My Grand Adventure

I've been in Togo for a week now. So far, the missionaries have driven us to and from their houses and other events. It's been fantastic, because during rainy season, it's muddy and there's always a chance we'll get caught in the rain.

I have a story. Yesterday, we were babysitting at the Emerson's house for their little boys Caden and Corban when it started to downpour. Well, I brought my iPhone to Togo with me which has been super fantastic because I use it as a portable music player that everyone can listen to. Yesterday, before Brett (Emerson) came to pick us up, I had been washing dishes in the kitchen, rocking out to The Last Five Years soundtrack. I had paused the music when I heard whistling from Brett trying to get our attention (our phone doesn't work on a regular basis). I then set my iPhone back down... on the window sill next to our open window (which is kind of a story in itself- our window coverings consist of screens and slanted pieces of glass that open/close, but never completely seal).

So, Bethany, Sarah, and I are at the Emerson's, listening to Tiggy (the Emerson's pet monkey) howl at the storm and watching VeggieTales with the boys when all of the sudden, I realize that not only have we not closed our windows, but my iPhone is sitting right next to one of them. At this point, we're not sure how the storms work with the wind and where water comes in, but it doesn't really matter- my iPhone was in danger and my active imagination was telling me that things were not good. So Sarah and I decide to go back to the apartment to close the windows. We leave Bethany with the boys and the house workers outside (including the night guard- she was safe!), and we proceed to walk to our apartment.

We know the basic path. We've never done the travel, but it can't be that hard! It's fairly easy to explain, so of course we can do it! It's light outside, and we're ready to conquer this challenge. So, we set out.

Our first step was to take a left out of the Emerson's house, a left onto the road, and a right off of that road. Well, we took a right waaaaaay too soon. A few small rivers, lots of laughing Africans, a downpour, a couple of wrong turns, and some laughter later, we found our apartment. 45 minutes after we had left, we made it back to the Emerson's much, much wiser.


In the following picture, you can see that we're each wearing a pagne (pronounced pan-yuh) to be modest when outside of western style homes. The one I'm wearing is the one I got at the market- lots of colors and I love it!!