The Despedida

Narissa was surprised when some of her friends showed up at her place and asked her to change clothes. They had went out and purchased a dress just for her to wear to the party. After she changed they asked her to put on a blindfold. She wondered what was going on but laughingly agreed. Narissa's friends took her hand and guided her outside to an awaiting "Tuk Tuk" where she was whisked away to the secret destination of the party. Upon arrival her friends took her hand and guided her down and across the sand to the destination. They then asked her to remove her blindfold. She took it off and she knew she was at the beach and seen all the time and planning that had gone into the despedida. All of her friends had set out candles in a circle on the beach and placed blankets to sit on in the center. They had prepared lots of food for the occasion complete with decorations. The gazebo that was close by had also been decorated. She cried and was so thankful for all of her good friends and knew this was one of the last times she would see them in person. During the dinner it started to rain and they had to move into the gazebo but that didn't spoil the fun. They ate and had a great time and went back to Narissa's place she shared with some of her fellow teachers. They started to play all sorts of games and taking turns speaking their hearts followed by karaoke. All of her friends had got her going away gifts and wedding gifts. I know this may sound little nuts but every time I think about her farewell party it chokes me up. I got to meet most of the ones that planned the party and others through Skype over the time we were apart and I feel as though they are a part of my extended family. All great people and I know how close they all were at the time and still to this day.

Final approval of our K-1 visa

It took forever for all the clearance processes to be complete. Some branches of the governments involved took so long to do their checks other papers that we had acquired had expired and we had to get them over again. This happened to us twice with our papers in the Philippines and in Thailand waiting on the States to get their part finished. That caused a lot of problems for us and a huge financial strain on the entire process. Not only did it make our wait longer she would have to worry about trying to take off from work over and over again for the trips not to mention the loss in her salary. Narissa lived in southern Thailand and had to travel back and forth to Bangkok about four times maybe five before we got our final approval. When the papers we got from the Philippines and Thailand expired she would have to travel to Bangkok and re apply and we had the travel expense and also the application fees all over again. 

When she went for her final interview at the embassy they were really hard on her as expected coming in from a foreign country. I think some of the things said were overboard but that is just me. After the interview and when we were finally granted our “official” K-1 visa she called me on the phone and it was very emotional. By this time we had been waiting on the papers for almost 1 ½ years since meeting each other online and around a year since we met in person in Bangkok.

I was so worried about her and the entire process she faced in preparing to travel to the States for first and last time (except for future visits back). Just imagine picking up and leaving your very existence to move half way round the world and to put all your precious belongings in three suitcases. What would you bring with you?? What would you leave behind? Narissa went on several shopping sprees buying new stuff to bring with her replacing clothes and buying stuff for my apartment. One of her good friends let her know about a shipping company that would ship her things to the Philippines for a decent price. All of the things she knew her family would need and appreciate she boxed up for shipment with her instructions on how everything would be divided among her family members. All of her household stuff that she didn’t leave with her friends she shipped. She sent her laptop and camera as the big items so she could better keep in touch with her family in the Philippines. The shipment date was going to be after she had to leave for the States so she left the box with her friend for shipment.

She spent the next few days before her flight spending time with friends and saying her goodbyes. Narissa is a very kind person and helps everyone so it was no surprise she had a lot of friends and also being a school teacher for eleven years. I know saying goodbye to super great friends had to be hard and I couldn’t imagine having to say goodbye to students that she had taught for years watching them grow up into little people before her eyes. I am sure that had to be hard to do. 

Little did she know that her friends were planning a going away/bridal shower for her before she left them. The party is called a “despedida” and I didn’t know about it either.

A few of my photos I posted on Flickr... Enjoy

cash_tiger's photostream on Flickr.

A few of my shots... Enjoy 

This was a test to see if I could get my Flickr pictures to post. I tried to get them to load as a slideshow with no luck :(

Ringgold Wedding Chapel and my father's ceremony

I am sorry for the absence of my blogging the last week. My father and his fiancée came to visit me for a week. It was my grandmother’s 95^th birthday also on Wednesday. I went with my father and his bride to be to get their marriage license Wednesday afternoon. We got up really early on Thursday and drove to Ringgold Georgia and to the www.ringgoldweddingchapel.com and they married there at 1pm that afternoon. The service was incredible and the people were so nice it was amazing. I was so impressed I will also marry there when Narissa arrives here with me. The staff was super nice and a true compliment to southern hospitality. The pastor was really nice and picked really nice scripture for the ceremony. The wedding cake was excellent and the service at the reception was excellent and all for an incredibly affordable price. I am still sorting through things in my mind today and will write more tomorrow…

Coming home...

