Sorry for reiterating what you oldtimers have heard before, here's where I'm going with it.
I think many things have changed in the last few years. It used to be much more difficult to do the MOB thing. It used to be you wrote a letter and mailed it postal service, and waited, and waited... At this time a very large portion of of the people doing this were more dedicated. Once it is so easy everyone will do it. Enter internet and ease of obtaining cell phone. So after technology bloomed and made it so easy, after a while ALL the girls know someone who has married a "rich american". Isn't this what they all want? Now it is a fad, and it is being used a different way by many, and for reasons other than honorable.
I know exactly what Howard is going through. He will not give up until there is one shred of an ounce of hope. Nobody will ever be able to say he did'nt try to the best of his ability. I respect that. I also would have respected his decision if he had done it many months ago. Chances are, he is never going to have the answers to any of the questions. He'll never know if the answers they have given him are true. The pain will slowly subside, but a hole will always be in there where you just don't understand what, where..., why?
I have come to a whole new perspective on this whole thing. I'll never look at another profile again. I read things wrong now. I read "want to go to other country" as "I want green card", I read stable as "I want your money". ect... It is probably not fair to those whose intentions are good that I see this way. I have not given up on finding what I'm looking for in the PI, but I've been brainstorming a lot lately about how to do it properly. The best odds lie in living there. I've been studying lots of ways to support oneself there, and maybe I've hit on an idea that will appeal to many here, whether you want to live there or not. I'll post about this in the later weeks when I know more.
Larry