Forum	Title	Content	Member	Sex	Country	Date/Time
Canada	K-1 people waiting for interviews at Montreal	I just spent ALL DAY (on/off for 9 hours.. lol) working on this damn Packet 3! Done now at least.. just doing a cover letter, but man these forms are annoying. I can't wait until they get things sorted out and truly move to the DS 160. It's long, and I had to basically do it twice, considering the DS230, which they also ask for, is 90% identical! I hate redundant questions! LOL	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2009-09-06 20:32:00
Canada	K-1 people waiting for interviews at Montreal	QUOTE (JillA @ Aug 19 2009, 04:21 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> QUOTE (ashenflowers @ Aug 19 2009, 04:29 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Hi all... this is the first time I've poked my head in here... I guess I'll be waiting for an interview in Montreal soon. They just received our case today (I think... according to when NVC said they sent our case, and tracking on the DHL website thingie). Don't have packet 3 yet, so still a few steps in between before an interview can be scheduled, but still thought I'd say hi. Is it REALLY a 5-7 month wait!??!?! I almost threw the phone across the room when I heard that on the menu when I called Montreal today. lol No Ahsen, don't worry it's not... they always give that timeframe out as "worst case" scenario and also I guess so people don't bug them for a date.... but you'll have one before that!! Thanks!!! That's what I was hoping, but still... oye... :'( lol	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2009-08-19 18:30:00
Canada	K-1 people waiting for interviews at Montreal	Hi all... this is the first time I've poked my head in here... I guess I'll be waiting for an interview in Montreal soon. They just received our case today (I think... according to when NVC said they sent our case, and tracking on the DHL website thingie). Don't have packet 3 yet, so still a few steps in between before an interview can be scheduled, but still thought I'd say hi. Is it REALLY a 5-7 month wait!??!?! I almost threw the phone across the room when I heard that on the menu when I called Montreal today. lol Edited by ashenflowers, 19 August 2009 - 03:30 PM.	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2009-08-19 15:29:00
Canada	Hotel Reviews Montreal	QUOTE (Sam and Ben @ Oct 26 2009, 11:18 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I can't wait to stay there either. For the price and the great reviews it got, it seemed like a great choice. I hope we get back in time for breakfast buffet!!!! lol	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2009-10-26 23:44:00
Canada	Hotel Reviews Montreal	K, We've decided to book the Dauphin. It's about 2 blocks from the consulate, the price is right, and it looks nice! I'll be sure to let you all know my thoughts after we stay there. Here's a little more extensive info on expedia: http://www.expedia.c...tel-information	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2009-10-26 22:04:00
Canada	Thanksgiving & Black Friday	Sam, I hope you're able to get back up home sooner rather than later Sam. The Black Friday business is RIDICULOUS! I saw ads for Macy's being open at midnight, and Sears at 4am!? That's just silly. I feel for the retail folks. I hope it goes smoothly! Wyatt, Wow, back to work so quickly after all of that!? That's crazy! I hope it all goes well for her too!! You'll have to make the Christmas meal extra special! frankie, that's a good idea about check in the activities around town. I have a work meeting Sunday morning, and an essay to write this weekend though, so I'm not sure I'll be getting much fun time. I am going to try to see if one of my local good acquaintances/friends wants to go out for a bit on Saturday though. That will help. Sapphire, those are great traditions! I think you should make the cruise a tradition too... haha Have fun!! Kathryn, Good luck with your BF shopping! I'm glad you have some holiday time to spend together. You deserve that! I'm studying Film Production. It's a lot of work, but the fun kind. I'm hoping it leads to something long term, and I've made some good connections already and found a project to work on outside of school, which has been creatively very exciting... but honestly I'm just pretty pumped that I'm doing this at all. I've wanted to go back to school for about 4 years, and working in film is something that I've always wanted to pursue for as long as I can remember, but never had the opportunity to do so in Southwestern Ontario of course. California is another story. Once I got here, and started looking around and realizing it was possible, I went for it. I even qualified for some very helpful financial aid since our situation last year was so crappy... haha! Go figure. If I could put in a shameless plug here ( lol, hope that's ok ), this is the teaser to the film I've been working on for school. I'm one of the producers. My apartment was turned into a fake meth lab for a night as part of this, and my car became an undercover cop car... hahaha Edited by ashenflowers, 24 November 2011 - 01:54 PM.	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2011-11-24 13:53:00
