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No Visa!
Of course, he will join me but he will not need a visa. Lucky! Some sort of, November 15, 2005 was the beginning of this journey. It was the day I received the U.S. Immigrant Visa. Of course it started earlier, though. It may sound silly but it began as a child when we played "Cowboy and Indians". I always liked to act as Apache leader Cochise from the 1950's movie
"Broken Arrow" starring James Stewart as Indian scout Tom Jeffords. Despite the fact that some movies (like Karl May movies with Pierre Brice or Lex Barker) were filmed in Europe I always thought of the colorful sceneries of the Wild West. I always dreamed of how beautiful it must be and was longing for going there. When I got older this dreams diminished but never faded away. Then there was music and TV. At home I remember most that we were listening to radio stations playing a lot of English songs. And on television we saw a lot of American series. When I came into my twenties I was also a DJ, playing mostly American music in various clubs in Switzerland and I always thought about going to America and spinning records in the big clubs in New York.
But it was only in
My Visa!
It looks so good in my passport 1989 (and by mere chance) that I traveled to Florida for vacation with a girlfriend. Two weeks rushing from west (St. Petersburg) to east (Cape Canaveral) and back (not missing Orlando). But I was thrilled. Right when we landed and were moved from the airport at Tampa to our place at St. Pete's Beach I had a great feeling of awe. Crossing the bay was something I have never seen alike in my life before. Even the sky was completely different, the view of almost everything breathtaking. The smell of the sea, the heat rushing through the slightly open window of the car. When we left after two weeks I was the saddest person in the world. It was the time when everyone started to know me as the guy with the baseball hat. In Switzerland I probably wasn't the first one but you haven't seen much of them in the early 1990's. It was also the time I had my first thoughts to emigrate to the US.
Did I forgot to mention that I broke up with my girlfriend during that vacation? One year later in October I went to Florida again for two weeks. But this time I took my time. Landing in Miami with a last minute ticket I had nothing organized at all and it was already late in the evening. Most people with this flight were probably a travel group and I just followed them. We entered a coach and arrived at some hotel at some beach (ever heard of Fort Lauderdale?) I waited in the lobby till everyone got his key and left. After asking for a room for one night, which was no problem, I was heading across the street to a Burger King for a quick dinner. Back to my room I feel asleep very fast. Due to the jet lag I woke up very early and the sun just started to rise. On the balcony I enjoyed the warm air. This is something you will feel in Central Europe on just a few rare days at that time of the day and maybe in July. I couldn't resist to go down to the beach dipping my toes in the ocean. I was in heaven. I rented a car and checked out. When the lady at the front desk asked me if everything was OK I had to tell her that the water closet was missing the tube from the flush box on the wall so I couldn't flush. She gave me a 40% price reduction which I found very pleasant. Please don't ask how I managed to do my business. She didn't which I frankly found very polite. Shortly before the end of this two weeks I called the airline to confirm my flight which should have left late in the afternoon to Frankfurt in Germany and then to Zurich Switzerland. They told me that this flight was canceled and I have to take a flight early in the morning instead which will bring me to New York. But we will have a sight seeing tour and I will have a connection flight directly to Zurich. Surprise, surprise! I was sitting next to a American couple and they told me that we will probably land in La Guardia instead of JFK. And landing in La Guardia will mean that we pass Manhattan to our left. Guess where I was sitting -- on the left side! Yuppie! This city and this means Manhattan is absolutely awesome. We only had 8 hours but I saw quite a lot of it.
Only two years later I was in Florida again, this time with a friend of mine and only for one week. We met with some American guy we knew from home and he showed us around in West Palm Beach. It was this point in time I wanted to stay for longer even really thought about emigrating. In 1994 I gave up everything and left to the west fulfilling my dream and see the country as I was thinking of it when I was a kid. Landed in Las Vegas bought a car and traveled around Utah, Arizona, Nevada and California. Because I entered only under the Visa Waiver Program I had to leave after 3 months and didn't had a chance to stay longer or find a job. I could only have been an illegal alien as they call it or find a woman and marry her. But frankly I was not ready for that last step. But from that point on I was sure to leave one day and spend the rest of my life in the US. The only solutions I saw was to participate in the Green Card Lottery, wait till I get retired, find a company which will send me to the US or as a final solution do another trip and get "Married with children" (This is the original title of a TV series known as "Eine schrecklich nette Familie" in German).
Thanks to the Internet the process for the Green Card Lottery got very easy. I guess I began in 1998 on a regular basis and last year in May, 2005 I received the letter from the Kentucky Consular Center. I almost lost my breath. But it took me only about 5 minutes to think about it and to decide what to do next. About 6 months later and after spending some Swiss Francs I was invited for the final step the interview at the Consular Office in Bern. This was on November 14th 2005. The following day they sticked the Immigrant Visa which will expire after 6 months into my Swiss Passport.
Now it was time for me to get ready and prepare for the emigration to the USA.
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