I thought I was coming to the US for 2 weeks, comprising about 3 days of travel, 2 weeks of Finance Leaders’ meetings, and half a week of working with a colleague from Dallas on the SIL Accounting Manual. I was also to get 8 days in the UK on the way back to Kenya, my first break since Christmas, to be split between home church and friends, and family. Being the planner that I am (and knowing how much harder it is to get to see all the people you want to see if you don’t plan), I had managed to book time with close friends in Horsham, and was even going to be around for the 1st day of my home church’s women’s conference – something I was back for last year, and thoroughly enjoyed.
The first surprise of the trip was to find that temperatures in North Carolina were significantly warmer than I had gone prepared for. That first weekend, they were in the 80s (28-29C) and subsequently went up to 90C (about 32C). I’d gone expecting something in the 40-65F range! Consequently, I was out shopping for summer clothes that very first day – and was very glad of them.
The second surprise was finding that I was presenting a session on the new Accounting Manual!
And the third came at the end of my time in NC. Last Thursday, I had a shuttle arranged for 10:30am to take me to Charlotte Airport. Pretty much fully packed (and dressed for the cooler UK temperatures), all that remained was to get the last few bits in the case, and to clean up the apartment I’d been staying in, when I received a phone call from a friend, alerting me to a volcano that had blown in Iceland. Knowing this friend, I was mentally figuring out in my head whether you could have an April fool 2 weeks on! However, he wasn’t joking. My travel agent in Nairobi had also emailed to let me know that the Chicago to London flight was cancelled. Initial instructions were to remain at the JAARS Centre where I was staying, my flight having been rescheduled to Sunday. So, I cancelled the airport shuttle and contacted Housing department to see if I could stay on. In the meantime, I was Skyping with the world (or so it seemed), and emailing with the travel agent. This then led to advice, supposedly from BA, to continue to Chicago. That seemed a risky idea given that in Charlotte, I knew a bunch of people, and could well stay on in JAARS housing, whilst in Chicago, I wasn’t aware of knowing anyone. However, having reinstated the shuttle and cancelled the housing (!), I went, trusting that God would make the way (‘where there seems to be no way’). Several hours later, after much dilly-dallying around in Charlotte airport, and chaos re hotel shuttles, I was on a bus on the way to the Oakbrook Holiday Inn. Along with me were families on their way home after Easter holidays away, business people (one of whom was over on a 1-day business trip in the US), ……. That brought with it a sense of de javu having been similarly transported to a hotel in January near Birmingham Airport. That time, the reason was tangible – thick snow. This time, it was less so, at least where we were – ash from a volcano many miles away.
The following morning, we received a note requesting that we return to the airport. My initial thinking was that there really wasn’t any point. Having seen the news, there clearly weren’t going to be any flights that day. Hoping to not have to lug my luggage, I enquired at the front desk about leaving everything in my room. Thankfully, I thought to ask whether BA had made a booking. They hadn’t. So, off we were all went with all our stuff, only to be told at the airport that we were now on our own. What to do? Facebook came into its own as a source of communication. Through responding to my Status update, SIL colleagues put me in contact with close friends of theirs who I’d met 6 years earlier at our branch conference. I made a phone call explaining my plight, and Amy came to pick me up within 45 minutes. She and Joe proved to be amazingly gracious hosts, and great people to spend time with. God really did make the way. We had a fun time together, particularly on Saturday when we walked around Chicago, enjoying the Spring flowers and the views of all the skyscrapers. They also introduced me to Chicago-style pizza at Gino’s East and Garrett’s Chicago Mix popcorn (CaramelCrisp and CheeseCorn).
Currently, I’m in Dallas, having flown down yesterday. My flight to the UK has been rescheduled for Tuesday, just 12 days late! (Had I stayed in Chicago, the delay would have been 15 days!) I won’t have as long in the UK as planned, and probably won’t make it to Horsham, which I’d really been looking forward to. I’m also missing out on a week of handover in Nairobi relating to my new role as Africa Area Finance Coordinator. However, I will get to see family. Having promised my nephew that I’d do all I could to get there, I couldn’t break my word. And the time here is good, at least so far. Further progress on the Accounting Manual, and an opportunity to see friends here, plus the bluebonnets (a Spring time flower) which are out in abundance, and which I’d heard about, but not seen, previously. So, flexibility has been key, and this literal cloud has had several silver linings.
No comments:
Post a Comment