I was very sad to leave Thailand. The people were respectful and all were really nice during my visit. I was amazed at the prices of everything there. I could go and eat a steak dinner for a little over $3 and most everything else was cheaper than that. We would go to a restaurant and I would order 2 to 3 things and Narissa would order something for herself and we would get our drinks and it would be under $15. Clothes were very cheap there also. The two main things you need to survive were really cheap.

When I got home I felt so empty. We picked up where we left off with our chatting and phone calls. It was really strange to me for a while. I missed her so much it physically hurt. It was like going on a dream date for two weeks and then being alone afterward. I had a huge empty space to try and fill.

When I was with Narissa she would walk into the room and the aura of the room changed. Some of you may know how this feels or have experienced it before. The best way I could describe it was the room was filled with love. I am a thinker and I think all the time and I really can’t stop thinking even when I try to go to sleep. I have a really hard time sleeping because of this problem or gift as some have called it LOL. I would be thinking of what seemed like dozens of things and she would walk into the room and I would focus on her and I couldn’t think of anything else. I felt like a teenager in love all over again. Now you can see why I am so happy about our relationship. The feelings of young love all over again not only for me but her also. We are a perfect fit for each other. It was like we 100% complete each other a dream come true if you will. We applied for our visa papers to be married a long time ago. It seems like years ago it has been so long. We finally got approved for our visa and are waiting on security clearance and our appointment with the last part of the process. When this is passed I will book her flight to come to me once and for all. We have made a commitment to each other to be together forever. We both love kids and really want kids. We hope to have a couple of kids in our future. To be continued…

In Bangkok

              When we arrived at the hotel we were greeted by several bellhops trying to get our luggage. We stayed at the tallest building in Bangkok, the Baiyoke Sky Hotel. The hotel was beautiful and I highly recommend it to anyone traveling to Bangkok. After a short check in we went to the elevator and I am not sure what you call them but an employee selected our floor and held the door for us to go to our room. We made it to the room and had enough time to look around when our bellhop arrived with our luggage. The room was really nice and was huge with a huge bathroom (and a western toilet :). We never stopped talking until we ordered room service for our supper. It was really late when I arrived as I remember it was around 2:00am when we got to the room. I didn’t know what to order so I ordered several thing to try. I ordered the famous Tom Yum Kum soup to try. It was too sour for me LOL but Narissa enjoyed it. I just nibbled on the other stuff and I think I liked the spring rolls. I love Chinese food, Japanese but had never tried Thai food before but I was looking forward to it because I love hot and spicy food. Even though I have been up for over 30 hours at this point we couldn’t stop talking to each other. We finally fell asleep laying on the bed. Narissa woke up really early the next day and to keep from waking me she got on the laptop and called some of her friends. After a while she woke me up LOL. I was out from all of the no sleep before. We got ready and went out in the hotel to explore. We found a place to eat and tried it. The hotel had several restaurants in it and all were very nice. We walked around in the hotel looking at the stores and shops and went to the top to see the overlook. It was amazing to see the buildings around Bangkok from the round room surrounded by glass. We took a lot of pictures around the hotel. The hotel has a lot of fixed scenes for pictures or kind of living backgrounds if you will. We spent the rest of our day talking and walking around like two teenagers on love. The next day was more of the same but we ventured out and went to a Filipino restaurant to eat. Again I didn’t know that to order so I ordered two different things and Narissa ordered something entirely different also. I ordered Chicken Adobo and kalderetang baka and I can’t remember what she ordered LOL. I am just learning Tagalog now. Both dishes I ordered were 100% incredible and very tasty. I tried Narissa’s soup and I didn’t care for it too much but the prawns in it were HUGE and they were really good. We shared our food and both of us were about to pop before we left the place. We went shopping in the street markets and purchased a few things. The next day we traveled to the Tiger Temple. That is a temple ran by monks and they of course have tigers. I paid to have my pictures made with the tigers. Narissa had her picture made with one tiger and that was enough for her LOL. She was a little scared of the huge tigers. We walked around the complex and made a lot more pictures during our stay there. We traveled back to the hotel and did our usual routine again. We traveled to Songkla via bus that took 12 hours. Songkla is on the southern tip of Thailand. We want to her place and I got to meet her house mates. We talked for hours at a time with rounds of questions about Thailand and the Philippines and the States. We slept and Narissa got up early again LOL, she always gets up super early compared to me. She went to the market and got food and come back home and prepared it. She is an excellent cook. I had many of meals that the prepared that I really loved and I don’t think I found any of the Filipino food that I didn’t like while I was there. We ate at several restaurants in Songkla and the food was good at all of them. We ate at MR. Steak and it was OK. We ate at the Crown Bakery and the food was really good. I finally got some really hot and spicy Thai food to try and I loved it. We went to several places while in Songkla including Hatyai, Hatyai park and Monkey Hill. We went to a restaurant called the Sky Buffet with several of Narissa’s friends to eat and so that I could meet them. We all had a blast and they were really nice. Then we went inside the mall to look around and shop and take pictures and that was a lot of fun.

