Dão-lhes um centimetro e eles tomam um kilimetro

OK sorry everyone that this blog has been delayed so much...there has been so much to do. not to mention that the one fast computer in Namaacha is always taken by other volunteers. I actually has to get out of class early to get this spot...haha. well anyway like I said, a lot has gone on here in the past three weeks and I am going to do my best to catch you all up to speed on the happeneings here in good 'ol Moz. (PS - sorry about the nature of this blog its a bit choppy but I have so much to talk about...bear with me!) (A group of clad in costume at our halloween party)

Well, the weekend after my last post myself, Lo, Tommy, Jared, Tara, and Raposa (all education volunteers located here in Nam-town too) went on a huge ass hike up one of the mountains bordering here and South Africa. From a point here in Namaacha you can see the quintessential African trees (think Lion King on the savana)...well we went in search of those. we crossed a huge damn that is like 50m hight and no bars across it to cross. Nevertheless, I was scared! Well we finally got to the top of the mountain and it was a beautiful view...well worth it!!

The day after all the volunteers here in Namaacha celebrated Halloween MOZ style. We had a big festa at the casa da corpo da paz where almost everyone was clad in a costume. Let me tell you these costumes were great for the limited available resources!! There were robots, pirates, peacocks (that was me and another girl), the people from Wizard of Oz, a lobster, and a glow worm! Most of teh costumes were made of things found around here (like banana fronds) and items bought from the huge third world market that rolls into town twice a week. It was a blast...not like any halloween I have celebrated in the US but still awesome! (Lo and I as peacocks for Halloween!)

Sadly...two more people have left our training class here in MOZ. One individual was sent home bc of his adverse actions against other trainees and the other was transferred to Namibia for her service...we all wish her luck in her new adventure!!

Sooooooo....on October 19, 2007 my niece, J'ana Theresa Xenon-Bates (or whatever her last name is...I still dont know what my sister decided) was born. I am so happy to know that both her and my sister are healthy and doing well. I am just sad that I cannot be there to see her and knowing I wont see her for a year and a few months is tough too. I knew these things would happen while I was over here but when it happens its just harder to swallow. But all is weel and I will be home before you know it. While on the topic of babies, my mother here is preggers and is in her 5th month. She has decided to name the baby after me or my mother in the US if it's a boy or girl, respectively. Its pretty cool knowing that they like me enough to name their child after me! Of course its tradition (called "chara") that if they are named after you that you must buy them some clothes...i like to think that they like me enough more than they just want clothes. Such the optimist! Cool anyways. Love my fam here! (Those are 3 of my siblings!!)

OK so I got my first piece of mail here from Angay!! I was so elated to finally get somethjing. I was starting to think that nothing was going to get to me here. It was great to hear from people back home and have it to keep as a "momento" of sorts. I still like emails though! Thanks Ange!!

In terms of my portuguese, it's loads better. We had our mid-training LPI (language proficiency interview) and I scored in the region that woukld qualify me to become a PCV)...which is flippin awesome. Our group as a whole had a 92% pass rate...from what we heard about years prior (I dont know how trustworthy this info is though) we are doing much better. Go MOZ 12! Its pretty sweet. Things are looking up here in all aspects, not only in language. Thje Malaria meds arent as potent on my emotions anymore so I am not siffering from bouts of depression like symptoms and always wanting to go home. Actually in fact I rarely feel that way and am starting to really love it here!

So thispast week we all went on site visits aka vacations for the trainees! I went to the Manica province which is located on the border between MOZ and Zimbabwe. It was B-E-A-utiful! The mountains came out of no where and were very reminiscent of 'The Others' village in LOST. The volunteer I went to visit, Kelly Searl, was awesome (thats me and her). She had a lot of info for me about the whole PC experience (she COS'ed after I left aka finished her service). She told me alot about being gay and in the PC and more specifically PC MOZ. It was great to finally hear it from someone that has gone through the whole things. She put me into contact with an RPCV who lives and works in MOZ now for an NGO, this RPCV is also gay. Talked to him last night for awhile which was pretty awesome. I'm excited for service now more than ever after the site visits...it really inspired me to do my best and got me excited to be here! Sweeeeeeeeeeeet!!
(This is a view from the plane down to Mozambique...Sofala province I think!)

