Swan Song

[Note: I started writing this post about a week ago.  Had several paragraphs written, but then I had to shelve it for a while.  When I went back to it later, it was gone.  I blame the software I’m now using to publish to the blog: Windows Live Writer.  It somehow lost or deleted my draft.  Anyway, the following is take 2.]

We have been remiss.  Very, very remiss.  When we left the UK, this blog was supposed to turn into a “repatriation” blog with stories of our trials and tribulations of integrating with American society after a long time away.  Using a newfound perspective, I was going to spend our first year back remarking on the differences between American and European society and sharing our repatriation experience.  It would bring this 5+ year journey to a nice, neat close; ready to publish as a bathroom or coffee-table book (OK, maybe not).

Well, it didn’t quite work out that way.  You see, we kind of just got too busy living the experience to sit down and write about it.  That sounds incredibly self-important, but it’s the truth.  Too, part of it was that I just got a little bit lazy about blogging.  What with looking for a place to live, hunting for jobs, acquiring both, and then getting more and more busy with everything that goes along with those things, I ended up re-prioritizing things a bit.  The closest I have come to blogging is posting updates on Facebook and Twitter.  Eventually, we decided that we would just go ahead and wrap it up early.  Premature closure is better than no closure at all.  That kind of thing.  After all, we’re pretty much repatriated already.  It was easier than we thought it would be!

Sure, when we arrived last November, we were pretty overwhelmed (too much whelm, much too much).  In fact, we were initially in a kind of psychic recovery position.  So much going on.  Drama at home (don’t want to go into the details), new awesome President elected, Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up, tons of mail to go through, getting to grips with being back, etc.  It was impossible to concentrate enough to write an email, even less a blog.  A few weeks later, I was able to muster the strength to coalesce a few of the thoughts and emotions into a stream-of-consciousness piece about the arrival.  Then it was time to start concentrating on our move to the opposite corner of the United States.  Look for a job.  Then a place to live.  Then plan our road trip across the country.  We bought a car.  We got mobile phones.  We had a Christmas From Hell (long story).  And then we set off.  Great road trip that put us in Eugene, OR just in time for New Year’s.  But we were so tired that we couldn’t even stay up to midnight, though we did watch some of the East Coast celebrations on TV with Nanny.

After a couple of days catching up with ourselves in Eugene, we headed out to Central Oregon to stay at Kristen’s aunt & uncle’s ranch in Sisters.  We had been invited to stay there for as long as we needed to.  Looking back now, I don’t think we would have recuperated from the stress of November and December (well, probably the stress of all of last year, if we’re honest) if we had not had this opportunity.  Staying out there in the peace and solace of Willows Ranch was just the kind of panacea we needed.  We’re just sad we couldn’t stay longer!  We pretty much were just there for the month of January, a month that saw the most Project: Expatriated blog posts of 2009.  It didn’t take very long for one of us to find a job (me getting hired on an Americorps contract at Portland YouthBuilders) – that was our plan: stay in Sisters until one of us found a job and then we would look for a place to live near that job.

At the end of January, I was hired as a Learning Coordinator at at the Computer Technology site of Portland YouthBuilders and I started a mere week later on February 5th.  The week before that we found an apartment in Milwaukie, OR (just south of the Sellwood neighborhood of Portland) and moved in almost immediately.  I hit the ground running with this job and time has just been FLYING by.  And I just love it.  It has really cemented my aspirations to go into secondary education (high school or middle school).

Kristen had a bit more of a challenge finding a suitable job.  What can I say?  She’s got a more specialized skillset!  She went the networking route (the way most people find a job in Portland, Oregon) and eventually was hired as a Program Manager of the Project Management course at Portland State University’s Professional Development Center.  She loves her job, too.

Speaking of loving stuff, we just LOVE Portland.  We say that to ourselves on a regular basis.  “I love this town!”  It has EVERYTHING we could possibly want.  Great: food, culture, beer, people, activities, character, bands/music/venues, neighborhoods, and resources.  It’s cosmopolitan, liberal, forward-thinking, cool, and just plain awesome.  And it’s kind of below the radar.  People seem to think it just rains in Oregon and the lumber comes from here.  And to be honest, as hypocritical as this sounds, we like it that way.  We don’t want more people to move here (except for my sister, her fiance, and my mom).  Really.  Don’t.  If that doesn’t convince you, let me just say that it is REALLY HARD to find a job here.  Oregon’s economy is syrupy slow at the best of times.  From what I’ve been told by friends and colleagues here, Kristen and I are INSANELY fortunate to have found the jobs that we did so quickly.  It usually takes up to a year or more to find anything viable.  Not sure what we did to make it happen so easily, but it’s apparently rare.  Who knows what will happen when my Americorps contract runs out?

We really like the place we live.  It’s a great apartment complex/community (Waverley Greens).  We have great neighbors and we are in close proximity to all necessities and within walking distance of Old Town Milwaukie.  It ain’t cool or hip like areas in Portland (not yet anyway), but it’s quiet, affordable, and cozy.  Sort of old school, in a way.  It’s 5.6 miles from my current workplace and about 6 miles from Kristen’s office.  We have a nice little one-bed flat on the ground floor with a sizable back patio, covered parking, amenities, and a communal garden plot.  Things were a bit bare at first, but after a couple of months here, we have made this into a cozy little abode.  A place we intended to stay for at least a year.  [Yeah, I wrote intended.]

This past week (July 20th until now) has been action-packed!  Kristen has been looking at the real estate market in Portland for almost a year.  Checking all the neighborhoods we are interested in for houses.  Just to keep a toe in the water, really.  We haven’t really looked at any in person because we have been operating under the assumption that this is something we will do in a year or two.

