Hallo, this will be hard for me to speak as I am a man of few words. We do not speak much in my family as there is always so much work to do. Life is very different for me now. I come from Bohemia which is a wonderful place if you are enriched with money. However I am a poor Pecher. In our family that meant we would drain the pitch from the trees and make tar. It is a dirty sticky job. My family has done this for many generations. In our family we scramble to make enough to eat. We are poor peasants, and as a peasant I would be required to join the army and mostly likely be in one of the many wars and get killed. I do not wish to die for some King or another’s land. One of the blessing of being born in Bohemia is most of us are taught to read at least the bible. We like to have theological discussion and Bohemians are creative and smart. I hope I am smart enough to leave for a better opportunity in this place called America. I am not married, while I can interact with men I am shy with women. I am not very handsome or don’t think I am. My hair is brown, I am tall and skinny and I have brown eyes. My sisters teased me and called me stick because I was so thin. I did not tell my family I was leaving for America, it would have been forbidden. I caught a ride to the port and hired on as a deckhand to pay my way to Canada. We landed in Quebec and snuck off the boat. I still had time on my contract but I did not want to be a seaman. In Quebec I found little in the way of jobs. However there were men there in Quebec signing people up to immigrate to a town called Leadville Colorado and promised much money for those willing to mine. I will go, I don’t know if I want to mine, but I do want to make a better life for myself. Who knows I may find me a girl!!