              We made the trip back to Bangkok via the bus again. There were a lot of places that Narissa wanted to share with me but I was just too worn out to visit them. We did a good bit of shopping when we arrived back in Thailand. We stayed at the same hotel because it was so nice the first time. I got souvenirs for everyone for the trip back home. The day before I left for home was Narissa’s birthday so we celebrated as best we could in Bangkok. We had fun. I had brought Narissa several types of perfume, a nice hand bag from the Maria Carey collection and of course her engagement ring from the Tom Shane Company. She loved all the gifts that I had brought her. We looked everywhere for a shirt to fit me and finally found one, only one :( Narissa had purchased a couple of really nice shirts for me and a belt. I loved them all and they fit perfectly :)

              The next day was the worst. We had to get up and get ready really really early and pack everything for my flights home. It was like a death had happened with a lot of tears and silence and frequent hugs. We took a cab to the airport and a short goodbye with tears and I was off for home again. To be continued tomorrow…

Meeting Narissa...

We would talk every day for 15 minutes to 2 hours. We chat every day in Yahoo Messenger from 2 to 5 hours a day seven days a week. We wanted to meet in person so bad after a while. I asked her to go to the American Embassy in Thailand to get a visitor’s visa to come to the States. Narissa is a Filipino but she has been living and working in Thailand for the last 10 years. She teaches elementary school English. I helped her set up her appointment and she went in hopes of coming to visit me on her school break. The gentleman at the embassy said I had to visit her first… We had set up the appointment and Narissa had traveled 12 hours to Bangkok for this news, really disappointing… So, I decided to travel to her instead. I rushed my passport renewal. I didn’t know you could do that until then. It was expensive but I needed it to be rushed so it worked out fine for me. I booked the flight and hotel and off I went. This was my first time on a plane before and I was flying around the world. I am a big guy and have very wide shoulders so I was very uncomfortable on the plane because I had to sit cramped as not to bother the other passengers. I went from Atlanta to Chicago on the first leg of my trip. The Chicago airport was nice going but I had problems coming back LOL. I will explain it in my next post. From Chicago I flew to Tokyo Japan. I was really excited when I got off the plane to see Japan. I was really thirsty and went to one of several counters to purchase a Coke. I didn’t have any Yen only US dollars. I think after the exchange and my purchase it was over $4 for a 10oz Coke, very expensive. I went to the toilet after all the drinks I had on the plane I had to go. I usually go into stalls when I go to a public bathroom. When I entered the stall I seen the toilet and was shocked at what I seen. It was a trough in the floor that you went in. I had just seen my first Asian toilet. I have had 5 knee surgeries and a procedure on my back for a herniated disc so the Asian toilet was not my friend of course I didn’t have to worry about it this time as I had to stand to go. When I got back on the plane to fly from Tokyo to Bangkok I started a conversation with the passenger next to me and I asked him about the Asian toilets and if he had seen them before. He said he travels to Bangkok several times a year for business and yes he had seen them. I asked him if the hotels had them and he assured me that if I was staying in a nice hotel they would have a western toilet. That made my day because I knew that Narissa had both in her house in Songkla. I had been traveling for almost 28 hours when the plane landed in Bangkok. I was soooo tired. After I exited the plane I had to fill out my first immigration papers and of course I had questions. I went to a counter where others were filling out the same papers and I started to fill out my papers. I looked around at all the people and I saw where you had to go to enter the airport’s main part. There were men standing around the counters with machine guns strapped over their shoulders. Yes, this made me nervous… I got stuck filling out the papers and started looking around for someone that worked at the airport to ask for help. A nice young man standing beside me saw me looking frantic and tried to help me. He was Thai and only spoke a little English but he was able to communicate with me so I could