We had an impromptu tour of another house several weeks ago just because we walked by and the owner was there.  It was a wonderful little place that we briefly entertained going for, but then changed out minds because we felt we weren’t ready.  Then last Saturday she found a house with a good price tag in a nearby neighborhood and scheduled a viewing.  Just for fun. 

It rocked our world.  Though small, it had EVERYTHING on our wish-list plus a GIANT backyard.  We fell deeply in love with it.  And we enlisted the house listing agent as our realtor.  And we viewed another property with her, just as a contrast.  And we MADE A FRIGGIN’ OFFER on the first house we viewed!  It sounds crazy, but it’s not.  Trust me. 

Well, this past Friday, while my sister was here visiting from Florida, we won the bid.  Kristen had a tense afternoon back and forth on the phone with the listing agent/our realtor.  There was another buyer interested in the house (interested almost as much as us), so we entered into a bit of a bidding war.  A war that we won.  And we still got a great deal on the house.  It’s a place we can see ourselves staying for a LONG time.  But this is all so crazy and sudden that it hasn’t really sunken in yet.  We have a tentative closing date of September 15th.  Both of us are SO looking forward to taking over this house, though we’re not too thrilled with the prospect of moving again as we only got to this apartment in February!  At least a lot of our boxes are still unpacked!  (Yeah, stashed in a couple of closets and in Nanny’s garage).

In our not-too-distant-future, we will be homeowners and we will be able to get a dog, some chickens, a lush garden, and the home we have been craving for so long.  A new adventure begins.

So, without further a-do, we would like to call Project: Expatriation/Expatriated/Repatriation to a successful close.  It’s been an amazing journey.  We hope you have enjoyed following along.

PS – As this new adventure begins to unfold, we will have plenty of things to share, but we are going to do it in a different format.  That of a private Ning social network.  We would like to invite our loyal readers to join our network “The RK Corral” where we will post photos, blog entries, videos, and other goodies on a semi-regular, informal basis.  It’s a private network, so you will need to sign in to view it.  Friends and family will receive an invitation when we are ready to go live with the site.  Otherwise, surf on over to it and submit a request to become a member.  Don’t worry, it’s free and easy to join.

Some tasty, tasty apples!

It's official! Kristen has landed a full-time job in Portland! She was working on two leads that she gained through the fantastic networking she has been doing here (big thanks to Jake for providing the first connection in that chain). It looked almost sure that she was going to be hired at a PR company that was considering actually creating a position for her. Then that seemed to fizzle out, while at the same time one of the people she had met with many weeks ago contacted her. He asked to meet with her again, but did not specify any type of job opportunity. That was about two weeks ago. She met with him and had a "job interview" for a position that was opening up immediately. It went really well, but quite some time went by before she heard back from him. Just when we thought it was a lost cause, he offered her the job. Needless to say, we were both ecstatic and VERY relieved!

She will be starting as a Program Manager at Portland State University's Professional Development Center on May 19th. Until then, she is going to keep working at the Aurora Mill (where both of us worked in 2003 before moving to Belgium). She has been helping them set up a website for online sales.

The position at PSU is such a fantastic opportunity for her and it is going to challenge her in all the right ways. It is really good to be affiliated with a university. Good pay, great benefits, many avenues for advancement. She's really looking forward to it.

Proof-positive that networking does work!

Sore Losers Going Insane

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Baracknophobia - Obey
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A cheesy video about the program I'm affiliated with

Fulfilling a call to service

So, I've fulfilled about two months of my twelve-month Americorps service contract at the Portland division of YouthBuild USA. Two months that have just flown by! The first few weeks were just a complete blur because I came in at a really busy time (during a 3-week program when they test out new student recruits that want to join the program) and while that was happening I had to learn what my duties are and get used to the processes, procedures, rules, etc. Unfortunately, there wasn't much time put aside for training, so I had to kind of figure things out on my own. Funnily enough, working at AIB actually gave me some good preparation for taking on this job because it is almost as chaotic.

My work schedule is pretty good. We have the students on site Tuesday through Friday, so Monday is a day when we can plan, have a staff meeting, and complete some pressing tasks. Plus, I don't have to be at work until 9:30. However, the rest of the week we start at 7:30, which means I get up at 6:00. Something I still haven't quite gotten used to. Consequently, by the end of the week, I'm pretty tired. The good thing is I usually leave around between 3:30 and 4:30, so Kristen and I have nice, long evenings at our disposal.

What do I do? Well, it's sort of hard to explain, but my title is "Service Learning Coordinator" and that kind of fits the bill. I assist the Computer Technology Trainer and the Multimedia Trainer by being a facilitator, tracking attendance, and helping to shepherd the students. I also teach the Internet Core Computing Certification classes, which is quite challenging because there is A LOT of stuff they have to learn to be able to pass the exams and they really hate part of the training -- the part that requires them to sit in front of the computer taking quizzes and watching Flash presentations on computer hardware, software, and pretty much everything related. It is a major challenge and I am trying to come up with novel, more engaging ways of teaching the material, but that is something that takes time. And so I can have a bit more credibility, I am working on getting the certification myself (I have taken 2 of the 3 exams, so far).

There's also a fair amount of administrative and non-student-oriented tasks I am responsible for such as dealing with computer donations and other things that crop up from sitting in what is basically the reception area. When a company donates computers to us, I have to go pick them up, usually with some student helpers. And after we refurbish the computers and they are sold (for the meager sum of $75) to customers, I do a bit of customer service. I also do a fair amount of troubleshooting and administration of on-site IT. There's a WIFI and a hardwire network that sometimes has problems, plus the semi-regular occurance of computers breaking down with either hardware faults or software conflicts. The students are not gentle with this stuff!

