Ummm… okay… so my plans have just shattered, splattered, fallen to pieces on the floor and I’m thinking… what better way to capture the moment than by sharing it all with you?! Ready for this? Oh my goodness.
Left my latest and greatest home at the lovely hour of 4am to start the crammed bus journey from Tofo to Maputo. Maputo is the big city where I was to wrap it all up and start the next part of my adventures. The bus ride is a miserable one; people and possessions piled in layers, typical African style, unable to move, get comfortable, or generally breathe for a good solid 8 – 9 hours with the heat and the smells becoming more and more oppressive as the sun rises higher in the sky. It’s a rite of passage here and we all sympathize with locals and travelers alike who must participate in this often unavoidable evil . Got through it with minimal discomfort or delay, got into my hostel, and headed out for the long walk to the Canadian High Commission to pick up my new passport (which had finally arrived after MUCH hassle and hysteria). New passport in hand, plane ticket printed off before I left Tofo and I was feeling pretty happy that I had just experienced a fairly successful day considering where I am. The last chore left was to exchange money and I have a whole day and a half to do it before I’m due to get on my flight. Loads of time to waste. Loads.
Got online around 7pm tonight to catch up on what I’ve missed over the last couple of days and got the following email:
Dear Janice,
I am sorry to inform you that the position I have offered you as teacher at the British International School Ghana is no longer available.
I was just informed this morning, that the school has undergone new management changes, and they have decided that no new teachers are needed at the present.
I am truly sorry for all the inconvenience that this has caused you and I was just as shocked and upset as you probably are now with this decision. Any compensation for either visas or purchased tickets may be dealt with with the school directly, contacts below.
Read it over and over and over. This can’t be real. This must be a joke. I’ve just quit my job, arrived in Maputo TODAY, am set to fly in less than 48 hours, and I have just received this little tidbit of “by the way” news sent a few hours earlier. WTF? was repeated in my head several times, then I just started laughing. Laughing because at this point, what else can I do? I have no job, have no possibility to change the plane tickets without incurring astronomical fees, and now, apparently, nowhere to go to. Oh, and since travel around Africa is ridiculously expensive, my tickets to get from here to Florida to visit the folks and then back to Ghana to start what I assumed was to be my new life… just under $3000. Brand new credit card is properly worked in but now no way to pay it off. Gulp. Again, WTF?! Oh, I mean… Bahahahaha! OF COURSE the job is “no longer available”, of course. I’ve been in Africa for 15 months… how on EARTH did I think that this was really going to come together?! Silly me, silly, silly me.
The journey back from Mozambique was thankfully, blissfully uneventful. Two very quick little stops and the big flight, from Johannesburg to Atlanta, turned out to be only 16 & ½ hrs instead of 17 & ½ hrs. I was talking to Nicola just before I left and had, for the first time, really looked at the details of my flights; can planes really stay in the air for 17 & ½ hrs?!?! I mean, don’t they have to refuel or get more supplies or SOMETHING?! For all of the travelling I’ve been fortunate enough to have done, I’m still apparently very, very dumb. But yeah, window seats the whole way (thanks for double checking mom!) and that long haul flight was pretty darn impressive. When was the last time you heard anyone have something good to say about airlines or flying in general? Well sit up and take note people! Today is the day! Flew Delta, in one of their new 777s (I think. I really don’t have a clue.) It was one of those big ole planes with three rows of three across in each one, every seat full. You know, those planes where if it goes down, the fatality numbers will be so high that it WILL make international news for at least one day. Yeah, I think about those things. Seats were bigger than I remember, and really kinda comfy. At this point, my life of African depravity was really paying off.
The little movie/entertainment thingy jiggy that’s in the back of the seat in front of you had a whole library of movies, TV shows, music, games and all kinds of things to play with! I’ve had the toy before on planes, but this one was really cool! Really! So I watched movies and listened to tunes and soaked up media luxuries that I haven’t had in such a long time. While I was thoroughly pleased with my travel turn of events, I did feel badly for the couple who was sitting in the aisle and middle seats alongside me. 16 & ½ hrs people… 1. I have trouble sitting still for any length of time if there IS the possibility to move, and 2. I have to pee A LOT! If I drink one litre of water, I will pee out two litres… seriously! Anyone who has done any road tripping with me can verify this (right Dye family?) I will purposely flirt with the ails of dehydration to avoid inconveniencing travel mates with the annoying and incessant pee breaks but on a plane, sorry folks, I gulp as much water as I can and I gotta get out of my seat. OH! I forgot to tell you about the check in BEFORE the 16 & ½ hr flight (can you tell that I still think this was an extremely long period of time to be suspended in mid air?!)
