Hey
OK I'll call myself MAS
for now. I'm from the UK, I live in New York with my wonderful husband
(also from the UK) who works for a very sophisticated bank in Times Square.
I can't legally work because I don't have a working Visa, I just have an
L2 visa (crappy).
When I first arrived in
New York, I was very sad and lonely and didn't really know anyone.
Slowly but surely we got to meet people and now I have a wonderful array
of very very good friends. Some are English, some are American and
some I think are Aliens but that's never been questioned.
So as I was saying...oh yes, I was very bored, then made friends and wasn't soo bored (am I boring you). So I decided to be a GOOD person and do voluntary work. This was ok at first, weird and bizarre jobs, interesting though. It gave me the opportunity to familiarize myself with New York and the different boroughs. I worked at a school that taught refugees and immigrants (I absolute hate those words) to speak English. Of course being from the land of monarchs I was perfect for the job. Actually it was a lot of fun. I had a class of around 6 to 8 people, ranging from 18 to 59. They were all very sweet and eager to learn. I remember at the Christmas party they bought me gifts which was very sweet and made me cry.
Unfortunately a few months after that, myself and my then boyfriend left to go skiing in Whistler, fab place, go if you haven't been. Lots of boarders, skiers...I couldn't ski for shit then, but I'm better now. Anyway the weekend was going soooo well, it's almost like feeling dead skinny, gorgeous, tanned and loved all at the same time. Well that was how I felt, I loved my man, the skiing had gone ok, the hotel was divine, so was the snow. You know, everything was good and then we went to come home........
I was confronted at the
Canadian airport by a huge GI American soldier who politely informed me
that I'd overstayed my welcome and couldn't return to American soil, basically
#@%#$& off.
This, to say the least
came as a bit of a shock to me, and of course by this time my boyfriend
had gone through and was waiting by the Gate for me to board the plane.
I was hysterical, ran to the girl at the check-in desk, demanding that
she contact my boyfriend at once and get him back on Canadian soil.
She asked me if I was sure that he would want to do that....well you can
imagine my response, the language was choice!!
He eventually came through
looking very worried, gave me a big hug, whereas I dissolved into tears
yet again....pretty pathetic stuff.
We went back into Vancouver
and attempted to acquire a visitors visa back to the States. This
was declined, therefore all that was left was for us to either BOTH fly
back home, which would require packing all our stuff up and for my boyfriend
to transfer back to the London office OR, we get married and continue to
live in New York.
DUM DUM DUM DUM....here
comes the bride.
I flew back to Manchester
(my home town) walked straight into Armani, acquired the first long coated
trouser suit I saw. Bought a fab pair of steel heeled high leather
shoes with matching handbag, got my hair and nails done. 
My
angel flew over a few days later, with the most wonderful engagement ring
from Tiffany's (I couldn't of picked a more beautiful ring myself).
Then on Wednesday May 6, 1998 at 3pm we got married. Without a doubt,
the best day of my life. Now I'm crying, just thinking of that day.
Unfortunately my new gorgeous
husband had to fly back to New York the following Sunday due to work commitments.
I, on the other hand had to stay and wait bloody months for the posh banks
lawyers to get me an interview with the American Embassy. I swear
lawyers are full of it.
After two months waiting
around and getting fat, I eventually got my interview,an American woman
(dhhhh, obviously American) who looked sweet and gentle but believe me...wasn't.
She was pissed with me, and told me that I was taking advantage of the
American visa waiver system. She hammered on and asked me lots of
quick fire questions, some I answered well, some I didn't. She then
huffed and puff, starred me out for a while and then the next thing that
happened was beautiful to watch.....she stamped my passport. Hallelula,
god be praised, I'm going home. You see I now consider New York as
my home, god I hope my mother doesn't read this.
So here I am sat here typing the longest introduction I ever had to do in my life.
Oh yeah, so the teaching thing is all over now, because the school closed down due to the government suspending funds (the usual crap). So now I work (still voluntary) for an off-Broadway theatre company. It's lovely (well, most days), we have fun (sometimes) and the people are great (not all). I love it and I also get to see lots of great theatre for FREE!!!
God this is taking long.....don't expect too much in this web page, it's just me chattering on about my daily life here in the Big Apple.
I hope that sometimes you will laugh and also feel sad, but I assure you, my life has a lot of value to it and I've decided to share it with you all.....enjoy.
Ease up on the negative emails ok......