Letter From Jeff!!

Oh Family,
> The adventures continue. I have been all over the place and everywhere
> I go, people welcome me into their homes like I've known them for
> years. I've traversed the twisted streets of Bucharest, crossed from
> the Carpathian Mountains to the Black Sea and am leaving tonight to
> Transylvania. With all that I am learning, it is a relief to have so
> much on tape--I don't know how I could possibly hope to assimilate it
> all in one shot. The people I am interviewing are incredible. The best
> way I can explain it--imagine if the civil rights movement had failed
> and Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, etc. had all been forgotten. These
> are the kind of people I am talking to. Individuals who fought tooth
> and nail to preserve their liberties that communism was taking from
> them. They were imprisoned, deported, forced into slave labor and many
> were never heard from again. Now, Romania enjoys a stable democracy
> and an economy that is growing like crazy, and yet many of these
> individuals have never been given a chance to tell their stories. Just
> Monday I asked a man why he spoke out against the communist regime
> when he knew what he was risking. His answer? "I did what had to be
> done...someone had to do it."
>
> My time is racing by and before I know it, I will be home. Reading
> emails and blogs and such today has made the idea of coming home seem
> not so bad...yes, I love you all and look forward to spending time
> with you. Tony and Tami, you better believe I am going to be making my
> way down south sometime soon.
>
> The second day of filming, the viewfinder on Dad's camcorder started
> to have problems and is now no longer working. I had to do a small
> series of interviews yesterday without being able to see through the
> camera. Let's hope things turned out. When I took it to get fixed
> today, I had two options. 1: wait a week for the part to arrive and
> pay 200 bones. 2: buy a portable dvd player for 200 fat ones and use
> it as a viewfinder. Of course, I had to go with option two, but let's
> just hope I get that second grant which will cover remaining expenses
> and still have some leftover. Plus, now I will have the pleasure of
> watching the Romanian DVDs I am buying on the plain ride home.
>
> I have to go, but I love you all. Trust that I am in good hands and
> everything is going to turn out as it should.
>
> Jeff