An interesting personal account of the FIGT conference (Families in Global Transition www.figt.org). I wish there was more on the conference itself but I found the following entertaining so I thought I’d share. [ via climach ]

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Cherry and apple petals drift past the window. Birds chirp. Sheep go by in the street. All of which makes it difficult to take seriously the speakers at the conference on TCK’s (third-culture kids), and the parents who so urgently discuss universal concerns like, “Keeping our kids away from bad kids”, and “How much TV is OK?” It could be a suburban Midwestern community group, except for the details. For instance, the ancient pagan belief in three genders—men, women, and boys—and the resulting astronomical rate of homosexual pedophilia may mean that your sons are in more danger than your daughters.

And there’s the keynote session on e-bags. E-bags are the carry-on-bag-sized answer to the question, “If you had to leave everything behind immediately and go for an unknown time into an unknown area with a wife and two toddlers, what would you take?”

The weather’s turned beautiful lately: terrorist weather. Several days ago, an embassy friend said, “It’s when, not if.”

I’m stepping down from the podium at the national teacher’s conference when Jamie hands me her cell phone. “It’s Lauren.”

“An embassy had a bomber and a shooting. I don’t know which one. There are reports of shooting by or in one of the bazaars. Roads across the city are closed.”

Start with the bag. Samsonite and American Traveler don’t blend. Pick up something from the bazaar. Light, durable are nice, local is essential. Two feet by two feet by six inches. Two liters of water. Flashlight. First aid. Knife. Copies of passports, visas, marriage license. Dried fruit. Diapers. Keep it small because local airlines have been known to sell standing-room-only tickets.

I hang up the phone and tell the conference organizer. The American and British embassy reps are talking on their cell phones, being hustled out the door by men in suits. “I’ve got to go. You’ll need to find someone else to moderate my sessions.” The conference organizer nods and makes the gesture of calling down God’s blessings. “If God wills.”

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