Sandra & I thought that after getting our 'patience and acceptance' -training in the Ukrainian and Russian train stations that we were pretty advanced really. After all, if you've experienced several times that you want to buy a ticket for a train that is about to leave in 3 hours (or so) and you've been standing in line for that ticket for 2,5 hours when the ticket seller decides to get his or her coffee/tea/lunch break, you know you'll have to accept and change your plans. Or when it takes you at least 10 minutes just to get a small piece of paper with the 4 train times that you've requested in your best russian and the lady just isn't very willing to write the times down and just thinks that you should be able to AND understand AND remember them even though it is pretty obvious your russian is rudimentary... Well, let's say it this way, it is a good exercise..
But apparently fate thinks it is time for the follow up course. Embassies! First of all, it took us easily 2,5 weeks to get kyaw Kyaw's visa for Thailand. Not that this is a particularly difficult visa to obtain normally but KK had 2 visa extensions in his passport from our time in Chiang Mai this winter. Eventually we managed to get through to someone and if Sandra could provide her medical papers which had to prove that we all went to Bangkok for an ultrasound and that indeed she was pregnant, we got the ok for the visa. Of course the visa could only be given AFTER KK had purchased a flight ticket and had shown them the original and given them a copy. Not something that we ever had to do before. Besides, we got the ok on wednesday when on thursday all hell broke loose in Yangon downtown and it was impossible to book that ticket. We left Yangon that day with Sandra's parents and phoned the embassy on friday exmplaining the matter. No problem. So when we came back we called. First we didn't get anyone on the phone but finally we got through at about 13.45. She talked to some guy, explaining that we wanted to fly either friday evening or saturday morning (Sandra's parents left Yangon on friday morning and would fly on from bangkok on saturday evening). It was all no problem, we just had to give them the tickets and we could pick up the visa at 1 on friday afternoon. Sandra asked him if it was ok if they would hand in the tickets on friday morning just in case we couldn't make it (we also had an interview with the french consul that afternoon) and it was clearly stated that it wasn't a problem. And of course we believed it. After all, the visa was already given the OK. But on friday things turned out completely different. It would only be ready on monday and suddenly the guy kept insisting that he had said that we should have been at the embassy at 2 pm. Well, Sandra is many things but stupid isn't one of them. She would have picked up on something like having to be at an embassy at 2 with tickets bought when one is calling at a quarter to to ask about a visa and possible flight times. But the guy kept insisting and of course there was nothing to be done. Sandra & I flew on saturday morning, KK came on tuesday morning.
Ok, that was one embassy.
Normally when you needed a visa for Burma you wnet to the embassy in the morning and picked up your visa in the afternoon of that same day. So Sandra & i went to the embassy on friday morning. Sandra had just piked up her brand-new passport and we were there early. There were only 3 applicants. So we thought it would be a breeze. Not really. The staff remembered us but nowadays you need an invitation. Even for a tourist visa. And of course we didn't have one. They've taken the application for evaluation and we will know on wednesday whether we can get in or not. So Sandra has asked the school if they are willing to issue that invitation so there is less problem. Besides, she prefers to get a business visa again since risking an overstay might be more problematic now. KK had a ticket for 2 weeks so he's flying on monday. Not so nice since calling has always been a hit-and-miss affair and it'll be worse now. And how well the internet is working... who knows...
So basically we're stuck here for a while. KK can't come here and we can not go there...
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