Canada	Thanksgiving & Black Friday	Happy Thanksgiving, at the weirdest time of the year, to all of you on the south side of the border!! I still prefer Thanksgiving as a harvest/fall intro near the start of October, but maybe that's just me. I've returned to college since moving to the U.S. and many of my classmates are returning 'home' to visit their families over the holiday. I of course can not, so it's really bumming me out. I haven't been there since last Christmas, and I won't be able to go again until next summer, and even that is doubtful. So, I'm trying to fight off the loneliness and homesickness this week/weekend. I had wanted to go Black Friday shopping, but unfortunately had to unexpectedly dump several hundred dollars into my car this morning, so that took out any shopping budget... so I'm a bit bummed about that as well. So, in short, since my weekend is shaping up to be shitacular, I wanted to hear everyone else's plans and live vicariously through all of you!! Discuss.	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2011-11-24 03:09:00
Canada	Student Loans in the U.S.	Wyatt, I've returned to college since moving to the U.S. I applied for financial aid, and was offered a student loan (which I have yet to accept, because I'm wanting to avoid the debt), AND I was given a grant that paid for my tuition for this year!! Hurray! Also, you've been in the U.S. for over a year, so it doesn't apply for you, but to anyone else here's some important info: If you've just recently moved to the U.S. (within a year), check with your school's policy on residency requirements. I waited an extra semester before starting full time (partially because I was also still deciding on my major), because I had to live in California for a year to be considered a resident for tuition purposes, rather than an international student. And of course had to show some paperwork to prove it. It's worth it. The tuition was LITERALLY ten (10!) times cheaper.	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2011-12-10 02:45:00
Canada	Homesickness	So very sorry about your father Kathryn. I am extremely home sick, even after being here for 22 months. I have decided of course that this is where I will be living, and I no longer have the urge to move back (which I did for the first several months). There are things that I like about living here after all, and I've become quite adjusted to some of the local differences. However, I think for me the inability to be able to return for regular visits is making it really difficult to truly feel at 'home' here. Ontario to California is pretty far, after all! I haven't been back to Canada since January, and can't go for the holidays this year, so if I'm lucky I MIGHT be able to go for a visit next summer at the earliest. It's just too long!!! I miss my family. I miss Canada. I miss my friends (though some of them have moved elsewhere as well, so that will never be the same). I miss snow, I miss Tim Hortons, I miss hockey, I miss the Canada flag, I miss people being polite, I miss french signs (go figure), and bilingual packaging. And yes, hearing the national anthem almost makes me want to bawl like a baby. lol If I were able to go home more often it would be much easier, but I feel trapped and SO very far away here. Every once in a while there are triggers that leave me with such a fierce ache and emptiness in my heart that I can hardly bear it. Also, it's been hard making friends. I have a few, but none really close... there are hardly any people in this town my age. They are either 10 years younger (it's a college/university town), or 10 years older, with children (it's an expensive place to live, and most young couples can't afford to live here... neither can we actually, without help). So, that part sucks.	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2011-11-20 23:45:00
Canada	Bringing goods from Ontario Unaccompanied	Good Morning, Next Week my husband and a friend will go to my hometown near Windsor with a U-haul van or small truck, pick my 70 or so small boxes of belongings, plus several small things like lamps, a vacuum cleaner, etc. and bring them back over the bridge or tunnel to our home in Michigan. Plus a small suitcase where I have my personal stuff like some toiletries, medicine, jewelry box. I poe'd on November 10 and we were married on the 18th. They will have all the proper documentation: the form 3299, photocopies of my passport and Kvisa, and a list of the items. All the boxes have been numbered and I made a list just stating "household", "Kitchen", "books" "plates"... whatever items were in the boxes on the accompanying list. Does anyone have any advice or experience they can share? We assume they will be secondaried... has anyone just gone right through without secondary? How long does the secondary inspection take? Thanks for any advice. I know this is old, but I was just curious, what hometown near Windsor? I also grew up in that general area, so I'm just curious	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2011-12-19 01:58:00
Canada	Are weiners and lunchmeat ok to bring back to the US now?	I still find people here who haven't heard of Tim Horton's. I suppose that will always be the case. It makes me want to cry for them and question why I am their friend. Also, it just makes me want to cry, because I think about how to describe TH to someone who's never experienced it. I... I just can't....	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2011-12-19 01:54:00
