We have an ETA!

Well hopefully it's more than an estimated time.  I would call it an "actual" time of arrival. Hurray!!

Pollito had his consular/embassy US gov't interview on August 8th after finally getting all the paper work lined up.  We both thought that it would be a relatively easy process, like getting your tourist visa and that he would be out in a half hour.

Aparently not.  It took Pollito around 3 hours to come out of the Embassy.  He said that he probably spoke to someone a total of 3 minutes, and they all asked him the same thing over and over, and in one window he handed over some documents.  Apart from the waiting, and knowing him, being hungry sometime in those three hours, it was not a difficult process.

I think that we were lucky because we were able to file from Lima showing that I had lived there, and Pollito doesn't have any type of record, be it criminal or by overstaying any visa or anything on his trips to the US.    So we have the visa!!!  Which means that when he arrives in the US he will have a green card sent to him and be all legal and stuff!!

He was able to buy his ticket a week after he got his passport back from the Embassy.  He used miles and so has a ticket for Sept. 22!!  Yay!!!  Can't wait until he arrives!

Almost at the Finish Line!

http://www.anekant.org/picts/op2_tortoise_at_finish_line.jpg

Pollito received his special Spanish paper this week!!! And then he went and got his police record from Peru, and then he called the Embassy....AND...

He is waiting for the official interview date package to arrive!!  HURRAYYY!!!  We are ALMOST there.

Spain's bureaucracy does not rock my socks

So.  The last we had heard, Pollito's papers were in limbo between Lima and the Spanish Ministry of Justice.

Because the Spanish work so few hours, he could never get a hold of them.  We were both worried that we had lost the papers.  Or rather, Spain had lost them.

Pollito stayed up until the wee hours of the morning last week to find out what was going on with his paperwork.  He finally got a hold of the people and they told him that his papers were sent out on the 28 of May.  OF MAY.

But, since they forgot to complete the address, it was returned to them.  When the sent the papers back to Peru the address they used was basically akin to saying "John Doe, 1st Street. California, United States."  No wonder it got sent back.  But I guess we should be glad that it got sent back and not opened or left someplace to rot.

So when Pollito called Spain, he corrected his address and they should have sent the papers over by the end of last week.  Lets hope they arrive this time!

Another (negative) point for Spain

http://adoptando-en-zhitomir.blogspot.com/2010/04/burocracia.html

I found this picture today, which almost sums up with relationship Pollito has had with the Spanish government since we decided to get married and go to the states.  Except the turtle should have walked through a maze with several dead-ends, and places where he has to pay multiple tolls.

Pollito sent his papers in to get his Spanish police record, last week.  Because of the uncertainty of Peruvian post, he sent it with a courier.  Aparently when the courier went to drop off the packet at the address that the Ministry of Justice gives you, he was told that this was not the place for things from courier, just for mail - I'm sorry, what IS mail then?  Well, obviously only something that comes from the country's national post service.

So the courier had to go around and drop off the package somewhere else, not at the specific address listed on the Ministry of Justice's paper.  Pollito ha to call them to make sure that the paper arrived in the correct spot.  Good thing the Ministry of Justice is open until 4pm, right?

Wrong.  The people who take care of police reports/records stop working at 2pm.  Yay Espain.  He was however informed that the process of getting the police record is not the simple 3 days like it says on the form....or like it is said at the Embassy and stuff.  Its a whopping 30 day.  THIRTY.   It won't even be done until almost July, and with the mailing and everything, that puts us pretty much in July, and then Pollito has to call for an interview, which they will probably give to him within a month, so end of July/beginning of August.  And then he will need to buy a plane ticket and get ready to come.   And its ridiculous to spend a last minute fare price on a ticket, so chances are slimming for him to be here by my birthday.

Hopefully Spain will still send you back the finished report.

Time for an update!

(taken from johncoulter.net)

Progress has been made!!  Since I am now in the US of A, Pollito has to do most of the paperwork.  Granted, it is all his paperwork that needs to be done.

He has made great strides.  He has finally gotten the process started to get his police records from Spain.  That was a painful process.  I'm not sure if I've outlined it here, but basically because his Spanish ID is expired (duh), he has to do the entire process by snail mail.  We were trying to use legal representatives for a while, but that ended up not working, and we were trying to use some international government legalization process, but that didn't work either.  So after months of (mis)information gathering, Pollito finally had to go to the Spanish Embassy(which has weird rules on getting an appointment), got his papers legalized, and then sent them off to Spain.