So I mentioned this open air market here in Namaacha earlier...well they call it "Shoprite" but its actually not a shoprite at all. Shoprite is actually a huge groceryt store but this is a flea market of sorts. Well we went shopping the other day and I got some great finds. I would have never thought that I was going to shop at a third world market, let alone like what i found. I found like 3 nice vintage t-shirts from the US...these are shirts people pay upwayrds of 30USD for but I payed only like 0.85USD. I also found a sweet muscle polo from Abercrombie (that I'm actually wearing right now!) for the same price!! It was the ebst deal ever...this is worth like 35USD...I love it! Amongst the other treasures there...I found a nice pair of jeans from Austrailia for less than 2USD. what finds at the Namaachian Shoprite!! (Thats all of us at the local bar playing drinking games and enjoying a Friday night Nam style!)

On my trip to Maputo two Saturdays ago I went to the 2007 World Press photo exhibit. Apparently its really famous and, yes, I went to see it for free. It was located in this old fort on the harbour and was beautiful. The pics were awesome/sad/inspiring/thought provoking all at the same time. I went with my Mozambican friend, Felipe. He shows me around the city when i go there and lets me use his internet sometimes. He is a nice guy and someone to hang outwith that isnt a trainee too. The day after Maputo, Sunday, my Mozambican parents took me to church with them. I told them I was raised Catholic but they insisted that i still come to their Apostolic Church. Well I eventually aquiesced (sp?) and went. IT WAS PURE HELL. Not only was it 95 degrees the whole day but it was 13.5 hours long. I was so mad at them for taking me there on the longest church service of the year. I thought It was rude of them and they knew I was pissed at them that night when I slammed my door to go to bed and hardly talked to them at dinner...the enst day is when I went on my site visit so they didnt see me for a week after...haha. we are all good now but lets just say that i did my penance and am not going to anothe rone of those services ever again!

Well MODEL SCHOOL is next week and I'm pretty damned nervous about the whole thing. We have to teach like 5 lessons or something, im still not sure yet, in all portuguese in front of like 45 students. I know that this is what its gonne be like at site but i am still nervous to be doing this in a language that i am still new in and hardly know that well. I will let you all know how it went in my next blog, thats for sure! ALSO, in less than 2 weeks we find out where our sites are going to be!!! crossing my fingers for an ocean site or mountains...I dont want to be in the boring plains where there are no beautiful landscapes...hope that I get a good one people!!

I miss you all and hope that you all are surviving the cold weather over there in the US...as its becoming winter over there, its approaching summer here and boy can you tell. Today it was 95 again. Have a great Thanksgiving and Black Friday!

Love you all and until next time,

Jon

(Myself, Adrienne, Tariq, and Lo at a Maputo gelataria)

Another one bites the dust...

Hello everyone! It has been awhile since I have last updated...about 2 weeks or so. I think this schedule is going to be pretty regular providing my access to internet is available but pretty expensive (60 metacais per hour or about $2.20 per hour).

So I am and have been at my training site in Namaacha for the past week and a half. I have been taking portuguese classes every day for like 7-8 hours a day. Lets just say that it is pretty tough and mentally exhaustive. In the US I go to bed usually at like 1 am...here it is not un-normal for me to go to bed at like 8:30 or 9 PM. WHOA! I def do not like that but I need to do it because there is nothing else to do and I am just so tired that I have to go to bed. The malaria prophgylaxis I am on (Mela-something) is making me have bad dreams every night, and I,m pretty sure it is the reason why I feel I am mildly depressed. Dont worry thougH! I am fine and its just a lot to bear all at once. I will survive so dont worry too much about me. Oh yeah! If you do want to get ahole of me in person I just got a cell phone in Maputo...contact Dave Rust or someone from my fam to get the number...just remeber to dial 011 before the 258 country code!

I love my familya nd they seem like they love me too...I have a mother (mãe), a father (pai), 2 sisters (irmas) and 2 brothers (irmãos). My bros and sistrers are all younger than me and they are really curious to know about me and where I am from, in egenral just everything about me...kind of cool! The climate here was hot whern we got here but since we are in the mountains we are fortunately cooler than most of teh country. Right now it is freezing at 34 deg C (I think like high 60´s or low 70´s)...Its really freezing here! Who would have thought?!

My portuguese is coming along at a steady pace. Every Friday we have an LPI whichj is just an interview with the language peopel to see how we are doing. I am rigth in the middle so its all good. I can communicate what IU want to my fam and they generally knwoi whwta I´m saying. Most of the time I) just have my dicitionary with me so I can look up the terms I dont know at all. But like last night I was explaining to them that my sister was about to have a baby and what halloween was. They didnt get the ideaabout carving pimpkins bc that would be a waste of food! Also I cooked for them last night an »American» dinner which consisted of roasted chicken (which I helped kill) with roasted potatoes, carrots, and onions. I also made mashed potatoes which they really liked. Which is great b.c I am sick of rice!

