Don Posted October 12, 2007 Report Share Posted October 12, 2007 This is great, congratualtions. Have fun back in IL. I can not wait till i can my "wife to IL to see the cornfields. Some thing about driving thru them for miles and seeing the light, the light is different when you have corn all around. Again have a great trip and now you can relax for a bit. Link to comment
mikepellicore Posted October 12, 2007 Report Share Posted October 12, 2007 CONGRATULATIONS ! ! ! ! ! Dave & ChristineMike & Zhen Link to comment
jim_julian Posted October 12, 2007 Report Share Posted October 12, 2007 Dave ... congratulations to both of you from all of us. Lao Po and I just read the report and we are both amazed that Christine knew about both the Cubs and brand X from the South Side. That answer alone should have been enough to ice the visa. Did she say ..."let's play two?" Link to comment
Guest hi5pro Posted October 12, 2007 Report Share Posted October 12, 2007 Congratulations!! DaveThanks for the very detailed story. Best wishes, Gino & Lulu Link to comment
David&Wendy Posted October 12, 2007 Report Share Posted October 12, 2007 CONGRATS! :mbounce: Link to comment
NYTIMES Posted October 12, 2007 Report Share Posted October 12, 2007 GREAT STORY!!! AND BEST WISHES FOR A SAFE TRIP BACK HOME....CONGRATS!!!! Link to comment
I love Sunshine Posted October 12, 2007 Report Share Posted October 12, 2007 An excellent report, Illinois Dave! You feel you are preparing for "Jeopardy": they could ask anything, and you have to be fully prepared for anything, ready to give the VO at the slightest whim. And I'm so glad you go the PINK! Enjoy your time with your SO and hurry back to the US with her. CONGRATULATIONS! Link to comment
SirLancelot Posted October 12, 2007 Report Share Posted October 12, 2007 A huge and hearty CONGRATULATIONS to you and Christine!! Well done! And the pink for Shanghai ladies streak continues. Have a safe trip back to the States next week. Link to comment
RLS Posted October 12, 2007 Report Share Posted October 12, 2007 Excellent, Dave. A big congratulations. Now, enjoy it. Link to comment
clayton2103 Posted October 12, 2007 Report Share Posted October 12, 2007 (edited) WAY TO GO DAVE!!! Thanks for giving me hope with your success! I laugh myself as I pour hour upon hour into our "kitchen sink." I surely wish you and Christine the very best and a wonderful future together. I am so envious. Clayton Edited October 12, 2007 by clayton2103 (see edit history) Link to comment
rogerinca Posted October 12, 2007 Report Share Posted October 12, 2007 WAY TO GO DAVE!!! Thanks for giving me hope with your success! I laugh myself as I pour hour upon hour into our "kitchen sink." I surely wish you and Christine the very best and a wonderful future together. I am so envious. Clayton Clayton, you are as SOLID as Dave was in his quest !! You have 4 visits under your belt, and you are a nice man !!! Heck, I am [envious] of both you and Dave, for being where you are in the process, at this date. Again David, I am so happy for your success !!! And for you Clayton, I will have the very same message for you.....very soon !! Link to comment
esun41 Posted October 13, 2007 Report Share Posted October 13, 2007 CONGRATULATIONS!!! Good write up as well. I am very happy for you both... Come home safely! Link to comment
michaelt Posted October 13, 2007 Report Share Posted October 13, 2007 Sorry I'm just getting this posted. We had to get out of Mr. Yang's right after the interview yesterday and then ran around GUZ getting the medical stuff taken care of before heading back to Shenzhen last night. Too tired to do anything but eat and crash after we got back. I would first give a very detailed account of my experience at ACH on Monday if it weren't for the fact that I didn't have one. Like an idiot, I didn't bother to check a calender before I went to see if there were any obscure holidays on Oct. 8th that might pose a problem. So I decide while I'm sitting in the hotel room on Saturday after I got here to log into the consulate website to make sure they would be open on Monday. Oops. Colombus Day? Crap!! So much for ACH. As for our interview experience, it was pretty straight-forward. We decided at the last minute to stay at Mr. Yang's the night before. Only met his assistant,Miss Lei (spelling?), who was very helpful. We got in line about 6:45 and there was already maybe 30 to 40 people in line. We met fellow CFLer Kungpow and his lovely wife who happened to get in line just in front of us. After the guy with the bullhorn ordered us out of the queue we went up to the 4th floor to find the famous coffee shop and for Kungpow to take care of some last minute business when the consulate opened at 9am. (I'll let him give the details if he chooses as well as his results) While we were standing around on the 4th floor, I realized I was holding something in my hand that definately shouldn't have been there. Only the bag containing all the documents my SO needed for her interview! Holy Crap Batman!! So I made a mad dash back downstairs expecting Christine to be frantically looking for me. But, she was just standing there in line calmly chatting with Kungpow's wife as if nothing out of the ordinary was going on. I thought maybe she hadn't realized that she didn't have the bag. So I profusely apologized and she just smiled and said "We knew you would be back Darling. You were just holding my heavy bag for me." Are our gals great or what? Crisis averted I headed back up to the 4th floor to wait along with Kungpow. It was nice to have another CFLer, who also happens to be from Illinois, there to chat with. It made the time go much faster. Our conversation was interrupted only by the occasional chattering outburst of loud,very fast talking female voices trying