Taxi Cab Blues

Day 1: So have you ever waited outside of your house for an HOUR in the freezing cold for a taxi cab to pick you up and in the end having to take a bus for continued lack of cab?

Day 2: So have you ever needed a cab to take you, your husband, and two heavy bags across town but had to again wait in the cold, only to be refused service by one, then literally kicked out of another with exclamations of "Get out! I don't want your money!" and then utterly ignored by three more empty cabs before finally being rescued by the guardian angel of cab drivers?

Well, we have. So next time you enter your nice, warm garage through your nice, warm house to immediately get in your nice, warm car, just think of us!

Driving Miss Becky: Taxi Conversations 101

There are many benefits to riding in taxis:

1) You don't have to risk your life walking or riding a bike. Sidewalks don't exist here. Not because there aren't any built alongside the road but because a car at any point will go ahead and drive on it.

2) It's warm. Since I haven't yet aquired my fur-lined hood or surgeon's mask that the people here wear to keep warm, I resort to taxi heat. In fact, an American friend of ours even hailed a cab for me just to sit in while we were waiting on some other friends.

3) Language practice. I mean, who else would tolerate a crazy foreigner and her limited (and might I add very RANDOM!) vocabulary skills? A cab driver is more or less forced to sit, listen, and even participate in "conversation."

I'd like to give you a little taste of my taxi conversation from this afternoon. (I'd also like to add that this was my first solo trip. No Kevin, no other foreigner...just me and my driver!)

Me: How are you?
Cab driver: Huh?
Me: (in my head) ok...that one didn't work...onto the next question...do you like to eat apples?
Cab driver: some sort of response...I have no clue what he said...
Me: Do you like small dogs?
Cab driver: Laughs at me.
Me: Do you have any children?
Cab driver: Two children. (Finally! An answer I can understand!)
Me: How old are they?
Cab driver: Some numbers I can't understand. I hate learning numbers! I never learned numbers when I studied spanish. Somehow I don't think thay will work out well for me here...
Me: Are you tired?
Cab driver: No.
Me: Are you cold? I am cold. But I have this (point to coat) and this (point to gloves). What are these called?
Cab driver: Repeats word. Repeats word again because I have utterly mispronounced it in my feeble attempt at repetition.
Me: (as we pass a roller coaster...weird...random roller coaster on side of the highway) Do you like this?
Cab driver: Laughs. Says no...I think.

It goes on like this for a while. Actually, not for while since it really doesn't take long to exhaust my vocabulary list.

Back to the books until I can come up with some other random questions!

We're home!

This is the tale of two vagabonds who ventured across the big, blue ocean...

We woke up at 4:30 on Monday morning in order to catch our 7 AM flight. We had managed to pack our entire life into four suitcases, two backpacks, two duffle bags, and a guitar case. It was so hectic lugging all of our bags into the airport that the goodbyes with my parents were actually much easier than expected. Surprisingly, the Austin airport much more crowded than we anticipated it, but thankfully we were able to check our bags (with no extra cost!) and make it through security just in time. In fact, they were already boarding the plane when we showed up, so we didn't have to wait.

We took a four hour flight to San Francisco, and then prepared for the whopper of a flight: 12 hours across the ocean! Kevin had an aisle seat, and my seat was next to a wee infant. Recipe for misery you might think but this little guy was actually very well behaved. It turned out in my favor because I could shove all of my stuff in his foot space. He certainly wasn't using it!

We finally arrived in the capital and had a three hour layover before our flight to our city. Both our luggage and our American friends met us at there. We were greeted with cheers, hugs, and the cold! I knew it was going to be cold but the 80 degree weather in Austin before we left just didn't properly prepare me.

We went to visit our new apartment. After months of being vagabonds, we have a home. I'm overwhelmed at the provision here! Our place is bigger & nicer than our apartment in Louisville for sure. Our friends had arranged some renovations already, including a full-size oven!

