I'm Losing...
August 20, 2006
Where does the time go? We spent six weeks on vacation and now we are home.
Our last days in New York were awesome. We spent ten days in the mountains, relaxing. We canoed, rested, built fires, and did some good hard work. We split wood, and did some maintenance on the family cabin. My in-laws were there, including my brother-in law. It was extremely peaceful and grounding; a good preparation for the trip home.
Upon arriving back in the city, things got hectic again. There were people to see and more things to buy. We spent the last two days trying to cram everything into our six allotted bags. We carefully weighed each one, shifting some items and excluding others so each bag would come in under fifty pounds. After prolific sweating, we succeeded. Our friend Kevin drove us to the airport on Thursday afternoon. It was kind of him as it is a long drive full of traffic and tolls. We arrived at JFK, loaded our bags onto the cart, said goodbye, and headed inside. We were three hours early because of all the extra security. There was no line at the ticket counter. I placed each bag on the scale, gleefully noticing that each one was within a pound of the limit, counting them as I went; 1, 2, 3, 4, 5…but wait; where is the sixth one? In the backseat of Kevin’s car. He has a cell phone, but doesn’t ever turn it on. Zachary’s suitcase is now tucked in at Kevin’s house. SHIT!!!
Our flight was uneventful and passed quickly. By midday Friday we were in Bamako. We broke the news to Zman. He took it well, but I think that’s because he doesn’t know that all of his beloved toy trains are in that bag. We spent some time researching retrieval methods, none of which are cheap for a fifty pound suitcase.
We had a five hour layover so we went to our friend’s house. It is the place where Anna, our new teacher, was staying. She was glad to see us and we were glad to see her. We spent some good time visiting and then we loaded her seven bags into the van and headed off to the airport. Once there we were told that there was not enough room on the plane for all of our bags so we had to leave nine of the twelve behind. Hopefully they will arrive later this week.
Mohammed greeted us at the airport and took us home. A new General Manager (his name is Richard Cox) took charge while we were gone. He determined that a new protocol was needed to assign housing. Since this protocol was not followed for Anna’s quarters, he denied her access. Instead she is staying in guest housing; a tiny room with a bathroom and no kitchen. We took her to our place where she has been sleeping in Zachary’s room. Carrie spent her morning meeting with Dick. He tells us that he will probably have a solution by Wednesday. Needless to say, we are all a little frustrated. Fortunately our boss is as peeved as we are.
Today is Zachary’s birthday. We bought him some tracks for the toy trains we left in New York. We have an alternate gift we can give him, but both items are in our bags in Bamako. Despite the desire to break down in tears, we are happy to be home. School starts tomorrow so we have busied ourselves in our classrooms.
I know that we will find solutions to all of these issues, but I can’t help kicking myself for leaving that bag behind. Maybe we were not designed for world travel after all. Maybe we should take the hint and stay in the States. You would think we could have one trip where nothing fucks up. You would think I might learn to slow down and focus on the moment. Time flies by and I always seem to be lost in its wake.
MJR
Where does the time go? We spent six weeks on vacation and now we are home.
Our last days in New York were awesome. We spent ten days in the mountains, relaxing. We canoed, rested, built fires, and did some good hard work. We split wood, and did some maintenance on the family cabin. My in-laws were there, including my brother-in law. It was extremely peaceful and grounding; a good preparation for the trip home.
Upon arriving back in the city, things got hectic again. There were people to see and more things to buy. We spent the last two days trying to cram everything into our six allotted bags. We carefully weighed each one, shifting some items and excluding others so each bag would come in under fifty pounds. After prolific sweating, we succeeded. Our friend Kevin drove us to the airport on Thursday afternoon. It was kind of him as it is a long drive full of traffic and tolls. We arrived at JFK, loaded our bags onto the cart, said goodbye, and headed inside. We were three hours early because of all the extra security. There was no line at the ticket counter. I placed each bag on the scale, gleefully noticing that each one was within a pound of the limit, counting them as I went; 1, 2, 3, 4, 5…but wait; where is the sixth one? In the backseat of Kevin’s car. He has a cell phone, but doesn’t ever turn it on. Zachary’s suitcase is now tucked in at Kevin’s house. SHIT!!!
Our flight was uneventful and passed quickly. By midday Friday we were in Bamako. We broke the news to Zman. He took it well, but I think that’s because he doesn’t know that all of his beloved toy trains are in that bag. We spent some time researching retrieval methods, none of which are cheap for a fifty pound suitcase.
We had a five hour layover so we went to our friend’s house. It is the place where Anna, our new teacher, was staying. She was glad to see us and we were glad to see her. We spent some good time visiting and then we loaded her seven bags into the van and headed off to the airport. Once there we were told that there was not enough room on the plane for all of our bags so we had to leave nine of the twelve behind. Hopefully they will arrive later this week.
Mohammed greeted us at the airport and took us home. A new General Manager (his name is Richard Cox) took charge while we were gone. He determined that a new protocol was needed to assign housing. Since this protocol was not followed for Anna’s quarters, he denied her access. Instead she is staying in guest housing; a tiny room with a bathroom and no kitchen. We took her to our place where she has been sleeping in Zachary’s room. Carrie spent her morning meeting with Dick. He tells us that he will probably have a solution by Wednesday. Needless to say, we are all a little frustrated. Fortunately our boss is as peeved as we are.
Today is Zachary’s birthday. We bought him some tracks for the toy trains we left in New York. We have an alternate gift we can give him, but both items are in our bags in Bamako. Despite the desire to break down in tears, we are happy to be home. School starts tomorrow so we have busied ourselves in our classrooms.
I know that we will find solutions to all of these issues, but I can’t help kicking myself for leaving that bag behind. Maybe we were not designed for world travel after all. Maybe we should take the hint and stay in the States. You would think we could have one trip where nothing fucks up. You would think I might learn to slow down and focus on the moment. Time flies by and I always seem to be lost in its wake.
MJR
posted by Bronx to Timbuktu at 4:05 PM
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