visa success!

Everyone should go to Liberia:

I showed up at the visa office at 1:00 (had to get photocopies and pick up my malarone prescription first...and then I got lost). The emabassy officials from upstairs were clearly visiting their consulate buddies on lunch break and the atmosphere was really...well...boisterous. They all came out to talk to me (because I had my Obama t-shirt on), were telling me jokes and about how. as dual citizens, they were definitely voting for him, etc. They told me to come back at 3:00, when it would be ready. That is some good turnaround.

At 3:00 I showed up and there were a couple of other guys there. One was a very shady Dutch(?) man about 65 years old. He talked like it was 1900 and we were off to a jolly romp in the colonies, what what. He seemed to be involved in some kind of business dealings (diamonds??) and was waiting until today to get his visa for his trip on...Friday. And I thought I did things last minute!! Well, my visa took longer than everyone else's to get ready (I was there for half an hour), and because they felt bad about it, they gave me a multiple entry visa instead! And then, half an hour later, when I was in the nurse's office getting rabies and cholera part II, they called to tell me I had left my yellow fever certificate. Which I would have figured out, but probably not in time.

Moral of the story: Liberians are way cool. I just hope my impression doesn't change once I get there...