Ok on a more depressing note...people keep leaving here to go back to the US. And by people I( mean people that I am close with here. Yes I would consider tjem friends already b.c when you go through soemthing like this you need as big of a support system as one can have. Shari...a friend from Wisconsin left about 5 days ago while Heather a nice girl fron Ohiop left like 30 minutes ago. My support system is dwindling and its not cool. I cant deal with people like this leaving its really really hard. I often want to go home to but I cant leave because I feel like I need to stick it out for the next 10 weeks here and give it a real go. I am not a quitter but hey if after 10 weeks I decide like I am really not meant to be in the bush takinbg bucket baths and all that good stuff then hey, I tried right?! Its not that bad now whre I am dying to come home but I think of it often. I am told this is normal and I know every singloe one of s here is going through the same thing....we just miss home. AKA CULTURE SHOCK. It´s hard and if you have never gfone through this...try it. You will really learn to appreciate everything back at home. Now I dont mean to paint a horribke picture bc I have learnbed a lot and this is a great experience. I wouildnt give this for anything andI hope It continues.

I will leave you with a goodbye from myself and from the entire MOZ 12 group...and hey do us a small favor, have a beer on us!

Love always,
Jon

The beginning of an adventure...

WOW...so much has happened in the last few days it's hard to know where to start so I can think of no better place than the beginning. Side note: for the sake of time and efficiency I wont bore you w. endless details.

PHILLY
I arrived in Philly 23 September and met up with the 68 other volunteers going to MOZ. It was pretty exciting to meet so many new people. SO far everyone has been absolutely fabulous. The hotel was sehr presh and more than accommodating. Even though staging was pretty packed with seminars and meetings we still had the night free and did we ever use that "free" time. We went out both Sunday and MOnday nights. We all bonded over food and copious amounts of beer. It was an enriching time had by all! Well we left Tuesday morning to go to JFK in NYC...what an emotional trip...people called me and thats all it took for me just to loose it.

Most people still have their game faces on but everyone knows that we all are feeling the same way. Sad about leaving home but overwhelmingly happy/excited. Onto AFRICA...

AFRICA
We had two back to back 8.5 hr flights and stoped midpoint in Dakhar, Senegal. yayy. It was along ass flight but had awesome peopel all around me. The South Afrucan man in frnt of me reassured us that MOZ was an awesome place to be...he said "it's so much fun, and you will have it too!" SWEET!
Arrived in Jo'burg, S. Africa at roughly 4:30 am your time. We stayed at a 5 star luxury hotel that immediately served us wine and cheese from the country. Let it be known that S. Africa wine is absolutely delish. We also had a buffet that was at least 5 courses and world class food. The best last meal I could ever think of. PS - just to give you a sense of what this place was like, for the breakfast they had make your own bloody mary's w. Skyy vodka...which of course I helped myself to!

The next morning/today we left for Mozambique! When we arrived myself and 9 other lucky people got sent to another hotel bc there wasn't enough room for us. It really sucks bc we are separated from the group but at least we have this brief internet stitch! Today we had dinner, talked about issues/ questions we had, got vaccines, and say a tribal dance w. music! It was so awesome...words cant describe! Now we are at the hotel in the cty of Maputo and just chillin out before bed...its about 10:30 pm here aka 3:30 pm in the US. More is yet to come tomorrow and the day after and day after. On Sunday we get separated into very small groups and dropped off at our homestay. It's sad to be separated from all these great people b.c thats just what they are great people that i have fallen in love with in a very very very (muito muito muito) short period of time. Such is life...but it sucks! lol.

I love and miss you all! I am thinking about you all.

Cheers/Salud!
Jon
xoxp

2 days!!

I leave in 2 days

and have so much still left to do!



excited
nervous

just two of the many emotions fluttering through my mind right now.


I need sleep. More packing tomorrow. Last time going out tomorrow too. Better make it a good one!

Cheers!

Jon

The time is fast approaching...

Sorry I havent updated in awhile. Life has been really hectic here. So I got my wisdom teeth out two weeks ago. I had a smooth and very rapid recovery (I had it done on a Monday and by Wednesday I out at the bar with my amigos...surprisingly I just had water that night). I got fully cleared for the PC and got my staging kit in the mail yesterday. I will be making my travel arrangements to report to staging in Philly any day now. Also, I am simultaneously trying to learn Portuguese from Rosetta Stone that my family so graciously purchased for me...because you all know I wasn't gonna spend that much money on that.

