2011 is coming to an end. It has proven to be another jam-packed year; a year full of new experiences, new places, and adventure. We have had a mix of happy and exciting news as well as saying goodbye to loved ones. Here’s a summary 2011. Hope you enjoy!

Shortly after Christmas 2010, we were favored by a visit from Nils’ parents and brother, Peter. To spice up their visit, we took a trip to Leticia, Colombia, a small town far south of the country along the banks of the mighty Amazon River. Despite the oppressive heat, we loved hiking through the rainforests, swinging on vines, scaling trees, and cruising up and down the river.

To see more pictures from our trip to Leticia, please click here.To see additional pictures from the Bergeson Family's visit to Colomiba, click here.

Later in January, we traveled to Washington, DC, taking advantage of a two-week training for Nils. We made a quick, surprise visit down to South Carolina to celebrate the 80th birthday of Nils’ maternal grandmother. Blanche Cecilia “Teedie” Radford (or “Boo,” as she is called by the grandchildren) had all of her three children and five grandchildren present to celebrate with her. Nils’ grandfather and Teedie’s husband, Charlie (“Papa”), also turned 80 in August of this year.

Making our way back to Washington, we were favored by the company of Nils’ younger sister, Maren, who spent some time with Jane, giving Emily the opportunity to do some sign-language interpreting. The trip, however, ended on a sad note. In early February, just a few days before our scheduled return to Colombia, Emily learned of the death of her nearly 85-year-old grandmother, Bessie “Jane” Verona O’Hara. Fortunately, Emily was able to make some adjustments to her travel plans, and together with Jane, traveled to Sacramento to attend the funeral.

Emily and Jane with Grandma O'Hara in 2010

Jane had her first birthday in February, celebrating it in style by wearing a crown and going to a youth dance. She continues to grow and mature, learning more and more words by the day. She’s a daring climber and has little fear of strangers (a good and bad thing). She loves playing with other children of all ages, scribbling, and watching her favorite programs on “Baby TV.” So far, she is willing to eat just about anything, and is making great progress in potty-training.

To see pictures of Jane in 2011, click here.

In March we had more visitors. This time, Emily’s parents, her brother John, and “Aunt” Marian all flew down from Kansas and Missouri to spend about 10 days in Bogota. They had a great time exploring the area which included touring the Salt Cathedral in nearby Zipaquira.

To see more pictures from the O'Hara Family visit to Colombia, click here.

In May, we took another trip to the United States, this time to attend not one but TWO family weddings. On May 28th, Emily’s younger brother Rory married Katrina Anderson in Provo, Utah. The two met while attending Brigham Young University. The new couple is currently settled in Salina, Kansas, where Rory works as a groundskeeper for the zoo, and Katrina works within the local education system.

To see more pictures from Rory's wedding, click here.

The second wedding on June 11th was for Emily’s youngest sister Ellen who married Levi Hannah in Bountiful, Utah. During their reception held in Salt Lake City, all of Ellen’s sisters participated in a sign-song presentation initiated by Emily. The couple met in Salt Lake City, where they continue to reside. Ellen is a teacher at the deaf school, and Levi works as a mechanic.

To see more pictures from Ellen's wedding, click here.Shortly after returning to Bogota, we discovered some most welcome news. A baby boy is on his way and due to be born in late February, 2012. Emily will be returning to the States to deliver the baby in Logan, Utah. Nils will join shortly before the baby’s due date. Feel free to come and visit us!

In August, Emily’s parents moved to Logan, Utah – Nils’ hometown where his parents still reside. Emily and Nils are thrilled that visiting grandparents will be so much easier.

Starting in June, we were graced with several visitors. First came Nils’ brother Peter and his cousin Catie. The two spent several weeks from June to August learning Spanish at a local language school and vacationing in Bogota. We were next visited twice by friends Eva Srodecki and Gregory Froment, from Germany/France, as they bookended a South American tour. In October, Nils’ cousin Max stopped in Bogota on his way to Venezuela to meet his then-fiancé, Patricia Montenegro (the two were married in November). Also in October Emily’s sister Molly came for two weeks, taking advantage of some time off, making Bogota her second international trip.

Now November… that was a great month! Knowing that our time in Colombia is drawing to a close and figuring that our next assignment would likely take us out of Latin America for a good long while, we decided to visit some of the highlights of South America while we’re still here. First we flew far to the south, connecting in Lima, Peru, and spending a night in Santiago, Chile before finally arriving in Punta Arenas, Chile, in the far southern Patagonia region right on the coast of the Strait of Magellan. From Punta Arenas, we rented a car, crossed the Strait on a ferry, and entered the famed Tierra del Fuego. After a long drive (more than 10 hours each way) and crossing into Argentina, we arrived in the world’s southernmost city, Ushuaia. Ushuaia is a beautiful city, situated on the Beagle Channel and surrounded by majestic, jagged peaks and glaciers. We had a great time exploring this picturesque area, including taking a catamaran boat trip on the Channel and visiting a wild penguin colony.

To see more pictures from our trip to Tierra del Fuego, click here.

After making the drive back to Punta Arenas, and taking three more flights, we arrived in Puno, Peru, a town situated on the banks of beautiful Lake Titicaca along the Andes. On Lake Titicaca we took a two-day boat trip which included visiting the Uros (floating reed) islands and spending the night on another island with a native Quechua family.

To see more pictures from our trip to Lake Titicaca, click here.

From Lake Titicaca, we traveled deeper into the former Incan Empire, flying to Cusco, and hopping a train to the fabled Inca city, Machu Picchu. Machu Picchu was a breathtaking experience. Emily did a wonderful job hiking, despite being six months into her pregnancy. Jane traveled in style, strapped to Dad’s back. As we were hiking back down from Machu Picchu, we got caught in a torrential rainstorm, and got completely soaked before escaping the mountain. It made the adventure all the more exciting.

To see more pictures from our trip to Cusco, Machu Picchu, and the Sacred Valley, click here.After a week in Peru, we made our final stop in Quito, Ecuador. There, we celebrated Thanksgiving as well as Nils and Emily’s collective birthday (all on the same day this year) at Burger King! Exciting. During our relaxing time in Ecuador’s capital, we traveled by cable car to the top of the mountain overlooking the entire Quito valley. And of course we had to go to the Middle of the World monument, built right on the equator, so we could straddle the line separating the northern and southern hemispheres and take lots of pictures.

To see more pictures from our trip to Ecuador, click here.

Guess what! Emily turned 30 this year! Whoo hoo! Throughout the year she’s enjoyed spending time at home with Jane, working with a local professional sound recorder (yes folks, her voice has been used for advertisements, songs, and English learning products), as well as a handful of other projects. In the spring, Emily was asked to serve as the President of the Young Women’s organization at church. The group of girls, aged 12-18, are mostly Spanish speakers, with 1 or 2 bilingual girls and a handful of North Americans – making the job quite a challenge for Emily. Fortunately, the opportunity gave her a chance to practice and improve her Spanish allowing her to connect with the Colombian and North American girls.

Nils continues to work at the Embassy with the Agency for International Development. He spent the first part of the year working with disability-related issues, and in summertime he focused primarily on programs working to support the regional elections, which took place in October. He was able to travel frequently throughout the country to visit work-related projects. In particular, he made multiple trips to Cartagena, Medellin, and Pasto, among other sites. He even took a business trip to Paraguay in March. Nils, like Emily, also worked throughout the year with the youth of the Church in his calling as Young Men’s President.

During the latter half of 2011, Nils spent much effort in trying to secure their next assignment, as his tour in Bogota is set to end in June 2012. In many ways, it is much like interviewing for a job all over again. Finally, after several months of waiting and negotiating, we were thrilled to learn that we had officially been assigned to Astana, Kazakhstan, where we will spend another two years – at least – starting in late summer of 2012. Nils is particularly eager to return to the Russian-speaking world. All are invited to visit our freezing, Siberian home in the years to come!

Before the close of the year, Nils learned that his paternal grandmother, Carolyn Ricker Bergeson, died in early December. She had recently turned 90. Nils and Jane were able to travel to Utah for the funeral, where Nils served as a pallbearer and speaker during the service. It ended up proving to be a great reunion for the Bergeson family, with nearly all of Carolyn’s posterity in attendance at her funeral.

Carolyn Ricker Bergeson

Thus we say goodbye to 2011, in great anticipation for 2012. For us, it will, no doubt, prove to be another busy year, with a new baby on the way, moving to a new continent, and other events sure to make our year ever adventurous. For now, we wish you a most Merry Christmas, a Happy Holiday season, and a Happy New Year. As Christmas is a time to reflect on the birth of the Savior of mankind, we would like to share with you this short video commemorating His Birth.

Love,

Nils, Emily, and Jane

Halloween was a few months ago I know, but I wanted to share these cute pictures of Jane dressed up in the lovely Bee costume from Gramma Jamma. Isn't she cute!

For the third time, Jane got into my lipstick and this time has been the worst so far. Normally she keeps it to her face, hands, tons on her lips, and numerous smears on her shirt. This time, she got it all over the couch and one of the pillows - the walls and luckily just a little on the carpet. The time before that (yesterday) when she kept it quite contained, it was a blessing since she had earlier barfed in the car and I already had that to clean up too.

The sweetest thing is though, neither Nils or I noticed Jane getting into my makeup until she emerged from the bathroom with a handful of toilet paper. After closer examination of all the evidence -- lipstick-ed toilet paper in the trash can, an empty toilet paper roll, and Jane's cute face -- we realized that she had been trying to clean up her mess. Isn't that just so cute! So while it took me a while to hand wash out the lipstick stains from the couch cover (dish soap can do wonders!) and the pillow case and her clothes, it is still so sweet that she attempted to do something about the mess she made. Getting her to understand that she can't wear lipstick like mommy might take awhile though. As we were cleaning and showing her the damage we said, "Jane - do you play with this (pointing to the makeup)?" "Uh-huh." "No, Jane. You don't play with this." "Jane - are you supposed to play with Mommy's makeup?" "Uh-huh." "Sigh. No, Jane. You aren't supposed to play with Mommy's makeup."

Mmm... I wonder if a plastic makeup set for Christmas would work?

What a thrill!! What a treat!!! We had the pleasure of having my sister Molly stay with us two whole weeks!! We took her around to the usual "hang-outs" in Bogota, but the highlight was a trip to Silvania, a cute little town south of the city.

My good friends the Arcos family have a country house there and they invited us to join them for two days during Molly's visit. We got to pick mandarin oranges, oranges, and coffee beans right from the tree! We wandered around the little town and even took a tour of a horse ranch. We weren't able to capture our entire experience on camera, but here are a few pictures of the tranquil and fresh environment this little haven provides. Jane, Molly, and Emily on the porch of the country house. Molly and Victor in downtown SilvaniaMolly and Jane on the bamboo balcony of the country house. What a view!

Thanks for coming to visit us, Molly! We sure do miss you!

... to clean when your toddler falls down and comes back up with dirt on her face.

So Jane wanted to go out on our balcony and we had some people visiting so, supervised, she made her way out only to take a tumble a few moments later. My friend brought her over to me still crying. I took one look at her and simply burst out laughing! I mean, just look at that face! The balcony was so dirty that a simple fall produced that much dirt on Jane's face. It looks like she's been playing in a sandbox, minus the rest of "sandbox" mess. Anyway, thankfully she had no scratches or bruises and it took just a few wet wipes to get her clean... but I just couldn't believe it!

Since living here in Colombia, we have been able to travel a little and see other parts besides Bogotá. Last October we all took a trip to Medellín. Historically one of the most dangerous cities in Colombia, Medellín has become a rather thriving and attractive city. Medellín also has this amazing metro-cable, much like a ground metro system but with cable cars, which transports commuters to and from neighborhoods high in the Andes Mountains. Here are some pictures from our trip. This picture shows the neighborhoods in the Andes. Notice no cars on the roads. I love how the houses are sweetly nestled into the trees.

I liked this picture demonstrating the ingenuity of Medellín residents putting a varitey of resources to good use fortifying their roofs. While the houses may look poor, I found myself wanting to live in such a close-knit, friendly looking place.

Medellín also has an Exporatorium, including a small aquarium. Here are Nils and Jane standing in front of a tank featuring fresh water fish and trees.

A picture of me and Jane at the last stop of the metro-cable. As you get off you see the vast forest of the Andes Mountains. So beautiful, but picture-wise it just looks like a bunch of green trees...

Medellín is a pleasant and bustling city, not quite as busy as Bogotá but with all the conveniences. There is still the constant threat of rain, but it's much warmer than the year-round Autunm-feel of Bogotá.

