An awesome Kickstarter project!

If you don't already know this brilliant chap, you're in for a real treat. My very good and talented friend Taylor Baldry has a project on Kickstarter, the world's largest funding platform for creative projects in case you haven't heard. 

Here's Taylor's bio, it totally backs up that he's a legit guy with a dream in his heart.

TAYLOR BALDRY is a brainstormer, artist-designer and large-nosed person. He studied Visualization at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and after graduation, became a graphic designer and animator for a boutique marketing agency. In 2009, Baldry was inspired to quit his salary job and moved to Ota, Japan, where he taught English, judged beauty contests and ate rice. Two years later, Baldry returned to Minneapolis and guided by a need for meaningful conversations and his love for office supplies, founded The Conversationalist Project and The Minneapolis Stationery Club, respectively. He shares his inventions on his idea website Project Centaur and is currently writing and illustrating a book on Romance language gender articles. He lives in Minneapolis with his house plants.

Taylor has to raise the entire $1,000 by Wednesday May 9, 6:01pm EDT. If he doesn't reach his goal he doesn't get anything and then it's back to square one. Believe you me, I don't think his parents are going to want to give him any more money...

The books that he's creating are not only useful, but the will make learning fun and you more popular. So donate generously!

Have a look at his video and please visit his Kickstarter page to become a part of the story!Please be warned that there are some rude bits in the video, but no strobe effects.

Getting a Spouse Visa

Looking back over my immigration journey I spent probably too much time worrying about all the things that could have gone wrong, but you know what? It all worked out. I thought I'd share my journey with all those who are going through it. The key bit of advice would be this, don't worry about what may or may not happen. If you are a real couple and meet all the criteria then you will be fine.





Spouse Visa 




I met Matthew in October 2007 and we  decided to get married in August 2008. I remember us beginning to figure out everything we needed to do in order for me to get my spouse visa. 


I don't remember the exact date, but Matthew and I decided to go and see an immigration lawyer to make sure we understood the process. It was definitely worth the money at the time, I remember it being around £75. We are able to ask all the questions that we wanted. The immigration lawyer offered a service where they would fill out your application for you at the modest sum of £500! Please don't waste your money. Having an immigration lawyer fill out your application won't guarantee you anything. The visa's are expensive enough without wasting money for someone just to fill out a straightforward form.


I can remember reading loads about how to get the spouse visa on the internet and at the time it was a bit daunting. I guess the most scary thing about was the uncertainty over whether or not it would be approved. Looking back I can see that it would be highly unlikely that I would have been refused, but you just never know. 


After we were married Matthew went back to London and I stayed behind in Minnesota to wait for my visa to come through. Since I was only in London on a tourist visa I had to return home to send the application.


We had to wait for the marriage certificate to be sent out before we could send off the application. In theory that should have taken a week, but for some reason instead of sending to my address in MN it was sent to London!


That was really annoying. Matthew tried to send it back to me, overnight via DHL, but that got cocked up. The letter ended up sitting in a distribution center in Detroit for several days. A week later it finally arrived and I went and sent off the application.


Once it was sent the waiting began. It was good to be spending some time in MN, but it was really hard being new married and away from Matthew. It was a weird limbo time for me. I was staying with friends and I wasn't working. Not knowing how long I was going to be in MN was a bit stressful. In the end after the spouse visa application was sent it only took about 3 weeks for it to be approved. 


The application itself was pretty straightforward. We had to prove that we were a legitimate couple. I ended up printing out email conversations, photos of us on holiday and photocopying cards that we had received as a couple. We also had to show proof that Matthew had a place for us to live and that we had a certain amount of income, basically they wanted to make sure that we could support ourselves. 


All I have to say is that if you are a real couple and you meet the requirements than you will be fine. I spent a lot of timing worrying that my application wouldn't be approved. I read way too many stories of couples who were separate for months and other immigration horror stories. Don't waste your time getting stressed over what might happen, just make sure you fill out everything carefully and be prepared to be patient if the processing times are longer than you would want them. 

Becoming British

Yesterday it was a cold and snowy day in London. I had spent much of the day in the flat doing odds and ends when finally it was time to brave the cold and go out to the shops. Matthew and I bundled up and headed out in search of ingredients for a classic tuna hot dish.  When we got back and stopped to check the post we discovered two interesting looking envelopes from our local council addressed to me. 

Since I never get any letters from the council this could only mean one thing, news about my citizenship application. After tearing open the letter I was very happy to see that my application had been accepted and I had also been assigned a citizenship ceremony to take place on the 22 of February. 