Canada	What do you like best about Tim Hortons?	Tim Horton's holds a lot of memories for me. It was a meeting place for my friends and I on several occasions, and we practically loitered there for hours. My mom worked there for about 10 yrs or something, at one of the 401 service centres (and for just over 2 years I worked in the same building at the KFC, so I kinda worked with my mom... haha). I even once dressed up in an inflatable Tim Horton's coffee cup mascot outfit for an event they had. True story. I like that they've made themselves part of the Canadian culture. I don't even like their coffee, but I love their iced capps and french vanillas, and their turkey sandwiches and their everything bagels with light cream cheese. I love that they're drive thru (around here there is ONE drive thru coffee shop in town. It's ridiculous! Screw this 'walking' to get my coffee #######... ). I like that I can have a Tim Horton's travel mug here, to remind me of it. And I like that occasionally friends and family will mail me a container of the french vanilla mix, and sometimes I just sit with the tin open to breathe in and smell it like a creep. hahahah ok, now I'm gonna cry...	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2012-06-01 13:30:00
Canada	Off Topic Part Cinq	Yay Tristan!!! btw, I always write it mm/dd/yy lol And occasionally have to have mac and cheese as a side dish. lol Though sometimes yes, it is also entire meal potential.	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2010-09-11 01:52:00
Canada	Off Topic Part Cinq	LOL, The Habit isn't just local, it started in L.A. and are all over California. I didn't like Harvey's, at all. The burger itself was dry, and it wasn't that tasty. Huggles, if you are looking for a giant burger rather than just a normal sized one that tastes good, try Fat Burger. Their king burger is enormous (and very good too). We must be talking about a different Habit. The one I'm talking about started in Goleta (which is attached to Santa Barbara). At least that's what they claim. Edited by ashenflowers, 09 September 2010 - 09:51 PM.	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2010-09-09 21:49:00
Canada	Off Topic Part Cinq	I don't like in-n-out that much. Around here there's a local place called The Habit, which is WAY better.	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2010-09-08 21:21:00
Canada	Off Topic Part Cinq	lol omg Kathryn!! That's such a great movie-connection story! I love it!	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2010-09-07 02:37:00
Canada	Off Topic Part Cinq	ah darn... that reminds me I have to go grocery shopping... Congrats on the pork and beans though! now I want some...	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2010-09-01 15:43:00
Canada	Off Topic Part Cinq	Cool. I feel better for missing out on the book thing then.	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2010-09-01 14:15:00
Canada	Off Topic Part Cinq	aww darn... i wish i'd known about that free book thing. Ah well!	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2010-09-01 02:43:00
Canada	Off Topic Part Cinq	I fly into Detroit, and shuttle to London (well, when the hubby and I were still dating anyways, that's usually how we did it for visits... I haven't been able to visit since I got here, so that's another story). I still save a minimum of $100 every single time. We didn't rent a car, and took the Aboutown shuttle (or Robert Q on occasion). It's possible prices have changed, but it's still worth it in my books to save $100 (or more!). It's still about $300-400 to fly from Santa Barbara to Detroit (worse at Christmas, of course). I just wish there was a direct flight, but there never is from here Time sure flies! One year ago today I became a US citizen. It doesn't feel anything like a year since the ceremony but it is. It's great being able to vote again! Happy Anniversary!!	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2010-08-26 12:59:00
Canada	Off Topic Part Cinq	That reminds me, anyone who is traveling to Canada ANYWHERE near a border town, and by that I mean 2 hours from the border, or so... I strongly recommend flying to the nearest U.S. border city and then renting a car, or taking an airport shuttle to your Canadian destination. You will literally save hundreds of dollars by not flying to a Canadian destination. I can't remember if we've discussed this on VJ before or not.	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2010-08-25 20:13:00
Canada	Off Topic Part Cinq	Yea its strange... I have always laughed at it when I seen it at the stores. This was my first time working with it. I've never seen it before. Is it usually in the baking section?	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2010-08-23 20:19:00
Canada	Off Topic Part Cinq	Yeah what is this 'fluff' you speak of?	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2010-08-23 16:01:00
Canada	Off Topic Part Cinq	yeah. Again, if I'd had my own cell phone, it probably would've been different. But I don't have one right now, so there wasn't a lot of calling around that I could've done. There's no doubt that it's this guy's fault, but the longer he takes to respond to us to give us his insurance information, the more irritated I get at him. lol It's delaying my ability to proceed with anything. I can't take the car in for an estimate until Monday because all the places are closed on the weekend too. And I can't go to the Dr. yet because we just found out our insurance doesn't go into effect until Sept 1st. We haven't decided if we want to open a claim on our own insurance without having his information yet. GAWD, I'm glad this didn't happen a few months ago when I was REALLY ready to move back to Canada, cause I'd have just said 'eff youuu' to it all and left. haha I hope your coworker is ok Huggles.	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2010-08-20 19:01:00
