I can’t believe my last two weeks in Manila went by so fast. I wish I could bend space and time like Hiro Nakamura. Still so much to do, so little time. It all comes to this.

Let’s do it!

See you on the other side of the world, people.

Last night I cried so hard it hurt. It’s slowly sinking in. Felix, Nate and I are leaving. We really are. The thought scared the shit out of me, so I cried like a fearful child.

Is this really what I want?

If you have been following my family’s visa journey, you would know how long I have waited for this moment. I can’t say this isn’t what I want. I have never wanted anything so bad my whole life. I am excited for a lot of reasons, I really am, but with that excitement comes this sadness I can’t ignore. It’s a painful kind of sad. I have never lived anywhere else my whole life, and the only home I know is this one I have right now.

I am leaving behind the only life I know.

I have imagined this moment from the time Felix and I started our visa journey, but in that pretend scene, I was happy. It felt good. Now, I am anxious and sad. It’s the opposite of that movie in my mind. I hate it. It’s not supposed to be this way.

This is my ever after. I know the best is yet to come… and the worst, too. It’s just that I’m not yet ready, in more ways than one. I have two weeks left to sort stuff, pack my entire life, finish last minute errands, and see whoever I can see. Felix and I made a list of things to accomplish before we leave. Still, I have a feeling that we will be forgetting something despite all of our effort to accomplish as much as we can with the little time left. I bet we will only come to realize what was forgotten once we are gone. Awesome.

I hope to make the most out of my last few days in Manila. All things considered.

After some six hundred and so days, my son and I finally got our immigrant visa approvals, and I couldn’t be happier! I wanted to blog about my interview experience as soon as we got home from the Embassy of the United States, but I was just too tired that day. (I wasn’t able to get any sleep the night before the interview. Seriously.)

Anyway, here’s pretty much everything that happened during last Thursday’s interview.

5:30 am - My husband, my son and I arrived at Embassy of the United States in Manila. It was a good thing we got there early, as there were about twenty or so people ahead of us, already queued in the waiting area. Around thirty minutes after, the Embassy’s employees began allowing people to enter the building. We went through the routine inspection, walked to the immigration visa unit and were told to sit and wait to get our ticket number. So we waited.

6:30 am - Got our ticket numbers. More waiting.

7:00 am - My son and I were called to Window 16 for our fingerprint scanning. When I was done, I was told my son didn’t have to go through it. We were told to sit again and wait for our numbers to appear on the board. Sure. However, the numbers were called randomly. You either glue your eyes to the board and dare not blink, or you miss your turn.

Anxiety and tension were already building up at this point, and I was focused on dismissing anything negative. Felix and I were also trying to amuse one another, at the same time trying to pay attention to the numbers flashing on the board. Every time the bell rang, we were like, “OMG is it our turn yet?!” At some points I wanted to shout, “BINGO!” but I thought people might not appreciate that kind of thing and it just might jeopardize our visa approval. LOL.

7:30 am - We were called to Window 19. I had a male pre-screener. He was really kind and polite. He asked me to fill out some parts in our DS-230s that I failed to fill out prior to mailing to the National Visa Center (NVC). He also asked me to sign the last portion of the form that was intentionally left blank, as the instructions stated. The pre-screener asked me if my son was born out of wedlock, and I replied with a yes. He asked if I was ever married to my son’s father. I said no. He asked if I ever submitted a marriage index, I said I haven’t. However, I told him I had one with me, and he asked for it. He then asked me when the wedding was held, who my husband is, where we met, when we first met, how many times he’s visited, when his last visit was. He also asked what my husband did for a living, and I told him he’s currently unemployed. He started going through our I-864s and he said it wasn’t a problem, since we have a joint sponsor.

While the pre-screener was flipping through the I-864s we sent to the NVC, he asked me who the joint sponsor was and my relationship with them. However, my joint sponsor failed to submit a more recent income tax return. He asked me for some attachments, and I said we don’t have any. I told him that we have another joint sponsor, and I then presented everything to him, together with the copies of the 2007 income tax, W2 from 2007, and the form I-864A (since taxes were filed together). He said that my second joint sponsor’s documents were sufficient. He also asked if they filled out for my son, and I said yes. He went through them once again, and then told me that my second joint sponsor’s stuff was what he was going to file for the final interview instead.

The whole time my son was just standing next to me. The only thing the pre-screener asked my 13 year old son was his birth date.

Finally, he asked for our family photos (I gave him about 80 prints!), greeting cards, and some remittance receipts. Then he asked if we have ever been to the United States or if this was the first time for us to travel there. When he was done, he told us to go back to our seats and to wait for the final interview with the consul officer.

8:30 am - After what felt like the longest wait of my life, we were finally called to Window 32 for our interview with the consul officer. He was this middle-aged, white guy who wore eyeglasses. He greeted me and my son, told us to sit, and asked me to take the oath.

He was pleasant, however, he had a terrible cough. He was coughing non-stop on his head set, and it was really loud! I could tell he was having a hard time, his nose was stuffy, and he would cough like every 5-10 seconds. Poor guy. There were moments of silence as he would go through our stuff and type on his computer, and then he would cough again.

So, anyway. He asked the same things the pre-screener asked. Further, he asked about the other jobs my husband had before he became unemployed, why he’s unemployed, our plans when we get to the United States, and where we plan to stay. He asked how my husband supports us if he’s unemployed. He asked if I knew how much he was getting and I told him. I was able to answer all his questions without any hesitation.

After all that questioning, he went through our photos briefly, and began typing some more stuff on the computer. I was kind of worried because he wasn’t saying anything at all. He then returned the photos, greeting cards, and remittance receipts back to me. Finally, with these two huge stamps, he stamped on our stuff and said, “This is it, Ma’am, I have approved your visas.” And I was like, “Really?! Thank you very much, sir!” while trying to contain myself. I knew I was grinning like a maniac, though. He told us to sit again outside and to wait for further instructions for the releasing and paying of the visa delivery fees. He wished me and my son good luck on our move to the United States and with getting employed there.

I think we were in the cubicle for about 30 minutes. I bet we would have been done a lot sooner, but the consul officer’s cough kept interrupting us. He had to stop a couple of times with what he was doing because he just couldn’t stop coughing! It sounded like he had asthma.

After about ten minutes, we were called to the releasing window. This lady handed me our appointment letters and stapled two pink slips on them. She told us to pay for our visa delivery fees, go home and wait. I asked what the pink slip meant, and she said she’s not authorized to disclose that kind of information. Boo.

9:30 am - Paid our visa delivery fees, and we were done like a champ!

As soon as we got in the car, I turned on my cell phone and began messaging everyone about the good news. No words can express this huge relief and joy I am feeling right now. I mean, it’s over. We actually reached the finish line of this visa petition journey. Felix and I did it! Of course, with the help of our family, friends and VisaJourney. Man, without them, I don’t know. I am just grateful and thankful.

So now we wait for the visas to arrive. I got the confirmation text message from the courier today. They said they have received our documents from the Embassy, and to ready valid IDs for unnecessary inconvenience upon delivery. It will probably arrive tomorrow, or Monday.

I can wait. Really.

Update as of 1:29 pm 3/7/2009 - The visas have arrived! Hurray!