#@%$#@!^

Ok, last entry worried y'all, sorry about that so I have to explain. Frustrating day that's all, personal and physical disappointments, that's all. I shan't elaborate too much but needless to say being so detached from most of what is familiar in my adult life to this point is a challenge in and of itself.

Efficiency is very much a foreign word here. You know how you wait at the DMV for your license for over an hour and by the time they call your name you are so close to going postal? Well multiply that and you get my own bureaucratic hell. The following is what I have to do to establish residency here (getting turned off about that by the second)

1. I need a national ID card. This is mandatory for all Kenyans. If you're in any sort of incident involving the police or requiring their assistance and you don't have this card, 5 months imprisonment. To get the card, I have to get a copy of my dad's card, my passport, birth-certificate and an affidavit from a lawyer stating the reason as to why I didn't obtain one when I turned 18. (haven't lived here since I was 17).

2. I need to open a bank account, specifically for dividend cheques from shares I own. For that I need, my passport, national ID, birth-certificate and a letter of introduction from a current member of that bank in good standing who can vouch for me.

3. I need a Personal Identification Number (basically SS#) and for that I need the ID card, letter from an employer, pay stub and whatever else requirement which I will be informed about the first time I try and get the number.

4. I need to buy health insurance. Kenya operates on a national health insurance which means basically you'll die because the general hospitals are disasters. It doesn't help that because of the corruption scandal, more donors are pulling funds as they can't account to how and where they are being utilized, hence the facilities are going to hell. My insurance doesn't kick in for at least 3 months to dismiss any pre-exisisting condition I may have not disclosed.

NOW for the kicker. My national ID card will be sent to me in three weeks through our oh so wonderfully efficient postal service. My bank account will not be activated for three weeks as well, the only blessing is that they will let you substitute your ID card with your passport. (oh yeah, direct deposit? what is that?) My PIN will have to be filed in a city called Kisumu, about 400 miles away from here as the Nairobi office is notoriously slow while the former office will only take a month.

Today was a downer then upper and then back to downer day. I do have two fantastic soccer games to look forward to tonight so all is not bleak but damn! I'm really mad at myself basically for leaving. The expectations I had for coming here, those that were presented to me before I came are far from being realized and while everyone is used to the slow pace of things and plod along like sheep in a herd based on what is dictated, I'm getting more and more frustrated. Also, a festering issue is my loss of independence as a woman. I've always been pretty stubborn and a hard-head and it saddens me to realize I sensed something incredibly strong about myself at an early age and I didn't know what it was until I came back here...... I had the thought for a minute but I lost it because the effin' power flickered. Sigh, I sense another black out.

More later, I know this sounds sad but I'm okay, promise. CTK needs to stop worrying. Seriously, I'm fine, just a seriously funky day and she knows why. It's always going to get worse before it gets better. Cheers kiddos!