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U. S. Embassy Jakarta, Indonesia ( source: The Traveling Cow ) I was scheduled for the interview on December 29th, 2016 at 12:30 PM. I was ready since 10:00 AM but my Grab driver (online transportation) came around 10:30 AM. And to make it more dramatic, he took the wrong route. He insisted that it was faster and I could be there around 12:00 PM, so I trusted him. But when I was stuck in the traffic and it was already 11:30 PM and we were nowhere near the embassy, I knew I should have not have given him the benefit of a doubt, but it was too late to go back. Traffic jam after traffic jam after traffic jam and I was livid with him. I strongly believed that I would not gonna make it to the interview and I just wanted to cry. It was 11:45 PM and we were still 44 minutes away from the embassy (22 minutes). That time, I just wish that they would let me in even though I was late. It was the most stressful journey and I should have not been this stressful before my interview. At 12:10 PM

Immigration involves endless amount of paperwork, time, stress, money, and sheer force of will at times. I would like to share some tips on how to organize your documents to make it easier, based on my experience. Using 3 different color folders, I separated the documents based on their classification. Folder A - Interview Packet Our lawyer suggested to separate all the documents that are listed on the interview letter in one packet, so that's what I did. The first folder contains: Copy of the appointment letter Original unexpired passport and copy of the biographic page Two (2) color photographs sized 5cm x 5cm Confirmation page from DS-260 application for an Immigrant Visa submitted online at ceac.state.gov Original birth certificate, English translation and copy Medical examination results in a sealed envelope I put each of the documents in each plastic folder (see image below) and marked it with sticky notes. Folder B - Affidavit of Support P

We were celebrating our first anniversary few days ago. It's been a hard journey for both of us because we are living apart between US and Indonesia and are in the middle of the immigration process. We can not wait for this process to be over so we can be together again soon and share our adventures on our blog with people who share the same passion with us .  We were married on October 25th, 2015 in Ayu's hometown of Cirebon, Indonesia. It was, of course, a very memorable day for the both of us. It was filled with celebration, food, pictures, and plenty of attendees. Surrounded by all of the noise and excitement, we both knew the adventure and the challenges that would await us; though, we just didn't know how challenging they would turn out to be.           When Joe came back to the United States, it was then a matter of putting together the first of many fees to our immigration lawyer to get the process started. That didn't start until Dec

It was later in the day when we arrived at the Mangrove Center Graha Indah in Balikpapan and we were able to catch the last drive of the day. The best time to come there is at the afternoon,  around at 4 - 5 PM when t he proboscis monkeys (bekantan) are hunting for food. The place is located inside the area of housing residents, even our driver has never been there and had to ask several people for directions there.  We finally found the place and arrived at around 5 PM. The plan was to get on the boat trip with random people so we could split the cost, because it doesn't matter how many people in the trip, you are only charged for the boat rent , a boat is actually enough for 10 people . Sadly, we were late, there were a family who just came back from the trip. We asked one of them if they could see the monkey and said they did but they didn't bring long lens so they couldn't take picture. After a few minutes of counting how much the money we had left, we decid

Next destination was to go see the crocodiles at Teritip Crocodile Breeding Farm . East Kalimantan is also famous with the crocodiles and in this farm, you can see many kinds of crocodilians of varying sizes and ages.  The farm is not far from Samboja Lodge; it takes more or less 35 mins. The entrance ticket is Rp. 15,000 ($1) each, doesn't matter whether you're domestic or international tourist. It was pouring rain when we got there but that wasn't going to stop us from witnessing these beasts. The crocodiles reside in water pens. There are probably more than 30 young crocodiles in one pen. Baby crocs This is also considered "baby" It was really sad to see because each water pen is too small for the crocs and this place is overpopulated, even though it is actually 5 hectares wide. The guides do not speak English so it is hard to get an explanation if you didn't speak Bahasa Indonesia. Joe was offered to feed the baby crocodiles with

Part of our tour at Samboja Lodge was the Sun Bear Sanctuary which we were led to after our experience at the Orangutan Island. After waiting to see the baby orangutans without any luck, we finally decided to check out the sun bears. Besides, the feeding time was over anyway and the orangutans had disappeared. For this trip, we had to hop on the car because the location is far from Orangutan Island. We were so excited to see sun bears because it was our first time experience. The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation is best known for its efforts in orangutan rescue and rehabilitation. But BOS is also involved in the rescue and confiscation of a number of other species, including the Malayan sun bear. At the request of the Government, Samboja Lestari is home to 46 sun bears, confiscated from the illegal pet trade or rescued from deforested areas. (Source: BOS Sun Bear Sanctuary ). The place is surrounded by fences and there is an observation deck for visitors outside

One of the highlights of our recent travels was getting to see Orangutans at the Orangutan Island. The orangutans (also spelled orang-utan , orangutang , or orang-utang ) are the two exclusively Asian species of extant great apes. Native to Indonesia and Malaysia, orangutans are currently found in only the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra. Classified in the genus Pongo , orangutans were considered to be one species. Since 1996, they have been divided into two species: the Bornean orangutan ( P. pygmaeus ) and the Sumatran orangutan ( P. abelii ).  ( Source: Wikipedia ) . We visited Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, Indonesia this time, therefore the orangutans that we met were the Bornean orangutans. Many of the Orangutans on the islands are rescues with the ultimate goal of integrating them back into the wild; though, some will live the rest of their lives there.  We booked a standard room at Samboja Lodge, Balikpapan for one night for IDR 1,550,000 ($116) . Samboja Lodge is an eco-lo