mamadrama

I hadn't thought about that. Please pardon me while I mosey...

We wear shoes and have internet now, too! Seriously, I once met this guy on vacation and when I told him where I'm from he said, "We have this thing where I'm from called the internet and..." Like, no shit. Our infrastructure sucks in places, but we still live in the same century as everyone else. Did anyone else notice on Pillow Talk that Pao's roots changed in the middle of the episode? She went from having dark roots to not having them. The tablecloth/blanket at Blake's place changed twice, too.

I feel sorry for them, too. It's hard enough to accept a total stranger moving into your life, but to learn that said stranger is basically ashamed of your existence is on a whole other level.

Yep. We still have roads that are unpaved and houses that water lines haven't been run to yet. And yes, some people still have outhouses. It's a weird juxtaposition. On the one hand we have some HUGE mansions with iron gates and a flock of luxury cars and yet 100 yards down the road we have people living in what looks like chicken coops without electricity. Our biggest issue at the moment? The owner of the local landfill cut a financial deal with a company in another state that allowed them to come in twice a month and dump actual radioactive waste- toxic waste that isn't even in proper containers. And where is said landfill? 250 feet from our high/middle school complex. Neither the landfill nor the other company got more than a slap on the wrist. It is a constant political fight here for resources. Many of us moved out when we were younger but have returned to to try and help. (It's also really beautiful here and the people are wonderful. We tend not to share that info, though. Keeps out the riffraff. 😉 ) Someone earlier said that Juliana thinks about money a lot. I get that. When you've never had it and the lack thereof stands in the way of you having safe housing, nutritious food, and educational opportunities you really do spend most of your time thinking about how to get it and what you'd do to make it happen. There's being "poor" where you have to shop at the Dollar Store for your clothes, your vehicle is falling apart and you can't get it fixed, you have to eat spaghetti or potatoes twice a week, and your electronics are out of date. And then there's POOR where you honestly don't know where your next meal is coming from, and you can't rob Peter to pay Paul because they're both dry as a well. That's not a fun way to live.

I talked about this over in their couples' thread. There's more to the car story... As far as why people think Americans have so much money...Growing up poor, I never understood that either, but when I started traveling to other countries and living abroad it started making more sense. The international media rarely ever shows any of our "bad" stuff. Even our teen movies that are meant to show "regular American kids" have people living in McMansions and partying every weekend (Never Been Kissed, 10 Things I Hate About You, She's All That, Can't Hardly Wait, etc.) As we discussed on another thread, even when they try to show "low income familes" (the Connors, the Bundys, even the Winslows on FAMILY MATTERS-though they're more middle class) they show them living in houses with enough bedrooms for everyone and plenty of nice clothes and food to eat. People may not believe that our streets are paved with gold anymore, but the idea that we're all living in nice places,driving nice cars, and going on good vacations is still prevalent. I recently had a friend from Bosnia send me a message and ask me to recommend a movie that did a good job of showing MY area and how most of my community lived. There's not a single movie outside of WINTER'S BONE and maybe ELIZABETHTOWN (for the people, not for the housing) that I could suggest. MANY movies have been made about where I live; not a one of them is accurate. WINTER'S BONE even takes place in a different state, but it still does a good job of showing poverty and drug issues that my community faces. (And, geographically, it looks like us.) It's not so much that they think that money grows on trees here, but a lot of people DO tend to think that Americans get paid better and that there is a wealth of jobs available for everyone. It's still portrayed as the place where dreams come true and anyone can "make it" here without roadblocks due to social class,skin color, age, or geographical location. Take into consideration, too, that the idea of "riches" is going to vary. When I am feeling really bitchy and sorry for myself sometimes I have to remember that I DO have heat, bedrooms and toys for my kids, water from a tap, an indoor bathroom, and food to eat. For some people, that would be living the dream. (And then I feel bad for complaining. It's a cycle.) My dad didn't get an indoor toilet until I was 9 years old. I used to pee off the side of the porch at night because I ran into one too many snakes coming back from the outhouse. But we don't see things like that in modern, American movies either. In Juliana's case, Michael has spent most of their relationship assuring her that he is a wealthy American who will take care of her. He "buys" a very big house. He drives a collection of expensive vehicles. He gives her credit cards to use and, apparently, doesn't give her a budget. That might be biting him in the ass now. Or she might just be playing up the "golddigger" character because as a couple they want to appear on future seasons of "Happily Ever After."

And "I don't know why they're not giving him a chance..." Gee, I don't know lady. Could it be because he literally pretends they don't exist outside of your house?

There was a period in the 80s where shirts with Chinese symbols were popular. They supposedly said things like "peace" and "love", but we used to joke that they were really advertisements for things like tampons.

That IS weird. I put a vehicle all on my credit card and I used my AmEx for it. Sometimes there is a higher credit card transaction fee with AmEx, but I've never known of it to be that much higher than it is for any other credit card. The higher transaction, the lower the percentage should be. A few years ago I went to a small restaurant in Wolfeboro, NH and the Coke tasted really weird. When I asked the owner she said that she didn't have fountain Coke. Instead, she bought it in 2 liter bottles. Apparently,just getting the rights to use Coke in the drink dispenser was really high and she couldn't afford it. I'd never heard that in my life. I figured you just paid the Coke people to deliver it once a week, same as you did the frozen patties and the pre-made cakes. No idea why I shared that. Just another one of those weird things that pop up in life.