He had to figure out all of the correct payments to be made.  It wasn't just a payment (of less than 5 euros) to the bank.  He had to do the currency exchange, and then pay a fee to transfer the money (remember, less than 5 euros), to the Spanish Bank (which seemingly exists in Peru, but even though it uses the same name, its not affiliated), and he had to pay a fee for the Spanish bank to accept the money.  All of it had to be done in dollars and in euros, so it had to be on the correct exchange rate.  You may wonder why he couldn't make the payment in the Spanish Embassy.  Thats because he can't use the Embassy for anything besides legalizing the forms, because his Spanish ID is expired.  So, he over paid the banks to account for changing exchange rates and changing fee rates.  Probably a grand total of close to 40 euros in fees to pay a 3euro payment to actually get the police record.

But! Its in the mail to Spain, who should receive it next week, and then they print out a form and send it back.  Easy, right?  I'm just not 100% behind the Peruvian postal system.  Things seems to get delayed. A box my friend sent my with syrup got delayed about two months.  On the other hand, a package from HK, arrived within two weeks.  So I guess you never know.  But with important papers, I'd rather know for sure.

Apart from sending in the Spanish papers, Pollito also had his medical exam today, and will get his results back next week.  They have to check and make sure he doesn't have some weird Peruvian disease before they let him into the States.  Seems valid....

And thats all!  All updated.  The interview is getting cloooosssseeeeeee.  All our papers should be in by the end of May!!

Important Papers

Remember that skit when you were small about someone needing important papers and the whole world bringing them all sorts of things like certificates and and forms and stuff, but in the end the most important ones were the toilet paper papers?  Anyway, whenever someone says important papers I always giggle to myself and think of toilet paper.

But REAL important papers arrived for Pollito this Monday.  The US Embassy paper packet!  It tells him all the things that he needs to collect, and he already has most of them.  They most annoying part is trying to get the police record from Spain.  Its a good thing he only lived in Spain and Lima, otherwise we would up to our necks in bureaucracy.  As it is...we are in up to our knees.

All of the Spanish sites and sources say something different on how to go about getting these papers.  It ends up that the only way to do it is by mail.  Which is a slow and laborious process made super sketchy by the Peruvian mail system.  We have  been trying to get the papers since November and have contacted one of my old private lessons students in Madrid and she has been nothing but helpful and willing and equally annoyed at her own country's system.  Spanish bureaucracy is just a pain.  No other way around it.  It is best to start early so you will end up only slightly late, and not too late.

Pollito's interview was scheduled for May 10, but due to Spain being a royal pain, he will have to postpone it.  Sigh.  At least we have the instructions.  And a number to call for questions.

The Waiting Game

We are right now in the waiting game with USCIS, or the entity that looks over immigrant visa applications and takes care of all things immigration wise.

Pollito SHOULD receive a package in the mail soon (within the next two weeks) saying that the petition has been approved and that now he has to collect medical records, and police reports etc.  Hopefully it comes soon because it means that the petition has been approved and we are cleared to move on.

We had such a flurry of activities and now its all died down.  Its a little odd to just be sitting and waiting.  I'm glad we got the papers in, but I don't like waiting for a mailed package.  It takes a while, and I don't like being in a position where there is nothing I can do.  I guess I can be content with the fact that we did everything that we could have done correctly.  Now...just...waaaaaiiiiiiiiiiting. waiting. waiting.

Accepted!!

Our papers were accepted!! Along with a large sum of money, but I didn't really expect that to be rejected.  Now we wait about three weeks for the official packet to be sent to Pollito, and then he will have to hustle and collect more papers and do more medical exams, but the papers were accepted.  SOO relieved.

On a side note, while at the Embassy, there was a very annoying american there with his young Peruvian wife.  I say annoying because he was the typical demanding American, why am I in line? This is f****** ridiculous etc and waving his passport around.  He was also being very nice to his wife, but I couldn't hear enough to actually say something to him without obviously eavesdropping.  Why do people get married to people who call them names and speak to them like they're stupid?  

