I had the opportunity to babysit some of my favorite missionary kids in all of Madagascar and put my nanny skills back to use. Their parents actually went out on a very rare real date! So here’s what I learned from my fun-filled night -
- Some things just don’t change. When the parents are gone children don’t want to go to bed here just as much as they don’t wan t to go to bed when they are stateside. I guess this one shouldn’t have been a surprise, but a nanny can dream right??
- Watching American movies just isn’t the same. We watched the lego movie last night and they mentioned overpriced coffee and Taco Tuesday and all I could think was - not fair! I would do anything for a $5 coffee and a girls night out for Taco Tuesday.
- When getting ready for bed we don’t have to worry about monsters, we only have to worry about making sure the lions, tigers, giraffes, and cheetahs are out of the house. Whew! Africa problems… I didn’t share that these were only mainland Africa problems, it was just too cute!)
- When the hard part of making dinner isn’t the cooking, it’s figuring out how to turn on the stove. I looked for a lighter for 10 minutes until I remembered they have a button on the stove to light the burner… so fancy! Now if we had an American oven I don’t even know what I would do with myself!
- I’m not in charge. Mommy and Daddy said big brother was in charge, and obviously only one person can be in charge. I even tried to explain that I’m a decade and a half older than anyone else in the house at the moment, but that didn’t mean much because mommy and daddy said… All I could think of was “what am I doing here then?!”
- If grown-ups go out on a date I should be thankful I’m not there. According to the kids I’m super lucky because they saved me from talking about boring grown-up things and we watched a movie instead! I won’t remind them I’m considered an old maid by Malagasy standards and should be married with at least 1 child by now. I guess not growing up is the way to go if you get to have a movie night!
- Being driven home afterwards isn’t as easy as it sounds. It’s frustrating enough that I can’t transport myself home, much less that we have to drive the long way around the neighborhood because of the rain and mud. The ride was almost a real-life version of the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland! It was just a reminder that even the simplest task can be challenging here.