Saturday, July 4, 2009

Back to the Mansa Life


Jeff and Becky's wedding was absolutely beautiful and so much fun! It was great to spend time with family and to celebrate with Jeff and Becky. The picture above is of the ceremony, when they were giving flowers to the parents and grandparents. You can see Grandma Farmer, Sue, and Jim along with the stunning bride Becky and handsome groom Jeff. We were so happy to be able to come home for this!


Stephanie, Becky and Ruth "the Mischler sister" (minus Karen) at the rehearsal dinner! Love you gals so much!



John and I have made it back safe and sound to Mansa. Phew! We are tired from all the traveling... it is hard to imagine that it takes about 4 full days to make it from Metatmora, IL to Mansa, Zambia but considering the distance that is really quite speedy. We had a long lay over in the Johannesburg airport and spent the night there (pictured above). When we arrived in Lusaka in the morning we were thankful that John's 2 bags had made it, but mine did not. We decided to wait until the next flight from Johannesburg arrived (3 1/2 hours later) to see if my bag made it on that flight. The airport in Lusaka is a ways out of town and it would cost $60 around trip to take a taxi. I was tired, frustrated, in tears, and upset about all of this, but in the end everything worked out just fine. My bag arrived and we headed on our way without too much of a delay.

We went to Mapepe to rest for the night and visited with the Frenches. Lusaka was cold, especially after the hot and humid weather we had in Illinois! We were fortunate to be able to catch a ride with or Finnish friends from PLARD in their land cruiser the next morning to get back to Mansa... we didn't have to ride the bus! HOORAY!

Today we have been taking things easy... doing laundry, reading, going for a run, and resting. We ate some watermelon to celebrate for the 4th of July. But, we will miss out on fire works. Make sure to catch some for us!

2 comments:

  1. HOORAY for not taking the Mansa bus!!!! No semitruck tires, luggage hitting you in the back of the head, and no 1am "weigh" station stops! HAHA!

    I noticed John camping out in the airport in the picture above... where did you find this spot out in the airport?

    Happy 4th!

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  2. Yes! We were most excited to not have to ride the bus :)

    We camped out in the upper level of the airport near the "special rooms, for special people".

    Happy Unity Day!

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