Also, in the Embassy I got to hear the worst Spanish accents I think I have heard in a REALLY, REALLY long time.  It's actually kind of embarrassing, because if you work in a foreign country especially in a place where you have to interact or communicate with native speakers, you would think you would put more effort into learning the language.  Their accents were so bad that I couldn't understand what they were saying, and one of the girls said a number, very incorrectly.  For example instead of saying one hundred and fourteen, she said one hundred and ten and 4.  Really?  Maybe I am being too harsh, but that is a basic thing to know and if you are telling Spanish speaking people what to do, you should put more effort into communicating well with them.  

The bottom line is. PAPERS TURNED IN!  YAYAYAYAYA

Photos!!!

Yesterday at the Embassy I was missing photos and a copy of the original document that I brought in on more official looking paper.  So I couldn't turn in the papers.  With my 15 sole paper in hand and a print out of some pictures, I am returning to the Embassy tomorrow because they are only open on Tuesday and Thursday from 9-11am. In the mean time....enjoy pictures from the civil ceremony!!


                                           

Operation Green Card Phase ll : Dealing with the Embassy

Embassy behind the yellow wall...

This past week was spent trying to get everything together to take to the Embassy.  I finally have everything done and filled out, so tomorrow, a Tuesday, I will take my package to the Embassy to hand in.

The Citizen Services window is only open from 9-11am on Tuesdays and Thursdays so I will have to go early.  When I went to go ask questions on Thursday, the woman told me that the payment (a whopping $420) gets paid at the Embassy.  Hopefully this info is correct!  And hopefully I filled everything out correctly.  It had me filling out past employer names and addresses in boxes about the size of your thumb. Everything is a little squishy.

With luck, I have done everything correctly, and the paperwork will be accepted and I won't be missing anything and Pollito will be called to have his interview shortly and they will like him and allow him to come to the US as a permanent resident.

Last one down

Sorry I left you hanging from my last post on the horrors of dealing with Immigration.  Last week was really busy and I didn't have time to post about it.

We got the paper, but it still didn't take 15 minutes like it was supposed to.  I am ever hopeful that one day, one of this processes will actually go according to plan....

On Monday night according to the plan, Pollito called our contact lady in the ministry to see if progress had been made.  He was told to call back in half an hour.  Half a hour later, when he called her back, it was done!!  She said that I could go directly to the window to ask for my migratory movements without having to go and ask upstairs.  Hurray for connections!!  I think.  The guys upstairs said that by Tuesday all of the paperwork would be in order anyway....but the important part is: I was cleared to pick up the paper that I had originally needed.

Unlike the first day we showed up at the ministry, today's line for the little reception window was loooooonnnng.  It took about an hour to make it to the front.  They have two windows serving all sorts of immigration paperwork stuff.  If the information is available online, then it should be a breeze to just print it off, from a machine, like they do with some birth certificates.  I get to the front, and hand in my papers.  The man at the window pecked away at his computer and squinted through his glasses for a good 10 minutes all the while shuffling papers around and peering at me and my documents.  Finally he gives me a little slip of paper with my collection number and Pollito and I breathe a sigh of relief that there were no hiccups at this point.

We bought some high quality snacks at the vending machines and sat down to wait.  They man behind the window had said that it would be like 15-10 minutes, but we had seen people waiting outside the pick-up window for a good hour, so we weren't too optimistic.  Lo and behold, in 20 minutes, the man at the pick-up window called my name along with a bunch of other people's.  We stood in line again.  I showed the man my documents and my little receipt and then he shuffled some papers and came up with a packet.  He had me sign it and then handed me another piece of people that had my migratory movements on it.

You're thinking "Thank goodness!! finally complete!", right?  WRONG.

Being the good Peruvian daughter-in-law that I have learned to be, I checked my information on the paper to make sure it was all correct before stepping away from the window.   The American in me was telling me to hurry up because there were more people in line and the learned Peruvian in me told me that it didn't matter and that I had to check my info because they buffoons could have gotten it wrong.  Pollito came up and scanned the document too, and just as I was turning away he saw it - the person who asked for the document was listed as "Elizabeth Helen Joe".  Apparently, Joe was my new last name.

