Tinkerbell TX

Also read in another forum -that since i was not a permanent resident in 2010 (and still pending)..that i might not have to file anything at all (even not reporting my foreign income)

Is that true? And if so..does my husband only have to mention he is married but nothing else then?

I've got about the same questions!!!

if this is the best they can do, boy are we screwed.

it'd be one thing if it treated everyone the same, but it doesn't. Too many special backroom deals. Makes the "Godfather" look like Sunday school.

arghhhh, messed that up!! lol

Neil's MBE envelope was badly damaged with two rips along the bottom and another along the top. One small twist and papers would be everywhere! We emailed the Sydney Consulate attaching pictures and asked whether we should just sticky tape it closed or if there was something else we should do. Took a couple of days but they emailed back saying to post the package back to them (and enclose another self addressed 3kg envelope)and they would repackage it!

Congrats TerriandEric!!!

I'm so excited to take my hubby to Aus. He hasn't been yet and there's so much I want to show him. He doesn't like "jello" and I don't mind it here but it tastes so artificial. I told him that if he tried the Aeroplane jelly (esp the rasp/stawberry one ) he'd be a total convert. There so many things (food wise esp) that are better in Aus but I have my man here so I'll just slowly acclimate (and get my family to send me supplies )

Don't forget the mail order sites here.....they are a bit more expensive but you can get (some) of the things you are craving from home!

And I agree..........The fruit and veg you get in AUS is FAR superior to the tasteless stuff we get here.

Thanks Kaffy! I haven't tried PB from over there (yet).

Neil picked up his return envelope (VISA!!!) from the post today and the MBE is slightly damaged. Should we do anything about it? Can we do anything about it?

GRATS!! :dance:

Thank you!!! I've got my fingers crossed for you too!!

Grats !!

It surprises me that they let the early people up before those that had interviews first. Sure let them up, but not BEFORE the 8am's... doesn't matter though now right? The other good thing about it is you get time to relax and watch what's going on. Did he see anyone get denied or anyone flipping out or anything?

Thanks!!! Yeah, I was surprised when Neil told me that too....and I don't know why they would have done things like that. Oh well.....doesn't matter now!!

There were a couple of "incidents".....He said one girl came in without an appointment or paperwork and was demanding to see someone and was arguing with the security. He said they "moved her out of the line" and she still continued arguing. Then when he got upstairs and there was an Indian family (10 am appointment!)..Mum, Dad, 2 kids who had were trying to get a visa to the US. They'd gone to the UK, then to AUS, and were now wanting to go to the US....both Mum and Dad had already quit their jobs! They ended up arguing with the interviewer for 37 minutes (Neil timed them) before the interviewer finally told them he couldn't help them. The interviewer then went in back and spoke with the other lady interviewer for about 10 minutes before coming back up and typing some things into his computer. Now, of all the people you wouldn't want to piss off, wouldn't it be the interviewers??? Anyway, Neil got the female interviewer and was only asked one question....where we'd met. :-)

I tried vegemite once I think. It was weird but I don't have a horrorifying memory of it so it couldn't have been that bad. Yet he still looks at me weird when I have my peanut butter toast in the morning. Apparently, it's perfectly acceptable to eat a yeast by-product but a peanut one is nasty. There is something wrong with this picture.

Though my favorite Aussie thing is chicken salt. Mmmmmm....so good on fries.

Plus, I've already got the guys in my office wanting me to have a cook out when Ham gets here to make them Aussie burgers. I still think it's wrong to put a beet on a burger.

I think our peanut butter is too sweet for the Aussies. (Kaffy, Vanessa, everyone.....is that about right?)

I love their sandwiches..........chicken AND salad!!! Oh and meat pies..........

Neil had his Visa interview on Tuesday (Sydney time).......we are approved!! WOOHOOO!!

Neil went in for his interview on Tuesday morning Sydney time. Said he got there at 7:40 am and there were about 20 people already there.....including people with 9 am and 10 am appointments!! He was pretty pissed off because even tho he had an 8 am appointment they let the 9 and 10 o'clocks up before the 8 am's.

He ended up waiting about 1 hour 45 minutes and then had all of 5 minutes for his interview. We're approved!!! WOOHOO!!!!

Okay, I'm starting to wonder if I'm the only American in this group now.

Though listening to this makes me think of the first time I had Ham try biscuits and gravy and the looooong discussion I had trying to explain to him that it wasn't gross.

Nope!! you're not alone! (I'm not a biscuits and gravy person myself coming from Michigan).

Neil wasn't too impressed with our Bratwurst here......too salty or spicy I suspect. I really like vegemite and keep offering it to my friends. They take one sniff and then a tiny bite and their faces all screw up! LMAO

funny how 40 years ago they were also predicting that we'd run out of oil by about 2000. Hasn't happened and, as a matter of fact, new fields continue to be discovered. imagine that! There's the new Tiber Field in the Gulf of Mexico and the big one down offshore brazil.

Neil got his interview date.........March 9 8:00 am!! Woohoo!!!!!!

by all means.......keep researching it. Take monies away from other more important things like feeding the starving masses or building earthquake rated buildings in 3rd world countries or..............<GASP>.............finding ways to use warming to our advantage!

But until you can prove (you know, as in peer reviewed by all sides of the argument) your data, keep your hands out of my pockets.

Why mess with perfection? Australia sucks, so y'all are itching to get the fuсk out.

Australia is awesome.......can't wait to move there!

Back when my daughter was in grade school, her father was working in Madagascar. Her teacher asked the kids where their parents worked and my daughter told her where her father was. The teacher insisted that Madagascar wasn't a place. Even after my daughter pointed it out on a map. And you wonder why some Americans don't know geography???

If you like games and geography, here's a neat site.........

http://www.travelpod.com/traveler-iq

We sure do eat a lot of it there. Not only is it fresh but also tasty.

it is! I still have to think a minute about the rockmelon to cantaloupe conversion.

All the black people are being loud and rowdy, in a stadium. A negative situation from the lone White guy's POV.

The lone White guy tames the rowdy blacks with fried chicken because we all know that's how to get them to stop being loud and rowdy, turning it into a positive situation for the White guy.

Using fried chicken or waermelon to pacify black people is an old stereotype.

1. the ad is Australian targeting the Australian market

2. the ad would be the same with any opposing teams regardless of sport or nationality

3. the ad could have been for Coolah!

4. pretty sure watermelon is not indigenous to Australia.

They play up to a derogatory stereotype that black "savages" can easily be tamed with the right kinds of foods.

I bet you're the only one that thinks of it that way.

so? how does that prove that the ad is racist?

Neil will be sending in his P3 this week......looks like his interview would be about the 23rd Feb then!!!

We did file for an extension which was granted and I'm glad we did.....even knowing that they'd have probably extended the NOA2 anyway.

Good luck for those with interviews tomorrow (hmmmm, ok, today! LOL)

We're going for a simple ceremony here too.......nothing fancy....maybe just go to the courthouse and have one of the judges do the vows.

TV ad's do have varying levels of effectiveness.

That said, your point on this ad being Australian and not American is well taken.

So allow me to engage in a hypothetical.

If this ad were American, how do you think it would do?

totally lost on Americans because we don't understand cricket.

How about as an ad? Do you find it effective?

Grilled chicken at KFC is just wrong.

no more or less effective than any other ad on tv. But seeing as how it was targeted to Australians and NOT Americans it's a bit presumptuous of Americans to be criticizing the ad based on their attitudes.

i thought kfc in australia was kangaroo fried chicken.....

Kangaroo is actually pretty tasty. Kind of like venison.