Today I just finished my last day working at the JCC in ROchester and I moved out of Rochester. I am now living at the parental units house in Amsterdam. Since Dave moved away there are very few people left in Amsterdam, most notably Ms. Angay. But now I have a very sexy lover/friend/? in Albany who I'm happy to spend a majority of my time with. Hey! if he makes me happy why not, right? Now I know what your thinking..."you only have a month or less!" I KNOW THIS. But you who know me, know that I'm crazy. I'm just having a good time with an awesome guy. It's that simple.


I will update more often now that I am home and devoting most of my free time to the PC, friends, family, and lover. Keep watch!

Jon

IT'S OFFICIAL!!

Hello all! BIG NEWS!!! It's official...I am going to be serving in.......


MOZAMBIQUE!!


as a chemistry teacher no less to high schoolers.


I leave September 23, 2007 and will return for good December 10, 2009.




More info is sure to come later...


Jon

Supa excited

So much is happening! So much has happened! I wont bore you with all the details about what has happened to me since my last post. Rather I will comment on the future. Seems weird, right?

Well I have BIG news...

I finally got medically cleared for Peace Corps service!!! I am a multitude of emotions right now...at the forefront are nervousness and excitement. WOW. I mean I am getting closer to leaving everyday. The regional nurse in Washingon, DC told me that I would be placed within the next two weeks and I would be notified ASAP. Well thing is, is that my mum called me and told me a woman from the placement office called and I need to call her back. Of course I did but she was not there...BUMMER!! All this waiting is awful - although at the same time I dont want to know where I am going yet b.c it will all seem so final and just like that, I'll be on my way to a land of desolation and modern asceticism.

Also, I made the appointment to get my wisdom teeth out for the 23rd...anyone want to nurse me back to health?! I prefer nice/hot boys but at this point I'll take anyone! (lol) So after those babies are out I will get my tix in the mail and be off...


OK the future now, so the Boilermaker is Sunday. I am leaving in a bit to go to Utica to engage in the usual Boilermaker weekend traditions. I'll go to the casino tonight and spend money then tomorrow go to the expo and eat all day then Sunday run the big 15k (9.3 miles for you non-runners). I'm running with my old teammate Meredith...we are SUPA EXCITED. Our goal (which will seem slow to the advanced runner) is to cross the finish at less than 1:25:00. Come watch us!!

ROC Pride is next week! Dave is coming up and we are going to have soooo much fun! Finally he will be here after 4 years of never coming to the ROC to see me...what a fucking whore. I am just soooo excited. This will be my first pride event since I came out. Yeah, so I will leave it at that - SUPA EXCITED!

Sadly, I will be moving out of 61 Cornell at the end of the month and begin my new residence in the ROC (yes! I am staying here!) with a friend. I will miss this house, the people in this house, and the location of this house (haha) so much words cannot describe it. If you know me then you know my love for this house. I don't want to leave it! Even though I live in what people consider the "city" and it has its fair share of violence...I would choose no other place to live...thats if I had a choice.


Now I am off to run my ass off (hopefully!). Stay safe and have fun people...it's the summer! Enjoy life.

Jon xoxo

It's been awhile since I have plast written. A multitude of things have been going on in my life that had to be dealt with before this. It's official: Dan and I are done. In the end it just came down to really poor timing for the both of us. It sucks but he did what he had to do and I respect him for it. I will miss him though. He brought things out in me that I didn't think I had. I'm thankful for that.


Anyway! I (hopefully) just completed my last series of medical evals for the PC...after they drew blood for the wrong test and I had to go a random clinic. Talk about annoying to the max.

The past two nights I have been one hot mess aka a total shit show...so if you saw me any of those nights and I offended you in some way, please forgive me! I wasn't going to drink much last night b.c Thursday was an experience that I clearly do not remember but since I was going through post-break up shock coupled with Leslie insisting on doing a "power hour"...did I really have a choice?! All I remember about last night was the song "shake that ass bitches, let me see what you got" and there I was shakin away with some woman I can only relate to a crack hoe...but a really nice crack hoe nontheless! Good times!

So now I am in Amsterdam waiting for my sister to come home from Utica so we can go get some dinner together...this will be the first time that we will be going to dinner alone and I'm really excited since I havent really talked to her much recently. But tonight I am going to see Dave in Albany!! I am super pumped! I miss him a lot and lets face it people when we both get together it is like the dynamic duo...throw in his roomate Brittany and the three amigos go to town...!

