MENA CR1/K3/K1 filers

[Beth/ Paris Heart 2]

Yaaaay!! Sharifah

Beth,

Ive been meaning to send ya a message... how are you? how many days of AP now?

you've been in my thoughts

Hey Lisa!!!!!!!!!!! Im doing fine, day 30 of AP at NVC for the K3 oh well. Waiting on case complete at NVC on the CR-1

any day now.

GOOD! you went thru with the CR1 fast girlie!!

listen, I just want to warn you...i just remembered that we had a k3'er in out group that was pulled for AP on the k3, went with the CR1 and turned out it was in AP also...BUT, by the time she went thru the process and found out..it was only a few more days of AP after the case was complete.

UGH!! do you think I should ask NVC is CR-1 is in AP also? or will it be put into AP after case complete, and cant log into NVC anymore??

[100% Al Ahly Fan 53]

Can't hurt to ask, Beth, but I think another day or so and you'll be login fail too.

[Y's_habibitk 2]

Ya, may as well ask and then you'll know for sure if its in or not....they pull them both at the same time. So if its been 30 for the K3, its been 30 for the CR1 too.

[Amoon 0]

I had a 1 1/2 hour meeting first thing this morning to take minutes for followed by a 2 1/2 hour training on how to run some reports & format & compare spreadsheets and it was overload! I can't focus now because my brain hurts! I even got an iced coffee at lunch and I still can't pull it together. Thank goodness I only have 40 minutes left to go.

[Donna A 4]

I am faced with an AOS situation myself. Olivia

We will have to explain and prove why he got a visa in June...and did not use it til December

In my eyes...if a visa is issued it should be used. I hope when we get to the AOS process, the interviewer see it 'his way'.

I told him today that after Eid I want him to be more persistant in getting approval to leave Jordan. It's time. I'm losing patientce fast.

Jackie

the same thing happened with us. he got his visa in the begining of may and didnt come here until the end of august. i know its not 6 months but almost 4. it was never braught up at the interview at all.

he still had to finish he contract in saudi arabia so he couldnt come because of work either.

[meowmeowmeow 1]

We had our interview today and we were approved. They would not let us come back and pick up the visa, so we have to wait until it comes in the mail. The lady that took the documents was nice but the one who interviewed us was not. As far as I know he did not get AP...he got the welcome to the united states of america letter, but the lady was so rude to us that I don't trust her. I won't believe it until I see it. :-P

congrats!!!!!!!!!!! that's awesome!!!!

[~Jackie~ 30]

Thx for that Donna This whole process is unnerving me and just when we are so close, I'm falling apart.

Jackie

[Kenza 1]

Thx for that Donna This whole process is unnerving me and just when we are so close, I'm falling apart.

Jackie

Seriously Jackie! These last couple of weeks are killing me! It's soooo close but not close enough lol

[100% Al Ahly Fan 53]

CASE COMPLETE!

They said call back next week to see if an interview has been schuduled!! WOO HOO! I am so FRIGGIN happy! So much for the the stinkypants I had on earlier this week, got me a clean pair of drawers on today!!

[Y's_habibitk 2]

AWESOME!

[Beth/ Paris Heart 2]

CASE COMPLETE!

They said call back next week to see if an interview has been schuduled!! WOO HOO! I am so FRIGGIN happy! So much for the the stinkypants I had on earlier this week, got me a clean pair of drawers on today!!

CONGRATS CHICKIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Amoon 0]

CASE COMPLETE!

They said call back next week to see if an interview has been schuduled!! WOO HOO! I am so FRIGGIN happy! So much for the the stinkypants I had on earlier this week, got me a clean pair of drawers on today!!

Mabrook!!! Woooohoooo!

Ok..I know this will be super long, but I wanted to try it out on you ladies. I came across this short story I wrote a couple of years ago and wanted to see what you thought (seems long, but it really is a short story). Let me know what you think and if it seems interesting.

Did you ever regret not doing something when you had the chance? Did you ever think you had forgotten about someone you knew for years?

