attaya_girl

Kinda late to the game, but we filed on April 17th. See some familiar faces good to be back on VJ.

My husband and I fought the most the first several months of his arrival. Like everyone, said it's a huge adjustment for them. It's hard, though, when you've both been daydreaming about this time for so long and it doesn't end up being quite the romantic period that you anticipated. It'll happen, though. It just takes time. Good luck and hang in there!

Have you tried using a magic jack?

They are in very rural Senegal and do not have internet access, unfortunately.

i'm still trying to find a way to call cheaply to senegal. my husband is here, but we need to call family often.

If your parents want to meet your future husband in person before you marry, they'll be wise to plan a trip to Africa. Short of that, they will probably ultimately decide to scrap that priority.

This. My family flew to Senegal to meet husband while we were still dating. It will also help your parents have at least a little bit of an understanding of his culutre in the years to come as well. Great idea for multiple reasons.

I haven't read through this entire thread, but I would urge you to be careful. I have been with my husband for four years. We are very happily married and have a beautiful son together. I wouldn't trade that for anything. I lived in Senegal with my husband for five months before we got engaged. We met, got engaged, and married within 15 months. That's fast. He's the love of my life, but there was a a lot of heartache we could have avoided if we had just slowed down a bit. Please don't be in a hurry to get married. I know it is completely unimaginable right now, but five years from now, it won't seem like such a long time. If you two are going to be spending your lives together, I would just urge you to spend more time with him in his country. Get to know his family. Get to know his culture. Really know his culture. Cause even after five months of living in Dakar with my husband, there are still surprises. Just take your time. I know it's difficult, but it's not so long in the grand scheme of things.

we talked about me moving to senegal for a long time. but i wanted him to understand my culture as well (i had lived and studied in senegal). we decided to try living here first. in a few years, though, i imagine we'll go back.

That is a really long wait, especially for Dakar. We did a K-1 visa, but our wait time was only a couple weeks. Maybe try e-mailing the embassy? They always responded quickly with us.

I just saw that you scheduled your interview. Good luck!

http://fromgambia.blogspot.com/2009/03/watch-senegalese-tv-online.html

There are three links here to watch Senegalese tv and you don't have to download anything

thanks attaya girl ... "attaya" is the senegalaise term for their tea, isn't it? ... that's adorable ... and congratulations on your marriage ... we wish you all the very best !!!

Yes "attaya" is tea. I got really good at making tea and always ended up being the person asked to make it (I think mostly because they got a kick out of the toubab making tea). Good luck with the rest of your journey!

Hi

I'm hoping the best for you both and that the AP won't slow things down too much ... it's nice to see more posts from others with loved ones in Senegal .... I am curious though, you mentioned that your husband took photos and letters with him to the interview ... I've already sent all that stuff with my I-130 (I have duplicates of course) but I was hoping that all our "bonafides" were forwarded from the USCIS to NVC and then to the consulate ... I've been trying for some time to figure out if I need to also send these things to my husband in Senegal a head of time, but can't get a clear answer ... I've already tried mailing him a birthday card and it took a month to arrive ... I shutter to think what amount of time I'd need to allow for if I were to send our bouncy-baby-bonafides to him.

Again I'm happy to hear of your progress and to know there are some positive things unfolding. Please keep us posted on your AP.

I wish you all the best

Hi-again, I didn't have a K-3, but my husband (then fiance) had all the pictures, letters, etc with him at the interview (I was also present). They didn't look in his file for the pictures, but asked for him to show any pictures that he had. I don't know if the pictures I sent with the original petition were even in his file. I would resend everything. Mail times to Dakar can be frustrating, but we send mail pretty regularly to Dakar and always figure on it taking about 2 weeks. Maybe give it another shot. It might get there quicker this time.

I didn't have a K-3, but I know administrative processing is pretty common in Dakar anyways. I hope that everything goes well and that you hear good news soon!

I went through Dakar last year (September 08) Just wanted to wish you guys good luck!

