Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday - a day early anyway! We were downtown Naperville today and stopped in at Kaehler's. It was a nice reminder of you as the ladies I worked with all asked how your trip was going - your parents apparently shopped there quite a bit for your trip. Sounds like you are have a memorable experience and working hard. Happy 21st tomorrow - probably less significant from the drinking perspective but much more so from the location perspective. We're thinking of you and appreciate the updates on your blog. Have fun but please leave the lovely parasites in Africa!
Love,
Aunt Jenny
photos Lovely photos...what a great hike...how was it coming back down...gravity works wonders under the weight imposed on a shoe.... You shaved your head! Hope you had a happy 21! Yvonne
good stuff Jonny boy,
sounds like things are going well, I like ur email thing u wrote, I actually started reading les miserables, such a long book haha but good so far...I love the coca cola blurb, its great, some things never change huh... I was talking to my friends who were just in Malawai and they said the hospitals were terrible (they worked in them for 4 weeks) I was wondering if you had visited any of them?
miss you bro
you're awesome. so, i havent checked out your blog at all, cause im still in argentina. but i have a midterm tomorrow and im procrastinating studying, so i decided to check out this blog... and anyway, like 20 minutes later im still on here, just catching myself up on your amazing life starting at the beginning of your travels.
you are amazing. these posts are incredible, and i absolutly cannot wait to get back to ann arbor and hear more stories about your experiences.
loving checking out your pics on facebook, keep posting them.
miss you, cant wait to reunite in AA in the fall.
-Nikki
Jon, growing a beard! Hey Jon, I am glad to see you still have your sense of humor. A beard? All is well here. We miss you alot and are looking forward to seeing you soon. Love, Papa
Hey Jon kinda stumbled onto your blog via a friend who is working in India at present. I am an Irish lass working in Blantyre for the last few years, so I was very interested to read your thoughts on this wonderful country. Bless you as you continue to work and travel within it. I really do pray you make a difference during your tiime here. Ha it sounds like its defo getting under your skin. Take it easy. Sonya
Keep a journal, and write a book. Your experiences give us - with all the modern conveniences - a reason to celebrate and ponder. I am glad that I know you and look forward to more of your entries.
Sweetness I love when you are in your travel mode...you are so philosophical...and I love how you are comparing lots of things in your blogs to Ann Arbor. Makes me think you are writing this aalll for me! haha jk. Congrats on having so many cool experiences already. Keep em up!
Larissa
I love it Jon Oh Jon, I am not surprised one bit about this story, I love it though. Sounds like your having fun buddy and that work is going well...Try to stat out of trouble though huh haha
Well, well Jon, you are not helping in the "don't worry mom" category. Now, who did you go out with in the first place? How did you end up being the only muzungu in the crowd? Where did friends go? Hmmmm. Take it easy. Take care.
Well on your way Jon, as close as I can come to going to a different restaurant is having dinner today with Dianne and Owen, and a young lady from China. But tomorrow we are going to your "old house" and have dinner with your mom and dad, however Uncle Scott is cooking for us and you know what an experience that can be. Stay safe and be careful where you sit, old coke cases are good. Papa
Just getting started Jon, as you embark on this journey make sure you take the time to put all that you will see, hear and experience in perspective. Few of us have the opportunity to come face-to-face with another culture. To walk in the "other persons" shoes. Just keep everythi ng in balance. The project you are working on, Sustainable Development, is what it is all about. All to often we have a desire to "cut to the chase" and solve the problem right now, when the solution is a process that can be sustained, never more true that when feeding the population.
Stay safe and keep that wonderful outlook, Papa
hahaha I think the groans in Gran Torino was the best/funniest part of the movie! I'm a bit behind in reading your blogs cause I just got back from Italy last night, but I'm glad its going well thus far!! Miss you Jon!
Bon voyage Jon,
We just returned from our trip to Atlanta, several activities during the week including a lovely wedding and a very green project of a parking garage Uncle Todd opened at the Botanical Gardens. It is LEEDS certified, the only one to date in Atlanta. Hopefully it will help with the carbon levels on earth!
This will be quite an adventure for you, take care of yourself, our love and prayers everyday are with you. Oma
Infamous! So, here I am thinking you are going to the ends of the earth to a place I have never heard of and then...
I turn on the Today show this morning and wouldn't you know there is a reporter standing in the market in Malawi reporting on the whole adoption issue with Madonna!!!!!
Seriously though - great to hear your almost there.
Love,
Aunt Jenny
Take care LB Well Jon, I am already missing you. I have every confidence in you as you embark on this trip. Please take with you my love, my support, and respect for you. I am very proud you are my son. Love, MB
And, remember the chickens.
What I'd Like to Hear... I'd be very interested to hear what surprises you - on the flip side, what was it you expected or didn't realize you expected, until the situation surprised you. And...I wouldn't be a teacher without adding, "What did you learn?".
We'll be thinking of you and keeping up with you. Thanks for committing to this and sharing with everyone your experience.
Love, Aunt Jenny
"I guess basically one wants to feel that one's life has amounted to more than just consuming products and generating garbage. I think that one likes to look back and say that one's done the best one can to make this a better place for others. You can look at it from this point of view: What greater motivation can there be than doing whatever one possibly can to reduce pain and suffering?"
... full info
David Widaman
non-member comment
Awesome!
I can't wait to hear all about this over some beers, my friend. Phenomenal! Good luck in Zimbabwe!