to corral people into the offices after they finished their interviews. I'd say it was about even between blue and pink except for the very first gal who had a very angry look on her face and a white slip in her hand. I have to say it was kind of sad to see the ones with the blue slips even though some may have deserved them. We hadn't waited very long before I saw Kungpow's wife coming down the hall. Again, I'll let him give you their results. After they left, I waited for what seemed an eternity until about 11:15. Then I saw my Christine coming down the hall with a smile on her face and I was pretty sure what the results were. When she got to me I said,"Did you get it Sweetie?" She smiled and said "Yes, I got the pink." That was the happiest moment of my life. A mixture of equal parts joy and relief. Finally we didn't have to worry anymore about I-129fs and ds-156s and I-134s and saving receipts and photo-copying phone bills and credit card statements and all the rest. At least for this part of the process anyway. Then we left and went up to our apartment in Mr. Yang's to check out before noon. We headed over to the medical center to get her international health documents taken care of and then back over to Shamian Island to get her innoculations. I've seen more of the grimy streets of Guangzhou than I ever care to see again let me tell ya. After the shots it was back on the bus to Shenzhen and the peace and quiet of a hotel room with air conditioning and hot water. Now for the interview details:Christine walked up to the window and as she took out her folders and put them on the counter with both our passports on top the SO (Korean/American guy) said "Nihao." She replied in English, "Good morning sir" and he started asking questions right away: VO: How did you meet your fiancee?SO: On the internet. VO: Which website?SO: Chinalove. VO: Who does your fiancee work for?SO: She tells him. VO: When did you date your fiancee?SO: Do you mean meeting in person or on phone or email? VO: When did you feel you wanted a relationship?SO: Last September. VO: How many times did you meet in person?SO: 3 times. VO: Including this time? (he obviously noticed the passport)SO: He's downstairs.VO: I know. (smiles) VO: When did you meet in person?SO: In February. VO: How many days?SO: about 10. VO: When was the second time?SO: May, we've met in person about 24 days including this trip.VO: Can I see the taxes?She wasn't sure which docs he wanted so she gave him all of them including the returns and transcripts from the last 3 years plus the W2 copies and originals. He looked them all over and handed them back.. VO: Can I look at your pictures?She hands them over. He notices one of the top pictures and says: VO: Oh, you can buy Cubs t-shirts here?SO: No, my fiancee brought it to me from USA. VO: Oh, he;s a Cubs fan?SO: Yes. VO: What about the Sox?SO: His sister is a Sox fan.VO laughs. Christine said the interview was very relaxed in general and the VO was very friendly, especially when they were talking about the Cubs. It's the first time in my life being a Cubs fan might have actually done me some good. They joked a little about my job, he typed for a minute and said: "Congratulations, you get the visa. Don't forget to make arrangements with China Post to have the visa mailed."Christine said "Thank you, nice to meet you" and that was it. She said the whole thing lasted less than 5 minutes. Countless hours putting together all those documents and worrying about the smallest details and which ones should be notarized and certified and sterilized and all he wanted to see was pictures and tax returns. Oh well, whaddya gonna do right? We still have the whole AOS/green card part of the process to go through but I just want to take this opportunity to thank everyone at Candle for all the help we've received so far. There's no way we would have gotten to this point this fast or this successfully were it not for this website and all the great people here. I know I'm not the first nor will I be the last to say what an invaluable resource this is for anyone going through this process. I'll do my best to give back as much as I can to those following. We still have to pick up the visa at the post office hopefully on Saturday and then we'll head back next Tuesday. That's our story and we're sticking to it. Sorry for the length but I wanted to be as detailed as I could in case it may in some small way help others in the pipeline. Good luck to all who have interviews coming up. Holy cow Dave and Christine!!!!!!!!!!! Congratulations!!!!! Holy cow!!!!!!!I am so happy for the two of you and feel so much relief for you and your sweet Christine!!!!! Good for you buddy and please do keep good wishes going "our way". I'm nervous. You better stay with me on this one!!!!! (and thanks again for your two cents on vaccinations). I'll ask my honey her thoughts after I copy your e-mail (both this one and vaccination) to her and get her opinion. I KNOW she will be so happy to hear about your wonderful news!!! BTW, you guys are welcome to visit us in sunny South Florida if you ever need a winter break. My honey would love to meet yours. : ) Link to comment
Dennis143 Posted October 13, 2007 Report Share Posted October 13, 2007 Sorry for the length but I wanted to be as detailed as I could in case it may in some small way help others in the pipeline. Dern, don't apologize for such a nice write-up. Congratulations!! Hope you don't forget about us. Link to comment
tsap seui Posted October 13, 2007 Report Share Posted October 13, 2007 Way to go!!! What great news Dave. I'm so happy for you both, and I know Clayton, Michael, Rob, and the others will follow you in the pink cloud. Take care, tsap seui Link to comment
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