How long has it been?

Well, I guess it's time to get back to the blog, even though I've never been real good at keeping it updated.  Anyway, the last entry that I wrote about was back in 2011 just after I got back to Peru after visiting my family. 

As you can read in the last entry, we had quite an "adventure" with Edgar's visa.  If you can believe it or not, it took almost 10 months to finally get his visa back.  It finally arrived in September of 2011.  So, Edgar finally got to travel to the States with me in December of 2011.  Edgar got to meet my whole family, including brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews.  He also got to meet some of the extended family, altough it's now becoming impossible to get the whole extended family together.  We were also able to visit the Grand Canyon and go snowboarding.  I taught Edgar how to snowboard, which was a bit of an adventure.  I would say he spent more time on his butt than upright, but that's not so unusual for someone's first time snowboarding.  And he said that he really liked it and would like to go again.  So, I guess the butt time wasn't too bad for him.

Early this year, March 28th to be exact, we also welcomed a new edition into the family.  We now have a little girl named Adara Alicia Quispe Love.  She's brought a lot of joys and smiles to the family.  Edgar's family especially loves her because she's the first grandchild/niece for all of them.  So, she's a little spoiled.  I can already tell that she's strong-willed and will probably be an adventure raising her.  But I guess that all comes with the package.

I'm still working at the Centro Cultural Peruano Norteamericano teaching English.  I've now taught just about every level there is, including the Fundamental levels.  However, the very first level I haven't taught.  Although, I'm more confident now that I could teach that level.  It would just be a little more work because you have to prepare a little bit more material for them.

Edgar now has a job teaching at a technical institute here in Puno.  He followed a program to receive a degree in Administration through a university called the Universidad Hispana de Utah.  When he took the degree into the institute, they saw it was from the United States and immediately gave him the job.  It's been a lot of work for him because the work he did for the university was not real advanced.  So, now he's doing a lot of research to be able to have the information to teach.  But I think things are going well for him and he's enjoying his time there.  Oh, and they gave him an English class to teach.  I think since his degree came from a university in the States, they assume he can speak English.  They don't realize that he completed all his coursework here in Peru in Spanish.  Luckily, the class is a beginning class and it's a good way for him to practice his English.

Anyway, at then end of this month, we're on our way to Lima again.  We have to get Adara registered as an American citizen and get her passport.  We're also going to start the process for Edgar's immigrant visa.  Hopefully, things will go a lot smoother than any of our other experiences working with bureaucracy, Peruvian and American.  But I'm not holding my breath.

Back After Awhile

Well, it's been awhile since I've written here.  Edgar and I have had some things happen since the last time I wrote.

In November we were trying to get Edgar's visa so we could both go to the States for a visit with my family.  It looked like everything was going to work out fine when his application got sent into an "administrative process".  We were still hoping that everything would work out, but, in the end, it didn't.  We are actually still waiting for the final decision.  After 3 MONTHS of waiting, it still hasn't come.  The last time we called they told us that it could take up to 6 MONTHS for it to arrive.  Oh, how I love bureaucracy!!! (I hope you can hear the sarcasm dripping off my words there.)

So, after all the money and all the time that went into everything, I finally had to travel by myself.  I spent a month in the States.  It was a good visit with my family.  I got to see my sister and both of my brothers and all of the nieces and nephews.  We also went to the Grand Canyon and I got to go snowboarding, TWICE.  That is definitely one thing that I miss.  However, it all would have been better if Edgar could have come with me.

I have been back for about two months now.  I am still working at the Centro Cultural Peruano Norteamericano teaching English.  We usually change classes every month because their terms are set up that way.  But I have had the same classes these three months.  Looks like the director wants me to stay with the same students.

Edgar is trying to finish up with his studies.  He has finished his classes, but he now has to finish his internship.  Once that's done, we have to go through the process of asking for his bachelor's degree.  Then, he'll be free and ready for a Master's once we get to the States (and once he learns English).  He has been studying English in the same Institute that I teach at and it has been going pretty well for him.

As for Church stuff, Edgar is still in the Stake High Council.  He goes to his meetings which are way longer than they should be and goes to supervise the ward he is in charge of.  As for me, they released me from my stake calling, which was a relief in a lot of ways.  But now they have called me as the Young Womens' president in the ward.  That has been going pretty well, but we're still trying to get everything settled into a routine.

Well, that's about it for now.  In the next couple of weeks, we are hopefully going to start the process of Edgar's immigrant visa.  However, I have to get in contact with the US Citizenship and Immigrant Services at the embassy in Lima.  And they only receive phone calls on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9-11 in the morning.  Once again, I love bureaucracy!!!  So, anyway, that's to get the process started.  Then it's a whole long process to finish.  So, wish us luck with all of that.

BACK AFTER AWHILE

So, it's been quite some time since I've written.  Edgar and I had some problems with our Internet and we were out of touch with the world for that time.  But we once again have Internet in the house and we are back on track, with most things.

