Forum	Title	Content	Member	Sex	Country	Date/Time
Canada	Good Luck Amy and Brian	Haha, Tinker... I just got home! I didn't leave Montreal on the train until around 4:00. And, for the record, my interview appt. was 8:30, but I showed up outside the consulate doors at 7:30 and there were three people ahead of me. I was out just before 10. Thanks again everyone! I'm seriously still kind of in shock. When I was talking to my dad on the phone after the interview (Brian got a call first though, naturally!) I think he sounded more excited than I did Tomorrow, after I've had some sleep, I will be ready to truly celebrate!	Amy and Brian	Female	Canada	2007-08-15 21:01:00
Canada	Good Luck Amy and Brian	Wow, thanks guys! I was rushing around like mad yesterday before coming to Montreal and I didn't log into the forums at all. Brian just pointed me in this direction! There is good news! I was approved about 45 minutes ago I'll write up a more detailed report once I'm back in Oakville. Thanks again for all the well wishes!	Amy and Brian	Female	Canada	2007-08-15 09:33:00
Canada	DS-156K at Montreal	The DS-156K needs to be brought to the interview. It is the DS-156 that should be sent in with the checklist.	Amy and Brian	Female	Canada	2007-08-19 17:37:00
Canada	A little later than promised... my experience in Montreal!	Tinker, I was originally booked on the 6:15pm train back to Toronto (it was the cheapest when I booked) but I ended up going to the train station and shelled out some money to change my tickets around. I could have made the 11:40 train if I'd wanted, but I chose to wait for the 3:40 one instead. I wanted to have a little time to wander the streets because I remembered Montreal being a nice place. I'd planned on looking around Old Montreal for a bit, but I got my directions mixed up and couldn't find it! So I basically spent my time wandering the streets looking for Old Montreal and then hanging around back at the train station Oooh, and guys, the visa is HERE IN OAKVILLE RIGHT NOW! I would have it in my hands if I'd remembered to write my buzz # on the envelope. But instead it is sitting at the post office and I have to wait till tomorrow afternoon to pick it up.	Amy and Brian	Female	Canada	2007-08-17 17:50:00
Canada	A little later than promised... my experience in Montreal!	I lived right outside Houston from 1999-2002. Just long enough to get my green card and then run straight back to Canada. I wish I'd stayed longer, a lot of things in my life would have gone a lot differently if I had. Of course, things probably wouldn't have turned out the way they did with Brian if I hadn't come back though! (Columbus is a lot closer to Oakville than it is Houston!). I've only been back to visit once since I left... right in the middle of Hurricane Rita. That sure was pleasant	Amy and Brian	Female	Canada	2007-08-17 12:52:00
Canada	A little later than promised... my experience in Montreal!	Thanks again everyone! Tinker, I wasn't offered the option to buy my envelope there... no. She simply asked if I'd brought one. Perhaps if I'd said no, she would have offered? I don't know. But my paperwork told me to bring one so I did Also, yes, La Tour Centre-Ville has a checkout time of noon! So as long as you get to the consulate early, you should definitely be out in time to go back to the hotel for a while and not have to worry about getting stuck with another nights fee! Melyssa, Google Maps are your friend! Plug in the address of wherever your staying and see how far it is from the consulate... you might luck out and have it be close! If not, a cab will probably definitely be worth it to ease your mind the day of the interview. Jashley, okay... now you're scaring me! We both lived in Texas as teenagers, both from the GTA, and both ended/ending up in a relatively similar area of Ohio? What are you, my evil twin or something? You know what guys? My SSN card is in the same spot as the old "destroyed" green card! So yes, I'm definitely glad I still have that!	Amy and Brian	Female	Canada	2007-08-17 12:23:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Crimea	Where would you recommend to go in Crimea? ( for those that have been ) And where would you recommend to stay away from? Please specify town/hotel/flat/house Thanks! Simferopol, Kerch, Sevastopol, Yalta definately. I spent 3 months in Simferopol in 2009 and 2 weeks in Kerch this April. Defiately try to find a flat to rent. I rented a very nice 1 room (with seperate kitchen) in Simferopol for $500 a month for 2 months in 2009. all services etc. included. Sadly it was arranged by a good friend, so I do not know who to advise you to contact. In Kerch this last trip I stayed in the Hotel Kerch - recently remodeled very nice huge room, 2 blocks from Lenin Square, about $50 a night, decent if not spactaculr breakfast included. Kerch is a 4 hour bus ride from Simferopol (about 60 Hrivna $7). Wonderful historic things to see and a pretty city.	MishaMoose	Male	Ukraine	2011-05-26 11:35:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Question regarding DS-156K	And the other half. I like it!	