Day 21 of Happiness: Success, Baby!!

Woo-Hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have seen the inside of the US Embassy in Honduras and I have tasted the sweetness of success.  Visa success that is.  Ivan, my sweet little fiance, has a visa to the United States of America.  Can I have a bigger spot of happiness??  No.  Not right now anyway.  I am sure I will one day experience something as great as this, but for now, this is pure happiness. 

This trip to Honduras was filled with numerous adventures, excitement, and happiness.  Here's a nice "little" summary of the crazy shenanigans and little pleasures that occurred.

Pretty much, the interview was a piece of cake. Ivan was a hoot though - he's the worst interviewee on the planet.  We had gone over the questions a million times and he knew everything they were going to ask, but he still answered almost all the questions wrong.  He was so nervous that his hand was shaking the entire time.  I think what made the US Custom Official approve the visa was the fact that we spent the entire interview arguing.  I mean, how much more genuine can you get?  Here are some of the questions Ivan was asked - along with his hilarious answers...

Interviewer: When did you two meet?

Ivan: October 2006.

Interviewer: When did you start dating?

Ivan: 3 Sept. 2006.

Interviewer: Hmm, so you started dating in September but you didn't meet until October?

Kattrina: Umm, actually, we met in August.  Ivan's just confused.

Interviewer: Ivan, why don't you tell me a little about how you and Kattrina met, your relationship, your plans to get married, etc.

Ivan: We met on the bus.

Interviewer: And?

Ivan: Well, we met on the bus.

Interviewer: So you've been dating for three years and that's all you have to say about your entire time together?  Can you give me some details?

Ivan: Well, we met on the bus and then we talked.  And later, we talked some more.  And we shared a donut.

Interviewer: Ok.  Well, have you taken any trips together?

Ivan: No.

Interviewer: What are your plans for getting married?  Do you have a date?

Ivan: No.

Interviewer: You have no idea?

Ivan: Well, we're getting married in the mountains.  In the Catholic Church.  We don't have a date because we don't know if we're going to get the visa.

Interviewer: Ok, well, when did you start talking about getting married?

Ivan: In September.

Interviewer: September when.

Ivan: Right now.

Interviewer: You mean, last month?

Ivan: Yes.

Kattrina: Ivan, what are you talking about?  Are you crazy?  When did you ask me to marry you?

Ivan: September 2007.

Kattrina: Then why are you telling her that we just started talking about it last month?

Ivan: I don't know, I can't remember right now. I'm nervous, ok.

Kattrina: We started talking about it after I left Honduras and moved back to the US.  We were going to break up because we figured a long distance relationship wouldn't work.  But, then we continued to talk all summer and I went to visit in September and he asked me to marry him.  I said yes.  We decided to wait to apply for the visa until I had a steady job and could support us both and we were completely certain that this was the path we wanted to take.

Interviewer: Ok.  When was Kattrina born?

Ivan: 26 April

Interviewer: What year?

Ivan: Kattrina, you never told me what year you were born.

Kattrina: Ivan, how old am I?

Ivan: 29.

Kattrina: Well, then do the math.  What year was I born?

Ivan: I can't do math now, I'm too nervous.

Kattrina: Ivan, seriously, you are crazy.

Interviewer [laughing at us]: That's good enough.

Do you get the idea?  At the end of this crazy interview, the woman says...looks like everything is pretty believable.  You can come back tomorrow at 4pm to pick up your passport with the visa.

Ivan and Kattrina: Yeah!!!


Aside from the interview, we had quite the adventure in Tegucigalpa.  Here are some of the tidbits:

• After the interview we headed to the Mall Multiplaza for some food.  Now, for those of you not familiar with Tegucigalpa, the Mall Multiplaza is a swanky mall filled with fancy expensive stores that only 1% of the population can afford.  It is a mall for the rich.  Ivan and I like to walk around and eat at the food court.  So, that's what we headed there to do.  We stop off at the grocery store inside the mall, I buy some beans in a bag and pringles (Ivan's fav).  We're rounding the corner to go to the food court and hear: BOOOOMMMM!!!  I was thinking to myself, wow, that sounded like a bomb.  Well, whaddya know.  It was a bomb.  Apparently, someone detonated a bomb in the girl's bathroom.  The mall was evacuated.  Honduras is going downhill.
  
  
• The US Embassy is located very close to the Brazilian Embassy, where Mel (former Honduran president) is hiding out.  As we're walking around the following day after picking up Ivan's passport, we run right into a wall of military soldiers surrounding the Brazilian Embassy.  The do not look happy to see us.  They yell some [pleasant, I'm sure] orders at us and Ivan and I quickly retreat.  Last thing I need is an encounter with the Honduran military.
  
  
• While taking a taxi to the bus stop to Valle de Angeles, we hop into a collectivo with two guys already in it.  I'm squished in the back with the two guys while Ivan takes the front seat.  Not sure where these guys were headed, but it had to be practically up the side of a mountain.  I thought for sure our taxi was never going to make it up that hill.  Oh wait - it didn't.  Slowly, before I even realize it, the taxi gives out and we slowly decend down said STEEP hill into another car.  Yup, a taxi accident.  Rather than stick around to see the fight between taxi man and car man, Ivan and I split.  We would have run, but the hill was so steep I think we looked like we were hiking Mt. Everest.  We finally make it up the hill and get into another taxi.  Crisis averted.  Ivan and I: still alive.
  

Alright, that's probably enough details.  Don't want to bore you too much.  Here are a few other photos from our trip.

 

Thanks so much for your encouragement and support!!  

Now, I just gotta get Ivan here...