| Engagement!!! On July 10th, 1996 John and Erica were engaged to be married! It was a beach/sunset engagement. They plan to get married on July 12th next summer in Minnesota! |
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We watched Mister Hollands Opus on the flight from Chicago to Paris. At Paris, we got off the plane onto this big bus thing which then drove us to the terminal. On the way to the terminal we drove right behind a Concord, probably within 50 yards or so; unfortunately, I didn't have my camera set up. We waited for about four hours in Charles De Gaulle airport for our flight to Bamako.
Joel Vanderaa and I arrived in Bamako. We left Chicago 6:00pm on May 30th and had a 4 hour layover in Paris. When we got to the Bamako airport, there was no one there to pick us up. John thought we were coming in June 1st. So, I stood around outside and guarded our stuff while Joel went back to find a phone. Joel's parents came to pick us up about a half hour later.
I went into the market with Joel, Erica, and John. I had to learn how to say "no thank you" in French. We picked up a couple of guys who followed us the whole time trying to sell us some stuff. We also went to have a little picnic up on some cliffs outside of town, right along the Niger river. Thats about it for now.
We went for a hike and rock climb up to a natural bridge; A large span of rock between two points which was created naturally, by erosion, etc... We drove about 60km west of Bamako on the road to Guinea. It was a dirt road, like most of the roads here, so it took us about an hour and a half to get there. The Natural bridge was probably 75-100 meters high or so, but it was another 100 meters above the valley floor. We were told there was an easy way to get up to it, but the person who told us this wasn't able to give us specific directions, so when we got there, we just went straight up. About half way on a large flat area at the base of the natural bridge we watched a couple rain storms approach and rain. Several rainbows developed as the storms came in. After it stopped raining, we started looking for a way to get up on top of the natural bridge. From where we were it looked like sheer cliffs all the way up, but we kept walking around and eventually came to some places where we could go up. The view was incredible from the top; we could see all directions for miles. We had to hurry down because the sun was setting. If it had gotten too dark we would have had to spend the night, because there were only a few ways down, the rest was sheer cliffs. We decided not to go down the way we came up because the rain had made most of the moss covered rocks very slippery. By the time we got back to the truck it was very dark. We probably came within 10 or 15 minutes of spending the night up there, but we made it without any problems. We estimated that we climbed about 150- 200 meters, using my GPS. On the way back home we had an incredible view of the stars, it's been a long time since I've seen them that clearly.
For supper, we usually eat outside on mats, out of a big bowl with rice, kuu (sort of like patatoes), or Millet. Millet looks like bird seed, but normally they pound it into a powder, and cook it so it looks like some sort of green slimey stuff. It has a pretty bland taste. There is always some sort of chicken or goat with a semi-spicy sauce that goes on top. We have oatmeal for breakfast and macaroni and cheese or pancakes for lunch.
Since we have come here we installed a new solar powered pump in the villages well. The well was about 150 feet deep, and the pump was submersible, so it had to be lowered all the way to the bottom as pipe was attached. It took about four or five hours. We are in the process of putting markers down the sides of the new airstrip. The airstrip is about 1.5km long, so there are quite a few to put in. We also had to pull the markers from the old airstrip. Joel Fixed his little go-cart, so we took that out to the airstrip where we got it up to 55kph.
We head back to Bamako (the capital of Mali) a week from this Friday. Bamako is only 300 miles south of here, but it takes about ten hours to get there because of the road conditions. We'll be in Bamako for a few days before heading to the country of Gambia on the 4th of July. I can hardly believe I've been out here for almost two months! Things with Erica continue to go very well. I'll keep you all updated on that situation as well.
Well, I hope everyone is enjoying a nice summer there in the U.S. or wherever else you happen to be. Please reply by sending email to Lvanderaa@maf.org Please keep it fairly short, and remember to put my name in the subject line.
