Hello everyone!

[LovinLiberia 0]

Hello everyone! My name is Shaun and (unfortunately) I'm living in Bloomington, IN...soon to be Houston, TX. I met my boyfriend online in April. I placed an ad to a penpal website hoping to make new friends in Ghana since I am going in May of 2007 and my now fiance, from Liberia , answered the ad to become friends. Long story short, we have fallen madly in love and have decided that we are THE ONES for each other. I've been lurking on this site for a little more than a month now after coming across it while searching for K-1 visa information. The site is great and I love coming everyday to read, so why not jump in? All of you ladies seem wonderful and I can't wait to get to know everyone.

oh yeah, by the way, we haven't filed yet. We will be doing that after I visit him for the first time this November.

[S&S 1]

Welcome

[snz1802 0]

Welcome Shaun, this site is a great place to start gathering information, and there are wonderful people on this site who are willing to help you along the way. A great place to start would be the guides there is a wealth of information in them regarding the K1.....Welcome to VJ

~Stacey

[akatagirl 0]

Akwaaba Shaun!!!--That is what you will seen in bold letters are your plane pulls up to the Kotoko International airport in Ghana!! Welcome to VJ! As you have seen so far you will find this sight to be very helpful! Nice to hear that you are in love with a Ghanaian as I am!!! LOL I know you will have a great time in Ghana when you go in November,as it truly is a very friendly, safe and beautiful place!!! I know I did and I can't wait to go back!

[LovinLiberia 0]

Thanks for the fast replies and welcomes!!! I will definately be sure to check out the guides and read all of the information posted at the top.

Akata...I'm sooooo excited to go to Ghana next year. My fiance is Liberian, but he spent a large part of his life growing up in Ghana (Tema, to be exact) because of the war that plagued Liberia for so long. How many times have you been to Ghana? I'm excited about going there and Liberia and I have been reading up on both places like crazy.

[Kanyiri 0]

Good luck with everything!

Kanyiri

[joej 0]

Welcome and best wishes.

[forchika 4]

Shaun Welcome to Visa Journey!!!! Yes, you will do a lot of good reading here at this site. I look forward to coming here everyday, and sometimes I spend hours on Visa Journey reading the different post. Good luck on your plans with your future trip to meet your soon to be fiance!!!!

Forchika

Edited August 21, 2006 by forchika

[akatagirl 0]

Unfortunately, I have only been to Ghana once but am hoping to go again maybe in december...I met a lot of liberians on the plane to Ghana, very cool people.... Ghana is such a great place..where I stayed in Accra, East Legon, which is about 5 minutes from Kotoko Airport...We went to Osu alot and hung out at a local hangout place called On the Run, near the University of Ghana..Tema was 1 hour away from where i stayed..I hear its nice there too...I went to Elmina Castlle in Cape Coast, did the tourist thing in Kakum forest..thought i was going to die doing the canopy walkway (rope bridge walk/hike!!), and I also went to Takoradi to meet my hubby's family...

Be sure to go to the Art Centre in Accra to get some beautiful art work and beautiful african attire! I sure came home with a whole luggage full of Ghanaian things!!! Oh girl , you are bringing back alot of good memories for me! My husband misses it there too since he is currently working abroad in Greece!

So you going of November this year or next year?

[wileastmot 0]

Shaun,

Congratulations on your engagement. I too I'm engaged too a Liberian, but he is living in the Netherlands. We will not be able to go to Liberia for a few years, so I'm very excited to hear about your trip. Welcome to VJ, it has been really helpful in filling out all of my paperwork. On another note, there is a number of Liberians living in Texas so hopefully, you will get to make a connection with them. Best of luck.

[blah0323 0]

Welcome aboard, you will soon be in my area. I'm in Texas as well the Austin Area. How exciting the first trip!!! Congratulations on your engagement and wish you well. Just pray while you go on this journey, because you will realize the struggle when you return home and wait for your love one to come join you (sorry didn't mean to damper anything but the truth be told).

