Etcetera

I feel lazy today , it’s already 8am and I feel like going back to bed. I haven’t seen any sunlight and we will experience rain showers today. I heard it awhile ago in the radio, the percentage is 90. When I went with hubby in the garage this morning, t’was freezing cold. And as always, I run inside our house right after he drives his way to his office. As expected, he has his amused smile again.

When the weather is below 30F, he would let me get inside the house first before he’ll open our garage door and leave. But I can see that I was able to adjust..as times pas by. I’m ok with 70F now and I don’t get colds or sneeze right away, unlike the first few weeks of having the cold weather.

And when it comes to shower talk, neither of us takes shower when our heater is not on hehe. Our bathroom is freezing cold, the only carpeted floor was our walk in closets -the rest are a tiled one. I used to love cold showers, I love the chilly feelings plus its too humid in the Philippines that’s why hot shower is not in my vocabulary on those times. But I don’t think I can take cold showers anymore, not here in the States.

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I have a terrible headache today and I think I got this from the weather. It’s too cold, I always shiver. I’m even sneezing..that’s why I haven’t been online since this morning. Hopefully I’ll get well soon. By the way, I and hubby are watching my favorite team New England Patriots playing right now.

They’re playing against Baltimore Ravens. You know, NFL or NCAAF games are so challenging for each of the teams right now. Why? It is because of the weather. There are stadium’s that are open field and the temperature could go below 50 with sometimes a strong gust of wind. Ew..that’s a tough one huh?

But well, winners will always have the heart of a winner

Game update: (1st quarter) The score is 7 for Baltimore and 3 for my NE..ouch!!

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I’ve been so lazy today, I did not made any post since the morning until now that I feel like writing something. It was freaking freezing cold when I get up, I’m glad that our heater kicked in before I lay my feet in our carpet. Whew, I’m really having a hard time adjusting with a very cold weather. I haven’t seen the sun today and we have a 30F degrees since the morning. Last summer, we would always had a discussion with our AC in the house.

He wants to have at least 70 to 74F and I want 80F. Imagine, we have the 80F degrees inside our house and I would still cover my body with our blanket when we would sleep. He would always ask me, “Babe, aren’t you hot inside the blanket?” (he doesn’t use any blanket and he’s even sweating). And I would reply “No, I feel so comfortable and I always sleep like a baby like this”. And he would laugh and would tease me that somebody’s going to complain during the winter. But you know, I got used to 74F although I would always wear pants, it was fine. But when it goes below that, its a different story. That’s why, right now..its really tough and tomorrow, I’ll get me a blanket with a heater and MORE SWEATERSSSSSS and PANTSSSSSS.

This made me realize though, that life is always fair. When I was still in the Philippines, I would always complain about the weather. I would even ask that why is it that we are tropical and we don’t have four season (I was so foolish back then). My God, if we have four season in the Phils, I don’t know if people will survive. We’re even having a hard time to meet our end (buy the basic needs) how much more having a different weather and dealing with different sickness and different basic needs? God is really great, He knows how to balance.

Last summer, I’ve been complaining about my sinusitis, I can’t go out in the sun for longer because I’ll suffer after. When fall season was here, I’m having some allergies from pollen and is susceptible to flu. And currently, a runny and bleeding nose is always bothering me. Haaay buhay. Do I sound like I’m complaining? No I’m not..don’t think about that, I’m just sharing how is life here in the States. My adjustment with the weather is getting tougher but it’s ok, I’ll get by.

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We don’t have sun today and when we got up around 8am, the wind breeze is cold. I remember, hubby was telling me that there is a posibility that we will have snow today. Hmmm, I’m excited. That would be my first time to see the real snow.float right side =

So hubby and Steph picked up our Thanksgiving meal in the base and I stayed at home to finish preparing our table. When they got back, all we did was to warm the food and after an hour and a half, we had our meal. Of course, we took pictures too (I’ll share it later).

The whole meal we ordered came with an apple pie and I’m telling you, the apple pie is SO GOOD. We enjoyed eating our food and became sleepy after we’re full. We did not took any nap though, we’re here in our living room watching NFL. It’s Green Bay Packers vs. Detroit Lions. I and hubby both like GB so were cheering for them. Later today, college football is on. It’s my USC (University of California) vs. Arizona State. This would be a good game.

By the way, my husband says our table setting looks beautiful . I owe that to my mom in Davao , I got my design instincts from her. Thanks Mom Feym. And hey, I have my first snow today. We tried walking earlier in our block but we weren’t able to walk more further because it was too cold (imagine we’re wearing fur jackets and pants but still I was shaking). And after we eat and sat here in the living room, Steph saw the first fall of the snow. Ahhhh, it was awesome, so beautiful.

