New Years Eve 2010

Today was an interesting day..........

When Matheus first arrived here---1st day actually.....he told us there could be a problem with his passport as he stated that the lady at the New York airport did not ask for his paperwork. Matheus explained to us that he has two different visas....B-2 which he obtained when he visited this country with his family and a J-1 which allows him to stay for the entire year. He showed us that his I-94 listed a return date of 2/12/11 as the B-2 visa only allows you to stay in this country for six months. The problem is he had both of these Visas in his passport and the border patrol officer at the New York airport must have opened the passport to the B-2 and recorded this one as she didn't ask him why he was visiting the country.

He spoke with Dwaine Coley from AFS about it that day and he said he would look into it. We had forgotten all about this until Matheus recently asked about it. Tommy called Dwaine last week and he said he would check it out to see if there were any problems.

Dwaine contacted folks in Baltimore (AFS East) to have them look into it. I received a call from Alina Smith earlier this week and I faxed her copies of Matheus’ Visas and his J-1 paperwork and I-94. She looked into for us and got back with us. She informed us that we needed to go to the local Customs and Border Patrol office and take all his paperwork and they would help us figure out what needed to be done.

We called the Charlotte office and I spoke with a very nice officer named Perez. He said it shouldn't be a problem but we would need to go to the Charlotte airport and someone there could make corrections in his I-94 paperwork. So we traveled there today....thinking it would be a piece of cake.....NOT! When we got there, the officer (Megan Cordell) was VERY rude and aggressively questioned Matheus….telling him that it was HIS responsibility to tell the officer why he was in the country and that since he did not, there was nothing they could do for him since he MISREPRESENTED himself when he came into this country. We tried to intervene and explain to her that he was with a whole group of AFS students so she should have known he was an exchange student but she was adamant and rigid in her approach. She left us waiting for a while as she went in another room and ‘called her supervisor’ who also said there was nothing they could do.

She (Megan Cordell) advised us to make an appointment with the local CIS office ASAP to see if there was anything they could do to help us. She stated that he would most likely have to leave the country on or before Feb 12 and then re-enter and ‘present himself correctly’ with his paperwork. She also told him he could chose to go home in Feb. and that he wasn’t supposed to be in school with his B-2 status and she was surprised that the school didn’t check the status of their foreign exchange students before enrolling them.

She (Megan Cordell) treated Matheus like he was a criminal and he had done something wrong. I told her that he was a minor and part of a program and I was VERY upset about the way he was treated. She told me I needed to calm down.....only God kept me from saying something ugly to her. Matheus handled it like a trooper….with a very mature and positive attitude but I KNOW this had to be VERY hard for him.

After we left the airport.....we decided to go to Brazas Brazilian grill to celebrate the new year.....we went for lunch as it is much less expensive that time of day. It was the coolest place. They had this big buffet with salads and fruits and then came the meat....they would brought out different kinds of meat hot off the grill and slice it for you right there at the table.

There was a little cardboard coin on the table that you flip over when you have had enough but as long as you don't flip it....they keep bringing it. The steak was delicious! It had a blackened taste but it was a little salty as they use this special kind of salt in the cooking process. Matheus LOVED it.....there were not many people there so we took some pic of the Brazilian landscape painted on the walls......very cool experience. I think it was comforting to Matheus to have a taste of home.

After we left the restaurant, we found a little Brazilian store nearby (with the help of the staff at Brazas and the GPS) where Matheus picked up some of his favorites from home.....Guarana is a fruity soft drink that is popular in Brazil.....he got a 12 pack......cheese bread, and this tasty candy called Pacoquinha....it tastes like a peanut butter ball that melts in your mouth. Matheus talked Portuguese to the owner and her husband and he seemed to really enjoy the experience. Tommy and I did also. It was cute....after we left, Matheus said that he had a hard time understanding the 'American Portuguese that the owner's husband was speaking.....ha.

On the way home.....Matheus decided to attend a party at the Gamewell Optimist Club.....so we took him there.....he didn't stay long....shortly after midnight he texted us asking us to come and get him.....he came home and we all celebrated together for a while this early morning before he fell asleep on his sofa.

I got to kiss my wonderful husband at midnight and we watched the ball drop on TV.....sort of a tradition at our place.

Matheus got a big silver star at the party and I hung it on his door......he is a star!

All in all it was a great day.....even though I am concerned about this passport issue....I know God will work it out so I will NOT worry about it! :)