MishaMoose	Male	Ukraine	2011-06-02 14:31:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Question regarding DS-156K	No it is not documented anywhere except in the experience of those that have done it. The consulate can s choose to use the letter of intent submitted with the I-129f. We brought updated letters but they never looked at them. YES it is intentionally obfuscated. Virtually every part of the decision to issue a visa is left to the discretion of the consulate. SOME consulates may require MUCH more evidence than others. Moscow and Kiev are pretty easy to deal with. For Kiev or Moscow, I would have the updated letters of intent, though it is unlikely you would actually need them. They are easy to produce, so why not? Oh I agree. It is almost invariably better to have more information/documentation/backup than you need ... the problem is knowing what potential hurdles are ahead so you can be prepared. But now I know this one, and as they used to say on the G.I. Joe cartoons: "Knowing is half the battle!" (I never missed watching them with my son )	MishaMoose	Male	Ukraine	2011-06-02 08:37:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Question regarding DS-156K	It is an updated letter of intent! There is an example form, follow the link! http://www.visajourn...ontent/examples Good to know, based on that wording I would NEVER have guessed that was what they wanted. Is this documented anywhere? I am beginng to wonder if these forms are intentionally obfuscated. Kudos to all who have led the way through the minefields	MishaMoose	Male	Ukraine	2011-06-01 08:02:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Sending money to relatives	So I tried to setup my bank account here, with associated ATM card, so that I can mail the card to Olga's mom for easy usage. The bank clerk told me that due to OFAC regulations you cannot legally access or use US bank accounts or ATM cards in Russia. I used mine from another Credit Union while there but he said they will not even work there from my bank. Anyone dealt with this? I was in Crimea in April and had no problems using my debit cards from 2 different Banks. All it took was a phone call for the newer one. The older account was still good from my trip 2 years ago. I am not aware that there is any difference between Russian and Ukraine from a bank's perspective. But I am not a banker.	MishaMoose	Male	Ukraine	2011-06-09 19:20:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	I-129F question 16	The name, DOB, and place of birth are listed in both languages, Ukrainian & Russian, in the internal passport. The external (aka foreign) passport is in English, but only the Ukrainian info from the internal passport is translated in English/Latin. That's where all complications come from. I can imagine how many variations on Zhenya’s first name.. Eugenia, Eugeniya, Evgenia, Evgeniya, Yevgenia, Yevgeniya. Stop me, plz, but continue w/ her last name. Thanks again! That all makes sense now and also explains an odd aside Zhenya made about 'not knowing how her name would be spelled' before she got her passport. I did not connect this to any of the paper work when she made that remark. NOW I understand. Yep it will be very interesting to see how they decide to spell it You should be over the top of the first mouintin in your journey now and coming down the backside. Here is to a quick interview and gret success! All the best!	MishaMoose	Male	Ukraine	2011-06-15 08:08:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	I-129F question 16	Misha, I just read your post where you mentioned Zhenya does not have her foreign passport yet. The beneficiary name (question# 1) has to be spelled exactly as written in her foreign passport. Regarding question# 16, either way. Iwrote (handwriting) all in Russian as it's his native language. Elle, Thanks for the information! I have never really seen a Ukrainian foreign passport -- will her name will be in english/latin alphabet on it? Question 1 does not indicate it should be other than english. Or am I over thinking? Ack! Thanks for this information ... yet another reason to not expect a marriage before next summer	MishaMoose	Male	Ukraine	2011-06-14 21:04:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	I-129F question 16	Just to explain why I said Russian. In Crimea, they speak mostly Russian and associate themselves as Russians. That is why in 2007 we went and submitted our I-129F in the cyrillic alaphabet (Russian). It is only the name and address, and I am not an expert in the language, but I can't imagine there would be a significant difference. I am sure others who have filed for their SO in the Crimea can tell you what they did. Good luck to you and I bet you probably are itching to go back now to Crimea. Thank you!! Yep it is definitely an interesting situation .. you can be sure if the C.A.R. government in Simpheropol had the say the documents would be in Russian. It is funny that most of the Crimeans I know consider themselves 'Russian' ethnically even those that want nothing to so with Russian politically. And yep I cannot wait to go back! Crimea is gorgeous. And I love Kerch. We would be staying there if I could work but that isn't an option now. In a few years when I retire we may well go back. Social security will go MUCH further in Kerch than anywhere here.	MishaMoose	Male	Ukraine	2011-06-14 11:53:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	I-129F question 16	When we applied, my wife's passport was about to expire. She got a new one but this one was based upon the Ukrainian alphabet and everything changed. Even the English spelling of her name changed, so we used that spelling. Definitely use the passport spelling. As several noted ... and as it occurred to me after I woke up this morning "what it says on her passport". We were chatting this morning about 3:30 am my time and she asked me "so Misha, do you need that information in Ukrainian or Russian?" and I was not cleared headed enough to think it through. So almost certainly Ukrainian and it will make some difference. Both languages are Cyrillic but have a few different characters. Other things are moving along .. but filing will be somewhat delayed. She has to sign a new contract with the University where she lectures and the case for sole custody of her daughter will begin in August. Since there is no knowing how long it will take to get approval and an interview, or how long the custody case will take, I advised her to sign a year’s contract and we will file around the first of the year … that way with any luck the visa will be ready around the time her contract is up. No planning for another visit around the end of October .. the 2nd anniversary of our face to face meeting. Thanks for all the help!	