Hi everyone,
Well, this is a little weird. I'm sitting next to Anna and she's well into a mass email about many of the same things I'll write about. So, for some of you this may be a little redundant.
Where to start? We left Tanzania for home early December. Together. In fact, she had come to my site to spend the last 2 weeks with me in Chidya and help me say goodbye. By the time we got on our first flight, we had been together for 3 whole weeks. The longest we had ever been together. Apparently, this was too long. We hopped on a flight to Amsterdam and slept from take off to landing. For some inexplicable reason Anna received all 3 of her boarding passes while I had received only one. Too happy to have spent so much time with Anna I didn't ask why, only how I should get the next boarding pass. "At the ticket counter," came back the answer and that was good enough. We had a 5 hour layover in Amsterdam and then headed to our gate. It was completely blocked off by security so I told them I did not yet have a boarding pass and they told me to get back in line. After our first of 2 security checks at the gate I got in the customer service line while Anna passed through the second tier of security. 20 minutes later I got to the front of the line and was told I could not get a boarding pass at the gate but had to get one at a "Transfer Desk", and so had not been checked in and was bumped off the flight. So Anna got on the flight and I followed 16 hours later.
Once back in America, Anna and I spent some time getting to know eachother's grandparents. We flew back to Florida to stay with my grandparents and were able to take a short, 3 hour, air conditioned, listen to your own music, enjoy more than negative 2 inches of leg room ride to Anna's grandmother's home in Melbourne. She was the first member of Anna's family I met and it was a joy to see how happy she was to see Anna and tell her all about the family since Anna's been gone. I also got to meet Anna's aunt, uncle, and cousin.
Anna left to see her family, who she hadn't seen since arriving in Tanzania in 2005, a few days later and my parents and I began shopping for the few "luxury" items I thought it might be nice to have this next year. Things such as a screw driver, Five Star notebook, and batteries. Shopping for these few, simple items soon overwhelmed me. So much...stuff in the stores. Then came the infamous face-to-face with a movie ATM machine. So I laid low the next few days and just enjoyed time with family and reading Harry Potter 7. You know, the simple pleasures of life.
Then I left on flights 4 and 5 of the month to go to Virginia. That time went by way too fast. I didn't get to see everyone I hoped to but had a wonderful time seeing my friend Amy, who made parenting 3 small children under the age 5 seem easy; Tyler and Curtis-two kids I've known from swimming since they were in elementary school-now in college; other Mudtoads-Kevin and Cassie, also now college kids; dinner with the Cochranes; breakfast with Jerry, James, and their mother Rose; and, of course, my bachelor party. My best man Chris did a great job of getting all my closest friends together for bowling and an afternoon of lawn games, grilled burgers and hot dogs. It was great catching up with everyone on the past 2 years even if it was squeezed in to an afternoon and evening.
Flights 6 and 7 got me back to Florida for Christmas with family. One of my favorite memories was going to Church with Babc and Dziadz (Polish for Grandma and Grandpa) and sharing that time with them.
Flights 8 and 9 put me into San Francisco to meet my soon-to-be in-laws. I was nervous, they were nervous; we shook hands, hugged and then hopped in the car. Over the next few days we got to know each other and I realized how blessed I am to be a part of Anna's family. I arrived during a busy time for them. Every year they have a New Year's Eve party that is quite involved. I got to help a little by putting together a chicken pinata. My parent's came and Papa (Anna's father) and my mom cooked lots of delicious food. We started the night with a feast-no lesser word will qualify. Then we played games, first 'party hats' where Chris made a mullet hat in honor of Tanzania's 2006 Mulletfest. Then we had a 3 part relay race. One section, shooting down cups with a marshmallow shooter. Yes, the coolest gun ever-it shoots marshmallows. Next, dropping clothes pins into a gallon jug-not easy. Then sitting on and popping two balloons. Loud and sometimes painful. Make sure your pants are thick. We played Bunco where Anna was paired up with the Chris (my best man, not my dad). This game has you rolling dice until someone calls Bunco after rolling a certain combination. There are six rounds and Anna and Chris got Bunco THREE TIMES. I was cautioned as to Chris' "hot hands" while paired with Anna. Next came the pinata-we all got a few good whacks in and Mr. Schaefer (more on the Schaefers in a bit), who was in charge of pinata "care", made sure I got "kissed" by the Clarence the Chicken (the pinata) while blindfolded trying to hit the darn thing. After the chicken was "slaughtered" the night ended with fireworks and sparklers.
The next few days were a little quieter and I got to know Anna's second family, the Schaefers. We both realized how blessed we are to have a second set of parents, families we have known as long as we can remember: Anna has the Schaefers and I have the Stanleys. We now have four sets of parents: and that's a good thing.
January 2nd, Anna and I were married. That morning we had a brunch and Mrs. Schaefer made a three tier pecan pie decorated with flowers that resembled a wedding cake. It was relaxed and we all were thankful of how little we had to do that morning. A little before 1pm the guys headed off to church while the girls helped Anna prepare. A little after 1pm the ceremony began and shortly after Anna and I were pronounced husband and wife. The ceremony was wonderful. Anna and I stood at the head of the church and our friends and family stood around us in a circle. After Pastor John had finished we invited people to speak. One of each of our parents spoke: Mrs. Stanley, my dad, Mr. Schaefer, and Papa. Their support in their words for Anna and I was awesome and wonderful to hear. After the ceremony we were greeted to the wedding party blowing bubbles as Anna and I walked out. We all drove out to Bodega Head to look at the ocean and then to dinner.
Anna and I honeymooned the next few days in Bodega Bay. It rained most of the time and was wonderfully cold. Yes, these are both good things. We won't see much rain here an cold is just not gonna happen. The rain did let up one afternoon and we were able to walk along the ocean beach a few hours. On Thursday night the power went out and we didn't get it back the rest of the honeymoon. Ironic, a little, but it was just wonderful. There was a fireplace to keep us warm and the restaurant was kept running. Friday night we went to get dinner and the chef came out apologizing for a smaller menu. He started with, "Well, we can only grill stuff...so we have fillet mignon, salmon, swordfish...ummm...say, what are you in the mood for?" Anna and I just looked at each other, "That all sounds great!" we said. We ordered fish and he came back out explaining exactly how he cooked stuff, just experimenting and having fun. Then he recommended wine to go with the meal and gave us a glass on the house.
Our embarrassing honeymoon story: we all know hotels have door hangers with 'Privacy Please' on one side and 'Service Please' on another. Well, the wind was pretty strong so while we had hung the 'Privacy Please' sign up the wind had blown it on to the ground with the 'Service Please' side facing up, conveniently placed in front of the door. The maid very uncautiously opened the door while Anna and I were having some 'special' time. Suddenly all 3 of us were very embarrassed and, since the maid's English apology came out in very broken English, Anna started explaining things in Swahili. Because, having lived here for so long, we assume anyone who doesn't speak English quite well must speak Swahili. After the confusion settled a little we kindly asked her to return the next day.
On the 5th Anna's parents picked us up and that night we got on flights 10 and 11 to Florida. The next morning we saw my parents and grandparents during our layover and then got on flights 12, 13, and 14 in the past month to return here to Tanzania. We go home to the village tomorrow. Back to month-to-month internet access. We'll be in touch,
Justin