So yay! Jo-burg airport is lovely. Sad that I’ve been rural for so long that I was gleefully overwhelmed with how posh I thought the AIRPORT was!!! (That being said, it WAS just all dolled up to accommodate the World Cup last year so yeah, it was kinda posh) Ran into a friend from Tofo in the airport so that made it all the better as we rushed about in a last minute little visit. Okay. Arrive at my departure gate and see these two enormously long lines just to get INTO the sitting area. *sigh* Whatever. I’m getting good at waiting. Plop my stuff down in one line and the man behind me gently points out that I’m in the wrong “gender sensitive” line. Pardon? Oh. One line for ladies, one line for men. Ummm… I’m not flying into Saudi, I’m flying into the USA. I look ahead to see pat down searches before entering the ALREADY SECURE gate area. Are you kidding me? I’ve been through scanners and gate checks, simply walked from one plane to the next and oh yeah, apparently managed to McGyver myself a home-made nuclear bomb from chewing gum wrappers and toothpicks in the meantime. Seriously people… come on! So pat, pat, pat, cheap little feel up, take away all water bottles if you don’t have a receipt (which of course no one does because who the hell GETS and then KEEPS their receipt for a bottle of water?!?!), carryon bags searched, ID needed before stepping on to the plane itself after already presenting it with our boarding pass and then we are herded onto the jumbo jet. Lucky it was a nice plane because just there were some seriously grouchy people after that little boarding process. I was just giddy to be on the move in something that wasn’t held together with rust, paint chips, bits of string, and superglue. FANNN – CY!
Oooooo! Speaking of fancy… the food! Again folks, when was the last time that you heard people excited about air travel yet here it is?! The food was SO good and came so often that I even turned stuff down. No kidding! Shocking for those of you who know me and my bizarre need for food even though I’m not the least bit hungry. But yeah, the food was incredible. Maybe because I’ve not seen much of what they were serving for quite some time, maybe because I love all things “mini” (mini bottles of condiments, mini portions of food packaging, mini sized serving dishes, etc), maybe I was just delusional but I was full, full, FULL and still they were bringing more. Don’t know about the little domestic flights but people, if ever you need to fly for the majority of an entire day somewhere across the world, Delta is the way to go. (Think I can get a spokesperson gig to tide me over until I find work?)
Loved the latest and greatest modern travel and avoided all thoughts of now having nothing to do with my life for the moment. Unemployed, homeless, and wandering… wow… what aspirations, what lofty goals, what a success story! *sigh* Please don’t judge me. I keep telling myself that I’m just “on holiday”.
Since I’ve settled into my parents’ winter time retirement village home, I’ve been corresponding with the school in Ghana in attempts to recover some of the insane flight bills I’ve racked up making plans to get there. The school says that the company will reimburse me for my expenses, I’ve cancelled what I could and sent receipts, but am still sitting, waiting, hoping that I’m not being hopelessly naïve in all of this. Am I being naïve? Should we place bets on if I’ll receive any compensation? Maybe I can pay off some of my bills with the winnings? Takers? Please? Oh love a duck… I’m not getting any money back, am I?
So here I sit, in this very lovely “age qualified” community (which is really, REALLY cute!) trying to figure out what’s next. I am missing Africa desperately and the pain is a little sharper knowing that I didn’t even consider saying goodbye as I had planned to be back in a couple of weeks. But it all happens for a reason, my universe keeps making way for my continued adventures, and I simply have to look at this as a lesson in patience. Right? Right. Always more adventure. Enough with the planning, we’ll just have to see what comes next. Africa is still there and I will find my way back… eventually. Think there are any ancient village chiefs out there who might be interested in a white wife? Betcha I can find one….
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