MishaMoose	Male	Ukraine	2011-06-14 11:46:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	I-129F question 16	So I understand that question 16 wants Zhenya's full name and address in her native language ... but as she is from Crimea that is an interesting question ... Russian (which is her first language) or Ukrainian (which she speaks only when necessary i.e. presenting papers at conferences)? Any guidance? Many Thanks!!	MishaMoose	Male	Ukraine	2011-06-14 03:38:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Columbus Ohio	Saying Russian mat is as least as rich as cursing is English is a downright insult. I get made fun of all the time for how weaksauce cursing in English is in comparison. We don't have a 12-volume dictionary of English swear words: http://plutser.ru/mat I stand corrected! I think my drill intructors in Marine boot camp all those eons ago might have need 5 or 6 volumes .. but not 12! Rich language indeed!	MishaMoose	Male	Ukraine	2011-06-13 12:23:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Columbus Ohio	I think they're necessary to know, unless you spend all your time with high-class (not high-class as in rich but... classy), cultured people (aka boring people!). But until you move from znakomiy to drug... better to leave it alone. Just know so you can understand. Excellent advice I think. Russian seems to be at least as rich in scatological terms as english. Although this is primarily based on hearsay evidence	MishaMoose	Male	Ukraine	2011-06-13 12:15:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Columbus Ohio	I don't think that adding the curse words into your speech is a good idea (at least until you make sure that people you communicate with use them). Plus it just sounds ridiculous when a non-native Russian speaker says them. I must say I have found one or two to be very usuful playing russian billiards. Along with taaaaaaaaaaak and pachimoo. It's a great game but I am quite suspicious that it was purposely designed to frustrate non-russians Most of my friends there speak moderate amounts of english and tell me they find english curse words to be fairly useful. Now I just need to learn "No, really that is what I meant to do that" in russian and in a convincing manner. Edited by Misha and Zhenya, 13 June 2011 - 12:00 PM.	MishaMoose	Male	Ukraine	2011-06-13 11:57:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Columbus Ohio	Words, maybe. But it seems there are less "stupid rules" than we have in English. We have so many irregular words that don't follow "the rules" and so many stupid ways of saying things. In Russian, speech is rather simple. "I go store." And my personal favorite - "Fingers on feet." I think part of that is because of the difference in the ways each language assimilates new words it seems (and I have been told by friends who are much more expert in linguistics than I) that russian assimilates new words but russifies them, applying Russian grammer and form to them. English simply assimilates words with out actually making them english. This is part of why we have so many unrelated rules and why russian is more consistant. My favorite russian word so far is 'chin' .. under beard I recommend the Pimsleur discs because they really help bridge that gap. They'll teach you to "think" in the target language. I think they are great and have made it half way through volume one, wil soon be using them again this summer. I find that i have to make sure I sit and concentrate but rarely have to do any lesson more than twice if I can do that. I personally found Rosetta Stone less than satisfactory as it didn't give useful vocabulary for a long time. My problem with pimsluer is that I stil can spell what I can hear 8^) .. and sometimes it takes me a while to understand the individual words ... but can repeat what I hear and be understood and understand what I hear fro others reasonably well. It was several weeks before I understood (VERY LIBERAL phonetic spelling alert!!) "ne hatelibuby stonyboot payest" was (still very liberal spelling) "ne hatleba vy chto ne bud pa yest" but when I did make that connection I could parse out and create some other sentences sort of correctly. I think for now I will concentrate on vocabulary and basic noun verb rules, and phrases .. I think the basic grammer wil come over time and that my russian speaking friends will forgive my ignorance even if they find me funny English and Russian are both language that are very rich in words .. one reason why so much great literature soi written in both languages ... english tends to have a lot of words for 'almost' the same thing but they have very subtle and distinct differences .. which sadly most english speakers do not know or do not care about and so the are used less than correctly. like often a frequently for instance I love the feel of language and I am really enjoying everyones input on this!	