This school also teaches construction. That's the only thing it taught when it first started out. We have two campuses: the main campus and the computer technology "work site". The main campus is used for the academic portion of the program as well as the construction program. The majority of staff also have their offices there. I'm at the computer technology site, which is about 15 minutes away from the main campus and much closer to downtown Portland. There are only three (sometimes four) staff members there, including me. The students are divided into two "crews" on a 2-week rotation. Each crew has two weeks on a worksite (either computer tech or construction, depending on which program they are enrolled) and two weeks at the school doing normal high school academics. They are working towards getting a GED or a high school degree. While they are doing that, they get work experience and get a small stipend -- they are also Americorps members like me, but on a different contract. It's a really great opportunity for them because, if they make it onto the program and can manage to stay engaged, they get paid to finish high school and at the same time get work experience. And after they graduate, they still get a lot of support from us, including help to get into college and some job placements.

It is really rewarding to work with these students. They have been through a lot of crap. A lot have been cast aside or spit out of the school system because of drug or alcohol problems, bad family situations, learning disabilities, or have gotten in trouble with "the law". Some of them come out of rehab or a stint in jail and get on this program. They are given a second chance to get their life back on track. When you see them succeed, it is just so heart-warming and gives you a really nice feeling that you have been a part of that. It actually makes me think I wouldn't want to teach "normal" high school kids; the ones that have had a relatively easy life and are pretty much spoiled little brats because of it. The other day when there was yet another school shooting somewhere, I thought about my students and how I could not see them doing something like that. They are beyond it somehow. I certainly don't fear for my safety there! Many of the students are just from low income families, but there are others that have come out of horrible home lives with parents that basically don't give a shit about them. I mean this is a place that some students get disappointed when it is spring break or summer break because that means they have to go home! It's sad, but true. Sure, we have a few trouble-makers and a few that are having trouble staying on the straight and narrow, but for the most part, they are all working really hard to make something of themselves.

I've got 10 more months here and I'm really looking forward to seeing these students succeed. And hopefully, I can finagle a more permanent position here.

2 Months

We've been in Portland for almost 2 months now. The time has just FLOWN. This week, for example, was over in an instant. Well, that was partially because I worked from home on Monday and then we closed for spring break on Wednesday (though I did go in that day to get some stuff done). Even then, I couldn't believe how quickly that all took place. It's been nice to have some days off during the week.

Our lives have been quite busy since we moved to Portland. Kristen has been having lots of meetings to network with some really good people; networking that will hopefully bear fruit in the next week or so. And we've been busy integrating into the community and exploring the area. Two weeks ago, I was invited to a brew-day at another local homebrewer's house. He's someone I've kept in touch with since we left for Belgium in 2003. And we've been reading each others blogs. He writes one called Rooftop. Funnily enough, when I was at his house, we discovered that he knows my boss! Small world. Small town! They worked together when she was at PCC. Anyway, the brew day was fun, though I couldn't stay for the whole thing because that evening we were going to Mother Bea's wake (kind of)/posthumous birthday party. Andy gave me several ounces of whole hops. He has a PLENTIFUL supply because his wife comes from a hop-growing family! I haven't been able to use them yet because my brewery is still defunct (for financial and equipment reasons). It was also great to see Andy's suburban chickens, something I very much want to get into when we eventually buy a house.

Mother Bea's birthday party was kind of fun actually (despite the circumstances). It was a HUGE family gathering and everyone was really nice and fun to be around. There was lots of wine and beer-induced merriment, good home-cooked food, and for dessert, 94 candles divided among three birthday cakes.




The day after that (a Monday), we went to the Catholic church service. Though we're not religious in the least, it was a very moving service and a heartfelt memorial. The way the family spoke about her made me really glad that we had met her, however briefly.

My job is going really well. I really love it. And it is very fulfilling and engaging. Workload-wise it is very much like my last job (i.e.- too much to do and too little time to do it), so I'm used to working that way and have some valuable crossover skills that help me cope. One of these days, I'll write some more about what it is I do, exactly. Another great thing is that I have been able to ride my bike to work most days. It takes about 25-30 minutes each way (it's about 5 miles), so I get some good exercise and I think I'm finally starting to lose a little bit of weight, which is always nice. Unfortunately, my weight-lifting regime has mostly fallen by the wayside. We don't belong to a gym at the moment, so I just go to the fitness center here in the complex a couple of days per week. It's very small and pretty much only has a universal machine for strength training. Right now, I'm just trying to keep from losing the muscle mass I built up from going to the YMCA in England and then the awesome gym in Florida.

We've been exploring the area a lot because it's an engaging, free activity (for the most part). Last weekend, we checked out the Saturday Market (too crowded and too cheesy for my taste) and went to the free day at the Portland Art Museum -- they had a large donation this year so that they could have free admission 4 days per year. That day, we also purchased tickets for Neko Case at the Crystal Ballroom in June. Should be fun. She's always great live. We're going with Jenna and Mike.

This weekend is shaping up to be an all-about-the-garden weekend. This morning we went to a free class about growing vegetables in a small plot and had our soil pH tested (it's 6.6). Got some really good information and found out the best places to buy soil, seeds, etc. The people running the class were a bit overwhelmed because they only expected 20 or so people (similar numbers to previous years), but there was probably double that. Lots of people are getting into gardening now, spurred on by the recession. Though, in my opinion, the average garden doesn't really save money. At best, you break even. I just want to do it because I love gardening! Tomorrow we are going to another free class: backyard hop cultivation! Our plan is to plant two hop rhizomes in pots on our back patio. There's a small trellis that they can climb up, though I have a feeling that we might be a bit overwhelmed by August/September because hops can grow 20 feet or more! Then, hopefully, by this Autumn my brewery will be up and running and I can make some beers using fresh hops. Luckily, hop vines are nice to look at, too!

