Vanshing Visa

Well here's another one for the books! The beaurocracy here is ingeneous. I mean it... It allows a large number of people to minimalize their workload by disguarding any government applications that don't have precicely the right information included. Baring in mind, no one tells you what the right information is. So, due to a minor technicality, a government official has been able to throw out my visa application so we have to start again. Gah! you learn I guess...

You would have to live here or in a country like it to truly understand how ingrained this is (anyone here who's lived in India, Pakistan and Nigeria are very used to this). No one tells you anything and I mean anything. You don't know how to set up your phone when you get here, where to go for food, how to apply for new ID cards, how to arrange for doctors appointments, set up a bank account, catch a bus...anything unless you talk to other people and find out what they've done and did. And most of the time, they're going through another round of trial and error with something else so they don't have the time to tell you. If you don't fill out the right form at the right time in this country things can often go very wrong. The horror stories abound. So we're getting very very good at asking multiple questions.

The first thing you learn is that if you fill out a form to tell the government something, don't assume that they'll pass the form on. You have to make multiple copies and walk from department to department placing copies on people's desks. In fact if you want anything done the best way of getting it done is to find the guy in charge of it, going to his office/desk and sitting there patiently staring at him until he does it for you. The required skill here is to look like you'll grow a strange contangeous fungus sitting there for the next week or two until he does what you require. This tends to be highly effective and Anthony has already put this into practice on a number of occasions.

So needless to say We're rather exasperated at the whole visa thing...means it might take another few months although I'm crossing my fingers and hoping it'll come through asap. We'll see...