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Deep breaths, just relax

I am immensely relieved to have my visa application in the mail...except I won't be free of trepidation until I have my passport back, visa approved.

Sending my visa makes me realize it's actually going to happen -- sooner rather than later. Just one more day of work at the newspaper, 2 1/2 more shifts at the bookstore. Training the new guy today went well for me; I hope it went well for him as well!

Thankfully, I have news that I will not be wandering around Douala by myself upon my arrival in Cameroon. (Okay, not that that was going to be the case, but it sounds more dramatic.)

The original plan was that I'd meet Dan and Lisa at Charles de Gaulle and continue with them from there in on. Just the way I like it -- being "adventurous" within the safe parameters of responsible and experienced oversight. However, the U.S. government got in the way of those plans with delay after delay with Joshua's paperwork.

To say I was worried about arriving in Douala all alone, passing through scary customs processes, finding the Baptist guesthouse for the night and somehow travelling to Bamenda for the homeschool conference -- all on my own without that reassuring responsible and experienced oversight -- that would be overstating it. Dan assured me it would all work out and there were people he could hook me up with at every stage of the journey, so while I was feeling decidedly nervous about the whole affair, I wasn't actually worried. I'm not a worst-case scenario person to the degree that my dad is, but I agree wholeheartedly with the adage: Forewarned is forearmed!

So all of this to say that while I was never worried about the whole affair, I am tangibly relieved to hear that Mike and Becky will meet me in Douala and I'll head up to Bamenda with them.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Oh Karla....
I can't picture you wandering around in a foreign country being all panicky. I can, however, see you getting lost because you stopped at a store and saw that the sign outside was grammatically incorrect and you had to go inside and tell the owner (who doesn't take kindly to criticism) and he starts yelling at you and you panick and run out of the store into the street where you are promptly run over by a donkey pulling a cart. You wake up, several months later, in a hospital about 70 miles from the middle of nowhere and you think that you are the queen of the Netherlands. You also find yourself irresistibly drawn to the word "impactful" and use it in almost every sentence.
Does that make you feel any easier about your impending adventure into an unknown land?
July 11, 2007 at 9:59 PM
kar0ling said…
AAAAAHHHHHHHH! "Impactful" (hear the scorn in my voice as I spit out that word)! My eyes -- they bleed as they read that abomination masquerading as an adjective. My fingers ache from typing it. My brain reels at the thought of it.
July 12, 2007 at 12:30 AM
lasselanta said…
Wow.

I also am vastly relieved that you will not have to navigate porters, customs, airport taxis, rest house fees, and taxi parks all while on jet lag.

I don't know how well you sleep in planes... but after 24-30 hours of travelling I don't know very many people who are up for ambiguous half-communication with people who share neither culture nor dialect with you. :-)

But, with Mike and Becky there, that should be less urgent. Have fun!
July 12, 2007 at 10:51 AM
kar0ling said…
Gasp! Oh Sharon, I really wasn't overly worried before but after your comments--now I *am* nervous! Yikes!
Since you mention it, no, I don't really sleep on planes.
July 14, 2007 at 10:45 PM
lasselanta said…
Oh no! I'm sorry! That wasn't my intent.

Don't be worried now! Mike and Becky will navigate all that for you, since they are coming to pick you up. Just enjoy watching them work. :-)
July 19, 2007 at 10:32 AM
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