After getting the blessing from my principal, county office, and Superintendent that I could use the runner up grant money to go towards a plane ticket, I had lots to get ready! The first order of business was a passport. Yes... I HAVE a passport.... somewhere, but unfortunately it was not in my lock box at the State Employee's Credit Union. However, my birth certificate was safely tucked in there. I filled out all the necessary forms online (including the lost passport form), got my passport photos made at my neighborhood Walgreen's, and then got my birth certificate out of the lock box. I had made an appointment with the passport office in the post office on Coxe Ave and was all set. So. I. Thought. The Birth Certificate evidently was not the original one... no raised seal. Really?!!! I had it so secure all these years in my lock box. The postal worker was kind to me and told me how to obtain a proper birth certificate. More forms. Another couple of weeks. More money. More time. Then... the birth certificate arrives... with my mother's name spelled incorrectly. Her name is Elisabeth, but they had spelled it with a z instead of the s. Uh oh! Was this going to trip me up in getting my passport in time? I called to make a new appointment with the passport office. This time they were not so friendly. I had to wait until May 22 to apply. Yikes! I needed not only the passport, but the visa, too. I couldn't apply for the visa until I got the passport and I couldn't apply for the visa until I got my plane ticket. That meant I couldn't get the plane ticket until I got the passport. Ack!!!! I called the Biltmore Station post office hoping for better luck knowing at this point I really needed to expedite the passport (more money). They, too, were super busy and I couldn't get in until late May. She recommended I go into the Coxe Ave post office as a walk-in. I planned doing that and made an appointment with the Health Department for my Foreign Travel appointment on the same day. I walk in to a packed passport waiting area and luckily saw friends there so it eased the stress a bit. The postal worker asks me who I was and what I was doing. I told him and he told me he doesn't have time for me and to leave. My eyes welled up with tears. I quickly said good-bye to my friends embarrassed. What was I going to do? Was this a sign I wasn't supposed to go?
Determined....
I decided to go ahead and follow through with my Foreign Travel Appointment at the Health Department (it was right across the street from the post office and I had carved out this time to get it done).
I walked into the Buncombe County Health & Human Services upset and down. My mind was racing again about how I could get a passport. I decided it might just be worth my time to drive down to Greenville, SC to the Downtown Post Office. Since Greenville was my hometown I knew exactly where it was and how to get there. I called to find out the hours, make sure I didn't need an appointment, and make sure they could expedite the passport (not all post offices process passports and out of the ones that do not all of them will expedite them for you). They did not require appointments and if I timed it right with the lunch break I could very possibly be the first in line. But first.... shots.
To read what shots I need: http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/traveler/none/kenya
To read what shots I need: http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/traveler/none/kenya
I had a lot of shots to get and a lot of information to receive! I actually had to go to the Health Department three separate times to get shots. Hep A/B, polio, tetanus, typhoid, yellow fever.... and then I find out there are biting insects with no vaccines available that carry diseases! I will have to spray my clothes with bug repellent before packing and take malaria pills. All of this sounds like a lot to take it (especially when I was already upset about the passport), but it was the kindness of the workers at the Health Department that made my day. Some past experience made me think they would be cranky and not very personable, but I was proven very wrong each of the three times I went in.
Annette is a light in the Health Department with her patience, warmth, and compassion. She was so very personal with me and we chatted about her teacher friends, the people who come through the Health Department who have adopted babies from Africa, and the woes of getting a new passport.
It is the brightness of people who make this world a better place. A smile and a personal touch mean so much to me. I experienced the same thing when I went down to Greenville. Lucky me got to grab a sandwich at Duke's http://www.dukesandwich.com/ then sure enough I was first in line at the post office where I met a nice lady who was traveling to Mexico who was in line behind me. At 1 pm on the dot the passport window opens and a smiling post woman asks if she can help me. She assured me the misspelling of my mother's name wouldn't be a problem and I was in and out of the post office in 7 minutes flat! I was realizing that making connections and the kindness of others truly makes me happy! I am traveling to Kenya to make global connections and friendships, but the journey to get to Kenya is allowing me to make connections and build friendships I wouldn't have otherwise made.
It is the brightness of people who make this world a better place. A smile and a personal touch mean so much to me. I experienced the same thing when I went down to Greenville. Lucky me got to grab a sandwich at Duke's http://www.dukesandwich.com/ then sure enough I was first in line at the post office where I met a nice lady who was traveling to Mexico who was in line behind me. At 1 pm on the dot the passport window opens and a smiling post woman asks if she can help me. She assured me the misspelling of my mother's name wouldn't be a problem and I was in and out of the post office in 7 minutes flat! I was realizing that making connections and the kindness of others truly makes me happy! I am traveling to Kenya to make global connections and friendships, but the journey to get to Kenya is allowing me to make connections and build friendships I wouldn't have otherwise made.