Chris Lindsey with Watershed taken by Alexis Robertson.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Home Sweet Home
Callie made welcome home t-shirts for our grandkids to wear! I told myself I wasn't going to cry when I got off the plane---yeah, right---as soon as I heard their squeals there was no holding back!
Leavin' on a Jet Plane...
Back to 2 days of traveling...we are tired but happy. I stand corrected...add another day to that when we missed our flight from London to Chicago. Our flight was late and Alan was sequestered for questioning with a roomful of suspicious characters. Here's the details told by Alan, "I remember thinking that the chances for making our connection from Chicago to Memphis seemed so slim……1 hour to go through customs, re-check the bags and make it to the proper terminal. Everything would have to go perfect……passport control was not even a concern……..Back in the good ole’ USA would be just a quick “Welcome Home” after our “Nothing to Declare” and we would be trying to get to the express customs line….After Lisa and Alex got a quick computer check and pass through the custom agent said the short words one never wants to hear: “Uh-Oh!” I knew we were done, never going to get home that night when I heard those two little words & they really aren’t even words, just sounds! After some key strokes and mutterings, I was instructed to follow the officers back to another area where I waited for about 30 minutes until another agent took me back to the passport control area to a special “holding area” where everyone there (about 30) were all middle-eastern and waiting to be processed/questioned about why they were entering our country. I definitely was standing out alongside my fellow captives. An anxious hour went by without any word until I finally saw the guy again who brought me out and he checked to see why I hadn’t been seen. He told me they were having computer problems, but that I was next up to be processed. Finally my name was called almost two hours after I heard that first “uh-oh” and I was asked a few questions about where I worked (I never knew church work was so interesting) and the woman told me I was free to go. I asked her what had happened and she said, “You are free to go.” I said, “You aren’t going to tell me what happened are you?” Her reply, “You are free to go….” (A little more sternly this time) Not wanting to spend any more time with my new Muslim friends, I said goodbye to Chicago Passport Control and hello to a night at the Hilton. I will be holding my breath the next time I go through a passport control………until next time, “You are free to go!”
On the road to the airport
This is a common sight. Even though South Africa is equipped with all the right machinery, they'll let people do work by hand, just to give them a job.
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