We arrived at the satellite ministry office this morning, confident that we\u2019d have the document in hand. Only 3 signatures left to go. Our driver dropped us at the door and despite my professor\u2019s insistence that we\u2019ll be fine and he can come back in two hours, he informs us that he\u2019ll wait just around the corner. Sure enough, a text message arrived telling us that our first meeting of the day was not going to happen. He didn\u2019t know we were coming (despite the numerous emails). The secretary informs us that he\u2019s only leave until Wednesday, but somewhere in the city. My professor, seriously at her wits end, got really stern with him on the phone and began dropping names until finally he relented and agreed to meet us. I\u2019ll reference here my blog post from two years ago, where we all met by a poolside for tea at a sketchy hotel to hash out the details of this agreement. Here we are again, at a random hotel (changed already this morning from another hotel), waiting. Two men arrived, looking official-like with their shiny suits. Not him. My professor jokes that perhaps they\u2019re here for his \u201cother\u201d meeting\u2014which was only funny til it turned out to be true. Signatory 1 made just a little fuss, to which we only smiled, nodded, and insisted that this was the final version. He jotted down an intricate series of loops and scribbles (apparently his name, though I\u2019m not convinced), all while ignoring us and talking on the phone. Whatever. At this point politeness isn\u2019t part of the deal. Then we\u2019re informed that after we collect the next signatures, we\u2019ll have to return to this seemingly clandestine location at which point he\u2019ll call a guy (whose name he was reluctant to reveal) and we\u2019ll all meet again to discuss the data transfer. Sounds like the stuff movies are made of. But it\u2019s real, and it\u2019s happening right now. Inside, my brain is processing like a child: frowny face! Stomping feet! Our driver innocently threatens to have \u201cwords\u201d with the signatory after our meeting. We giggle, but secretly wish it could happen\u2026a little part of me does, anyway. <\/div>\n
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So, here we are. Squatting in the ministry lobby. Well, let me back that up for a moment. We arrived at the ministry and took one of the only elevators in the country to the very top floor. On the way up, I got pushed to the back, with my enormous back pack full of computer stuff in case I actually get the data today and they don\u2019t let it leave the building (it could happen!). My professor couldn\u2019t see the button, and told me to just request of the other passengers whatever the highest number was. I asked, \u201ceh hem. SEVEN, Please!\u201d Silence. \u201chmph hem!\u201d Silence. Not even a turn of the head. So, I molested two passengers as I squeezed my body and my giant bag past them, tipped one over, and pushed seven. No words, no emotion. It\u2019s like I didn\u2019t just push everyone out of the way to get that button. My professor lost it in giggle fits as we slowly made our way to the floor. It\u2019s just one of those days. Entirely visible (how can you miss us?) and seemingly invisible (your name again, please?). <\/div>\n
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It\u2019s only 10 am. We\u2019ve got one signature. One more important one to go, one official phone call, one official meeting, one official form, and most likely another signature. So close, and yet so far away. <\/div>\n
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Brief update: It didn’t happen. The day closed with lots of visiting various projects, and lots of shopping– all while waiting for that phone call that the minister will see us, or that the document has been signed. I’m tired, but hopeful that the promises by the ministry of a final signature tomorrow will come true! And then we track down the people who keep the data…<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sleepless night\u2014tossing and turning and dreaming bizarre things. I\u2019d like to blame it on the anti-malarials, but I know it was just nerves. The sound of what I can only imagine are giant frogs harmonized by the ever running toilet Continue reading Commence squatting!<\/span>→<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1419,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wds_primary_category":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fs.wp.odu.edu\/efrydenl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fs.wp.odu.edu\/efrydenl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fs.wp.odu.edu\/efrydenl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fs.wp.odu.edu\/efrydenl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1419"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fs.wp.odu.edu\/efrydenl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fs.wp.odu.edu\/efrydenl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fs.wp.odu.edu\/efrydenl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fs.wp.odu.edu\/efrydenl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fs.wp.odu.edu\/efrydenl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}