What a feeling. I would even venture to say that I was chuffed to bits!

I applied for citizenship back on November 6, 2011 and you just never know how long things might take. I was told that it could take up to six months and so that was kinda what I was expecting. I also didn't realise that they would assign you a date for the ceremony. I thought that I would have to phone up and do that on my own. I've also heard people say that it can take a long time to get a place at a ceremony. 

Matthew of course was very excited, especially because I have to pledge an oath to the Queen. I am excited too and also relieved that it's all sorted now. 

It is a bit strange to think that I am now a British citizen. It's just something that I never thought in my wildest dreams would ever happen. 

I know the journey to citizenship is a subject that people are generally interested in so I thought I'd condense my journey down so you that people can get a general idea of how it all works.

Looking back this entire process of marrying someone from another country and sorting out all the visas seemed really daunting and at times a bit scary. I can say now that it's really nothing to get worked up over, as long as you're in a real relationship with someone and you follow all the directions you'll be fine. 

I'd also like to say thank you to all the other expat bloggers out there who have taken the time to share their journeys and also all the wonderful people who take the time to write on the UK Yankee Forum. It's always comforting to read other people's stories. 

Going Green Ewa Kwolek's Brazilian Adventure

I started a new job in December. I am now working at Proximity London on the Kraft Foods team and I am loving it. It's a great agency, I've got great clients and projects and my new colleagues are wonderful. 

I wanted to share this post from Ewa Kwolek's (a new colleague on the Kraft team) blog. Ewa is going to Brazil for the month of March and doing charity work through the TIE organisation for the Edificio Ecologico.

Ewa has been working incredibly hard to raise money and has been coming up some very creative fundraising ideas. Please visit her blog to follow her story and make sure to donate!

Who am I and what is this all about?

Jan11 by ewakwolek

 

Who am I?

My name is Ewa and I am an Account Director at a marketing agency in London – Proximity London. My agency working with TIE (The International Exchange) chose me to help developing world by using my communications skills.

What does it mean?

From 5^th of March 2012 for 30 days I will be working for a sustainable organisation Edificio Ecologico based in Brazil creating a communications campaign for them.

Who are Edificio Ecologico?

Edificio Ecologico could be translated as ‘Ecological Buildings’ simply explaining their main goal of implementation of recycling systems (separation) in high-rise residential and business buildings in Recife (north of Brazil) to help improve environment and lives of garbage pickers.

This project started 8 years ago and thanks to efforts of its coordinators, 200 residential buildings are now registered to the scheme.

How will I be able to help?

In order to support these guys, I am not only offering them my communications skills. I am also raising money here in the UK that will form my marketing budget in Brazil.

How do I raise the money?

My main idea is around saving money at my work place by simple ‘green steps’. I am encouraging my colleagues to print double sided, switch off PCs and lights, walk up the stairs as opposed to talking lifts and also stop using plastic bags. And all of this to create savings for my charity work. It is simple:

1. My colleagues do something simple
2. Proximity passes on the savings
3. I help a charity in Brazil

My re-usable bags

I produced 250 cotton bags and I am selling them to raise the funds. They were designed by two students who offered their time for free. The idea is simple: stop using plastic – buy one of my re-usable bags helping not only the environment here in the UK but also supporting my fundraising as 100% of takings will be passed to my charity.

What next?

I have 7 weeks left and still plenty to do. I need to raise minimum £1000 and I have a few more fundraising activities to organise and I need to sell all my bags. I also need to get ready and learn as much about Brazil as I can. On top of this I am learning Portuguese to help me communicate with the Brazilian family I will be staying with.

How can you help?

You can simply donate using the donate button on the top right hand side of my blog. Don’t worry, you don’t need a PayPal account and you can simply use your card. Read more here: http://ewakwolek.wordpress.com/2011/12/19/the-importance-of-a-strong-cta/ You can also buy a bag from me (£4 only). Or simply read my blog and pass the message! Thanks in advance for all your support!

Land of 10,000 Stories

I've been getting into the routine of waking up on Saturday morning and watching the latest episode of Land of 10,000 Stories.

Land of 10,000 Stories are news segments on Kare 11 in Minneapolis-St.Paul, Minnesota. They are presented by Byod Hupert and they are sooo Minnesotan. They are local human interest stories and I usually can't help but tear up during them. The stories are usually about remarkable people in the community. They are great and I love watching them. Matthew is now a stories fan and has gotten used to me crying and despite his stiff up lip I've seen him well up a bit too.

Land of 10,000 Stories: 'High-five Tuesday' pumps up the office