Friday 26 February 2016

Visas are for Noobs

I did actually manage to have one day of orientation with the full team.  We did some team-building activities and discussed the logistics of a large organization like ours joining with grassroots organizations already at work in our respective countries and then how to evaluate and improve independence and actual growth of a community.

Within teams, we did some activities to get to know each other better, and I was unprepared for the depth of our conversations.  In French, my small group shared details about their immediately family members dying early, of being alone, of their extended family telling their parents to kill them…  I gently tucked away the ‘River’ diagram of my life, which mostly involved my father and I being dillweeds.  My experiences are definitely not trivial – I raged and wept through years of frustration – but I think I have shared enough within a community I trust and pray with that healing has begun.  In a community where (at least speaking from an Asian perspective), one may not share familial grief or heart pains either due to pride or perceived lack of significance, I didn’t feel like interrupting in the short amount of time we had.  My teammates seemed quite matter-of-fact about their experiences, but I don’t know how much of that was real and how much of it feigned, and I didn’t want to question anything in French. 

For all I know, they could have been talking about summers spent in orchards and I could have grievously misunderstood.

Sleep is for Noobs

We pretended I was normal on the drive from the airport, and my gentle roommate suffered through the panicked crinkling of a thousand plastic bags, my horrified discovery of the explosion in my luggage, and my desperate search for an adapter that fit (no) – so that she could pray with me when I was ready - at about midnight.  After that sweet time of prayer, I roasted delicately on one side for most of the night, then flipped myself over and broiled to a tender finish, serenaded by a single lonely mosquito who was likely fighting a losing battle with obesity by morning.

My roommate and I had gotten off to a great start, but things quickly fell apart when I attempted to join her in Frenchland and then had to beg to get out again.  She got her revenge later.

Thursday 25 February 2016

Facewash and Dental Hygiene are for Noobs

I lost my facewash in a skirmish with an airport official.  I didn't fight too hard as I'd just survived The Maze Runner and its sequel, and kind of expected him to leap forward and claw me with his zombie claws.  But I was very frustrated.  You could tell by the way I stared at him and repeated his words slowly.

Sunday 21 February 2016

Instructions

Part of me wanted to pack three t-shirts, two pairs of jeans and some underwear.  It was ambushed and set on fire by the part of me that is preparing for Africa's Next Top Model.

So I have two carry-ons and two suitcases with questionable sartorial choices that may not make it to my final destination.  As The Man is now my personal friend and called me on Saturday to make sure I'd received my visa, I'm thinking of casually name-dropping during what will likely be a highly charged conversation with a flight attendant trying to make me throw away 15 sticks of eyeliner (not happening).  Unfortunately, I was informed his name does not sound African, but possibly Chinese (which led to some worry that I'd contacted the wrong embassy - but that's another story of another stress-related ulcer).

After I'd had my passport and hard-won visa Fed-Ex'd to me overnight (which may have cost me my firstborn's kidney - I'm waiting for the charge and then Rumpelstiltskin in a suit), I packed (too much), coordinated airport rides (next time I will include maps), and let people know that I was finally going to stop whining!

(Ha.)

Thursday 18 February 2016

Tuesday 16 February 2016

To such as these

I'm stuck.

My paperwork is lost in limbo - or as fragments in The Man's chimney - and I am not travelling when I intended to be travelling.

However, I will get my final rabies vaccination here - like whoa the excitement is too much I cannot pls stahp.

Thursday 11 February 2016

Panic! In My Mind

No passport, no visa, no sun, no owner for Filibuster Firework...

My life is in a shambles.

Join me on my phone conversations over the past few days:

Me:  Hi, is my visa ready?
The Man:  You're missing x and y and your office is lazy and they should know better.
Me:  So that's a no, then.

Tuesday 9 February 2016

Vitality

After applying, pestering my chosen mission organization, praying, saving work folders until Mar 2016, taking interviews, pestering my chosen mission organization, praying, pestering references, pestering my chosen mission organization, praying, quitting my job, undergoing a physical and an ultrasound, taking all the immunizations, applying for a speedy visa, praying, and receiving all test results, I have decided that I'm not sure about this whole 'mission' thing.