And I just have to include this one last picture. As we were coming back from our trip to the top of the metro-cable, I captured this. I thought it striking the contrast between the new, well-groomed street and the girl riding a donkey.

So last November I started "potty training" Jane. I hoped to make it easier to transition out of diapers as well as reduce the daily diaper count. Jane turns 18 months on the 25th and I've been trying to kick it up a notch to see if she can be fully potty trained before the next baby comes out. I got my inspiration from this woman...

My Great-Aunt Helen. Pictured with her is me, her son John, Jane, and John's daughter Josie. (Wow, that's a lot of J's.) Great-Aunt Helen is an amazing woman and managed to never have more than 1 child in diapers at a time. I'm not sure what methods she used or if she even remembers, but I've been inspired nonetheless.

I'm just not quite sure how to transition Jane out of diapers. Jane is fully "poo-poo" trained (don't worry, no pictures of that) and is really good about telling me when she needs to go. Pee-pee on the other hand, not so much. So I decided to try an idea I got from BabyCenter.com. Essentially you just have your kid run around with a naked bottom (they said for 3 days) and encourage the usage of the potty whenever they need to go. This is for toddlers going from zero to trained. The author of this idea warns about accidents and preparing yourself for the occasional clean-up. But from day one of giving it a try, Jane didn't have an accident - not once! She managed to tell us or go by herself when she needed to use the potty. The only problem is, once the diaper goes back on for nap time or bed time, she's not shy about using it for its designed purpose. We still go through fewer diapers, but what's the next step? Do I just brace myself and allow her to go diaperless? The other fear I have is whenever we go out. Will she be able to hold it if we're in the car and I can't pull over? I rationalize that we have until next February to really get her 100% potty trained, but she's so close! Even last night when we were at a restaurant, she signed "bathroom" and as I helped her balance on the grown-up toilet, she pushed my hands away and sat there all by herself!

As an aside... I captured these pictures of Jane reading a book while she was on the potty. It's just so hilarious! :)

My brother Rory and my sister Ellen got married this summer, not to each other obviously, and Nils, Jane, and I were fortunate to be able to attend both of them. It does help that they were two weeks apart.

Rory's Wedding - May 28

Rory's wedding was super awesome. Why? Several things. Numero uno... I didn't have to do anything except show up. Well, I did have to interpret for the marriage ceremony, but that's not so bad. The timing was fairly nice and we were all done at a decent hour. I believe we even decided to go to a restaurant together afterward. Now whoever suggested Chuck-a-rama was out of their mind. Okay, actually I was one of those who suggested it, but it was fairly good. I just feel bad for John and Wendy (anyone else?) who discovered why people call it "Up-chuck-a-rama". Still, that place brings back memories of NOT trick-or-treating on Halloween and oddly enough a waiter dressed up like Elvis with drawn-in chest hair.

Also great about Rory's wedding was the amazing potluck food served during the family dinner and right before the reception. Rory married into a "good-cook" family. And speaking of the family he married into... Historically I've been rather proud of the size of our family, finding it quite the compliment that we had to stay in the hospital when visiting Molly's deaf school in Idaho because there wasn't any other place to put us. But the Andersons by far have us beat. Just take a look at the following photos. Note that we're a little more spread out and the others are all crammed together. Hard to catch all the little faces mixed in.

The happy couple and our family

(Wendy's family didn't make it into this photo. I'll have to see if I can find one with all of us. Also, Toby's family wasn't able to make it. They were greatly missed. Oh, and that guy on the end there by me is Tim - Rory's best friend.)

Both families

The O'Hara side circled. Again, it looks like the circle covers a pretty big area, but look at the person-per-square-inch in the rest of the photo.

Ellen's Wedding - June 11

Being a sister and all, there was a lot more to do for Ellen's wedding than for Rory's. Luckily Rory's came first so we all had time to make the flower wreaths for the girls and the flower arrangements and ordering the food and fixing the wedding dress and not worrying about wedding cake and whatever else you're supposed to do for a wedding. Ellen did a great job NOT being bridezilla and making quick and rational decisions about everything. The day was beautiful, the location sublime, and the food was awfully good! Here's a picture of the immediate family (unfortunately missing Toby).

I'll see if I can find some more photos to share.

Congratulations Rory and Katrina!!

Congratulations Ellen and Levi!!

I just had to add this cute picture of the Ellen and Jane :)

(at least while Jane still had her wreath on)

During our visit with the Bergesons Jane found the way to a dog's heart is through his food.

Nils and Jane... "You're 1 year old today, Janey!"

Jane and Emily

"It's my birthday and I won't wear this crown if I don't want to -- won't wear this crown if I don't want to -- won't wear this crown if I don't want to.

You would cry too if this happened to you."

Cumpleanos Fiesta!!

(Her birthday was the same night as the youth dance. Nils being the Young Men's president, we decided to take Jane out to party hard and celebrate her first year.)

I made Jane a "short cake" because she's a shortcake.

And the decorating... not bad for ziploc bags if I do say so myself.

Happy Birthday Jane!

I'd heard from several good friends (yes, you Meredith) that moms can potty train their babies. When it was first explained to me, it was in the context of tents and dirt floors and a matter of just holding little baby over the 'toilet' til they go. I'm sure it was my imagination that painted the desert scene, but even the thought of holding my baby over a nice white toilet bowl sounded like a huge time-waster to me. Then my friend Sarah showed me this baby potty and I couldn't resist giving it a try. Holding the baby over the toilet -- definitely not. Letting the baby sit and do his/her business -- maybe. For a few dollars I figured it might be worth a try if it meant getting a head start on that dreaded milestone.

So... how has it worked so far? I'd say pretty well. Though Janey doesn't tell me when she has to go potty, she is fairly good at filling it up whenever I place her cute little bum on the pot. Don't believe me? I have pictures to prove it!

I'm supposed to do what? where?

Oh! I get it! See! (Admit it, we all turn around and look at what we did in there)

I had no idea kid birthday parties could be so cool! One of our new friends, Linda, put together a fabulous birthday party for her twins. She had fun activities like decorating cupcakes, various games, and a facepainter! So of course, I had to see how cute Jane would look with a little mariposa ("butterfly"... see, I'm slowly learning Spanish!) on the side of her face. Jane sat intently while the lady, who's name happened to be Leidy (sounds like "lady"), gently painted. Then, one of the other mothers at the party suggested I get my face painted too! So I did. Then another mother, with two daughters, one Jane's age, had her and her daughters all painted the same too. It was so so cute! Here's the result.

You can kinda see Jane's two small bottom teeth!

Isn't this just so cute!!

Our family attended a deaf congregation in Washington, DC before moving to Bogota, Colombia. Well, the group celebrated their 30th anniversary and we put together a little "birthday message" for them. I thought it'd be fun to share it with all of you too. Enjoy!

I wasn't sure she knew what she was signing... until she did the right thing at the end ;)

Babies are fun to watch as they develop and figure out their bodies...

Jane is learning to sit up.

And she's discovering that she has a tongue... and it can stick out! Nah!

We haven't started Jane on any foods per se, but she has started grabbing at things. She almost nabbed a cookie out of Nils' hand as he was enjoying a simple desert after dinner. Fortunately he had something else to tempt her with since he hadn't finished his vegetables and instead he handed her a cooked stalk of asparagus to munch on. As I entered the dining room from the kitchen I was quite surprised to find Jane happily munching on the asparagus stalk! Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture.

Luckily, a few days later, Nils found himself in a similar position. This time he was enjoying a nectarine so when she reached for it he let her take a few bites and taste it for herself. I remembered the camera this time....

So this weekend Nils mildly complained that I don't bathe Janey enough. I had planned into my day today a time when I would give her that much needed bath. This morning, we got up early, read some words of wisdom; I made Nils breakfast and lunch; I did the dishes and put them away. I was earning points right and left by my estimation. So, having done such a great job in the first few hours of the day, I decided that I deserved to lay back down in my nice warm bed. Janey needed to eat anyway, and why not sit back and relax? She finished eating and was fussing a little. I figured she just wanted to practice using her voice. Being new to talking to infants, I didn't realize she was saying, "Hey lady. What about that bath?"

Still unaware and lacking an interpreter, I decided that perhaps I could conk her out with a little more milk. I gave her more. She obliged but once filled she continued to vocalize. Of course, I still thought she was just practicing for a day when I could understand her.

As any mother does, I went through her basic needs as she continued to make her presence known and I continued to lazily enjoy the warmth of my bed. I had fed her, so she wasn't hungry. Ah... I needed to change her diaper. But it could wait a few more minutes, right? I decided to put it off for a few more minutes. She continued to vocalize and I eventually decided to at least check if she was wet. My hand met a big patch of wet on her pajamas. I sat up and examined the area to find it wasn't just wet, it was poopy. *Sigh. I had waited too long. Blow out. Taking a rag and placing it under her, I started to examine the damage. Uh, eww... Blow out indeed. Lots of poop out of the diaper and all over her leg. Accepting the consequences, I started to clean it up. The thought occurred to me that now might be a good time to give her that bath I'd been meaning to give her. "Nah," I thought. "I'll do that later this afternoon." I continued to wipe and clean. Suddenly Jane started to cough and gag. I stopped what I was doing and focused on her, making sure she was okay. "Janey, you're okay." I soothed. "You're O...NO!" As she coughed she proceeded to bring up everything I had just fed her and then some. Curdled milk coated her arms and neck. I started laughing. Bath time it is then. Serves me right for making her go to such lengths to get one. Here's what the mess looked like...

Take note of the poop I had been in the process of cleaning and the milk curds that now covered her. You can't see the actual volume of what came out since most of it slopped over the sides of her face, arms and all over our bed.

Okay, okay... I got to work warming up her water and right then and there gave her a bath. Jane looked quite satisfied with the result.

Totally worth it. :)

Jane has been asking us for the last three weeks that we have been here to post pictures of our new place. Finally, we let her make a tour video so that you all can see. Hope you enjoy!

For transcript, please send an e-mail to Emily. Processing time is 6-8 weeks. Just kidding.

I know, I know... it's been too long since our last post. And there's a lot of events yet to cover. In the meantime, here's a short clip of Jane in action. I promise to do my best to catch up... :)

Hello, this is Nils speaking. I am very happy to announce that our daughter, Jane Vera Bergeson, was born yesterday at 6:21 pm. We'll give more details later, but for now, enjoy these pictures!

Today is officially Jane's due date (notice the number on the baby counter is zero). But our baby seems completely content to stay where she is for now. That's okay with me since that means a few more days of a full night's sleep and the assurance that I know what I'm doing. Within a few days, all that will go out the window... and we welcome it! :)

Since I don't have pictures of the baby to post, instead, I'll share some pictures my mom took of me yesterday in honor of my 40th week and still being pregnant. That's the other lucky thing... I hadn't really had any "glamour pregnancy" photos taken of me yet, so we were able to squeeze it in before Jane squeezed out. :) Enjoy!

After a recent conversation with my older brother, I discovered that I am surprisingly large. According to him, my mom was MUCH smaller than I am when she was pregnant. Fighting back tears, given the emotional roller coaster of my current state, I decided rather than take offense, I would simply prove him wrong. Okay, actually, I didn't feel like crying and wasn't the least bit offended, but I did find it funny and thought it'd be nice to take him up on his "challenge" and see just how big my own mother was when she was pregnant.

This quest proved only one thing... My mother is gorgeous! She even makes pregnancy look like pages from a model's portfolio. So... whether or not she truly managed the weight of pregnancy better than I am, it's just fun to see what she looked like when she was starting her family.

1975 in Washington DC

1977 in Louisiana

1981 New York (She was pregnant with me here!)

Me ... today.

Some of you may already be regular readers of Nils' blog "Mormon Thinking". You can attest to just how great the blog is. For everyone else, this week's post of particularly interesting... because I wrote it :)

The topic is about gender roles within a typical Mormon household, particularly pertaining to whose job it is to appoint someone to say the prayer. I'm interested in your thoughts since a lot of you have families of your own, have grown up in Mormon homes, or may have developed your own way of doing things.

Take a look and leave a comment if you'd like!

Gender Roles in the Family: A Matter of Prayer

You know, being back in the United States after serving in the Peace Corps proved to be a fairly easy transition. One thing that I had completely forgot about, though, was setting up house. In preparation for Peace Corps service, we sold practically everything we had in order to reduce storage and junk we'd need to haul around. My older brother who is now residing in Australia did a superb job describing the purging process as well as the next steps of reacquisition. For me, I'd been able to put off reacquiring household items for over a year and it took a decided mental adjustment to bring me back to the reality of making a house, a home.

