The state of jake

 I don't have my own state yet... but, I will admit that it is on the bucket list. Things are going well at work for the most part I think. I have learned to roll with the under-staffed-ness and ridiculous deadlines from organizations that should know better. Still dread opening Outlook every morning but at least I have enough experience now that I am able to contribute something significant to the inevitable string of queries about things that happen long before my time here. State of Jake: feeling like I can maybe pull this thing off

Traveling here in Africa is a pretty big deal! Katy, Kahler, and I have been planning this trip to Livingstone this weekend. It is going to be a blast but, this planning phase is a bit of a headache. It takes so long to get from place to place because of both the windedness and the terrible condition of the roads. Things are very touristy and thus unjustly priced. State of Jake: broke

Kahler and I were able to get a new kind of permit. It is still not what we really need but, the word is that the document that we need will arrive by the first week of November. I am not going to hold my breath but, I remain hopeful. Today at the immigration office turned out to be quite an ordeal. I learned a lesson though... just keep your mouth shut even if it makes zero sense. The lame part is that I actually know that lesson it was just time for my... annual... monthly... ok weekly refresher. State of Jake: humbled

So, here in the Zambian Immigration Headquarters you kind of cross your fingers and pray for a list of things to be going your way.

1. get transportation to the immigration office (hint: make sure the driver knows where that is)
2. pray that the office is open because it is not uncommon for them to just close when ever they are feeling like it.
3. do your darnedest to get your name in that sign in sheet early so that you can continue to entertain that little hope of this being a quick 'in and out' trip (as it well should be)
4. find the guy you need. now this seems pretty straight forward but, I swear it is actually a pretty big deal. I will star this and add a fun story below*
5. hope your man-behind-the-desk feels like he wants to do his job today
6. wait for him to look through some cabinets with what looks to be a total lack of aim for your really important document
7. ideally he will ask few questions the answer of which are in the documents lying right in front of him
8. also it is a good thing to look like you do in your passport photo, he asked me three times whose passport the one that I gave him was.
9. ok this is the big one, get ready. do not under any circumstances stop him as he is finalizing your paperwork to ask why the expiration date of my permit is three weeks earlier than your buddies who was submitted at the same time. just don't do it.
10. when you do make the afore mentioned mistake try to not let the irritation show too much, I think that they get off on that.
11. try not to figure out why the idiot man behind the desk sent you to see someone who you have been told is out for the day.
12. just appreciate the variety of smells as you stand in line to see the fella that you want to bury again.
13. let the lady that he guides you to think that she is brilliant in her reasoning for the date discrepancy.
14. stand in line again and have what would have been done 45 minutes had you not spoken, done.
15. get out of the immigration office with all documentation. mission to immigration office semi-successful

*So I walked to the area where we had gone previously to have passports re-stamped. The individual that we need to see is Mary. Well I was told that Mary was out ill today and that I needed to see one of the cats on the other side on the room. Upon reaching other cat #1 he told me that I needed to see Mary, when I told him that Mary was out ill he said oh 'are you sure, I don't know that, she could be back'. No sir, her neighbor there has said that she is not here at all today. Sigh, stare at nothing for a good three minutes with you standing right there looking at him wondering how the H you are going to make it through this. He finally asks me what I need (this felt like a pretty legit stare down victory and the folks gathering in line behind me breathed a little easier once the silence was broken too). I explain the situation and he says that I need to talk to this guy right outside at desk 12? What/where the eff is desk 12? Did he just make that up?! Genius! Save, now I kinda want to kill him. Finally, I wander my way to 'desk twelve' where I met the guy that gave it his most lethargic effort to complete step six above. State of Jake at this point: boarder-line postal

Summary: The immigration office is one of my least favorite places in the world.

Here on the other side Kahler pointed out to me that this is a 'Temporary Permit'. What we need is a 'Work Permit'. So here's to more tangible proof that I did, in fact, spend a year in Zambia. Here's to realizing that where you are works nothing like you expect and you should just learn to plan for worse that your worst case scenario. State of Jake: whatever

Kahler and I held the weekly lab meeting this afternoon which is always gets a bit hectic around showtime, especially when you spent at least five times longer than you had expected at the immigration office. It is always good to have all the lab folks in the same place at once and hear their insight and concerns. I think that mine and Kahler's primary issue at this point is staffing. We have to begin training new techs nos so that the time the vaccine trail is under way we have at least a few more personnel on the bench. State of Jake: focused and ready to fight for the department

At the end of he day, I feel like I got a lot done in the face of an entire system that did all but totally disallow any sort of productivity. State of Jake: pretty dang accomplished

All is pretty ok