What in the World Bingo

Each time we have traveled to Africa or Asia feels like another round of, “How much do you want to live here?” Bingo. We usually end up with great stories, the kind that are really funny — several years later. One time we had no potable water at a shady hotel in Douala and two thirsty kids just beginning their life abroad. Another time we slept on couches in Yaoundé because all the beds in the hotel had bedbugs, while Cameroon won a huge soccer match and we followed the entire celebration in the bars below. One 50+ hour trip during Covid included sitting in a closed-down terminal for eight hours until someone could check us in at JFK, then being told via Google translate from Chinese that “your horses and chariots are coming” as we waited hours in the unshaded equatorial sun to be taken to our quarantine lock-up (pregnant square checked on that one as well). We could never forget the New Year’s Day computer error that separated us  at check-in in Rochester. More recently, all of our luggage went missing after we missed a connection in Seoul due to volcanic eruptions in Russia prolonging our time on that airplane to about 18 hours.  

Yesterday, we got to add being cursed at by a TSA officer for not understanding the canine walk-by procedure; being detained for leaving a still-packaged Christmas gift Swiss Army knife in a carry on (rookie move I can only attribute to attempting to return our company vehicle and meeting up with five different families the day before our flight); having to meet several TSA officers for evaluation of metal inside and outside a child’s arm;  a preschooler meltdown over wanting to purchase a laptop with a video game the young adult in front of us was playing on the plane; and a  very prolonged airport pickup requiring six adults, four kids, three vehicles, thirteen bags, three car seats, and multiple traffic officers.

But the most memorable of this trip is returning to overwhelming (but expected) dust, mold, humidity, and gecko poop in our house after midnight —  only to find our water had been shut off (despite the bill being paid). I will never forget hauling buckets of water down the road after 1AM to fill up our drinking filter and stockpile some for toilet flushes, trying to clean up with baby wipes, and spitting toothpaste into our trash bag. We are so thankful Coco came to help us manage the baggage chaos, let us all take showers in her house, and even offered to do our laundry (without dryers, laundry from six people quickly overwhelms the ability of the drying rack to keep up). Since tomorrow is Sunday, we will probably need to repeat all the shower, drinking, and toilet workarounds tomorrow. 

It’s 3:53AM and the kids are finally asleep. I’m sure this is funny somewhere in the multiverse, and someday will be here as well. I look forward to that day.

#lifeoverseas #bettertogether #goodneighbors #lifeonmission #tcklife #expatproblems #lookforthelaughter 

(Photo of boarding passes required for last year’s trip back.)