2002

These past two months I've heard from some of our classmates pursuing interesting careers in foreign locales. Brian Gray wrote that he moved to Tokyo, Japan, and got a job at Square of Japan as a video game translator. He's been there for a few months working on the English-release version of a new Final Fantasy game. Sylvie Liberman wrote that she is teaching English in Fukuoka, Japan, to about 3,000 lively middle schoolers at five different schools in the city. She will be backpacking southern Vietnam for a few weeks this winter vacation. Chuki Lord is also teaching English abroad—in Rome, Italy, where she lives with Daniele Genadry and Brett Quimby. Since her arrival in Italy in September she's been on excursions to places like Napoli, the Amalfi Coast, Capri and Sicily.

Jake Osterhout can always be counted on to send a funny e-mail from Quito, Equador, where he is teaching English. He wrote: 'At night I explore the underground tunnels here created during the second conquest of Spain. I can safely say that love grows on trees down here, even if food is at a premium. The weather is great and the taxis are cheap."

Charlie Trumbull wrote that he decided to defer law school for a year to move to Alexandria, Egypt. "I found a job working for a start-up agricultural export company calledAgrico and I take intensive Arabic lessons. I plan to stay until July, but I may come back early if there is a war with Iraq. In December I flew to Boston for a couple days to stay with Andrew Langworthy, Sam Short and Aseem Gandhi '01. Allan Klinge, Mike Bergen and Dan Almeida drove up for a visit and a couple nights of partying."

I also heard from another '02 in North Africa, Allen Fromhertz. He wrote: "I am currently doing my Fulbright research project here in Rabat, Morocco. The topic of my research is the interaction of tribes and cities in Moroccan history and the role of tribal affiliations in North African and Middle Eastern society."

Awhile back I received a tropical postcard from Jeff Tanenhaus from Guam, where he was working at a resort. Then a month later I received an e-mail from Jeff: "In the wake of Pongsona, Guam's most devastating super-typhoon in modern times, I left my resort job at the Pacific Islands Club. Paradise turned to hell when 200mph gusts blew in windows and hallways imploded and flooded, trapping frightened guests and staff for six hours in the stairwells of a 32story hotel tower."

Mary Cipollone wrote: "I find myself living in Granada, Nicaragua, these days working with Los Quinchos, an organization that works with Nicaraguan street kids.The children come off the streets in Managua and are invited to live at one of the projects outside the city. The projects include a beautiful 20-acre farm and a lake house. There the kids go back to school, learn a trade and are given food, clothes, and some love and attention. I am spending my days teaching some kids to read, playing games and doing other school work with them, but more importantly just trying to be a source of support and affection in the lives of children who have had so many troubles."

Finally, I also heard from Conor Jarvis here in the United States: "I received an exciting job for this winter working at the Cleveland Zoo. I am heading up the Arctic mammal care team, feeding and bathing the polar bears, walri, penguins and seals. It is a lot of work, but the relationships I have formed with the animals are priceless."

Anne Cloudman, 69 Brookdale Circle, Shrewsbury,MA 01545; anne.cloudman@alum.dartmouth.org