Africa
Technically Africa was the second continent I ever lived on–when I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tanzania for two years–but it’s the first one I wrote a book about.
Living in Tanzania as a 22-year-old Volunteer was definitely an interesting experience, and it certainly shaped my outlook on life and has without a doubt influenced everything I’ve done since then. In fact, seeing all the cool stuff that Africa had to offer made me even more excited to visit other continents, just to see what other interesting things were out there.
I wrote a book about my experiences with the idea that it could be useful for prospective Peace Corps Volunteers, as well as something hopefully interesting and entertaining for anyone who was curious about East Africa. I very naively thought that this was something I could get published through a traditional publishing company, until a literary agent politely informed me that there just isn’t a big market for memoirs written by Peace Corps Volunteers.
Ah well.
If anyone is actually interested in reading it, you can find it as an ebook at Amazon or Smashwords, and as a paperback from CreateSpace or Amazon. It’s called The Peace Corpse: Misadventures in Love and Africa, and you can find more information about it here.
Critical Awesomeness 
I just finished your book about when you lived in Tanzania. Great read! What ever happened to Damari though?
Thanks for reading my book. My original plan was to write a follow-up book immediately which would explain what happened between me and ‘Damari’ (not her real name). Since it doesn’t look like I’ll get to it any time soon, I’ll just give you the short version:
I went back to America, but I was miserable because the love of my life was in England. We were still in contact, and she said it would be great if I moved to Europe. So, after selling or giving away most of my possessions, signing up for a PhD program, and committing myself to about $60,000 in student loans (it was the only sure way for me to get a visa) I moved to the UK.
The very first time I saw her, she said to me, “Oh, you know all those times I said I love you? I meant more as a friend, or a brother.”
I wasn’t really sure how to respond to that. Especially after all we’d been through. Finally I just said, “You know, you could have told me that before I QUIT MY JOB, AND MOVED TO ENGLAND.”
And that was pretty much the end of that.
But it all worked out in the end. I live in Australia now, and I’m happy. After a number of years we reconnected, and she’s happily married with a child back in Tanzania.
Thanks for filling me in. My son is in high school, and I would love for him to experience life like you have.
I hope he does. The Peace Corps was definitely a life-changing experience, and in a good way. But even if it’s just a student exchange program, I would definitely encourage your son to get out and experience another culture. Not just visit for a short time, but actually live in it.