Patagonia recently learned of a mystery item she will inherit if she can fulfill the stipulations of Peter Pesky's will. Seems she must travel (without her spouse, which will not be easy for our co-dependent Patagonia) to at least 13 countries including all of the continents, in order to get whatever was left to her. (see GCAGW8T-Mayday!)
Patagonia is a bit short on both guts and cash for this mission. Where to go and when and how?
She got to her first country with the help of Prichard, her husband. First, he prompted her to get a job at an airline company. He wrote her resume, coached her about airlines and airports, and drove her to the interview. She ended up getting the job. After obtaining a passport and a suitcase, she made it to New Zealand. Unfortunately she had a lapse in judgement while away from her spouse. She stole a kiwi bird for her son and was subsequently fired from her ideal airline job.
After this initial fiasco, word was put out to everyone they knew that Patagonia was again looking for ideas to get to another country on the cheap. Eventually they heard about a priest that was looking for a responsible adult to help him chaperone a group of teenagers to Poland for a religious pilgrimage. Quickly Prichard looked up the top Catholic prayers of all times. Patagonia brushed up on The Lord's Prayer, The Hail Mary, and learned how to pray The Rosary. Before Pritchard escorted her her to the church to apply for the position, he made her swear that she would absolutely not mention the kiwi bird fiasco nor the fact that she was raised Lutheran.
At the interview, she had to be strong not to shout out that she was a Protestant thief. The priest's eyes sort of bored into hers in an all-knowing kind of way. She had to remind herself that this was not confession, and that the priest could not actually read her mind. In the end, she clamped her lips shut and did a lot of nodding. The priest was actually sort of desperate for some unpaid help and offered her the position on the spot.
Patagonia took up her suitcase and passport and went over with the group. They met up with a Polish youth group and went around Poland looking at various cathedrals, including a visit to the Jasna Góra Monastery in Częstochowa, where Patagonia even bought some religious beads.
In the end, all of the kids survived the trip without any visits to the hospital or to jail, and they all made it back to New Jersey feeling somewhat more religious, so that was something.
Another country/continent down. What is that, 2/13?
So now Patagonia is back to looking for other thrifty ideas on how to get to her next country. She decided to host an event in this little park to try to get some people here to help her brainstorm. Hope to see you there!