Chamy and Gatita

If you have been following the #######-for- tat expulsion of high level diplomats between the US and Ecuador, I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on the matter. Why did each country react so strongly, and what lies ahead? Will there be any effect on visas etc for the rest of us?

He's from, or grew up in, Guayaquil, si man? The very same happens here, si man. It's hopeless. "What color is this tie, Mrs. T-B.?" "It's gree." We nearly had a fight once when I kept asking where my pants were, and she kept pointing to a basket of pens.

and to the fact that here there is ONE garbageman, versus 10 or 12 to a truck in Ecuador.

Hilarious stuff. My husband is from Quito. A long time ago I asked him about the practice of dropping the last consonant, and he said that back home, pronouncing everything effectively makes you sound mentally retarded.

Here: ice cream trucks wander neighborhoods, playing their tinny amplified music to let us know they are coming. There: you hear that same soundtrack and you run out and it's the......garbage truck. Yuck!

I love reading everything that you all shared. I wish I could remember every funny thing my husband does and start a blog, but unfortunately I don't have that kind of brainpower.

Regarding mispronounced words, I finally started translating his mispronunciations into Spanish for him, so he could really understand how funny (or odd) it sounds. He tends to leave off the last consonant of words: for example, "word" is pronounced "were", "went" is pronounced "when" and so on. "u" is always pronounced "oo": we had a good laugh when Penelope Cruz's character in Nacho Libre said she loves "poopies" (puppies).

But a lot of my husband's funny things have to do with culture-- he had an uncanny ability to point out things about American life that would never ever occur to me. Like when we had to take the car to the mechanic and he found out they removed what was broken and put a new part in. He was shocked! He said, you don't fix cars in the United States! He got all righteous and I could not for the life of me figure out what he was talking about. Like the one person mentioned, every point of confusion usually leads to a logical explanation (I loved the "you are a bad person" story). So i probed- what do you mean, we don't fix cars here? The car got fixed, so what do you mean? Finally I got his point: he was shocked to discover that we don't *fix* parts, we *replace* them, and for him, there is a BIG difference. How many Americans would ever think of that??? I love his observations.

Hi there,

Yes I've been trying to learn Spanish- my husband's language, and i thought it was going to be easier and faster than it has been. :-) My expectations were wildly out of line with reality. I picked up so much so fast in the beginning, but that stopped as soon as i stopped spending as much time abroad.

After spending many hours being studious with books, CDs, tapes, etc etc, I would think I was making sense but I was really making my husband laugh, which is still a good thing. :-) My favorite thing to do is to make up words that sound Spanish, which really makes him laugh.

As for my husband, his best mistakes range from ordering a "jack ahn #######" to reading a street sign "Happy Pines" as "Happy #######". I wish I had written down all of his best mistakes, because some were fabulously entertaining, that had us all in tears. I think this part of international relationships can be unexpectedly fun.

Yeah! About the squirrels, for about one year it rocked my husband's world every time he saw a squirrel or deer. And it is still pretty special for him, which still makes me chuckle. :-)

Hey everyone,

I have noticed that there are a lot of things my husband is not familiar with that we would consider basic knowledge or common sense. So i thought it would be fun to hear from others about the funny things their spouses/partners did not know about before coming here. (Of course, if we were in their country, they would be laughing at our gaffes and "silly" questions!) although some of the things my husband didn't know about before coming here are surprising, on the flip side, he is not constrained by convention as much as we are in some ways, which is refreshing!

So here goes!

My Ecuadorean husband was recently cleaning the toilet (yay!) with ..... "Shout!" laundry stain remover (???)

Ok, who's got something funny to add?

Hi everyone,

Could you add us to the list? We sent ours in on 3/11/11. yay! So glad to be finished with all that paperwork and evidence!

We thought it was going to take about 6 months, so we were happy to read someone is estimating 2-3.5 months.

all the best to everyone....

Thank you all so much!!! What a relief!

Please excuse my questions if they are really dumb ones :-)

We are filing the I-751 for Removal of Conditions on my husband's green card next week. His card expires on 3/26/11. Yesterday he asked me about travel- what if he needs to travel to his country while we are waiting for the new green card?

And for that matter, what if he gets asked to show his green card or prove his legal status for some reason? For example, a traffic stop, or a job application? Can we apply for AP so that we have that in our back pocket in case, or is that just for AOS? Does the NOA act as proof of legal status, and if so, does the average person asking for proof understand that?

Good morning,

Thank you for your replies. I'm afraid the first writer might have jumped to a few conclusions though. Granted my post gave the barest minimum of details.

To clarify then, I was referring to a county, not the country. The county this occured in is not friendly to Latinos, and that is well documented. The police detained him illegally and did not follow procedure. For this, no charges were filed. At that time, my husband did not want to have anything to do with the police, and he did not want to file a complaint or get a lawyer. I would have, but I respected his wishes.