So, upon our arrival and subsequent settling in, Nils and I went about purchasing a variety of things we needed to make our living situation more comfortable. Among these items was a futon, purchased for a reasonable price from craigslist, which folds out into a rather spacious queen-sized bed. When it's transformed back into a "couch", however, it's slightly less appealing. You can see hospital wheels sticking out, a sturdy metal frame, and a bland off-white covering tri-folded indelicately. To remedy the problem, I determined to make a cover that would make it look more like a couch.

First things first; finding the right fabric. After a little searching, I found a Calico Corner store (which doesn't actually sell calico at all, but more home decor fabric) and tried to see what would both work and not cost too much. Upholstery fabric is surprisingly expensive unless you're fortunate enough to catch a sale. In my case, I didn't hit a sale, but I had in mind what I wanted and found a roll of fabric on clearance that suited the look I was going for. At an affordable $5/yard, I worked it out with the salesperson to determine how much fabric I would need. At first she was confused since I used the word 'futon' and she thought I wanted to cover the futon mattress rather than make a couch cover. Anyway... In the end, fortunately, I purchased enough and didn't have too much left over, even after cutting piping on the bias :)

Okay... so the material sat in the corner of the living room for a while. I admit, I'm a procrastinator and I had the perfect procrastinator's excuse of not having a sewing machine (though I could have borrowed my roommate's machine from upstairs). Anyway, Nils bought me a new sewing machine in November for my birthday and with the upcoming arrival of Nils' family for Christmas, the stars aligned and I finally got the couch cover done and in time for its debut. In addition to doing the couch, I also made 5 pillows, which were quite necessary as the couch lacks back support.

Triumphant at last, I present to you... my living room couch!

For Emily and Nils Bergeson, 2009 provided one of the most adventuresome and fulfilling years in living memory. Moving across an ocean, beginning a new career, learning of a new addition to their family, and several other adventures all over the world add up to an entertaining 2009. Read on to learn more about how the Bergeson family spent their last year in this exhaustive recap of the 2009:

As 2008 came to a close, Emily and Nils found themselves spending Christmas high in the Carpathian mountain resort town of Predeal. Christmas day was spent giving skiing instruction to Romanian children who had come from all over the country to spend their holiday on the slopes. At this time, the Bergesons had been living in Romania for nearly 10 months, having completed nearly half of their period of service as volunteers with the United States Peace Corps.

As the new year approached and the ski camp ended, Nils and Emily headed for Bucharest to catch a train to Istanbul, where they planned to welcome the new year after the manner of the Turks. As they approached the ticket window to secure their passage, they were dismayed to learn that a number of mis-communications from earlier ticket agents meant that they would be unable to travel to Turkey. Not to be disheartened by the need for flexibility, Nils and Emily improvised. They visited the beautiful Romanian cities of Sibiu and Brasov, then returned to Bucharest where they officially rang in 2009.

Returning to their host city of Bralia, Nils and Emily got back to work. Nils' primary project, a youth extra-curricular civic education group, aptly named “The Youth Vision for Democracy,” was well underway. Every other week, youth from the city would gather and be trained on how to be more active and contributive participants in their community. Together they planned service projects, held trainings, and enjoyed many other fun activities together.

Emily not only helped Nils in his work with the youth, she had her own projects with her assigned organization, the Center for Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprise Development. Emily helped in revamping their website, hosted a number of trainings and assessments, and helped in any other way she could. In addition, Emily worked hard in putting together a book, “Romengleaza,” which was a Romanian/English dictionary and phrasebook. Not only did she write, design, and organize the nearly 300-page-book and it's cover, she recorded and edited an audio version of the book as well. All proceeds from the sale of the books and CDs went to fund the Youth Vision for Democracy. Not many Peace Corps volunteers end up becoming a published author in their time of service.

In late January, Nils was fortunate enough to enjoy an all-expenses paid trip to Washington, DC. Along the way, he had a stop-over in Madrid, and was able to visit Spain's capital for the first time. The purpose of his trip was for a job interview with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Nils had long been eying a career in the Foreign Service, specifically with USAID, and was surprised to be invited for an interview months earlier than he expected. During his trip, he was able to find a few days to sneak over to Utah and visit his family, as well as spending time with his brother- and sister-in-law and their three children in DC. The interview was a success, and in February he was given a conditional offer. Thus began the long wait for medical and security clearances to come through.

Knowing their time in Romania was limited, Nils and Emily sought to complete as many projects as they could. One project was done in conjunction with the missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Romania Bucharest Mission covers all of Romania and Moldova, with over 100 full-time missionaries, mostly from the United States and Canada, spread throughout the two countries. Calling on his experience as a missionary in Russia, Nils helped design and organize a mission-wide English teaching program. Emily contributed to the project as well, which ended up providing a number of trainings, as well as a manual for use throughout the mission. They were able to travel to Arad, Brasov, Bucharest, and Chisinau, Moldova to help present the project to the missionaries. Nils and Emily felt privileged to be part of a project which not only helped provide a service to the Romanian people, but helped support the small Mormon community in Romania as well.

In addition to completing as many projects as possible, Nils and Emily tried to take advantage of the relatively cheap travel in the region to visit places they hadn't before. In April, they were visited by Peter, Nils' youngest brother, who had been studying abroad for a year in Germany. After a few days in Sinaia, a quaint Carpathian village, they finally took the long-anticipated train south to Turkey.

Nils, Emily, Pete, and fellow Peace Corps volunteer Cynthia Yeh, spent the next four days in Istanbul. The ancient and historically relevant city was full of endless excitement for the travelers. Of course, the famous sights, such as the massive Hagia Sofia mosque, and the Sultan's Palace, were wonderful to visit. They also enjoyed traveling across the Bosporus to Asian Turkey, walking along the boardwalks of Istanbul, and eating plenty of inexpensive and abundant kebab.

Continuing their journey, the group hopped a train for Thessaloniki, Greece. Another beautiful historic city on the Aegean, the Greek city was well worth the visit. Besides being caught in a massive downpour, their time in Thessaloniki was fascinating, and the Greek food, carefully selected thanks to Nils' Greco-expert of a cousin Tyler, was well worth the price.

For the travelers' final day in Greece, they rented a car to drive south to the monasteries of Meteora. These amazing structures, perched high atop rock outcroppings in central Greece, provided fantastic views and a chance to really ponder the significance of life. Staring out across the panorama, Nils and Pete discussed how they could think of no better place for one who has dedicated their life to exploring the mysteries of Godliness to live in pensive solitude. They were also able to hike along a portion of Mount Olympus, and enjoyed a crowing Greek experience as they were forced to wait for several minutes as a shepherd led an enormous flock of goats across the road.

The four wanders left Greece and arrived early the next morning in Sophia, Bulgaria. By now they were very weary from their travels, and spent a good portion of the day sleeping in a park. Nevertheless, Sophia provided a number of historically significant points of interest. They also saw the government buildings situated in Bulgaria's capital. Leaving that evening for Bucharest, the companions arrived in Romania the next morning. They were able to enjoy a decent a night's sleep after negotiating with the conductor for discounted couchettes.

As if Nils and Emily hadn't traveled enough, they decided that May's arrival of Emily's younger sister, Ellen, provided the perfect excuse to see more in the region. Thanks to the budget airlines of Europe, they flew from Bucharest to Venice, Italy. A few days in the city famous for romance was wonderful indeed. One can truly wander the streets of Venice for hours and find something of interest around every corner without needing to spend a cent.

Continuing through Italy, the three traveled by train to Rome, with a stop over for a few hours in Bologna. In Rome, they were happy to again be joined by Nils' brother Pete, who celebrated his birthday in Italy's capital. Each of their three days spent in Rome had a different “theme.” The first day was spent seeing the archaeologically preserved sites of ancient Rome, including the Colosseum. The second day was dedicated to Catholic Rome, and was spent primarily in the Vatican. Sites included St. Peter's Basilica, the Tombs of the Popes, and the Sistine Chapel. The final day was spent visiting modern Rome, including the government buildings, as well as catching up on other sites we hadn't seen in the days prior. We arrived in Rome just as the movie “Angels and Demons” was released, and were able to see all of the significant sculptures which played a part in the story's plot.

After Rome, Nils and Pete returned to their respective European nations, but Emily and Ellen hadn't had enough. The sisters traveled on to Florence and Pisa, where they stayed near the world-renowned leaning tower. They then flew on to Paris, where they spent the next few days visiting the sites around the French capital. It was the first time either had been to Paris, or France for that matter. They both returned to Romania tired from their journey, but satisfied at having seen so much.

After returning from Italy and France, Nils and Emily received wonderful news. It began as Nils got the sneaking suspicion that something had changed about Emily. He suggested that she might be pregnant, but she was unsure. Determined to know if his hunch was correct, Nils stopped at a local pharmacy, and purchased a pregnancy test. It came out positive! Nils and Emily were going to have a baby!

Ellen remained with the Bergesons in Romania until early June. Before she left, they were able to throw in a few quick day-trips in Romania, including a Saturday spent in the Black Sea port of Constanta, and another weekend in the Medieval Carpathian village of Sigisoara. They hiked through the hills overlooking the ancient castles of the city, and again were caught in a summer rain, this time complete with lighting. It was a memorable experience however, and Nils and Emily were sad to see Ellen leave.

After seeing her off in Bucharest, the Bergesons returned to Braila only to immediately turn around and go back to Brasov, to host a training camp which concluded the Youth Vision of Democracy program for 2008-2009. About 10 youth from Braila spent two days hiking in the mountains (carefully avoiding bears) and being trained in leadership skills.

As they were returning back to Braila to get things organized for the summer, Nils received an e-mail he had been waiting for. He was to report to Washington, DC by July 20th for work. This left the Bergesons with less than a month to finish up their projects, pack up all of their belongings, say goodbye to friends, fly to the United States (specifically to Utah, where all of their stuff was), arrange the move to DC, drive across the United States, and get settled in.

Nils and Emily said goodbye to their Romanian friends, sad to be leaving a few months earlier than they had previously expected, but excited to begin their new adventures. They successfully managed the move, even having a few days to stay with Nils' family in Utah, and being able to stop and visit Emily's family in Kansas for a few more. They arrived in Vienna, Virginia, their new home town, on July 16th.

Nils spent his first five weeks of work in orientation. He was sworn-in as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer on his first day, then had to wait five full weeks to learn where their first country of assignment would be. Just before leaving Romania, Emily had shared an impression with him. “I think we're going to move to South America next.” It was an interesting thought, but there was really no way to say where they might end up in the year to come.

As the orientation ended, they were happy to learn that they would indeed be headed to South America for the next two years. More specifically, Nils would be working from the U.S. Embassy in Bogota, Colombia. In November, he began six months of intensive Spanish language training. The Bergesons expect to depart for Bogota sometime in the summer of 2010.

In September, Nils and Emily learned that their growing baby is a girl! For now, they plan to name her Jane Vera. She is expected to come on or around February 18th. As the time grows ever nearer, Nils and Emily are becoming more and more excited for their baby to come.

The last few months of 2009 were enjoyable, yet busy. Nils stays occupied with work and Spanish everyday, and Emily has worked most days as a sign-language interpreter. They managed to find time to make a few quick getaways to South Carolina, Shenandoah National Park, Harper's Ferry, and New York City. Emily was able to get back to Kansas for a couple of weeks in November to spend time with her family as well.

All and all, 2009 has been an adventurous and full year for Nils and Emily. If you successfully made it to the conclusion of this recap, then you are commended for your stamina. They wish you and yours all the best in this New Year!

Here's looking forward to the adventures 2010 will bring, including a baby girl and yet another intercontinental move! Start planning your trips to South America now, as the Bergesons hope to see you all in Bogota!

Pardon the pun. This post is long overdue (not the baby) and I apologize for taking so long to post an updated picture of how my belly size is progressing. I am constantly impressed with those expecting mothers who take weekly pictures to show how they gradually grow.

I, unfortunately, am not as dedicated, so the rest of you must therefore suffer. But, at least we're making progress and you can actually tell there's something growing in there. I still feel like I'm stuffed from Thanksgiving dinner and this whole time I thought I was able to hold quite a bit in that bladder of mine. While I am still able to "hold it" until I can make it to the restroom, when I'm done instead of feeling relieved I feel like "that's it? that's all?? that's all you had in there?????" *sigh. And I know it'll only get worse. As for everything else, I thank my lucky stars that I still haven't had much sickness, aches, or pains.... yet. And even if I do, I feel very fortunate that I've got something pretty special growing in there. Nils is funny and keeps asking the baby to come out and play with him. As time is going by pretty fast, he won't have much longer to wait.

