So this is the downside...

We have two weeks until we are scheduled to fly to Ethiopia for our fall break- arriving there on my birthday!

Yesterday at work, all new hires were pulled into the office for an "urgent" meeting. Por que? At this time, they can't promise that we will have the visa clearance to leave. What!?!

While Khartoum is definitely a fascinating place to live, a few years here is made by the breaks. We are in an amazing corner of the world with mind-blowing travel opportunities. Let it also be noted that breaks from this culture and climate are much needed.

We're frustrated. We're upset. And we're not sure if we should be hopeful or not.

The school has people working on it, including parents that work within the right ministries of the Sudanese government.

It's very complicated. And to top it off, if we can't leave, the school is going to have to PAY for us to leave once the visas get sorted out! So, in addition to reimbursing us the flights and entertaining us and trying to keep us smiling for TEN days in country, they will have to fly us all to Cairo for a weekend at a later date so that we can come into the country with the new visas. Completely absurd.

It was a crappy day yesterday. I think we all know that its not the school's fault. But, its also nice to have someone close by to blame. We'll see how it plays out. I'll definitely keep you posted.

It could be a great opportunity to travel within Sudan. I am up for that. But I am NOT up for a road trip with all 9 of us that may be stranded here. Some of these are the people that I need a break FROM!

Uh... not to mention, that if we don't have the visa, there is a small chance they wouldn't give us a travel permit to travel in-country.

uy. If there were a positive, it would be that we wouldn't have to find a cat-sitter. That isn't even significant enough to create a 'positives' list.