Tomorrow, John, Erica, Joel and I are leaving for Gambia by train. The trip is supposed to take about 30 hours, because the train stops at every town along the way. We'll be in Gambia for about two weeks. One of the weeks is the CRC (Christian Reform Church) mission spiritual retreat which we are going to with Vanderaas. After that, we'll come back through Bamako on our way to Abidjan to catch our flight to Nairobi.
The next two weeks I won't have access to e-mail, but you can still send email to me at Bamako until about July 22; I'll be through there one more time. If there is any email which has accumulated in my mail box on calvin, feel free to forward it here. After July 22, I'm not sure how easy it will be for me to receive email, but I should still be able to send it occasionally.
Erica, Doug, Joel and I left Bamako on July 3rd by train. The train runs all the way to Dakar (Senegal), but we got off in Kaolack. {N14,07.5' W16,3.75'} The trip took about 36 hours. Very tiring, but we had a "couchette" with four "beds", so it wasn't too bad. We spent the night in Kaolack in a 3 star hotel (air-con and all!), then woke up the next morning and caught a mini-van bus to the border of The Gambia. There we bought our visas and then caught a taxi to a ferry, which took us across the bay to Banjul, the capital of The Gambia.
Once in Banjul {N13,20.957' W16,39.968'} we took another taxi across town to the Bungalow Beach Hotel, where we would stay for the next two weeks with the Vanderaa family. The mission with which the Vanderaas work (Christian Reformed) was having their conference at the hotel, but the Vanderaa's were there a week early for vacation. We had a wonderful time hanging out on the beach, surfing on homemade body boards, swimming in the pool, etc. We also did alot of singing in the evening after supper... Most importantly, Erica and I (John) got engaged on the beach on July 10th!
After the conference, on July 18th, we caught a ride to Dakar {N14,40' W17,24'}, and stayed in a New Tribes Mission guest house for two nights before catching a train all the way back to Bamako on the 20th. My birthday (John), July 19th, was spent in Dakar. The trip to Bamako was uneventful, though very looong. We did not have a "couchette" (berth) on the way back, so it made it seem longer.
Hello friends and family!
Sorry this is going to be yet another impersonal form e-mail, but
it just makes things much simpler this way. I'm back in Bamako
for the time being, but we leave this Thursday for Abidjan, then
fly out on Saturday to Kenya. We have a little over a month left
in Africa, and then it's on to South America (for Doug and me) for
another 3 1/2 months.
The biggest news I have for you all is that I got engaged last
July 10! Erica and I were in The Gambia, on the West Coast, with
her whole family, at their mission's conference. I asked her to
marry me while we were on the beach one late afternoon, at
sunset. It was truly quite romantic! It's weird to think that
I'm now engaged, but it's also alot of fun to talk about wedding
plans with Erica and her parents. We do plan to get married next
July 12th in Monticello, which is about 45 minutes from the Twin
Cities.
After the conference we got
a ride up to Dakar, in Senegal, then took the 36 hour train ride
back to Bamako, arriving here two nights ago.
It has been so interesting to be here in Africa and I feel
fortunate to have the experience of traveling like this! Once we
get to Kenya on July 28th we'll have one month to get down to
Johannesburg (overland), and we'll hopefully be swinging by the
Serenghetti, Mt. Kilimanjaro, and Victoria Falls... On September
1st, Erica and her brother will be flying back to Bamako, Mali,
and Doug and I continue on to Buenos Aires. You can read more
about our trip by accessing our trip web page. To do so, access my
personal web page first. There you will find a link to the trip
page. My personal web address is: http://www.infoplane.com/~john
I celebrated my birthday on the 19th, and am now a ripe, mature 26
years of age! Erica is 22 (she'll be 23 in January)... in case
any of you wanted to know. After she flies back to Bamako, she'll
have a few days with her family before flying back to the U.S.
with her brother around September 12th. We'll be together again
in mid-December, when I fly home from Peru. Then it's six months
of wedding planning!
