Wedding Blog

I officially passed my medical exam for the visa! YAY! Some of you may be wondering, ‘But didn’t you already tell us that your case was approved?’ Well, the visa process is looooong, and there’s a gazillion steps. What I was celebrating back then was getting our NOA2 (Second notice of action). After that, our case was sent to the US Embassy here in Chile, where they scheduled our interview. But before that, I needed to pass my medical exam, witch I officially DID yesterday! Now I’ll have to sit and wait patiently again until my interview, which is scheduled for the first week of October. So, cross your fingers for me!

Now, since we dont have one of those “aww…” proposal stories, I thought I should share the story of how we met instead. In my very first post I shared with you a little about how we actually met. It was while I was hitchhiking…

{ This is not a picture of me on the day that I met Mr. Poodle, but back then I thought it was SO FUNNY to get a picture of me hitchhiking, because I thought it was on of those things that I would never actually do! }

Back in December 2006 I went to California on a work exchange program. I worked at a small ski resort in the San Bernardino Mountains. Everything was pretty new to me, and I was the only one at the resort that went all alone (all the other international people that went there went with groups of friends). I stayed with 10 Chileans and Argentineans in a house… it was CRAZY! Our house was a complete mess!

During my first week at work, I made a shocking discovery.  There was NO public transportation for the workers! (OK, so there was one MARTA bus each morning, but not the kind you would trust to be on time each day.) :O So almost against my will, I found myself hitchhiking to work.

I hitchhiked with the other Chileans I lived with in small 2-4 people groups. I completely hated it the first day - I was sooo embarrassed!

On the second day, my roommate and I jumped in to a car, and just like the first day, I sat next to the driver, because I was the only one that wasn’t scared to chat in English. But this time the driver was a guy (Si, era Mr. Poodle!). He was extremely nice and funny - I think his sense of humor completely caught my attention. So after I jumped out of the truck (without asking him if he worked there) I thought, ‘Yay! Today was SO much better!’

Later that morning I was outside changing a trash bag and I saw him again, walking in my direction in his Ski Patrol uniform. He had a weird look on his face and he offered help (I was kicking that trashcan as hard as I could to break the ice on the bottom of it). He tried hard to show how strong he was and kicked that trashcan “like a man”, but it didn’t work. It was not the most romantic situation, but there were sparks flying all over!

{ Quickly I realized that our personalities were a perfect match - California 2006}

It was almost a “love at first sight” kind of thing. After seeing each other for the first time, we would often look for each other around the resort. A month after we first met, we started dating. When the ski season ended, I stayed a few extra weeks to travel around, and he then asked me to stay to see him graduate from the Fire Academy.

{ How could I say no to that handsome man! - Joshua Tree 2007 }

Fast forward about 2 years, after a few trips between the both of us (to go see each other). We finally decided that we didn’t want to be apart anymore and started the paperwork for a fiancé visa (you know this one well, Mrs D’orsay!). This normally takes about 4 months, but we were hoping it would be faster… um, nope! We already passed the 6 month mark and I’m still living in Chile. But I’ll be moving soon, so I should NOT complain! USCIS, I love you! Hee hee

I’m sure there are a lot of really funny/sweet/not-so-normal ways that you all have met your misters. Do you have a love at first sight story?