Back in the States

We are now back in the states and trying to recover from the jet lag that always travels with us on every trip. It's always worse traveling from east to west than it is going from west to east. Wonder why that is? Too, the reentry is really hard as we come into a culture filled with affluence and stuff after leaving one that has so little. Our culture seems to get uptight over such insignificant things while in Malawi they struggle just to survive for another day.

That plane flight over and back was a bit difficult with all of the rough weather. It seems that is characteristic of this time of year. Winter beginning in the northern hemisphere and summer beginning in the south and it clashes in the middle, right where our plane travels. It doesn't help that it is a 16-hour flight across the ocean either. How can a plane hold that much fuel? And how low is it when it reaches Atlanta? And how far can one swim if we were to run out of fuel?

Now it is immediately get accustomed to driving on the other side of the road. Now that is a quick shift and it leaves little room for change and adjustment. Too we have gone, in one day, from 100 degrees down to 45. Wow! quick shift. Now where did I pack that jacket.

Home, are at least, home in Indiana. We seem to live in two different worlds. Two different homes. And when we are in one we miss the other. And when we are in the other we miss the one. Always missing one or the other.

Wow. No bugs. No mosquitoes. Electricity stayed on until I turned off the switch. Telephone worked every time I picked it up. Makes you want to sneek up on it several time and pick it up just to hear the dialtone. And the computer, well you can't imagine how nice broadband is in the states. It works! No potholes on the interstate. Interstates, WOW. Interesting there are so few people walking along the sides of the road. And no one has buckets, baskets and barrels on their heads. Interesting. This western side of the world. Too many cars. Too many signs. Too much noise. Too little personal contact. Too much...

Must go to the supermarket shortly and get some things. But that first trip is always so hard. Suzi usually does not go for several weeks. She leaves it to me. She'll break down and cry every time. Makes me wonder if the grocer doesn't think I'm a pretty abusive husband. Others must wonder if she wanted to buy a snack and her cruel husband refused. She just stands in the middle of the isle crying. They just don't know she is crying for all of the children in Malawi who have so litt.e to eat. And the old, the widows and all of her Malawi neighbors. Big tears, every time. The cereal isle alone is bigger than an entire Malawi grocery, and our culture buys more in the snack food section than most Malawians eat for an entire day. It's a tough lesson to swallow (no pun intended) when we see how much we have and how little they have.

Next blog we will take a look back at some of the highlights of the trip to Malawi in a shortened form, then will begin our travel schedule around the U.S. to report on the progress for 2009 and plans for 2010.