So... here's the long awaited picture. This was taken at about 29 weeks. Nils and I are attending Bradley classes to stock up on exercises, nutrition, and general knowledge about labor. It's turned into a nice growing opportunity for the both of us as we're learning more about what's going on inside and how to best support each other. There sure is a lot to learn! :)

Looking at my last post, I guess I was just so happy to get that project done that I was done with everything else too! Well, and I was enjoying a nice vacation with my family in Kansas. :)

The first two weeks in November, I enjoyed a delicious visit with my sister in Wichita and my parents, Teddy, and John in Ellsworth. Spending time with them helped me get excited about being a 'mom' (yikes...) as well as just appreciate all the fun and funny things that moms, dads, brothers, and sisters do. Here are some highlights of my trip:

Mom and I got to finish a new white pregnant temple dress for me, so I wouldn't have to keep squeezing my ever-growing belly into that teeny, tiny dress. I just hope I can squeeze back into it later....Dad took me to an auction for the first time. Boy, those guys must go through some kind of auctioneer training because that "heybidaherebidaheybidadoIhear400?steprightuphereandbidletsseeabidfor400,375?DoIhear375?Whatabout350,Ihave350doIhear375,375,375,have350,whatabout375,375!doIhear400bidaherebidanicealmostnewitem,400?400!?!Ihave375! Going once! Twice! Sold for 375!".... it's just gotta take talent to talk that fast!John's Boy Scout Eagle project helped us all get outside and use our muscles to beautify the landscaping of a chapel building. A lot of people came to help and the work is still going. Anyone in the Salina area on Wednesday nights or Saturday mornings should pop on over there and lend a hand :)Teddy's evening walks around Ellsworth were really nice. I like that you can get around and be pretty much anywhere you want to in small towns. Don't even need ta take yer car!Sarge and Sally, my family's new puppies are just so so cute! Animals have a way of making you feel special and important since they're always ready to play and are just so happy to see you! If you're a betting guy or gal, put your money on Molly. She and I had fun playing air hockey and pool at a local pool hall. And if you're looking for a fun family activity, find a local arcade or pool hall in your area and take the kids! The pool hall we went to didn't allow vulgar language, smoking, or drinking. Their only crime was the loud country music on the hi-fi.Mom and I had fun picking out colors for their living room and dining room. Ellen had done a great job working with Mom on the beautiful colors in the parents' room. Looking at all the pictures and seeing the fun things Mom had planned made me look forward to the time in the fairly far off distant future when Nils and I will settle down and buy a place of our own. Skype with Toby's family in Australia! Sorry that Toby wasn't there, but I had fun catching up with Sharole, and seeing how much my niece and nephews have grown! Can't wait to hop on a plane and give them real hugs and kisses!Finishing up the quilt Ellen made for my high school graduation. Thanks Ellen! It's still as beautiful as ever and it's on my bed now!The little things.... a scrabble game with Dad, Settler's game with everyone, chitting and chatting til I can't think of anything else to talk about (which never happens, so eventually you have to finally just say 'good nite' and go to bed), laughing, catching up with John and remembering being in high school, learning all kinds of things about the Civil Air Patrol from Teddy, getting ideas from Mom, getting into a deep linguistics discussion with Molly, getting beat by Molly (again) at air hockey, the marriage advice from Dad, the health advice from Mom.....There's no place like home!Thanks family for such a wonderful vacation! And I didn't even have to wait for an official holiday to come visit!!

As mentioned on previous posts, I had been working on an audio version of Romengleza. The project started sometime in March or April of this year and was COMPLETED this last week!! The picture above just demonstrates how I feel... free, happy, light, and really GOOD! It feels great having accomplished something and knowing that I didn't give up (and that no amount of procrastinating could prevent this moment from finally coming). In all, the project took over 6 months to complete, with 55 individual sound tracks and hours of editing and recording. Thanks to all the youth volunteers who were the Romanian language voices! Thanks to Oana and Catalina for translating all of the English phrases and vocabulary! Thanks to Nils for helping me out with the English language voices! And thanks for everyone's patience as I would sometimes shut out the world, trying to get the project done. YEAH!!!! It's ALL DONE!

I'm pretty sure every first time pregnant woman has gone through some similar experience of processing the fact that there's a little person growing inside that steadily swelling belly. The baby's movements help, the ultrasounds pictures definitely help. But what if imagination takes you just a little too far?This past week I was hard at work finishing up a major project that has been hanging over my head. As usual, I started to get pretty wrapped up in my work and, though I had eaten a light lunch (which I was proud I had remember to at least take a break for that), the clock struck 4pm, and my baby came alive. She was alive... and fighting! Bom-bom-bom-bom, one right after another, the lining of my stomach became her personal punching bag. As I sat there, kinda stunned at her energy and vigor, a thought crossed my mind... "What if she's trying to get out?" Then I started turning her into too much of a person thinking... "Maybe she's starting to feel a little claustrophobic and just counldn't stay in such a cramped space a moment longer!?" "What is she's totally freaking out and can't breathe!?! After all ... she's completely surrounded by fluid!" As my mind raced, I started to panic. I had to remind myself to breathe... I had to distract myself.....I had to realize that she's just a growing baby, and she's probably hungry. Yeah... come to think of it, my stomach was growling a little... *Sigh. Well, we got past that one. Note to self... don't make the baby too much into a full person that you put all kinds of thoughts and feelings into her head while she's probably perfectly content in her nice warm space.Then.... (Totally unrelated, but still weird)

The other night I was laying on my back, casually talking to Nils when we both paused for a moment to admire my stomach. As I looked down however, the nice smooth typical baby bump had morphed into this strange protruding round thing sticking out of one particular part of my belly. For anyone who's seen a scene in the movie Alien (though I'm thinking of Spaceballs) when the alien pops out of a guy's stomach... that's what it started to look like to me. It was like a little alien head starting to rise up out of my stomach. I seriously tried not to freak out, but it looked so WEIRD! Of course, I didn't want to make a complete fool of myself so I looked away and cautiously looked back to see if the alien head was still sticking out. Whew! My belly was back to normal. I can only imagine what's going to happen when this baby actually comes out. I'll either think she's ready to express her deepest thoughts and fears, or she's going to constantly remind me of an ugly slimy alien. Thankfully I do have time to get a hold of myself before she actually arrives and can present myself to her as a normal, rational mother.... Mother? I'm going to be someone's mom? Hmm... I might have to blog about that later.

Nils and I have enjoyed making little weekend/day trips to various parts of the East Coast. It's amazing how many states you can cross is such a short time. So far in our travels we've driven through or visited; Virginia, DC, Maryland (of course); West Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Not bad, huh?

Click here to view our pictures from the Labor Day trip

Shenandoah National Park

For Labor day weekend, we decided to go to Shenandoah National Park on that Saturday where we hiked about a mile of the Appalachian Trail. What a beautiful area! As we entered the park, we got a map and realized there was simply no way to visit the entire park in one day. The whole thing takes about 3-4 hours just to drive through. There are 75 different scenic lookouts and a variety of trails and fun things to do! We decided to stop at one of their picnic areas for lunch. We had to walk a little ways to find the picnic tables and were somewhat surprised that we shared the area with only one other family. As we ate, the other family left and we enjoyed the solitude of the open air and lush trees. Then, Nils and I noticed another family had joined the picnic area... a family of black bears. A momma bear and two little cubs had wandered into the picnic area, looking for leftovers. I was really surprised at how small the momma bear was and wondered if she was maybe just the big sister or something. Well, no time to stop, chat and find out that kind of personal information, so we decided to head back to where more people were. Nils managed to get a few pictures. After reaching our car and deciding on which trail we wanted to hike, we drove around the picnic area just to see if the bears were still there. Turns out, there was a larger picnic area with many more people on the other side of this little hill, and they had all stopped to look at one of the forest rangers redirecting the bears away from the picnickers. I took a short, short video (yeah, it's actually pretty lame) of the ranger as we passed.

The family of bears

Having had a taste of adventure, we headed further up the road to a small trail that covered a short part of the Appalachian trail. We took some really beautiful pictures and then headed back. A nice short trip with just the right amount of exercise and nature watching!

Harpers Ferry, West Virginia

For another quick day trip, Nils and I headed North on Labor day up to Harper's Ferry. I didn't realize what a historical site it was. I learned that even as early as the 1890's Easterners came to Harper's Ferry for a weekend get-away. Perfectly situated at the convergence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers, the town is rich with history and interesting stories.

Long Island, New York

Nils' good friends Justin and Marje got married September 19th at a beautiful vineyard on Long Island. Being close enough to drive, Nils and I decided to make it a quick trip up there to celebrate the joyous occasion with them and some of Nils' other friends from Monterey. What a gorgeous place! I tried to take several pictures, but below are just a few. Also, the header on for this blog comes from some pictures we took from the wedding.

Raleigh, NC; Litchfield Beach and Charleston, SC

To introduce this trip, I should first mention that Papa and Boo (Nils' grandparents) have this fabulous beach house right on Litchfield Beach. They share the beach house with several other families and throughout the year, each family schedules weeks where they can go and enjoy some time at the beach. Well, this past week was "Our Week" (meaning, our week to go visit the beach, which so happens to be the name of the beach house). Nils and I took off a day of work and headed down, making a stop first in Raleigh, NC where Aunt Mary lives. She hosted us for a night before we headed on down to the beach.

A short side story... our dear car has been struggling with a small oil leak. Not that the leak is anything big, but we were aware that we would need to keep an eye on it while making the 8-9 hour drive down south. At one gas station stop, Nils checked the oil to make sure it wasn't running too low. Everything looked fine, but as soon as we drove off, the engine light came on. We found a place to pull over and checked the gas and oil caps to make sure they were screwed on tight. The gas cap did feel a little loose, so we thought the gas cap probably set off the warning light. We continued to drive as I looked in the owner's manual to find out what triggers the engine light. Turns out, the engine light measures the gas and oxygen levels and if the light comes on it could be a variety of things... something as simple as a loose gas cap or something as serious as ... well, something more serious. Anyway, in Raleigh, before we continued on to South Carolina, we found a Saab place where we could get the car checked out. The mechanic plugged the car in to his machine and he said that it all checked out fine. He did say that the sensor seemed to be malfunctioning and would eventually need to be replaced. Okay... but nothing we needed to worry about right then so we continued on.

We arrived at the beach house and were greeted by Papa and Boo. Two of the most lovely people, we enjoyed a pleasant evening catching up and chatting about all kinds of things. We hadn't seen them since our departure to Romania and it was so good to see them!

The next morning, Nils had arranged for us to drive 1.5 hours down to Charleston to pay a visit to his cousin Derek. Anyone who is wondering what places they should visit in the south... you should definitely go to Charleston. A beautiful historical town with plenty of museums, colonial architecture and historical sites, we had plenty to see for the short time we were there. Unfortunately I had left the camera in our car and didn't end up taking a single picture while we were there. Nils and I will have to go again sometime, not just for the pictures... but to see all the other things we missed. Beautiful place. We also enjoyed some yummy BBQ at a local restaurant.

The same evening, we headed back up to the beach house and by that time Mary and Robbie had arrived. Nils and Robbie took out their guitars and started singing and playing for all of us. Robbie has started his own band called "Boylion" (click on the link to get a sample of his music) so he's pretty good. We enjoyed the night air, the great music, and conversation. Very nice day!

Sunday we went out to the beach and sat a while. Nils and Robbie did the typical splashing around and wrestling in the water. Entertaining, needless to say. By 2pm or 3pm Nils and I decided we had better head back home if we wanted a good night's sleep. So, we made our goodbyes, packed up the car, stuck the key in the ignition, and heard this strange noise coming from the engine. We all jumped out and looked around to see what was making the noise. After much investigation we figured out that a piece of the serpentine belt had frayed loose and was flapping to the rhythm of the engine. Nils cut off the piece, restarted the engine. Sounded good, so we decided to take our chances. Lucky for us, Mary and Robbie decided to leave at the same time and followed us to make sure we didn't run into more care trouble. Ironically, Nils had experienced car trouble in that same general area on the way to Mary's house the summer of 2006 when he had Pete with him. There were plenty of jokes about the luck of his car and the luck of having troubles again...