Have a good day everyone!
Jon

Waiting.

This past week or two has been one hell of a ride. So much has gone on...but I wont bore you with all the details. I have been spending a lot of time with Dan which is awesome...!! So far so good. Of course that was until the convo regarding me, the PC, and him came along this morning. I'm not going into it but we'll see what happens. I like him a lot, he likes me....everything's going great in our relationship but it's for that very reason that we may be thrown off. Only time will tell and now I'm just waiting to hear what Danny-boy is thinking. The wait is killing me..........


This whole application process regarding the PC is totally awful...I wish no one has as bad of an experience as I have had so far with it. You have to get many tests and exams done on you and then all you do is wait. And wait you will...you wait until they send you back a form telling you what you forgot to include....half the time what they said wasn't included in the first packet, actually was. Such is the case in my instance. Now for their obvious folly I'm guessing this will set me back until a post-September departure.

You know, they ask in your PC interview if your involved with anyone at the time and then they go on to tell you that it's advisable that you don't get involved with anyone between now and the time you leave. What is that like 9 months?!!? Thats really difficult! Well at the time I was as single as they come...and then I got involved. It sucks what this whole waiting game can do to you and the people around you.

Sorry to rant again, but thats a gist of the going-on's in my life at the moment. Have a good day!

- Jon (still waiting...)

Crazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzy

These last few days have been crazzzzzzyyyy. So much has happened! My life changes so fast I can barely keep up with it, let alone my poor friends. So after going to the Drag bootcamp last Wednesday with Dan I slept through my alarm and missed 1.5 hours of work and of course to my dismay my boss found out and asked me what was up and I had to tell a white lie (the power on the block went out). Thursday was just ac crazy b.c even though I had to open the next day I still went out with Dan. It was so late by the time we got back (they turned on the lights even before we left) I had to go to work in 2 hours...I pulled an all-nighter came back showered and went to work. After work I took a 4 hour nap and went to the East End Fest. What a horrible experience. Usually I am a huge optimist about this stuff but when I have to wait 30 minutes to get a 5 dollar beer in a 90 degree bar I am not all too enthused. Dan, Orlinda, Jen Lindsey and myself went to O'calls and then to LUX. It was my first time there and I absolutely loved it....Jen and Dan popped my LUX cherry, lucky them!! haha. Can anyone say Crackhead?!?!?!

That night is when I decided that I loved being in the ROC too much to move back to Amsterdam...even if it is for 2 months. I simply don't want to move somewhere where I am going to feel like the best thing to do is slit my wrists and poke out my eyeballs. My life is not in Amsterdam anymore. I know Dave and Ang will not be pleased (and I wish that they could live here!) but I have to do what is best for me....and that does NOT include me living in Amsterdam watching TV on a Saturday night.

So the search is on. I posted an ad on craigslist.org and have gotten back some really cool responses. Basically I have a choice between a woman ("Karen") and her cat "Pookie," a french foreign exchange student and his gf, or a house with 3 other guys....I'm leaning toward the Karen or the Frenchie. We'll see...an adventure, I'm sure, is sure to follow and I'm super excited for it.

Dan and I went to dinner at Country Sweet on Monroe and anyone who knows the city knows that it is rare to see two white boys in there despite it being 6:30 pm. PS - the food is absolutely amazing...everyone has to try it!! Saturday night Dan and I went to the T-shirt opening/soirée at Thread, this really awesome "one-of-a-kind" clothing store. Super expensive but super cool nonetheless. After having a few beers and some champagne we decided to go to Two89. If anyone doesn't know, this is the new and much improved Jungle. Despite this place doing a total 18- and going from dive to hipster hang, it still flooded my mind with memories from my freshmen and sophomore year. It was our bar...and by that I mean Nazareth's!! So many AWESOME memories that I will NEVER forget, ever! **sigh** Soon after we went to TiLT and I met up with Liz N. and her gf, Laura A., it was so awesome to see her again...I miss her! All in all it was a great night and the two drunk ladies we encountered on our travels was awesome. Number 1 was some woman asking to buy our belts b.c her friends husband didnt have one and apparenly needed one. She then proceeded to ask us if we were gay. Of course we answere truthfully...bad idea. As soon as she heard this she kept going on and on how she loved gay men and she clutched us as if we were her new best friends. We politely said goodbye and started to walk away, at teh same time this crazed woman is screaming at us telling us she loves us!! HOLLA. Drunk woman number 2 was apparently from Miami and "hated" it here b.c she drank by herself and knew no one. After just barely helping her over a chain rope she pestered us for a ride to her house. It wasnt far so we gave her one...she nearly puked. I would have been so pissed if she had done that. Thankfully for us and for her she didnt.