I know everyone's experience is different, but my husband is Senegalese, and he is absolutely amazing and flexible when it comes to gender roles. I half expected things to change when we got married (and, granted, we haven't been married long), but he hasn't changed. He helps clean the house without being asked, he cooks at least half the meals (more right now because his ESL classes are out of session for the month), and always cleans the kitchen--which is my least favorite chore. I am the bread-winner, and although he wants badly to contribute more, we both agree that getting through school is the most important thing right now. Honestly, gender roles hasn't been as big of a deal as I thought it would be. There are some surprising little things that come up now and then (especially now that I'm pregnant, but we've been able to discuss everything so far and work out a situation that works for both of us. He supports all of my ambitions and goals, and I support all of his. I know I sound like I'm bragging, but I feel pretty lucky

I doubt it I think you'll be ok. I think they change that themselves.

Hi everyone!

I'm 16 weeks and still on zofran (I got it about a month ago). It helps if I take it before I get out of bed--usually. I'm really hoping that the morning sickness dies down soon. Everyone told me to hang on until 12 weeks, and I still feel sick everyday. I've lost about 8 lbs, but I've been holding steady for the couple weeks and not losing anymore.

Hi, everyone! It looks like there's been a lot of pregnancy announcements here, but I thought I'd add my name to the list. I'm about 14 weeks pregnant and due in December.

Hello, April 2010!

I filed in April 2009, and I just wanted to wish all of you good luck and a speedy process! I know the wait is excruciating, but hang in there. It's very much worth it

My husband is definitely guilty. We had to quiz one another for ages before AOS---just so that he would remember his own birth date, his parents' death dates, etc. Filling out the paperwork was a nightmare. He would have to call everyone in his family to try to get the approximate dates out of them-and even those were wrong. Thank god we tracked down his parents' death certificates. My husband is also really intelligent, but the dates and age things must just not be important for him. Very frustrating sometimes, but I'm trying to get used it. Just as I'm trying to get used to the fact that I will never again arrive anywhere on time

Sorry I've been MIA, but card production was ordered on April 22, and we received his welcome letter on Saturday, May 1st Good luck and congratulations to everyone!

hi everyone! sorry it's been so long. we had our inteview on monday, and we were approved pending a signature from the civil surgeon who forgot to sign one page. grrrr....oh well. the man interviewing us was very kind and was surprised that we had brought an interpreter. it was really weird though, becasue the only questions he asked were the ones on the back of the I-485. in the past ten years have you been a prostitute? are you a terrorist, have you been a terrorist or do you plan on becoming a terrorist? my husband was just laughing the whole time. he hardly looked at our paperwork and didn't even bother to look at our pictures. he just took a bank statement to prove joint banking, insurance papers, and our lease agreement.

congratulations to everyone!

Hi everyone!

Congratulations to everyone who was approved! I'm so happy for all of you!

We received the EAD in the mail on March 05 and we just received a letter today for our interview! The interview is scheduled for April 12 at 9:15 AM. The town is a few hours away from where we live, so we'll probably have to get a hotel the night before to make sure that we're there on time and fully rested.

It was kind of funny, because I got home and asked my husband if we had any mail. He handed me two medical bills, and I thought, "oh great." A few minutes later he came out of the bedroom with an envelope and said, "Oh, and this came for me." USCIS! Woo-hoo!

Not MENA, but I think at some point we will move back to Senegal. I "lived" there for 5 months, and I loved it. Lately, though, my husband has had some dental problems and I cringe to think about what it would have been like in Senegal. I think medical issues would be extremely difficult to deal with. There are no emergency rooms, no 911 equivalent, no place to go for medical emergencies. I worry about that sometimes. Along with many others, though, I would still try to make it work.

Well, on February 24th, I got e-mail/text message saying that our EAD card was in production. Got the same e-mail on March 03. Today I got an e-mail saying that they sent a letter notifying us of approval and to follow any instructions in the letter. Did anyone else have this? Why is there so much repetition?