i’m back

Hi folks.  What a week I had.  (This is quite long so if you don’t have a few minutes to read everything you might want to stop now and come back later : )

 

We (Phumlani, Brooke, and I) made it to
Cape Town Tuesday evening just in time to go to bed and get up the next morning to head to the consulate.  We got to the consulate early in the morning and after waiting for 45 minutes in a line outside, we were told that we didn’t have all the applications filled out that we needed too.  We also didn’t have 4 photo’s and we hadn’t paid for the visa prior to coming.  I was not told that we needed to have or have done any of that before I got there that day.  That was kind of frustrating.  The worst part was that we were told all of this on Wednesday, Thursday was Thanksgiving, an American holiday so they were closed, and Friday they were closed as well which left us with the only option of staying 3 days longer than we had planned so we could go to the consulate on Monday.  And that’s what we did.  I got everything that the lady told me we needed prepared so that we would be coming with our A game.  

Until Monday, we tried to have a good time.  This was the first time that Phumlani had ever been to
Cape Town and also his first time out of
Port Elizabeth.  We drove around seeing things, going to beaches, saw a movie, hung out with the guys we were staying with, and overall had a good time.  On Saturday, it was an absolutely gorgeous day.  We didn’t have anything planned so we just decided to jump in the car and run to the beach for a bit.  We went to this new beach that none of us had been to yet.  It was really pretty.  The beach was really long and it was somewhat windy so there were hundreds of waves hitting the shore.  It was on the
Indian Ocean side of
Cape Town so the water was noticeably warmer than the Atlantic side.  We swam for a bit and just laid down and relaxed on the beach.  After an hour and a half or so we grabbed some lunch at a restaurant on the beach and realizing we still didn’t have anything to do we went back to the beach.  That was my mistake though.  Returning to the beach.  The second time to the beach we stayed for another hour or so making our total time in the sun 2 ½ + hours.  Way too much for my American, white, “not used to the beach sun” skin.  Needless to say…I was FRIED!!!  I have been burnt before but I have never had my ENTIRE body burnt all at the same time.  From my calves up to my forehead, it was bright red.  It was pretty bad.  My face got it the worst I think.  My face is currently falling off.  At least the skin is.  Every time I enter a room here at the house, the girls laugh at me cause it looks so bad.  I can’t even describe it.  I’ll see if I can get a picture of how bad it is. 

Anyways, back to the visa situation.  We went back to the consulate like they asked us to on Monday.  With all the requested paperwork in hand, I was feeling quite confident about it.  I guess I was wrong.  The problem he was having with giving us a visa was that he didn’t see any documentation from the doctors or the clinic that Phumlani will be seeing when he’s in the states.  He wanted to see how we were paying for everything and how we were going to continue treatment for him once he returns to Phumlani.  SO, he said we needed to leave and come back again with the “support” documents he said he needed.  We were supposed to leave on Tuesday so the only option I had was to go early Tuesday morning to the clinic and hope we get out early enough for us to make the 8 hour drive back to Port Elizabeth.   We went back the next day with a letter from a doctor in the states but the new guy we saw still was not convinced by the paperwork we had provided.  He explained why again saying that they are keen on giving us a visa but until they can do that, they have to have all the documentation that supports the trip in front of him and as of then he didn’t.  We decided to come back to Port Elizabeth without a visa because he said that they haven’t declined the request for a visa, they’ve merely filed it as “pending” so that if we are able to come up with the proper papers, we can send them via fax or email and hopefully they will be able to issue us a visa.  Please keep praying.  We really don’t have much time left.  We’re supposed to be heading out in less than 3 weeks now so we’re really pushing it close. 

Tonight, all the younger girls had there end of the school year awards ceremony.  I love going to those.  It’s a small school and our girls are very smart, hard-working girls.  I took them early and went in to save seats.  I think I was the first one there which is good because I was able to save the front row seats which is perfect for yelling and cheering for the girls when they get awards.  It was hilarious because they didn’t even want me to come because they said the last time they had one of those things at their school, I embarrassed them because I cheered so loud.  All the other people in the room are old and boring parents.  Every time one of my girls got anything, it didn’t even matter what it was, I yelled at the top of my lungs, clapped, stood up and cheered, everything.  That’s what kids need most.  They need someone to cheer for them, support them, and be proud of them.  That’s something I learned from my parents!

Plus…it’s Unakho’s birthday today.  She turned 11!  Wooh! She’s getting big. 

Ok, I’m done.  And that wasn’t even everything.  I could have written more easily. 

Night guys!

daniel