That was off topic. Anyway..
I got up this morning and went to my GP. Apparently there's a shortage of Hepatitis A jabs in the country so the nurse didn't have any. She just told me to wash my hands often and be careful of the food I eat. Right.. Not sure how I'm going to be careful of that when I'm going to eat out all the time but anywho. I didn't need a Hep B jab cause I had to have that for work four years ago, you get it every five years so I'm still covered. She gave me a Tetanus shot and advised me on malaria tablets.
Jabs? Check.
I didn't have two photographs of myself so when I got off at Warren Street I found a pharmacy that took them. He didn't show me the picture before printing and I couldn't be bothered to ask. He printed them and... I definitely look like I've seen better days. It was only for the visa anyway so I didn't care. I put the address of the embassy on my phone and made my way there.
I made sure I printed every single confirmation email I had. I felt prepared. The lady called me up and looked through all my papers. Then she handed me one back.
Where's your name on this? Your name isn't on it.
Huh? I looked at it and it was my confirmation for the place I'm staying in Vilanculos. I just printed the email they sent me, I didn't realise my name had to be on it.
Contact them and ask them to send you another email with your name on it. Go print it.
Where can I print it from?
Left, left, left.
Her ability to give directions was amazing. I didn't ask her anything else cause I didn't want to piss her off, and to be fair to her it literally was left, left and then left again. I found the shop pretty quick, it was the next bit that was the hard part. I only had an hour and a half left until the embassy closed, so it would have taken too long to email them and wait for a reply. So I called them. A man picked up and started talking in Portuguese.
'Hi can you speak english?'
More Portuguese.
'Can you please pass me onto someone who speaks English'
He carried on in Portuguese but this time it sounded like he was talking to someone else. I waited for about three minutes then a lady came to the phone. She had a strong accent but her English was perfect. I explained to her what I needed and she said I'd have to email her my full name and passport number so she can write up the email.
Shit, the lady at the embassy had my passport.
I walked all the way back, got my passport and sent her the email. (The email was also a guessing game cause I couldn't understand what she was saying when she was spelling out the words, so I was worried if she was even going to get the email at all)
I waited 20 minutes. No email back.
I called. No answer.
Called again. Nothing. At this point I thought this wasn't going to get done today.
Guys, I called eleven times until someone picked up again. I don't even want to look at my phone bill at the end of the month. The man picked up and I asked for the lady, she came to the phone and she said she hadn't checked the emails yet. She asked for another five minutes. I gave her ten. Still nothing. I called back, she said she doesn't know my dates - even though I told her on the phone. I told her them again and she said she will send the email in two minutes. I waited.
My patience was wearing thin. Then finally 'Rabeca' came throughhhhhhhh! I printed it then took it to left, left, left lady. Paid the fees, got the receipt.
Visa? Check.
Everything's done. The whole trip is planned. This is really happening.
I walked to Starbucks, got a latte and had a mini argument with myself about getting a muffin. The angel on my shoulder won this time. Get a grip Ads, you're going to be on a beach in a month.
Spelling is spot on.
I sat in front of the window, put my phone down and just watched people walk by. A few of them stared at me and I realised I was smiling from ear to ear. They must've thought I was a creep. Have you ever been smiling and not even realised? I didn't stop though, I didn't care. I smiled until my cheeks felt stiff.
Man, I feel happy.
