T-Shirts! Finally!

Hi friends!  I have exciting news!  I have a t-shirt design complete!  Now you can expect me to badger  you for the next couple of weeks to order a shirt :) 

I know you are dying to see what the design of the shirt will be, so click here to see the design.  I chose a South African term from a list a friend (from South Africa) gave me: "Jislaak".  It means something along the lines of "gee whiz!" in Afrikaans, one of the languages spoken in South Africa.  (Another note on the design: I realize the colors I chose are Hawkeye colors.  I did not realize this until after the fact, and I hope this does not discourage some of you (Iowa State fans) from ordering a shirt :)  The colors are not meant to represent the Hawks, but it just turned out that way.) 

So this is how you can order a shirt:

1.  Send me an email and tell me how many shirts you want and in what size(s) no later than December 24th, 2010.  Only adult sizes are available in small-3XL.

2. The shirts will be $20.  I know this might sound like a lot, but remember this is a fund raiser to help me go to Africa and help children at orphanages.  And frankly, it costs a lot to get to Africa.  You can pay for your shirt(s) in two ways:

Option 1: Via PayPal.  It is the  most convenient way to pay for things online, and it is how I am going to be making the final payment for the shirts.  So it works out quite nicely.  You can click on the handy donate button on the right hand side of my blog page to make your payment.  PayPal does require that you have an account with them, but it is very easy to set up and extremely convenient for future use.

Option 2: You can give/send my mom a check, made out to her.  She will then send me the money via PayPal.

3. Getting your shirt.  The shirts will be shipped to my house in Ankeny.  If you know/see my mom, you can get your shirt from her.  We can also arrange a time for you to stop by my house to pick up your shirt if that suits your fancy.  Finally, if these options don't work, let me know.  I will probably see some of you when I am back, so I can get it to you then.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me.  You can also ask my mom; she has been/will be a huge help and key to making this work!

Bringing me to wanting to quickly thank my family for their support and help.  Trying to organize myself has been very difficult, and they are doing a great job helping me with things back home.  Thanks guys!  I really couldn't do it without you!

I Promise I Haven't Forgotten You

Hello!  I promise I haven't forgotten about my upcoming volunteering experience, even though it may seem like it.  The last few weeks have been very busy with teaching and taking Spanish classes.  The Spanish classes were great, and I am sad they are over so soon. 

First, the bad news.  I think I am going to have to go through a screen printing company to make my t-shirts, which means this process is taking far longer than I thought it would and it is going to be more expensive than I thought it would.  However, that just means I am going to have to sell that many more t-shirts to raise funds!  (I am sure you will all get annoyed with me badgering you to buy t-shirts in the coming weeks.) 

But there is also good news: There should be a t-shirt design for you to see soon, and you will also be able to order shirts soon!  That means, you can give all of your friends and family t-shirts for Christmas and Hanukkah! 

Please let me know if you know of any businesses that would be willing to or would consider donating to my volunteering experience.  It has been very difficult doing fund raising from out of the country!