Well I just had to get that all out and document the crazy times that went on these past few days. I hope everyone has had a good weekend! BTW, the pic posted is the first one of Dan and I...presh, we know!

Jon

...I'm gonna need a coffee...

So I told myself that this week I wouldn't be going out so often because I have to open 4 out of the 5 business days this week...which means waking at ~5 AM. Well fate would work itself out otherwise to me...went out to Acme and RJs last night. It was Craig's 22nd pre-bday bash. Well since tonight is his actual bday, we just have to go out! The plan is Oxfords for their $4 pitchers...sweet deal! Of course, if you know me, I can't stay at a straight bar for too long...so after JD's I will be dragged by Dan...errr, going with Dan... to Muthers for their novice drag queen show night. This is going to be total uninhibited, unabashed, and pure hilarity!! Drag queens are so funny...especially when there is no cover and good drink specials. Yep and I still have to open in the AM...I think I have finally faced the fact that I will NOT be sleeping tonight, or tomorrow night for that matter (Thursty Thursday)!

I'm pretty sure my social life is getting out of control....oooo but it's sooooooo much funzo! I need a man to reel me in so I don't have to go out looking for something that I probably wont find. I'm a romantic hopeful nonetheless. Eh, oh well until then it looks like it will be crazy crazy.

Have a good night everyone, I know I will! And now I will leave you with a quote from Cher that Leslie found and can apply to almost all of us (especially me!)

"A [boy] can wait for the right man to come along, but in the meantime that still doesn't mean [he] can't have a wonderful time with all the wrong ones."
- Cher

Happy Memorial Day!!

These past few days have been one hell of a whirlwind with all the boy drama and with memorial day parties! So my boyfriend of a VERY short time period cheated on me last night and thankfully due to his roommate I found out...lets just say that I dropped him like a bad habit. You all know what I say (if you dont, you now will): "Once a cheater, always a cheater!" Anywho, there are more where he came from. It's funny too, his roomate is actually coming to the ROC tonight to party it up for the Safari White party...funzo!
Last nights white party at RJs was a total bust but it was still fun to see Catie, Larry, and Leslie absolutely shit faced. Tonight will be more fun...!
I have to open every day this week so that should be super fun aka Jon will not be going out this week...which will probably be good since I need to start being more frugal with my money. However my dear roomie, Orly, referred me to her new job and I have an interview there tomorrow for it...pay rate is $16+ an hour and lets face it boys and girls...I am way too cheap to pass up an opportunity like that. So we will see if I am really cut out for this.
In terms of PC business...not too much to report back on. Still need to get those damned wisdom teeth out (grrrr...).
Thanks for reading and listening to me rant...it feels good to do so. Have a great Memorial Day tomorrow and I hope everyone enjoys the festivities of tonight and tomorrow to the fullest.

- Jon

...Just a regular Tuesday night here in the ROC...

Get excited people it's Tuesday!! That means dollar draft/well night at Acme (I love that place!) then karaoke at RJ's with my fellow gays. After working the morning shift at the JCC and watching the season finale of Heroes that I missed last night, and taking a sweet little nap, I'm ready to enjoy my night. I still haven't heard anything from the PC yet but I am not taking any precautions with my limited nights out with my best friends so I am going to take full advantage.
Please note the Kosher Castle restaurant to the left...in honor of my employer, the JCC. Thanks Ange for snapping this!! I love it.
Lots of people keep asking me when will I return to Amsterdam...to you I say in June!! I miss all of my 'AMSTERWHORES'...!! (haha, small joke!) and I can't wait to see you all. Unfortunately for my social life and boredom levels I will be returning to Amsterdam at the end of July until I leave for the PC. All of you will have a chance to see me...if you want that is!
OK well I have to finish cleaning my mess of a room and start to get ready for tonight...until next time...peace!

Jon

Damn those wisdom teeth!

About a month ago I sent in my medical, dental, and optical packets for review by the PC staff. My medical went through as well as my optical. My dental however, to my dismay, got returned to me b.c I need my wisdom teeth out! Just another bump in the road...but good news! Everything will continue to be processed on schedule. Hopefully I will get an invitation soon and get my wisdom teeth out. These things are really bothering me!