The apartment does pose some decorating challenges though. Exhibit A:



What am I even supposed to do with this?!?!

We spent our first night in our new home. The next day, we went to the paint store to arrange for further renovations & painting. I do not make decorating decisions very well, especially under pressure, so this proved to be somewhat of a trial for me. But I did it, the painting is underway even at this moment. The interesting thing about our paint job is that the painters are living at our house while they work. Strange.

This past weekend, we took a three-hour train to the capital city to receive teacher training for our English classes that will begin in mid-February. While we were there, I had Subway for three meals. It's just a difficult reality when the nearest Subway is three hours away! We also did some furniture shopping at Ikea. I suppose I should be fair and say we didn't just do some shopping...we did seven hours of furniture shopping! My dear, sweet, patient husband! The good news is that we have bedroom furniture. The bad news (or maybe more good news if you like furniture shopping...and going back to the capital for more Subway!) is that we'll have to go back to finish up shopping.

For the rest of the week, we're staying at our friends Brad & Amy's apartment while they are on vacation. Speaking of vacation, we are leaving for a much warmer place on Sunday for our own vacation!

So that's what's going on for now! Thanks for reading & following us on this big adventure.

Last post from America!

So I've been informed by one of our blog readers (one of the few I'm sure!) that she was under the impression that we were still in Europe. No wonder she thought that since I'm still posting about Europe! But alas that is not the case. I'm just slow at blogging, that's all. But I suppose it's time to move on from Europe since the next big adventure starts tomorrow.

But first...here are the recent highlights of Peek life: (pictures to come)

* Becky ran a marathon on New Years Day! Hooray! I finished in 4:08 and had a lot of fun. I think I had the largest support crown there of any other runner: 10 people, 2 kids, and 1 barking weenie dog! What a fun day!

* Becky has short hair! Hooray! I donated my hair again. It wasn't quite long enough to do Locks of Love this time so I chose to give it to Pantene Pro-V's Beautiful Lengths campaign. They only require 8 inches instead of 10. It sure is short!

* Kevin is a Wii champion! Hooray! He's playing Mario Galaxy as I type, and he's pretty darn good at it. Always a kid at heart I suppose.

* Our three year wedding anniversay is coming up on Wednesday! Hooray!

But the biggest news of all is that we leave bright & early in the morning. We are leaving for the airport at 5:30 AM and will arrive on Tuesday evening. Don't even ask how many hours of travel that is. I haven't brought myself to do that math!

Well, our next post will be from the other side of the world! Until then, love to you all!

Tastes of Venice

Have you ever eaten ice cream and burst into spontaneous poetic praise? We’ve all been there.


This big ol’ cone for just one euro?!?!
It’s yummy too—of this I’m sure-o!!!
-Becky


Wife licks once, now twice of her purchased cream
It’s the small things which make her Venetian dream.
-Kevin

Ode to pizza…

Our first attempt at Italian pizza ended up being a new combination for us: hot dog pizza. Strange but still so warm & happy in our tummies.

But this one...oh wow. I rarely eat pizza in the states but one look at the thick crust and fresh spinach & tomatoes...it was definitely a good choice!

Viva Europe: more Venice

We twisted our way through parts of the city and found ourselves resting on a red bench in Plaza Campo Polo. We noticed that there aren’t many trees in Venice but this plaza had several. Out of all the architectural features we saw, my favorite were the muted colors of the buildings—peach, yellow, grey, and orange. Frequently, I saw dark green shutters over the windows. We walked past a storefront with a sign in front boasting “World’s Most Beautiful Bookstore.” Despite the potential tourist trap, I heeded the sign’s advice and stepped inside. There the elderly storeowner gave me a kind smile and pointed me toward a backroom. “Tell me if the water is inside yet,” he said softly in broken English. Now quite curious, I followed his pointing finger, snaking my way through several gondolas containing book displays. This back room looked much different from the front. Instead of shelved books from floor to ceiling, there were only piles stacked on top of tables, buckets, or other odds & ends.

