June 7th 2004

Hi Everyone,

My family and friends, does anyone remember what they were doing two years ago around this time? I do, I was packing my possessions in two suitcases and a back pack and weighing it all to make sure I was close to a 98 pound limit that I was allowed. After two years I am packing again but this time into seven boxes to be mailed home and one back pack for the road. I have indeed done two years of service for the Peace Corps and tomorrow maybe by the time some of you read this they will be coming to my site to pick me up. Time seems to go by so fast in some ways but in other ways it seems to go so slow.

My Peace Corps experience was a trip. I had a lot of fun and did some meaningful work so I got exactly what I wanted. I was able to make a lot of new friends, learn a new language, new customs and ways of doing things and grow as a person. My work included setting up a computer program at my school, teaching English, and doing extensive HIV work. I had small projects here and there too.

By next week I shall be going on vacation. I am planning on traveling around Southern Africa for a month visiting some different countries like Swaziland, Mozambique, and South Africa. After that I am off for a week-end in Paris. In the end I am supposed to be back in Tulsa, Oklahoma on the night of July 20th. To me right now even after two years it seems so far away but I am sure will seem to come very soon.

So for the next six weeks I am going to be difficult to reach but not impossible. I shall be often checking my email because even in the third world in the cities there are internet cafes. But I shall often times have a cell phone for the next week my number shall be 011-266-5895-9134. Until about July 15th I may or may not be available depending on which country I am at 011-278-3539-5672. If I do not answer that number please leave a message and I can call back as I shall be checking my messages regularly. I do not yet have a contact number for France as I have not planned that far ahead but I will probably just be checking my email then.

I am enclosing the last picture of me for quite a while. This is in large part due to the fact that I sold my digital camera. I probably sold it for a little too cheap but I was weary of mailing it home and more weary of taking it with be for a month in my back pack. The thing is I am only going to take on back pack and the few things in it with me for the month vacation and everything else basically is being mailed home or has been sold. I am definitely going to travel light.

So that is it for me I am signing off. I am sure I will have more adventures and wild times in the next month but I am not sure if I shall be writing about them so I would like to say to everyone that read and enjoyed me emails thanks for the support and I am glad you liked them.

Fine times, friends, and love. Jeff