Sure enough, after about 30-40 minutes of driving, we heard the noise again and then a warning light came on. We pulled over and popped the hood. This time, the entire belt was gone. Strictly speaking, the belt itself is a simple fix, an inexpensive thing to replace and not at all a complicated part to find. Unfortunately, the whole thing had to happen on a weekend when all of the shops are closed, so no matter how simple and easy the fix was, we still had to have the car towed. So there we were... about 3 hours south of Raleigh and 7.5 hours from home. Luckily, Nils had just established our own insurance for the car, so we gave them a call and arranged to have it towed. On top of that, Nils found out that because we had coverage in Virginia we could have the car towed to the nearest Saab service center, which just so happened to be the very place in Raleigh where we'd had our car looked at not two days before! Imagine, full coverage for a guy to tow our car 3 hours. Cool, huh! And of course, we had Mary there to help us out with everything. Unfortunately we weren't able to stay the night since we both had work the next morning. So Nils and I decided to rent a car for the week and drive it back this coming weekend, giving the repair shop enough time to not only fix the serpentine belt, but the oil leak and oxygen sensor as well. Through our insurance we got a generous discount from the car rental company so the whole week cost just a little more than "1 day, 1 way" would have been. Pretty sweet, huh! Of course, when all was said and done, we didn't get home until 3:00am... but it's simply amazing how blessed we are to have had so many things work out in our favor. Thanks to Mary, the tow truck guy, all the people at the Saab repair shop, Hertz car rental, and USAA insurance!

So Nils and I are offically residents of Virginia! *sigh! It sure is nice to have that slightly settled feeling where both of us have a driver's license from the same state AND car plates to match. One small complaint... the picture.

Now I understand for most of us, we expect passport pictures and driver's licenses to basically make us look "out of it", "mug shot", "shiny", "Ugh?" and other "complimentary" looks. Because of this I normally take great pains (I don't know why I even try) to lessen the chances of a truly "uggah" photo for my government issued IDs. (Yeah, my first passport photo was a "try too hard" and I ended up looking like this. ) Either way, you're going to be stuck with however it turns out for 5-10 years. In Virginia, they put the odds against you by not letting you smile ("mug shot" here we come), making you stare at some silly sticker, and after getting mine back just this past week, aiming too high! Yep, I have no neck. After looking at Nils' photo, of course he always looks amazing... but he looks amazing in his picture! He has a neck and shoulders! Lucky for him, he's tall enough for that little camera.

So I get stuck with a big face, no neck, no smile picture just because I'm not tall enough to fit it all in where they aimed that little camera with the silly bright "ka-boom" sticker!?! No fair! I guess more fool me for even trying to beat the system.

Well, luckily I did get to keep my Maryland driver's license which includes neck and shoulders AND they let me smile! So any time I'm feeling sorry for my ugly big-faced picture, I'll just whip out my old driver's license and remind myself that I at least won once at looking decent for my driver's licence picture. *sigh

I've been having strange sensations, increasing and fewer minutes apart, starting at my stomach and making their way to my heartbeat. I thought to time them to see if they were two minutes apart, til I realized it had nothing to do with contractions and going into labor. They had everything to do with me realizing that I'm actually pregnant and my body is changing. You might say I had a "freaked out moment of being pregnant".

Freaked OUT Moment (FOM), I'm starting to show; began probably sometime this past week. It didn't really hit me til Friday when I realized I no longer fit into my bra. I know, I know... and I thought this before too... how great it must be to be getting bigger and refining that hour-glass figure. But becoming more busty has actually started to make me feel a little uncomfortable. I mean, yes, it's probably more sexy, but I'm just not sure I like it. I find myself tempted to wear a sign that says "It's not my fault they're growing, I'm pregnant."

The other thing that's started growing lately is my belly. I have been in the habit of holding in my stomach, as if holding in would reduce the appearance of what's growing down there. I guess it's part of my struggle to overcome my denial. Anyway, below are the pictures.

I've been trying to figure out why I'm having such trouble accepting these simple and quite expected changes. Yesterday when Nils and I went to the DMV to register our car and update our driver's licenses, I found myself sometimes embarrassed to realize that people might be able to tell just by site that I'm pregnant. EEk!! I don't want that attention. Again, I have to remind myself that on the outside, people see pregnant women and think, "Aw! How cute! You have such a glow!" But in my mind when people look at me (if they even notice at this point that I'm pregnant) the thoughts that cross my mind is more like, "Ack! I'm not ready! Don't look at me like you know something I don't!!" I really need to relax, don't I?

Nils and I went in for our first real ultrasound today. Nils took a few hours off work this morning so we could see the baby together. How nice is that? :)

To give a little background, from the very beginning Nils and I had a feeling whether our baby was a boy or a girl.... and we weren't shy about it. I constantly referred to the little flutter in my belly as "she" and Nils would often share with friends and family that we thought we were having a girl. This morning when we arose to make our way for the ultrasound, we were a little nervous about being wrong and having to do a lot back-peddling (mentally and to our adoring public)... not to mention figuring out what to do with all of those bright pink and flowery cloth diapers I just purchased on Craigslist.

As an aside, the title of the post refers to the movie Junior with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Emma Thompson.... You know the part... Arnold playing the role of pregnant man 'Alex' says: "I don't know if you're a boy or a gerl, so I'll just call you junyah". Anyway... it was a joke Nils told on the way to our appointment. If we were smarter we would have just called the baby "Junior" until we were sure.

So, the lady performing the ultrasound was super nice with the cutest accent. I couldn't tell exactly where she was from, but she definitely spoke Spanish. It came up that we were going to be moving to Colombia and she asked me if I knew any Spanish. "Bano? Does that count?" She said that word was the most important. ;)

As she started looking at the baby, she kept saying how perfect the baby was. She complimented me on my fluids and skin, saying that it was really easy to see everything because of my state of health. That was definitely nice to hear. The baby was also very cooperative and kept moving so that the lady could measure and get a good look at all the necessary parts. So we're happy to report that our baby is healthy and whole. Even if our baby wasn't, we'd still be proud and happy parents, though it is nice to hear that your baby is doing well. We'll post one of the ultrasound pictures soon (the one that looks the least blobby). I'm not a huge fan of ultrasound pictures just because... well, most of them are either really ugly, hard to tell what you're looking at, or just plain alien scary. Again, we'll do our best to share one that looks the most human.

Well, having made it clear from the beginning that we were interested in learning the gender/sex of the baby (I've learned that not all parents want to know before the baby is born) we first got a glimpse of the face, and then our baby showed "the goods" right away. The lady chuckled and said, "Well, now we know the gender!"

I looked over at the screen and saw a bunch of blobs and one looked, to me, like a little boy part. So I said (thinking of those bright pink diapers at home)

"So, what is it?"

"A GIRL!"

"A girl?"

Looking back at the blobs I had to ask, "How do you know?"

She moved the wand a little more til you could see two perfect bumps... like the top of a heart.

"See that?... Those are the legs (though it looked more like the bottom to me). See that space in between?... Nothing there. "

Wow... pretty cool, huh?

So... Nils and I are psychic. We can predict the future. Of course, it helps that we had a 50/50 chance of being right. More than that, we're just so delighted to be having a girl!!

Okay, so being pregnant still hasn't really hit me. That's the only explanation I can think of for waiting this long before posting about the baby and being pregnant. I know, you'd think that occasional bouts of nausea, or the 1:30am hike to the bathroom would kinda drive it home, but when I look at all the other "really" pregnant women, I just don't see how I fit into their club, ya know? Yep, I'm still not showing even though I'm past the 4-month mark (one reason for no belly pictures yet).

That aside, I still had to discipline myself in finding a doctor and getting all the paperwork done. Finding a doctor out here didn't prove as smooth and easy as I thought. And figuring out all the paper work with Peace Corps, the Department of Labor and the Office of Worker's Compensation proved to be a little more layered and technical than I had anticipated. I'll get to that more later.

But, I prevailed and after being rejected by several doctor's offices (even though they were on the list of approved medical providers and even admitted that they were in the network), I found a great doctor and even have all the documentation and approvals I need for a fully-funded delivery!

I'd like you to meet my baby's doctor.... Dr. Shin:

Now meet Dr. Shin's Staff:

And let me introduce you to Dr. Shin's patients:

Then here's me....

Okay, fine. Those aren't really pictures of my new doctor, his staff and patients (though, that is really my 5th grade picture). Needless to say, I initially felt kinda out of place. To any of you out there who sometimes (or always) feel like you don't fit in, I'm really sorry whenever you feel that way. It can be quite uncomfortable. But I hope you stick it out and have good experiences anyway. I did stick it out and have been very happy and grateful to Dr. Shin and his amazing staff. Everyone is very friendly and open. They joke with me and make me feel comfortable. They are professional and work with me on billing issues without making me feel like and id-ee-it. (Huge brownie points to them for that last one!)

So, I had an appointment on September 1st for a check up and blood draw.

Slight aside...Seriously! I don't remember asking for help to overcome my fears of needles and having my blood drawn, but I must have, because this is the 5th time this year. In my whole life, I can only recall two other times having my blood drawn... So in my ENTIRE life I've had blood drawn 7 times, 71.4% of which occured just this year (one even being done in my own kitchen!). And I'm sure I haven't seen the end of it... Keep those arms bare.

Anyway, I did such a good job (well, and of course the nurse did too :). I didn't pass out, didn't flail around and squirt blood everywhere. I didn't even really feel the blood draining from my body (except a little at the end).

So to recap... I called dozens of doctors' offices, got rejected a lot, cried a little, finally found a nice doctor, scheduled a visit, went to the initial visit, felt out of place at first but found out they were very awesome, filled out and explained the payment process for the OSN-34245w323 form to the doctor's office to send in just for the initial visit, filled out the CE-130239-Z5 form for the FECA claim and included all the necessary documents, walked over (Nils was so nice to come with me) to the Peace Corps office and hand delivered all the documentation, received a letter with my claim number from Peace Corps, had a second visit with the doctor scheduled, called OWCP - the Office of Workers' Compensation to find out how payments going forward should be billed from the doctor, was told I couldn't bill anything until after my claim was approved, asked about the issue of pregnancy and that I wouldn't wait 4 weeks, was re-routed to another office, was given another phone number, decided to call Peace Corps, was given some advice about just going in anyway and worrying about billing later, went into the doctor's office - explained that the billing procedures had changed, that the OSN-34245w323 form was not the right form to use anymore and that now the TRS-234-4DR was the new form and the billing address had changed, that it was no longer under ChoiceCare insurance, had the billing lady be very nice to me, talked with the doctor, heard the baby's heartbeat, had my blood drawn, got the doctor's referral for an ultrasound in 4 weeks, paid the co-pay for the visit, went out to my car, called the other number OWCP had given me to talk to the person reviewing my case/claim, talked to him for a minute or less - had him tell me that everything would work out, and drove home.

Can I get a lolly?

I'm thinking this post might need a little backstory before we make the grand announcement.

Let's start with Nils' job. I have been a little behind with posting on the goings on in our lives lately so for those of you who may not be aware, Nils is currently employed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) as a Junior Foreign Service Officer for Crisis Stabilization and Governance (DCHA/DG). He started training in mid July. On August 21st, they announced to all of the employees in his training class where their next post would be in the coming year. Some of Nils' colleagues will head to their post country within the next few months. Others may not go til early to mid next year.

Now, how does USAID decide where to send their first-year junior foreign service officers? Well, to be honest, as far as I know, decisions where to send officers for their first assignment is primarily based on what ambassador is accepting new officers into their embassy and what post is large enough to provide hands-on training without throwing the new officer into a full-throttle learn-as-you-go position. Needless to say, when the people at USAID were deciding where to send Nils, they didn't put much weight on his current language knowledge (Russian and Romanian). But, they did take into account his family situation, which was quite flattering.

So.... on August 21st, they announced where we would be sent for our first two-year assignment!

But before I go into that... Let's see, what else can I talk about? Oh, yes. So the other day we were talking to another junior officer from an earlier training class who gave me some very good advice about what to bring and some things to keep in mind when preparing for our overseas service. She had also brought with her a new born baby to her first overseas assignment (well, it was actually her husband's assignment because he is in the State department and she only just joined USAID and her son is now 4 years old, so this was a few years ago). She mentioned things like loading up on baby food and diapers.

Okay, enough of the stories and stuff... So, Nils and I will be going to.....

COLOBMIA! That's right, South America's beautiful mountainous and beachy Colombia! Personally, I had wanted to go somewhere in South America, so I got my wish! As a follow up to this announcement, it should be mentioned here that Nils and I won't be leaving for Bogota, Colombia until after the baby is born (so sometime after February). There is, of course, a slight possibility that they will request that Nils go early, but he has a pretty good case for staying here longer. Learning Spanish at the language institute, having a heavily pregnant wife (though there's not much to see yet), and plenty to do here can all add up to being able to stay til hopefully sometime in April. Either way, I plan on staying in the US until after the baby is born.

