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veradis

Star Member
Jul 16, 2012
80
1
Toronto
Category........
Visa Office......
Havana
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
19-08-11
AOR Received.
08-11-11
File Transfer...
20-11-11
Interview........
23-02-2012
VISA ISSUED...
23-02-2012
LANDED..........
18-08-12
Hi all,
After 2 and a half years together, my Cuban husband is mere weeks away from arriving in Canada. I decided a nice way to commemorate would be to write our story (in blog format). I hope you don't mind me posting about it here. I just thought it might be an interesting diversion for some of you while waiting for your spouse. And a deja vu tale for those of you with a similar Cuban (or falling in love abroad anywhere) story to tell. It will eventually have all the trials and tribulations of sponsoring a Cuban to Canada but for now, the story is just starting. Here is the beginning of everything. As this is my first post here I don't think want to spam blog links all over the place. But if you like it and want to read more, you can find it on blogspot under I Married The Pool Boy
Yep, that's basically how I sum it up for people ;)
Hope you enjoy and good luck to everyone with your sponsorships. Hopefully you'll all be celebrating with your spouses soon.


I used to walk by a Cuban tourism billboard twice a day on my way to and from work. It featured an ecstatically happy couple frolicking on the ocean and promised that 'A perfect beach is just the beginning'. Before I went to Cuba I never really noticed it. Just another billboard advertising some tropical hotspot that I wasn't interested in. I wasn't quite obnoxious enough to call myself a 'traveler' vs a 'tourist' when I talked about vacations. But I was obnoxious enough to consider myself morally superior to people who went on all-inclusive vacations to Mexico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic. The vast differences in culture and politics that exist between these countries didn't matter to me, it was the mono-culture of the one-week tourist that offended me...I figured that would be the same no matter what stamp landed in my passport.

But the end of 2009 wasn't boding well for my wanderlust. I had a week of holidays I had to use up before the end of the year, limited funds in my bank account and nobody to travel with. I tried to stretch my money and imagination to cover a trip to Europe or South America but it wasn't happening. As one travel website after another offered up $600 all-inclusive trips to Varadero, to Cayo Coco, to Santa Lucia, the reality of my travel options sunk in...I had to go to Cuba.

After accepting my fate, I decided to find a fate-mate. I was ready to dive into all-inclusive tourism but I wasn't ready to dive in alone. All my top tier friends were either too deep into relationships or Christmas vacation planning to consider a one-week getaway with me. Even my secondary friends weren't available. I was growing desperate at work one day and decided to unleash my complaints on an innocent colleague who I rarely talked to about more than marketing plans. Turns out she was in the same boat as me and had come to exactly the same conclusion. The marketing plans went out the window and we started planning our trip. One hour later it was booked...in exactly 10 days we'd be heading to Cuba for an all-inclusive week of sun, swimming and relaxation.

I started to notice the billboard on my way to and from work, started to get excited about the beachy-and-beyond fun it promised me. But what I didn't notice, until it was already too late, was the warning contained in those devilish, laughing faces; how they seemed to be mocking my total innocence of what I was about to stumble into. The perfect beach is just the beginning indeed!
 
Can you give me the blog link please?
 
canadiangirl78 said:
Can you give me the blog link please?

I searched for it yesterday. I think the OP can't post the link b/c she has only one post...? imarriedthepoolboy.blogspot.com
I think that was it.
Fun blog! Hope you write more soon.
 
tink23 said:
I searched for it yesterday. I think the OP can't post the link b/c she has only one post...? imarriedthepoolboy.blogspot.com
I think that was it.
Fun blog! Hope you write more soon.

That is the link! And you're right, I couldn't post it because it was my first post. Glad that you guys liked it. I'm trying to do a post per day so knowing people like it definitely inspires me. I think it's quite an easy experience for everyone here to relate to no matter what country they're dealing with. After all, we are in the Family Class Sponsorship area of the forum ;)
Thanks again for your kind words. Here's one more teaser post, hope you enjoy!

I brought a lot of books on my first trip to Cuba. We'd picked a small resort town that advertised itself as 'senior's friendly' figuring that would ensure the most laid-back vacation possible. Not that we were seniors, not even close, but we were both looking for calm and relaxation, not a drunken Girls-Gone-Wild-Spring-Break-Reality-Show kind of getaway. On the airplane ride down we talked about how neither of us were interested in taking part in any sort of drinking and partying scene and, though we were both single, neither of us was looking for a hook-up or any sort of vacation romance. It was to be long days of swimming, sunbathing and self-reflection. I figured I'd likely read a book a day, maybe even write one. I planned to be in bed by midnight every night...I had no idea.

