Hi Annie... just wanted to say hi! This seems like the easier way to talk to you- i hope everythings going good! Did you answer my questions about me sending you packages? Miss ya!
-E

Hi Annie--
I am up and active again. It hasn't been easy to move from two offices to one and from two closets to one, but I'm coping. Still a ways to go, but lots of stuff has been transfered to the trash can and to the clothing drive.
I have been very interested to hear your reports from Benin. It sounds like things are going very well, and that you are happy, which is the main thing. Keep up the good work, and remember as advice from your Jesuit uncle to find God in all things.
Our trip to Europe was amazing. I traveled with Fr. Ed Vodoklys, who has cerebral palsy and could not have made such a trip on his own. We visited Eberhard Thomas, our cousin, in Berlin and met his wife. He picked us up at the airport, took us home for coffee and cake with his wife Krystal, and took us on a tour of the city. He seems in good shape and is not showing signs at present of his prostate cancer. We stayed there with the Jesuits (about 5 minutes' drive from Eberhard) at Wannsee--a beautiful lakeside home for the retired men of the German provinces.
In Warsaw, we arrived in time for the 60th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. The house where we stayed was the site of a massacre where 40 laypeople and Jesuits were herded into a tiny room and killed by the Nazis. Three Jesuits survived the ordeal, and one wrote a book called "Massacre in the Cloister" that was produced on Polish TV on the anniversary of the event. If you knew the story, you didn't need to know Polish to follow the show, Ed said. The room where this happened is now a basement chapel in the house, with the slain Jesuits buried beneath the floor. Very moving.
In Vilnius, Ed got in touch with his Lithuanian heritage and was deeply touched to be able to celebrate Mass in memory of his grandparents. They run a high school there and have a large and beautiful church. They also had a lot of guests while we were there, so we stayed in a hotel across the street.
We spent almost a week in Krakow. There, I renewed friendships with Jesuits and lay people from the summer I spent there in 1981. We also met Alicja Wieczorowska, another relative. She's really nice, came in on the train for a long and happy lunch one day. She's a scientist who teaches at one of the Polish universities. The Jesuit place at Krakow was amazing to me. In 1981, they had one old building and a church. The rest of the place was a large vegetable garden along the railroad tracks. Today, the open space is almost totally filled with buildings--a house of writers, a printing press, and a beautiful bookstore. We stayed in the house of writers in rooms comparable to the ones we have at Holy Cross. PLUS, they had TVs in the guest rooms that got two and a half English stations: a BBC version of Cable News, a sports station (too much cricket!), and a German news station that alternated German and English every half hour.
Prague was a great surprise to me. It's a spectacularly beautiful city, and we really enjoyed our stay. Through our hotel we got tickets (neck-craning seats, but at least we got in) to see "Don Giovanni" in the theatre where Mozart first produced it in the 1790s. A real thrill!
Last week, I spent with your Milwaukee grandparents. We did get together with Irene and Charlie for lunch. All looked and seemed well. My parents are feeling chipper enough to have booked tickets for a visit to Holy Cross in October. We are all looking forward to it.
This is a sabbatical year for me, so I'd better get to work on clearing enough space on my desk to do some work. Take care of yourself, Annie. These reports are wonderful.
God bless you.
Love,
Uncle

Hey Annie!! It's Kelly. I just wanted to say get excited because I am sending you a letter in the mail! It probably won't be there for a long time, but I love getting letters so I am going to send you one so you will love it too ). Also, how was the plane ride? wink wink

ANNIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hello, my dear! I miss you so! IT is not the same without your page abuse! We just got AC in the cold/warm dorms and the house was WAY excited about that, let me tell you.... Everything is going well here....I feel as though I have been deserted with BOTH of my roomies out of the country. Foxy left for Vienna on the 27th. Pride week went well and everything is coming along nicely. FIJI went wet---which I know is something you would find interesting. As I told Foxy--no news on the Heidi/Matt front, but I will keep you posted! That's about it for now....I have to go off to seminar--blah! Hope you are having a fabulous time and that you are adjusting to everything (I can't imagine!) The latrine sounds like a very very scary place. Just think how much better you are handling it than Foxy or I would!!! Let us know if you need anything from good ol' US of A. Are there any prospects yet for your future hubbie? hehe (i'm serious.....mark my words....."meet future husband in africa....." Ok, I will write again soon! Lots of love!!! Heidi

P.S. I put this on the wrong day.....so here it is again...... Marvin's got a whole bunch of KIWIS and put them all up around the back room----you've made the wall!! It's from spring formal...there are a few random pics and a few of you and Toby. Thought you would want to know! Love you! Heidi

HEY!!!!

Let me know any address to send you stuff too and how work is going. Apparently, the best things to do is send things is bubble packages. To the same address.

Miss you too.

Uncle.

Good to hear that Poland was wonderful. I can see myself having similar expereinces in Kenya if I go back in the next few years. Time is short, so I will write more later.

Kelly, I am way tooo excited about the letter and Heidi tell Matt to put a ring on your finger already. Heidi.....the PS on my message to the house was for you.

Love you both.