Finally, I just want to say "I LOVE PORTLAND!" I am so glad we were able to move here! It's such a great city. We keep having these moments doing mundane things when we think to ourselves "I love this town." Great vibe, nice people, lots of character, very green (both vernal and environmental), fabulous restaurants, and it's cool. One thing I've learned, though, is I'm not special as a homebrewer or beer-lover here!

Update via photographs

Bea Jacobs

Mother Bea died last week and this morning we attended her funeral.
We were so lucky to meet her and be part of her family!

Read about this wonderful person here: Bea Jacobs

K & R

Slight change of plans

This is going to sound completely insane considering the state of the economy and the job market, but Kristen has decided to pass on the background investigation job. Her gut instinct was that it wasn't right for her. Plus: there wouldn't really be any potential for advancement; the pay was not very good (especially considering the nature of the job); and it would mean that all the Portland networking momentum that she has built up would cease entirely. And that networking will definitely lead to the job that she really wants. We talked at length about it and she did some soul-searching before deciding to pass. It's a gamble and a half, but it's a gamble that I am sure will pay off. For the moment, Kristen will try freelancing as a researcher. We will give that a try for 3 months or so to see how it goes (networking all the while).

Great News!

Kristen landed a job today! She will be a research analyst for a background investigation firm nearby that does background checks for employers, banks, government agencies, and law enforcement. Training starts on Friday.

I'm really proud of us for getting hired in this economy, amid all the doom and gloom of rising unemployment. At least we know we're hire-able!

Say NO to the new Oregon beer tax

Stuff! STUFF!!

Erm... we picked an apartment that is a bit too small for all of our stuff!

The shipment from England arrived on Thursday. Kristen went down to Eugene to receive it that afternoon. Then, after work on Friday, we picked up what was supposed to be a moving van. However, when the guy pulled it around front, it was a fairly large, diesel moving truck. That's internet booking for you, I guess. It was the same price as the van, so we just took it. Didn't have a choice because that was the smallest vehicle they had. But a wearying 2-hour drive to Eugene in that thing!

Saturday morning, we got up pretty early to start going through the stuff we had stored in Nanny's garage. The multitude of boxes from the England shipment, we just chucked right into the truck, but we wanted to have a brief sift-through of the things we put in storage over 5 years ago since we didn't fully remember what we had elected to hold onto at that point. Some stuff we set aside to sell at a yard sale. Some we threw away. Some we decided to keep storing at Nanny's until we buy a house (looks like we probably should have left a bit more there!). The rest we put in the truck.

We had to rush back to Portland because the truck had to be returned by 5. And that was after unloading it, filling it up with diesel, and then driving to the rental place in Tigard. We got to our place around quarter to 3, so we very quickly unloaded all the boxes into the apartment and then I took off in the truck while Kristen continued unpacking.

It is overwhelming how much stuff we suddenly have. And very few places to put it! We need to buy more furniture to store it, but that is going to have to wait. I went to IKEA today to get a stainless steel shelf to use in the kitchen. Little by little, we will get some bookshelves, a small computer desk, and some dressers for the bedroom. At this point, we've gotten to a reasonable level of order, though there are still boxes in every room. The closet on the back patio that I was going to use as a "brewing shed" is, at the moment, a multi-purpose storage shed instead. Eventually, we'll get it sorted out.

Tomorrow, I'll be riding my bike to work for the first time. Should be fun.

Kristen has three more "informational interviews" this week and will hopefully hear back from the company where she had an interview on Friday. They will be doing second interviews with the candidates they are most interested in.

Things are starting to happen

*Yesterday, Kristen was invited for an interview (this Friday) at a firm in Wilsonville that does background investigations. A great relief to get an interview!

*Today, she had an "informational interview" with someone at PSU. Sounds like that might lead to something, but we'll see. Keeping our fingers crossed!

*Also today, we got a call from the shipping company to let us know that our shipment will be delivered on Thursday afternoon.

*Thursday, Kristen will have to drive down to Eugene to accept the shipment (I can't get the day off work) because one of us has to be there.

*Saturday (or possibly Friday evening), we'll drive down to Eugene to pick up our stuff. There is probably some that we will donate to Goodwill. Not the stuff we paid a hefty sum to have shipped to the US, but some of the stuff that we stored in Nanny's garage a couple of years ago.

Busy week!

Our stuff

We finally heard from the moving company on Friday (well, Kristen actually had to contact them) and we have been informed that our shipment is due to arrive in Oregon by the end of this coming week. They will inform us of the exact date when it's a day or two away. We will have to pay a fee because customs decided to x-ray the container our stuff was in. Luckily, this is something we budgeted for.

I'm going to try to arrange to get the day off so we can drive down to Eugene. We're going to need a moving van. Really looking forward to getting our stuff back, especially my bicycle so I can start riding my bike to work.

By the way, the moving company picked up our stuff in England on Nov. 14th. Surface shipping takes a LONG time!

The Week That Was (and what a week it was!)

This week was quite a tiring one, but we now have a place in Portland! Here we are a week later and it seems like it was a month ago that we were last in Sisters. An incredible amount of progress in one week!

*Saturday: We got up fairly early to finish packing up our stuff from Jim & Judy's ranch in Sisters and then drive to Eugene. It was sad to leave after such a relaxing, therapeutic, idyllic stay in Central Oregon (we'll be back!), but by the same token, we were also excited to get the next chapter started. We said farewell and headed out, stopping at Sisters Coffee on the way. When we got to Nanny's house in Eugene, we spent the whole afternoon looking on Craigslist.com for apartments to view the following Monday. The Portland Craigslist is particularly vibrant and I think the only real way to find apartments in that town because it seems to be the only place people list them. There are new listings at least every hour or so.