Canada	Off Topic Part Cinq	I would have dobne my hit from behind a lot different!! Cops were called, but I didnt go to the hospital right away--which I should have (Happened in Canada, so medical isnt really a concern!!) Ya, he isn't going to cal the cops, as he is in the wrong! Hope the info you have for him is correct, ie DL # Yeah it's easy to say afterwards what should or shouldn't have happened (I wish I took pictures, for example). Hopefully my husband gets the health insurance info from work today, so we can go to urgent care though (I just called our dr's office and thats what they suggested). I'm not dying or anything. I just want it on record that I went, and that there's no permanent damage. And yes, he would've been an idiot to call the cops himself. LOL He didn't have his insurance on him! That's a $250 fine right there. He knows I have insurance, and we have two witnesses, so he'd be pretty dumb not to cooperate. Haven't heard back from him yet though. tsk. On the plus side... I get a free cell phone with my new job! *SQUEEEE*	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2010-08-20 13:36:00
Canada	Off Topic Part Cinq	Actually, you should have called the cops, especially with a suspected injury. There was no suspected injury at the time. The guy claimed he was totally fine. And my head/neck didn't really hurt much until afterwards. Also, I don't have a cell phone. He did, but he didn't call the cops either.	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2010-08-20 13:05:00
Canada	Off Topic Part Cinq	Sorry huggles, I responded before I read your original post. I don't have his insurance info. He was driving without his insurance information with him (yeeeah... totally could've called the cops and had him cited on that, but I didn't want to be a ###### because he was being cooperative otherwise). We are waiting to hear back from him (I expect most of his day was spent dealing with his truck. LOL). I got the contact information for two witnesses, and the guy's name/phone/home address/email, so we have lots of ways to hassle him re: the insurance. My insurance agent mentioned something about the uninsured thing (like if he was uninsured after all), and we do have that, from the sounds of it. So that's good. I am going to go to the Dr. tomorrow for sure. And my insurance agent is being super helpful, and is taking care of a lot of the details for me, so that's nice. added: We're also hopefully finding a body shop tomorrow and taking the car in for an estimate on the damages. Will tell more of the job details later. Am still processing everything that happened today. lol Edited by ashenflowers, 19 August 2010 - 09:23 PM.	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2010-08-19 21:22:00
Canada	Off Topic Part Cinq	Thanks guys. I am going to hopefully see the Dr. tomorrow (I haven't even met our new Dr. yet.. lol). My husband got in touch with the benefits/insurance ppl via his employer and he'll be issued a temp card tomorrow morning, thankfully. It's funny cause I've been trying to move my neck to make sure I don't get too stiff, but I'll leave it alone now. lol And yes, in theory he should be covering any medical expenses so hopefully I hear back from him soon (I emailed him this afternoon, and my own insurance agent called him twice. lol)	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2010-08-19 21:02:00
Canada	Off Topic Part Cinq	So, not to take away from the interesting canning conversation(and it is.. I jammed my first jam this year with my mother in law... apricot.. picked off the tree in their back yard.. good times)... but I have to share this. I was in a car accident this morning. I've never had this happen before, so I'm like... whuuuut!? I've already contacted my insurance and all that so they're helping things get taken care of. I'd stopped for a pedestrian at a marked pedestrian crossing, and the guy behind me was either going too fast, following too close, or not paying attention, and ended up slamming into me after SLAMMING on his brakes and SQUEALING them, and still probably hit me at 20-25MPH (estimated from witnesses). I think I have whiplash (my neck hurts and back of my head has a sort of weird feeling... cause when he hit me it jolted the car forward about 10 feet and the back of my head hit the seat pretty hard)... but we don't have any proof of our health insurance yet, so I can't go to the doctor about it yet. The guy totally accepts fault (as he should), so that's good... and his vehicle is more damaged than mine was (*point/laugh*). Maybe this should go in vent? I dunno... anyways.. Yeah. That's what happened. and I feel weird. And it sucks, and why can't life just be GOOD and leave it at that, without stupid BS happening like this and ruining the moment. P.S. I have a job. lol	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2010-08-19 19:55:00
Canada	Off Topic Part Cinq	Sweet! I just got a phone call and answered the trivia quiz to win tickets to The Late Show with David Letterman next week when we're in New York City! whoa, that's awesome!!! Do you know who the guests will be that day??	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2010-08-18 14:57:00
Canada	Off Topic Part Cinq	Agreed... work should never be first. That's why people get so miserable.	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2010-08-18 13:01:00