I do intend to follow up with a post about what we think it's going to be like living overseas. I hear it's going to be drastically different from our Peace Corps experience. Anyway, feel free to ask any questions, heap praise and feelings of jealousy.... And finally, here is a little commercial I found on YouTube... For your viewing pleasure.... and maybe a little propaganda ;)[Voice over - Nice male voice with a slight Spanish accent]There is a place where people never believed "impossible" was a word. A place where the rivers wanted to be an ocean and the ocean grew weary of its solitude to join the waterfall, the moutain, the snow peaks, and even another ocean. A place where the past lives harmoniously with the future and the word "infinity" is written on the colors of the beach, the mountains, the jungle, and the sky. A place that challenges the imagination every single day. A place called... Colombia. Comments in Spanish.... [Voice over] A place where you will be surprised every day in a different way. Where reality can be magical and where happiness is just around the corner. Colombia, Colombia, Colombia

Peace Corps....

It's never exactly clear, either in your mind or in anyone else's, what exactly the Peace Corps experience will be like. Even less known is the kind of work you will end up doing. For me, I found the work as a volunteer with Peace Corps to be very personally fulfilling. I had the opportunity to stretch myself to expand my knowledge in ways I never expected.

In Peace Corps, each volunteer is given a primary organization to work with to engage projects and help identify and provide for the community's needs. My primary assignment was with Fundatia Centrul pentru Dezvoltarea Intreprinderilor Mici si Mijlocii Braila - CDIMM Braila (Literally translated: The Center for Small and Medium-size Enterprise Development Foundation). The work I ended up doing with them fell under two main categories; projects and trainings. Projects have multiple beneficiaries (people who get something out of it) while trainings primarily served CDIMM.

Projects

CDIMM website redesign – Upon arrival, I noticed that CDIMM's website was built to be simple and functional. Being new at the organization I decided to utilize my time to learn more about the organization by researching their website and creating a new web design, with a more modern look. As I created the new design for CDIMM, I took advantage of the fact that the redesign provided a platform for an inward look at the company's past, present, and future. I began the design in September 2008 and the project was implemented April – May 2009. CDIMM’s technical support contracted professional made modifications to the original design, but the basic ideas are intact. To view the original website, go to http://www.cdimm.ro/. The new design is not currently posted.

Sample of my orginal redesign of CDIMM's website

Romanglish/Romengleza Phrase Book – After being in Romania a few weeks I realized just how much I was struggling with the language. I occured to me that while there were plenty of tourist lanugage books available with short-cut phrases for finding a hotel or ordering at a restaurant, there really wasn't anything more practical for those working and living in Romania. So, I put together a phrase book in Romanian and in English that included phrases for talking to your landlord, engaging in conversation at work, etc. I published the first version Romanglish through the office of CDIMM Braila in October 2008. We self-printed about 30 copies. This book was sold to fellow volunteers as a fundraiser for Nils' youth organization. After this first publication I was invited by Nils' organization to print the book professionally and to redesign it to be marketed more towards high school students. So, I created a second version Romengleza, adding sections like "Dating and Pickup Lines" and "Democracy" to attract a younger crowd while also promoting the subject matter of Youth Vision for Democracy (Nils' youth organization). Through a local publishing company we published 500 copies in March 2009.

The original cover design of Romengleza. The design was later modified by the printer for higher resolution of the buildings.

Courses

Business Start-up Course – In Nov 2008 I team-taught a course presented at the Chamber of Commerce -Braila. During this course, I had fun introducing various teaching methods and innovative styles which enhanced and improved the course.

Entrepreneurship Course – I team-taught this course at CDIMM and helped develop a more digestable program for the 5-day course. I enjoyed teaching business concepts in an understandable way and had fun exploring business creativity with the class participants.

Project Management Course – I assisted in creating activity material for this course taught in June 2009 by my counterpart, Dragos. It was fun coming up with scenerios and games to liven things up!

Trainings

Personality Types – I had a lot of fun with this one! After a few months with CDIMM, I thought it would be educational to address the diverse personalities of the people working there. I showed CDIMM Braila’s team members the benefits of understanding different personality types. After conducting a personality survey of each team member, using a modified Myers-Briggs method, I shared the results with the entire group, and lead a discussion about strengths and resouces each personality type brought to the team which would increase efficiency and effectiveness.

Marketing and Sales Strategy – After the 6-month mark of my service, I was approached by some of the team members about putting together a marketing strategy. So, I put together ideas and materials to help CDIMM Braila look at their marketing and sales efforts... what had been done and worked, and what new things we could try. Putting together some material for them, I then led a meeting in which everyone in the organization discussed and determined possible courses of action for a new marketing and sales strategy. Change wasn't made overnight, but the experience was very enriching.

SWOT Anaylsis – While CDIMM is very familiar with the SWOT analysis technique, and uses it quite frequently for their own clients, I thought it would be helpful if they conducted an analysis of their own organization. As we went through each Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat (SWOT), a lot of eye-opening comments were made and the beginnings of new goals came out of it.

COMMUNITY PROJECTS:

In addition to working with our primary organization, Peace Corps volunteers have the freedom and are encouraged to engage in additional community projects. The community projects I participated in are as follows:

Viziunea Tinerilor pentru Democratie (Youth Vision for Democracy - YVD)

So Nils organized this youth organization under the Pro Democracy Association - Club Braila, the organization he was assigned to. I got to help out with a variety of projects.To start the project off right, I created a logo for YVD. It took a few versions to get it right, but in the end we decided on something like this:

I planned and assisted with classes taught twice a month on various subjects including: Democracy, Human Rights, Children’s Rights, Debate, Mediation, Global Economy, and Leadership. It was a lot of fun really! I think my favorite was for the Human Rights section I collected several real-life court cases involving Human Rights. Then I had the students break up into groups and take the Plaintiff or Defendant position and plead their case. After hearing both sides, the class voted on a verdict. At the end, I revealed what happened in the real life case and the rationale behind each decision. It was tons of fun!

As mentioned before, I designed, wrote, edited, and collaborated with language translators to create Romengleza, a Romanian/English language phrase book, as afundraiser for YVD. Along with the book, I am in the process of completing a companion audio CD. I never imagined how much work an audio CD would be... I'm still working on it and hope to meet my deadline. I should have it done by the beginning of the next school year (September 2009). Here's hopin'.

On the theme of fundraising, I provided a follow-up training on methods of local fundraising. It's amazing how creative high school students are!

Leadership retreat, conducted in Brasov in June 2009. We had the best location! Nils found this hostel that had room for all of us to stay together so we could keep order and so that everyone could have plenty of space to have fun! A local church in Brasov also allowed us the use of their building to do leadership exercises and classes.

Women’s Organization – Sociatatea de Alinare (Relief Society) – Galati Branch

What a joy it was working with the LDS women of Galati! No matter how small their numbers, they were a constant inspiration to me and helped me develop into a more patient and giving person (I hope!).I had the privilege of working with organization's president, first counselor and secretary, women who taught me much about facing adversity. We worked together on budgets, goals-setting, events planning, etc.I was called as a Relief Society teacher and taught 2-3 times a month on various subject including honesty, self-esteem, service, respecting others, forgiveness, and more. I owe special thanks to Catalina and Tanta for tanslating for me!Being a strong believer in Visiting Teaching – a program where women within the organization show care and concern for each other - I worked on improving the overall system by encouraging letter writing, home visits, etc., showing that a little can go a long way when it comes to caring for each other.Every two months, I had the great pleasure of going with of the women of the Galati Branch Relief Society to visited a local orphanage. We brought donated snacks, clothing items, toys. We also planned activities; interacted and entertained the children.Women’s Communication Platform

Noting that there was so much to share cross-culturally, I started a blog called “Among Women” or “Intre Noi Femeile” in Romanian. The blog engaged women from various countries in a dialogue about issues such as family vs. career, women portrayed in the media, feminism and women’s rights, etc. From this blog, a local woman and now friend approached me about the issue of domestic violence. After a few conversations, meetings were arranged and ideas put on paper to begin the process of bringing this issue out in the open. To view the blog to go: http://www.amongwomen.blogspot.com/ or http://www.intrenoifemeile.blogspot.com/ OTHER EXPERIENCE & ACCOMPLISHMENTS:Grant Writing

In June 2008, I wrote a grant for YVD through the Minnie Grants Walt Disney grant program. While the grant was not awarded (sad), the experience taught me a lot about the grant writing process.Starting in January 2009, I wrote a PCPP grant with another volunteer, Cynthia Yeh. Along with this grant, I enjoyed creating a budget schedule and daily program for the project.Website Committee

I redesigned and implemented a new homepage for the Peace Corps Romania website.

Here's the new homepage for Peace Corps Romania's website. I created the map of Romania, designed and did the html for the three separate sections, and simplified the overall look of the homepage.

Of course, I also got to update and improve the overall content of the website as well. While I was on the website committee we also introduced a volunteer network called "Vatra" (which means "hearth" in Romanian). Romania Mornon’s Guide Committee

While not yet an official member, I helped update and edit the Moron’s Guide (a guide issued to Peace Corps nominees prior to entry into Post Country) to get it ready to post onto the Peace Corps Romania website. Talk about a complex site! Once an official member, I continued to help with updating and editing content, assisting in small redesign elements to help simplify the site and facilitate easier edits in the future.More Pictures??I still have to get all of my pictures organized. I'll be sure let everyone know once additional pictures of my Peace Corps work experience becomes available. Closing...

It's hard to know how to measure success. Did I really do all that much during the 17 months I served in the Peace Corps? Were my efforts really effective in bringing about change? While it's hard to know the true answers to these questions since results of often seen several years down the road, it's important to keep in mind that it's up to us to do something good and make positive contributions to the world around us. A lot of people have said to me they wish they could join Peace Corps. But it doesn't take an experience like Peace Corps to do good works and serve others. You have opportunities every day to do something, no matter how small, to improve the world around you. So what are you waiting for?? :)

I know we keep disappearing from our blog and it leaves people wondering, what's going on?? To get everyone up to speed, here is what Nils and I have been doing... I'm just trying to think where I need to start!

May 2009 - My sister Ellen comes to visit us in Romania! We take her on a trip to various parts of Italy and then she and I make a 3-day trip to Paris. Peter, Nils' brother joins us in Rome.

June 2009 - We show Ellen different parts of Romania including Constanta (on the Black Sea) and Sighisoara (in the Carpathian Mountains).

June 12, 2009 - I find out I'm pregnant. Nils knows about it first and is so convinced that I am pregnant regardless of how much I or my sister tell him he is wrong. He is the one who decides to buy a pregnancy test to verify his intuition and... he is right! We notify Peace Corps and are told that I am only able to continue as a volunteer until August or September.

June 18, 2009 - Nils and I go to Brasov for a youth leadership training retreat, the final activity for Nils' project.

June 20, 2009 - On the way home from Brasov, Nils receives the much anticipated e-mail from USAID announcing his invitation to start training as a Junior Officer. Training class begins July 20th.

July 3rd, 2009 - After saying our teary goodbyes and wishing all of our newly-made friends in Romania well, Nils and I head back to the United States via Amsterdam and Minneapolis, MN. While enjoying our 6-hour layover in Minneapolis, we decide to take the metro to the Mall of America. After over 24 hours of travel, we arrive in Logan, Utah around 11:30pm MST. A funny "aside"... while boarding the plane from Minneapolis to Salt Lake City, my alarm clock goes off. I had set it for 3:00am Romania time because we had to leave our hotel via taxi at 4:00am in order to make our 6:05am plane to Amsterdam. So by the time we were on the plane at Minneapolis, it had already been 24 hours according to my Romanian clock. Funny, huh! (Btw, my alarm still works even if I've turned off my phone. It was kinda embarrassing to have it go off while on the plane. Luckily, I still had time to turn it back on, cancel the alarm and turn it off again before they closed the doors and made the announcement to turn off all cellphones and pagers.)

July 3-9, 2009 - We visit with Nils' family and get our things ready to ship to Virginia.

July 9-14, 2009 - We drive to Ellsworth, Kansas to visit my family.

July 14 - 16, 2009 - We drive from Kansas to Vienna, VA (our new home) making a short stop at the Columbus, Ohio Temple. (The Logan Temple is closed for cleaning during our stay, and the DC Temple is closed until July 27th also for cleaning.)

And so here we are, back in the USA. I'll be posting more about Peace Corps and the things we accomplished during our 17 months. I'll also post about Nils' job and what it means for our future. By August 21st we should know our next destination. Yep, as a foreign service junior officer, Nils will be receiving an overseas assignment within the next month. We won't actually leave in August.... We're hoping we'll at least be here in the United States long enough for me to have the baby. Oh, and I'll also be sure to post about the baby too!

And finally we come to Sofia, Bulgaria! For pictures, click here.