*Sunday: More apartment hunting. We started looking pretty early in the morning and also made some appointments for viewings on Monday. Of course, this was also Super Bowl Sunday, so we could not let that go unnoticed. As a little break from apartment research, we went to Kristen's dad's for a Super Bowl mini-party. What a game (well, at least that last quarter and definitely the last 2 minutes)!

*Monday: Left for Portland around 8 in the morning because we had our first apartment viewing was at 10am; a place really close to where I would be working. It's not the best neighborhood, as we suspected, but we had to see an example of what a $1000 per month gets you in that part of town. It was a huge apartment, but quite disgusting. Maybe something I would have lived in during college. We took an application from the French landlord and got the hell out of there. Kristen was taking notes on the information sheets we had printed. On this one she wrote "Disgusting! Only if desperate!" That was for damn sure! The next appointment was at 11 and we had a little time to kill, so we drove to the Sellwood area to get a feel for what kind of houses were for rent there. There were a couple we could potentially view the next day, but after seeing them from the outside, we pretty much decided we did not want to rent a house there. Buy one, definitely. Rent, no way. The next appointment as at an apartment complex near the Waverley Country Club in Milwaukie, which is just across the county line into Clackamas county, so technically not in Portland (a point which I belabored quite a bit with Kristen). After viewing four different apartments, it was clear that we would get a lot more for our money there. It also happened to be a pretty nice complex with lots of amenities. And a straight 5-mile shot up to where I would be working (a nice bike ride, too). After this, the next appointment was at 2pm. We drove around a bit in the Hawthorne area and then stopped for lunch at the Cup & Saucer, a historic, trendy spot on Hawthorne Blvd. The 2pm apartment was in NE Portland; a 1-bed above a 3-car garage. It looked promising on paper and seemed like an interesting prospect. Turned out not to be the ideal fit for us. It would feel too much like being a guest in someone's house and it was way overpriced at $1000 excluding utilities. The decision was clear. We would go for the Milwaukie apartment, so we headed back down to the SE area. The manager at Waverley didn't think we'd have any trouble being approved for it. She would let us know the next morning. Nothing to do but to drive back to Eugene. Spoke to my soon-to-be manager on the way and found out that I would start the job on Thursday instead of Wednesday. Good news because that meant we'd have an extra day to move in.

*Tuesday: We proceeded under the assumption that we would be approved for the apartment. We didn't hear about it until fairly late in the morning, right about the time I had started sweating it a bit. The car was mostly loaded and ready to go. We had a definite departure time of noon because I had a 2pm appointment to go sign some papers at my new employer's office. I was cramming some of our belongings into the Audi when Kristen came out to tell me we were good to go. Whew! We finished stuffing the car with odds and ends that we thought we might need to get us going in the apartment. A couple of pots and pans, cutlery, bedding, espresso machine, clothes, etc. Then, off to Portland again. After filling out the paperwork, we claimed our new apartment, off-loading the little stuff we had managed to bring with us. Since we had absolutely no furniture, most importantly no bed, we took Kristen's sister up on her offer to stay with her again. She and her fiance, Mike, wanted to take us out for a Celebratory/Welcome dinner. They took us to PF Chang's. Yum!

*Wednesday: A day for continuing our "move-in" by populating the apartment with more stuff. We bought a TV at Mike's company, using a Friends & Family discount. Nice! That was in Northwest Portland. Then we drove to a Sleep Country USA near our apartment and bought a bed. Unfortunately, they could not deliver it until the next day, which meant we'd have a bit of a rough night's sleep, so we thought we'd go get a memory-foam pillow top to sleep on which we could then add to the bed when we got it. But first, we needed to get back to the apartment because we had an appointment with Comcast to set up our internet connection. He was an hour late and took a really long time to finish. By the time we were able to head out again it was 4.30. We had planned to go to Costco to set up membership, buy the pillow top (they memory-foam mattresses at a pretty good price), and then go to IKEA for other household items. Both of us were pretty knackered by this point, so weren't to enthused about the idea. Alas, we needed something to sleep on. Since it was getting late, we decided to just go to Costco. We got as far as setting up the membership, then discovered that they didn't have the pillowtop. To IKEA, then. Where we spent almost 3 hours, but luckily not as much money as we thought we would. It was about 8pm when we got back to the apartment. Almost bedtime since I had to get up at 6 the next morning for the first day at my new job. Didn't get much sleep because the floor was pretty hard, even with the pillowtop, and because it was the first night in the apartment, so we had all new noises and things to get used to.

Thursday: Woken by the alarm at an hour that I haven't been woken at for some time. Groggy as hell, but managed to get myself showered, fed, dressed, and to work on time. Good first day -- will talk more about it in another blog entry. When I got home, we needed to go buy more provisions and supplies, so we went to Fred Meyer (a supermarket/department store). Again, we spent almost 3 hours in there and quite a bit of dough. But, hell, we have to start pretty much completely from scratch. No furniture. No pantry items. No household products. All that stuff you accumulate over time and take for granted, we had to buy it a-new. We have food now, though! And the place was starting to feel a bit more like home.

Friday: Kristen had a lunch meeting with a longtime friend of her family. Also a first step in starting to network with people in Portland. Gotta reel in a job soon! That night, we cooked our first real dinner in the apartment. And we watched a bit of TV, sitting on the floor since we still don't have any furniture.

Saturday: Exercised in the fitness center. Then we headed into Milwaukie to explore a bit. Grabbed coffee at a local coffee spot, then peeked into a few thrift shops. The task for this weekend was to find a couch and a kitchen table and chairs. Then Jenna came by with a housewarming gift plus some bits and pieces for the apartment. After her visit, we went to some more thrift shops and furniture stores. Not much luck on our mission. Nothing that would really fit our needs or budget. Another couchless night.