When he got arrested, he had been drinking and knew he could not drive. He went to his parked car and was sleeping it off. With regard to the first writer's comment that he should study the law, actually we did study the law and that is why the DA dropped charges. He was not in violation of the law and this did not, as the writer stated, constitute "public intoxication." He did not meet the criteria, one of which was to actually be in public. He was on private property, and had permission. So again, we are dealing with a case of county police not knowing the law and overstepping their legal jurisdiction. The first writer is right, it is unfortunate.

Though we are happy that the charges were dropped, basically we find ourselves in a catch-22. We can't get his record expunged, because there are no charges or convictions to expunge. Yet we still have to disclose this detention and arrest, even though they amounted to nothing; one might even say they were wrongful and or illegal. Where is the fairness in that?

We are interested in hearing if others have had direct experience in this area, and if there is a way to remove this from his record. Thanks everyone and have a great day.

We are getting ready to file for removal of conditions and I'm wondering if it's a big deal that hubby got detained once and arrested once.

Charges were not filed- the DA dropped it. When he was detained it was for drunk and walking, the arrest was for drunk and sleeping in a parked car in a parking lot. In other words, BS from a county unfriendly to Latinos.

We tried to find out if we could get his record cleared, but apparently we can't -- there are no charges to expunge. (catch-22!!!)

Any thoughts?

I married an Ecuadorian citizen, who is now a US permanent resident. We married in the US. On a recent trip back to Ecuador, a lawyer told us we need to legalize our marriage in Ecuador, so that my husband's legal status can be changed to married on his cedula, etc. (He also has a bank account and two properties there). The lawyer said that after we do that, I can get Ecuadorian citizenship and an Ecuadorian passport. This is relevant because currently I travel as a USC and am limited to a stay of 90 days unless I apply for a visa. We don't have plans to live in Ecuador any time soon but it seems like it would be a good idea to have that option.

I'm looking for information on this issue: is dual citizenship a possibility for me and is it a good idea?

Thanks !!

thanks everyone!

My husband, a permanent resident who arrived in the US at age 37, wants to apply for a US Census job. The application form asks if he is registered for selective service, and says that he should be if he was born after 1959, which he was. The Selective Service website says that he does not need to register, because he was older than 26 when he came here. Does anyone know about this? We don't want to make a mistake. Thanks!

On the bright side--

I would like to add that, because of the assistance we received from our friends on Visa Journey, we knew ahead of time that we had to both be at the interview, regardless of what the officials told us when we made the appointment. We also tried our best to prepare the most thorough package of evidence as we could, and we relied on the advice of those who went before us and on the Nolo Press book on fiance visas. We successfully got our K-1 visa on one interview only, with no lawyer.

(Full disclosure: we also had no kids, no previous marriages, didn't meet online, no marriage broker, no criminal record, no sponsor, no financial difficulty, no overstays or previous visas of any kind, etc etc etc. I don't know if it would have mattered if we had had any of those.)

So, anyone who's reading this thread who's got an interview coming up in Ecuador, don't lose hope! Plan on being at the interview, do the best you can, and most of all, ask other VJers for help!

All the best--

Update---

We are thinking we may need to get a lawyer. The county sheriffs denied a written request for a copy of his arrest record. Unfortunately we need that as part of the citizenship process which we start in one year. We don't know what to do, or even what type of lawyer (immigration, criminal, personal injury?) to call. Basically my husband should never have been arrested and now he has this record that says" drugs" on it. We need the arrest record so we can prove that he breathalyzed legal and they NEVER did a drug test. Advice please, especially if you have any idea about how USCIS will look at his application- ie how bad is this in the grand scheme of things. Thanks !

PS just to reiterate, this was a detention only, and no charges were pressed, no court date, detention only. But we still have to disclose it come citizenship time.

Thanks everyone!!

Hi we are planning a trip (a "dental vacation"- whee!) to mexico. understandably, my husband is nervous about the trip- neither of us have been to mexico, so we want to be sure we don't make a mistake. He has an Ecuadorian passport and a US permanent resident card. He also obtained a letter authorizing re-entry (I cant remember what it's called, Advance Parole I think). I don't think we need it now that he has the permanent resident card. Are we good to go with just the Ecuadorian passport and green card, or do we need anything else? We are going to fly, so i think they issue the tourist visa or permit thing on the plane. THANKS!

Did any of you figure out why the VISA was denied because you weren't at the interview? Were they questioning the legitimacy of your intent to marry or something? This worries me as I am beginning the process for a K1 VISA and I know I won;t be able to be in Ecuador at the time of the interview. I don't think I will be able to be back in Ecuador until well after the initial interview would be set. I am trying to time everything so that we can be married here in the US late June 2010 or early July 2010.

Also, were your fiances tourist VISA's revoked during this period?

Dan,

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you will not get your visa if you are not there. Re-evaluate your schedule and go to Plan B. This forum is not about just one or two people, oddball cases, who got the shaft, it's a lot more than that. It's a track record. Sorry to sound harsh, I certainly don't mean to be, but if at this time you don't plan on showing up-- well, why drag yourself and your fiance through all that? You will not get the visa, period, and you will attract so much extra scrutiny to your case from that point on.