Last of our cities, Sofia had a lot to live up to. I came to appreciate stopping in Sofia, seeing it as a means to gently descend from my cloud before heading back to Romania and to work.

When we first arrived in Sofia, a man came up to me speaking in broken Romanian (which was interesting to hear) asking me if we already had tickets to where we wanted to go. We, as a group, had set the trend of buying tickets upon arrival so we could plan our day accordingly. We were planning to only stay the day in Sofia, so buying tickets was actually what we were looking to do. But I wasn't about to follow a strange guy who didn't look very official. I answered him in Romanian and attempted a mix of ignoring him and deferring to Nils. Nils started making his way to the various counters, the man "leading" the way in front of him. The man "lead" us to an agency which apparently sold international tickets. The woman behind the counter spoke some English and we explained that we were traveling on the Balkan Flexi Pass. She said we still needed to reserve seats. She punched a few things into her calculator and showed us the estimated cost for the 4 of us. Not bad... but she came across really confusing at the same time and the lack of customer service skills didn't help. Another problem was that we hadn't yet gotten any Bulgarian currency. So before we purchased tickets, Nils headed off to find an ATM, the "guide" man trailing behind him. The man directed him to the exchange counter, which Nils politely declined and continued his search for an ATM. It's interesting when people are trying to be helpful and yet come across like you have to do it their way. Nils returned and we purchased the tickets. I then asked, to make sure, whether these tickets were for a sleeper car. No, just regular seats. Then I asked how much it would cost if we wanted to return the tickets or upgrade to a sleeper. She replied that she would have to take out the 10% commission. Commission?? I didn't know we had paid commission! Then she proved to be rather flustered as she proceeded to say that out of the 30 Bulgarian Leva, we would get only 20 back. Umm... 10% of 30 is not 10. We said as much and after a few punches on the calculator she came up with a more accurate amount... 27 Bulgarian Leva back. Anyway... we decided to keep our tickets and do a little more checking before proceeding with our tour of the city. A few more inquiries proved that the agency was indeed the only place were international tickets were sold. And... to our surprise, the guy who had been guiding us around didn't even ask for a tip. Interesting.

Not having started off exactly on the right foot, but still feeling somewhat hopeful, we packed our bags into a few lockers at the train station and started off to see the sights. Sofia is a surprisingly beautiful city with many ancient buildings and plenty of history. To learn more about Sofia's extensive history, click here. We some directions and help from a local vendor and a newly purchased map. Maps sure are amazing things! We wondered for a while, sat for a while, watched pigeons in the park for a while, slept for a while.... we were all pretty tired and had slowed down considerably. But one thing I thought timely about our arrival was the fact that it was Orthodox Easter weekend. With the countless churches in the city, we saw masses of people standing in line to perform a Easter ceremony which symbolizes death and resurrection. After receiving a blessing from the priest, and a kind of branch (I'm can't remember of what plant or tree), a person crouches under a table, scoots across and stands up on the other end.

I've noted in Romania as well, and having had it affirmed in my travels, that American culture is much more traditionally diverse. And with this traditional diversity, there isn't a strong traditional culture. For example, Easter in Romania has specific, not just traditions, but actual things you do (midnight candle lighting, attending church, doing the symbolic resurrection rite, etc.), say (Christ is risen/true he is risen), and eat (cozonac, eggs, lamb and anything made of lamb, wine) to honor the holiday. In America for Easter we may have an Easter egg hunt, we may wear new Spring dresses, but it doesn't have the same touch of formality, correctness, and deeply rooted tradition that exists in other places and cultures. Being somewhat familiar with Catholicism, there is a lot of similarity between the rites and religious traditions of the Orthodox but it just isn't as nation-wide as I've seen in other countries. An interesting side note since we hit upon Easter.

We continued to wander, sampled some food (very, very good, by the way) all the while enjoying the slower pace until it was time for our train. The day went slowly and quickly. As Nils looked back at the pictures he was surprise at all the things we really did see while there.

An amazing trip... a good ending. I enjoyed it thoroughly though I have to admit I was happy to be back in Romania where I could finally understand most of what people were saying!

Greece!! It really is just as beautiful as movies and postcards say it is! Don't believe me? Look at these!

Again, rather than posting a bunch of pictures into the blog itself, take a look at our pictures when you have time and I'll do my best to update descriptions and locations. In case you didn't catch the link above, or it doesn't work for some reason, the pictures can be accessed by the following link: http://picasaweb.google.com/ohara.emily/GreeceApril2009#

Now for a few stories to go along with the pictures. :)

We took a night train from Istanbul to Thessaloniki, one of the best sleeper trains I've been on yet! (I've been on 5 so far). Two to a room complete with sink/mirror, places to hang and store things; the train was amazingly up-to-date and clean! The only thing that interrupted our restful sleep was the middle-of-the-night border crossings... but that was to be expected.

Once in Thessaloniki, we easily found our hotel and I was delighted to finally take a full shower. Yes, three days in Istanbul had to bear a grubby woman, virtually undetectable through the sink-washed clean hair. It's so easy to fool people :) Once showered and everyone ready to explore, we set off to accomplish a short to-do list created by Nils' cousin Tyler who had spent last summer living in Thessaloniki. The most important item was to figure out how to get to the Meteora Monasteries. Tyler had included some important key words and places to help us find our way. So, after speaking briefly with the hotel desk-guy and getting a little more help as to the where and how, we started off to find the bus station. This proved a lot more difficult than we had anticipated. First there was a lot of construction on the road where the hotel desk-guy had directed us to go. Then, we couldn't get anyone to stop and help us. After wondering around some more in a slight circle, we asked someone who pointed us to the local bus station. Not quite what we were looking for. Finally we happened upon a station with various transportation vehicles which seemed to transport people OUT of the city. We went inside the small office and asked about Meteora. After a minute of locating someone who could speak English (sorry... it was all Greek to us!) we were told that the bus station we needed was actually in a completely different part of town. To get there we would need to walk down the street to catch bus number 1, go so many stops, look for this whatever, and cross over to the something and there you are! What? We were all a little too tired and confused by that point to process and follow those instructions.

So, we decided to take a break and complete another item on Tyler's to-do list. Pizza Hut's Cyprus Lover's pizza! Now we're talkin'! Making our way to Thessaloniki's center, we walked along the water's edge, leading up to the white tower enjoying the view and hoping to find Pizza Hut (we didn't know exactly where it was). Gorgeous city! I mean, you can't go wrong spending some quality time in Thessaloniki. We found Pizza Hut, felt extremely happy once we had eaten, and continued to explore. And then it rained. And I mean... RAINED. You'll notice great puddles in a few of the pictures. That was but a few minutes after the raining had stopped, and it only rained for a few minutes. We took shelter, waited a bit, the rain stopped and we proceeded to explore. We still weren't sure what we were looking for, or if we were headed in the right direction, but everyone seemed content to just wonder for a while.

Then Cynthia noticed we were in Thessaloniki's version of China Town. Cool! We stopped into a little shop and browsed through some of their imported goods. Cynthia chatted a bit in her amazing Chinese (I think it was Mandarin). We realized we might get some better directions to Meteora by asking these friendly people for help. Cynthia was such a good sport and did an excellent job communicating and translating for us. Imagine! We're in Greece, where none of us know the language (not even remotely) and Cynthia's language skills come to the rescue. We were told that the station was a 20-30 minute walk from where we were! Awesome. We started off and sure enough, found ourselves roughly 30 minutes later at the bus station. We found the signs to Meteora and asked the guy at the desk how much the tickets would cost. 37 Euro round trip per person, including a transfer and a long walk up the mountain. Sounds reasonable, but for some reason, I found myself trying to keep calm (37 euro per person!! That's 74 Euro just for me and Nils!! See... we were on a very small budget). So I lightly suggested that we find a seat and discuss it together. I did my best not to be a party pooper and just listen to everyone's thoughts and wishes while gathering my emotions. As I did the math in my head and figured just how much it would cost for the 4 of us to go by bus, besides the inconvenience, it suddenly dawned on me that we had another option to consider. Rent a car!!! This suggestion was well-received, and having noticed a car rental agency at the train station, we agreed to head to the train station and inquire about renting a car. Stroke of brilliance, if I do say so myself, for the whole thing worked out well and we had a car reserved within minutes.

As a side, I had suggested to Nils renting a car when we were making our Italy/France trip plans. He didn't really trust the idea, thinking of all the hidden fees and extra costs that can go into renting a car. But, after this experience of actually renting a car and seeing the ease and economy of it, he is completely converted to the idea! I couldn't be prouder.

Perfect! We had a car ready for the morning to take us anywhere we wanted to go, so we finished off the evening by completing another item on the list; a lovely Greek restaurant. The day had started less than ideal, but ended with smiles and excitement.

Well, we didn't get up as early as we had hoped, but we made it to the train station to pick up the car rental at a relatively good time. Stopping to fill up on gas (well, we put in a little more than half a tank's worth) we headed off for Meteora. I took on the task of navigator and believe me, maps are hard enough to navigate without it being covered in Greek. Pete and Cynthia were actually quite a help as Pete referred to a little Greek/English book he'd purchased upon arrival. Things became more understandable and familiar as we practiced reading the Greek letters to each other. As we drove (Nils was the driver since I had left my license at home) along, noting the beautiful scenery and easy roads, Nils noticed a sign for Mount Olympus. Mount Olympus!! We simply had to stop. A perfect detour it turned out to be. The air so fresh and crisp, the mountain so lovely and green... Wow, you couldn't do that traveling by bus!

The Meteora Monasteries are situated at the top of these massive mountainous rocks. In a world of their own, these monasteries inspire meditation and reverence. We toured one of them, learning a lot about early Christian martyrs and miracles. I felt truly thankful to people who over the centuries had dedicated their lives to preserving and cherishing the history of Christianity.

As we left the monasteries there was a notable sense of satisfaction and calm. What a wonderful day!

Getting back was another story. We were all being rather thrifty at this point, figuring and estimating how much gas we would need to get back. We had given ourselves, to our best estimation, enough time to arrive at the train station well before our 9pm deadline. We put 8 more euros into the tank and I lead us through what turned out to be the "scenic route" back to the city. We drove along, enjoying a slight pause to let some goats cross the road, and kept watching the time. So far, so good. But, little by little, I started getting nervous. Finally we reached the main highway and made better speed and gas mileage. Whew... almost. Then the gas light went on. But there really wasn't a convenient place to stop. Then again, those gas lights tend to turn on when there's at least a few liters left in the tank, right? So we kept on going. Then we hit a toll booth. I seriously was so nervous, not because of paying the toll, but just thinking about how much more gas it took to slow down and speed back up. It took great effort to keep calm and relaxed. Finally we reached Thessaloniki's city limits and we hadn't run out of gas completely yet, the constant chant of prayer in my head being the only thing keeping me together. Then it hit me that I didn't know which exit to take! Before I could panic even more (if that was possible), Nils noticed a sign to the Centre and took that exit. I tried not to react and worry about it being the wrong one. As we made our way around the ramp exit, nothing looked familiar and there were no gas stations in sight. We kept going a little ways, made a right and suddenly found ourselves passing the bus station! Perfect! We knew exactly where we were. Nils, what a genius! The last thing we had to do before returning the car, we decided, was to put in a few more liters of gas. It was only right. No one should return a car COMPLETELY empty for the next person. As we drove down the main road, gas station after gas station showed dimmed lights and signs of being closed. I couldn't believe it! Closed at this early hour? It wasn't that late. Finally, when we were almost to the train station to make the drop off, we saw a still-lighted Shell station. We had to make a few turns to get on the right side of the road, my breath stopping at each stop and go, and we slid into the station around 8:45pm. I looked at the guy working, a rather cute guy, and he started making hand signals to say that they were closed. CLOSED?? Not possible. Not after making it this far. With nothing to lose, I made a pleading sign and showed the most pitiful face til he nodded and came over to let us buy some gas. Apparently they have to pump if for you (who knew?).

So we made it!... with 8 minutes to spare. Whew! Prayers answered and Nils' passport, we finished off the evening at a local restaurant before boarding the train for Sofia. Greece turned out to be a trip which opened our eyes to the beauties of the earth, and the adventures of cutting it close.

Istanbul is an amazing place. It should definitely make it on your "must see before I die" list. There is simply too much to show and tell that it's not going to quite fit on this blog post. So... I've selected a few stories and some pictures that represent some of what we saw and did while there. To go straight to our pictures, click here.

