Centralparkredo, originally uploaded by JR-Mississippi.

I took the above shot the other day near Central Park Dongtan. I am still working with the HDR software trying to figure out just how to process them. This one came out a little too yellow for my taste, but I still like the effect.

I will leave for the casino tonight around 10pm. You know those people that win the lottery or lots of money and say that they will continue to work at that current job, well, if I win a large amount of money, you can bet the house that I will finish this current contract a little earlier than expected! Wish me luck!

I have about 4 hours of short classes to make it through today. Saying that I am ready for the weekend is the understatement of the year.

Sign, originally uploaded by JR-Mississippi.

The above photo was taken a week ago in Central Park. I have had a pretty busy week, so I haven’t had a chance to go out and taken many photos.

How nice was it to wake up and not have to teach my kindergarten class. I was going to sleep super late today, but was woken up by a delivery guy dropping off something that JJ had ordered. I spent the morning packing and getting ready for our trip to Gangwondo. We are taking off about 10pm tonight. We are going to stay in a pension near the casino. I really have no idea what we are going to do, but it should be fun and I hope to get a lot of great photos.

I just got a call from my father. It seems that my mom has been put in the hospital for a spleen related problem. This was not what I was expecting when he called. I know that she hasn’t been feeling well lately and know that I will be praying hard for her to get well soon. She disagrees with me, but I still say that it is stress. According to my parents, she will be released tomorrow morning. I will be looking forward to receiving the call letting me know that they have put her on some antibiotics and that she will released. It sounds like the hospital is not given her the best attention and I hope that either she will be released or transferred. This is one of those times that I really wish I was back in the States. I don’t care so much about missing big events like birthdays, weddings and holidays, but I really hate not being at home when something like this happens..This was taken when my parents were in Korea last year. I really can’t wait for the next 3 months to fly by, so that I can be back at home with all my family.

I checked out quite a few resources when JJ and I decided to get her American CR1Visa here in Seoul instead of doing the fiancee route. Here are a couple of links that I used to figure out just what all Direct Consular Filing involved.

The CR1 is the visa that you will receive if you are leaving in Korea and have been married less than 2 years. The IR1 is for couples that have been married for more than 2 years.

Here are some links that I used to gather information before I started the long process.

Visa Journey is a great forum and I found some great examples of the paperwork that I needed to fill out. I also found someone that had just gone through the same process. I was able to email her and she gave me some great information. Here is her story. You should be careful with the information that you read. Every embassy around the world is a little bit different and all of them seem to require different types of forms/evidence.

The US embassy in Seoul has plenty of information written on their website. I read this page about a thousand times trying to make sure that I was following the process correctly. The website says that both of you do not have to be at the embassy to drop off the I-130. This is incorrect. The beneficiary must attend because there is one extra form that is not online that he/she must fill out.

Here are the posts describing our experience.

It is Wednesday morning and the delivery guy just handed me JJ’s visa.( after I gave him 8,000won) That was a fast turn around. I never expected it this soon! That’s just one more thing that we don’t have to worry about! **Edit I added some photos. I was actually at home alone when the deliverly guy called. The photos were taken when JJ got back home from her lesson.

Central Park, originally uploaded by JR-Mississippi.

Another HDR shot taken inCentral Park. A little too dark on my monitor.

Things on the schedule.

1. Heading to Gangwondo for the weekend
2. Got a new teacher to train this month
3. Need to book a photographer for my wedding ceremony
4. Need to pack up a lot of junk in the next 3 months
5. Going to Jeju-do the last week of August
6. Going back to Jeju-do for Chuseok
7. Need to book a couple flights home
8. Need to book flights for JJ’s parents
9. Need to book a hotel room in Honolulu
10…………….

We made our way on Sunday to Namdaemun. I bought an ND8 filter and we grabbed a late lunch at one of the most disgusting, but delicious restaurants that I have ever eaten. It was very similar to the type of restaurant that I visited with Troy and Joanne a few weeks. There was tons of service! This was the kind of place that the health department would shut down in a second, but the food was brilliant.

We went and found a hotel in Jongro and then we walked around that area looking for somewhere to have a drink. We had a few drinks at a bar called Casino and then went to VIPS for some steak. We made it back to the motel about 10:30 or 11:00 and sat around making sure everything was good for the visa interview the next day.

I could hardly sleep. I was so damn nervous. I think that I fell asleep around 3 and woke up about 7.

We got to the embassy at 8:15 and went upstairs to the third floor where the immigrant visas are processed. We pulled lucky number 7 and prepared to wait for awhile. Our number was called less than 30 minutes after we arrived and we presented our package to the State Department official. She was very kind and only spoke Korean to JJ. Everything seemed to be in order and we were told to wait for JJ’s name to be called. About 30 minutes later her name was called. We thought this was it, but it was only time for her to have her fingerprints done. We then waited for about another 35 minutes and they called her name again. This time they returned a bank letter that I accidentally included and gave us a bill for 520,000 won. We were directed to another window and paid our bill and were told to wait for our interview.

JJ was called for an interview about 30 minutes after paying the bill. The interview was relatively short. They did ask if she wanted a translator. She took them up on their offer. The translator did a great job.
They asked:

1. How long have you been married?
2. When did you first start dating?
3. How did you first meet?
4. Have you met each other’s parents?
5. What will you do in America?
6. What does Jason’s father do for a living?

The young lady that conducted the interview was obviously a new employee and was being assisted by her manager(?). That was a little nerve wracking, but JJ nailed the interview and they told her that we were approved and that we would receive the visa in a week or less…..The walk out of the embassy was so much smoother than the walk in. I felt like a 10ton weight had been lifted off my shoulders. This is just one less thing to think about. We do have a lot of planning left to do, but we are relaxed and getting ready to go to Gangwando this weekend. I am hoping to win some money at the casino or at least get some good photos.

Thank you U.S. Department of State, Immigrant Visa section!

JJ was approved for her visa today.

Details later!

Central Park 2, originally uploaded by JR-Mississippi.

I recently got Photomatix Pro and went out and tried to get some HDR shots. I thought this one came out nicely. I do wish that I would have been more to the left of the gazebo.

JJ and I just went through our last check-through of the visa materials and we have everything we need to go to the embassy. We will stay in Jongro. We also need to do a little shopping mainly order some wedding bands and I want to pick up an ND filter. Hopefully, we can find somewhere to have a nice dinner as well.