LAND DOWNUNDER

[SharynY 2]

hope loke gets better soon!!

heres another question...

i have an australian drivers license.... that being said, am i allowed to drive in the US for a set period of time before i am forced to get a US one?

[Poi_n_J 0]

Lol.. @ the bacon...it's more like proscutto isn't it?

Havent' had a chance to read it all but hope you get well soon Loke..!

[Kath 0]

hi ya all

sorry to hear ya not well loke...probably the different altitude your in now that you caught some bug ... hope it gets better for you mate..hate being sick...but you have to sleep to get well also mate so if your tired just sleep your body needs it ...

hi ya pris how you going mate.. hanging in there...is it getting any warmer for you there...i still that image of you walking to work all rugged up lol

ohhh that bacon ... now ya know what i have been compalining about.. and the american bacon is alot more fatty and streaky lol...i took a similar photo for my daughter cos she coudlnt understand what i was complaining about first thing she said was where is the bacon lol....and i took photo's before i left oz cos the american friends coudlnt understand how wonderful our bacon was they were like wow that looks nice lol

sharyna..get your fiance to ring the drivers place cos im thinking that you might have to pass the learners test then you can drive on your aussie licence for 30 days.. but it all depends on the state mate...get ya fiance to ring up only way really to find out unless you go on the website to look but then you might not get the answer...

work is going well.. i went on the registers for the first time on tuesday went well pretty much the same as oz but they use coupons and they process the cheques themselves at the registers...ohhhh by the way.. if you do get a job or go out to the mall by yourself and your relying on public transport or a cab..

A) make sure your bus does go passed to pick you up at the time told by the bus company..

B) if your ordering a cab...ask someone who is the best cab company in your town...

now the reason for the above hints is this is what happened to me on monday...

my shift ended at 6.30pm...i asked to start early an finish early to catch the bus at 6.35pm..

i rang the bus company on monday explained where i wanted to go and where i would be catching it from

she told me the time but failed to tell me that the bus runs along jackman ave .. i was sitting at the bus stop on the corner of jackman and alexis where it will run along alexis..needless to say i was cheesed off no other buses for the rest of the night .. i sat there waiting just in case till 7.15pm

at that time i walk back over the road to work.. looked up a cab in the phone book... i booked in a cab she said to me i will try (bells should of rang at that statement)...

8.20pm i rang again a bloke said another half an hour...

i was getting quite distressed...rang back at 9.35pm and was practically called a liar because he reckons he didnt have a booking for alexis...he said to me why have you been waiting 2 hours i said to get home its the only way i can get home....with that steamy conversation i decided to start walking home...

i walked for about 20mins and there comes my husband (and me thinking oh robbie please come and find me not home ) he turned the corner and first thing he shouts is you ok.. he pulled in the car park near the intersection i got in and i just spilled me guts about what happened.. it took me ages after we got home to settle down...

so please either have a contact number of a friend that could pick you up .. or get the number prior of a good reliable cab company and learn from my experience...at the moment im writing a letter to the company involved i know it will do no good but they need to be told off..what really got me was he couldnt give a shiet about what had happened to me he just kept stating he is backedup tonight.. nothing about ohh sorry to hear that m'am will get there immediately..nothing

hi to all that i hadnt mentioned...keep ya chins up

kath

[SharynY 2]

wow well i'm glad you got home safe and sound after all that kath..............

[jezz85 0]

Wow Kath I'm sorry you had such a tough time getting home! I'm glad that you're safe and sound though, and you'll know for next time. Thanks for the tips.

To get my drivers license in Maryland I have to jump through LOTS of hoops and it's a total pain in the you know what. I have to

-Accumulate several forms of identification

-Do an eyesight test

-Do a written test (I am studying the handbooks as we speak)

-Do a practical driving test (What is expected, I do not know as yet as I haven't been able to find anything specific. I need more practice driving my hubby's car...)

-Do a THREE HOUR drug and alcohol class! (The real kicker on this one is that there are NO classes in my County! Tony has to drive me an hour and a half to the closest one and they only run it once a month, and we don't know if Tony can take the time of work yet. We'll figure something out but come on, talk about pain in the...)