Then I realized what the shopkeeper had meant: there was an open wall directly to the canal. Three steps led down to the water, the last of which was entirely submerged. I called Kevin over to see: all this knowledge, history, and literature so precariously stored! He too enjoyed the sigh, and as we left, he made sure to let the kind, old man know that the canal was yet still at bay, leaving the books dry & safe.

Venice: Deep Thoughts from a Sinking City

We arrived in Venice at the end of September. As you know, Venice is an island so our campsite was actually on the main land. Venice was everything I expected to be and more: lazy canals, striped-shirted gondoliers, ancient charm. We had been warned that the canals might be stinky but the cool fall weather prevented that. Rather than stinky canals, we enjoyed the smell of leather coming from the fancy shops and the blend of basil and tomatoes from the trattorias. We took a water bus down the Grand Canal and listened to Rick Steve’s audio tour (gotta love that man!) With the swarms of tourists, it was hard to imagine what the city was like in its prime. The city enforces strict laws in order to maintain Venice’s ancient charm but modernity cannot help but to overshadow this place that was once the hub of trade.

My overall impression of this city is that it is enchanting. Our favorite thing to do was to just get lost in the weave of waterways & alleys. If we wandered far enough, we could find ourselves all alone with not a tourist in sight.

Despite all the beauty and grandeur, our second impression was that Venice is sinking! The chorus of this song kept running through our head as we took it all in:

If Venice is sinking, how can we believe we’ll all be fine
If Venice is sinking, how can we believe we all stay dry
‘Cause I have been thinking, this water’s not worth drinking
so if Venice is sinking, then trouble’s on the rise.

Venice has survived for centuries and there are continual efforts to keep it afloat, but the reality is that all the glimmers is sure to fade (or even submerge) in this city. Let us look at our own lives through the same perspective. Do we build our hope and beauty on things that will not last past this life? Let us not be rich toward the world in beauty and grandeur yet poor toward God.

Life Here

So we'll take a break from Europe for now (as if I haven't taken a break from blogging for the past two weeks...oops...) I'll fill you all in on some details of life as we know it currently.

We live on a farm pretty much. We're out in the boonies, which means our cell phones don't really work. So if you try to call us and we don't answer, that's why. If you're just dying to talk to us or have a pressing matter of importance, try e-mail. A thrilling point of our day was when one of our techie quad-mates (see following paragraph for definition of "quad-mate") set up a router so we could get internet without making a trip in the cold to the computer lab. Gotta love techie people!

Life here feels like a mixture of camp and college. The parents, on the other hand, do not agree with the camp/college assessment of life here. They have it tough! We love to help out with the kids here. In fact, we got to babysit some friend's kiddos tonight and take them to dinner at the cafeteria (see, I told you it was like college!) While I kept the two year-old from launching his ball across the room, the wee baby fell asleep in Kevin's arms. How sweet! We's gonna make a good papa! (someday that is. that was not a feeble attempt to inform blog world of a Peek in the pod!).

Classes are going well. We meet from about 9 AM-3 PM. It can make for a long day, and I must confess that more often than I would like, I identify with Eutychus from Acts 20. If you're not sure what exactly I mean by that, click here and you'll see!

Last weekend, I ran the Richmond Half-Marathon with a friend here. The weather was super humid and the course was a bit mundane but overall I just love race day! There's so much adrenaline and excitement. Some of our quad-mates even came to cheer me on at the finish line. I finished in 2:01, which honestly I was a bit disappointed with. I was trying to break my PR of 1:56 but it just wasn't in me that day. Oh well. It was still a good time!

Speaking of running, I'm not sure if I've shared this on the blog yet but I committed to the big one...I'm training for a full marathon! OK so technically I've been training since August and most of you already know but I thought I'm make an official announcement. The race is on January 1 (yes, three days before we leave the country!) It will be in Kingwood, TX (right outside of Houston) so if anyone wants to come cheer me on, you're more than welcome! I did my longest training run of 22 miles this past weekend. I never in a million years thought I could or would want to run that far but I've realized quite the opposite. I had a lot of fun and am looking forward to the full race.

