Daft02810

Thank you all for your help!

I'm doing all the leg work to apply for an Immigrant Visa for 9 year old step-daughter and need help with a slight snag.

I'm currently in the military, living in Japan, and getting ready to retire. As of right now we have not decided where we'll retire to but in Block 18 of the I-130 it asks for the address in the United States where the relative intends to live. I have no idea what to put there.

Suggestions? Please help.

Thank you.

Ehh, fried stuff is not the ONLY thing Filipinas eat. Please do not forget, we also looove grilled stuff. So, if you're into that health reasons, grilling I think might be a good compromise. Grilled fish, pork, squid... mmmmm... all good stuff

I love to grill and so does she. Never grilled squid though. That I want to try.

If you can just get past the smell of the dried fish.. ..it's really good

Asawa ko and I have an ongoing joke about dried fish. Because it smells bad she suggested she cook it outside on the BBQ grill. I tell her that is no problem as long as the neighbors don't call the police because of the smell. Gets a laugh everytime.

What conclusion are you expecting to come to "together"? That fried food is bad, therefore she should stop doing it? Are you expecting her to foresake something that's culturally important to her because you hold the "cards" that is her Visa? Granted, fried food isn't good for you, and frying fish & squid really stinks up the place, but you should just accept it. Because if you don't, expect the resentment to surface as soon she's no longer dependent on you. Or maybe not...only you know what "power" you hold in the relationship.

Good Luck

Man, there always has to be one. One person that thinks all American men are jerks. Or one that thinks because we were the petitioner in the visa process we get to hold it over their head or threaten to take it away when we don't get our way. How about this, maybe the conclusion we come to is to prepare the food a different way than frying? That would be definately something we would have to talk about because I've never prepared any Filipino dishes. Maybe we talk about how many times a week is good to have fried dishes. Or maybe cooking the tuyo outside was her idea? Or maybe you didn't think about these things. You just assumed I was a jerk. How about this, before you make any more assumptions, especially about me, you get that brain-hand filter checked so no more of the ####### you typed makes into another post.

Thanks

Not to hijack your thread daft McCormick chicken seasoning and a pack of wings and drumettes, Thai Jasmine rice, long green beans with roasted garlic and red onion..mmmm!! Oh and don't forget the Louisiana hot sauce!! She likes Talapia and we found Jack fish (Talakitot) at the asian market and the regular market here carries Tuna of course. If she's like my wife she's not going to care as much for fresh water fish.

You're making me so hungry. I've already located all the asian markets in the area and one of the first things she says she want to do is go shopping.

If she's like my wife, just show her that this is HER new home. Give her free rein to decorate, move and re-arrange anything how she likes it. Get all the things I posted earlier so that she can pick up any phone in the house and call anytime she'd like. Skype is a godsend so get her and her family all hooked up with that if possible. Take her shopping because she's going to land with 3 bags that are "everything she owns". My wife (like a lot of Filipinas) is a CHEAPA$$!! She loves the ukay ukay (goodwill)!! Just spend a lot of time with her, do simple things together, cook, go for walks, show her around everywhere...everything's brand new It's a blast I'm tellin ya...enjoy every minute of it

Thank you for the advice. Her staying in contact with her family has been on my mind. I bought her a laptop about a year ago so we could communicate through the immigration process and she is going to leave it with her brother so they can Skype. I will get the things you mentioned so she can call her folks in Tacloban. Thanks again.

Haha! I predict your conclusion will be some fried food on the menu occasionally.

Filipino style fried chicken, tilapia and lumpia are masarap!

She's made tilapia and lumpia for me and you're right they were masarap. Never had Filipino style fried chicken but will give it try for sure. Occasionally is good with me for frying food, just not everyday.

She makes some of the best chicken adobo I've ever had.

Huh? Do you fry food in your back yard? Or, do you fry food in someone else's kitchen?

I predict that she will be frying tuyo in your kitchen malapit na!

We have already discussed the Tuyo issue. I bought a LP grill with a side burner so she can cook Tuyo outside. She says she's ok with that.

I like your thinking. Each day of my life I am thinking more or less the same thing you are thinking.

Two of my major concerns:

I like to keep my place very neat. I only eat or snack in the kitchen dining table. I will not bring food to the living room, home office, bedrom, etc.

The second, (No offence to no one please)I noticed when I went to the Philippines that frying food is a big hit there. I like frying food but I refuse to cook it in the house. It makes a big mess in the kitchen and also it is not healthy at all.

We will see how we can work out those things . One thing for sure, I like to make her at home and happy so some of my rules will need to be bend..for the love of her now that was sweet ?

I also keep a tidy house but from what I've seen and talked to her about it won't be an issue. However I didn't think about the fried foods. I notice the same thing when I visited the PI but dismissed it as a difference in culture. I fry pretty much nothing. I go to the gym and run long distance at least 3 times a week and fried food is not even remotely healthy. We will have to discuss this and come to a conclusion together. Thanx.

Yea, a lot of thos questions you will have to ask her yourself.. because only she knows what she would like and not like and if she would be sad and emotional. Make sure to communicate with her because that is very important.. if you dont she could feel even worse and more lonely if you dont talk with her and make sure things are ok.

