happy birthday to us!!!!

TO ENGINEER A. A. MADRAZO

A week of extensive review with late night calls and design works from his company.........whewwww!

Congrats, my engineer for passing the civil engineering licensure exam!

in the US of A

happy birthday mama, happy birthday kyle!!

another late post for MARCH!

Happy birthday to the most amazing woman in the world, my Mama.

I have only one wish for her eversince......and I hurt each day that I don't get that wish but seeing her smile, hearing her laugh and talk about her challenging days somehow eases the pain.

.....................................................................................................................................................................

March 30, 2009. McDonald's kiddie party for our baby kyle.

happy happy birthday.....I'll always be here..............to "spoil" you.................hehehe

..................the doting aunties to "spoil" you..... hehehehe.

post-valentine post

mushy, kitschy, schmalzy, slushy......was my valentine's day.

......had the best one this year and looking forward for a more mushy, kitschy, schmalzy and slushy celebration in the coming years.


thank you so much, luv u!

US VISA APPLICATION PART 3

FEBRUARY 24, 2009
2pm

ring..ring..ring

me: Hello!
p: passport...(speaks in mandarin)...
me: Sorry, can you speak in English?
p: ok. (puts down the phone)

ring..ring..ring

me: Hello.
p: Hi, Cynthia! I'm the one in the counter in AIT for the courier service.
Will you be in your lab this afternoon because we will deliver your passport already.
me: Yes, I will be there. (waaahh, why so soon?? will I be denied a visa??)
p: Ok, just prepare 170NT. bye.
me: bye. thanks.

4pm
A taiwanes guy came to the lab looking for me and yep it was the delivery guy for the courier service. I paid the fee and received a sealed envelope.


WHEEEWWW!!! I opened it and looked at the pages of my passport.
Looked closely and.........................................

YES!! YES!!! YES!!! I got a US VISA..yipee!!

Looked again and YIPEE more!!!! I GOT A 10-yr visa. :)

I was in the lab and my Prof commented, maybe because I look like OBAMA.

and others said because I am a FILIPINO.

YES! PROUD TO BE PINOY PO!!!!!!!

US VISA APPLICATION PART 2

FEBRUARY 22, 2009

After I visited the location of the American Institute of Taiwan in Taipei, I just decided to take a taxi ride from my University on the day of the interview.
WHY??? because I went there by bus and then by mrt PLUS a very long walk
and it was so tiring.

I wanted to look fresh and not tired for my interview..hehehe

FEBRUARY 23, 2009
THE APPLICATION

So I woke up at 6am, ate a chocolate bagel and had a glass of milo.
I showered and left the dorm at about 7:15am.

The taxi ride took only about 20min so I was already outside the AIT office at 7:35am.

Some 50 taiwanese were lining up already for the 7:45am schedule.

So I waited for my 8:00-am appointment.tsk..tsk..tsk..

Finally, it was my turn to enter the building.

No cellphones allowed, the shoes were removed for the security check and my bag was passed through a security scan..

Some personnels were there to assist you so the whole application is so orderly.

US is really concern with security because they take the 10 fingerprints for each person.

Then the wait for interview...tsk. tsk. tsk.

Since only two counters were openned, the wait was about 20min.

At this time I was already constantly praying that I would get a visa at the same time I tried to memorize the summary for my research because my Filipino friends were asked that question...(my prayer goes like this, Lord, please help me get my visa....Rice bran is the outer covering of the brown rice which contains a lot of nutritional compounds....Lord, unta sa good me na consul...It is the phenolic acids, which are antioxidants that I am extracting.....etc..)

I was more afraid when a lady consul openned another counter and for the 1st interview, she told someone in English that she did not ask for that information and it is irrelevant..hays..I had to pray harder that I would not go to her counter but to the two other guy consuls.

.....and then my turn for the interview.

THE INTERVIEW

Smile. smile. smile.
submitted my application form and passport. smile. smile.smile.