I'll try to get some more Europe pics up soon! Don't give up on us!

Viva Europe: trip to Thun

When spending three weeks solid with your spouse, it’s inevitable not to learn a thing or two about each other. One of the things that we learned was that our vacationing styles are very different. For example:

Becky on vacation: “We’ve only got a few days in this city! Let’s get out there and see & do it! Go, go, go!

Kevin on vacation: “Things to do…things to see…let’s sit and read.”

Kevin won the debate of how to spend our last day in Interlaken. We relaxed and set out for an easy hike during the late morning. There were not mountains like there were the day before but the bird’s eye view of the town below was gorgeous.

Around 5 PM, I was getting a bit restless with Kevin-style vacationing. I was ready for another European adventure! When we checked into our campsite, we were given a free bus pass so I figured what better way to see the city! Buses run on routes so from where they leave, they have to return, right? Right? So I convinced Kevin to hop on a bus with me. The views were indeed breathtaking. We watched the sun sink behind the mountains, its last rays of the day spreading a glimmer over the massive lake. After about 45 minutes, Kev starting getting antsy about my joyride. I told him to relax and gave him my logic about bus routes. Sure enough, we made it to the end and the bus turned around…or so we thought! The driver must have noticed this off couple who had been sitting on his bus for over an hour: the clueless & content wife with the naïve grin on her face & the quiet husband with the concerned, furrowed brow.

“Where are you going?” the driver asked in broken English.
“To Interlaken,” Kev replied.
“No! no!”

That was all it took for me to panic! We were stranded on a bus! We ended up returning to the town called Thun (pronounced Toon) and having to purchase train tickets back home. I felt just awful. My “free” sightseeing tour completely backfired, and I had even chided Kevin for his misgivings. But I was so thankful for Kevin’s graciousness. He never said “I told you so” or rubbed in my mistake. He even told me that he’d like to be able to laugh about it. So to honor my husband’s request, a poem retelling our (honestly my) folly:

The fools down in Thun-ville
The tall and the small
Had gotten on a bus
Just to see it all
But alas when the bus did not turn ‘round
The small fool let out quite a sound
“Oh no!” she said, “What are we to do?”
“We’d be back at home if I’d listened to you.”
“No worries,” he said to assuage her fears
as she did her best to control the tears.
So the fools stuck in Thun-ville
The tall and the small
Wait for a train—
The savior of all!
A lesson learned: It’s quite worth knowin’
What the driver says when asked “Where ya goin’?”

Here are our friends, the Swiss gnomes.

Viva Europa: Alps hiking

When the chick from “Sound of Music” sings about the hills being alive, she must have been looking at some other “hills” than we were because these things were HUGE! Way bigger than any “hill” I’ve seen! On our Alp hiking day, we left “home” before the sun came up (we even got to see the swans sleeping in the river!) and made the ten minute walk to the train station. We took a train to Lauterbrunnen, then a bus to Stechelberg, then finally a cable car up, up, up to a tiny town called Gimmelwald. The town had no cars, just wooden chalets with simple shingled roofs. It didn’t even have a grocery store. Just a simple life. But who needs anything beyond simplicity when you all the entertainment you could want is the panorama outside your front door? What a sight!



The snow-capped Alps jutted into the cloudless, blue sky while the other peaks, who lacked the altitude to receive snow just yet, lumbered below. The tall Alpine trees dusted the mountain face and seemed to be the only frame of reference to show just how big these mountains were. Truly breathtaking! We often found ourselves getting angry at our camera for not being able to accurately capture everything surrounding us. We could not, however, let our awe cease with what was in front of us but had to acknowledge the beauty and the creativity of the God who created it all. I once heard someone say that we don’t go to the Grand Canyon to feel good about ourselves but to be in awe of true beauty entirely external from self. As we sat in admiration of it all, we couldn't help but to glory in the source of true beauty: the God who created it.