I just re-read the part you wrote about the timing. Look, if you time it so you dont show up you get nothing, no wedding in the US in June. So here is a thought. Dont worry about timing it. Whenever your fiance gets here, just get a courthouse marriage license and plan the real wedding for whenever. Dont worry about that 90 day window. Yes you have to marry within 90 days, no it doesnt have to be the big event. Just get the license so it's legal.

All the best, and keep us posted!

Good luck Roy and Katy, glad to see you hanging in there!

thanks everyone!

Well, here is what happened: He was leaving the bar at the same time as the police were arriving to invesetigate a fight. He was on foot, walking home. The police called after him and asked him to stop. He was not drunk, or disorderly, but underestimated the amount of respect necessary in dealing with the police in the US. He is accustomed to a high level of harrassment in his country, and there you need to push back a bit to avoid getting abused. Anyhow, he told the cops he wasn't doing anything but was evasive in his answers, and I think he was a little lippy about it too, which pissed them off. He was not carrying his permanent resident card, but had a copy in his car which was fairly close. close enough for the cops to drive him there and check it out if he weren't being a jerk. but he was being a jerk (his admission- and now he understands he can't act like that here), so they arrested him. I also explained to him that his somewhat hostile and evasive behavior was probably suspicious to them, and that cops here are very wary of getting shot at. (i know this from dealing with a lot of law enforcement in my line of work.) additionally, the cops in that area have a reputation for going out of their way to harrass those with brown skin. so they arrested him. when he was released, his paperwork says he was arrested for "disorderly:UI/drug" -- maybe they put "drug" because they breathalyzed him but I'm sure he was way below drunk, with only one drink on board. but the release says it was a detention only, not an arrest, for intoxication only, with no further proceedings.

So it's a learning experience! Now he accepts that he has to be very respectful with the cops and that he needs to always carry the green card.

My only question at this point is, can we get this removed from his record, or I don't know, somehow officially contest his "detention"? the reason being, the whole thing was a mistake and he was not drunk, disorderly or on drugs. Is this still a matter for a lawyer?

oh- one more thing- his booking paper has the wrong address for us on it- should i notify the cops?

thanks again.

Sorry, not sure which forum to put this in--

My husband went to jail last night and was booked for drunk in public. Without having any further information-- he is still there so i dont know the whole story-- my understanding is that drunk in public is a misdemeanor and he will have to go to court. if he gets convicted, will this affect his legal status, or his future citizenship? He currently has a green card, ie permanent resident (conditional). We will be filing for citizenship in about 15 months or so.

One more thing- although he understands the law requires that he carry his permanent resident card with him, he doesn't-- he says he is afraid of losing it or it being stolen. I'm not sure what happened last night, but the first thing the jail asked was, is he legal? and, do you have papers to prove it? So I don't know if not carrying the card tipped the balance for the deputies who picked him up. Anyone want to comment on if they do or don't alway carry their card, and why?

Thanks for your input.

Oh I am eternally indebted to you for adding this important word and its variants to my vocabulary!!! Thank you! I can't count the number of times i have asked my C how to say "fart" in Spanish! BTW he was also laughing at the "pedometer". phhhtthhhht! phhttthht! good one.

As for pets, I have 3 cats... and he seems to have no problem with them living inside, sleeping in the bed with us, etc. Though I was trying to ask him what the correct translation for litter box was and realized he had no idea what one was. So, I sent him a picture...... I realized that just because the word exists in Spanish, it does not mean that he will have any idea what I am talking about.

HA HA HA !!! We had almost the same conversation yesterday! He said, you need to make the cats sand box. Me: huh, you want me to build them a sand box? Him: No! No! Make the sand box! Me:Um.... Him: You know! The sand box! For the cats! Me: blank look. Oh! You are talking about the litter box! Do we need more litter? Him: No, no, we need sand! Me: Oh! In English we call it "litter." Him: But it's sand!!!!!!! Hysterical.

A few other things I thought of:

when he first got here, we got a leak in the roof. I went up to see what was wrong, and he was stunned, no, apoplectic, speechless, as I walked from the ladder onto the roof. He thought I had lost my mind, because apparently most peaked roofs in his country are decorative and aren't built to hold weight.

And one day he noticed a big puffy roll of white poufy stuff in the shed- what is that? Me: it's insulation. Him: what is it for? Me: (#######???) Ohhh, of course- you dont need insulation in Ecuador- the buildings are either solid concrete or cane.

Tbone, I love the Cat Fancy story-- love it!!!!

GOOGLE is your friend.

http://www.ecuador.org/miscellaneous.htm#dual_citizenship

Moving to citizenship forum.

Thanks, Dan. Good info.

Any Ecuadorians out there know what kind of rights the American spouse gets in Ecuador?