The interview was like this:

Consul: What is your purpose in going to the US?
Cynthia: To do an oral presentation in the conference of food engineering
(then I submitted my supporting documents, like letter of invitation, research abstract, C. V. and documents for the financial support from the university)
Consul: (looked at my documents) How long have you been in Taiwan?
Cynthia: Almost 3 years.
Consul: What do you do here?
Cynthia: I am a PhD student.
Consul: (looked at my supporting documents again) So are you a teaching assistant here?
Cynthia: No, I am like a lab assistant because I do research for a project or for a company.
Consul: (looked at my supporting documents again, I put in my CV that I am a scholar of the University and a candidate for graduation) So what will you do after graduation?
Cynthia: I already applied in the De la salle University in the Philippines.
Consul: So you are going to teach there.
Cynthia: Yes, I will be teaching in the Philippines.
Consul: Do you have relatives in the US?
Cynthia: None that I have contact with.
Consul: Have you been to the US?
Cynthia: Never, Sir.
Consul: Ok (he gave back my supporting documents and the receipt for the courier service)
Cynthia: Thank you!

Just that...And I left not knowing If I get the visa but a good sign because they took my passport and I just applied in the courier service for its return.

He did not even ask about my research and I was not able to recite my "Miss Universe" answer about antioxidants in the rice bran..hehehe

Time to leave AIT....took a deep breath..just about 1 and a half hour! wheeww!!

I went to a nearby park - Daan park to catch my breath and then I went to a church to light a candle. (It was also the death anniversary of my father so I uttered some prayers for him and a prayer of thanks for my interview).

back to NTUST..

and told everyone that my interview was ok and I just have to wait for 3 days for the courier service to return my passport.

My friends told me that I would already get my visa but I still couldn't believe because my interview was so short and simple.

>>>>to PART 3

US VISA APPLICATION PART 1

I was lucky to be accepted in a conference in Ohio, USA.
However, it was only a start of a gruelling task of applying for fundings and the US visa.

1. THE PANIC

My two labmates had bad experiences with the American Institue of Taiwan (American embassy in Taiwan). An Indonesian labmate was denied a visa for the reason that she is not married so she has no strong ties to return to Taiwan. The other one is an Egyptian who had an American visa before that was not used and he had to wait for 4 months before he got a 1-year visa..

With their stories I was already scared and was not that confident to get a US visa. They told me I really have to apply right away since the conference is already in April.

My Filipino friends from another University told me it would be a different case for me because they were able to get their US visa to attend conference but since they were guys I was still a little worried.
They said that it is difficult for an unmarried female to obtain a US visa because they could stay in the US for long..huhuhu..'coz no one to go home to. ( But, I have!)

Well, I had to try so I started my application on February 6, 2009.

2. THE FORM

Good thing you can get the forms and schedule the interview online. I think it also the same in the Philippines now where you apply and get a schedule online. :)

I had to write my specific purpose because my labmate who was denied just wrote "attend conference and sightseeing". (d ata ganun ka convincing..hihihi)

Waaahh, when I checked the web the earliest schedule I could get is on February 23, 2009. (about 6 weeks only til my conference on April 5)
So I waited for that day to come....

3. THE ID

The fun part is the picture2x...I had to choose the best id to put in my application..hehehe.

Yep, I took my own pictures..I was in my bed seating and click2x (for more than 10X before I chose my pic)...hehehe

and my choice is>>>>


4. THE COSTUME

My first idea was to present myself as a PhD student..so someone formal and so "ma'am". but my friend told me, in the US embassy here in Taiwan, what you are wearing doesn't matter as long as it is decent..hmmmnn..so I didn't want to be so formal. hmmmnn..


1st outfit, the same blouse as in my ID (violet color,lucky color this year)
2nd outfit, favorite red blouse and red is still the lucky color for all season.
3rd outfit, the skirt is nice but could be too cold if temp. is below 20
4th outfit, originally my 1st choice but I met Alaine and he insisted that I wear slacks not jeans.
(Adrian also told me thatslacks is better than the skinny jeans)..hays!
.....to part II.