Though the morning temperatures required my five shirts and three pairs of pants, the layers came off quickly as the hiking began. We had intended to make a five hour hike to the summit called Schilthorn but ten minutes into the hike, we realized that it was going to be a LOT more work than either of us had bargained for. So we settled (but can you really “settle” for anything when hiking in the Alps?!?!) for a simpler hike to a few of the surrounding towns. Now that I've figured out how to load videos (a grand conquest in my technologically challenged pea brain), you'll be getting a whole lot more of them! Here is a video of my favorite thing in the Alps:

Viva Europa: Interlaken

Things were just going a little too well after we left Switzerland. The cold & the rain were the only kinks we’d hit so far, so it’s only logical that something had to go wrong soon. And oh boy did it! I’ll let the video explain:



So it turned out our first mistake wasn’t so bad after all, just a little ding in the budget. Needless to say, we started day two with an extra amount of energy.
(Mom, this picture is for you & Uncle David!)

The name Interlaken means “between the lakes” and there is a pleasant stream that runs through the heart of the city connecting the two lakes. We wandered around town and up and down the paths following the river. We finally ended up finding a campsite called the River Lodge. At the end of the trip, we decided that it was by far our favorite place we stayed. It was very small and we ended up getting to know most of the people there (the English speakers at least!) In fact, we met a group of four Aussies who were just as sick as dogs. It turned out that they had drank some of the water from the river the flows through town. Their rationale: all the bottled water says it comes from the Swiss Alps! At least they had a good sense of humor so they could laugh & puke at the same time.

Our campsite even had a community kitchen where we could prepare our meals. Hot food ended up being quite a luxury on a shoe-string budget. Our tent overlooked the river, and there was a lawn area where we could relax, read, and enjoy the first bit of European sunshine.

Viva Europa: Zurich

The thing you need to know about Eurail passes is that you don't purchase trips; you purchase days. So you can ride the train as much as you want to in a given day. If City A and City B are seven hours apart, why don't you ride the train for three hours, stop and wander around a city for a few hours, then get back on a train for four more hours? Less train claustrophobia and more European fun (most of the time!)

That is how lovely Zurich fit into our itenerary. We left Munich and headed south, making a pitstop here. I had printed out a guided walking tour before we left the States. It led us down Bahnhofstrasse, one of the world's most exclusive & expensive shooping streets. We stopped and shopped along the way, picking up a Louis Vuitton purse for me, an Armani suit for Kevin, and paying for it all out of the new Swiss bank account we opened. Then we placed our purchases in our backpacks...oh wait...this is supposed to be realistic account of our trip. No fiction. OK, OK...

It was a very clean road with cobbled streets and no car traffic. It eventually led us all the way to Lake Zurich. It was a beautiful, sunny day, which was a welcomed change from Munich. We really enjoyed the expanse of the lake. It reminded me a bit of Chicago but...Swiss.

We then got back on the train and headed to...

Viva Europa: Munich

Here we are...Viva Europa Opportunity 2008...Munich, Germany. We arrived after a nine hour flight from Philidelphia to much colder temperatures than we expected. In fact, while we were on the plane, the pilot announced that it was 30 degrees where we were going to land. I secretly hoped he meant celcius but obviously that couldn't have been possible. This was the first surprise of many!


We landed in the morning after our red-eye flight and spend the day walking around town. We went all over the place, with our backpacks in tow. We eventually found our campsite and set up our European home for a welcome (yet very chilly) night of sleep. (Disclaimer: this is the best picture of me that you will see during the entire trip. When you're bathing in campsite showers in the freezing cold and wearing the same thing nearly everyday, it just doesn't bode well for looking cute.)