It was a hot July day. I was running around doing work errands and it was time for lunch. I couldn’t think of what I wanted to eat, so I just ducked into the nearest sandwich shop near work. I walked up to the counter and placed a to-go order, signed my debit card slip, and got my cup for a drink. I turned to head to the drink machine and it hit me like an icy wave. I felt like a wet noodle and a rush of emotion flooded over me. I thought for sure I had gotten rid of that feeling a long time ago. Was there somewhere I went wrong? I thought my heart had been purged of that sensation. But there he was, waiting for his food. At first I just glimpsed him from the side, but I automatically knew who it was, no doubt in my mind. He was standing right beside the drink machine, right where I needed to go. It was a small sandwich shop and there was no where else to go to escape. A million thoughts ran through my head in just seconds trying to figure out what to do. How do you face someone you loved for so long, but always kept you as second best? I flipped my hair back, sucked in my stomach, bit my lip and walked over to the machine. The place was crowded, but I thought for sure he would notice me since he was practically standing right beside me. I felt like I was going to throw ice all over the place. I felt that nervous twitch all over my body, but I kept it under control. I filled up my glass with ice, then soda. Now what? I still had to stand somewhere to wait for my food. My heart couldn’t decide what to do, run away or just say hello. I felt if I said hello my voice would be so shaky that he would think I was crazy. But then again, it felt like my lips were glued together, like the higher power didn’t want me to open my mouth. But I wanted to know what he was up to, what was going on in his life. And in that same exact moment, all the memories rushed back, I ran to an empty table facing away from him and sat down. Nervously, I sat there gulping down my soda, hoping they would call his number and he would simply go. It was like someone turned the volume switch to the restaurant completely off and all I could hear was my heart pounding in my throat. Ba bump, ba bump. Finally they called his number, he took his food and left. He never said a word. I never looked straight at him, so I’m not sure if he noticed me or not. Then again, it has been years since he saw me. I have a new hair color, I had a baby. But I noticed him after all this time, wouldn’t he have noticed me?

It was kind of a coincidence to have seen him at that very place. It was 1998 and I had just started college. He was a year ahead of me, but we wound up going to the same college and somehow found each other. He had taken me to this very sandwich shop years ago and taught me how to mix Sun-Drop with Coca-Cola. Although it sounds nasty, it’s actually pretty good. I just remember feeling silly about being nervous around him, I mean, we’d known each other for years before that. But it was the whole being “just you and me” together. It was my first year away from home, so I was a little clingy to what I knew, but what drove me to this feeling I have now, in this same place, in the same spot we both stood years ago? I ran to the car with my food, grabbed the steering wheel and began to cry. I was so shaken that it made me feel physically sick.

I was just 14 years old, just started high school and I hated it. I felt so unpopular and worried about everything that a 14 year-old worries about until it made me sick. My parents saw an ad in the paper about a new karate school that was opening up in town and thought that it would be a good idea for my sister and I to go to learn self-defense. My sister and I thought it just sounded cool and had wanted to be like Mr. Miyagi ever since we had seen the Karate Kid movies. Champion Karate. I’ll never forget darkening those doors for the first time. It was a small, hole-in-the-wall place and the walls were made out of cinder blocks. The walls were primer white and life size mirrors covered the entire wall. Our teacher was this short, blond-headed man. Short, yet compact and built like a karate man. He had a mullet and the back was curly, but it fit his personality. Back then, living in such a small Southern town, no one knew about “you might be a redneck if…” So it was an everyday thing for us. His name was Rudy Bordeaux, but everybody called him Mr. B for short. So I started working out and soon figured out that karate was made for me. I was good at balance. I was good at stances. I was good at forms. I was really good at kicking. I guess it’s really what got me through high school. I could get all my anger and frustrations out by kicking on other students. It was great. So several months passed and Mr. B invited all his students to his other karate school in a small town only a few minutes away. He wanted us to get to know other students and spar with them. I was a little nervous. It was a different school, different people. But I went anyway, how bad could it really be? I had no idea that someone that I would meet there would wind up haunting me for an eternity, or so it seems.

It was a weeknight and I remember riding to Mr. B’s other school with my Mom and Grandmother. I don’t remember anymore what we did in class, or anything else about the class for that matter, except for noticing one blond-haired boy that was already a black belt. I just remember telling my Mom, “Mama, did you see that blond boy? Did you know that he is 15 and already a black belt?” I remember being impressed about his age and him being that advanced, but not much more. Little did I know that that simple encounter would mean years of pain and a river worth of tears.