Meanwhile,

-no word from AOS or EAD.

-marriage certificate hasn't arrived yet so can't change my name on SS card.

On the lighter side of life, I'm happy at the moment despite all the ####### outlined above. Just lots of waiting around for stuff to arrive in the mail or fall into place. Later in the month I'm going to a job fair and also a resume writing class in the same week run by the Fleet & Family Support Center. I'm looking forward to that as much to get out of the house as anything else. I'm happy at home, and we've gone out to dinner with some of DH's co-workers but still, it will be nice. Learning how to do a good American resume will be great I think.

Well that's me for now.

Love to all

[Kath 0]

hi ya

thanks for the well wishes...will tell ya, all kinds of thoughts were going through my mind that night..like hell in oz they take your name and number if your ringing a cab..and its such a long walk home lol i know its only 2.4 miles but damm that a long walk at night ...lol..

jess have you looked in the phone book to see if there are any others that do the same thing.. or ring hubs insurance to see if they have any contacts for that course...wonder if one of the colleges have night classes for that too...have you asked about the reprocical (cant remember how to spell it) thing i was talking about where you can just take the learner's test and then later on take the driving test...also ring them to find out what is asked of you to do in the actual driving test im sure they will let you know..

tomorrow i go for my test 11am gawd i hope i get the other fella this time round he is the nice one ..lol..

take care

kath

[Chocolot 0]

Good luck Kath, I m sure u will do fine on the licence. What a horrible experience after work, good job Robbie came looking, I bet you were pleased to see him.

Congrats on all the marriages, the pics look wonderful and have given me some ideas for when we get back to Oz and do it all again for the family over there.

Uscis gets you, after a while, I took some time off after my Greencard arrived, but now I am preparing the paperwork that I will need in March to lift conditions. Just gathering and getting ideas, not actually organising it yet. I wonder if they are as exact about how it needs to be filed as they were in Sydney.

Take care all of you, both Aussies and your mates

hi ya

thanks for the well wishes...will tell ya, all kinds of thoughts were going through my mind that night..like hell in oz they take your name and number if your ringing a cab..and its such a long walk home lol i know its only 2.4 miles but damm that a long walk at night ...lol..

jess have you looked in the phone book to see if there are any others that do the same thing.. or ring hubs insurance to see if they have any contacts for that course...wonder if one of the colleges have night classes for that too...have you asked about the reprocical (cant remember how to spell it) thing i was talking about where you can just take the learner's test and then later on take the driving test...also ring them to find out what is asked of you to do in the actual driving test im sure they will let you know..

tomorrow i go for my test 11am gawd i hope i get the other fella this time round he is the nice one ..lol..

take care

kath

[densusan 0]

Hi Kath, Glad to hear you eventually got home safely but very sorry you had to go through such a rotten experience. Wanted to wish you all the luck in the world for your driving test and will have everything x'd for ya. I will be thinking of you......same time frame for us.......wish you weren't so far away!

Susan

[densusan 0]

Sharyna, I just took a quick look at the california DMV website for you and you may get some of the answers about your drivers license there www.dmv.ca.gov.

Check out the FAQ and it explains in there what puts you into the resident category.

Every state seems to be different

Here in New York state i had to do a written test, eye test, go to a 5 hour pre-licensing course ( with a bunch of teenagers!) and a certain amount of time had to lapse before I was allowed to do the actual driving test. I'm lucky because I live in a very rural area and the traffic is nothinggggg like the big cities, so I passed with flying colors and then wondered why I had been so stressed about the whole thing. Just drive here in the USA as much as you can to get lots of practice and when your not driving watch everyone else & take note of road signs and you will be fine. I think the thing I still find strange is being allowed to do right hand turns through red lights ( after you have stopped of course!) , it still kinda freaks me out.

Hope you find the answers you need and goodluck!

