Running Around

(This post was written on Friday the 24^th).

So I've spent the last three days running around and trying to get a lot of stuff together. Culmination of it all was this morning when I received my visa. Was a bit of an ordeal of course, but that was not unexpected. I got there at about 11 in the morning on Thursday. Now I will have to say that the Sierra Leone embassy is a rather informal affair – and I don't say this in any kind of negative way as I think it has this kind of endearing characteristic to it.   It is after all the third poorest country in the world and full of very enterprising and friendly people.  So – as my Germany loving brother pointed out – its not the immaculate 16 story German monstrosity in modernity. It is in an old building and is not renovated. You walk in an people are milling around and there is no specific consular section to go to.   It almost feels like walking in to a non-profit office on a busy day of work.  You just kind of wait in the lobby while people go into the depths of the building to wonder what in the world I am trying to do and why I would want a visa for Sierra Leone. It is obvious that there are not a lot of people coming in and looking to travel to Sierra Leone...

So let me tell you...

The day was also not helped by the UN general assembly meeting or Obama being in town for it. It was mostly chaos. There seemed to be a party going on for all the local people affiliated with Sierra Leone there in the embassy. Almost like we came at exactly the wrong time!! 

But you see...

Anyway, first thing was trying to get across to people what exactly I was doing and that I wasn't affiliated with any organization. As my trip is atypical, the women asked if I could write a letter explaining why I was going for visa purposes, “we can't just let anyone into the country without knowing what they are going to be doing”. They also wanted a letter of invitation.  Both of these of course are not on their website. They claim you need only a passport photo, passport, yellow fever vaccine, and the completed visa appication form. I had those, just not the things they didn't list on their site – why would I?!?! lol.  But no worries, I went and had lunch with friends and wrote up the letter. The women I spoke to said she would be there till six and to come back whenever. 

...what had happened was...

I went back a little before three with my brother and friend Lara. It seemed to be a truly amusing affair for them both. Watching my try to explain what I was doing to the next group of curious onlookers, and at the same time what other people there had been saying of me and to me. If you remember my previous visit to the embassy, Mimi was there again and far less full of sunshine!! I was definitely an annoyance, full of smiles or not. She checked with her supervisors while I ran to get a money order.  Her response was pretty much completely unsympathetic: to come back tomorrow.  There was of course no explanation of why or what problem seemed to be – which there definitely seemed to be!! The whole room was filled with skepticism and apprehension of me and my trip.  I certainly think we looked a bit out of t. he ordinary...  At one point – when I was speaking of my project and that I wanted to identify projects and then come back to the US and try to find funding – Mimi said wait, you are going to be taking money out of Sierra Leone? Lol.  It all just didn't seem to be adding up!!  I am indeed a novel concept!!  I did however made a new friend from MultiTV.SL. He had quite a few questions as to what I was up to and why in the world I had an interest in Sierra Leone. But he warmed and gave me his contact info while saying I could contact him in Sierra Leone once I was there.  People always warm up to honesty, hope, and good intentions.

Yeah, that's what it was!!

Gist of it all though, was I had to spend the night down in the city and run the risk of a parking ticket at the train station - but it would be less than another return trip ticket!!  Not a big deal to stay anyway though as I got to see some good friends, almost family really.

First thing in the morning though it was a light breakfast and a nice long walk through Central Park to the embassy (though the new Vibrams are threatening blisters on my heals).  I had no idea what to expect upon getting to the embassy.  I didn't even get in the door though before the receptionist (who was outside) spotted me and new what I was there for. About three minutes later I had my visa, signed on the dotted line, and was out the door.

Its always an adventure, but as I said to my friend this morning, you don't get anything done by just doing the same old thing as everyone else. You gotta take risks and you've gotta go out there and make things happen. That's what this trip is about, making things happen, not resting upon them...