New Plans on the Horizon

So there are lots of exciting events in the works! After Otto got his visa, the next step was for us to buy airplane tickets. I went to a travel agent in Chiang Mai recommended by my friend Nadine. He was sooo helpful and found us cheap tickets and gave us some extra time to come up with the money. So now we will officially be home from September 30-October 23. We hope to make a few mini-trips during the week to Chicago, Bloomington, St. Louis and maybe even Western to visit my brother. Weekends we will be in Springfield helping my family get ready for my sister's wedding on October 17. I'm really excited for her and Josh. I think it's going to be a wonderful day and I can't wait for Otto to experience the extravagance of an American wedding. It's gonna be great!

Also, just found out that my good friends from high school Emily and Matt will be visiting in late November. I'm excited to show them around northern Thailand, take them to Chiang Mai and have them visit my house in Lampang. I haven't seen both of them in over 4 years so it will be so nice to catch up and also to introduce them to Otto.

I'm also hoping that my brother Ryan and his girfriend Whitney will be able to visit in December. He really wants to come over Christmas and New Years but we just need to talk my mom into letting them come here by themselves. I would love to see them especially since I get so homesick around the holidays. It will also be Whitney's first time in Asia so it will be a great opportunity for her.

We are still contemplating a big move for next year. Need to start looking at jobs in Vancouver and if not, think of a back-up plan. There are so many places in the world that I still want to travel to or even live in. However, I'm really starting to miss my family and hopefully if we move to the same continent, I will be able to visit home more often. Happy summer to everyone!

Summer Pictures!

Sorry i have been a slacker about getting these up but here are a few highlights from the past couple months.

Otto and I spent our anniversary at this amazing hotel. First of all our fantastic bed:



Me getting ready for dinner in the Monkey Room


The interesting swimming pool with sculpture:


Me in front of the Rooster Room


Ready for our anniversary dinner


We hosted a 4th of july party at the house. here's a pic with all my lampang ladies!


I organized a trivia competition at Yonok. I look like a real professor!




And a couple pics from a night at the Yacht Club!
Sally and me


Rick and Chan and baby's on the way!


Awesome new friends Gary and Katherine


Beautiful Thai ladies: Ben, Parn and Chan


And a pic of me and Gaye who's back from Bahrain on holiday.

Visa Trauma

Honestly, the past two months of our lives have been spent preparing for, worrying about, and doing everything in our power to get Otto a tourist visa to America. The consulate works under the assumption that everyone in the world wants to defect to the US and also that you are guilty of doing so until you can prove to them exactly why you will return to your home country. I spent weeks preparing a scrapbook of our relationship to prove that we are legitimate. My parents spent I don't know how much time and money preparing documents for sponsorship. They had to get an affidavit from a lawyer confirming that they would cover any medical costs if Otto were to fall ill. They also had to compile tax returns, letters from their employers, bank statements, invitations, etc. Once we had all the documents we needed, Otto had to buy a PIN number to be able to access the consulate website in order to make an appointment. Then he had to go to a specific post office to buy an envelop (which cost $100). I suppose this is in lieu of the interview fee but it seems a bit pricey especially considering that there's no guarantee of getting a visa.

A little bit of a back story: During the summer, the consulate in Chiang Mai came to visit my school in Lampang and also had a party for all American citizens in Lampang. I, of course, regaled him with questions the minute I got a chance to talk with him and hoped that he would possibly remember me when Otto went to apply for a visa. Then just last week, we had some Taiko drummers visiting from Stanford. They gave a performance in Lampang which was also attended by the consulate. I had heard that the group was playing in Chiang Mai the next day and wanted to get information so Otto could go to the show. I went to talk to the former president of my university who was sitting next to the consulate. I asked if the show in C.M. was open to the public and was told that it was invitation only. The consulate turned and told me to give him Otto's name and information and he would put him on the list. So Otto turned up at the Consulate the next day for this Taiko drumming show and said that he felt completely out of place. Apparently it was a show for the consulate staff and a few Americans in Chiang Mai. Luckily, Otto met some nice PhD students who didn't seem too intimidating and I think it was a good opportunity to see the inside of the consulate before his interview. I also said that it would be good if the staff at the consulate had seen him there. This show was less than a week before his interview so I thought it might help him.

The day of the interview came along and Otto said they asked him about 4 questions and wanted to see some of my documents. Unfortunately we hadn't prepared my documents because we thought it was more important for him to have the documents from my parents since they were going to be his sponsors. So they told him to get my passport, work permit, contract, etc and come back for another appointment two days later. They also asked if I was at the consulate but I didn't go with him because the website stated that Americans aren't allowed into the interview with their Thai partners. So I decided I'd better come for the second interview in case they wanted to talk with me. That day, we got all dressed up, checked over our documents once again, and I kept asking Otto tons of interview questions. They gathered my documents, didn't ask him any more questions and just said, "We'll call you." Otto asked if they wanted to talk with me and they said, "No." We were both so frustrated. They didn't even look at the documents that my parents had painstakingly gathered. They didn't look at his certificate of land ownership and they didn't look at my scrapbook! Also, we didn't know what all of this meant. Were they going to call him back for another interview? What was our next step? The waiting was excruciating.

They kept his passport and a few documents and kept ALL of my documents. Otto commented, "I'm the one applying for a visa but they seem more concerned about you." So we were completely unclear about what was going to happen when Otto got his passport back in the mail today with a 10-year visa inside. Whew! I can sympathize with anyone who has to go through this process and after talking to so many different people and hearing their stories, I realize that we actually had a pretty easy experience. Thank god we don't have to go through this again for another 10 years. Now, onto the next big hurtle: saving up enough cash for our round-trip tickets. America, here we come!