SECOND TRIP TO MANILA: Nothing is going right.

Gary's Experience:

We had planned for me to return to the Philippines in January because we had been told to expect everything to be done within 90 days. We scheduled our wedding for February 14th and ordered invitations. We thought we had plenty of time. The first of January came and we were still waiting for an interview date. How long could it take? As the delays mounted, we wondered if we should wait until Connie heard from the Embassy to go ahead with the trip. With little response from the Embassy in Manila or my Congressman and Senator's offices here, I decided that maybe I could get something done there. Connie had had to endure many trips to the Embassy alone and I felt she needed help. So I packed my bags and headed off to Manila again.

While planning January trip, Connie's sister, Christy, had contacted me about wedding plans. I had not yet met this sister since she lived in Indiana. We decided it would be good if we flew back to Manila together. She wanted to surprise her family and this would be a good way to have them come to the airport unsuspecting. This meant that I would have to fly Northwest and go through Memphis and Detroit. There, I would meet Christy and we would fly on to Manila together.

Leaving Jackson on Northwest Airlines for Detroit

I took off from Jackson on January 11th and flew to Detroit via Memphis. Then the problems started. I had not considered that I would be flying into Detroit in the dead of winter. The week before, the Great Lakes region had received record snowfall. So, of course, when we went to leave Detroit, the plane iced up. Finally, after three de-icings and four hours on the runway, we took off. This should have been an omen of things to come. We landed in Manila just three hours behind schedule?the pilot had made up one hour. It was 1:30 in the morning of the 13th and we were hoping the family was still waiting. They were, and the surprise was partially successful. We were all too tired to really care.

On that Friday we went to the Embassy, leaving Connie's house at 5:00 in the morning. We caught a tricycle to where we could get a taxi and made it to the Embassy by 6:30. We got in line and waited for the gate to open at 8. When it opened, we got a piece of paper telling us what window to go to and then waited till afternoon when we would be allowed in the Embassy to get information. After killing most of the day, we had about five minutes before a window and no real answers to our questions. We were told it was not taking long to process Connie's papers because she had just turned them in (JUST two weeks earlier). That first trip to the Embassy taught me something. No one gets in a hurry to help anyone at that embassy.

As we waited to hear from the Embassy, we planned an Engagement party. It was patterned after the wedding celebration party that is usually held after a Filipino wedding. Since our wedding was going to be in the states, this would give all Connie's family an opportunity to meet me and join in the wedding celebration. We had the 'Family Gathering' on January 23rd, the day we had once thought we could have a wedding there. It was a good day and a great celebration.

My new family sings a special song at the 'Gathering'.

I delayed my return trip for another week and we hoped for the best. Finally, on January 27th, we called the Embassy and were given our interview date. It was quite a blow to us and our plans. The interview was scheduled for April 15th. We were devastated to say the least. Now we had to contact a lot of people and change our wedding date. We hesitantly set May 8th as the new day.

Before I could leave, another problem would arise. I got very sick and had to reschedule my return flight again. My two-week stay had turned into a full month. Finally, on February 11th, I headed home ALONE, AGAIN.

Connie's Experience:

In the process.