Chasing Wild Geese

Me in Lusaka 

Finding the Social Services office this morning was an epic quest.  No, come to think of it, more like fool's errand, and guess who was the fool?

I should have known something was up when the social worker couldn't even give me directions to her office.  

"Do you know where (random landmark) is?" she asked me.

"No," I replied.

"How about (other random landmark)?" 

"Uh, nope. Can you just give me cross streets?"  I had a map, so I should have been able to find anything.

"Yes...but the problem is that the entire area is under construction, so the main road is closed."  

She finally asked me if I knew where the West Police Station was.  I said yes, which was a total lie.  I figured, however, that I could check online and get an address. 

That was my mistake.  I'm spoiled from living in Seattle where everything is online.

I knew generally where I should go, so Oliver and I set out.  We drove around for about an hour and after much hullaballoo found the social worker hidden in Room 7 (doors not marked) in the Social Services building (not marked), behind the "Boma Courts" (marked with a different name).  

Here' s the icing:   The social worker told me that to start the foster/adoption process, I'd need to email her the following documents:  Our IDs and our homestudy from the US.   I gritted my teeth, smiled politely and silenced the angry thoughts in my head.  Seriously?  You couldn't have just told me this over the phone?

This errand made me late for French class.  But you know what?  My annoyance melted once I stepped into the classroom.  Seems conjugating verbs is good medicine for a wild goose chase.