I received a call at 11:15 saying our car would be ready at Noon. This, despite hearing late Thursday that we could expect it next Tuesday. How did we get from Tuesday to today?
Initially, the garage promised Friday (yesterday), which fit our schedule well: Tracy begins transporting some students to far-away internships on Sunday. But Tuesday was not workable, so Tracy bargained for the garage to reimburse our transport costs Saturday through Tuesday, including inter-city trips for some of the students. Seems the prospect of lost revenue provided motivation to complete the repairs sooner rather than later. Indeed, Emmanuel told me today that his mechanics worked into the evenings to finish.
The photo below shows their gorgeous work; the Lancer is shiny and new. But, more importantly, formerly rusting portions of the body are now protected. Several small, taxi-caused scrapes and dents have been repaired, too, with the benefit of silencing a rattling bumper. (My suspicion of suspension problems was, thankfully, wrong.) The exhaust system is quieter now, too. Assuming the new finish stays nice, I expect the Lancer’s life was extended by several years today.
Good for Calvin! Good for future directors! Good for us!
One very interesting piece of news: I learned today from Wahab and his friend Nana that last weekend’s (very loud!) Hall Week artist was M.I (Mister Incredible), a Nigerian rapper and former Calvin College student! Small world.
Unbeknownst to us, M.I is incredibly popular and critically-acclaimed. He has won several “best rap album” and “musician of the year” awards. People from all over Ghana descended on Commonwealth to see his show. (If Ghana has any reasonable fire codes, stuffing several thousand people into the central courtyard surely violated them!) Despite the fact that we could not appreciate it, the concert provided a strong finish to a successful Hall Week for the Vandals.
Truth stands.
—Matt
