Operation K-1 Fiancé Visa: Part One

This has sort of accidentally become our pose (see Morocco and Guinea).  Next on our list?  Virginia Beach, VA!

When I felt the plane begin to make its' descent toward Dakar, Senegal, I pulled out my cosmetics bag, a gift from Kate's wedding, and began to freshen up.  In the airplane bathroom, I traded in a floor length skirt for a knee-grazing strapless dress.  I put on a cardigan and belted it around my waist before slipping on a pair of high heels.  After picking up my suitcase and passing through immigration, I took a deep breath and rolled my luggage cart out of the airport's sliding doors.  Seven months of waiting to see Abdoulaye in person was about to be over.

Over a year ago, Abdoulaye and I got engaged in my boss's living room (and again on a hillside in Fes, Morocco).  After a stint in the US in the fall of 2011, when I began a low-residency Master of Arts degree in International Education, I returned to Mali in February with intentions of staying until December 2013.  The coup d'état in March changed those plans.  After a brief evacuation to Ghana, and a visit to Guinea to meet Abdoulaye's family, I returned to the US at the end of April and submitted the paperwork for a K-1 fiancé visa for Abdoulaye – a process that is estimated to take 6-9 months.  In June, I packed my bags again and moved to Washington, DC to begin work at the World Resources Institute – this time for what I hoped would be a more permanent move!  

Spring turned to summer and summer turned to fall before we heard from Immigration Services again.  Then, as I waited out Hurricane Sandy with my family in Virginia Beach, I received a text message indicating that our case was en route  to Senegal – the West African regional processing center for K-1 (and immigration) visas.  Abdoulaye was in Guinea assisting with preparations for the 40-day celebration following the death of his father.  We scheduled his interview for December 4th – almost seven months to the day after our case was processed by USCIS.  Life has a funny way of hiding blessings – Baba's passing meant Abdoulaye went to Guinea much earlier than previously planned and allowed him to spend much more time with his family than he had intended.  Had he already been in the US and his father passed away, it would have been much more difficult to do so.

With Abdoulaye (left) and his little brother, Youssouf (right).  Me in the middle!

As I stepped out of the airport, the cold morning air sent chills throughout my body.  The sun was just about to rise in Dakar and the sky was filled with soft blues and pinks, the low-light forcing me to strain a little bit to discern the faces in the crowd of people before me.  Thankful for the cart's handle to lean on, I tried to walk slowly in order to not trip on my heels and carefully scanned the sea of expectant faces in the pre-dawn light.  After rolling a few steps I heard Abdoulaye's voice before I saw him, “Jenny!” he called and I saw his lanky form behind the iron barriers – flanked by his younger brother, Youssouf and another friend from Guinea, Michel.  Seven months of waiting to see Abdoulaye in person was over!

Part II detailing our visit to the American embassy and our time in Dakar on the way!

Frankenstorm brings winds of change for Abdoulaye's K-1 visa!!!

This weekend I came down to Virginia Beach to celebrate my Memaw's 87th birthday and attend a dinner in my dad's honor (way to go you both!!).  Hurricane Sandy decided I shouldn't head back to DC until Wednesday (Amtrak trains canceled on Monday and not available until then!) and so I've been playing Clue and Trouble with my mom and cousin Elaine (in between writing papers for school :)

All of my activities came to a standstill when I received the following text message from USCIS regarding Abdoulaye's K-1 fiancé visa (I-129F):

Your case EACXXX is now updated.  Check "May Case Status" at www.uscis.gov...

This means his papers are getting ready to leave the Vermont processing center and head to Senegal. After jumping up and down and yelling so much that John turned up the volume on the television, I caught my breath and called Abdoulaye to share the news.  What next?  he asked.  Good question!  Now I'll see what I need to do and we'll start planning for Abdoulaye's interview in Senegal - hoping he'll be here in early December!!  OAA is officially back on the move!