Time went by and that blond boy started showing up for class in my town. Cute, skinny, tall, and surfer hair. We said a few words to each other at each class and little by little we got to know each other better. I still had this great impression of him then because he was good at karate and so was I. It was a common bond that made us very good friends. Years passed and our friendship grew stronger and stronger. Then I turned 16 and I got my first car. It was a blood red Pontiac Sunbird. I began driving myself to karate class and started staying a little past class talking with the blond boy. We were both in marching band and both loved music, another bond that held us together. He had tried to teach me to play his saxophone, but it was no good. I just sounded like a dying cow. Inevitably I fell for him. There was no stopping it. I was reeling out of control, but I didn’t know it quite yet. Then it happened. One day after karate class, everyone had left and he walked me out to my car. I just remember opening the door and standing behind it, he was on the other side. Our first kiss. The one that ended it all. It was all downhill from there.

And so it went on from there. Making eyes at the blond boy during karate class and trying to pick each other as sparing partners. The karate teachers decided to get all the students together and go see Jackie Chan’s new movie, Rumble in the Bronx at the theaters when it came out. It made sense, karate movie, karate students going with their karate teachers to go see it. It was definitely not a big deal but there was one moment, just a split second, that stands out in my mind about that particular event. We were all filing in to the small theater. I walked ahead and the blond boy soon followed after me, of course, so we could sit beside each other. I just remember there being a back up in the line and the blond boy just reached up and grabbed me around my waist. I turned around and he flashed me a smile that had no end. Well, that was a big mistake. That smile became burned into my memory for future reference as I continuously swooned out of control. So things went on that way for some time. Little innocent kisses here and there, winks, laughs, music, and karate.

Fast forward now back to college. As I said, he had gone a year before me and was studying music. I trailed behind and began my marine biology and Spanish studies. I started out my first year living in the international house. That was a big break for me because that is where I met my very best friend, Nel, from Germany. She helped break me out of my small town shell and experience the world how all good college students should. We stayed in the suites and it just so happened that blond boy stayed practically right across the street in the university apartments. This close proximity lead to late night dashes across the street to meet and hang out. He would come over to my place at times. Sometimes we would end up at the same parties. And as you may eventually guess, this lead to the most intimate moment two people can share. And of course, as you may guess again, it didn’t happen only once, it happened here and there. For me, that was the biggest moment of my life. To share something so sacred with someone was definitely not a joke for me.

So why, you ask, did all of this become an eternity of heartache and a river’s worth of tears? I had spent the past four years loving this blond boy and sharing the most special of times with him all to find out that he was dating someone the whole time. Not only was he dating this girl and cheating on her with me, but cheating on her with other girls too. It broke my heart. I thought the feelings were mutual until one day I decided to tell him that I loved him. His response, “Aww, that’s sweet.” Excuse me? That’s sweet? I’m sorry, but that is the most ridiculous response I have ever heard! It was almost like I could see my heart falling out of my chest, hitting the ground, and breaking in to a million pieces. Then I saw him get up and walk all over those pieces, slowly grinding his foot in to each piece making it even smaller. It is so hard to describe the pain of loving someone and them not loving you back, just using you. But I’m sure it’s a pain that you have all felt at some time in your life. This crazy game of love.

I cried and cried and cried. I always cried in private, if that is even a possibility having to share a dorm room and a bathroom and a kitchen with others. I guess my only real place to really escape was the beach in the middle of the night. I went there countless times to cry and think. It is the place I feel closest to God since a lot of the miracles He performed were near water. I went out with friends. I said “screw it!” “He isn’t going to bring me down!” And slowly but surely, blond boy made his way out of my thoughts. My tears began to dry and I finally started to feel free. I found my niche, or should I say, it found me. Dancing. Salsa to be exact. Salsa dancing. Merengue. Cumbia. Bachata. I got dragged into it by some Spanish-speaking friends from the international house against my will, but it was because it was meant to be.

There were dancing classes every Wednesday night downtown at Barney’s and then free dance afterwards. It was a once a week thing that quickly became two to three times a week. I met so many great people. I fell in love with a few Mexicans. Yes it’s funny, but you don’t realize how attractive someone can be until you dance salsa with them. And yet even more, the thoughts of blond boy drifted away and I put him out of my life. He drifted to do what he wanted to do and soon all contact, even by phone stopped. And so life went on as it was intended to and I was happy that I had triumphed over a love that I thought had taken all the love I had and thrown it away.

