-5-storied apartment buildings without elevators, introduced in Nikita Khrushchev's time) were very poorly designed. Combined bathrooms and tiny kitchens... no space for washing machines and dish-washers

congratulations !!!

haha...... are you and Slim willing to share what your Sweeties said..... or how they looked? I have not made this mistake yet but now I am little bit apprehensive about it.

We were getting ready to go out to dinner or something, and while she was combing her hair and doing some last minute make-upping, I sat down on the bed to put my shoes on. Not sure why I did it this way, usually I just slipped them on by the door. So I sat the shoes on the bed, and I remember her watching this through the mirror. She stopped what she was doing, her eyes grew wide, and she spun around and walked over to me. I got the pointer-finger of death aimed right at me and then the shoes. It's a little hazy after that...she yelled a bunch of stuff in Russian. I picked 'em up real quick, and she calmed down enough to finish chewing my ### in English. Something about how everything that was on the street now being on the bed, do I know how filthy the bottoms of my shoes are, and just generally being incredulous about how I could possibly have thought putting my shoes on the bed was a good idea. You'd have thought I'd just taken a dump right in the middle of the bed, which I suppose was the next worse thing as far as she was concerned. 30 seconds later it was over. She stopped and just went back to getting ready, leaving me completely bewildered. I spent a long time waiting for the (no pun intended) other shoe to drop, but she was back to sweet little Nadya. We had housekeeping replace the bedspread while we were out.

The only other time I've seen her explode like that was when an inebriated ex-patient of hers (she's a nurse) recognized her, and started yelling her name and stumbling towards her, arms outstretched. She verbally unloaded on him, and the dude just tucked tail and slunk away. Hell, I wasn't even on the receiving end of it and I felt my testicles shrivel up into my throat. She later said he's a meth addict and he'd promised her that he would stop using. Clearly he'd broken his promise, thus incurring her wrath. That one only lasted about 10 seconds, and then she was fine. It's pretty surreal.

Yeah...gonna be good times ahead...

Well, I must admit, I do the same thing.

What makes me wonder is why would you ever put your shoes on the bed? why?

Yeah, and please tell me why don't people take their shoes off when they come in? this is disgusting!

Bags, bags, bags! Oh my God, how could I forget about that. My wife saves every single plastic bag we get at the store. In fact she told me to not take paperbags but plastic ones. I hope she isn't planning on selling them for kopecks in Ukraine. Since she has arrived (almost two years now) we have plastic bags everywhere. She wraps everything we get in plastic bags and buries it in the refrigerator. I have to unwrap and open everything to figure out what it is. She even wraps things that have their own refrigerated container.

Every cupboard under the sink is filled with plastic bags. I don't mind her saving them but can't we find a way to package them so they don't look like packing material for shipping things. I have to pull out bags holding bags to find things under the sink like cleanser, ant spray, mouthwash or bar soap. Every bathroom waste basket has a bag to hold trash. Before she arrived I just dropped trash in the basket and then dumped the waste into the trash can before trash day. If the waste basket was dirty it was an easy job to wash it out.

My grandma had a similar plastic-bag-mania (this tendency to save "stuff" goes back to Soviet times when everything, from maternity clothes to plastic bags was impossible to find), but she used to go even further, she would wash dirty plastic bags and hang them up to dry, I hope she does not do that any more

Update: biometrics done October 19

Woodside, NY quick and easy, no line

the whole thing took 15 minutes

I think she was talking about married women working only if they want to, not single women.

I meant "I do not know anybody who works for pleasure"

Normally women works for her pleasure and Man of providing food and other important stuff.

there are very many women out there that have to work for living,because they married very young and husbands turned into an alcoholics..

That is totally not true. I do not know a single woman that works "for pleasure". In fact, the majority of men and women (in Moscow and other cities) work to survive. My mother has her own business, and works very hard... not because my dad is an alcoholic, but because it is not possible to survive on a surgeon's salary of $1000 a year.

The situation you are describing, reminds me of the stories my mother-in-law tells me: back in the 1980s when USSR was still strong, they used to live in Tbilisi, Georiga (100% corruption on all levels), and yes, she was working for pleasure. What she was making as a music-school teacher was only enough to pay for a cab (she used to take a CAB to work EVERY DAY). Yet, they had enough money to take a flight to Moscow once a week to see a performance in Bolshoi Theatre.

I've been convicted of that before too, and I didn't list squat on my "prior convictions." No problems for me.

That's exactly what I wanted to hear

Yes thats how it works.guys watching and then coming up..but again most of girls in Russia go to dance in club,not to hook up with men..I know sounds insane for americans.My husband did not believe me at start too.But thats true,i would go with my girls just to dance all night long till we fall over.and believe me or not without drinking alcohol at all.it helps to loose few pounds a night and relieve stress.

and normal girls never leave phone numbers and hook up at club,.guys there are nasty..i am talking again about Moscow..We used to go to the club fabriq.

We would let guys pay for our drinks, give them fake phone numbers and then escape... that was fun

Rule #1 Do not ever hope to meet a normal guy in a club, because all those beasts wanna do is f%$k you

,

Hi, I'm looking for advice on how to move forward to change my fiance's status from a F1 visa to a green card. We've been together for 7 years and it would be wonderful to get married if it's not too complicated!!

I'd like to know

a) What forms are needed

B) Costs associated with this

c) What I should do first

Thanks everybody!

First of all, you guys should get married

Afetr you do that, prepare and send I-130 and I-485 packages

Fees:

I-130 $355

I-485 $930+$80 (biometrics fee) = $1100 (she can also apply for a travel document and work authorization free of charge)

This guide will help you prepare:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...page=i130guide2

For all the immigration forms go to

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/men...00045f3d6a1RCRD

Download these forms with instructions

I-130 Petition for Alien relative

I-485 Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status

I-765 Application for Employment Authorization

I-864 Affidavit of Support

G-325A Biographic Information

I-131 Application for Travel Document

Remember, unless you guys are married, you cannot help her change her status