The Jennifer Goodbyes and the Driving Experience

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  Blantyre, Malawi
Sunday, June 24, 2007

The morning meal came expectedly early today (Saturday 6/25) after the late night. At breakfast, Dr. C took some time to voice his appreciation for Jennifer's visit. The Chilopora's also presented Jennifer with maize flower (to make nsema), some nali (Malawian hot sauce), and a mystery gift covered in pink gift-wrap. It was somewhat of a somber meal.

The clan departed for Blantyre at 8:00am. I slept on the way there as did Jennifer and Aaron. Church is scheduled to begin at 10:30 every Saturday and we arrived at 10:23. I greeted as many members as I could before church started. Church began and it was Dr. C's responsibility to present the weekly announcements. During this time, Dr. C honored Jennifer again and asked her to come to the front and goodbye to the congregation. In a surprised manner, Jennifer walked to the front visibly organizing her thoughts as she progressed. She began speaking and delivered a brilliant impromptu parting speech. I was impressed, Jennifer. You can be proud of that.

Jennifer's plane departed at 1:30 so we were forced to leave church a few minutes early to take her. It was a sad drive. Our group had been like a functional foster family for the past two weeks and now Jennifer was going to be adopted into her normal life. I guess the fun has to end sometimes. We stood in the airport with Jennifer until she had to board her plane. Everyone said their farewells and off she went. We'll miss you Jennifer!

Jennifer Side Note:
Aaron and I quite frequently made fun of Jennifer, in a playful way of course.

Aaron and Jenn

Her response for the first few days was simple, "Whatever." As the trip continued, we began making fun of her frequent use of 'whatever'. Thus, every time she said 'whatever' she would become flustered. She tried hard to expunge 'whatever' from her vocabulary. This is one of my favorite Jennories (Jennifer memories).

A typical conversation pre-whatever jokes:

Aaron: Thriller by Michael Jackson was an awesome song!
Phil: Yup, definitely a classic. You know that one don't you Jennifer? I mean, wasn't that your high school graduation song?
Jennifer: No, that was way before I graduated from high school.
Aaron: I couldn't have been that long before. Didn't you graduate high school in 1990?
Jennifer: No, 1997.
Phil: Wow you are old!
Jennifer: Whatever!
Phil and Aaron: Whatever!

A typical conversation post-whatever jokes:

Phil: I would love to rent some motorbikes and drive cross-cross country.
Jennifer: That would be fun!
Aaron: Driving here is crazy though. It may be unsafe.
Phil: I think we'd be okay under Jennifer's supervision.
Jennifer: What?
Aaron: Yeah, didn't you get your driver's license in '79 Jenn?
Jennifer: Whatever...dang-et...... shoot.
Phil and Aaron: haha

It was priceless when she got frustrated at herself.

Quietly, we returned to the car and began driving. We stopped for lunch in a shopping center across the road from the national soccer stadium. Lunch was quiet as well. After lunch Aaron and I stopped at the local ShopRite in Blantyre.

At the Summit of the Mountain

We will be making the Chilopora's an American dinner tomorrow (6/24) and needed supplies.

Aaron's idea for an American dinner was tacos. Does anyone else see a flaw in that? To avoid an unnecessary debate I agreed. The meal contents were purchased and we departed back to Ntcheu.

Twenty minutes into our drive home, Dr. C asked if I would drive a while. I jumped at the opportunity because I had wanted to drive for quite some time. Driving in Malawi is very different than in America. First, you drive on the left-hand side of the road. Secondly, the turn signal and windshield wiper controls are opposite. That took some getting used to as I overtook vehicles. Dr. C found it quite odd that I used the wipers when it wasn't raining. I explained the situation. He had a good laugh. He also slept during the first hour I was driving.

The trip went smoothly except for two incidences. In one instance we approached a highly intoxicated driver. The car was swerving all over the road and weaving erratically. The driver would also slam on the brakes at random times and use the turn signals without changing direction. Dr. C advised me to lay on the horn and pass. We laughed at the drunk driver and went on.

A second situation presented itself when a car was in my lane and heading straight for me. The car coming at me was attempting to pass a semi in the opposite lane. I slammed on the brakes and the oncoming truck nearly took us out before frantically swerving back into the proper lane. Dr. C praised way I reacted, laughed, and then dozed off.

Dr. C and Jenn

After Dr. C napped, he put a cassette tape into the player and waited. Thirty seconds later, familiar voices singing a familiar song began playing:

In a world full of broken dreams
Where the truth is hard to find
For every promise that is kept
There are many left behind
Though it seems that nobody cares
It still matters what we do
'Cause there's a path that you can take
But the choice is up to you
Will you be the one to answer to his call?
Will you stand when those around you fall?
Will you be the one to take his light into a darkened world?
Will you be the one?

Sure enough, it was the MYERS BROTHERS! Dr. C asked if I recognized the music. I told him I did and he said, "That is good, because this is your father." He chuckled and turned the volume up a little.

He was very excited to hear that the Myers Brothers had recorded a fifth album. I promised him I would send it to him. The rest of the trip home, Dr. C and I sang to the Myers Brothers, gazing into the setting sun. I sang the tenor / baritone parts and he sang the bass line with his deep man-voice. It was something to remember.

We safely arrived in Ntcheu at 7:00pm and took tea immediately. Following teatime Aaron, Jimmy, and I traveled to the local well to fetch water.

Wow, I think I neglected to mention this. For the past 5 days we have been without running water. The city's piping is getting fixed. Thus, we have gone without. It's not of great concern because we can pour water in the backs of the toilets and take bucket baths. I haven't had a proper shower in 5 days. I've had a bucket bath everyday, but it's not the same. I'm not overly bothered by this though.

Anyway, we went to fetch water for the next few days. There were six five-gallon buckets, 6 gallon jugs, a 10 gallon drum, and a 20 gallon drum in the ambulance that were to be filled. At the well, you actually pump the water out of the ground, like in an old western movie. It was awesome. It took us 20 minutes to fill all of the containers and we returned home. The water was distributed into various tanks/buckets. It was obvious that this has happened before because such tanks would not be necessary otherwise. Two more trips were made to fill the same containers. I was fatigued afterward.

The water fetching finished, it was time to learn how to make nsema. Malawians don't cook it according to recipe, so I was following the instructions of Mr. Milanzi, the cook. It's difficult to follow the directions of a man speaking a different language, but somehow we made it work. It is relatively easy to make, but it takes some elbow grease to beat it into submission. I am going to master the art of nsema here so that I can make it for everyone upon my homecoming.

It was our first dinner without Jennifer and it was silent as lunch was. We reminisced about the previous two weeks and then retired. I was exhausted. Sleep overtook me quickly. The journey is still unfolding. More to come

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

Jenn and I	Jimmy Ripped His Pants (trying to hide it)	Lake Scene 1	Lake Scene 2
LifeNets Farm	Market Madness!	Me Making Nsema	Mrs. C and Jenn
The Dress We Bought Jen	The LifeNets Blanket Ceremony

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