How do you spell relief? P-A-SS-P-O-R-T

We have our passports back in our hands, but I have to tell you about the crazy week that we have had to get them…

Monday…..

It all started on Monday when we phoned the Ethiopian Embassy to make sure that our passports had been sent. They told us the Friday before that they were already in the mail, but when we checked the tracking number there was no sign of them. After trying to get through for an hour, they finally answered and put us on hold forever. Tseodait eventually answered at extension 30 (the lady that I had been dealing with since I realized that I didn’t apply for the proper visa) and assured us the she would be putting the passports in the mail today. We were a little upset since they told us before that they were mailed on Friday, but at least she said that she had them and that they would be in the mail today and we would have them tomorrow evening. We were relieved and could happily go on with our day.

Tuesday…

We went to in Oshawa and did a fun first interview for Cable TV telling them all about our upcoming adventure. I had to work that day, but they are so great at YTV, that they let me leave for a couple of hours. I went back to work and Dave spent the day tying up loose ends. Things were looking up and we were getting excited. But not for long. When we returned home late in the evening, there was no sign of our package on the Canada Post website or in our mailbox. Another night of sleepless stress for me. Dave takes things a lot better than me and can turn his brain off to sleep, I on the other hand, fret all night long. It is terrible.

Wednesday…

We decided to call the Ethiopian Embassy again to make sure that they were sent on Monday. It is the holidays, so maybe the mail was just delayed. Dave drove me to work because he had a ton of things to do and we were doing a pre-interview by phone in the afternoon for an up coming TV appearance.
So before he left to get things done, he started calling the embassy from the YTV Make-up Room at 8:30 am sharp. No Answer. After a solid 1 1/2 hours of trying to get through with no luck, he had to leave to pick up our boxed bikes and do a million other errands. So I took over and called continually from 10:30 to 11:30. I neglected my job and silently freaked out as I felt helpless not being able to do a thing. I called again all through lunch, but had to get back to work with no luck.

Anyway, back to our passports….We tried all day to get through. It was unbelievable, nobody answered the phone, the mailboxes were full and every extension that we tried was not picking up. I have to tell you something about the Ethiopian Embassy. They don’t answer their phones, but you can’t leave a message because they won’t return long distance calls and if you try to email them, it gets bounced back. It is really quite absurd.

I had a doctor’s appointment that evening that was 2 1/2 hours behind schedule. For some reason, they thought I had asthma, but after sitting in the waiting room all evening fretting about my passport and not my asthma, I went into his office and was told that I was completely healthy. Great news, but what a waste of time! It was now 7:30 pm and we still had to put together some photo’s for CTV to put on their website. We would rush home, get a couple of shots together and then in a last desperate move, leave for Ottawa to get our passports!

By 10pm, we were on the road ready for our 5 hour drive ahead. We were making good time until just before Kingston, at about midnight when inexplicably, the 401 was closed and we came to a grinding halt. We sat on the highway, surrounded by transports and had a nap in the freezing cold. We were awakened by the noise of air breaks and diesel engines starting up and were on our way half asleep and ready for bed. We got off at the next exit and managed to stay at the most expensive hotel in Kingston for a total of 4 hours.

Thursday…

We were up and gone by 6:30 am to make it to the embassy for 8:30. It was my turn to drive and I almost got us into an accident when I hit a patch of ice. I managed to get the car back under control, but not before giving Dave a mini heart attack.

At the embassy in Ottawa we were greeted with smiling faces and our passports. Apparently, they had been sitting in the incoming mail box. Can you believe it? If we didn’t drive to Ottawa, they never would have found them. I was all ready give them a piece of my mind the minute I had my passport in my hand, but they were so nice and polite, that all I managed to say was thank you very much. And have a Merry Christmas. I was so happy to have my passport back, that I forgot all about the stress of the past week.

So all is fine you say? Not quite, we now had to make it back to Hamilton for 6pm for an event that our friend Donn was putting on for our Charity. We took turns driving while the other slept and made it back to pick up our door prizes, clean ourselves up a bit, and scarf down a Mr. Sub.

The event at the Casbah went very well and $230 was raised for Plan Canada. It finished at 12:30 and we were happy that we would be back in Toronto for 1 am since I had to work at 8:00 am. But, of course things couldn’t go smoothly, nothing had been going smoothly lately.

In Mississauga, about 20 minuted from Toronto, we got a flat tire, awe heard something grinding when we hit a bump and concluded that the tire must be flat. We got off at the next exit and sure enough, it was flat as a pancake. We always carry puncture seal with us, so we re-inflated the tire thinking it would get us home, but nothing happened. It must have been one big hole. We had to phone the auto club for this one. It was way too cold to change it ourselves, and why pay for the autoclub, if you don’t use it right? So once again, for the second night in a row we were napping in our car on the side of the road at 2 in the morning. The tow truck came and found that our jack was rusted beyond use. He yanked at it for several minutes and then finally broke out his own. Why didn’t he do that in the first place? Our tire didn’t want to come off at all, and it took forever to get it changed. After about an hour, we were on our way and in bed by 3:30 am. I was up at 6:30 and off to work in a daze.

Friday…

Dave was greeted to an email from his mom that his dad was hospitalized. He had collapsed at home and his mom couldn’t revive him. She didn’t have our new phone number because we just changed it to take to Africa with us. We sent an email with the change, but I guess she erased it by mistake and didn’t program it into her phone. Luckily, he is going to be OK. He had a bowel obstruction, complications from an old surgery and he was in such pain, that he ended up passing out! Luckily he didn’t need surgery and he is out of the hospital and home resting. Thank God.

Saturday…

It is Dave’s last day of work on his movie and then we are free for a couple of days. He had to drive to Burlington on his little spare tire, since we haven’t had a moment to get it into the shop. The weekend is going to consist of final book keeping, sleeping, packing and oh, a trip to Canadian Tire to get a new tire! I still feel wiped out and I am sure Dave will be beat after working out in the snow today, But at least we have our passports back!

What a week!