There's this line at the very end of a long movie called Braveheart. The character, William Wallace, played by Mel Gibson is about to die and he yells, "Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeedooooooooom!" The story is incredible and loosely based on some real events in history. I don't mean to dishonor that story and wonderful cinematography, because our (Yein, Nora and Sam) story is not life and death and it's not going to go down in any history books. It's just the word that came to mind when my wife, Yein, was finally approved to travel to the United States with me.
We were out of bed by 5am, rehearsed the interview one last time, got ready, out the door at 6:30am and arrived at the United States Embassy by 7:15am. Yein was allowed to enter the Embassy twenty minutes before her 8 o'clock appointment time. The embassy allows only the person applying for the visa to enter the embassy. Even I, an American citizen, am not allowed to go in without an appointment. I waited outside accross the street under the shade of some trees. As I watched people go in, there must have been at least twenty before Yein and twenty after her. All Cambodians, mostly applying for a non-immigrant travel visa, the same as Yein. I watched a few people slowly exit through the security door and leave the embassy. Some were incredibly happy, some it was hard to tell. To me, Cambodians are notorious for being stone faced until the moment