Letter, November 26, 1976

Hi Jan,

How are things going? It’s been a while since I heard from you! Jay said he’d gotten a letter recently, but I don’t remember when I have. My address has changed, look on the envelope!

Looks like I’m coming home unless my visa gets held up. (I need a temporal residence visa here before I can leave.) I’ll be coming to Madison on December 10 at 7:35 PM, flight #739, Northwest. If it’d be OK I’d like you to meet me, & I could stay the night in Madison. I want to go to the U.W. {University of Wisconsin-Madison} administrative offices, to the bookstore and a few things like that, Saturday morning before I go up to Friendship. I’d also like to pass by & see Gert Verberkmoes, the old DTS {Delta Theta Sigma Fraternity} cook. But only if it’s convenient, otherwise I’ll just go home. Tell the folks if you can’t meet me & want them to. I told them in a letter I was counting on you, & I doubt there will be time for another exchange of letters.

I’m looking forward to talking with you again while I’m home. I’ll be home about a month - lots of time.

<Sofia & I will be engaged on Sunday.> We bought the ring last Friday, but have been holding off until Jaime Olson’s wedding was over. Jaime’s wedding was an authentic folk festival. I wish you could have been in San Antonio to see it. Mauren, Doña Carmen’s littlest (the blonde, green-eyed “gringa”) was a flower girl, and Marielos, her oldest, was a maid of honor. I was the “major amigo” {best man} - it was a real community event. 5 Peace Corps Volunteers came down from El Salvador for it & were like a delegation of goodwill ambassadors. Everyone in San Antonio got a kick out of them. Jaime’s parents & one grandma came. They are super good folks. Typical humble Wisconsin farmers, but also very calm, very tolerant. They really were impressed with the hospitality in San Antonio.

My job is the most sophisticated technically I’ve had yet. Have you ever heard of aflatoxins? They are toxic substances produced by fungi & are a major problem in food grains in a hot wet climate like they have here. I keep on learning, so I guess I should be satisfied.

<Sofia and I have set up March 4 as our tentative wedding date.> It’s very soon, but convenient because it’s before her university classes start, before the rains start, and hopefully before planting season in Wisconsin. I hope someone will be able to come down, but that’s a matter to discuss when I get home in December.

Jay says you’ve changed jobs, true? See you soon.

Love,

Dean