You thought I fell off...

Sabrina, wipe that smug smile off your face! I did NOT fail the challenge just yet: The fact that I didn't post yesterday doesn't mean I wasn't willing to or intending to do so. It's just that, as I predicted in my disclaimer on the first post of the challenge, there was a power outtage for a few minutes last night, and the wireless lost signal until this morning. Therefore, I can post today to make up for yesterday... and I'll post TWICE today to get back on track.



So there. I'm still in the game.



On to yesterday's post:



ENEMIES



I've never hated anyone in my life. I've never had an enemy. It's just things that don't really go with my personality. If someone is a bad person (or behaves badly) I'll write them off as one whom I can't trust and won't give him/her another thought, but to hate them or consider them my enemy? That's just unnecessary and only harmful to me in the long run. So no enemies for me. That is, until these last couple of weeks.



I've realized that I have an enemy, or rather, a group of enemies that will follow me around for the rest of my life no matter where in the world I go. This enemy HATES me. Thus, in return I hate them. They do everything in their power to make my life more difficult... and more often than not, they succeed.



This powerful enemy I'm referring to is called THE EMBASSY.



Any embassy, of any country in the world, is my enemy. Based on the horrible way most of them function, any new embassy that I come accross is immediately branded as 'guilty before proven innocent' in my mind. Let me just paint you a picture:



I scoured the South African embassy website so as to be informed of all the required documents one must have ready in order to receive a visa. I showed up with my perfectly filled out documents, bright and early, so I could be attended quickly and efficiently and go on my merry way. Their response: You're not on the list of people to be attended today. Come back tomorrow.

Ok, fair enough, I think to myself. 'Can I sign on to the list for tomorrow?' I ask being nothing but compliant. Their response: No, you have to sign into the list on the same day.

-Ok, can I sign on to the list for today?

-Nope, it's already full.

-But its' like 8 in the morning!

-We start taking names at 4. I suggest if you want to get on the list, come by between 4 and 5 AM tomorrow.



Ok. I will not be deterred. I make arrangements for a friend who lives nearby to pass by and sign my name at 4 am the next morning. I'm at the top of the daily list. I should be one of the first people attended.



I come back the next morning, bright and early. My documents STILL perfectly filled out, and get ushered in as one of the first 10 people to be attended. This should be a breeze from here on out.

Um, not so much.

Once inside, I wait in line as people are attended one by one. By attended, I mean they take your papers at the window and tell you to go sit down until you are called. Again, I'm nothing but compliant.



So I wait. And I wait. And I wait.... I wait so long, that I watch as the second group of people get attended, get called again, get their receipt and go home. Same for the 3rd group, and the 4th...



I get up to go to the window to explain that I was supposed to be outta there with the first group. But instead of letting me speak, they were just like, 'Miss, go sit down until you're called'

-'But...'

-'UNTIL YOU'RE CALLED'

Ok... Fine. Don't wanna tick them off or they'll send me home empty-handed. So I sit down. And I wait. By this time it's around noon... they close at 1 pm. The room eventually empties as one by one everyone is called and sent home with their receipt in hand. Finally, one of the clerks looks at me and says, 'Miss, what's your name?'



I say 'Elisa Gouveia'. He looks around and spots my documents... sitting on a table behind him, by itself instead of included with the documents being processed... basically just being ignored. He looks at me and I say, I was in the first group. And all my documents were correct... why haven't I been called?

He just shrugged and said, 'you should've said something'. I say, 'I tried!, you yourself sent me away 3 TIMES. He says, oh, sorry. Here you go. And hands me my receipt so I can come back the next week for my stamped passport.



I was so mad. I had been there from 8 am, til 1 pm... when I should've been out by 8:30 or 9:00. Simply because someone pushed aside my process and forgot about it, I lost all morning, missing work. I had to come back and face my manager and try to explain the situation. But I could see it in her face... nobody wants to hear lame excuses.



Anyway this story is longer than I intended... But to wrap it up, I had to come back for my passport not once, not twice, but 5 TIMES the following week before they finally handed it to me. Why? I have no clue! The guard was a TOTAL anushole for no reason. High on his so-called authority... I had to end up basically STALKING one of the clerks, waiting outside the building until he came out for his lunch break, to talk to him into giving me my passport already.



All I kept thinking was, 'If this is what happens when you're in the first group, and your documents are all in order, what happens when you're a little late or one of your documents is missing?'



Anyways, I finally got my passport back thanks to my genius idea of stalking the clerk. SUCH unnecessary drama. And the worst part is that all of that was just so I could get into South Africa so I could have an appointment at ANOTHER embassy: The Mexican Embassy. Thus far, they already lost cool points because, even though I've been communicating with them for weeks, to make sure nothing went wrong when I came here (I only have 3 days to work out the Mexican visa), they FAILED to tell me that Dec. 16th is a national holiday in South Africa, so the Embassy is closed. That only leaves me ONE DAY to work out everything and fly back to Luanda, visa in hand.



Estas embajadas... one day when I'm powerful I'll get my revenge. Oh, the day will come.



Anyways, please pray so that everything works out tomorrow when I go face my sworn enemy. Perhaps, at the end of the day, I'll have found a new friend instead :)