I'm starting to think the whole FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC, hide the kids storyline that the bee people have going on is just that-a storyline. I feel like they were probably too boring, especially since half the couple can't even hold a conversation with production or his partner, that they needed some piece of drama to keep the viewer interested. My guess is that at the end of the season Mursel will "heroically" tell his parents and "choose" her and the kids and everyone will walk off into the honey rainbow. I don't give them a pass on this at all. In a million years I would NEVER agree to go along with a pretend storyline that consisted of me or my partner potentially abandoning my kids. Whether it's true that Mursel is hiding the kids or that it's all fake, Anna's an ass either way.

Considering the shit she's done to him so far, he's way more polite than I would've been.

Yeah, I don't think any amount of logic can be applied to Tania's reasoning or the show in general. For instance, why didn't she wait until she had an actual place to live before she brought her fiance over to live in a shed in the northeast in winter? And show, why are you focusing on Angela after we've seen several scenes or her being physically violent? Fonzie has donned the leather jacket and we are quickly heading over the shark.

The biggest problem with scheduling anything with the visa is that nobody has any idea how long it will take. There are estimates, but timing depends on how many applications have been filed at once, how overloaded your local processing center is, whether or not your application is complete,etc. From time of application to the beginning of the 90 days it can take anywhere from 3 months to 1.5 years and nobody can tell you when. We applied for the K1 in October, it was processed and my husband had to go in for the interview back in the UK in March-exactly 2 days after our child was born in the US. He had to hurriedly leave the US, fly to the UK, go to the interview and medical exam, get the visa, and then fly right back to the US while I was still in the hospital. And yes, most of us have simple courthouse ceremonies and then have the "wedding" later because you can't plan in advance since you don't know when the visa will come in. We could sit here and list pages of information about the visa, though, and NONE of it would explain why Tania didn't just go to the herbal retreat before applying for the visa or waited until after they married.

Anna's mother is on Reddit and has been commenting about some of the stuff that's happened. Here's her history: https://www.reddit.com/user/CharleneCampisiRyan/

I had a similar problem on here with Alla because I got to know her vert well and it just became stressful watching the shows and joining the chats, especially since she was starting to be painted as a gold digger who just wanted to get to America. (She's one of the kindest, gentlest people I have ever known.) We'll see how this plays out a little bit more and then I'll fill in the holes where I can. So far nothing's been 100% made up, but quite a few things have been exaggerated. (For one, she had permission to buy that vehicle. She didn't just do it on a whim. And she absolutely was worried that she would be left back in Brazil with nothing if the visa didn't come through-or even if it did.) She was also getting actual work as a model, but returning to Brazil to wait for the visa, as well as getting involved with someone who has a high level of control and jealousy issues meant that she was unable to accept jobs that she was able to take in the past. The entertainment industry moves on quickly. It's difficult to take a break from it and then bounce back, especially in modeling where age matters.

Okay, so I have gotten to know this couple in real life. We share a professional person in common and over the past few months I have gotten to know them well. I am finding it harder and harder to keep my mouth shut about some things that they are showing in the episodes. If you have signed an NDA, you probably shouldn't come anywhwre near me because all I want to do is talk about the shit I know.

Good. I hope she does. Those of us who grew up poor do tend to think a lot about money. She might be "money hungry" but him holding her poverty above her head on every episode is worse, IMO. Take it all, Julianna, and find you a compassionate hottie who enjoys showering and clothes that fit.

They technically don't even need an international license. A valid license from abroad will work for a year, too. The benefit of the IL is that it's easier to get the person added to your insurance. We paid for the IL and went through that process and it took forever. Then when we took the paperwork to rhe DMV to get his picture taken, they were like, "You know you don't meed this, right?" That and the work permit were the 2 useless things we paid for and shouldn't have.

I have no idea why participants in this show seem to get regularly "delayed." I only speak from personal experience.

Okay...Michael is an ass. He uses every chance he gets to let people know that Julianna's family is poor and that he is wealthy. Come on, Michael, she isn't a child you're sending $5 a month to in exchange for pictures and "thank you" letters. Unless Sally Struthers is going to pop out from behind a camera and give us a 1-800 number to call, he can just STFU. I am embarrassed FOR her.

I don't care who that baby belongs to. She's as cute as she can be and Josh and Aleksandra appear to be happy. She may biologically belong to someone else, and maybe she doesn't, but it seems like Josh is "dad" in every other sense of the word and that's all that matters.

I bet the original guy who paid for her to visit him in SA is wiping his brow right about now and thanking the universe that he dodged a bullet.

I ws going to say that they seemed brighter than her, but that bar wasn't high to begin with... FWIW, when the series began Danielle DID have a job. She was working. True, she later lost said job, but it did seem that she had some motivation in the beginning. It takes all kinds of people to mke up our world. Even average folks without specialized talents or high IQs can be productive members of society. It's like when people look down their noses at blue collar workers-we need THOSE people just as much as we do the others. Maybe more.

Why take it out on her kids? They were the brightest people on the show. I do not recall her children coming across as anything but smart, insightful, polite, and respectful-heads above their mother. Many children born to low-income parents go on to do great things with their lives. Same with children born to low-iq parents or neglectful parents. Many of us on this forum were born into poverty and are now productive members of society. Just because their parents suck doesn't mean that they will also be "deadbeats".

That isn't weird to me, either. I know lots of people who say that. My motherin-law was my husband's BFF and I have called my mom that as well. Hell, the entire premises of GILMORE GIRLS is built around this concept.

My kids' blue eyes never did change and are just as cerulean now as they were when they were born. Many people's don't change until they are around 5 years old. I saw Paul and Karine back in September so they were in the US at that point.