GHAGHAGHAHAGH Peruvian Ministry of Immigration.  WHY is everything you do so WRONG? Thats not even the name I put on the form asking for the movements.  I put that the person asking for the papers was "Elizabeth Hatayama" and the person whose movments were being requested was "Elizabeth Helen Joe Hatayama".  Nowhere did I put "Elizabeth Helen Joe".  So we talked to the man, and were like, uhhh this is wrong you have to fix it.  And he said, no, you have to fix it, you wrote your name wrong here.  But the name I wrote and the name they put down didn't even match!  It would have been the same it they name of the person requesting the paper was "John Aaron Smith"  And they put "John Aaron"  It doesn't matter that he is requesting the movements for me.

So the man told me to just add my whole name to the line.  Then it would read "Elizabeth Hatayama Helen Joe".  Uhm... Thats not me either.  I asked him if I could make a little carrot between the names and insert the two middle names.  NO.  So he had me fill out an entire new sheet and then go back over to the drop-off window and turn in the paper again.  Then we got back in the pick-up line while they moved papers and stamps around and FINALLY I had the paper.  With all of my name written in the proper order in the proper place.

Thank you, ministry at being so inept, and then blaming the people you serve for your mistakes and then taking forever and day to get it corrected.  But really, thanks for my migratory movements.

We celebrated bye eating pan con chicharron sandwiches at this little hole in the wall and on the way home I marveled at what is by far my most favorite street in Lima because it is lined with old colonial buildings (old and dirty, but still pretty)

Oh holy....place down under

Per my last post, today was the day to return to immigration and collect papers.  Big surprise, we STILL don't have papers in hand.  Here's how it went down...

This morning Pollito dropped me off at the Immigration Ministry.  I had all my papers in order and I lined up and got shuffled between windows and then they tell me they can't find my information and that I need to go to the United office to get a report saying that I was actually on the flight.  I fought with them for a food 10 minutes, because really what I am doing is fixing their mistake.  The day I left Peru, the entire system was down.  What should have happened is that they should have entered the information into the system as soon as it was back up.  I have everything that I need.  I have my exit stamp AND the stamp where I had to pay the over-stay fine.  As far as I'm concerned, they need to do the rest.  Unfortunately, not.

I tried to go to an Internet place and I printed off my e-ticket (which cost an arm and a leg on the world's slowest machine) and showed it to the people at the window.  The man (I swear he is a robot) looked at them, went to ask someone about something, and then came back and told me that I had to do what his boss had said about getting proof that I was on the flight.  Great.  I went outside and looked for a taxi.  It probably took a good 20 mins to get down to the neighbor hood of the airline office and about 10 minutes walking around trying to find it.

Along the way I had to change a large bill and had to try two different places.  Swell.  I found the United/Continental office and sat down to wait.  I had arrived just after these two old ladies who had to have their names changed because their ID and their tickets didn't match and then they had a whole bunch of other questions and concerns.  When I finally got up to the window, the woman told me that United/Continental don't issue proof of being on the flight.  Its against their policies.  So she gave me proof that they don't issue this type of proof.  And I had to find my way back to immigration to meet Pollito.

I saw some cool things along the way such as a Mini World theme park, a medicinal botanical garden and a 3 block tiled mural that represented each department in Peru.  First I thought it was a cool community project, and then I saw the 1 block long dedicated to the late Pope.  Ah well.

When I arrived, close to a half hour later (traffic) I was starving and hot and Pollito told me that he had been talking to a person and then the person had disappeared to look for the documents that say that I left the country and that we just had to wait.  We spoke several times with people (who, by the way pretty much ignored me when they talked to both of us even though these papers were for me.  Pollito says they are just like that and they don't know any better) and the only response that we got was that they were looking and it was the airline's fault that they wouldn't give me the proof of being on the plane..

The man finally came out again and said that they had found all of the other manifests except my flight (what a coincidence)  and that I needed to sign a sworn document that verified that what I was saying was true.  This was just ridiculous.  I have the stamp in my passport.  I also have the entrance stamp from when I came back into the country.  I obviously did not make it through security, then immigration to hang out in the airport for  2 weeks and then somehow get from the departures part of the airport to the arrivals part and get my passport stamped again.  I suppose I could have bribed someone to give me stamps....three of them..but they why is just the entrance shown in my records?  Anyway, luckily we didn't have to get the darn thing notarized and Pollito just copied someone else's sworn statement and I signed it and we turned it in.

The man said it would be ready on Monday.  Right.

Writing out a sworn statement.  So much effort for something at the end, we wrote by hand and swore by ourselves.