Anyway, since the last time I wrote, Edgar and I have been planning on going to the States for Christmas for a long-deserved visit home.  Thanks to parents who are willing and able to pay the bill because paying for plane tickets in dollars when you're earning soles is not so easy.  But the trip has been an adventure in and of itself.  And we haven't even gone yet.

Edgar was reluctant to get the visa process started, mainly because he didn't want to go to Lima for the interview.  And I don't blame him.  Lima is big, noisy, and crowded.  Plus, it's known for being dangerous.  The trip is long and Edgar doesn't know anyone in Lima.  So, it was not the easiest thing for him.  I finally got him to get his passport renewed and then we got the visa process started.

The process for a visitor's visa is not all that long.  You have to fill out an application on-line, call to schedule an interview, and pay the processing fee in the bank.  In any order that you wish.  However, the actual obtaining of the visa is not so easy.  The law is basically that the consular officers automatically assume that any applicant for a non-immigrant visa is an actual immigrant.  So, your job is to prove that you really don't want to immigrate.  And for someone married to a US citizen, that is one tall order.

So, we got Edgar in for his first interview.  He traveled by bus, which, round-trip, is basically a three-day trip. :-(  And, guess what?  He was denied.  After all the research we have done and that my mother has done, I guess it really shouldn't have been a surprise.  But after the three-day trip and having to walk a half-hour at the end to get through the strike that had closed the road, Edgar was definitely frustrated and tired of it all.  But we got him to go back.

This time, I went with him and we went by plane.  We had to travel in bus to Arequipa (six hours away) but at least the flight was only 1 hour 20 minutes.  So the trip was only about a day-and-a-half long.  But they denied him again.

However, 3 days later, we get a call from the Embassy saying that they needed his passport because they didn't have anywhere to put the visa without it.  We're not sure what miracle happened, but we're glad that it did.  Now, we just have to get the passport to Lima.  We are supposed to send it DHL, but the DHL in Puno is not authorized to handle passports.  So we somehow have to get the passport to Arequipa to send it from there.  We are now in that plan.

Hope we can get everything worked out on time to get Edgar to the States for Christmas.

Life's Little Quirks

So, these past couple of weeks have been a little bit of an emotional roller coaster. 

Edgar and I thought that I might be pregnant but after the dust settled, the answer was no.  It appears that the dose of the medicine for my thyroid is no longer sufficient, so that's causing all kinds of other things to go whack in my body.  So, I'm working with an endocrinologist to get everything all straightened out again.

As for Edgar, he's started school this month again.  It should be his last semester if everything goes well.  He also passed this month in the Cultural so he's moving on to Fundamentals 3.  He's slowly progressing, but sometimes he gets a little frustrated.  I sometimes have to remind him that learning a language is not simple.  But most of the time he enjoys his classes and enjoys the thought that he will soon be able to communicate with my family.

We're both excited for our visit to the States in December.  We're excited to see the family and finally have Edgar meet those he has not met yet.

That's it for now.  Until next time.

Entry #1: Beginning of the blog

So, this is the first entry on our blog.  Took me awhile to finally get it written in between Internet problems and not knowing exactly how to start things off.

Anyway, Edgar and I have now been married for a year and three months.  I think it's definitely true that they older you get, the faster time flies.  I'm not even that old, and sometimes it seems to just disappear.  It's hard to believe that we've been married over a year and that I've been living in Peru that long.  But then again, I've become rather accustomed to most things Peruvian, so I guess that means that it's really true.

Edgar is getting ready to finish his last semester in the university.  He should be starting back to classes this next week.  He still needs to find a place to do his internships, but we're hoping that he can do so within the next couple of weeks.  He's a little frustrated right now because he's been in the house for so long, so I really hope that he can find a job soon because I hate to see him unhappy.

Meanwhile, I continue to work at the Cultural, or Centro Cultural Peruano Norteamericano.  Things are going well there.  The students are learning and sometimes I get to see the same class after two or three months and I can see how the students are advancing, which is fun.  Their terms are a month long, which sometimes makes it difficult to do a lot with them, because a month is not very long.  But I guess that's how things go. 

Edgar is also studying in the Cultural so he can learn English.  We tried the at-home thing and it just doesn't work for him.  He is so much more motivated going to class at the Cultural.  He's still in the very basic stage, but I can see that he is already advancing in his skills.

Meanwhile, at church, Edgar is in the High Priests' Council.  He doesn't like going to meetings because they last too long, but other than that, he's happy with the calling.  I am the Stake Young Women's president, which gives me some headaches from time to time.  Sometimes the ward leaders just don't do what they're supposed to.  And if they would read the manuals that the Church has written for its leaders, they wouldn't make near so many mistakes.  But I guess it's a learning process for us all.

I think that is probably about it.  I guess that's a good introductory entry.  I will be writing more in the coming weeks so keep coming back for more updates.