After waiting nearly a year for his visa, The Boy has finally arrived! And anyway, I figured it was about damn time I broke my blog vow of silence on the subject. Especially since I'm going to marry him.
Like immigrants of American yore, The Boy arrived with only his suitcases to his name. Suitcases which enclosed many delicious treats from Belgium, like Speculoospasta. Also plenty of liquor, but let's not mention that part in case Customs is reading this.
Just like the tales of many other immigrants, Tim's name has been unwillingly changed by various brainless officials. Usually they just smush the 2 words together into "Vanaelst", but my favorite, Geico, called him just "Van" on his auto insurance. I'm pretty relieved that in Belgian tradition, I don't have to change my name upon marriage - who knows what might happen if I did.
Worst of all, like many other immigrants, Tim is unable to go back to his home country. Not because of financial strife or war (although come to think of it, Belgium has been without a government for a year). No, it's because of immigration rules: K1 visa holders cannot leave the US until they get their green card. This takes 6-8 months, if you're lucky or if you have a relative who works at US immigrations.
Snide comments aside, this rule certainly curtails our international travel plans for a while. But not to worry - Tim and I have already bought tickets for our honeymoon, as far away in the US as you can get: Anchorage, Alaska. Maybe we'll be able to see Russia from our hotel!
3 comments:
You just might, who knows :)
Congratulations on the engagement!! I'm very happy for the both of you. I hope we get to read about the proposal, you have a knack for telling stories in a highly enjoyable manner.
I sure hope to read more from you, soon-to-be Mrs Tim Van ;)
thanks for the good wishes, Rudy! where are you these days?
Oops, sorry for the late reply. I'm in London, England. We've just had a 3-day weekend thanks to a bank holiday (for which there is absolutely no underlining reason. Not complaining, though :)
If you're around town one day, be sure to drop me an email and we can hang out. Not going to be anytime soon (Alaska first) but do know my door is open to the both of you. Speaking of Alaska, I'd highly recommend you guys go to Wasilla. I hear it's a wonderful town with some wonderful folks :) Also, there's a lake (if you don't fancy talking to the locals, lol ;)
Post a Comment