The year after that we travelled as a group and had 2 ladies with us. Juvy and Elaina. Both also Filipino. We, as usual, stayed in apartments because when traveling with even 1 child it is easier to have your own kitchen then rely on room service. Halfway through the vacation only one came home. Juvy explained that they had bumped into Victoria! (I kid you not) in the park and she had convinced Elaina to join her. So, sneaky as a fox, she took her things and ran. (Apparently the karma we sent out to her didn’t work so well)

I have one question, this question has plagued me for years and years and years. WHY THE RUNNING?!! Why not just say “you know what, I’ll make more money here and it would help me and my family immensely so I have decided to stay”. WHAT IS THE POINT OF THE RUNNING! and then they leave their passports with me! I mean what do they think will happen if they tell me, like civilized people, that they want to go. Do they think I will force them to stay? and if so, how exactly do they think I could do that? Physically restrain them? I’ll never understand it.

And to add insult to injury, she didn’t even leave a note of explanation. A little letter of gratitude to me for being the vehicle that got them to the promise land. I don’t know. My sisters think I’m crazy but every time it happens to me I am actually hurt by how easy it is for them to leave us. Apparently V told E and J (Juvy, not my J) that she had managed to buy herself a house in the Philippines and 2 cars and that life was easy etc etc.

Juvy said she would stay which I figured she would because why wouldn’t she have left with E. The day before going back to Riyadh (Just S Juvy and myself) some things came to light that were less than impressive about Juvy so I told her it would be the end of our journey together when we go home. She then burst into tears and told me how she had a boy friend in Riyadh and how she got pregnant from him while working for me and had an abortion God knows where and when and that she wanted to go back and see him.

Anyway, I decided to take S out with me all of the last day for good measure. Got back to the apartment and Juvy was A.W.A.L. AGAIN WITHOUT HER DAMN PASSPORT. But at least she had the decency to leave a note. She was gracious and thankful and sorry. But again, I was going home not 1 less but 2 less than when we came.

The morning of our flight I woke up with S all cheerful (as he never again got so attached to a nanny as he did to V thank God) and immediately my phone rang with an unknown number.

When I answered there was a man on the other end who asked me if I was B. I said yes? He then started shouting at me saying he is from the police and that I am holding Juvy’s passport illegally and that I had no right to keep her passport from her blah blah human rights blah blah freedom. I said hold on one second. She was my employee charged with caring for my 3-year-old son and she ran away  breaking her contract and leaving us without an explanation. Then I got an ear full because I used the term “ran away” well she did! What would you call sneaking away without anyones knowledge? Anyway. Needless to say that was the LAST time I ever kept anyones passport with mine while travelling. I assumed it made sense to keep the passport and tickets in one place, but no, you could be shouted at by a police officer about human rights and freedom regardless of the fact that they had access to the damn passports when they wanted them.

My husband was not able to travel the whole period that I travelled because of work obligations so I was almost always on the flight home without him. This time I did not have any friends on the flight. Just little S and me and little fetus J with all her morning sickness in my belly. Thankfully there was this LOVELY woman who knew one of my sisters and she very handily had 4 daughters all of which fell head over heals for S and handed him from one to the other while I ate and went to the bathroom and chatted with their mother.

When we got home we found that both Juvy and Elaina had left a lot of belongings here in Riyadh which we didn’t know what to do with. We knew Elaina’s husband lived here so I called him to come get her things. He politely declined saying he was upset at her for not telling him and ashamed at what she had done. He said “throw them in the street” which we didn’t. We gave the stuff away to charity.

Stay tuned for the third and last (God I hope) installment of ADVENTURE OF TRAVELING WITH A NANNY!