Suffice it to say I didn't read a single book on that trip. I bounced happily from activity to activity without a second thought. I raced to the beach every morning to participate in ocean-based aquacize, stretching classes in the sand, merengue lessons...only to race back to the pool for afternoon darts, ring toss, Spanish lessons, aerobics and salsa. I learned the moves to the club song and danced along four, five, six times a day...wherever there was a club song to be danced, I was there dancing it. For someone who generally shunned group activities, I was a one-woman glee-club. Well two-woman glee club to be exact, my co-worker (now top-shelf friend) was equally, if not more, enthusiastic about the resort lifestyle and was down to participate in every activity those entertainers threw at us. Especially the dancing, you couldn't keep either of us away from the dancing...at the nightly shows and at the club, later, where we bought the drinks and the guys brought the intricate pelvic moves. I never wanted this magical vacation to end.

At the time I knew nothing about tourism to Cuba and its cliches - how people spend a week at a resort and decide that Cubans are the friendliest people on earth and know the secret to happiness, that they want to live in Cuba, that they were born to salsa dance, that life back home feels empty and meaningless after the pure joy of a week in Cuba. I didn't know that it was par-for-the-course to fall for a cute member of the entertainment staff, a charming bartender, a sexy dancer. It wasn't that I was sheltered. I'd lived abroad in the developing world for a few years and knew that in such places on a bad day I was a passport, on a good day a wallet and on a great day an English lesson...but never just a person to be appreciated for my own distinct qualities. I knew that the world is full of hidden (and obvious) agendas. I just didn't know about the Cuban agenda.
 
Love this, I'm heading off to the blog right now. Thank you for sharing your story.
 
I've read everything you have written already! hehehe Up to when u were surfing the web and texted him. Can't wait for more! I'll check daily :)
 
tink23 said:
I've read everything you have written already! hehehe Up to when u were surfing the web and texted him. Can't wait for more! I'll check daily :)

I just did too tink, I want MORE!!! hehe.. I'll be back lol
 
Oh you guys are amazing!!! Thanks so much for reading. I'm going to go home and try to write a couple posts tonight to make sure I keep you. A couple more posts before I make the first trip back to Cuba, and let me tell you, there is tons to write about there! :D :D :D
 
Sounds similar of being in a relationship with someone from Dominican Republic, up until I moved there. Everything is skeptical, skeptical, skeptical! (and unfortunately rightly so in many cases)
 
I think it's probably almost exactly the same in public judgment about your relationship, your motivations, your spouse's motivations...lots of scams and fraud coming from Cuba and the Dominican but then again real love as well!
Maybe the only difference between the two being all the nonsense Cuba tacks on to immigration. My husband has had his Canadian visa since February...we've been waiting for a signature on a liberation letter on the Cuban side since then. I definitely need this blog to help me keep my mind off the frustration :o :o :o
 
Yes, you've definitely got the extra struggle of dealing with the communist government and some lack of freedoms that the Cubans face. I understand it can also be quite difficult for foriegners to live there (true?) all I had to do was make the decision to live here, hop on a plane, and here I am 3 years later. Keep the blog coming b/c it is very entertaining. You are an excellent and captivating writer.
 
Yes, it's nearly impossible to live in Cuba as a foreigner. Well unless you have a bunch of money and don't need to work...but even then, it would be hard. We looked at moving to Ecuador or Singapore...countries where Cubans don't need a visa. But that seemed like a pretty big adjustment for both of us just to be able to date ;) But all this will unfold on the blog...
That's so cool that you moved to the Dominican instead of the other way around. Maybe someday we'll spend a portion of the year in Cuba...depending on how politics towards foreigners living and working there change their over time.
Thank you again for the praise. I was nervous to post here, I guess I'm so used to people immediately judging a Cuban/Canadian relationship that I thought I might just get a lot of haters. Nice to have people be so nice instead!!
 
This forum is awesome....no judging.......there are all types of relationships here!!!! ;D
 
veradis said:
Yes, it's nearly impossible to live in Cuba as a foreigner. Well unless you have a bunch of money and don't need to work...but even then, it would be hard. We looked at moving to Ecuador or Singapore...countries where Cubans don't need a visa. But that seemed like a pretty big adjustment for both of us just to be able to date ;) But all this will unfold on the blog...
That's so cool that you moved to the Dominican instead of the other way around. Maybe someday we'll spend a portion of the year in Cuba...depending on how politics towards foreigners living and working there change their over time.
Thank you again for the praise. I was nervous to post here, I guess I'm so used to people immediately judging a Cuban/Canadian relationship that I thought I might just get a lot of haters. Nice to have people be so nice instead!!
Why is a Canadian/Cuban relationship judged?
 
Since it's nearly impossible to get out of Cuba except through being sponsored out by a spouse there is A LOT of marriage fraud. Most people assume you're being conned.