Tale as Old as Time

Oh, come on. Seriously? I thought having a pink mosquito net was bad enough. Now I remove my pillowcase for washing and just look what I find!

It's a conspiracy, I tell ya.

Literal definition of a pillow princess.

Give me Ghibli any day!

It's been a good and busy week.

Had a very nice evening on Tuesday with the two loveliest ladies in Kigali. Jo and Zuba took me to Via Veneto to compare their pizza with SoleLuna. It's a gorgeous place in Nyarutarama, and the pizza was indeed crisper than SoleLuna's, which has been a little soggy recently.

Apparently they light fires here at the weekend.

I relaxed with an iced coffee and a good book whilst waiting for them to arrive. It really was a nice restaurant, with good music and candlelight. However, nothing could have prepared me for the chocolate mousse. It was incredible. Haven't had pudding that darkly delicious in Kigali before. Worth it just for that.

As we headed home along the candle-lit path, the lights cast shadows on the driveway, and we played the Zuba Game, trying to stand on each others' shadows, full of silliness and giggles.

On Wednesday I was back at Izola to interview another Associate Consultant. It was more of an informal chat though, as she's both qualified and very easy to talk to. Looking forward to working together in the near future. 

The search for Associates is going rather well. Still waiting on a few friends to run contacts for me. Spending the next couple of weeks making sure I have the arsenal of skills behind me before fishing for contracts, just in case someone actually says 'yes'. Need to make sure we, as a company, can deliver. 

Today was a slightly stressful day as my fifteen-day window to submit my residency application is up tomorrow, and it requires a long list of  items:

• Receipt from Rwanda Revenue Authority for FRW 100,000
• Passport photo
• Copy of my business registration certificate
• Original criminal record check dated within past three months
• Copy of my CV
• Completed visa application form
• Cover letter explaining what I'm applying for

Provided that's all in order, it should result in a two-year business and residency visa, once they've been to inspect my physical address to make sure I, and my business, actually exist.

The biggie was the police check. I had to get family to dig up an old passport photo and send a cheque for fast-track processing. I honestly wasn't expecting it to arrive in time, and I'd already drafted a letter asking for leniency, otherwise you have to pay FRW 50,000 for a three-month interim visa whilst you're getting everything else together.

So, this morning I woke up super early to haul ass over to:

1. The bank, for the FRW 100,000 (about £88)
2. The Post Office to affirm that my police clearance hadn't arrived
3. The printer, to print out my letter explaining that my police clearance hadn't arrived
4. Immigration to file my papers

I threw myself through the shower, grabbed my keys from the table, and...

Sat on my arse for the next three hours.

It started tipping it down just as I was about to leave the house. As public transport is a motorbike, and I live down a mud road, this means I couldn't go anywhere. It finally stopped at 11:30, which is the exact time Immigration stop processing visa applications for the day.

I was utterly pissed off.

In a total strop I decided to continue with my original plan, knowing that Friday would be my last day to submit my application. Went to the bank, went to the post office... 

My police check was there waiting for me! No need to bother with the printer. Went to an internet café to change my application letter and print my CV. Stopped at a café for fish brochettes whilst I checked and re-checked everything. Then headed back to Immigration, where the woman was fairly understanding about the rain issue (nobody can go anywhere in Rwanda in the rain) and explained that if I put everything in an envelope I can leave it there and they'll process it the next day.

What a relief. Still, it's that moment where you surrender your passport, not knowing when you'll get it back, hoping you won't need to leave the country in a hurry.

It's a hideous feeling being without a passport.

Made better by two parcels from home which arrived with the police clearance certificate and contained chocolate! Two Cadbury's frogs met an untimely demise in my mouth. Not too keen on chocolate with a face, always makes me feel a bit guilty, especially after they had travelled all this way.

Ah, heck. What can you do?