It’s really amazing. Right now, the snow stopped and I can see the mountains now (awhile ago I can’t, it was covered with falling snow). That’s a nice glimpse of the snow in my first Thanksgiving .

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I received an inquiry about the timeline of the visa delivery after the approval from Manila US Embassy. Well, the answer is –it varies. If the delivery is within Metro Manila, it will only take 3 to 5 working days but if it’s in the province like General Santos City, Surigao Del Sur and etc; it takes 7 and more working days.After the approval, Us Embassy staff will give an instruction that you will pay for the delivery fee of your visa. During my time, the delivery fee was P160 (hence I live in General Santos City). The UPS Delbros kiosk is adjacent to the Consul’s room, so you can see it right away. In fact, upon entering the room for Visa processors, this is located at the entrance on the left side.

After paying the visa delivery, the receipt that will be issued will have a tracking number. This tracking number is VERY IMPORTANT. This is your only mode (unless you’ve memorized/or have a back up copy) so you can track/ will know the movement of your visa package. One thing more, if you’ve written your cellphone number when you fill up the form on visa delivery info, UPS Delbros will text you about the movement of your visa delivery.

The visa imprinting/processing will take like 3 days (this is what happened to mine) then when it is ready, the Embassy will turn it over to UPS Delbros and cued for delivery.

Here’s the link where you can track your visa delivery:

http://www.delbros.com

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I had my two wisdom tooth removed today and it hurts . I had 4 shots of injection each tooth and they stitch it after removing the teeth. How I hate the injection but what can I do? I was so scared in the dentist clinic, I was even trembling..I can’t control my fear on that time. Its as if I’m in a death chamber..

I almost fainted inside the operating room, luckily the staff are so friendly and they were talking to me so I was calm before the operation started.  Right now, I’m taking 4 types of med and it helped a lot. Hence Carlo is in the USAF, all of my meds are free.  My gums is swollen both from the extraction (they even stitch it) and also from the injection..haay life.

I would like to thank my mom in-law, she was with me and my hubby when I had my operation. She was so nice that she waited patiently (you know how fast and busy it is here in the States) and was so concern after seeing me right when I get out of the operating room.  It’s only wisdom tooth but its painful, my very first time to have 8 injection in my whole life .

Haay buhay

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This is my checklist during my k1-visa processing:

I. The petitioner must be (any of the 3 choices):
a. Natural born U.S. citizen,

b. Naturalized US Citizen – in our case, he was naturalized (my hubby is a pure blooded filipino but they migrated here in the US when he was young so he is a naturalized US citizen)

c. Born outside US but with US Citizen parents

II. Requirements in Filing K1 visa (petitioner needs to send this to USCIS):

• I-129F [My husband (formerly my fiance) completed and signed this form]

• Letter of Intent to Marry [both of us]

• Birth Certificate [Certified copy for my hubby and an NSO BC for me]

• G-325A [both of us completed and signed 1 form each]

• Passport-style color photo [both of us]

• We provide copies of evidence we have met in person. (Pictures, some chat conversation, photocopies of his receipts during his visit, stamped passport and/or boarding pass)

• FEE of $455 - for us, we only paid $170, they recently raised their fees and it started last July 30th, 2007.

• Certified copy of Divorce Decree – Hence my fiance was married before.

Downloadable:

• I-129F – Click on that link to download the I-129F form.

• G-325A – Click on the link to download the form.

• I-129F Instruction – List of instruction for I-129F filing.

My hubby filed/send his petition at the California Service Center because New Mexico belongs to the California USCIS office. And for the lists of areas where the USCIS branches served, I’ll refer you to the I-129F form. The I-129F form has the guide and its complete.

I know it looks easier, that’s what I thought when I first check it…. but I was wrong. The filling up of the forms takes a LOT of time. There are questions that are tricky and most of the forms are not savable. Meaning, you need to print it before you turn off your PC because you cannot save what you typed. You can save the form itself but whatever you typed in there, you cannot save it. Like me, my schedule was hectic on that time. I was finishing my school and I have a 9 to 5 regular job and here comes the visa paperworks…it drained me a lot.

