It was sad leaving the airport. We were quiet and wondering what we would do next.

I had talked with the children's friends, Maya, Suba and Sadia and they wanted them to come over straight away so I surprised Maria and Nicholas by driving right to their house. They were all so happy to see one another and stayed the afternoon over there.

Caroline and I came home to a really quiet house and eventually went down for a nap. She slept from 3-5 so not sure what tonight will bring. Brian picked up the children at 5:30 and we all came together for cottage pie and left over greens, salad and a few burgers. Three empty chairs sat expectantly.

We all mentioned how quiet it seemed. Brian said it wasn't like you all are loud but without you it is just so quiet. But then dinner ended and Nicholas put John Fogerty It's Almost Saturday Night on the stereo and then Rambuncious Boy blared out next and then a fight broke out between him and Caroline over a toy and the space was filling.

Your room is empty and I am catching up on emails. Off to make popcorn as they are moving onto a movie.

I hope your trip home was good. Write when you can
Love and hugs,
Mike

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Just arrived. Our bags got lost between washington and Boston, so we waited an hour for them to follow us.

Dad picked us up ad the bus terminal in Braintree. There are a lot of cars here....
Angela is in her room picking out another set of earrings, and getting reaquainted with her toys. Liz is in the kitchen reaquainting herself with her toys. I have found the computer, it booted into ubuntu, so I guess I am getting reaquainted with my toys as well.

There are some new scratches on my car, the rear tire cover looks like it fell off or something. The house looks like nobody set foot in it for five weeks. We thought we had a house sitter, but no sign of entry other than a few open windows. The garlic needs to be harvested, its all turned brown, so I should pull it today or tomorrow before it gets all mushy. The lawn needs to be mowed, looks like it has a few weeks of growth. That might happen tomorrow.

Flying out of Lilongwe and into Joburg was really something. As we took off, I could see the rows and rows of maize plantings for years on end. All planted by hand. Every available piece of ground looks like it has been farmed. Smoke was rising from lots of places as we flew over Malawi and Mozambique. I could see ribbons of red earth where the dirt roads cut across mountain ridges. Brick houses with grass thatch roofs along dirt roads without vehicles other than bicycles or the occasional oxcart.

As we got over South Africa, the roads straightened out, appeared to have more tarmac. There were larger areas of undisturbed forest. Then as we got closer, the sun was shining off of the corrugated roofs of the townships outside Johannesburg. Maize aws being grown there as well, but the rows were neat and orderly, planted and harvested by machine. There were circular plots, watered by central irrigation, like the ones you see when you fly over the midwest states. When there were no more townships to see, there were organized developments of all the same kind of houses, even swimming pools. There was even a solar array on one house, one of maybe a half dozen solar installations I saw in five weeks in southern Africa.

We landed and were brought by bus to the terminal. It was not the sleepy little two flight a day airport we left in lilongwe where the people waiting in chairs on the observation deck drank cokes and minerals and cheered when the plane landed. As the bus moved us away from the plane, it jerked to a stop suddenly. We didn't know what was up, but then we saw that the bus nearly collided with an airplane that was being towed from one part of the airport to another. Yikes, we're not in Malawi any more. OR Tambo airport is in the midst of being renovated in preparation for the 2010 World Cup. Lots of glass and stainless steel. The building and its fixtures is designed and manufactured by computer aided design and computer controlled fabrication.

We left Malawi about 21 hours ago. Being in the travel system is really something. Angela did well, only got itchy 'I want to go outside' once or twice. We are pretty much ready to be back, but would have loved to stay and play longer. It was great that you could have us for so long. We all got to connect with everybody. It will be fun to plan our next adventure...

Liz will certainly write some more when she gets to it. We are planning to call on Maria's birthday.

Chris

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you are on the phone now with Brian. Caroline is nursing. It's 8:30pm and she just woke!!
She has been sick all day. throwing up and diarrhea. wondering what she has.

missing all of you, mike

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Hey Sis,

Caroline is with me as I type and feeling much better. She went right to the kitchen when she left bed this morning and Brian found her with a cup of yogurt saying she was hungry and that she had already licked the lid. She has just finished my tea.

I am happy you all made it home safely and that the long trip home is behind you. How many pages did you get in your respective books? Still a few weeks of beach to finish them off. (-: I would love to go to the farmers market with you, the beach too for that matter. It was so great to hang out with you all and I have such a warm place in my heart for our time together and all of you.

Thanks again for making the trip out to see us, for all the love and gifties you arrived with and for returning back with gifties for family. You are a gem!

Love and Hugs,
Mike

ps. Nicholas up now and Who Stopped The Rain plays gently. Can you believe
this kid? Oh yeh, it's followed by Ramb. Boy and it's not even 8am yet.

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