During this time Pollito also called his uncle who works in the congress because he is friends with some important person in Immigration.  After we were almost all the way home, his uncle calls back and says he has the connections that we can call this woman and get the paperwork done today.  GAHGHGH.  Too bad we were already an hour away and hot, and annoyed, and tired, and HUNGRY.  We will have to see if this goes through on Monday anyway.  But knowing someone who knows someone almost insures that we will get the document on Monday.

When the document is handed over, I have to translate them and then we can turn them in.  Monday can't come soon enough.

Round ll - FIGHT!

First off...I WILL get pictures up.  We have the CD with everything and I have to sort through them and post them.  Don't stress!!

So, we had a few days of paperwork free bliss surrounding the wedding, but as soon as my parent's left we hopped right back into the fray.

most of the papers for this process...

The first order of business is to get the official marriage certificate certified by the...something department.  RENIEC.  That nice piece of paper doesn't really account for anything, except sentiment.  We first had to go to another branch of the city to put in an order for a signed copy of the certificate.  That took 2 days to process and then with that piece of paper we took it to the RENIEC offices for them to register our marriage in their system and give up a certified certificate.  That process was actually the least difficult of them all.  The only thing I didn't have was a copy of my passport, but there are always copy places next to official buildings, so that was not a problem.  Actually getting registered was free and the nice man gave us our copy of the certificate right away.  We are now, legally, and officially married.  It turns up in the records now.

This process could also have been done for free and just by waiting for the respective departments to do it themselves.  But then we return to the problem of time.  The municipality has like 9 days to take it to RENIEC, and then RENIEC has 15 days to process it and issue the certificate.  It cost a little more to do it ourselves, but it was done faster and we feel more accomplished.  HA!  Beating the system....kinda.

With the certificate finished, the last piece we needed was my record of my migration movements.  Otherwise known as my entries and exits into the country to prove that I have been in Peru long enough to quality for Direct Consular Filing for Pollito to get his green card.

The internet says that the process is free.  Cool.  Pollito wouldn't let me go by myself into the center to the Migration offices, DIGEMIN, so I had to wait until someone could come with me.  Pollito finally took me yesterday.  I went armed with my passport and my migration card from the airport.  Just like the website says.  We arrived without too much difficulty, and then we had to stand in line for papers we could have printed off online.  Opps.  Half way through the line the opened up another window and I raced Pollito to the window.  I won and collected the paper and was told that I had to fill out the paper and pay the fee...wait...pay the fee?? Online it says it is free!!  Pollito asked one of the workers why it says free on the internet and when she went to go look it up she found that her computer was without a mouse.  Excellent.  So I filled out the form and we got in line for the bank.

Its good the bank has a branch at DIGEMIN, otherwise you would have to wander around and try to find one.  They also have a copy machine there where, for a fee,  you can get all your last minute copies made.  The bank line moved quickly because the only operations that the tellers do is to charge people administrative fees.  We were already annoyed that what we thought was going to be a fast trip was turing into a morning filled with waiting in line.  Good thing I had water.  The best was yet to come.

We were sent to little windows where I had to turn in my papers with my payment.  The guard stopped me at the front.  Did I have a copy of my passport?  No.  Thanks little copy room.  We got in line again.  I finally made it up to the window, and the woman goes, do you have a copy of your entry stamp?  No.  Good thing Pollito was there.  I stood at the window trying to ignore people giving me annoyed looks, and he went to get a copy.  The woman looked at my papers again and then back to her computer.  She said "You just have one entry into Peru.." and told her that I have two entries and that I had left in January.   I showed her the stamp.  She said that the system showed that I had entered Peru in March of 2011 and then re-entered in January of 2012.  EH?  No.  She told me to go up to the third floor to the Migration control window and have them sort it out.  UGH.

We went up and stood in line, Pollito fuming at the ineffectiveness of the Peruvian bureaucracy.   While we were waiting in line we saw some poor gringo looking guy being sent back and forth between our line and a big room.  Go! NO!, come back, tell them this...leave your stuff..nooo you might need it take it...go ask them!  come back!  Poor guy.  When we made it to the window I told the woman what had happened and she gave me a form and told me I needed a copy of my passport, the migration card, and my entry and exit stamps.  I filled out paperwork and Pollito ran downstairs for copies again.