Or else, one thing that you can do too is you can use a correctional fluid for the corrections later. But I’m not fond of this because it sometimes look messy, anyway, its up to you. One technique that hubby and I used was, we do it together. Like when he filled up the I-129F form, we are also talking/chatting online. If he is confused on something, he can ask me right away and I can research it and browse it online while he continue filling up the form. After he is done, he copied and saved it in an image file (jpeg) and send it to me. I can then correct it (of course the I-129F has my informations too) or I’ll do the double checking just to make sure, we’re doing the right thing. You might be wondering why did I said that the form is not savable but I then said that he can save it as an image file. To lighten you up, the USCIS forms are all in an acrobat file, hence we cannot what we typed, we used the “Print Screen” and “Ctrl V” method or in short, the copy and paste.

Print Screen in our keyboard functions as ‘copy’ so whenever you hit that, it means you’re copying whatever is showing in your monitor. You can then open a MS Word, Power Point or any image editor, then press the Ctrl +V (you can find all of this in your keyboard) or else right click your mouse and hit ‘PASTE’. For me, I always use the ‘paint image editor’ because its easier and I feel comfy using it.

The checklist is based on my experience alone, it may be incomplete and inadequate (USCIS can change their forms anytime they want) so I am referring you the USCIS website to check for further clarification and verification.

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Medical Examination Day

I remember my medical exam at Saint Lukes (SLEC) was a pain in the butt. If you happen to hear the phrase ‘ hurry up and wait’, well, you’re in when doing the medical test.

I stayed in San Carlos Mansion, a few blocks away from SLEC and is a 5 minute walk from and to SLEC. I and 2 girls (who are also processing their fiancee visa) got up at 3 30am to prepare for our medical exam day.

Here are the things we prepared:

• 3pcs visa photo’s (put your name on the back of each photo’s)
• Passport (bring the original and photocopy the biographic page for 2 copies). The purpose of this is that, the original passport will not be given back by the SLEC staff because they are the one who will forward the passport as well as the medical result to US Embassy in Manila -for the interview. I needed the photocopies for my CFO seminar and as an identification.
• Appointment letter ( bring the appointment letter and have it photocopied also). The photocopy willbe collected by SLEC staff and they will verify it with the original. They will stamp the original to prove that the medical exam has been performed.
• Cost of the medical exam - $95.00 USD (for adults -15 years and older)
                                                       – $67.00 USD for children 14 years and below.
  - Repeat X-rays costs $7.00 USD/per person.

*Note: Memorize your fiance’s biographic information and the manila case number as you will need these information to fill up the PDS (Patient Data Sheet). If you do not know how to fill it up or doubtful of what to answer, do not hesitate to ask the SLEC staff. They may not be that friendly but they will help you fill it correctly. Also DO NOT leave any question blank, if it is not applicable to you, write N/A or NONE to minimize (if not prevent) delays.

We got at SLEC around 4 30am (and of course our agony starts at this very hour..lol), there were already 20+ people that are ahead of us. The guard give us priority number (priority numbers are used in the processing inside the SLEC), the guide on the medical test and the PDS. The medical test guide is a complete guide for the entire process of the medical exam. It shows direction and the time those designated offices (inside the SLEC) will open.

We filled up the PDS and left it to the guard (hence they don’t allow us to bring it outside the premise) because we are starving and besides, the SLEC operation starts at 5 30am. The priority number and the PDS forms are only a start up for the whole process..I may say.

We went back to SLEC around 6am and viola, there are more than hundred people who are inside the building. It was a chaotic, we gave our priority number to the guard inside the building and near registration booth. The function of the registration booth is to register us to their machine, they collect our PDS, the copy of the appointment letter and cued us for the picture taking. This is their copy of photo of all the applicants (I think for their database).

The next steps were to get all the needed medical tests; medical tests includes x-ray, urine test, physical exam, vaccination, eye test, etc. SLEC is a 4 story building and each of this test are taken on each of the floor. All of these tests need a lot of patience because SLEC is catering more than 1 country ( USA, Canada, Australia, etc) and each country holds lots of applicants, not to mention the 2nd day taker and also the re-taker (re-taker are those who failed the first test and needs re-test). So can you imagine how chaotic it was?

We weren’t able to get all our test on the first day so we went back again to SLEC on the next business day. At long last, even if we spent two days for our medical, our result was good.

I admit, I was OVERLY exhausted..the waiting period killed all my patience. Not to mention that I skipped meals just because I want to be there when they called my name. It wasn’t a good idea though but during that time, that’s the only possible thing that I can think of to minimize any delay.

Saint Luke’s Medical Center Extension Clinic Information:

Saint Luke’s Medical Center Extension Clinic
1177 J. Bocobo Street
Ermita, Manila
Contact Numbers: (2)-521-0020 or (2)-521-8647 or (2)-524-6083
Website: http://www.stluke.com.ph/

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