Surprises of fate and bittersweet joy

I thought a lot about "why?" and "what if..." if I had greeted them with a smile, if it had been a female consul, if... With these thoughts, I returned home. And also with the thought that my dream of getting there, across the ocean, remains just a beautiful dream. And if it weren't for my family, who supported me at that moment in life and set me up for further "struggle," I probably wouldn't have dared to make a second trip to Moscow. During the month that separated these trips, a lot of work was done. Yes, yes, work. We read and studied forums on re-interview issues, talked to people who had the chance to go through this stage again.

And again, 6 o'clock in the Moscow morning, three hours of waiting at the station, the consulate building, and getting a queue number. Everything repeated, and 100% so (you couldn't make it up!). When I appeared before the American consul again, I almost lost the power of speech, and only one thought hammered in my head: "That's it, my road there, across the ocean, is closed to me (((." I stood there and couldn't believe my eyes – in front of me was the same consul-gentleman who last time said: "I’m sorry, Yauheni. You can’t get this visa right now." In my head, it flashed: "why?! ... how can this be?!"

However, you never know what gifts and surprises fate has prepared for you... I had nothing left to do but force a smile and a friendly Hello. I didn't know that he didn't have the right to conduct a repeat interview with me. The consul asked if I had been to the consulate before. After my answer that I had an interview with him a couple of weeks ago, the consul politely suggested that I proceed to another window for further interviewing. Somewhere deep down, a thought crept in – "maybe..."

I communicated quite easily with the female consul; the anxiety and fear disappeared somewhere. After the consul-gentleman, whom I never expected to see again, I felt strangely indifferent (excuse my expression, there's no other way to put it). The consul asked standard questions: about me, about my studies, my family, what my parents do, where I am going. During the whole conversation, she was quite serious. And where is that notorious smile with all 32 teeth?! And only at the end of our conversation did the consul smile, take out a yellow slip, and say: "Welcome to USA." Am I really going!!!!!!? She raised her hand with the stamp to give the "go-ahead" for the trip there, across the ocean, and suddenly looked up at me. WHAAAAT?! WHAT'S WRONG?! Her words were roughly to this effect: "Yauheni, promise that you will return!" I sincerely and without hesitation blurted out: "Yes, yes of course." Slap – and my candidacy is approved. A slight shock from everything that was happening. Only on the street did I finally realize – I am flying there, across the ocean! Everything is great – here is the permission, here is Moscow! But the joy was bittersweet. My friend was not granted a visa, even though the interview with him was conducted by a smiling and quite nice woman... the eternal question why?! ...

Bottom line – we are flying to America as a trio.

YES, I did it!

From this whole story with the consulate, I drew the main conclusion FOR MYSELF. It doesn't matter who you get – a female consul or a male one, whether they smile or not, what your level of English is – what matters is what mood the consul is in and how much they like you... but that is MY strictly personal opinion.