Eventually I found a Mexican man that I loved very much. We were together all the time and that helped bury my thoughts of the blond boy way deep down. Deep down in a place I considered the place of no return. I guess the recipe was mix one part of blond hurt with one part of brown love and that cancels it all out. Hey, if I did take away one thing in my genetics class it was that brown eyes are a dominate gene. So it makes sense to me. One day in my bliss I received a call from the blond boy. Not again you say. I said that too. He wanted to hang out. I knew the pattern so I told him straight up that I was with someone and I didn’t want to ruin that. This happened several times until I believe he got the picture. The phone calls stopped again. And so I continued on in my love with the Mexican and wound up marrying him.

So you might be thinking, what could be better? Well, the relationship with the Mexican started going downhill. He drank. He got angry over the smallest things. Plus he left for Mexico for 6 months and left me and his child all alone. Needless to say, things weren’t going as planned. So then my sister calls me up one day, “Guess what I found on the internet? It’s this cool place where you can make a page and add friends and find lots of people from high school. Guess who messaged me once I made up my page?” Enter blond boy. Blond boy…its been a while. Not since that chance encounter I described at the beginning of this story had I seen him.

Okay, fine, call it peer pressure or what have you, but I caved and made a MySpace page. And of course, soon to follow was the add of the blond boy as a friend. Time passed. I was sitting at work and decided to check my MySpace page for any messages or comments. I get an instant message…it’s from the blond boy. He wants to know what I am doing for lunch today. He wanted to know if married people can have lunch. What do I say? What do I do? I accepted. I met him for lunch and we caught up on what each of us had done in the past years of no contact. Mind you, we are going on 13 years of knowing each other. As I sat there listening to him, I began to get an old feeling creeping up on me. I looked into his eyes and saw a sadness that didn’t used to be there. Almost a cry for help somewhere deep inside those blue eyes of his. Okay, Amanda, snap out of it. Don’t get carried away like before. But it seems like he has changed, he is different now. He has matured. Don’t be silly. He is still the same old player he used to be. So on went this conversation inside my head. A war between good and evil if you will. Those same feelings that got buried deep down somehow found an outlet to begin seeping out again. I left that restaurant thinking that he had changed and started wondering how life might have been different for us had we actually gotten together and made it as a couple.

For days the daydreams continued, but I thought there would be no hope. My marriage began to seriously go down hill and it seemed I had lost hope. I was searching and searching for a way out of this craziness in my heart and my only release was to write music. One night amongst my tears, a chorus came in my head. “I love you, just like yesterday. It’s impossible but I do it anyway. I love you like I did back then. And this love for you must stay locked within.” My husband and I separated and blond boy’s calls began to be more frequent.

[doodlebugg 10]

Honestly I wouldn't post that story. My husband isn't super super jealous but if he ever read something like that I think it would hurt his feelings. That's just my two cents though and just my thoughts but bear in mind I got rid of everything related to my ex's before he came here just to avoid any type of issues. I did that because more than a few mena members were talking about how upset their husbands got when they found pics, love letters, etc. about old boyfriends. What's funny though is that we've gone through my photo albums together a few times now and each time he asks me why I don't have pics of my old boyfriends. lol. I do still have my wedding album but I had explained beforehand that the kids wanted me to keep it and since he knows how much I hate my ex he doesn't have a problem with it.

[Y's_habibitk 2]

I have to read the whole thing when Im not at work Amanda, but just reading the first few paragraphs do make me agree with Bridget on the jealousy tip.

I'll be back later for more input

[amysaid 9]

Honestly I wouldn't post that story. My husband isn't super super jealous but if he ever read something like that I think it would hurt his feelings. That's just my two cents though and just my thoughts but bear in mind I got rid of everything related to my ex's before he came here just to avoid any type of issues. I did that because more than a few mena members were talking about how upset their husbands got when they found pics, love letters, etc. about old boyfriends. What's funny though is that we've gone through my photo albums together a few times now and each time he asks me why I don't have pics of my old boyfriends. lol. I do still have my wedding album but I had explained beforehand that the kids wanted me to keep it and since he knows how much I hate my ex he doesn't have a problem with it.

this is going to have to be one of my top priorities when we get home. i wasn't expecting A to come home with us, so i still have a lotttttt of photos and stuff on my computer that needs to be deleted. not because i was sitting around reminiscing over them, just because i am busy and didn't have time to weed through years of photos