MishaMoose	Male	Ukraine	2011-06-10 16:46:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Columbus Ohio	Hmm, I don't know which is easier. I think it's whatever you have more practice with. I don't write that much in Russian, aside from quick messages to friends, so my speech is much better. I do think there is a point with Russian where you think you know it, but you actually know very little. My friend and I were arguing which is harder, Russian or English (I voted for English), and he was like, "There are so many words in English!" and he pointed to a little metal fence and asked me how many names we had in English for this object, trying to make a point that we must have a lot. I was like, uh, one, "fence." And then he and another friend proceeded to rattle off seven or eight different words for "fence," including like, village slang. I mean, foreigners might be able to carry on a conversation just fine, but there's mat, prison slang, village speech, and just so many damn words. I don't know if I've ever met a foreigner who has made me go, Whoa dude, your Russian is flawless. I know people who have excellent grammar and pronounciation, but then those people also tend to have a huge knowledge gap in terms of slang and mat. Too much studying, I guess. People tend to be one or the other. But I've met a lot of foreigners whose English is practically indistinguishable from my own. I don't think it's similar to English, really. Russian works very differently, and not just in terms with cases, aspect, etc.. We just don't have the same morphological flexibility in English. This is very interesting to me and I will try to form a coherent reply when I get home form work. Thank you both, Slim and eekee!! I find there is zsignificant disconnect at this stage of my learning process between speaking, hearng, reading, and writing Russian. I understand more of what I read than what I hear - probably becuase I can control the speed of input, and speak more correctly than I write. But I can only claim that I have been somewhat seriously working at learning for a bit over a year of the last 3. Taking 1 90 minute lesson a week without conversation opportunities outside of class is not a great way to master a language. I still have issues with the changes of vowel sounds on the ends of words (i.e. ?? as spoken in ??????? still sounds a lot like ??????? to me) and I think I wil never really pronounce ? correctly. Anyway I would liek to explore this subject of russian and english a bit more if y'all are willing.	MishaMoose	Male	Ukraine	2011-06-10 09:51:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Columbus Ohio	????? ??????? Thank you.	MishaMoose	Male	Ukraine	2011-06-10 02:03:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Columbus Ohio	Thanks for the critique. A correction might have might have been a bit more useful. So what would have been correct? When I took lessons in Crimes this was the phrase I was taught as a "pleased to meet you" equivalent. My russian is quite poor and limited and I know it .. but I would rather try to use what I sort of know, and make people smile than never try at all. No offense is taken .. we learn by making mistakes. Especially if correction is offered. Be well all.	MishaMoose	Male	Ukraine	2011-06-09 16:31:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Columbus Ohio	Yep. Cincinnati is a great city. I lived just over in Indiana growing up in the 50's and early 60's. My son and his wife live there now. Anyway ... ????? ???????? !	MishaMoose	Male	Ukraine	2011-06-09 11:39:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Columbus Ohio	Westerville in the house!!! Not a RUB couple though Nevertheless pleased to meet you	MishaMoose	Male	Ukraine	2011-06-09 11:34:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Columbus Ohio	Just curious if there are any US RUB couples here in the Columbus Ohio Area? Thanks Much!!	MishaMoose	Male	Ukraine	2011-06-08 17:56:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	I have this friend .............	so I just read it - take some stuff into consideration, get surprised about other stuff and just laugh at everything else. A perfectly sane attitude IMNSHO. Too many people spend too much time puffing themselves up to be offended. Just not worth it.	MishaMoose	Male	Ukraine	2011-06-10 17:18:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	I have this friend .............	Wow, another drive by shooting. Anybody who reads the RUB knows that we are not of the politically correct persuasion. I think that's why so many of us found our wives a breath of fresh air. They tell it like it is and now how some people think it should be because that is some how nicer. Call a spade a spade and learn to live with it. I have never understood the logic of people who insist on telling someone how much the despise what they havesaid. If it that is that offensive to them and makes them want to 'vomit' seems like it would be easiest just to stay away. But I guess Trolls cannot help themselves. My ex was like that .. the less something had to do with her the more she had to try to control it, fix it or exorcise it. I still do not understand that.	MishaMoose	Male	Ukraine	2011-06-10 16:58:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Approved in Kiev!	Congratulations!! My your life togtaher offer you only the best!	