Beautiful World Cup

Hello from Hawaii!! I've only been in touch with Stephanie, Kelly and Matt. First of all, way to go Dakotah on cool travels to Brazil and Argentina. Your pictures rocked. You should continue dancing tango or salsa or both. I love salsa. I'm not sure where everyone travelled after COS or in the months after, and it's been a while; but I'm glad those who wanted to did. Congratulations to Jess, Kelly, Tommy (I don't know where you're going, but I have a friend at Albert Einstein), Dakotah, Dan (I have a friend in Fresno), Joaquin and all others who were accepted to school. Congratulations to Stephanie, Harlan, Scott (a beautiful liftoff July 4th!), Patrick, Dakotah and all others who got a cool job. Sorry to Martha for the loss of your mother. You and her will be in my thoughts and prayers. Sorry to Scott that you were not selected for rabbinical studies. Both of you seem to have handled these challenges nobly. Reading all of your blogs today to catch up has been awesome! Sorry for my absence. I enjoy all of your humor about video games and Lost as well as your stories about Greyhound. One leg of Greyhound I took from DC to Columbus, OH was one of the strangest yet most colourful experiences I've ever had. Stephanie, thanks for the Thanksgiving invite, but my family is meeting in Vegas.

This is my first blog. Here's what I've been up to. First of all, Dakotah and Dan well done for tuning into World Cup! Wow! Zidane's free kick to Henry for the goal that eliminated Brazil and his delicate touch and ball control augmented by his creative vision make up my memory of Zinedine Zidane as the great legend retires -- not his red card and ejection with 5-8 min. remaining for headbutting the Italian player in the chest, which probably lost France the cup after they had dominated 2nd half and overtime play. It's over, and I won't watch much TV until the next one. All of the soccer over this great month brought back playing in Malawi and while I travelled. I played pickup on a beach in Mpande, Transkei, South Africa, and I played with a club team on Mocambique Island.

OK. After COS I travelled throughout South Africa, Lesotho, Mocambique and Zimbabwe until my return to Hawaii on March 28th. It was awesome! Tons of stories. I visited with family for the first 2 weeks, especially my niece, beautiful Talia Rose -- now 6 months old. If anyone wants to see pics of my lovely niece email me at jjordan@email.com. I have cute ones of her discovering her feet and crossing her hands with bashfulness. After that I went to Annapolis, MD for four days to see my little sister and cheer her on at a track meet. Then, I came back and worked at an Italian restaurant for about a month but got fired. I don't know why, but it may have been because I let on that it was only temporary. Then, I looked for office temp work for a while. Now, I'm working in Honolulu in the mail room of Hawaiian Telcom. Soon I plan to move to a dorm or studio in Honolulu and get an additional job at night. My application to USMC officer program is still going. The one I sent in Dec. from Malawi wasn't taken seriously because it was done sloppily and I was travelling thus not in close phone contact with the assistant selection officer. I've re-applied again from Hawaii, but either they're not recruiting me or it's a really slow process. Meanwhile I've been running, doing crunches and doing pullups everyday. We'll see what happens. If I get in, then Officer Candidacy School would most likely be in Jan. If I don't get in, I don't know what I'll do. One thing I have considered is grad school in teaching at Humboldt State in northern California where you can surf albeit in a wetsuit. Have any of you considered applying to Humboldt? Harlan, have you been up there? Well, I'll figure it out step by step. Meanwhile I'll enjoy my short-term work; I love my supervisor because she's so nice. Though living in Honolulu won't be ideal, it's all I can afford right now. I'll make the most of it. It's a pretty cool city, and I'll be working two jobs. Do any of you live in Washington, DC? If so, could I sleep on your couch for a weekend? I have a wedding to go to in early Sept. and hope to save some money by staying at a friend's for that weekend. I wish you all the best. If you want to talk or write, here's my info. Still no cell phone. From the land of surfers and hula dancers--Aloha, John
46-031 Kumoo Pl.
Kaneohe, HI 96744
808-236-1480