Hot, Humid and Ramadan-Welcome Home!

We have made it back home...after 36 hour transit starting in Chicago and ending here in our city. Everytime we travel, we ask ourselves "why?" And by "why", I mean "why are we traveling this far, this long, with a 1 yr old and a 3 yr old?" I consider both Jeremy and I to be fairly intelligent people. But everytime we travel I question that assumption. No one in their right minds would travel with so young of kids for so long of a trip. The "why" question continues into the first week of arriving back. We arrived to our house about 5am local time and found out that we were having electricity issues so that no ACs worked and the power kept going off. It is hot season now and Ramadan which basically means everyone is hot and grumpy. Those first couple of days I also was hot and grumpy. Now I am just hot! Our first week has gone by quickly trying to settle back in. Settling means fixing things here. We are now feeling settled and ready to resume our normal lives here.

Yesterday I asked Jeremy if he was happy to be back. He responded with some insights into why living in Africa is so unique and why living here is a blessing:
When we left Chicago we had MAJOR luggage issues at the counter. It is a big, long story which basically came down to 3 things: One, we were overweight on our luggage weight allowance (not our fault, we were given faulty information from our friendly Delta phone service) and we had excess baggage (things for the trike and Little Stars). Secondly, we had to pay for all of it down to the last dollar. Third, there was absolutely nothing they could do-that was the rule. It was a very frustrating hour or so of arguing in which we lost to the rule handbook that is floating around somewhere at Delta headquarters which no one can produce to actually show us the rule and prove there are no exceptions. You ask, what does this have to do with living in Africa?? Well, when we arrived here, we didn't receive one bag. After a few days we received a phone call (actually they called and hung up so Jeremy would call the airport back using HIS cell phone minutes instead of their minutes) that our bag had arrived and we could come and pick it up! Yeah! Jeremy went to the airport 3 or 4 times before we could actually get it-why? Well, even though it was the middle of the day and the man had JUST called, no one knew anything about it! It was hot, they were fasting, and everyone seemed confused that Jeremy had been called. When he finally received his bag, he just points to it and they vaguely look for ID or some sort of baggage sticker and hand him his bag-just like that. So simple. No rules. No times of day. No idea when a good time to go to the airport is. Just come. Talk. Joke. And maybe you will get your bag today. If not today, ok, then, inshallah (hopefully), tomorrow. Simplicity. Easygoingness. No rule handbook, no levels of bureacracy, no complications.
What else is a blessing? Being yourself. In the U.S. there are so many standards that are impossible to live up to-what to look like, what to wear, your job, your income level, your house, your stuff. We are bombarded with how inadequate we are and how to make yourself look better, feel better, better job, more money, more more more, better better better.... Here, in Africa. You are you. Be happy, be confident. No impossible expectations of who you should be or look like. God made you the way you are. There is something natural about that thought.
Another blessing about being here is time. You have time. Time to talk with someone, time to just hang out. Schedules aren't overloaded and too busy. There is very little multi-tasking. If your phone rings, you stop what you are doing-even if you are selling something, and talk to that person. If someone comes to visit, they are welcomed in. You are never too busy to see someone. I forget to implement this in my life at times and sometimes I am irritated by it, but, overall it is a blessing.

So, are we happy to be back? Yes. And sometimes No. I have already had some down moments and tears. And we will. But, there is something fun about Africa. Something different. Something wild. Something carefree and natural. Something to embrace and love.