Day two was spent at Dachau Concentration Camp. We had visited the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC during the spring, which was a very moving & well-designed museum. But actually being on the grounds of where these terrible things took place was sobering. We couldn't help but be reminded of the depravity of man (not just the Nazis but all of us) and how in need we all are of a savior in Christ. This picture is of the entrance gate to the camp. It says "Work Shall Set You Free." It was an exhortation to the prisoners to work hard in hopes of earning their release but ended up just serving as a tantalizing mockery.

To make a perfect day of absolute extremes, we went to Oktoberfest that afternoon. By that time, the weather has turned cold & rainy. Germans & their beer are akin to mailmen: nor rain, nor sleet, nor dark of night will keep me from my...beer. The grounds were packed with people in their lederhosen. What a sight!

Though Munich was not our favorite of stops, we of course we glad to be there. We stayed for about two days and then headed south to...

Here we are...

We've arrived at our new home in Virginia. We will be here for eight whole weeks! Our time will be spent in various classes & training sessions in order to prepare us for our move overseas. What a relief after being on the road for so long. I even unpacked our thing into drawers and onto hangers. No more suitcases or backpacks for a while! We live in a little apartment in a quad-style building. Our apartment has a bathroom, a mini-kitchen, a tiny table, and a bedroom. We've pushed the two twin beds together to made a pseudo-king bed. We share a living room/common area with two other couples and two single gals who are heading to the same area of the world as us. Our new home is an upgrade from our European home (read: tent) because it has walls, heat (oh glorious heat!), and light after sunset. Our new home is even an upgrade from our Louisville home because we have a washer & dryer. Overall, we're very thankful to be here!

I'll try to post some Europe pictures & stories over the next few weeks, so stay tuned!

Where have we been?

Yes, yes, I did it again. I fell of the blog wagon. I told you this would happen and I imagine that it will happen again. So you might be wondering where the past few months have found us. Let me tell you: Tennessee, Louisiana, Oklahoma, farm land east Texas, Dallas, Houston, Austin, South Padre Island, Atlanta, back to Louisville, Philidelphia, Munich, the Swiss Alps, Milan, Venice, Pisa, Rome, the Cinque Terre, Paris, Strasbourg, and back to Louisville again. Have we been busy? Not at all!

So here are the details of it all: we left Louisville and went on a spree of visiting friends and family all over the place. It was hard work doing all the visiting but we were so thankful to have the opportunity to do it. And going to sleep at night knowing that I didn't have to go to the office in the morning made things quite enjoyable as well.

In mid-September, we attended a conference with our company where we were officially appointed. It's always a joy to be surrounded by people who are in the same situation as us, pursuing the same end goal.

Then a few weeks later, we got on a plane for our big adventure: backpacking through Europe. This was definitely not a vacation! We carried everything we needed on our backs, wore the same clothes day in and day out, and slept in a tent every night. We visited Germnany, Switzerland, Italy, and France and loved everything we were able to see and do. I'll try to post some pictures & stories later.

Now we're back in Louisville, trying to recover from the jet lag and gear up for the next phase. On Monday, we will be moving east to attend an 8-week training session to prepare us for the big move in January. We're looking forward to the routine and consistency this will provide for us. We've been homeless now since the end of June, and I think the longest period of time we've slept in one location is about a week.

So that's what is going on with us. You'll have to forgive this bare-bones post but I figured it's better than nothing!

Z: Zoo of kiddos

One of the things we’ll miss most about Louisville is our rowdy bunch of four & five year old kiddos we got to hang out with on Sunday mornings. We loved teaching them, laughing with them (and at them), and learning from them. If I could skip infancy, I’d just give birth to a four year old. I’m sure all you parents can come up with a million and one reasons why that is a terrible idea, but let the youth be naïve, ok? We’re thankful for all we learned about parenting and family, most of all the fact that your kids don’t have to drive you crazy all of the time. Sure, they’ve got their moments but gentle correcting and shepherding can create and enjoyable family. Again, I’m sure some of you parents understand the dynamics of this way more than I do, but hopefully one day soon we’ll learn.



