Well if you counted a few five-minute international phone calls, two-to-three-minute Skype chats (with delays), and Christmas day eating and drinking with 19 other PCVs…then that’s exactly what I did.
My last Christmas abroad, I spent five hours in a cabine telephonique with a list of Christmas Must-Calls in one hand and an international phone card in the other. What year was this? 2006.
In 2011, I really had no clue what to expect. A Christmas feast with various French wines that separated each course was certainly on my Christmas Wish List, but it seemed a bit far-fetched. Well there may not have been wine, but there certainly was a feast. More on that to come.
Christmas Eve was a special day this year. Aside from the obvious—I was in Togo and there wasn’t any snow on the ground—the morning was a bit of an odd start. Since it was a volunteer’s birthday, I invited a few people chez moi for a small celebration before the crazy festivities truly commenced. Everything was planned accordingly and it seemed like smooth sailing. This was until I walked into my shower room that morning and noticed an inch of dirty water on the ground. Crap. I immediately grabbed my mop and started cleaning up. I didn’t understand why the drain was clogged. Without unnecessary gross details, I am fairly good about snaking my hair from the drain. This was something else. After an hour later of mopping, the floor was dry. But it wasn’t over. My faucet was dripping. As the French like to say, “J’en ai marre.” Translation: I have had enough. I certainly couldn’t waste clean water on Christmas Eve in Africa!
So, what did I do?
I sent an urgent text message to my local friend who knows just about everyone—that is everyone who might be useful to a PCV.
Not even an hour passed and my friend Robert showed up at my door with a plumber. Rescued! The plumber fixed my faucet within 20 minutes, but the drain puzzled us both. It wouldn’t drain!
What could it be?! And then we realized…
The septic was full. My neighbors mentioned (that day) the previous owners/former PCVs never emptied their septic. Almost seven months into my service I knew it was highly improbable for me to fill it, moi-même. No way.
What happened after?
Well I had to semi empty the septic in order to bathe over the holidays. Robert wouldn’t allow me to help, so I watched as he pulled out buckets of disgusting drain water. Sure such events painted this year’s Christmas as shitty…literally. But Togo threw me a bone and things improved.
How so?
I still managed to host a mini birthday celebration for my friend Mark, complete with curry couscous, beers in cans and rooftop fun in the sun.
My close friend (and neighbor) Maggie McRae gave me the perfect Christmas gift: a locally made computer case for my Macbook Pro to match my Kate Spade iTouch cover. That’s love.
I received a Christmas package in the mail from my good friend Laura Cochrun. Thanks love, it was perfect!
I somehow managed to video chat with my oldest sister Carolyn, her family and my mom. Sure the video feed didn’t last more than three minutes, but geez…beggars can’t be choosers!
And I spent Christmas Day with roughly 19 other PCVs feasting and drinking with APCD Paul (EAFS/NRM Program Director) and his family at his house. We ate so much food; we drank tchakpa; and we laughed. It was great, and I completely forgot about all the shit.
Sure hope everyone enjoyed Christmas last year! Just one more Christmas abroad and the next will be stateside. J
Surely you mean "the rest will be stateside" ? :)
ReplyDeleteThings always break at the least convenient times, wherever you are in the world. Glad to see it didn't ruin your Christmas. Happy New Year!
I prefer subtle hints. ;)
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year!!
I can only imagine what it must be like to be spending major holidays like Christmas away from your family! It’s good though that you’re still able to spend some sort of time with them in some capacity. It’s fortunate that your leaking faucet was quickly fixed, and I can totally sympathize with your drain problem. My problem was fixed also by cleaning out the septic, in which the plumber I had hired was kind enough to do for me at the time!
ReplyDeleteAlthea Tumlin
My goodness, what a smelly affair the septic tank must’ve been! I can only imagine what it’s like to realize what the cause of the problem was. It’s a good thing there was someone who was able to quickly help you with your plumbing woes. I don’t think the holidays would be quite as jolly if it weren’t for that excellent plumber.
ReplyDelete++ Carmella Vancil
Even if you weren’t the one who pulled out all those drain water, it was still disgusting, right? Haha. I felt horrible just watching it, so the last time we had the same problem in our house, I just let the plumber do all the work. I just peeked at the bathroom to give him some kind of moral support. Hahaha!
ReplyDeleteDarryl Iorio
Thank you for all your comments. Such interesting stories!
ReplyDeleteIt was disgusting, but like you Darryl, I gave moral support from the opposite end of my porch. :)