The Second Coming (of family)

Blog Post about Summer 2020

Doug, Kylie, and Caleb were left behind to finish things up after the lightning-fast move. 

Doug had to take our air condition units off the wall at our old house and put them in storage. 

He hired a crane to take the water tanks off our roof and move them over to our new house. 

Then Doug had to get permission from our new landlord to put a western toilet in our new house and turn the bathroom door around because the door swung inward over the squatty area.  The landlord really wasn't excited about it, but he agreed to it.

In the meantime, Doug was watching the news. He was waiting for commercial flights to start up again, but instead, things seemed to be getting worse.

So he booked flights on a charter to get them out on June 28, 2020.

And guess what?  

On the city's instagram post the day they were boarding the plane, these were the posts:

"NEW ROUND OF LOCKDOWN IS EXPECTED TO IMPOSE FROM TOMORROW."

"LOCKDOWN FROM 6:00AM - 0:00AM TILL JULY 4"

"PHARMACIES, SUPERMARKETS, GROCERIES, AND BAKERIES WILL REMAIN OPEN DURING LOCKDOWN DAYS. 

LOCKDOWN PERIOD: JULY 29 - JULY 4. 

LOCKDOWN HOURS: 6:00AM - 00:00AM 18 HOURS"

Coincidence?  I think not :)

So, while they were boarding, I was watching more instagram posts come through and feeling so thankful.

The next day said, "AIRPORTS THROUGHOUT OUR REGION WILL REMAIN CLOSED TO COMMERCIAL FLIGHTS UNTIL JULY 15th."

I'm so thankful that Doug felt led to buy tickets and get out, because realistically, commercial flights did NOT come back on July 15th, and it would have been a long time until he found one. The charter flight just happened to be the best option.

On the day they left, the Covid numbers in our region read:

Total confirmed cases 5,533

Total recovered: 1,634

Total deaths: 180

Total active cases: 3,719

I am more than aware these numbers pale in comparison to what was going on in America. I was keeping track of the numbers there, too, and this screenshot from May 30, 2020, was one month before we flew back.

 

American Birthday with National Style

Some American friends of ours here had a birthday picnic for their daughter.  She has several national friends whom she invited, along with their mothers and siblings.  

In addition to her national friends, her American friends were invited, too.  

People here rarely celebrate birthdays.  In fact, I've talked to some who don't even know their birthdays.  It was like this in Africa, too, because of lack of birth certificates and such, but here, I think it's just because it's not a big deal.

However, the family did the birthday in the style of the picnics they have here.  The only difference was the abundance of the color pink.

I also think that in America if we are invited to a birthday party, we bring a gift, and that's about it.

But here, the girls brought gifts for their friend, and the mothers brought dishes and dishes of food.

My friend, who was hosting the gig, had a ton of food already, but these ladies contributed with even more deserts, a potato dish, a pasta dish, dolma, and an assortment of pastries.

My one big story about the day has to do with Keira.  It was the first time I'd taken her to the park after being potty-trained.

When she needed to go, we walked to the public bathrooms, but she wasn't having it.

One look at the squatty, and she said, "No, Mommy."   Granted, it was pretty nasty, but nothing like I saw in Africa.  So we walked around where I knew there was a Western toilet.  It was pretty sketchy, too.

This girl has never used shady convenience store restrooms in America.  I guess she's used to Buckee's, etc.  Anyway, my one child born in Africa does not like squatties.  She cries even when she sees a clean one (like at a friend's house).

Anyway, in pure country girl fashion, we went behind the bathrooms, and she was completely fine squatting and going in the grass. 

That's about it for excitement.  

I pushed Keira on the swings for a good 30 minutes and visited with a girl from Ghana who is a nanny over here.  Caleb played soccer with some other boys and had a good time; however, you can't tell it by this picture which I snagged of him while waiting for the prayer to be said to start the feasting.

This is what a young boy must feel like at a teenage girl party. :)