Tag: marriage

A very quick update

Well it’s been a while since I last wrote something, and I’m not about to write much right now.

Since the last post, I’ve finished my vietnamese class, so there’s definitely a lot I can write there in the future, however I’m still not able to speak it, but I understand it better.

Also, I’m now officially married, we’ve been through the engagement and wedding ceremonies here, end of january, early february. Once again, a lot of things to write and images to share. I will get there eventually. I have about 40 GB of photos and videos, of these events, so I need to start sorting them. This was followed by a week in Laos and a long weekend in Phu Quoc, which is a vietnamese island in the Thailand Gulf.

And last, I’m starting a new hobby: photography! I just bought myself a Canon EOS 60D with the following lenses: the EF 50mm F/1.4 USM and the EF 24-105mm F/4L IS USM. These 2 lenses should help me get started and find my way. So expect to see some pictures popping up once in a while.

So that’s it for now, nothing very interesting right now, but a lot to look forward to. I have a lot of writing ahead of me!

Interview with Vietnamese Administration

Well, that’s it !

This afternoon we went for our individual interviews with the vietnamese administration about our marriage. This is only needed when a foreigner wants to get married with a vietnamese. They do these interviews to try to screen out any marriage that might be a fake one, such as those organized by “agencies” to find wives for example.

For this interview, I had to hire an interpreter to translate questions and answers back and forth. I was a bit stressed about it at first, as it’s not just any “job interview” … this is my marriage we are talking about here! And from some comments we had read from people going through this procedure, some people had actually failed the interviews! But after a few minutes in there, everything was going alright, I even noticed the women smiling as I was explaining how I proposed to N. Which I hope is a good sign …

The interview was also shorter than I thought it would be, I believe it lasted around 20 minutes or so, and I was expecting to have to into much details , but that wasn’t necessary after all.

Here is a list of questions I’ve been asked, I may have forgotten a couple :

  1. How and when did I meet N
  2. When did I fall in love with her
  3. How many times did I come to Vietnam
  4. Have I met N’s family
  5. Has N met my family
  6. What do our families think about our wedding
  7. What do I do for a living
  8. What does N do these days
  9. Have I been planning the wedding
  10. When was our wedding
  11. Will my family come to my wedding
  12. Where will we live after our wedding
  13. Was I forced into marrying N

That’s all I can remember for now. I will update the list if I remember any others.

Another positive note about our interviews, the women doing them is the mother of one of N’s friends who is currently living in Lyon in France. So that might get us some sympathy ^^

With the interview over, we have now finished the administrative paperwork, all that’s left on this side now, is waiting. I believe they will be publishing our names for a few weeks, and if everything goes well, that should be it !

Now we need to continue to organize the engagement and wedding days.

Cheers!

Wedding administration, almost done !

Well well, 2 posts in 2 days … who would have thought !

Anyway, a quick update, I “survived” the mental check up we went for this morning. Of course, it didn’t have anything to do with me being crazy or not, go figure. It was quite straight forward, if not a little awkward in fact. After filling a little form to say who I was, we were measured and weighed. Then, a little heart beat check to make sure I was still alive … and then … I had to take my pants off, for the doctor to “peak” to see if I had any sexual diseases … awwwkwaaard.

And that was it, 30 mins later we received our “mental” check up approval letter! This was the last document we needed to be able to finally apply for the marriage. So, that’s what we did just after this “joke”.

The marriage application, will take between 30 to 40 days to be processed apparently, and we were booked for individual interviews. I will need to hire a translator to get through this one though. Our interviews are early next week, so we are almost done with the all the administrative part. All that will be left will be some little waiting!

Next week, I will need to look into renewing my VISA for Vietnam. I initially got a 3 month one (which is the longest you can get for a tourist visa), and it’s been 2 months already, time flies when you are having fun !

That’s it for today, don’t want to be writing too much or you will get used to me giving frequent news, and expect some more often ^^

Cheers!