Sheraton Midtown Atlanta Hotel At Colony Square

... the cautionary tales and gathered together....finally...to offer support to St Thomas's church and school in Kagiso.

The many months of planning have not fully prepared all of us to really grasp where we are going
and what we are going to see. Some things just have to be experienced. Some in the group are reverent and intentional, some are quietly curious and some are just plain wide eyed wondering
what we ...

... gate before the colors faded;

· The hilarious e-mail Hillary sent about "College Night" at Head Royce, which she attended with Vince in our absence;

· Gabe’s sleepy face on the tiny laptop screen, mugging for the webcam, when we finally figured out how to make a Skype call home.

It’s been fun.

... visa. Out of all these circumstances, don’t you think friends and family members would go out of their way to come see me?

Because this happened last year, I wasn’t surprised. I come home once in a year, and get told that I have to go see them, they can’t DARE come see me.

This same story has been repeating itself since my foolish trip to Roanoke, VA in 2007, when after driving 10+ hrs with a friend to have ...

... attractions, act as though I know a lot about the city, etc.

When he asked me "what is there to see in Atlanta?", all I could think of was "the world of Coke, the Aquarium, midtown..." The world of Coke didn't really interest him that much (I went to the original back in 2000 when first moving here, NOT worth it...), and since he's a vegetarian, seeing the Aquarium kind of goes against his principles of ...

I think I avoided updating my blog particularly because I didn't really want to recount my trip to Roswell. I came home with great aspirations, hoping people and things had changed. Instead of repeating the same old same old, this entry is more or less just repeated feelings and disappointments.

On a separate note…this time I looked at Roswell from a different perspective (as much of the rest of my trip to the US).

3-4 lane roads are ...

... T-Mobile store and some socks from Macy’s (jeez my blog is fascinating isn’t it?). I have discovered that all stores here show the prices of things before tax, which is quite annoying when you are counting up the 1 cent coins to reach $1.79 only to discover that the real price is $2.04.

I think I’ll have a quiet night in as I plan to do quite a bit more tomorrow.

Here are some various snaps I took which are explained by the captions.

Packing Light. Each time I have journeyed to the Philippines, I have taken less and less. The weather is warm and humid. With the restrictions concerning Air Transporation as they are, for our own safety, its best ...

... marvelous group and John and Miriam were truly outstanding in their openness to share their experience, knowledge and intellectual property with us. That being enough said it was an intellectually challenging time and also hugely enjoyable so that as I leave I am not overwhelmingly feeling really home sick and desperate to get home (which is am) I am just sad I may well never see some of these marvelous people again. I did manage to see a little of Atlanta though as ...

... by these individuals, and Wesley particularly, robbed me of any dignity I had left. Throbbing with out of control pain, legs and feet not working, and now swollen horribly, emotionally and physically stressed to the limit, and this man is patting me on the head and declaring, loudly, that 'I'm okay'!? I broke down, and quietly wept. I didn't have misty eyes. I wept. Not loudly, not drawing attention, but a person who feels utterly broken. There were tears, and snot, and not ...

... We prepared a list of things that we had to do before we left as well as things that we needed to remember to take with us on the trip. Haircuts, dental checkups, and prescription gathering were scheduled for right before we left. We rejoined AAA, and we made sure we had our AAA card, our AARP card, our passports, our drivers' licenses, registration, and proof of insurance. We planned to take just an American Express card and a MasterCard, some cash, and travelers ...