Woke up bright and early this morning to leave for church at 8:15am! They go to a Methodist church of which Pak Kheng’s parents were some of the founding members. It was pretty funny because, while usually I do not like to single myself out as a newcomer when the pastor asks who is there for the first time, today it did not work, as I was literally the only white person in the entire congregation. The pastor looked right at me until I raised my hand. Hahahahaah. There was no being anonymous in that crowd! After church I met a bunch of new people whose names I forgot immediately, of course. Everyone wanted to know why I was going to Thailand and what the story of my visa was.
Pak Kheng’s uncle told me a story about 50 years ago when he went to Chiang Mai from Bangkok and the roads were not paved. They took a night bus up the road and they had to drive with all the interior lights off so that robbers would not be able to see inside and try to stick them up. When they arrived the following morning, everyone’s hair was red from the dust of the road!
This afternoon, Pak Kheng will take me to the subway and show me how to get to and from the embassy tomorrow morning. I have all my paperwork ready to go: passport photos, copies of my passport, my invitation letter, my application and my flight itinerary. I just pray that it is all enough and that the line for visas is small so that I can get it back by Tuesday. Tim Byers, the CEO of Kijikandee Foundation, said that he has been able to turn it in at 9am and get it back the same day, so that would be amazing, but I’m not super optimistic, judging from the way things have gone thus far. Tune in tomorrow for more visa updates!
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