2004-03-27 - 6:19 p.m.

I set up this site in hopes of creating a more efficient way of communicating with friends and family during my petit sejour in Mauritania with the Peace Corps. I’m not sure exactly who will be reading this (hopefully someone) but in case this site is eventually put up on the RIM-PCVS page I had better introduce myself. My name is Keith Gaddis. I will graduate in May of 2004 from The University of Iowa with two degrees, one in Biology the other Environmental Science. I’m originally from Burlington, IA (birth place of Aldo Leopold and Fred Murtz from I Love Lucy). I have been assigned as an Environmental Education volunteer in Mauritania (the country just south of Morocco, on the far west coast of Africa).

I will be departing for a brief stint in either Washington D.C. or Philadelphia on June 25th and then will be leaving the country for Mauritania on June 28th. I will be gone for two years and three months (2 yrs service, 3 months of training), and thus will be returning in September of 2006.

Currently I am working on two honors theses for graduation, so I have not had too much time to get worried about departure. My main concern is finishing my projects. I’m sure when I look back on this in 4 months graduating with honors will seem like the most trivial thing in the world, but for now I’m definitely preoccupied.

I’ve attached the most recent photos I could find to give an idea of what I looked like predeparture. These are actually not that recent as they were taken last summer on my trip to Churchill, Manitoba. I haven’t changed much since however, so the images are still a good indicator of my devilish good looks.

http://keither.diaryland.com/images/untitled-1.jpg

http://keither.diaryland.com/images/untitled-2.jpg

Well I guess that is it for now. I hope to make an entry or two when my departure has drawn closer. I’m sure nervousness will have settled in by then, so I’m not promising anything, but they should be slightly more interesting then this entry.

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