I would say if she needs to rearange things to make her feel more comfortable let her. Moving to a new country and leaving everything you knew behind is a huge huge thing and you will need to probably be more understanding towards her.

No doubt I'll do anything to make her feel comfy and welcome. I guess what I'm looking for is an idea of something I haven't thought of.

The wife gets here in 1 week. I'm kinda wondering what's gonna happen. I mean, Is she gonna be on an emotional roller coaster or is it gonna be like everything is good. Plus what is she gonna like and dislike about things here. Will she rearrange everything in the house? I like to watch some football and have a beer or two on the weekend, will that be cool? These are only a few, a thousand more have been running through my brain. My VJ brothers, please let me know the good and the bad of when your Asawa got to the good 'ol US of A. Thanks so much.

That's pretty retarded, frankly.

I was a state wrestling champion and all-american when younger. I have black belts in both Judo and Tae Kwon Do, won a lot of state and regional titles in those, qualifying for nationals in both of them, and ran a business teaching them for my main income many years. I was also a state boxing finalist in two different states. In coaching I had three national records at the same time our team had the nation's longest winning streak.

You may behave in whatever reckless manner you choose. But recommending it to others is where you cross a line I have to disagree with professionally.

Professionally the problem with your approach is that one never knows where the knife, the gun, or the posse might be just waiting on your assault. All the other person did was harass you. You propose responding with violence - punching them in the face as hard as you can. Their (them, a friend, their posse) next response with fatal violence is justified, and you are a foreigner living in their country.

We learn to always be aware of our surroundings in martial arts, and we learn to avoid rather than to strike out with pre-emptive violence. We learn to control our pride because it can kill us. The five tenets of Tae Kwon Do are: Courtesy, Integrity, Perseverence, Self-Control, and Indomitable Spirit. There is no place for the kind of reaction you are promoting, and my God it would be one thing for me to take on a street thug but another thing for Average Joe with absolutely no training.

This is a professional approach and one I ran a business of, including an entire division within he PE department at the University of Iowa. My main training partner was Ned Ashton back then. He runs the program I started there now, both for the University and the club I founded. I am just a guy living off in a cabin in the woods now.

There are times when you have to stand up to bullies. But the way you stand up to them is highly circumstantial and furthermore is rarely with the kind of response you have recommended. I've had to knock people out cold with a spinning backfist and I have had to simply endure harassment in order to buy my fish and go on about my business. The times I have responded with violence, and it is extremely rare, is when I was in a position of having no other choice. I had over 20 years competing against highly trained athletes. I have nothing to prove and plenty to lose by whacking a drunk.

The kinds of threats I face on Mindanao are quite serious because our house is built very close to the border of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Dealing with that problem in the way you have described is literally suicidal. I keep a very low profile, and there have been times I have gotten off the Jeepney because my mere presence was offensive to a whole group of Muslims stepping on the Jeepney as it stopped in the Muslim section of Iligan.

I cannot recommend strongly enough against what you have said. If it had been attended with something suggestive of humor, I would have ignored it. But it wasn't, and you have a strong theme of super-cocky talk running through your posting history.

It may very well be a post you merely thought you could bait and needle people with. That's the whole point of toying with people. Their feelings and time are of zero value, annoying them is fun, and they deserve it because they are not as smart and sophisticated as your highness.

But people on this forum are going to be over there and in the chance someone has read such things and takes them seriously then there is real risk of serious harm coming to them by adopting the attitude you are suggesting.

Can't take a joke?

Got the wife plane tickets goin' from Manila to Detroit then to Norfolk Va. Has anyone been through immigration in Detroit lately? If you have, could you letme know how it went and give me any tips I can pass on. I routed her through Detroit because I thought it would be easier than JFK or Atlanta. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I have a question regarding the G-325 form. I recently married my wife and do I use my last name as her's now(family name) when filling this form out and I just found out that when a Philipina woman marries, her middle name will drop and is replaced by her family name. Is this true? So now the passport photos we took will have to be replaced since we used her old middle name?

Tony

Yes. This screwed me up too. I didn't find out till the NVC stage. Fortunately NVC changed it with a simple phone call.

Finally talked to the wife. She let me know the interview went fine and the visa has been approved. Just waiting for delivery and a plane ride now.

256p

Thanks

Hello fellow VJ's....just want to share my happiness! finally got an interview date today...OCTOBER 4!

Congrats!!!!!

Don't know when they pick up, sorry. However would you know how much AIR21 charges to deliver visas?

Hello fellow VJ's....JUST WANT TO SHARE MY HAPPINESS TO YOU ALL....MY CASE WAS COMPLETED TODAY (Aug 17)...THANKS TO ALL...just waiting for my appointment letter for my interview this week..THANKS AGAIN! And to those who are still waiting to be SIF/Case Complete....your turn will be next....Am sure for that....God BLess!

Congrat's!!!!

What time is yours?

Ours is 7am that same day!!!!!!!!!!!!

7 am also. This is so cool.

Thank you all for your Well Wishes.

Got us an interview date baby!!!! 7 September. Gettin' exciting now.

It took exactly a month to the day for them to get done with it. I guess I don't wait very well.

The NVC is done with our case (finally). However it's been so long I kinda forgot what comes next.

The NVC has had my stuff forever!!!!!!