Salut La Réunion!!

My contract got renewed!! How good is that :)?

The one thing I really like about the language assistant program is you get to choose the place you’d want to work.

Last year I was in Guadeloupe Island and this year I chose Reunion Island because why not 😏.

Reunion is a beautiful French island under France found in the Indian Ocean, it’s close to Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelles. I think that’s the best way to describe it

I feel really lucky to have a job that gives me a chance to travel and explore different places, which is actually one of the objectives of the program. 

Good news is next year’s application is out all you have to do is liaise with the French embassy in your country and see if the program runs there. For my country people here’s the link for the application 

Recruitment campaign for English language assistants in France https://ke.ambafrance.org/Call-for-applications-recruitment-of-language-assistants-3827  for the 2021-2022 school year is now open until 8th January 2021.

For my trip I decided to fly with Egyptair and French Bee, which I thought was a good idea since it was within my budget. I had to fly all the way to France then Reunion because corona happened and Madagascar and Mauritius which would have been shorter were still not functioning , but surprisingly the air fare for both the short and long route were almost the same. 

This was my first and last time ever using Egyptair. My friend had actually warned me about the bad reviews it had but I still went for it. I guess this was my day. I checked in my 2 bags in Kenya to check them out in France, Charles de Gaulle ( CDG) , since I was using a different airline and airport, Orly,  to Reunion so I needed to check them in again. 

Guess what happens at CDG.  I get one of my bags and wait for the other one for like 30minutes with nothing in site. At this time most of the other passengers had cleared the luggage area.

I inform one of the guards that I don’t see my bag and he shows me the Egyptair help centre. I tell the guy there, I couldn’t see my bag. He had a piece of paper and asks if I’m Belinda and I go “yes”. He says, ” your bag is in Kenya!!” What!!

I just chocked on my tears trying to ask why. Yaani this guy doesn’t even show sympathy and just says “I can’t give you a reason why your bag is not here” . How’s that supposed to help me??

By this time I’ve cried my heart out (don’t worry I’m not an ugly crier ha-ha and with the mask on it doesn’t look that bad 🙂

He gets my details and files a complaint and later says my bag will arrive the following day, but I was leaving Paris in the evening for Reunion. He says they will send it to Reunion in a day or so, so we fill in more details. 

This just destroyed my travelling mood completely 😒.  

I made my train trip to Orly airport which was pretty smooth ( I had done it before)  despite having to carry one of my heavy bags. It was my first time flying with French Bee and we were so crowded. I do not think there was even one empty seat. It beats the logic of having to social distance while queuing to enter the plane only for us to be cramped up together even though we had masks on. This was also the same for my flight from Kenya to Egypt, at least the one to France was like half empty and I could have a whole 3-seater to myself . The food wasn’t that bad. The food provided was basic, though the ones on sale had a variety of options, which honestly to me just didn’t make sense. Before I forget, I didn’t like Egyptair’s food either; cold chicken and cheese sandwiches 🙁 . I’m not such a fan of cold dishes.

We landed safely on the island and I decided to use the rest room before going out. As I am heading towards the exit one of the airport control guys stops me and asks to check my bag, so I open. Aki some of my njugus (peanuts) had burst out of their packets. Yaani these guys insisted on removing everything and I end up trying to explain to them what mabuyus and simsims were. We ended up concluding that mabuyus are like sweets ha-ha. One of the guys started to play with my mwiko (cooking stick) while another sang a famous ‘Belinda’ song by Claude François and asked if I know it. He’s actually the second French guy to ask me that.

Probably if I had left with the other many passengers I would not have been stopped and had my bag dismantled like that. It was such a struggle putting everything back. It was such injustice after my sisters had helped me pack so nicely.

“Passer un bon séjour,” they said as I walked towards the exit to a beautiful view of the mountains.

Ps: I got my luggage intact a day after my arrival 🙂

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11 Comments

  1. giantslayer101 November 2, 2020 at 12:00 pm

    You are so lucky!! 🙌
    Eh… Right about now I wish I hadn’t dropped French in highschool 😂 damn these opportunities… Too nice too nice
    Also sorry about the Egyptair shenanigans 🤦😩
    Thanks for sharing your experience
    Love the last pic 😍

    Reply
  2. Belinda Addikah November 2, 2020 at 12:10 pm

    If we only knew what the future holds…
    Thank you for the love ❣

    Reply
  3. Tinjeytj November 10, 2020 at 2:18 pm

    Good stuff,
    Sorry about your bags though

    Reply
  4. Lisa November 23, 2020 at 9:13 am

    What an experience! The island looks amazing. Am glad you got your mabuyus and simsim😝

    Reply
    1. Belinda Addikah November 25, 2020 at 12:17 am

      Hahha the stwesss 🤣, thank you for passing by 🥰

      Reply
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  7. Metrine Bwisa November 13, 2021 at 2:04 pm

    😂😂😂 You got me laughing on this one, aai hizo njugu they just had to embarras you last minute 🙆🏾.. Alafu on Egypt air, thank you for sharing that experience!

    Keep the blogs coming, the humour 😅

    Reply
    1. Addikah Belinda November 13, 2021 at 2:28 pm

      Haha thank goodness no one was allergic to njugu!!
      Egypt Air for me is just the gherroo 🥵 lakini we live to see another day hahah

      Reply
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