We went up to the other window that was pointed out to us by the lady who gave us the form and turned them in.  This woman wrote down my information, literally wrote with a pen and paper in a ledger with lines made by a ruler, and took my papers.  We started asking her questions and she said to ask the guy next door.  We moved to the window next door and asked him when the system would be corrected.  He said I could come back on Friday or call.  When I asked him for the number he said, no, there is no number, you have to come down.  Ok...and I asked him what would happen if it wasn't finished.  And he said that if it wasn't finished then they would correct it right then and there.  Why, if they can do that, could they not just fix it for me now??  Bureaucracy.

What happened is that the day I left Peru in January, the entire migration system was down.  I almost missed my flight, but managed to get the proper stamps in my passport, but I guess this information was never entered into the computer.  Excellent.  Now they have to look for my migration card and enter it into the system.  And I have to return to check and see if they have actually done this and then stand in line again to get my migration record.

Pollito was livid at the whole process and at the building.  The building looks like its going to fall apart.  The little windows are really old fashioned and Pollito says that its a horrible image of Peru that is being given.  Since the office if the headquarters of everything with immigration, foreigners leave with an impression of Peru being inefficient, outdated, and backwards.  It does not help that they still enter records by hand.  Imagine there was a fire, all of those ledgers would be lost.  Never mind the time it takes to actually fill out these ledgers.  It was the same at the police station.  When you file a report there is no computer, the officer on hand just writes out half a page by hand and fills in the blanks with your information.  Talk about old school.

Talk about a whole lot of trouble to get a paper that says I have been in Peru for the proper amount of time.  What we thought was going to be a half hour turned out to be almost 3.  Good bye morning.

We did it!

Ta-da!!

All last week was really busy, not just because we got married :), but also because my entire family was in town!  It was a crazy, fun filled, stressful week.

The actual ceremony day got off to a rocky start from the night before.  Pollito's suit should have been ready at least on Monday to have the final fitting and stuff.  Unfortunately it wasn't ready until Wednesday afternoon and when he went to go pick it up it they had finished the wrong suit and it wasn't ready.  They asked him to come back the following day...Thursday, ie. wedding day.  Then they said he should return in two hours so that they could finish it.  We were both hoping that everything was perfect, but even if it wasn't Pollito would still have to wear it. In the end it was ok, and the suit turned out great, but it was what turned out to be the first of a few wedding scares.

The morning of, I had arranged to go with my sister-in-law and mom to the hair salon really early in the morning for hair and make up.  It started off great and I had high hope that they would work fast and we would be out in an hour.  After all the hair I had ordered was not too complex and I had really natural make-up in mind as well.  I think that I told the woman like 5 times that we had to be finished at a certain time.  By the time we got out we just had time to throw our dresses on, grab jewelry and run out the door.

Another thing that was a little scary was that the flowers that I had ordered a week before WERE NOT READY.  I have even called them to confirm that they would be ready the day before.  However, with the lagging of the salon, they flowers actually arrived before we finished hair and makeup.  Sighs of relief.

The morning was so hot that I was sweating before we even go to the city hall in the park.  Pollito kept dabbing his face with his handkerchief and everyone looked a little limp.

When we arrived at the park/city hall (the marriage department is located in a government building in a huge park) we met our photographer, who was an old teacher's aid that Pollito had in university.  We then gathered everyone together and went inside the building.

The officiant seemed to be a little flustered and the room was sweltering.  We opened the window and turned on the air while the officiant moved in and out of the room looking for what we thought was a...pencil?  Whatever it was he found it...and he motioned for us to start the ceremony.  I walked in with my dad, which is something that I hadn't planned ahead of time, but was really glad I did.

The officiant then proceeded to read laws and the meaning of marriage and the different sections of marriage law.  I felt bad for my family because they couldn't understand anything.  We we have the religious ceremony we will have to work something out...we reminded the guy that we were going to exchange rings and he was just like...yea...yea.  And carried on.  Then he brought out more little prompt cards and asked if we had the rings.  My nephew dutifully came up with the gigantic ring box and we read off the cards.  Then the officiant read us some passages from the bible and from some Hindu readings and I must say that I agree more with the Hindu readings about being together, separate.

Then it was over and we were married!!! Hurray!!  Pollito and Reina forever and ever.

We had a nice toast with my beloved petit fours that my mom brought all the way down from the US and Champagne and sparkling juice.  And then we retired for photos around the park and lunch at the Costa Verde Restaurant basically on the beach with nice sea breezes and views of the coast.