Sunday (today): We had the first "Sunday Ritual" in the apartment, a nice, relaxing morning. Then it was off to continue hunting for furniture. We bought a couch at Macy's, on sale. No delivery until Thursday. Four more couchless evenings. No luck on the table and chairs. We found a good set at Sears, but the pieces weren't in stock. Then we checked several other places including K-Mart, where we found something do-able. Guess what? Not in stock!

We're also still waiting for our England shipment to arrive. According to the shipping company's paperwork, we should be getting an ETA within the next couple of days. The plan is that when it arrives in Eugene, we will rent a truck to collect all of it plus the stuff we've been storing in Nanny's garage. But if that doesn't happen soon, we will just have to take an earlier trip to Eugene in our car to take some more stuff up here. There are some things that it would be really nice to have (like more than two plates, two glasses, and two coffee cups). To that end, Kristen will probably drive down on Wednesday.

It's pretty much llike we're "fading into" normalcy. Little by little, we're getting our things and setting up our lives here. We've really been looking forward to getting back into a routine. It's been a long two and a half months since getting back to the US. It can be pretty tiring to live out of suitcases and not having our own place. Thinking back to November 19th, when we arrived in Florida, it seems like it was such a long time ago. So much has happened since then. And there's more to come, I think! For one thing, we'll be sitting in a couch on Thursday!

PS - We finally got the deposit back from our landlord in England. Well, what was left after he had his way with it.

Sisters, OR

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Today is our last day in Sisters (for this part of our journey). We're packing up our stuff and getting ready to head to the valley tomorrow. The plan is to stay at Kristen's grandmother's house on Saturday and Sunday. While we're there, we will set up plenty of apartment viewings for Monday and possibly Tuesday. Hopefully, we'll find a place fairly quickly because I'm due to start my new job on Wednesday. I'll write more about that in a couple of weeks' time, after I have settled in a bit.

Beautiful day today. 59 degrees. The mountains were in full view. We will definitely miss being out here and are a bit sad to leave, even though we are looking forward to starting the next chapter. We're so grateful to have gotten the chance to stay here at Kristen's aunt'n'uncle's ranch.

I just want to say a few words about Sisters, OR. If you're ever coming through this part of the country, be sure to...

*Hang out at Sisters Coffee Company. They've got free wi-fi and will happily let you sit there using it as long as you've bought something from them. Their coffee is AMAZING! I never really drink "drip" coffee, but I have fallen in love with theirs. So damn good! Even Kristen, who is a devout Starbucks-ite, loves it (albeit, the iced lattes with flavoring). I highly recommend the Black Butte Gold house coffee. Really balanced and wonderfully aromatic. A rich, caramelly aftertaste. Also good as a "Black Butte Bomber" (i.e.- espresso to which you can add any of their brewed coffees from the coffee bar). Also good, the mexican mocha. Their baked goods are delicious and they sell all of their coffee beans at a fair price. We bought a bag of their espresso blend to take with us.

*Grab lunch at Depot Deli. Great sandwiches and interesting daily specials. Quirky decor, complete with a model steam-train at ceiling level above the seating area. They also serve local Oregon ales in bottles and from draft.

*Sip some brews at Three Creeks Brewing Co. We went there for lunch the other day and, boy howdy, was that good! Their beers are a little more interesting than the usual brewpub. For example, instead of keeping an IPA in their stable, they brew a unique style called IBA (India Black Ale). This is a fairly new hybrid style that originated in Central and Eastern Oregon. It's pretty strong and it is FLAVORFUL! Not for the faint of heart. Also fairly unique is their Stonefly Rye. This is their version of the ubiquitous wheat beer. They've added rye malt to it, so it has an extra dimension that makes it stand out.

*Go to a movie at Sisters Movie House. This is a quirky little movie theater (right next to Three Creeks Brewing... hint, hint) in the theme of a big red barn. The decor inside fits that motif, too, with things like axe door-handles, pitchfork velvet-rope stansions, and aluminum roof vents as lamp-shades. They have four screens with a pretty good standard of projection, all film. Furthermore, they've got a snack bar serving paninis, wraps, burgers, pizza, coffees, soft drinks, wine, and beer! "And I'm not talking about now paper cup. I'm talking about a glass of beer!" You can eat your snacks in the cafe, take them into the theater, or have them delivered directly to your seat. The cinema experience is going by the wayside what with all the home theaters and the bad economy, so get it while you still can (and support a great local, independent company, too).

*Pig out at Sisters Bakery. They bake everything fresh daily on premises. Their donuts are amazing and I'm told their apple fritters are out of this world. I wouldn't know because they're always sold out! The donuts are a dollar a piece but so are Dunkin Donuts and these are 10 times better. Their breads a bit pricey, though.

There are other things to do here and other restaurants to enjoy, but these are the ones we had time to fully investigate during our time here. Also check out: Black Butte Ranch, a golf resort, basically, and one of the places that a lot of Oregonians come to this area for.

Waiting and Not Waiting

We are very close to severing ourselves from England. The landlord responded to my letter (that was more than a week ago, though) and denied pretty much all of my claims, but he did relent on one thing, so I decided to just give in. It wasn't worth the continued chasing and arguments. All that remained was to send in a signed form to the management company so they can release the funds. We just got an email from them today saying they had received the form, but there is a backlog in the finance department so it would take 7-10 days to release it. Ridiculous! How could their possibly be that many deposits to process? Utter BS. Then again, there's the tea breaks, socializing, vacation, and sick days to account for, so I guess that's how it could take that long. We've waited since November 19th, I suppose we can wait a little longer.

