So we arrived in Byron Bay, Australia the other day and we decided to hit up a local open mic comedy night just to have some fun before our ministry starts up. We invited Lars, our Norweigan tent neighbor and off we went.
Along the way, I noticed a number of bats flying above us. Bats in general are kinda creepy, but they particularly gave my teammate Jess the heebie jeebies. So I told her to have no fear because the worst thing a bat would do is poop on her. We all agreed that that would suck, but I pointed out how cool of a story that would be. Think about it, you’re walking with a Norweigan in Australia and a bat poops on you…sounds like a good story to me. But the comment was forgotten, as we arrived at our destination.
We head into the bathroom, and I’m trying to help a sister out, but it’s not really helping in all honesty. And then this girl in the bathroom, Katrina, suggests Karen takes off her clothes and we’ll wash them in the sink. This seems like a grand idea so Karen strips down and this girl and I start washing her outfit in the sink. Then we dried them under the hand dryer. Everything was still pretty damp, but acceptable. But this good samaritan decided that she would find another hand dryer in the disability toilet.
She returned a moment later laughing uncontrollably. Apparently, she had found the restaurant’s laundry room. She’d removed all the rags that were being washed and stuck Karen’s shirt in, only to discover that now the dryer door was locked! The shirt was stuck in there! We tried everything to get the door open- unplugged it, pushed every button, but nothing.
Then Katrina’s husband shows up, becuase at this point she’s been gone almost 30 minutes. Did I mention it was their 2 year wedding anniversary? Yup. It was. So he tried, but gave up. Finally, a guy that works there walks up to us and is just like “what the heck are you doing back here?” because no, we had not asked to use this machine. After we explained the story, he was able to unlock the door. Victory! Or so we thought…
The machine was a dual washer and dryer. Since we had opened it in the middle of a cycle. Karen’s shirt was now sopping wet and covered in soap! And that point, we all kinda gave up and just laughed, and Karen was forced to wear wet, smelly clothes home.
It was just a funny, ridiculous situation, and I loved it. It did, however, teach me a few important things. It taught me that nice strangers still exist. That bat poop really smells. It taught me that I should watch what I say. And that God is definitely a prankster!
