Still in Berlin...

...and still very very happy, but extremely, excruciatingly impatient. 49 days and counting. Average approval right now for people who applied with us is 40 days. Bad bad bad. That's us in St. Oberholz, my personal favorite cafe, perhaps anywhere, now that Paradiso is gone.

Status Update

EEJ in Berlin! Still no touches or anything from USCIS since 5 March.

44 Days and counting.

Leaving on a jet plane

Getting ready to hop on a plane to go see my love is just about the happiest think I can imagine.

Birthday 2008: Where is my mind? Glory Bound.

I don’t believe in perfect moments, but the occasional imperfect convergences are as close as life gets.

Birthdays have—with little exception—been rather non-eventful, but that has been fine by me. The tendency to build up events in one’s head for them to not meet expectations is potentially dangerous.

Today I turned 24, and—as nonsensical as it is—maybe that added to the way everything fitted together. As though, even in my internal world where the only absolute is that there are no absolutes, I was somehow certain that any doubts I might have about what I was doing, what I had done, and what I will be doing in the future vanished in the synthesis of several things.

Making it home, I walked down Norweger Straße, which here runs the course of the old Wall, for the first time since daylight savings began it was still light as I reached the house.

Leaving the S-Bahn my ears were accompanied by Marty singing Glory Bound which, as I got onto Norweger Straße, changed into The Pixies’ Where Is My Mind? At once it combined both the beginning of our relationship, as well as the present.

And the songs made me smile in spite of work being mundane, and that I felt more certain about things than before made me smile in spite of all the things I have left to do here, and that it was still light reminded me that you will soon be here, and that we may even have half of our process done by the time that you leave.

I can settle for imperfect convergences.

Status Update

I-129f was received by Vermont Service Center (USCIS/Homeland Security) on 8 February 2008.

We were last "touched" on 3 March 2008.

39 Days and counting.

Fungus on the Mill River

The flash makes for a rather horror-movie-like blue value, but the orange and yellow of this fungus - I think it's a Laetiporus sulphureus caught my eye. The blue haze caused by the flash plays up the bright color of the fungus, but it's also not unlike the dusky hue the woods took on that afternoon of one of my happiest days ever. We had been walking and talking and taking pictures all along the way and I knew that we would make it. I could wax poetic about brightness in the dark, but then I'd be likening our burgeoning happiness to a chunk of fungus
growing on a dead tree. It doesn't seem quite fitting.

The Laetiporus sulphureus is also called the "chicken of the woods," as it is apparently edible and very common. It grows on dead and decaying wood, in the summer and fall, usually. It also apparently has a strong, fungusy smell and a pleasant sourish taste. It doesn't quite work as an analogy, you see.

Also, for the record, this site is very useful for identifying fungi. This one, too.

K-1 To Do

Gray = done

• Need to write a check: Payment as required by USCIS. Use a personal check so you can track the payment.
• Need to write: Cover Letter. Should include a description of what you are petitioning for (I-129F), a table of contents (list everything in the packet). Make sure to sign and date the cover sheet.
• DONE: Form I-129F: Petition for Alien Fiance.
• Need to write: Declaration of how you met in person in the last two years. This should be a single typed page attachment regarding question 18 of the I-129F.
• Need to write: Original statements (from both the US Citizen and foreign fiance) certifying an intent to marry within 90 days of entering the US on a valid K-1.
• Need to gather and organize: Proof of having met in past two years.
• Copies of all airline boarding passes, train passes, itineraries, hotel receipts, passport stamps (make sure you can read the dates on the stamps), and other documentary evidence that you have met within the last two years. You may want to highlight or place post-it notes indicating the dates and locations on the copies (to make the adjudication easier) for the person reviewing your file.
• Do you have your flight itineraries or booking confirmations online? Send them to me?
• Also please scan/photocopy and send me all relevant pages of your passport.
• I can organize these: Color Photos of you and your fiance together. Make sure you write your names, date, and location on the back of every photo. Provide two to five photos. If you only have a single copy of the photo, then make a color copy and send that. If it is a digital photo, have it printed at a company such as kodakgallery.com. You can also make duplicates of photos at your local photo store (Walgreeens, CVS, etc). Place photos in a plastic bag or photo sheet and label the sheet. Note that you may not receive originals of photos back.
• The following items will not typically show proof of having met in the last two years however will show proof of an ongoing relationship: Copies of phone bills, cell phone bills, emails (you can edit personal info with a marker), letters (edit personal info also), stamps on the letters (to document the date they were sent), and other written documentary proof. Provide a reasonable amount; two to four of each type. Pick a range of dates up to and including the present. You can also include a copy of engagement ring receipt
• Should select some emails to send. Also do you have any of my letters with postmarks? I think I have a couple of yours.
• Also, I have the original engagement ring receipt. (Cleverly,) I had them put both of our names on it.
• DONE: G-325A (all four pages) filled out by the US Citizen signed and dated.
• Have to have one taken: One passport-type photo of the US Citizen.
• Need to figure this out: G-325A (all four pages) filled out by the foreign fiance(e) signed and dated.
• DONE: One passport-type photo of the foreign fiance(e).
• Still waiting for my mom to send me this: Copy of the Birth certificate (front and back) for the US Citizen or a copy of ALL pages of the US Citizen's passport issued with a validity of at least 5 years or a copy of the US Citizen's naturalization certificate (front and back). This is used to establish citizenship.