Nicholas' last day today before he heads off into the jungle. We won't see him till September. Yesterday Nicholas and I went to see the Matrix at the cinema followed by a delicious Japanese meal at Ky Y restaurant, just a stone's throw from the cinema. The aubergines topped with bean and sesame paste were amazing. Today we celebrate by having lasagne at home followed by chocolate mousse. The chocolate mousse went wrong just the same way as last time and i guess I need a lesson from someone in whipping eggs to soft peak - I never get it right. However, un-risen chocolate mousse is... refrigerated chocolate! The lasagne also went slightly wrong as I got all the sauces ready and switched on the oven, to find that the second half of the lasagne sheets had gone mouldy in their tupperware box. I tried rinsing them under the tap to get the mould off, but they still smelled kinda mushroomy so I went for penne bake instead. Our mini-mart is having a holiday.
Anyway, the passport is here hooray hooray, and I have hired this super guy to help me with all my last minute bureaucracy. He's called Quan and he is helping me to get a police check, without which I cannot work with children in the UK, I believe. He also offered to come with me to the immigration department to apply for a new visa in my new passport. I was extremely glad he was there, even just as moral support, as the officials were corrupt and irrational beyond belief. The guy behind the desk initially refused to serve me because he said I should apply through my company (now on summer holiday). Then he didn't want to because I didn't have a police certificate detailing my loss of passport, which I was unable to obtain as I lost it in an area about 2 hours drive from Hanoi and my local police refused to issue a certificate outside their area. We pleaded politely and he said he would ask his 'boss' (actually his employee, as he was just messing with us). Eventually they accepted my application. The guy who was also in the laughable 'queue' with me was Canadian, and they refused his application because he could not remember the phone number of his guest house in Hanoi. He remained remarkably calm considering the circumstances.
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