Sunday night Skyping with cousin-in-law Matt and Mom

John loves Skyping with Abdoulaye!

Trying to be as cute as this one.

Almost here!

It's hard to believe that it's been close to 5 months since I left Guinea (and last saw Abdoulaye).  Time is really flying and I am optimistic we don't have too much longer to wait until he gets here (maybe mid-November??).  

Today I'm thankful for Skype, morning dances, pertinent talks (and a boss who will let me go to them!), cool weather, smoothies and catching up with friends on the phone.  I am also truly blessed to be living with Cassie who understands where I am coming from and what I am going through-thanks for being there for me little lady!

Abdoulaye taught me some Azonto dance moves this morning (see video below).  I took away pretend like you're scratching your arm and twist your foot.  Got it.  

Anything especially blessing you this morning?  I'd love to know!

thankful.

this picture is one of my favorites of us.

I twist my green bike around the corner and out the front door of my apartment.  It folds neatly into the elevator and I follow behind.  I pick it up over the stairs in the lobby and awkwardly roll out the front door.  As the heavy glass door closes behind me, I catch my breath for a second - the air feels cooler, is this fall?

The face of my watch catches the back of my pink garden/bike glove and I pull it down and over the fabric so I can better see it to time my ride.  Coasting down the street, the Washington National Cathedral lights up with morning sunshine ahead of me.  I try and hold on to this minute - September is almost here to be followed by October to be followed by November.  The days are passing and I find living in the present difficult when I am so anxiously awaiting Abdoulaye's arrival.

When people complain that the weekend is too short, I excitedly think that another week has passed.  When people say the time is flying, I quickly agree and bite my tongue to prevent myself from saying 'I wish it moved faster!'  When people lament the end of summer and the transition to fall, which means winter isn't far away, I smile inside thinking it means we're that much closer to when Abdoulaye will be here.

This long-distance thing is hard - though not impossible.  I love waking up and seeing an email or a text or a facebook message from the man pictured above.  I am thrilled to share the mundane details of my day with his eager ears on Skype and listen to how he has spent his day or what he has cooked for dinner.  I love listening to Abdoulaye's English, which gets better every time we talk.  I remind myself that other couples have it much harder and I need to keep my perspective straight.

There's a blessing or a saying for everything in West Africa.   One of my favorite Bambara blessings is k'an kelen kelen wuli - may we wake up one by one (because if we all woke up at once, that would mean something bad had happened!).  Abdoulaye recently shared another saying with me, one that I've taped next to my door and that I read each morning before pulling my bike out of the apartment building to roll through the streets of Washington, DC.  It's a saying in his native language, Susu; Lokhe bou xi mou na - there's no day that will not arrive.  

So here I am with my green bike propped next to a silent radiator, poorly hung curtains slouching like curtseying sacks of potatoes and a stack of school books sitting next to me waiting to be quoted for a paper due yesterday.  The time is passing, the seasons will soon change.  I am practicing patience as best I know how, and each day brings me a little closer to having Abdoulaye here.  While the chill is gone from the air by 9 a.m. and fall won't be here for another month, I still can't wait for Abdoulaye to get here.  I can hardly wait for that day to arrive.     

to be and to have

Image source.

On Sunday Mom and I watched To Be and To Have - a documentary on the single-teacher school system in France, which focuses on a class in Auvergne.  Before the coup d'etat in Mali changed a lot of people's life plans, I was hoping to stay in the country and conduct research under a Fulbright grant on the single-teacher school system recently implemented, and expanded, by the Ministry of Education in collaboration with a couple of USAID-education contracts.  Sometimes life has other plans in store.  

Nonetheless, this movie was a great afternoon wind-down - made me want to cry more than a few times though at how tender children (and adults!) can be.  It is in French with an option for English subtitles if you're into that kind of thing (and even if you aren't!).