We are excited to join the families in our city overseas. By the time we get there, there will be roughly 8.5 kids (I say .5 because the ninth will arrive about a month after we do!). We’re hoping to be able to use some our lessons with these kiddos too.

And we’ve made it to the end! From A-Z, now you know all things Peek. I would promise not to take another 6 month hiatus again but who even knows what I’ll do? So you’ll get no empty promises from this blogger. Life is actually quite interesting right now so there is certainly plenty to blog about. Thanks for hanging in there for all 26 letters!

Y: Yosemite in Louisville

Who says the ultimate camping is in the northwest? (Well, I’m sure my sis-in-law thinks so but she is way biased!) By way of the final Peek Showdown, all four Peeks took a weekend camping trip to Taylorsville Lake the weekend before we left town. This was my first real camping trip. I’ve realized that no one really camps in Texas because it’s just too hot! Well, maybe some people camp in Texas but I was certainly not one of them. But it turns out that I absolutely love camping! Once you get camp set up, there are no expectations of you whatsoever. We played games, told stories around the campfire, went on a hike (sort of), roasted marshmallows, cooked over the fire, and had a water balloon fight to fend off the July temperatures.

Chris & Sarah are by far our best friends in the whole wide world, and we are so thankful that we got to steal away with them for a few days. We’re also thankful for the full year we got to spend together in Louisville. We just love them. We want to raise our kids together and do life together. Eventually, they want to end up on our side of the world so we’ve got big plans to reunite in 2016. Until then, email and phone calls will have to do. They always have had a heart that wanted to love…

X: eXiting Louisville

Sad, sad day. After two and a half years of being a Louisvillian, those days have ended. Now we’re not sure what we are. Maybe I’ll call us Civic-ilians or just plain Civilians since we’re more or less living out of our car right now. We packed everything we own into the Civic and have been cruising across state after state visiting friends and familiy.

It was difficult to end our season in Louisville because we just loved it. We had several friends go above and beyond to make our closing days special. Since we lived in on-campus housing, our lease had to end either in June or December. Not helpful for a family who intended to leave at the end of July! So we sold our furniture, vacated our apartment, and spent the month of July living with Chris & Sarah, the Bitner family, and the Bonura family. In hindsight, I’m really glad it worked out that way. We got the stress of packing and getting rid of a lot of our stuff out of the way early so we could focus on relationships at the end of our time. From going away parties to hanging out, we felt so loved by all of our friends. So thank you to everyone who helped make our closing days special. We feel that we will not soon be forgotten as we trek off to the other side of the world!

W: Washington DC

If you recall, our unlucky patient experience took place in Virginia. Since we were in that neck of the woods, we decided to take a trip up to Washington DC. Neither of us had ever been to our nation’s capitol and we figured it was worth a tour. We visited all the monuments, the Air & Space Museum, and the Holocaust Memorial Museum. Here are some pictures of our sights:

V: Viva Europa

About a year ago, I came up with this plan of what I wanted to do during the interim period between Louisville and East Asia. Visit family & friends of course but what better way to reward a season of hard work at school & the office than a fun vacation for just Kev & me? And what other time will we be without kids and have the freedom to take a vacation of this magnitude? Thus it was conceived: VIVA EUROPA! We’re going backpacking through Europe!

Kevin was skeptical at first. To assuage his fears, I made a coffee can with a whole cut out of the top to begin funding our trip. I think I only collected about $22 (including a $20 bill) but nevertheless the sweet man agreed that we could make the trip.

So we’re going to Europe! We fly out on September 22 and get three glorious weeks across four countries. We’re flying into Munich, Germany (during Oktoberfest), will travel down through Switzerland, then through Italy, and swing through France before heading back to Munich to head home on October 15. We’re working with an extreme shoestring budget, so that should make things interesting. If you have an Europe tips/pointers or things we HAVE to see, let us know!