A little bit of the view.

Everyone gorged themselves, in a polite manner, on the great food that this restaurant has.  They claim the Guinness World Record for most types of dishes on a Buffet..who knew such an award existed?

We finished the day taking pictures in the "Fiance Bay", a cute little hokey park by Pollito's mom's house where they have a chair that is made like a conjoined throne and if you sit on it you can see a crown rising up from behind you.  During the night on weekends it is teeming with brides taking pictures.  Pollito said he would die before he went to take pictures there, that it is super "huachafa" (corny and sappy), but since its my wedding too, we went and took some pictures....the crown one is til on its way

Mareweed!!

Hey mom! I'm in the paper!

Our official announcement in the paper!

We are getting really good at being official.  

The last part of our civil ceremony ordeal, was to get the announcement and have it published in some newspaper.  We were supposed to get it last Friday, but we have forgotten that other people can be the impediments to our progress.  They called us on Friday and said it wouldn't be ready until Monday.  I called 4 times on Monday to see when it would be ready, and by the time it was, it was too late to go down and get it.

So I went on Tuesday to pick it up and then I went with Pollito's mom to get the thing published.  It cost 35 soles and the man said it would be in the paper on Wednesday.  Yuppi!

Today, on the way to work at 6:45am we bought a paper from a guy on the street.  All of the announcements look the same and they all have the same official wording.  You have to look for your district on the top of the little box and then look for your names in capital letters.  There was a little confusion yesterday with the man who took the announcement about the dates, so when I didn't see our announcement on the first page I was a little worried.

But then I turned the page and I found it towards the bottom.  Yay!! Its sooooo official to see it in print. Basically, in very formal language, it says that Mr. Carlos Saenz Muñiz, from whatever place, of whatever profession, living in whatever house, and Miss. Elizabeth Helen Joe Hatayama, from whatever place, of whatever profession, living in whatever house, intend to be married and that whosoever has a reason that they should not be married should file a complaint in the appropriate way within 8 days.

I took the page today to the marriage people and asked if there was anything else we needed to turn in and they said "no", so we are set for marriage on Feb. 16!  See you at the courthouse! 

Haste to the wedding!

We have a civil ceremony date!!  Feb. 16, 2012 at 10am!!

Due to the horribly long time table that we discovered (see here), we had to rush and get all our papers in.  We had decided to get the paperwork in by this week anyway, but there was extra urgency to everything.

Last week on Saturday we went to have the medical exam done.  The district that we live in has public hospital/clinic places so we headed there to have our x-rays and blood work done.  We arrived extra early to make sure we didn't have to wait long, you have to have been fasting for the blood work to come out, and if you know Pollito, fasting and Pollito don't go together.  The x-rays were fast and then we had to wait in line to have blood drawn.  There was a little girl in front of us who had to get blood drawn and she kicked and screamed and cried the entire time, poor thing.  I just got blood drawn when I was at home, and this experience hurt a little more and it gave me nice little bruise.

This morning we went to go pick up the medical results and turn in all of our papers for the marriage folder.  We met with the doctor who went over our results.  We are both HIV and syphilis free and are in good health to be married.  We got our medical certificate, and went on our way to get some more papers notarized.

medical certificate

We took our copies of our IDs to get notarized for free at the city hall which meant more stamps for our collection of papers, and then we headed over the "Parque de la Amistad" (Friendship Park) to buy our marriage folder.  

one of my notarized passport pages

The women who handled our paperwork took quite a long time poring over my legalized, translated, legalized again birth certificate and singleness certificate.  I was afraid she was going to say that something was missing from them or that we completed the process incorrectly.  She finally accepted them and then she had to enter all the info into the slow computer.  

Both Pollito and I had to have a witness that would testify to our never haven been married before.  We used his two brothers.  This part really confounds me.  Shouldn't you NOT be able to use relatives as your witnesses to previous marriage?  Oh well.  We chose our date and then signed all the papers and that was it!  We have to return at the end of the week to collect the newspaper notice that we have to publish before we can get married.

Getting all the civil ceremony paperwork in is quite a relief, but we will only get a short respite because we have to start collecting papers for the visa process.  We also have to plan the family activities for after the ceremony, and if we are going to say vows and stuff there too.  Now, it only we could get married by this guy...