Susan

[Kath 0]

hi susan

nice to ya in here mate..yeah i know i feel the same way will get over your way one day..robbie enjoyed talking to ya he reckons you have a stronger accent than me real aussie lol ... i said what accent its you guys that have the accent he just laughed...did the pics turn out on the last email i sent ya ...dont forget to send me your other email addy mate...talk to you soon...

thanks for all the good lucks on my test tomorrow will let ya know how i went...

well im getting ready for work finish at 11pm tonight.. and monday will be my first pay..be interesting how much it came to ...and if they took the correct tax out...lol

take care

kath

[Kym 0]

i have an australian drivers license.... that being said, am i allowed to drive in the US for a set period of time before i am forced to get a US one?

You may want to consider an international driver's license. Darryl checked on that in Sydney and he is going to get one for approx. $25 au. I called the DMV in Missouri and they couldn't help me and referred me to law enforcement. So I called the highway patrol and in Missouri, he can drive on the international license until he is able to get his permanent Missouri drivers license. I think there is a set time, which I didn't ask about because he plans on getting his as soon as he can. He already drives here when he comes (legal or not) so there is no problem with that, he will just need to pass the written.

Loke, glad to hear you are feeling a little better! Maybe it was because of all the vaccinations. Sometimes when I get a flu shot, it will make me a little ill but helps me in the long run.

[Kym 0]

GOOD LUCK KATH!!!!! I'm just sending all these good thoughts and positive vibes your way!!!

And as for the bacon dilema...I guess for every 1 piece of bacon the Aussie's eat, you will need to eat 3 here.

Do the Australian's have BLT sandwiches? OH YUM!!! That is one of my favs. I guess 1 big ol' slab of bacon and that covers your sandwich?

[Rings 10]

Awe Kath your story just broke my heart. I had to make sure and give Loke a good talking in order to be sure that he carries my phone numbers and contact information with him. He just looked at me funny... I worry that he would get lost and I would not even know where to look to find him lol. That is such a good lesson to tell everyone. Thank you *hugs*

Loke is doing much better! He still has a cough, but it is finally improving thank goodness!

I still have not gotten any mail outside of a letter saying that they were sorry they haven't been caught up with the NOA2 paperwork and they were processing things as fast as they can. Then a couple of days later I got another APPROVAL notice for the I-130 LOL which pissed me off because I thought it was for our AOS and I got all happy when I saw it, but at least it wasn't an RFE... bright side I guess... And I guess having 2 approval notices can never be a bad thing lol.

[Kath 0]

RUNS ROUND THE BOARD SHOUTING AND DOING THE DANCE OF JOY!!!

"""I GOT IT""" and whispers to all the aussies else where in the country .. ya lucky ya dont live in ohio hehehehe...cos there is a mad aussie on the roads now lol

I got the nice guy too... he shouts out you ready kathryn is the kangaroo waiting for us outside lol everyone laughed..did the manuerability ok got points off for stopping to look if i was going ok...then he told me to drive out and turn right..and omg i turned left..i said you want me to do a u'y down the road he said no we will take the scenic route (thank goodness)...and it was done within 10 minutes...ohh and points off for not signalling 100 ft before turning....so i got it thats the main thing.. he was so great even before i started the engine he said is there any questions..gawd i wished i had of beat the young girl into the office the last time i would of got him then lol..

went to get my licence printed out and they looked at my greencard and my ssn card and i gave them my marriage certficate to get it put in my married name and she gave back my australian licence in tact...so thats a bonus...

then as we were leaving the bloke was coming out to do another one and he started hopping like a roo lol...

so that being done now i think i have completed everything i need to do over here except the removing of conditions next year of course...whoooo hooo i got it .. i still am on cloud 9 over it....

hi ya rings..thanks for your kind thoughts...i just wanted everyone to be aware that these things can happen and i would hate for anyone else to go through what i went through that night.....say hi to loke from us and im sure he will get better soon...bet he is missing some buttermenthols lol

ohh vylex would flying over some ocean or country by now ...on his way to oz..hope you arrive safely vylex...

take care you lot

kath

[jezz85 0]

Congrats Kath! Well done!