I wonder what the title is asking us to think.  Etre et Avoir.  To be and to have.  If I could be anything and have anything - what would it be?  Is that what it's asking?  To be a teacher and to have an education?  To be French and to have a farm?  Lots of cutie patooties in this movie with really cute French accents :)

You can buy the movie on Amazon here or rent it from your local library like I did for $free.99. 

Do you have any good documentary recommendations?  I'm hoping to watch more this summer - especially ones in French to keep in practice for when Abdoulaye gets here and OAA is complete!

Mali, OAA, and Atlantic Shores

Lunch with the PEO gals at Atlantic Shores (Memaw to my right).  

Reading articles like this one and this one about Mali are painful (I also really don't like this one, which highlights the junta's targeting/fear of other West Africans in Mali).  I am hesitant to write about Mali for fear of contributing to her bad press image (although, I'm certainly not against reading posts that show Mali's democracy for what it really was - not much).   I know my blog could serve as more of an awareness-raising platform and I suppose that's what I'm trying to do right now.  Sigh.  I also prefer to read first-hand analyses (this one in English) of what is going on (and assume others would, too!).

While I haven't been writing about Mali, I have been talking a lot about her (just ask any of my family members, thanks for your patience, guys!).  It has been wonderful to have so many thoughtful friends, family members, and friends of the family listen, and talk with me, about my time in Mali and what is happening now.  Thank you.

In other news, I received a text message at 1:40am confirming the receipt of Abdoulaye's K-1 fiancé visa application.  I guess U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) never sleeps!  Step 1 1/2 of OAA done!  Now I'm just waiting for Form I-797 to come in the mail.  By the end of this process I'll be a regular K-1 fiancé visa expert - glad I'll only be doing it once, though!

While Visa Journey puts the current processing time in Vermont (where it was sent from Texas - VT processes visa applications from Virginia-based American fiancés in case you cared to know!) at about 5 months before the application is sent to its final destination in Senegal, I'm hoping they'll see how cute Abdoulaye is (I included pictures of us as proof of our relationship) and that he really needs to come to America sooner to contribute to our cute-i-tivity (thank you Kira for connecting me with the website!).  Fingers crossed!

Coming tomorrow - a video from our trip to Guinea.  Remember Morocco?  

Yunalis Zarai and Bentley Brown: Music and the Immigrant experience

The job search continues!  (Aga Khan, World Learning, Friends of the Global Fight, World Resources Institute).  In between job searching, lunch with Memaw, and all the other in betweens that make life special, I have continued my blog reading.  I really do enjoy Africa is a Country (where I found these videos from Shola Ajayi - that I've now been able to watch!) and learned about Yunalis Zarai, a Malaysian artist (above) with songs being produced by Pharell Williams.  Listen to one of her songs - I'm sure you'll be hooked!  I also want to see Bentley Brown's movie 'Faisal Goes West.' (trailer below)  With OAA underway, the immigrant experience to the US is at the forefront of my thoughts.

Hungry Like the Wolf

A single-teacher-school class in Sangala, Mali

As I talk with friends and family about my next step and search the internet for new job and internship opportunities, I have found some awesome organizations with some pretty cool listings.  Now if only I can find find employment with one of them!  I thought I'd share a list here of some of my favorites so you can get an idea of what kind of work I am looking into (aside from the general Communications/International Education):

Peace Operations Training Institute
International Youth Foundation
IREX
EDC
The Walters Art Museum
Johns Hopkins University
CASA de Maryland

I'm still looking and applying - and hoping the perfect fit will come along soon!

In other news, Abdoulaye's K-1 fiancé visa application is officially submitted - please wish us luck as we begin Operation Abdoulaye to America (OAA)!!!

Market

P.S.  When we were in Ghana for our transition conference, a panel of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) working in Ghana came to speak about their experiences in working abroad/life after Peace Corps.  Here is a list of some of the places they worked:

West Africa Trade Hub
USAID Foreign Service
Global Mamas
Ghana WASH Cost Project
USAID Personal Service Contractor (PSC)
Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology
Equatorial Coca-Cola Bottling