Yes, I'm ready for a bit less adventure for the week. Without getting into too much detail (lest I give away my top secret location and freak all of you out!), I've had adventures this past week which has resulted in no less than 2 missed nights of sleep. Now, when I was 18, that was no problem. What's a missed night of sleep? But now that I'm, um, well, a little older than that, 2 missed nights of sleep out of the last 6 gets to be a bit wearing.
Last night's adventure was a bit crazy. Months ago, our Board meetings were planned to be held in a different City in a different part of this country... a part of the country that you need a separate visa in your passport to visit. So off I went with R to the appropriate offices here in this city, and dutifully filled out all the paper work and got all the stamps and signatures and handed over the fees. No problem. But due to the previous weekend's adventure which resulted in a missed night of sleep, I was super-duper busy this entire week. And partly as a result of that last adventure, I decided to go a few days earlier than planned to the City, to get some things done there. Anyway, I didn't have time to start packing for my big trip to the City until about 10pm on Thursday night. We were due to leave for the airport at 7:30am on Friday.
Anyway, I managed to get it all done, and it worked out well so that I was leaving at the same time as a team of volunteers who came to help us build on the centre was leaving. So I got myself all checked in with no problems - no one even asked to see my visa or passport. And then I helped this group get all checked in and through the whole immigration process. No problems.
Eventually, it came time to board my flight - it even left more or less at the time that it was supposed to leave! So I was amazed at how well this whole trip was going, so far. The flight up there was fine - got a little food, had a little nap. No problem. When we landed at 11am in the City, it was already 38C outside! Wowzers. So I was sweating a little by the time I even got to the terminal (you have to walk off the plane onto the runway - no big gate things that snuggle up to the airplanes and connect you to the terminal here!). One of my colleagues was right there waiting for me, and my luggage came out, and still, no one asked to see my passport or anything. So it seemed I was free to go. I was feeling rather uneasy about the whole thing, because surely, nothing in this place is THAT simple!
Anyway, to make a long story short, after some time of deliberation, one of my colleagues thought that it would be necessary and good to get someone in the airport to stamp my passport, to make sure I had an entry date stamped in there on my visa, so that I could get registered etc. So I tried to go to the International arrivals area and find an immigration person to talk to. No can do. The security folks wouldn't even talk to us, not to mention letting me actually INTO the airport!
Now, due to the circumstances earlier in the week, this particular colleague who takes care of all these immigration and visa issues for us was actually in the hospital in the City! But he's actually doing quite well - they're basically just keeping him in the hospital so that he gets an injection of antibiotics twice a day, and they can make sure his wounds stay clean. But he was starting to get bored sitting there. So when I wasn't able to even get into the terminal, I called him, and he said, "Come and get me!". Fortunately, the hospital he was staying at was quite near the airport, so we jumped in my friend's car and went to spring R from the hospital :)
I think he was quite glad for the expedition out of the hospital, as he'd been sitting there for 5 days already without leaving! He got us actually into the airport with no trouble, and past the security guards, but once we reached the immigration desk, I could tell there was going to be trouble. Of course, I don't understand much of the language they speak up there, but I could see from R's face that things were not going well. When they both got out their phones and started dialing up different numbers, I knew that was going to be the end of the situation, one way or the other.
Eventually, R just looked at me and told me that they were putting me on a plane back to my home here in Jb first thing in the morning. That was the end of it. I don't know all the issues involved, but apparently what I had stamped in my passport and the form I had wasn't good enough to allow me to stay.
Of course, while all this was happening, the immigration guy started to ask me if I was married, and then proceeded to tell me that I should marry a local man... to which I responded, "How can I marry a local man if I'm not allowed to stay?!" He didn't have an answer to that one... He did, however, ask my colleague for my phone number. My colleague is smart enough to know what the guy wanted, so he gave him my wrong phone number :) Anyway, after a few hours of sitting there and getting guarantees from the airlines and from R and signed papers etc promising that they would all personally ensure that I got on the plane back to Jb today, they allowed us to go.
Not too long after we left the airport, the immigration guy called R and casually mentioned that he had tried to call me but couldn't get through...
By this time, it was getting to be dinner time. So we dropped R back off at the hospital, and my friend brought me to the home of some other colleagues where I was planning to spend the night. It was so nice to spend some time with my colleagues there, as I don't see them very often. And this particular couple sure do know how to make a girl feel welcome. They immediately made plans to take me out for dinner!
And wow, did we ever go out for dinner! I felt like such a country hick girl going to the big city for the first time - we went to a beautiful 5 star hotel - complete with an elevator and fountains in the lobby. Amazingly beautiful. Just being in a place so fancy and clean was soothing balm to my frazzled little soul! We took the elevator up to the top floor of the hotel where there's a gorgeous restaurant, and we watched the sun set over the river. And then we ate. And boy, did we eat! It felt a little funny, though, because when presented with the choice between seconds on the salad greens (lettuce and spinach), fruits or chocolate cake, I actually chose the salad and fruits over the chocolate cake!
Man, what beautiful fruit they had - I probably ate the equivalent of 3 kiwi fruits last night! Kiwi fruits! Do you realize how long it's been since I've had a kiwi!? There were plums and oranges and clementines... so lovely and delicious. It really was a beautiful place to eat. Good food, good company and good atmosphere.
Following our lovely dinner, my friend took me shopping to a new supermarket in town. Amazing to see what was available and how much cheaper things were there than they are here. I stocked up on treats (and some necessities, too, for instance, lentils were half the price there as they are here!) and enjoyed looking at all the North American brands that were there. So many different cereals, and even NutriGrain bars were on sale :) And I got some broccoli and some bread with whole grains and seeds on top! Yummy!
By the time all the eating and shopping was done, it was nearly 11pm, so it was home to pack up my stuff... because I had to be at the airport again at 4:30am! I didn't actually sleep a wink. Of course, since R had guaranteed that he'd bring me, we had to swing by the hospital again to pick him up, so he didn't sleep much either. He just waltzed out of the hospital at 4:20am as tho it was a hotel or something. So odd!
The airline personnel were there to meet us when we arrived - they certainly weren't going to take any chances that I wouldn't get on that plane! It was quite an odd feeling, actually, getting "deported", because they really were keeping a very close eye on me, making sure that I was escorted all the way through the check in and security and that I wasn't going to go anywhere! They eventually handed me back my passport, I guess once they were sure that there was no way I would leave :) And the whole time, I was just shaking my head, thinking, "huh, so this is what it feels like to get deported..." (except for the rather significant fact that I had stayed in the City for less than 24 hours and didn't actually have a home and a life there!). I really feel a bit more empathy for so many of my friends who have been actually deported from places that they've called home for years. How traumatizing it would be to be escorted out of a place like that, knowing that you were leaving behind so much.
So, now I'm back home, after a whirlwind trip to the City. I am a bit disappointed, as there was so much that I wanted to do in the City. I love that place and I was looking forward to spending some time with people I know, and wandering around the markets and shopping and just enjoying a change of scene for a while. I'm such a city girl at heart, so it was awful to spend such a short amount of time surrounded by bright lights and big city, only have to leave so suddenly! I do hope I get another chance sometime to visit again... hopefully for more than 24 hours next time!
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