Dear Folks, As usual I've been trying to transcribe the tape recordings I made during my Suriname Adventure in 1972. Trust me, it hasn't been easy what with Jytte's Danish accent and Aaron's Bush Negro accent. Nonetheless, in my recordings I continued to hear what Alan and Karyn Anderson were saying and asking. They were very intent on learning everything they could about Bush Negroes, slavery, escaping slaves and their language. The more I heard their voices and the more that I remembered them made me want to get back in touch with them after all of these 33 years. We corresponded with each other for a couple of years afterwards but then we lost contact. Of course, knowing me, I couldn't let it all slide. I got on the Internet and searched for a Canadian phone directory. Then I plugged in Alan Anderson, Saskatoon, Sascatchewan, Canada. I got only one hit. Alan B. Anderson, living in Saskatoon. Of course with that common name I couldn't be sure that he was the Alan I remembered. What I did remember from our Suriname trip up the river was that Alan had mentioned that he had received his Ph.D and in our brief correspondence afterward, Karyn wrote at Christmas time 1973 that he was a visiting professor at the University of Guelph for a year. With that information at hand I checked out the Internet to see if there was any mention of a Professor Alan Anderson. Oh wow, was there ever! Apparently he's now a very renown professor. Check him out at http://www.asiapacificresearch.ca/caprn/listing.cfm?SpecialistID=SPH703CA So what was the dumb thing I did tonight? I called the number I had found and waited for an answer. I got only their answer machine and I recognized Karyn's voice immediately. I left a dumb message saying that I didn't know if I had reached the right Anderson residence (I KNEW that I had) and said that I was Vee Patella (my name back in 1972) and that I hoped that I had reached the same couple that traveled with me up the Marowijne River in Suriname back in 1972. I left my phone number in case they wanted to call me and I was sorely tempted to add a couple of expressions they might still remember--"Ona boat, Ona Boat" and our special fun thing to say after Jytte had told us about the Wai Wai and Rupuruni Indian tribes in the area. When things got boring one of us would ask the question, "Wai Wai?" and the other two of us would reply, "Rupuruni!" Oh what fun! It's now 12:30 and I know it's only 9:30 their time but I'm still waiting for the phone to ring. If they do call tonight, my only hope is that I'll be able to have an intelligent conversation with them without my babbling all over the place. Even after all these years, they couldn't possibly forget "Ona boat, Ona boat!" vee