Hi all,
I'm Matt, I'm new here and after introducing myself on the introduction thread, I thought I'd share my story here.
So my LDR started in December 2010. I was in my last year of college and wanted to do something a bit different for my summer holiday. I decided that I'd do a combined travel / teaching holiday across a couple of the old Eastern Bloc countries. However a friend of mine who had done the same thing suggested that I gave South America a shot. So I found a website - I've forgotten which one - that put me in touch with a family in Quito, Ecuador. The parents ran a hairdressing academy from home and they wanted someone to help their two youngest children with their English, and also provide some extra support to their students who wanted to learn English. Most of the organisation was done by their daughter, who is a lovely young lady called Monica. After a brief exchange of emails, swapped MSN details and I found myself helping with her English on an almost nightly basis, and I was really enjoying my chats with Monica. It got to the point where I'd do my college homework early in the evening, have a few hours to myself and wait up for Monica to appear. I knew that we were both single, so I decided to send her a little surprise for Valentines Day in 2011. I wasn't sure what to expect...however a couple of days before Valentines Day a package arrived from Ecuador addressed to me, with Monica's name on the return address. On Valentine's Day, I waited for Monica to appear on MSN and we opened our packages. We agreed that we'd be careful and take things slowly. That summer, I spent 4 or 5 weeks out there working unpaid, living with Monica's family and helping out where I could. That summer holiday was quite simply magical.
It's now spring 2018 and how far we've come. Because of my kidney transplant, we really struggled to get the health care I require in Ecuador so we've had to accept that for the time being, it's best for Monica to move here. Our wedding* was on December 19th 2015 in Ecuador. We had a joint wedding with Monica's sister & her husband. Only my parents were able to travel from the UK for the wedding, but we had a someone to video the whole and someone putting the ceremony on Skype, so other relatives and my friends were able to watch. As a matter of fact, one of my best friends hosted a small party at his house. They all got dressed up, streamed the Skype feed to the big TV and got hog wimperingly drunk to celebrate. I'll never forget someone yelling "we need a translator" and then realised that my brother-in-law had forgotten one of his duties. He soon remembered.
Unfortunately things aren't so good at the moment. I'm living in the UK with my parents whilst Monica is living in Ecuador with her family. I recently left work after few major arguments with the boss, so I'm now unemployed. Not only does this mean Monica won't be able to get the spousal visa, but we're meant to be going on holiday to Florida in May. If I don't start working in the coming week I'll be missing that, which makes me feel like a complete tool. Having said that, when I told Monica what happened in my job she was both totally supportive and completely unsurprised. Turns out she'd seen it coming for a while and was close to suggesting that I find a new job.
So that's my story, I've told my tale and I'm looking forward to making a new friends, hearing and seeing other stories and helping others when I can.
*Ecuador has a law where a couple has to have a civil wedding before a religious ceremony can take place. Our civil ceremony was on January 15th 2015. However my wife and her family are deeply religious, so we were always going to have a religious ceremony. This is the one from December 2015 and is the ceremony I'm referring to unless otherwise stated.
I'm Matt, I'm new here and after introducing myself on the introduction thread, I thought I'd share my story here.
So my LDR started in December 2010. I was in my last year of college and wanted to do something a bit different for my summer holiday. I decided that I'd do a combined travel / teaching holiday across a couple of the old Eastern Bloc countries. However a friend of mine who had done the same thing suggested that I gave South America a shot. So I found a website - I've forgotten which one - that put me in touch with a family in Quito, Ecuador. The parents ran a hairdressing academy from home and they wanted someone to help their two youngest children with their English, and also provide some extra support to their students who wanted to learn English. Most of the organisation was done by their daughter, who is a lovely young lady called Monica. After a brief exchange of emails, swapped MSN details and I found myself helping with her English on an almost nightly basis, and I was really enjoying my chats with Monica. It got to the point where I'd do my college homework early in the evening, have a few hours to myself and wait up for Monica to appear. I knew that we were both single, so I decided to send her a little surprise for Valentines Day in 2011. I wasn't sure what to expect...however a couple of days before Valentines Day a package arrived from Ecuador addressed to me, with Monica's name on the return address. On Valentine's Day, I waited for Monica to appear on MSN and we opened our packages. We agreed that we'd be careful and take things slowly. That summer, I spent 4 or 5 weeks out there working unpaid, living with Monica's family and helping out where I could. That summer holiday was quite simply magical.
It's now spring 2018 and how far we've come. Because of my kidney transplant, we really struggled to get the health care I require in Ecuador so we've had to accept that for the time being, it's best for Monica to move here. Our wedding* was on December 19th 2015 in Ecuador. We had a joint wedding with Monica's sister & her husband. Only my parents were able to travel from the UK for the wedding, but we had a someone to video the whole and someone putting the ceremony on Skype, so other relatives and my friends were able to watch. As a matter of fact, one of my best friends hosted a small party at his house. They all got dressed up, streamed the Skype feed to the big TV and got hog wimperingly drunk to celebrate. I'll never forget someone yelling "we need a translator" and then realised that my brother-in-law had forgotten one of his duties. He soon remembered.
Unfortunately things aren't so good at the moment. I'm living in the UK with my parents whilst Monica is living in Ecuador with her family. I recently left work after few major arguments with the boss, so I'm now unemployed. Not only does this mean Monica won't be able to get the spousal visa, but we're meant to be going on holiday to Florida in May. If I don't start working in the coming week I'll be missing that, which makes me feel like a complete tool. Having said that, when I told Monica what happened in my job she was both totally supportive and completely unsurprised. Turns out she'd seen it coming for a while and was close to suggesting that I find a new job.
So that's my story, I've told my tale and I'm looking forward to making a new friends, hearing and seeing other stories and helping others when I can.
*Ecuador has a law where a couple has to have a civil wedding before a religious ceremony can take place. Our civil ceremony was on January 15th 2015. However my wife and her family are deeply religious, so we were always going to have a religious ceremony. This is the one from December 2015 and is the ceremony I'm referring to unless otherwise stated.
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