How-To

This is a blog, constructed from the journal entries, letters, cards, photos and other images I have from my 3+ years (nearly 41 months) in the Peace Corps, August 3, 1974 to December 21, 1977.

If you wish to read my whole story, as recorded, you should navigate to the blog archive and begin with the post “Letter, August 3, 1974." All of my posts, except the last two, contain either complete or partial dates, and they are in chronological order. So you can read all 561 posts in order, and have the complete tale!

If you are curious, but less ambitious, and in particular if you are a visual learner, I recommend you start by browsing those posts with titles that begin with the word Images. Navigate to the blog archive and start with the post “Images, August 1974.” The “Images” posts contain photos and other images I’ve preserved. Each image has a short description with it. Like all posts, they are in chronological order. There are 41 “Images” posts, one for each month of my Peace Corps service.

Of course you can also use keyword searches to find all posts related to a place, person, or other thing that interests you. Happy browsing and reading!

Note: I began the process of transferring my letters, journal entries, photos, etc. to blog format in August of 2014 (40 years after the start of my time in Peace Corps). So, to get to my first entries, you must first click on the node for the year 2014, if it is not already expanded, and then on the month of Aug. (August).

Afterward

We left El Salvador December 21st and entered the U.S. at New Orleans. Sofia received her permanent resident visa or “Green Card” there. We spent a day and night in Nashville TN visiting my sister Marcia and her husband Rendy. We flew to Madison on December 23rd and made it to the farm near Friendship WI just in time for Christmas.

El Salvador endured a terrible civil war in the 1980s. Though it officially ended with a ceasefire in 1992, the effects still linger.

The Atiocoyo Irrigation Project was completed. A 1998 report by Jack E. Farmer, PE indicates that management and technical issues still existed and were being addressed at that time.

El Maizal still exists as a community sponsored by the El Salvador Episcopal Church, near Metalío. I have been unable to ascertain whether the demonstration and training farm I worked at is still operating.

CIGRAS (Centro para Investigaciones en Granos y Semillas), the Grain and Seed Research Center, still exists at the University of Costa Rica in San Pedro.

Journal, December 20, 1977 AM

<Sofia is keeping a very complete diary since we left Costa Rica.> At least she writes in it often. She is at it again, just paused to tell me she wants to eat a pineapple pie at McDonald’s today. Last evening we had a pizza at the Pizza Nostra and then a pineapple pie & a Coke at the neighboring McDonald’s. It appears she enjoyed it.

<El Salvador has been tough for Sofia to get used to.> It’s been just as tough as it was for me when I first arrived. She is extremely observant. She sees and deplores the pushing, the hustling, the brutalizing, the lack of concern for the welfare of the other guy and the poverty. It was good to bring her here. As Chico Rodriguez says, this is what Costa Rica (and the rest of the world) could become if people don’t take the warning & work to prevent it.

Journal, December 19, 1977 PM

I told Chico {Rodriguez} ‘no’ today and he didn’t make any further effort to convince me. I really respect Chico. He’s a hard-worker, a very useful person & perceptive, intelligent. Knowing he has a good deal of respect for me made it harder to refuse him, but I know it’s time I must start taking charge of my life.

<Sofia and I encountered a veritable Peyton Place among the Peace Corps volunteers in Santa Tecla.> It turns out Fred Tracy really went home for Christmas because he is all broken up over Marlene {Johnsjoy}. She dumped him & is now playing the field. She seems to be enjoying being a “Gringa {North American woman}” here, and the popularity that affords her with Salvadoran men.

One of Marlene’s roommates, Susan, separated from her PCV {Peace Corps volunteer} husband, and now lives with a local man. And the third girl in the apartment is presently in Belize with a member of the British mission in El Salvador, with whom she has been living for some time. All three of the girls are clearly dragging down Peace Corps’ image here, but what I really would like to know is if they were venturesome types when they entered Peace Corps or whether the Peace Corps El Salvador experience did it to them.

In the guys’ apartment in Apartamentos San Francisco we have three dudes who like to go whoring, never wash a glass or clear the table, and generally live like fraternity boys. Dave Quarles is still here, though he’s left Peace Corps and joined AID. He hasn’t changed any. He’s still good for an argument, and still reads books about the political situation here, & talks about how fucked up it is. The other two guys I knew from before, but just barely. They are still with Peace Corps.