MishaMoose	Male	Ukraine	2011-06-17 09:23:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Legal Marriage	Both the USA and Ukraine are signatories of the "Hague Marriage Convention" which recognizes that marriages that have legal status in one country is valid is any other (that signed the treaty). Now there are still likely to be some additional paperwork to provide to the respective foreign government, but that doesn’t mean that the wedding is not valid in both countries. Google: hague convention marriage certificate Good luck! Edited by Misha and Zhenya, 22 July 2011 - 12:12 PM.	MishaMoose	Male	Ukraine	2011-07-22 12:12:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	5 Days Post-POE - GREAT!	Fillene's Basement might prove worthwhile. My daughter introduced me to it in Baltimore and I bleive we have one in Columbus. Zhenya has great taste in clothes IMO and seems to be interested in bargins too. I am looking forward to the manditory shopping expeditions with both great interest and foreboding	MishaMoose	Male	Ukraine	2011-07-18 10:28:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Travel question once VISA approved	Both Delta and Aeroflot have direct flights from Kiev to NY. Then hop a short flight to Florida. Aerosvit also has direct KBP to JFK flights several days a week and are usually relatively inexpensive. Congrats!!	MishaMoose	Male	Ukraine	2011-10-12 12:56:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	My Lady Has Been Approved	Congratulations!!! Each success strory adds positive energy to the process! 8^))) We are till waiting for the custody issue to be resolved for Zhenya's daughter Kristina. With luck I might still have her here by summer. Again congratulations and the very best of luck for the future.	MishaMoose	Male	Ukraine	2011-10-26 09:53:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	How about this?!!!	My wife asked a second time, when am I going to get her a gun. This was after telling her about the lock down at a school next door to my office yesterday. I hadn't seen so many police at one spot since the last big sale at a donut shop. So, now I am trying to figure out which kind of gun she really wants. I thought she would want a pistol but she mentioned a rifle. We are talking about person protection for in the home. Any suggestions? I would certainly consider a shotgun. They offer a selectable range of lethality and penetration based on the choice of shot. Base on several studies I have read small game and large bird loads are quite effective indoors, being quite leathal (all still in a 'clump') at end of hallway ranges but rapidly loosing penetration power in walls etc. Seems most pistols that offer good stopping power tend to be highly over penetrating and rifles even more so. A 16 or 20 gauge might be more comfortable for a small lady than a 12 gauge, but the 12 throws more pellets. I personally like my Mossberg 500. Just my 0.02 grivna.	MishaMoose	Male	Ukraine	2011-10-04 14:56:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Moscow just came unglued	And here I thought it had to do with buying Girl Scout Cookies! Well that too SemperFi	MishaMoose	Male	Ukraine	2012-01-19 09:19:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Moscow just came unglued	Could be, however if you check the stats you wilt see that Vermont has had the highest per capita representation in the military since WW2 and the highest percentage of wounded/killed per capita of any state. I was suprised to learn that but given we are a state of 600,000 total population a few people make a big impact on the "per captia" numbers. But yes, that is why Tennessee is called the volunteer state Gary, Quite a few states do well in the per capita numbers. It was originally applied after the War of 1812 and the Mexican war, but I think stuck just as much for consistently high percentages over various conflicts, even through the present. I think it probably applied even during 'the War of Northern Aggression' 8^) on the Union side of the scale as well. A truly significant number of Tennesseans fought for the North. I think a number of states could good make a claim to the 'title', Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Texas and Pennsylvania all seem to have been prominent in my recollection. I am also sure there are a number of others. .	MishaMoose	Male	Ukraine	2012-01-18 14:21:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Moscow just came unglued	Yes, they represented 35 of the 185 men there. Which in no way belittles what they did and no one ever claims otherwise. The shrine at the Alamo in fact displays a flag for the home state/country of each man that died and there are a whole bunch of flags! There is a county in Texas named for each man that died there regardless of where he was "from" he died a Texican. This being one of several events that lead to Tennessee being called the "Volunteer State". I believe that we are still rpresented in the arme forces in numbers out of proportion to our population.	MishaMoose	Male	Ukraine	2012-01-18 10:30:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	End of the Journey	Congrats to Alla and bst of luck moving forward! I personally hope that you hang around Gary .. you posts are fun and inavaluable!	MishaMoose	Male	Ukraine	2012-02-01 13:25:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Sergey goes for Rice University!	Congratulations to Sergey! as mentioned Rice is an outstanding school. I worked with a lot of scientist from Rice the years I was in Huntsville AL, They all seemed to be pretty well rounded and competent folks. All the best to all of you!	MishaMoose	Male	Ukraine	2012-02-25 13:42:00
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus	Green Card Approved!	Congratulatuions!!	MishaMoose	Male	Ukraine	2012-04-25 08:16:00