so after a 27 hour train ride and a rat sighting in my hostel after checking in; I was ready for a better day today…after doing a little map checking last night I set my alarm for 7:00 am and curled up in my squeaky top bunk; when the alarm went off this morning, it felt like I still needed another 4 hours of sleep; strange, seeing as though I had just spent 27 hours doing absolutely nothing the day before. After deciding to skip breakfast, hair doing, and makeup I crawled out of bed 40 minutes later, put on the same clothes I wore yesterday, brushed my teeth with no toothpaste and headed out to get me a Russian visa.
At the metro station I figured which line to take and where to transfer, and after a little hassle with my crinkly money, I had a metro ticket in hand and joined the masses of Chinese people boarding metro line 1. 40ish minutes later, after one transfer I found myself at the “New City” station and headed to the exit to find the “Development Building” in which the Russian consulate was located in. But which exit? A, B, C, D…? So I asked. B. B was closed. So I asked again; B, but it’s closed. Take A, you should be able to figure it out; just ask someone else when you get out to the street, was the advice I was given. So I followed and 15ish minutes, and three people later, I found the elusive “Development Building” hopped in an elevator that only had 10 floors, went back down, found an elevator that had 26 and knocked on the door of the Russian Consulate in Guangzhou. Wrong door. Or I think that’s what she said; I don’t speak Russian, but I got the gist of her gestures that I should be going to a different door around the corner; so around the corner I went. Rang door number 2’s bell, and was directed to an office; with a man who spoke English (and Russian, and Chinese…) and said that I wanted a Russian visa. He asked for my documents…so I began sliding them under the window; he took one look at the application and asked where I got the form from…the Canadian branch of the Russian Embassy..well it was wrong. No biggie; I’ll fill out a new form.
Then he took a look at my Letter of Invitation, the most important document in the bunch, and said “no”. No? No. what do you mean “no”? It must be the original, not a copy. I’d need to get them to send it to him by mail and come back.
*deep breath*
I had just spent weeks trying to contact someone at a Russian Embassy in China; finally after a Russian friend called I was told to come to Guangzhou, so I boarded a 27 hour train after realizing that I couldn’t afford a last minute flight to Guangzhou and brought them what they wanted. Now it wasn’t at all what they wanted. What to do. What to do? cry.
So cry I did.
And I told him. I just traveled 27 hours to get here; I booked my non-refundable plane ticket to Europe three days ago and leave in one week. ONE WEEK. There is no way that I can get someone to post it here and then come back. I’m a student. I have exams. I’m here now, I came 27 hours to get this visa, what can I do? *sigh*
Maybe, Hong Kong might process my application, maybe.
Oh. okay. So maybe I should travel to another country to maybe, possibly get my visa? I think not. There has to be another way. Okay. If the people in Russia can call him…today…that would be great, then he might be able to help. Okay. So I asked if there were any coffee shops with wifi around and he directed me to a Starbucks around the block; I left the office and broke down. Cried all the way down 26 floors; took a breath to ask the guards which directions Starbucks was; and sat down on the concrete stairs in front of the Development Building and wept. Three minutes later, got up, wiped my eyes and headed for Starbucks; ordered a cafe misto and sat down at my laptop and started looking for phone numbers.
1. YWAM Hockey’s phone number; no one. Left a message.
2. YWAM Russia. No answer. No message.
3. Mom and Dad. No answer. Left a message.
4. Googled Glen and Schafe’s number. No answer. Left a message.
5. Googled YWAM Russia; sent a message to their National headquarters, sent an email to Glen, sent an email to mom and dad, sent an email to a YWAM Russia contact Jon…
6. Called YWAM Russia again; this time they picked up. I was using skype in starbucks with no microphone and they couldn’t speak English. I kept asking YWAM? They said yes. Then dropped the phone but not the call; 4 minutes later someone else was there. Hello? Hello. I asked if it was YWAM they said yes, I tried to explain my situation, but wasn’t sure if I was getting through. I told them I’m in China, I’m coming to Russia with YWAM Hockey from Canada, I needed them to phone a man named Andrey from the Russian Consulate in China and tell him that I had a Letter of Invitation and then said the phone number; there was no response and the call ended.
Okay. That was all I could do, I went to another printing shop and printed off the document that had the Russian contact number and headed back to the consulate; contemplating what I would do if Andrey wouldn’t help me. Go to Hongkong, it would have to be tonight, since I booked a flight home to Kunming from Guangzhou tomorrow at 5 pm. But I returned to the consulate and told Andrey that I had a contact, but that they only spoke Russian and so asked if he could call them. He said yes, but he was busy now; come back later. Later? when? Tomorrow morning. OKay. So not going to HK tonight, but going back to the consulate tomorrow morning. Thanks Andrey. And I left.
Texted friends back home, cried a little more, called Hana, called Merrill, found a park to sit in. Wandered about. Decided I needed to walk, so walked and walked, found a park, a memorial site, a pedestrian street and then decided to head back to the hostel.
Seeing as though it’s freezing inside I decided to make a mug of tea; opened my backpack to grab my bag of snacks and realized I left it on the train; not a big deal…except that last night before I went to bed I took of my Dino’s Championship ring and put it in that very same bag. I lost my ring. I lost my mind.
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Let’s summarize the events of the past 48 hours. Brenna takes a train, a long long train to a city very far away, she finds out that she cannot do what she came here to do; which will then cause a series of events that are to occur sometime in the near future, not to occur; after being devastated with Andrey’s news she discovers she lost her hockey ring on a train in China and although she can speak Chinese, cannot find a number to call to report the loss; but has a sneaking suspicion that the cleaner ladies will just toss the bag, seeing as though most of the contents are tea and fruit; and is now sitting alone in a cold, cold, hostel…with rats.
* oh gosh* oh gosh. oh gosh.
If there was ever a time to say a little prayer for me, or send me a word or encouragement…it would be now.
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