Another thing we're waiting for is the license plate for our car. We started the process of registering the car in Oregon and have sent in all the forms, paid the fees, and so on. There was a little trouble proving that we are Oregon residents, though, so we had to send in some more paperwork. To keep us legal until we get the plate, we have renewed our temporary plate for the third time. The plates will probably come through soon. Then the next step is to change our driver's licenses to Oregon, which requires an address and taking the written test. So, we're waiting to do that until we get an apartment in Portland.

AND we're waiting for our shipment from England. It will have made its way across the Atlantic, through the Panama Canal, and into the Pacific. Supposedly, it has arrived in Los Angeles on the 24th. It will take ten days to get through customs and then another three to six days to let us know when it is going to be delivered to us in Oregon. So, it is probably going to be mid- to late- February before we have our stuff back.

Finally, we're still waiting to hear from the jobs we've applied for. The closing date for a few of them have passed during the course of the last week or so. And of course, I had the interview on Monday for one of them and was waiting to hear the outcome.

Well, on Tuesday, just as we got back to Sisters, an email came through on my BlackBerry stating that they are ready to offer me the job, providing that my references check out. Good news, but there was a bit of nail-biting because it was difficult to get a hold of the references I listed from England, so I actually had to give them some alternative people to check with. When I woke up this morning, I was thinking that it was going to be a while before this is all resolved, but while I was in the shower, I got an email and a voice-mail offering me the job. Sweet!

So, I can officially say "I'm employed!" I will be starting next week, probably on Wednesday, if not sooner. They'd like me to start ASAP. Problem is, we still need to find an apartment. We were planning to head into the valley on Saturday, then check out some apartments on Monday. At the moment, though, we're thinking we might need to go sooner. Like tomorrow, so we can look for apartments on Saturday. We're suddenly busy as hell!

Portland Trip #2

So, we're in Portland today. I had my job interview this morning. Went really well (I think) and I'm really excited about the prospect now. It would be a GREAT experience and a GREAT stepping stone. No idea when they will notify me, but they did ask me when I could potentially start. We'll see!

We also checked out an apartment building in the Pearl district. It's a "green" building, brand new. Lots of cool amenities like a fitness center, a "fido field" (an astro-turf area with a fire hydrant) and swanky, common areas with free wi-fi. Unfortunately, it's a bit too pricey, especially since neither of us is employed yet! But it also caused us to re-evaluate our plan of moving to Portland with or without jobs (so that we can be "in it" to do the networking). It's probably a bit over-ambitious, so we will wait until at least one of us has a job. Then we will find a place near that. Another thing we realized is that we don't want to live in a studio apartment or possibly not a small 1 bedroom either. We're done with being squished! This means we will probably have to give up our idea of living downtown. It would be fun and a great experience, but too pricey. We might check some other parts of the downtown area, though.

For now, it's back to Central Oregon again tomorrow.

Good news

I've been invited to an interview for the Americorps job. It's on Monday, so we're heading to the valley today. We'll spend the night in Eugene, after doing some quick clothing shopping for an interview "ensemble", then drive up to Portland in the morning. There are also a couple of apartments we might take a look at.

Things might start happening very quickly now!

Jawbs

There's a lot of doom'n'gloom on the news every day about the economy, job cuts, high unemployment, and so on. Stuff like this:

In December 174,819 Oregonians were unemployed, an increase of 69,966 from the December 2007 level of 104,853. December marked the largest number of unemployed since January 1983 when 176,815 Oregonians were unemployed.

Or this (not a very good article, but the comments are interesting!):

The seasonally adjusted figure -- the highest in more than 23 years -- could well increase further, economists said Tuesday. The recession is dealing Oregon one of the highest unemployment rates in the country, which had a 7.2 percent jobless rate in December.

And this:
Intel announces that it will close or stop production at five of its manufacturing facilities, including plants in Oregon and California. The closings will take place in 2009 and could affect between 5,000 and 6,000 employees once all of Intel's plans are finalized.

In the face of news like this, we must be STUPID to try to find jobs, right? Rest assured, we do realize the gravity of the situation and that we will be VERY fortunate to find a job each, not to mention jobs that we actually desire. I sure as hell will be damn proud of us when we accomplish this seemingly daunting task. Notice I said "when" and not "if"!

The thing is, it's not as dire as it seems. When you see these figures in the media, they don't always qualify the data with further details. For example, in Oregon, the worst hit job markets are Construction, Manufacturing, and Trade/Transportation/Utilities. Take a look at this graph from the Oregon Employment Department:

Notice how Government and Financial Activities haven't really dropped that much? Now look at Educational & Health Services. It has actually been climbing steadily! Furthermore, it has been said that having a degree (I have 2, Kristen has 3) really helps you to stay out of the jobless ranks. There was an article in The Bend Bulletin titled "In hard times, having a degree is a lifesaver". I've included a LINK to the article. Unfortunately, you can only read the first paragraph (unless you have a subscription), but there's also this PIECE from the New York Times which states: "The job situation is likely to weaken considerably for less-educated workers as the downturn persists, however, because employers are likely to raise skill requirements. Employers tend to be more selective in downturns. A study by Paul Devereux, for example, found 'the education levels of new hires within occupations are higher when the unemployment rate is high and this effect is more pronounced in lower-paying occupations.'" This bodes well for us. Sure, we might not end up in the job of our dreams at this point, but that's OK. First of all, we live quite modestly by most standards, have relatively low debt, and don't have any dependents. We're not looking to become millionaires. As long as our basic needs are being met and we can afford to go to a movie or out for dinner once in a while, we'll be happy. The 5 years we spent in Europe really taught us to re-evaluate what's important and to take a much less materialistic approach to life. That certainly has been helpful for us when we got back to the US to find the economy collapsing. People have been living irresponsibly, way beyond their means. That's just how the American society has been for the last 50 years or so. Consume, consume, consume. If you want to find a positive side to how things look here now, the fact that people are starting to change their consumer behavior and re-priortize is a REALLY good thing! Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who have had to learn this lesson the hard way and are close to, if not firmly-planted, in destitute. The economy is such a complex organism and things will level off eventually and then we can all start putting things back together and rebuilding. The America that will come out of that will be so much stronger than before. We just all need to be a part of the solution. Anyway, I digress...

