I'm happy to say I'm finally seeing results -german language-. I have made great progress and I feel very proud of myself. So is D and his family. I never thought I could get to this level in a period of six months, but I did!
It's so sad I have to leave soon. I finally found cool classmates, girls I get along with and the rest of classmates are also nice… but I have to leave.
I don't know where the time went, all I know is, there are only 21 days left and I don't want to go. I don't want to leave my SO, I don't want to go back to heat/madness land. I like it here and I will, for sure, miss every. single. thing.
I'm definitely not looking forward to the next 5 months in which we will be apart. The only good thing is, next time we see each other, we will be getting married, and if everything goes well and smooth, 2-3 months later, I will permanently move to Germany; which is something I am more that ready for, as I am honestly tired of not having a place I can call home, tired of living in uncertainty.
…That brings me to the wedding planning, which is sadly -ok, not anymore- back to the start.
We ended up not hiring the wedding planner I blogged about the last time, and therefore not reserving the place overlooking the beach, that I had shown before. Reasons?
- From the very beginning, I got an uneasy feeling that, what she was offering was too good to be true. We liked the venue option, but not her. Not good, as I think it is important to get along with your wedding planner, specially when you have to plan from a distance.
- Some of the pictures she sent us, were not looking legit.
- When I talked to her over Skype, I still didn't get the feeling that we could trust her. She would contradict herself at times.
- That same day she sent the contract, so that we could read what it said. Oh surprise! there was a difference of 2 million colombian pesos between the first offer she sent us, and the new one, even though the proposal was the same. When I asked why so? she said it was her secretary's mistake. Yeah, right. I didn't swallow that one.
- And finally the last one was, in her proposal she was offering and describing the place over looking the beach; and some of the pictures she sent were the ones I showed here. She never talked about a damn "beautiful room" and never sent pictures of such room, however, the day she sent the contract for us to review it, she said: oh btw, the place is not longer that one, because it is already booked since a long time ago. There is another event being held on the same day you guys are getting married, so I will make it at the same club but in a different location, in a "beautiful room". Oh yeahhhh, bs! Of course I got freaking mad. I couldn't believe what I was reading. If I don't ask, she doesn't tell me about the changes. Why was she offering the other venue in the first place, if she already knew it was booked? I told D it was better to move on and keep looking for the right wedding planner, because it was clear that woman was definitely not. He agreed, even if that meant starting from zero and that weekend we were going to be away, so no chances of keep looking for wedding planners and contacting them.
A new week came, I got in touch with some other wedding planners in Cartagena. They sent us offers, emails go, emails come, Skype conversations. It sounds easy, but it really is stressful and frustrating at times. Specially when I am very clear of what we want, # of guests, our budget, type of ceremony, etc; and then we get offers that don't match our requirements, or they ask me things I have clearly stated before. I seriously just roll my eyes.
Not everything has been bad. In between the stress and frustration, we have also focused on working together in the DIYs we decided for our wedding. We have been having fun buying things, creating stuff and being all excited when we get an ordered item in our mailbox. I find it so cool that D is with me in this. He helps me, he likes my ideas, I like his. I feel so lucky to have him, so lucky I can count on him, so lucky I am not alone. Maybe he feels bad because I have to do all the research, send the emails, reply to them, have endless Skype conversations, negotiate; all because he doesn't speak spanish. Still, I don't feel alone and I know I am not.
And yeah, I don't want to write too much about it, but even though we haven't signed a contract with them and are still working in adjusting their initial proposal to our budget preferences and confirming venues availability, the stress has lowered a lot because we like this new company. they specialize in destination weddings in cartagena and have tons of excellent reviews from couples who hired them as wedding planners. The moment I spoke to the guy over Skype, I knew they were the right for us. But just for now, I will leave it right here. I'm sure I will come with more updates, as things start to look and get more real.
Also five months will go by way faster than you think
Btw, do you have the possibility of applying for residency within Germany? Or do you have to do it in your home country?
TwoThree, no I can't apply for residency within Germany. That's another pain in the @%#$^ we will have to go through.
Once we are married, have our marriage certificate, translations, stamps, a certificate from the Goethe Institute stating that I have, at least, a basic level of german; etc. We -or I- have to go to the German embassy in Bogotá and apply for a Familienzusammenführungsvisum. And then play the waiting game for about 2-3 months.
So yeah, We are aiming at Nov-Dec to permanently close the distance. :-)