Wasted week

Two more weeks from today and we will be on our way to the Netherlands. Yes, the countdown has started.
Nine and a half days of school left...where has the time gone?


Last week was not the nicest one for the Spaander family in Bangalore. We started with our yearly visit to the Foreigners Regional Registration Office or as Adriaan calls it: Dante's Hell.
The office doesn't open till 8:30 and they don't start working till 9:30, but we had to be there at 7:30 to make sure we got a good place in the line. Our agent was waiting for us with all the paperwork, from tax papers to a copy of our electricity bill, all and all a stack of at least 2 cm thick per person. I even had some back up paperwork in my bag, just in case, because you never know what they will come up with this time.

As soon as the gate opens the 'organised' line turns into a stampede of wilder beasts, like they are selling designer clothes at 70% off. The trick is to get into the next line asap: the line for the tokens There is an armed(!) guard who mans the gate and organises the line inside. His ancient looking rifle (the 'Cowboys and Indians' kind) still commands enough respect to force people in an orderly line. The token gives you a counter and a number, it means you have secured your place in the next line.
Then the first part of the waiting starts, waiting till your token's number comes up. When it does you have to go to a desk where a man checks your papers and (hopefully) allows you to go upstairs.
Upstairs you go to your allocated counter and...wait till your number comes up.
When your number (finally) comes up, you go to the counter, hand in your paperwork and...sit and wait. The person at the counter goes through all the paperwork (or at least pretends too) to see if it is complete. If it is complete you get your picture taken (I always wonder why we have to hand in two passport size photos per person), usually without warning so you have a mug shot on your official paperwork that fully reflects how you feel after all those hours at the FRRO (not in the best of moods I can tell you).

This year my visa had to be renewed and Adriaan had to have his new passport registered, so we had to pay some fees. The person behind the counter gives you a piece of paper stating the amount, you go downstairs, hand the paper to the agent, he goes to the bank for a Demand Draft, comes back with proof from the bank, you take it upstairs to the DD counter where they print another piece of paper that you have to take back to your counter and hand in. This takes 45 minutes!

That finishes the first part of the FRRO process. Now you can go for lunch and come back after to pick up your papers. They told us to come back at 15:45, we came at 16:30 and got our papers at 17:30, to return home brain dead from the elaborate, bureaucratic process. TG it is only once a year!

On Tuesday the misery continued in the form of a stomach bug that kept most of us awake all night, the boys because they were sick and me to mop the floors... (please read between the lines that my dear husband was not involved in either activity, but was snoring away, blissfully unaware of what was going on! Same thing for the night that I fell victim to the bug and had to clean the floor -and wall- in the middle of the night...even with all the lights on and me banging away with the mop, so feel sorry for me please!!!!!)

Poor Simon missed performing in the school play on Wednesday and Thursday, he was too sick.

By Saturday we had all had our turn and were getting back on our feet. Not the nicest of weeks to say the least.