Email from Jan. 14

Hello all -

I'm in Zambia, and it is GREAT!!!

Pleasant surprises:

• Beautiful landscape, grassy dotted with trees, big blue sky
  
• Cool people who are thinking about how to get educated and get ahead, and are informed about the issues
  
• Ability of Zambians to break into perfect four-part harmony in less than a minute
  
• Food is not just cornmeal (as I had thought) but cornmeal, vegetables, and meat - with tea and coffee and bread and jam for breakfast
  
• If you call me or text me, *it doesn't cost me anything* and it can be cheap for you too - more on this later. I will text you back.
  

For those of you who weren't previously aware of my plans: I'm currently in Zambia with a British charity called SPW and planning to stay here until July/August doing HIV/AIDS and development work. When I return in the fall, I will be going to business school. Eugene and I are getting married May 25, 2008 in Toronto - I miss him terribly but at least I get to talk to him every other day or so and text him every day. Truly, I can't believe my good luck in finding such a wonderful man who is letting me do this and providing a ton of practical support besides. (Thanks for unlocking the SIM card! and making the visa card work! and for the headlamp! and the Sudoku puzzles!)

Everyone I've addressed this e-mail to is welcome to get in touch with me. The preferred method is calling or texting. You can get international phone cards with rates to Zambia of $0.05 to $0.08 per minute, and you can set up international texts for about $0.30. My number (from the US) is 011 260 xx xxxxxx. If I don't pick up, sorry! I haven't been able to set up voicemail yet but I'm going to try to get it working soon. Zambia is 7 hours ahead of New York time. E-mail and snail mail are both really not very good in comparison, but may be worth a shot if you don't mind me getting your message about a month later. This is my e-mail address, my snail mail address is: [removed].

I apologize for the mass e-mail intended for many different audiences - it's really the best way with such a slow connection and not much time. Also, if you're scanning the list and notice that I missed someone (I guarantee it's happened), please, please forward along. => Anyone daring to "reply all" will be summarily executed.

Love,
Summer