[iceyspots 0]

Hi welcome to VJ

[LovinLiberia 0]

Once again, thanks to everyone for the warm welcomes, I love this place already....very addicting!

Akata Its funny how i havent been to ghana yet but i read up on it so much that I know all of those places you are talking about, lol! I'm mentally preparing myself for Kakum, I've seen enough pictures and stories to be scared silly already. I will definately go there, though. Did you get a chance to see any monkeys? Did you get a chance to go to Mole NP? I'm excited about that also. Thanks for the info about the Art Centre, I will be sure to go there also since I love African art. I'm going to be passing through there for a few days on my way to Liberia this November, but my big Ghana trip is May of '07.

wileastmot Nice to see someone else with a Liberian, also! I heard there were alot of Liberians in Texas. I just found this out after I decided to move there so I am happy he (and I) will be able to connect with some people. I'll try to get him hooked up with the Liberian Association there once he's here so he'll have something to do for that period when he wont be able to work when he first gets here. Was your fiance a refugee, also? I'm totally excited about the trip! When I go, I'll be sure to take alot of pics of the place to show you.

blah0323 Hey, I was going to move to Austin, also..but, then decided to move closer to my family in Houston. I heard Austin is a great and diverse city. I will be sure to hang out there sometimes when I get to Texas. Oh, you aren't putting a damper on anything. It's agonizing now. I can only imagine how much worse it will be when I meet him and then have to leave and come back without him. I have seen alot of people go through hell on here with the long waits, so I know what I'm getting into. It'll all be worth it, though, in the end, right?!

Edited August 22, 2006 by PrincessMetzger

[Kanyiri 0]

Its funny how i havent been to ghana yet but i read up on it so much that I know all of those places you are talking about, lol! I'm mentally preparing myself for Kakum, I've seen enough pictures and stories to be scared silly already. I will definately go there, though. Did you get a chance to see any monkeys? Did you get a chance to go to Mole NP? I'm excited about that also. Thanks for the info about the Art Centre, I will be sure to go there also since I love African art. I'm going to be passing through there for a few days on my way to Liberia this November, but my big Ghana trip is May of '07.

Hey, I just wanted to comment on the art thing. My entire house is decorated in Ghanaian art! I honestly never liked African art before, but then I found that I just didn't find the right artist. Just so you know, when you go to the cultural center in Accra everyone there will be hounding you and it can be a bit overwhelming. The thing to remember is that ALL prices in that market are negotiable. They will know that you are not Ghanaian and they will increase the price just for you. Don't expect your fiance to be able to help much either. He will be with you afterall. Anyway, as far as I remember, you can get little wooden carvings for about 30,000 cedis. Paintings are more expensive b/c they use acrylic paint which is expensive. I got the smaller paintings (8x10 inch) for about 30,000 and the larger paintings for about 100,000. This is for last year and their prices have gone up since then, but you shouldn't pay much more than that. Just to give a ballpark figure, he started the painting price at about 4 times what he ended up at. I bought about six paintings at once and it took me about an hour to negotiate down to that price. Good luck! Just smile and flirt and call them your best friend and they will be much more responsive to lowering the price.

If you feel like you can pay more than what I did, then the merchants will appreciate the extra income. Even so, they see foriegners all day in that market. If you let them get away with a higher price the person after you will get an even higher price.

[blah0323 0]

blah0323 Hey, I was going to move to Austin, also..but, then decided to move closer to my family in Houston. I heard Austin is a great and diverse city. I will be sure to hang out there sometimes when I get to Texas. Oh, you aren't putting a damper on anything. It's agonizing now. I can only imagine how much worse it will be when I meet him and then have to leave and come back without him. I have seen alot of people go through hell on here with the long waits, so I know what I'm getting into. It'll all be worth it, though, in the end, right?!

One thing I learned through the wait is a deep deep deep appreciation of my hubby!!! It just made the relationship stronger, even through the rough times (culture clashes), we know how to win each other over pass the mess....