<Poor Sofia had a rough plane ride up here.> Actually, the plane ride wasn’t bad, but she had a queasy stomach due to a combination of it being her first day taking the pill after her menstruation and the fact that we drank a lot of beer the 14th. <Anyway, we decided to discontinue the contraceptives (they’ve given Sofia a very hard time), and cut short a series of injections she was taking, in the interest of salvaging our vacation.> It has worked well. The 16th she was pretty good, and she’s been normal ever since. However, it does mean we’re back to the Russian roulette with the prophylactics!

Journal, December 18, 1977 PM (Sunday)

I can’t sleep. It is a case of Salvador paranoia. I remember that in my first weeks here back in 1974 I experienced it. If anything I’m even more scared now. The situation here seems even more intense than I remember it. <Sofia has something to do with my greater nervousness, partly because she depends on me, but mostly because she is a very sensitive, very observant person.> She causes me to notice more the suffering and the brutalizing of the people. She is awake & writing too. She just asked if it was possible to leave here before Wednesday the 21st.

Many things have occurred since we boarded the plane December 15th in San Jose. Definitely a bombardment on my disturbingly sluggish mind.

(Continued at 12:45 AM, 12/19/1977)

<I still can't sleep, and unfortunately I woke up Sofia.> I would like to go walk the streets, but San Salvador is dangerous, especially for a couple.

Chico Rodriguez has made me a job offer, as training coordinator for a soil conservation group. I don't want the job. <It would be just another tangent from the goals I have set, and a substantial sacrifice for Sofia too.> I’ve decided to say no and no and no, but I haven’t said it. My timidity or lack of character or whatever inhibited me from telling him yesterday.

We were with him most of the day. He took us to La Libertad in his old jeep "commando" in the morning, and then took us out to eat in the afternoon. Is he trying to bribe me? No, he just knows me, knows that if he is around, showing the fact that he’s waiting & hoping, the chances are better I'll not be able to say no.

Journal, December 8, 1977 AM

It wasn't until yesterday that we sent the box of clothes, books & other stuff off to Wisconsin. Yesterday I had to wear my suit pants, because the other 3 pairs of pants that are still available were all dirty.

<I bought Sofia’s ticket Monday, so she could prove to the people at Seguro Social that she really was leaving the country.> Otherwise they wouldn’t let her stop paying the "voluntary" insurance she's been paying. Little hassles. I'll buy my ticket when I get the cash coming to me at Peace Corps termination.

Today is a holiday, so I wrote my Christmas cards - most of them. I’m sending a bunch to people who haven’t written me for 6 months to see if I get a response. If not it's the last effort to keep the tie. It's tough to keep contact by mail, easy to lose interest.

<Tragedy has befallen Sofia's oldest sister. Her baby, who Sofia & I were to be godparents to, was born dead.> She was in critical condition for a while also. She is here {at the family home} now. Her husband got drunk when he heard about the baby, then went to the hospital and got them to give him the body. Last night he sent someone by to take their kids to "velar {look after}" the body. The 4 kids were brought to Sofia's parents' home when he left them alone. <Sofia's family sent the 16 year-old, but wouldn't hear of having the other, younger children take part in the "funeral." They buried the body today and the other 3 kids are still here {at Sofia's parents' house}.> Everyone here says their father turns crazy when he drinks. <They're lucky they have Sofia's goodhearted family to look after the kids.>

<Sofia's oldest sister is out of the hospital already, & arrived here about 11:30 AM.> She may spend the night or a few days. <Poor woman, about 35 years old and looks like 45.> She's been given a tough life, but wonderful sisters!

The 15th we leave for El Salvador. There's little left to do. I go to the dentist on Friday & should get my Peace Corps money. We kill the pig Saturday for an old-fashioned Costarican farewell feast Saturday & Sunday. <Tuesday we (Sofia & I) plan to go to Sarchí, to the ox-cart factory, to buy gifts & a small carry-on bag.>

I won't get to see Fred {Tracy} in El Salvador because he's home for Christmas. I wrote a letter with his Christmas card, trying to say some of what I'd hoped to say to him in person. Still there are people to see in El Salvador, and goodbyes to be said.

Letter, December 7, 1977

Today I sent off a big box of clothes, books & stuff by airfreight. I thought I’d send you all a copy of the freight bill so that if the box arrives before we do, & they call or write from the Madison airport saying, “Get this *!# box out of here quick!” you could do something about it. On the back of the bill I put a note authorizing family members to retrieve the stuff. Anything they charge you, I will reimburse of course. If there’s no problem with leaving the box at the airport a short time, I’ll retrieve it when I get home. OK? It’s all used stuff, so there shouldn’t be any customs charges.

I got Bruce’s form letter & will comply with the new Christmas gift policy. I’m not sure if I’ll come up by plane from Nashville. Marcia may drive up & if she does we’ll go with her, probably. I plan to call from Nashville when we’ve decided our mode of transportation from there on north.

Everything looks good for our trip, just about set to go. <Sofia finishes school this week.>

Take care, see you,

Dean

Images, December 1977

{ Me picking coffee near Sofia's family's house in La Asunción, Costa Rica. }

{ Gerardo Chavez and Maria Teresa de Chavez, in the doorway of their home in Santa Tecla, El Salvador. }

Journal, November 27, 1977 AM

<I’m sitting on the edge of the bed watching Sofia sleep.> A minute ago she was making faces like a child before a mirror, or a person illustrating how a third party looked in the situation being described. She did it again. I suppose she’s dreaming. She remembers her dreams much more frequently than I do.

My cold had me down yesterday, but I feel good this morning. It certainly is misery when you feel so rotten that you don’t want to do anything but loaf around. You can’t sleep. If you could it wouldn’t be misery! Yet you feel disgusted with yourself because you aren’t doing anything but loaf.

Friday the money order I’d asked Mom to send finally got here. The first time she sent it, it got lost or stolen in the mail, so this is a new copy of the money order. Mom calmly noted that she had to sign a bond in case I cashed both money orders. That’s Mom, she leaves you wondering if she distrusts you, or just was being very economical with words.

<I can’t seem to get Sofia interested in helping make a list of what we should send by airfreight and what we’ll put in the two suitcases we can take with us.> It’s not really important, just my passion to not leave things for the last minute. Maybe we should just wait ‘til next weekend, throw everything in the box, make a list and send it off.

Card, November 23, 1977

Dear Mom, Dad & all,

Description: Music Kiosk, San José, C.R.

This time the check got here! I’m in the process of changing it at the bank. Sorry I didn’t write sooner about the first one not coming, but my mind was on other things & I just didn’t think of it.

Anyway, as before, we expect to arrive in Madison December 23rd at 1:40 PM. If there are changes we’ll call. Dean

Journal, November 19, 1977 AM

<Little Ronald is on my case again.> The poor little guy wants to do everything I do at the same time I’m doing it - like Dennis the menace “helping” Mr. Wilson.

<Sofia is typing a paper for her sociology course.> I typed a couple pieces, but I’m so slow . . . <Poor Sofia had morning sickness again today, from the birth control pills.> The first month she had it over a week, and this is the third day she’s been sick this month. I fear the new pills aren’t going to be acceptable either. We’ll probably give up on them after 3-4 months, like we did the other ones. <Sofia is so sensitive to drugs.> I wonder how the male contraceptive pill is coming along!

I ran from La Asunción to the airport and back today. I don’t know how far it is, but it took me about an hour and fifteen minutes. I’ve been running about half an hour’s worth every morning since we moved here, and wanted to make a longer run to see what kind of shape I’m in. I think I’m in fair shape. I made the whole trip running & there are some pretty good hills.

I was thinking this morning about ideological traps, how true it is that any absolute ideology makes the person adhering to it absolutely dangerous to society. Examples: The conservative can fall into the trap of valuing order & the status quo more than justice & the rights of human beings. The liberal can fall into the trap of pushing social welfare at the expense of the vital work ethic and the dignity that comes from a belief that you are earning your own keep. The socialist can fall into the trap of tearing down all the counter-balancing institutions in a society in his haste to achieve greater economic equality, thus leaving the way open for the fascists in socialist clothing to gain a strangle hold.

It’s a truism that the theory of relativity applies to social systems, but it is ever so difficult to develop it at the practical level, especially because there are so many golden throats around who nimbly envelope their self-interest in eloquent ideological pronouncements. Social science has advanced tremendously from a technical standpoint, but remains tethered by the short rope called point-of-view.

Journal, November 12, 1977 PM

<November 4th Sofia & I moved out of Lolita Gonzalez’s “Casita {little house}” in Santo Domingo and into her family’s house.> She and her mother wanted it this way and economically it’s a help. Ni modo {Nothing for it}! I’m discovering, however, that the situation demands tremendous self-control.

<First of all it must be noted that I have to be wary of expressing displeasure, or anything that could be so interpreted, to anyone but Sofia.> They are very sensitive & I’d hate to upset or offend them.

<Then there’s Ronald, who lacks a playmate his age and therefore drives everyone crazy by trying to interact with everybody all the time. Ronald has been dedicating generous amounts of his time to Sofia & I since we’ve arrived, since we are “new” and have lots of strange “tiliches” (playthings) to check out. At times Ronald is fun, but he is so used to having his own way & so full of the devil, that he tries the patience.> I’m tempted constantly to try to teach him some discipline, but I can’t. His parents “spoil” him & I am not ready to try unilateral disciplining of a kid who’s not mine.

<Sofia’s folks get up at 4 AM without fail & sometimes start talking in bed as early as 2 AM. Sofia's dad reads the newspaper aloud.> He is doing so now. I can’t blame him since the fact that he reads at all with the formal education he received is amazing. Our presence in the house makes sleeping accommodations inadequate, though no one complains of course. <One of the girls has to sleep in the same room with Sofia’s parents. The other night it was her next older sister, and her dad was giving her a hard time, calling her names (affectionately) that she considered beneath her dignity.> The exchange reminded me of Dad & Merna squabbling as they always used to when he tried to “bring her down to size.”

Letter, November 9, 1977

I’d been expecting you to write & send me the $500 from my bank account, but since nothing has gotten to me I decided to write to see if by chance you’d sent it & it got lost in the mail, etc. More likely you’ve just been too busy to write, but it’s also true that Costarican postal employees aren’t always honest & someone may have ripped off the letter to try & cash the check. So what-say if you let me know by return mail if you sent out a letter with the check more than 2 weeks before the date on this letter?

<Sofia & I went to the embassy today & presented the papers for her visa. Apparently everything was in good order because the woman just notarized Sofia’s application form & said we should come back Friday to pick up the visa. All told we spent about $70 getting it, at a time when we don’t have that much money, but once Sofia has permanent residence we can live in the U.S. as long as we want. Also, Sofia can live here & keep the visa by entering the U.S. once a year.> Anyway, whatever happens, the visa should be useful for a long time.

I’d hoped to hear from you concerning when Dad will be operated on, to decide when we should leave for the States, but since that wasn’t possible, we made our decision. As it turns out, Costa Rica had a border incident with Nicaragua & the two countries may break diplomatic relations, so we can’t count on being able to go through that country by land in January. Also, we’re getting the itch to go, so we decided to make the trip by plane & leave here December 15th. We’ll spend 6 days in El Salvador, and leave there December 21st for New Orleans and then Nashville. We plan to spend a day there to visit Marcia before leaving for Madison at 1:40 PM, December 23rd on Northwest #739. It looks like we’ll make it just in time for Christmas.

<Sofia & I are living with her family for the rest of our time here.> She & her mother wanted it that way, & it makes it easier for us to sell stuff, & send stuff ahead that we don’t use much. My job is not slacking off at all yet; looks like I’ll be working right up to the end. I just got put in charge of collecting a pair of corn samples (from test plots) just a week before we leave.

My nervousness is probably groundless, but the thing about my check getting ripped off in the mail is really on my mind. Please let me know what’s what as soon as you can.

Take care,

<Dean & Sofia>

Images, November 1977

{ A Guanacaste beach view, just before sunset. }

{ Another Guanacaste beach view, just before sunset. }

{ A Guanacaste beach view, at sunset. }

{ Another Guanacaste beach view, at sunset. }

{ A third Guanacaste beach view, at sunset. }

{ A Guanacaste beach view, just after sunset. }

Journal, October 28, 1977 AM

I just trucked over to the CNP drier {government grain drying station} and talked to an old fellow about where they plant corn around here. He gave me some good advice, I think. You can never be sure they’re not B.S.’ing you. He said we should follow the roads to two cantons {political entities similar to U.S. counties} near here, and that the corn farmers all live along the road. Also, I found out that they grow some rice in the zone.

I slept pretty badly. At about three this morning one or more truck drivers left, making all possible noise in the process, it seemed. Then at five the dog in the lot directly below me began to bark. Así es la vida {That’s life}.

We’ve been lucky in one thing. The always rainy Atlantic zone is dry as a bone right now. Apparently it has been for about a week. I hope it stays that way all day. The horrendous road we came in on would be much worse wet, especially the river crossings.

Journal, October 27, 1977 PM

One month later I read over for the first time what I wrote concerning my reaction to finding out about Dad’s imminent operations. Since that time I’ve heard nothing from Friendship {WI}. I wrote my brother Bruce a strong letter in which I poured out my ideas about the situation at home. I’m unsure whether he’ll sympathize with my views. Perhaps he’ll write it off as a strange over reaction to a trivial matter by someone too far from the farm to even see the top of the silo. Perhaps he’d be correct, but I’ve not changed my ideas in any substantial way. I’m calm, in certain moments of mental unemployment I consider alternative strategies for solving specific problems on the farm or dream up future scenarios of what the farm could become given alternative modernization strategies. I don’t know why the farm is so important to me right now.

Present time: I’m spending the night in Guacimo with Carl Reed and his wife Susan. It took us 7 hours to get here from San Jose, and we only managed to do one interview. Carl did the interview and all the driving today. The poor guy’s beat! And then he’s got to take special care of Susan, because like most “Gringas {North Americans}” she’s not accustomed to the distinctly shitty sanitary conditions of rural accommodations in Costa Rica (i.e. spiders & webs, rats, toilets that don’t flush). One toilet here has fresh diarrhea in it. She’s bearing up with true American spirit though. <I’m sure Sofia would be more volatile (ready to tell off the manager, etc.).>

Poor Carl, he’s doing all the thinking and all the pushing on this grain storage survey. What we’re doing at this point is testing our questionnaire. Between the bean cooking, which takes up so much time & leaves my brain fried & my disposition which is generally sullen, and my natural (if insidious) tendency to be passive and let the initiative be taken by others, etc. I’m of little more good to him than Fred was to Super Chicken. I have to offer to drive tomorrow. It’s too little & too late, but it will also help break my present mental block against driving.

I’m a most peculiar creature. I am capable of developing a mental block toward doing almost anything that I haven’t done for a while. I’ve yet to experience a mental block against lovemaking, but it may become possible as I get older & less virile.) Anyway, with the driving, I’ve been nervous about it since I had the accident in El Salvador. However, I drove while in the U.S. last year, with no reservations. I drove for the first time in Costa Rica about a week ago, & managed to make it from San Pedro to Santo Domingo without hitting anything. I did stall once & remove the windshield wiper knob (which I later figured out how to put back on correctly).

Carl, Susan & I just went out for a beer. We got lucky & a guy bought us a second round without even coming over to talk at us (or breath on us!). It was good. I felt it relaxed all three of us. We talked about experiences, even religion. Carl’s father is a preacher. Knowing that fact makes him more comprehensible. Susan takes change for her dollar from the collection dish. She’s irreverent, practical, and very likeable. Susan is the first person I’ve seen since Linda Carr who has double-jointed elbows. Linda Carr is an acquaintance from grade school & high school who repeatedly returns to my conscious memory because of a particularly weird role she played in those years of my life. In grade school she was the special outcast of my class. In high school, the anonymity of a larger universe let her develop a more normal role. She eventually married a very popular local guy.

<Sofia invited two of her sisters over for tonight, rather than go to her parents’ house.> She says they’re going to raise hell since I’m gone. <I would’ve liked to have brought Sofia along to see the new country I saw today, but she’d never have stood the grueling ride in here from Siquirres.> After we went to Orotina in this same International Scout II with the loose & banging back window, she swore she’d never again go anywhere in said machine.

We went to the {U.S.} Embassy yesterday to see about the visa, and for a morning’s waiting were repaid with a new form to fill out and an appointment with the vice-consul in two weeks. I was angry at the time, but such is bureaucracy, whether it be Joe Tico’s or Uncle Sam’s.

Images, October 1977

{ A rural produce stand featuring fresh coconuts. }

{ A young coconut palm plant. }

Letter, September 28, 1977

Dear Mom, Dad and all,

Thanks for the farm value statement. <Hopefully it’ll meet with approval in the embassy here and make the processing of Sofia’s visa easy.> The vice-consul said the important thing was to demonstrate that the farm was of sufficient size & worth to support us as well as yourselves, & I think the statement definitely does that.

As far as taking the money out of my bank account, yes, October 1 will be plenty of time. I miscalculated my quarters-of-a-year, sorry.

I would like to know when Dad plans to have his operations. Bruce wrote about the same time you did saying they would operate on Dad over Christmas vacation.

<Sofia & I talked it over and decided that if the operations were going to take place in late December or early January, we would try to leave here as soon after I finish Peace Corps service as possible so as to be there to help out.> I finish December 14, so if we go by plane, and only spend a couple days in El Salvador en route, we could be there in time to cut the Christmas tree!

We’d also like to make a stop in Nashville on our way north, if flying by way of that city doesn’t boost our fares too much. Anyway, please let us know for when the operations are being planned, so we can plan accordingly.

There’s not much new here. <Things are going well for Sofia & I, though we are a bit bored and starting to anticipate the big move coming up.>

Looks like we are going to become godparents before we leave. <Two of Sofia’s married sisters are pregnant, and one of them, who expects to give birth in early November, has already asked us to be the little one’s "padrinos {godparents}.">

Take care,

<Dean & Sofia>

Journal, September 27, 1977 PM

I’m in the process of cooking beans as I’ve been all too often in the last 5 months. It’s the closest to assembly line work I’ve ever been, and I sure don’t wish I ever get closer!

<Mom wrote to say there will be no problem with Sofia & I living at the family home for a few months after we reach the states.> She said Dad needs two operations for a double hernia he’s developed. She suggested he might wait until we were there to have the operation so that I could help out with the work.

All well & good. <As Sofia put it, that way we are there to help instead of being a bother (ayudar en vez de molestar).>

However, Dad’s condition started my brain speculating as to what would happen if his recovery is less than complete, and in general, what will happen to the farm as Mom and Dad become too old to run it? <Whatever the outcome of the operations, the time will be ripe to discuss the fate of the farm while Sofia & I are in residence there.> We will enter a potentially high-pressure situation down on the farm!

Everyone knows Dad’s favorite choice for his successor, and with Tom likely to go away to college next fall (leaving only Carla to help with farm work), I’m certain he’ll find the time ideal for #1 son to start taking over. I’m not afraid of the pressure. I can cope. The truth is my mind is bubbling over with ideas about what needs to be done to make the farm a viable enterprise in the next generation.

I’m not willing to give up my academic goals to farm full time just now, but I am willing to adapt my studying strategy to help out on the farm if it’s really necessary. I believe that at least 3 of the second generation (Bruce, Jan and I) are determined to keep the farm in the family. That’s important. If we take looking after the farm as a communal interest, we can probably meet personal goals, and keep the farm truckin’ no matter what happens to Dad’s or Mom’s health.

Letter, September 8, 1977

Dear Mom, Dad and everyone,

How is everyone? <Sofia & I are fine, looking forward to a 4-day weekend starting September 15 (It is Central American Independence Day).>

I’m sorry to hear about Belle, but it was to be expected that she wouldn’t last much longer. Did you exhibit any cattle at the fair?

<Sofia & I presented our papers at the U.S. Embassy to apply for her visa, and they told us to come back some time in October.> You have to enter the U.S. within 4 months of the date your visa is approved it turns out. I don’t need my birth certificate (sorry for the hassle!) because they’ll take my passport as evidence.

Since I am a Peace Corps Volunteer they require me to demonstrate ability to support my wife before I can take her into the U.S. One way of demonstrating support is a job offer, which I consider pretty difficult for me to get after 3 years of being outside the U.S. Another possibility is to say I am initially going back to work on the family farm. In that case I would need a statement of the value of the farm & of personal assets from you, Mom & Dad, to demonstrate that the farm can support more than one family. I don’t like to ask you to do this, but I am asking because it will be a lot more secure than trying the job offer route. Please let me know if you are willing to do the statement of farm value & assets, so I can get busy on the job-hunt otherwise.

The statement of farm value (estimate) and other assets needs to be notarized, the vice-consul informed me, in order to be acceptable to her. That’s the extent of what she told us. We have all the other paperwork in order to get the visa. I’m glad I started on it early to find out about this support business before the last minute!

We haven’t tried the baked beans yet, mainly because I’ve been staying out of the kitchen lately!

Dean