DRC Day 27

So today I talked to Kelly on the phone about a plan of action.  I have been told I could schedule an interview with Andrew at the embassy, to see what is going down in the hood, and ask when to expect our visas to be done (and apparently Andrew wants to talk to me anyway).  I wanted to know how to make this happen.  I also wanted to know at what point can I start contacting my representatives, since Tuesday will be 4 weeks since my visa interview.

Kelly said, matter of factly, that David is going to pick me up sometime late Monday morning so that I can go talk to him.  (This is great that it's already worked out, and I'm going to get my visa extended at the same time. I just had no idea.)
She also said, just as matter of factly, that it is far too early to contact anyone in the political realm, because they just got my last paper on Monday.
Monday?  I say.  What was turned in on Monday?  The last paper I know about was turned in almost 2 weeks ago.  So then I get handed to Stephanie (because she "knows more about my case") who tells me that there was some paper that they had requested (yes, a second additional document, requested separately from the first additional document) that came from Mbuji Mayi and was turned in on Monday.

But I was assured that families who had additional documentation requested had their visas in about a week's time after their papers were all turned in.  This Monday will be a week.  I suppose this is good news at this point.  They expect my visas very soon. (For real this time.) But I've been hearing "hopefully tomorrow" for a couple of weeks now, so please forgive my skepticism.

And more than that, I feel like this would have been really good information to have, say, a week ago.  I don't like giving bad news either but its better to know than be left in the dark only to find out later.  Not to mention I've been  going crazy hoping every. single. day. this week for a visa that they apparently knew was not going to be coming, but neglected to explain to me what was going on.  I feel like this is completely unacceptable.

In other news, we went to the grocery store today.  I stocked up on just a few essentials such as chocolate, ice cream, cookies, and bacardi breeze.  Yes folks, we've reached that segment of the journey.

And I suppose I sound really bitter right about now.  To be clear: I do not blame the agency for the delays.  That's all the Embassy.  There is nothing they could have done about that, and I'm sure they got those papers as quickly as possible.  What makes me crazy is the communication, or lack thereof.  That part could be so much better.

And just because it's cuter than the dickens, here is Eli and his girlfriends dancing to some awesome Swahili music: