Coming to America

It’s official! After nine long months of waiting, Jason had his immigration interview with the US Consulate in Auckland on Monday. True to form, he was guided through a metal detector, and then made to wait until he was called to a selected window and “interviewed” by two separate individuals. The first was a New Zealander who was there simply to collect his documentation and instill some fear when she curtly informed Jason he had applied too early and would need to get an extension on the fiancé visa petition so as not to arrive in the United States too early. The second was an American, who clearly had been doing this job for some time longer then the first, who held a very casual conversation with him about how we met and served to alleviate his fears when she said everything looked in order and issuing a visa should be no problem. She also confirmed that we were in fact not too early as the visa granted him six months to get into the country, however, he was free to wait to get the visa if he wished, no extension of petition required. He declined the offer of extension and sure enough the following day a courier package arrived at our front door with his “visaed” passport inside. Looks like all systems go.

Changing of the Guard

This past weekend we had a lovely visit from the young GP who took over my position at Ruanui Health Centre a year ago. We had a great time commiserating about the trials and joys of working for a Maori Health Provider and discussing joint patients we had taken care of over the last two and a half years in succession. As expected, there have been many deaths of favorite patients, but also some great successes. Being a young female, similar to myself, I’m sure the transition was easy for the patients and Kristi has a wonderful attitude that the patients would have enjoyed. She has now finished her time and is spending six weeks exploring the country before she heads back to the high speed pace of America. So, to kick off her travels, we drove out to Raglan on the west coast, about an hour from Hamilton. The day started out rather dubious with clouds and rain hanging overhead, but turned into a brilliant sunny day on the coast. After some shopping, during which Kristi contributed nicely to Raglan’s commerce, we had lunch and then drove out to watch the surfers attempt standing in the world-famous left-hand break. The physics of left-handed surfing slightly beyond the scope of our never-having-surfed comprehension, we still delighted in commenting on how they could improve their skills. The wind eventually chilling us down, we drove back to Hamilton, stopping for a brief moment to visit Bridal Veil Falls, a 55 meter plume of water cascading over the edge from a seemingly small creek. It generated a great discussion of weather eels ever fell over the waterfall and if an experiment could be constructed to test this theory. After deciding it would likely be against any animal rights act, we drove on home to enjoy some dinner and a few cosmopolitans, watching the locals get ready for the Aussie-New Zealand rugby match that night. Sunday was a lazy day soaking up the sun that has all winter evaded us, walking through the Hamilton Botanical Gardens and along the overflowing Waikato River. We gave Kristi some tips on places to visit on her trip over a plate of local and French cheeses. It was hard not to be jealous of her six week holiday, although I can say I’m not sorry to live out of a car and short-stay hotels for that length of time. Her visit also generated another realization; I will soon be making this same journey home in three short months, making the transition to fast-paced American life and the US health system. Guess I better enjoy the lackadaisical days I have left.

Another step on the path to America

Saturday Jason received an awaited piece of mail from the US Consulate. It was a letter confirming his interview date for application of his Fiancé Visa. Come next Monday, he will be making the ninety minute drive to Auckland to meet with his interviewer at a small window within the Consulate office. (This latter description confirmed by an American-born patient who recently had to make the same journey with her New Zealand husband to confirm that he wouldn’t jump ship when they went on their two week vacation in America.) According to the letter, he will receive his passport back within four days, hopefully “visaed” and ready to go. Okay, so the US Consulate may not have the best grasp of verbs within the English language, but hopefully they will have the kindness to grant us the final step in our attempts to start a new life together in the States.