Hi! My name is Paul - and I'm the author of The Culture Connection, which you are now reading.  I am writing to you from the Amazon rain forest in Ecuador, South America, where I am a teacher. I wasn't born here in the Amazon. I grew up and went to school in the United States.  But, when I finished school, I wanted to learn about other languages, other people and other cultures.  I taught for two and a half years in Kenya, Africa, and now I'm teaching in Ecuador.  I have discovered many remarkable similarities and differences about the way people live, and, in the process, I have made lots of friends.  So, I am sending you this 'newsletter.'  It's about similarities and differences, and it's about making friends with people around the world who are just like you - and different too!

      I hope you enjoy the first five issues of The Culture Connection.  Please send me your original stories, poems, drawings, and questions so I can put some of them in upcoming editions (teachers/parents see below).  Then you'll be Culture Connection authors too!