Border Crossing and Visas

Our journey started by train through Bulgaria and into Turkey. After crossing Bulgaria, around 3:00 AM, we all had to get off the train and line up for passport and visas. The first guy in line was Romanian and was speaking in broken English to the Turkish border patrol agent. The agent was explaining something about a visa and another gentleman in line behind us spoke in Romanian explaining that certain travelers had to obtain a visa somewhere else in order to enter Turkey. It was nice to understand something, even though it wasn't in our native language. So more than half of the people in line, went back outside to ask where the visas could be purchased and we were directed in a general direction of a cigarette stand and some other offices and buildings. The cute older gentleman in front stopped at the stand to ask if he could obtain a visa and it took him a minute to realize he was in the wrong place... by then everyone else had gotten ahead of him and were obtaining their visas at another window. I can't blame him, it was really hard to find out where to go and what to do... especially at 3 o'clock in the morning!

So there was this American guy traveling on the train with us. Now, the visa into Turkey is 15 euro or 20 USD. He had 13 dollars on him... a 10 and 3 crumpled 1's. He wasn't totally unprepared, carrying his trusty plastic cards. Oh, but guess what... no ATM machines handy. It's so funny how inconvenient things can be at a border crossing. And there is definitely no mercy. Luckily, Nils and I had some extra Euros to spot him so he could get safely across. We weren't sure whether we'd get paid back, but a friend in need... well, it was worth helping someone out. Besides, we've been in plenty of problems ourselves and it's nice to have someone there to help. I mean, we couldn't just leave the guy there at the border between Bulgaria and Turkey. And you know what, it definitely paid off. Once we arrived in Istanbul, the guy took our some money and not only let us keep his 13 dollars, but also gave Nils a 50 turkish lyra (worth about 34 USD).

Finding Our Hostel

Unfortunately, Nils and I had forgotten all of the information for the hostel we'd reserved. Fortunately, Nils knew which metro stop to get off of. Unfortunately, we didn't know exactly where to go from there. Fortunately, Nils knew the general direction having studied the map prior to our departure. Unfortunately, he'd never been to Istanbul before. Fortunately, we didn't have too many bags with us, so walking around was no problem. Unfortunately, bags start to get heavy after 20 minutes. Fortunately, we started seeing other hostels apprearing along the streets. Unfortunately, none of them were our hostel. Fortunately, we decided to ask the owner of Sinbad Hostel who just happened to be standing on the sidewalk where our "Budget Hostel" (yes, that's the name) was. Unfortunately, we didn't understand Turkish. Fortunately all he had to do was point.... around the corner.

Quality over Price

For anyone who's traveled using hostels, you'll know how diverse each place can me. When you "shop" online for the right place, you're never quite sure what you're getting. Nils found Budget Hostel to provide the best bang for the buck. In truth, we got free breakfast, clean sheets, and a bathroom/shower. But there are certain qualities of a hostel that go far beyond what can possibly be advertised. Our room which could hold 5 people (4 on bunk beds) was actually the room where 4 guests and the manager slept. It was also conveniently located in the basement and at a good spot for hearing the "tweeting-bird" door bell which had to be used anytime a guest wanted to come back in since no keys were actually given to guests (although I think some guests received room keys...?). Our bathroom was on the same level, but without a functioning toilet. No worries, up two flights (climbing a very narrow staircase) was another bathroom used by us and the other guests on that floor. Most of the time it was free, so it didn't cause any real inconvenience. Showering was another matter. The shower didn't really have its own spot in the bathroom and for the one on our basement level, the shower was right ontop of the toilet. The upstairs bathroom provided a little more space, but not much... and don't even think about a shower curtain. Needless to say, most of us "roughed" it.

On the very top floor of the hostel you found the eating area where breakfast was served. Pete ended up drinking A LOT of Turkish tea until Nils and I mastered the ability to say "no thank you" before our gentle hosts served us. They're really fast and just the nicest hosts! It was a really nice place to have breakfast given that the building was fairly tall and brought you up out of the mass of buildings, allowing you to see around you including a mosque and some of the bodies of water. Our hosts were so wonderful, extremely kind and friendly. Our first day we opened up a travel guide and tried to learn some of the essentials like "thank you" and "where is the bathroom" (this last one we actually used to make sure we knew which bathroom to use in the hostel). The manager spoke English very well, and of the two assistants, one spoke fairly well, the other not a word. The latter who didn't know very much English was the sweetest. An older gentleman, we often communicated with lots of smiling and nodding.

And so...

Istanbul constantly surprises you with beautiful and interesting things that hold so much history and age. It's also very much accustomed to tourists and how to attract your attention. A very wonderful 3 days!

Highlight Pictures

The inner court of the Blue Mosque (built right across from the Hagia Sophia by Sultan Ahmed in 1616 hoping to make it bigger and better mosque than the Hagia Sophia).

Hagia Sophia (locally called the Aya Sofya) and gardens. Click here to learn more about the history of this amazing biserica turned mosque.

The Topkapi Palace built during the mid-15th century

Along the harbor of the Golden Horn looking over the other European side of Istanbul.

A cool picture of Peter and Nils in the Hagia Sophia.

A bicycle race that was going on our first day

Crossing on a local ferry through the Straits of Bosphorus into Asia.

(well, actually this was taken on the return trip)

Last year I got this sweet postcard from my brother and sister-in-law from Green Gables, Prince Edward Island, with the message "We have just been all over Prince Edward Island. We know you're jealous...." First of all, they are absolutely right. I am jealous. But this trip I recently took has definitely made up for it ;)

Starting on April 11; Nils, Peter (Nils' brother), myself, and Cynthia (a fellow Peace Corps Romania volunteer) all went on this amazing... and I'm talking AMAZING.... trip to Istanbul Turkey, Thessaloniki Greece (as well as Mount Olympus and the Meteora Monasteries), and Sofia Bulgaria. We traveled by train to each country using the Balkan Flexi-Pass. If you'd like any travel tips for trips you are planning, direct your questions to Nils... he's the guru.

The following posts will take each country one at a time since each place is so unique and amazing it its own way. Plus we took way too many pictures to put them all on one post. Well, we're not going to be posting all the pictures here anyway, but... well, it's just a more organized way to separate out the trip, okay!?

So Nils and I have all but disappeared these last few weeks. We've been traveling around Romania and Moldova giving presentations about a new English program Nils has been helping to redesign and improve. It's been fun seeing various cities, but most of our time, truthfully, has been spent on the train.

Going into the Republic of Moldova, we took a maxi taxi to Focsani and then boarded an old Russian night train to Moldova. Nils was so excited (this being one of many times for him being on a Russian train, my first). It was almost comical seeing how excited he was. Other people who have used this model of train have referred to it as "The Harry Potter" train. It was clean and actually had a comfortable feel to it... warm and welcoming. For anyone who's never used a sleeper car before, you receive blankets, sheets, pillows and pillow cases and sleep bunk-bed style. Nils shyly admitted he wanted the bottom bunk as he was afraid of falling off. I opted for the upper bunk. Going into the bathroom to brush my teeth was a bit of a shock, seeing the tracks move quickly beneath my feet through a mesh-metal floor. I didn't even think of using the toilet, eyeing the black seat which looked battered and partly melted. But no matter what train you’re on... most bathrooms aren't all that inviting.

Our last presentation was in Brasov and we're happy to be back home. Now all that's left is finishing the workbook that we presented on. Hopefully we'll get that done by Monday and be able to really relax, until our next adventure.

Nils took a quick trip back to the United States a few weeks ago. Why would he make such a trip in the middle of our Peace Corps service... without his WIFE? For a job interview!

When it comes to preparing for the future, Nils is always one step ahead. He submitted an application to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) last Fall and was invited to interview with them in January. Nils and Emily carefully considered purchasing an international plane ticket on our small Peace Corps budget for a short 1-week trip and decided that regardless of the outcome, it would be a worthwhile investment. As luck would have it, the trip was actually paid for by the agency, so our Peace Corps budget is back to normal (no need to continue the food storage regimen). It did feel good, during the period in which we thought the trip was coming out of our own pocket, to realize that we were not only willing to make such an investment in the future, but that we could.

The trip was successful (and packed full!). He got to spend a day in Madrid on the way over and a few days in Utah with his family (thanks Mom and Dad Bergeson!!). Since the interview was in Washington, DC, Toby and Sharole (Emily's brother/sister-in-law) were kind enough to host Nils in exchange for a few hours alone without the kids (as I understand those hours were spent doing errands??). Upon Nils' return he made sure to stock up on contraband (the best of which were tortillas and salsa!!).

For some lovely pictures of the Toby and Sharole O'Hara family, click here.

We'll be sure to keep you posted as we find out the results of the interview and our plans for the future. As always, we feel so blessed to be where we are, right now, and intend to make the most of what we're given (which is a lot!).

Yes ladies and gentlemen.... These are the BEST SOCKS EVER! My mom made these for my 27th birthday. This is definitely an awesome present. I had to open up the holidays by paying proper tribute to these socks. Oh... and Nils cut my hair too! Nice job, huh!

So... HAPPY HOLIDAYS, MERRY CHRISTMAS, and HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone!! Nils and I had a few adventures before wrapping up 2008. Follow along as we take on our little two week adventure... :)

Christmas 2008

First stop... this really beautiful hotel... Hotel COOL (that's the actual name of the hotel!). We had the good fortune of working at a ski camp during Christmas week and getting all of our expenses paid for. What we had to do??

We had to teach ski classes every day from 10:30a to 1:00p and from 2:30p to 5:00p. Here's a group of Emily's students walking up the slope. (Cristiana, Andrei, and Andi)

Here's Nils with some of the students, (Robi and Anna), as they wait to get their ski gear

In the evenings, Nils and I would provide music, games, and crafts.

It snowed every day, which made it especially nice for skiing. By the end of the week, though, we were pretty wiped out.

New Year's 2008

Nils and I had planned on making a trip to Istanbul for New Year's. But even the best laid plans don't always work out. After making 3 trips to buy International tickets and being told that the strike in Hungary meant no trains to Istanbul, we decided to wait until after Christmas to get our tickets. In Bucuresti, at the train station, on our fourth visit to a CFR ticket office, we were told that all the tickets to Istanbul would sold out for the next three days and the strike in Hungary wasn't even related to trains traveling through to Istanbul. Oh well...

So instead, with the help of some well-travelled friends (thank you Elder and Sora Hanson!), we decided to tour more of Romania.

In Sibiu... a beautiful city which won the title "Cultural Capital of Europe" in 2007. Definitely worth seeing!

In Braşov, another wonderful city with lovely Christmas lights and old buildings.

And on New Year's Eve in Bucuresti, enjoying a celebration with local missionaries!

Though we miss and love you all very much, we are grateful for the many friends (new and old) who have helped make this holiday season in Romania warm and wonderful!

IST (In Service Training) occurs at the 6-month mark after officially becoming Peace Corps volunteers. Ours was October 20-25th and was in the beautiful city of Miercurea Ciuc.

To get there we travelled by trainHere is a picture of some of the staff who did such a good job planning and preparing the training for us! Training and lodging were all at this really nice hotel. Quite posh for the Peace Corps... Since training was so close to Halloween, one of the volunteers, Richard, who lives in M. Ciuc arranged a Halloween party for our group at a local restaurant. Nils and I couldn't help it... we just had to dress up as Sarah Palin and Joe Six-pack. Little did we know that the other couple in our group were also planning to dress up as Sarah Palin and "Joe the Plumber" (his name is actually Joe too!). Lots of fun! (For those of you who may have forgotten who these people are... Sarah Palin ran with John McCain as his Vice Presidential candidate. During the Vice Presidential and Presidential debates, Sarah Palin referred to "Joe Six-Pack" and John McCain referred to "Joe the Plumber" as ordinary "guys" the common people could relate to. ) My counterpart Dragoş joined us on the last night for a hockey game and genuine Hungarian/Romanian cuisine. Yum!

Sorina and Marian are some of the best people to go fishing with! They not only know all the sites, but know how to enjoy the countryside to the fullest!

But to get there... we need to take a ferry...

Going.....

And coming back....

The day was filled with a lot of fun things!

Beautiful SceneryMy first fish! (my brother Rory would be so proud!)A "bomb" to catch fish when all hope is lost (packed with mamaliga)

And amazing food brought to you by Sorina, Marian, and Cynthia

I thought to take some "everyday" pictures just to give you all a taste for classes and school. Below is a picture of Emily's teacher of last week Simona (center) [We get new teachers every week. I would include a picture of Nils' teacher, but we attend different classes/schools].

Here is the "HUB" school, Nicolae Iorga, where Emily goes to school. Nils comes to join me a few times a week in the afternoon, and sometimes all day! The school serves for children ages ~7 - ~15 (I think).

Here's what a lot of the blocs look like. This is on Emily's way to school. Nils and I go in different directions, so we don't often get to walk together. :( But when we do... it's so nice!!!