fill out the paperwork and he instructed me to relax and not be nervous as I entered the line for immigration with the men with machine guns standing next to the lines LOL. I relaxed a bit then and entered the line. The people at the counter were wearing black masks the kind that doctors wear. The lady that approved my passport asked me what I was there for and where would I be staying. I politely answered her and she let me pass. Then the search for my luggage was on. I was stuck as I couldn’t read Thai or speak it. I walked for a long time in the madness of people and announcements until I found someone that worked there. I grabbed him and pleaded for help. He spoke only about 5 to 10 words of English. He understood luggage so I handed him my ticket information and he grabbed me by the hand and walked me to where my luggage was spinning around the huge counter. Remember this was my first time flying and I had a new suitcase that I really didn’t recognize and that made it a lot harder to find LOL. Finally most of the other luggage was picked up and my choices had gotten to a point where I recognized it and we got it from the spinning track. The man kept my luggage and was rolling it for me. He said “I take you outside”. I said no I am meeting someone at the airport and he didn’t understand me. We said the same thing to each other several times until I finally stopped walking and he stopped also. He was walking really fast and I didn’t want to leave the airport with the people with machine guns inside and me having to get back in to meet Narissa. Narissa had flown from Songkla to Bangkok to meet me. I had brought along a pay by the minute cell phone just to keep up with the time while traveling. I know, I know, a watch would have been better but my watch is solid gold and I didn’t feel safe traveling with it so I took the disposable phone with me. I was trying to figure out how to communicate with the guy as neither of us could speak the others language. I then thought of calling Narissa. Even though my AT&T phone would not work in Thailand I could access my numbers. I pulled out my phone and motioned to the man to see if he had a cell phone. He pulled out his phone. I asked him to call Narissa and this went on for seemed like 10 minutes. I pointed to the number and he finally called it for me. He went to hand me the phone and I said she speaks Thai. He talked to her and then gave me the phone. When I heard her voice I was so happy my very tired legs almost gave way LOL. I told her about the guy helping me and wanting to take me outside and I instructed her to get the man to bring me to her and for her to tell him for me. I gave the phone back to him and she talked to him and he put up his phone and smiled really big at me and off we went. I was looking around like a fox in a hen house looking at everything, the hundreds if not thousands of people and the sounds were amazing with all the different languages being spoken and not hearing any English LOL. Finally after walking for a while through all the madness I looked to my right and saw a little hand sticking up and waving to me. It was Narissa!!!! Think about my first few posts until now. I had seen her every day on Yahoo chat with our cams. I had many pictures of her also. I was so tired after traveling and at this point around 29 hours and I saw her smiling face. She was short and petite around 5 ft tall and around 108lbs. She has long jet black hair down to her behind and a smile that would stop traffic. Her skin had a golden glow and she has this aura around her that was memorizing to me. She has her small suitcase and approached me and gave me a big hug and the man smiled really big and grabbed her suitcase as well. She gave me a small nose nuzzle and we started to walk at the pace of the man which was really fast LOL. We finally made it outside and it was time to tip the man. I didn’t have time between all of my adventures to exchange any money to get any Thai Baht to pay him and all Narissa had was big bills. In Thailand it was customary to tip 20 Baht which is around $0.70USD. Narissa pulled a 10 dollar bill of US money out and gave it to the man so you can see how big of a tip he received. According to the usual tips it was 300 Baht not 20 Baht so he was super happy. He hailed a cab for us and the cab was hot pink, like Hello Kitty pink LOL. Our suitcases were loaded in the cab and off we went to the hotel. To be continued tomorrow… Note: I have never blogged before so please anyone reading this let me know if I am writing too much or not enough thank you in advance…