Canada	Wedding Details	I haven't been participating in this thread either, mostly because we haven't really started planning yet. Ours is one of those situations where we talked about it, and agreed that we're getting married and doing this process, but that was in the middle of some time apart. He hasn't "officially" proposed, and I don't have a ring, and we haven't made an announcement to everyone... because we haven't seen each other since January. So it seems weird. lol But anyways... We do have some dates in mind, and I'm not sure if the list you posted July, was intended to be the actually 'WEDDING' or the legal marriage. We're doing 2 different ones, because there's absolutely no way that we can afford moving/immigration right now PLUS the wedding... also, I want an outdoor wedding, and our immigration stuff should be done sometime mid-winter, so no. haha But, I do know that I am getting a proposal when he's here next week! I just don't know exactly when/where/how. hahah I'm excited. We're hoping that we can be done in time for a January 9th or 10th, 2010 legal wedding in California (with just our parents attending, unless we decide to keep it just the 2 of us). And are still playing around ideas for the big ceremony, which we're calling our RE-Wedding. lol My brother and his family is moving out of the country this year, and I don't know when they'd be able to make it back for the wedding... my parents are also possibly moving out of Canada next year, or the year after, so I don't want to interfere with their plans So I have no idea when to do it. We have a few dates in mind. We're also unsure of when would actually be feasible for us to have it, with me not being able to work for the first part of 2010 will cause some issues with being able to have a decent ceremony, and all that fun jazz. SIGH.... So we're thinking 2011, but again, back to my parents moving away.. that might interfere with their plans... thus my dilemma. I plan to talk to them about it after our "official announcement" lol ANYHOO... hahahah wow, sorry guys. Back to fun stuff.. I DO know what my engagement ring looks like, and I think its' really cute and sparkly, from what I can tell! HAHA My b/f (fiance?!) showed it to me via webcam... he wasn't going to, but I think the stress of the wildfires last week caused him to realize we both needed something positive to share, so he showed me... I was totally caught off guard.... I almost cried. Also, Krikit, your daughter's dress is lovely!! I couldn't pull that off. lol I have curves, but a bit too many, ifyaknowwhatimean. Edited by ashenflowers, 13 May 2009 - 01:57 PM.	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2009-05-13 13:57:00
Canada	Wedding Details	Holy Moly.. I'm just SCANNING through this massive amount of tips and text and wow.. lol I admire those of you who are going through this process AND planning a wedding at the same time. My b/f and I are just going to do a tiny civil wedding for the 2 of us in the US, and then we're planning a bigger ceremony in Canada a year or so later. I don't know if I could deal with both the visa process AND the wedding planning at the same time! let alone pay for both... Edited by ashenflowers, 12 April 2009 - 11:09 PM.	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2009-04-12 23:08:00
Canada	AOS'rs...	Yay Kimbear!!!	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2010-09-04 20:57:00
Canada	AOS'rs...	bio went easy peasy. no one in and we showed up an hour early. no question asked nothing. filled out a simple small form, showed my drivers licence waited maybe 5 minutes, fingerprints and photo done. They stamped my asc bio appointment letter and handed it back to me and gave me a small survey to fill out. This was at the Norridge location. i'm willing to bet i get my green card same time as the ead. since it's already been 3 months since i submitted the AOS, also if i was gonna get an RFE well i would have gotten it by now too. so hopefully knock on wood the next thing i hear is that email saying card production ordered lol. I dunno.. I thought that too. I had bio done, EAD received, AP received... and THEN I got my RFE for the lost medical....	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2010-09-02 16:38:00
Canada	AOS'rs...	Wow! Not bad! Congrats!!!	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2010-08-31 19:43:00
Canada	AOS'rs...	Green Card arrived today!!!!	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2010-08-27 22:23:00
Canada	AOS'rs...	LOL Well I'm glad you were approved! Sucks that you had to drive so far though	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2010-08-21 12:11:00
Canada	AOS'rs...	Thanks everyone!! And congrats to slider for the EAD, and to AandB and Kayla*Mathew on the CSC transfers! Wow, lots of progress happening this week! Yay us!!	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2010-08-17 23:38:00
Canada	AOS'rs...	Thanks everyone! I'm kinda wishing this wasn't all happening at the same time though. lol I can't truly bask in the glory of an approved AOS because I have this job interview to freak out about... lol... and I can't fully prepare for the job interview because I also have a sort of important meeting today about a future project I'll be working on for a local animal shelter that I volunteer with, so I have to prepare for that at the same time. gah!! I haven't been to a job interview in 3 years... and I'm pretty sure I'll be asked to produce examples from jobs that I haven't worked at in that 3 years too (my mom recent job isn't really relevant, but all my previous ones were). I have a bad memory So I'm trying to remember and/or make up relevant stories. Maybe I should put this in the 'off topic' thread. lol	ashenflowers	Female	Canada	2010-08-17 11:08:00