Anyway - I hope you all are well . . . please pass on my love, my
greetings, and this most recent development in my life to anyone
you know who knows me. Thank you much. Take care -
Love, JOHN CLARK
After three days in Bamako, we caught a bus to Bouake (July 25th), the second largest city in the Ivory Coast. The trip took fifteen hours, so we only arrived at 3 a.m. We spent what was left of that night in another mission guest house (SIL). The next morning we visited ICA (International Christian Academy), where Joel and Erica had gone to school. That afternoon, we caught another bus and made the short trip to Abidjan {N5,14.915' W3,55.987'} where we spent the night in another SIL guest house.
On Saturday, July 27th, we caught an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Nairobi, with stops in Lagos, Nigeria; Brazzaville, Congo; and finally Nairobi. The flight was about 12 hours long, including those stops and a three hour time change. A friend of mine from Bethel College, who now teaches near Nairobi {S1,19.119' E36,55.953'} at a school for missionary kids, was at the airport to pick us up.
(Doug speaks) I just thought I'd send a quick note to say
hi. I'm in Abidjan
right now, We're leaving tonight at about 7:30 for Nairobe,
Kenya. The e-mail address for Bamako is no longer usefull for
me since I'm probably not going to be back through Bamako for
quite a while (years). I'll let you know the next time I get
to an address where you can send me e-mail. I'll be in Nairobe
for several days, so that may be a possibility.
Take care.
Doug
From the airport, we were taken to Mayfield Guest House to drop off our bags, then we went to church. We were exhausted, but managed to stay awake anyway. We spent the afternoon with the Cook family, who work in Nairobi with AIM Air. Mr. Cook took us on a tour of the hangar where the mission planes are kept, and we got to tour inside the DC-3 that he flies. After spending Sunday night at the guest house, we headed for RVA (Rift Valley Academy) on the 29th of July. My friend (Karen Lundgren) teaches at this school, and it sits on a mountain side at 2100 meters. [Click here to see a picture of Karen and her family. Karen is the second from the left.] RVA {S0,56.768' E36,35.721'} has a beautiful campus with a view of the Rift Valley and different mountains on the other side of the valley. The climate up here is cool, but nothing like Minnesota in the winter! We spent two nights here, and had a wonderful time with our hostess (Karen). We're leaving RVA in a couple of minutes, and will be spending one more night at Mayfield Guest House before heading to Arusha, Tanzania, tomorrow (August 1st). Arusha and its twin city, Moshi, are home to Mt. Kilimanjaro, which we will be seeing!
Hello everyone! I am in Pretoria, South Africa, and just finished a week-long trip to Port Elizabeth on the southern coast of the continent, along the garden route to Cape Town, and back here to Pretoria... In two days I leave for Argentina, from where I'll be going into Brazil and eventually Peru. Our trip has gone very well so far. One month ago we were flying into Nairobi, Kenya, where we spent a few days before making our way south through Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and finally here. The trip in east and south Africa has included alot of exciting experiences, like a 3-day 2-night safari in Tanzania (Lake Manyara, Ngorogoro Crater, and Tarangire national parks), a crazy bus ride (crazy meaning fast and furious) from Arusha (near Mt. Kilimanjaro) to Dar Es Salaam, a long train ride from Dar to Lusaka, in Zambia, then a wonderful three days in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Erica, Joel, Doug, and I all bungi-jumped off the Victoria Falls bridge, which was a crazy experience in itself! And the falls were amazing and a beautiful sight to behold!!! South Africa has been a totally different experience in itself... the countryside is so varied, and it is much like Europe here. In short, it's very nice! : ) I hope you all are well. Most, if not all of you have heard that Erica and I are engaged and plan to get married on July 12th next summer in Minnesota! : ) Erica and I are quite excited and are already making big plans for the big day. She and Joel left this morning for West Africa and they eventually head back to the U.S. in early September. We will be apart for 3 1/2 months or so, but we've been through a 5 month separation before, so this shouldn't be tooooo bad. : | Please continue to check out my homepage and my "trip" home page for more detailed updates on our trip. Take care everyone - and send messages to john@infoplane.com and I will continue checking my messages from here or South America as I get the chance...
JOHN CLARK