Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Eight days until xmas

Today is Wednesday and christmas is next Thursday. This christmas is going to be a lot nicer and warmer than the last one. Last christmas we had just arrived in Taiwan, knew almost no one, needed jobs, didn't have a permanent address, were running out of money, and the wind blew cold and bit at us. This christmas will be spent with friends. There will be stockings and gifts and a special christmas dinner. I think it will be one of the nicest christmases in years.

Andrea and I are almost finished the marathon we have run to reach the point where we can submit our application for a spouse visa for her. We will be travelling to Taipei this weekend for the Taipei marathon and afterwards Andrea, John, and Laura will return to Tainan while I stay on in the capital for another day so that I can pay a visit to the Australian high commission in Taiwan on Monday and submit our application package. It has been a big project. Besides the actual application forms, we had to prepare all sorts of evidence in support of the legitimacy of our claim to be in a de facto relationship: photos, emails, a timeline, statements of intent, statutory declarations from witnesses, proof of having lived in Korea and living in Taiwan, passport photos (of course), the address of my blog, copies of identity documents, etc, etc. And it is going to cost us AU$1420 for the pleasure of applying, with no guarantee of anything; they may well reject our application.

It looks like another beautiful day outside; good for checking a couple of my favorite websites!

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