Some more evidence that we aren't insane for thinking that we can find jobs in this economy:

• When we went to Portland last week, we spoke to two professionals who told us that Portland has not been hit as hard as many other cities in the country. The city is still thriving. There might be more of an effect in the future, but at the moment, it's OK. There as jobs out there. You just have to be more pro-active in finding them (i.e.- networking).
• We have each applied for 5 to 6 jobs already and there are more in progress. And these are pretty much all for jobs that we would actually want! We haven't started reaching for the bottom of the barrel yet. As I'm writing this, Kristen is sitting across from me applying for two more jobs.
  
• Monster.com, for example, has 1373 jobs listed for Portland, OR today. Sure, they aren't all ones that we are qualified for or interested in. We definitely would have more job options if we had a degree in healthcare, law, or finance, but there are plenty of jobs out there for us to apply for. By the way, we don't use Monster because they don't have a lot of listings for the kinds of jobs we're looking for.
• And one final piece of news is that I have had a nibble on the Americorps job I applied for. This morning, I had a prelimanary telephone interview. There are two other people who are being seriously considered for the job. The interview went really well and it seemed like I made a good impression. I feel pretty good about my chances.
  

So, we might have to go to Portland for an in-person interview on Monday, which will be good anyway because then we can try to find an apartment. Regardless of what happens with that job, we will need to establish a physical presence in Portland soon. There have been several job fairs and other networking opportunities that we have missed already. Plus, if we're there, we can find some kind of part-time job to keep us afloat longer while we continue the search.

One thing is for sure, the Portland momentum has started. The Po Mo, as Kristen has dubbed it.

Historic Moment

We're planted here in front of the television watching the Inauguration of President Barack Obama and a new dawn for America. I can't help but to think about how different, how disheartening, it would have been if it was McCain and Palin being sworn in up there. Instead of being filled with hope and pride in this country, I would feel dispair and anger. For that reason, and for so many others, we are so emotional and happy about this very historic moment in history. And so thrilled to actually be in the US to experience it, albeit in front of the television!

[See also this great message from Michael Moore].

For the past couple of days, we've have been surrounded by freezing fog hear in Sisters. And I was suddenly attacked by a vicious "Man Flu". Things were looking a little gloomy, but today, the future just looks a lot brighter. The sun is even shining again now. It is also quite appropriate that today I got an email from one of the jobs I had applied for, an Americorps position in Portland, requesting a phone interview this week. Should the interview go my way, I will be able to spend a year serving the community by teaching low-income teenagers, which will also give me really good experience to take into a career in secondary education.

We're still working on our job search and other job applications. Our trip to Portland went really well. It was nice to walk around in the city. Such a nice vibe. And our "informational meeting" was very useful. We got a lot of really good advice for how to find a job, especially in the current economic climate, which put a bit of wind in our sails. It is highly likely that we will move to Portland in about a week, so that we can be there because it is a bit difficult to do an effective job search from here. Our hope is that it will not be too much longer before we're both employed, but we thought we'd try to find a fairly cheap studio apartment in the city to use as a launch pad. This will give us time to get to know the city, too.

January Update

We're still out on the ranch in Central Oregon. And LOVING it! When we're next in a big city, it's going to be culture shock!

It was unseasonably warm today at about 55 deg F. That's really warm for this time of year, even in this part of Oregon. Weather like that makes you think twice about moving to the more cloudy, rainy Willamette Valley! Though, personally, I don't mind rain. More water for making beer with!

On the job front, it's looking a bit sparse, but there are definitely jobs out there for us. I've applied for three or four jobs, ones that would actually be pretty good jobs (i.e.- not scraping the bottom of the barrel). Kristen has also found a couple that she has applied for. Sure, under normal circumstances, there would be more jobs out there, but it's not as bad as the Media makes it out to be. Then again, we're not in the industries that are hardest hit. In Oregon, that's all the industries related to construction, particularly the lumber industry.

Oh, and we still haven't fully "detached" ourselves from England. The deposit from our flat is still in hock. Can you believe it!? I've been contacting the management company periodically since we found out that the landlord wanted to charge us for some stuff. That was in late November. It was not until last Thursday that finally received the list of charges. And they were a little bit absurd. I wrote a frank letter back to them to refute some of the charges and to make counter-offers against the rest of them (basically 50%) based on the validity of the charges, the "hardships" we endured during our tenancy, and the long time that has passed since we moved out of the flat (50 days at the time of writing the letter). Still have not heard anything back from them. Hopefully tomorrow.

What else... we are taking the car in for a check-up at the dealership tomorrow. It's still under warranty, so we thought we'd take advantage of that and have it checked after its long road-trip. Also, during the trip, I broke the latch in the center console armrest (I just barely touched it!). Hopefully, they will fix that under warranty.

On Wednesday, we're going to Portland to have a bit of a look around and to hang with Kristen's sister. Also, my renewed Danish passport is ready for collection at the embassy (it was due to expire on December 24th, so I renewed it in Florida and they were kind enough to ship it to Portland). Then on Thursday, we are having a "face to face" with someone who might be able to give us some good job leads in Portland. After that, we'll head down to Eugene to stay the night before driving back to Sisters on Friday. The unseasonably warm weather should allow us to drive there and back without snow trouble.

Keep an eye on the Sisters, OR photo album as we have been adding pictures periodically.

We're still here!

Please forgive me if you had the impression that we got stuck somewhere in Little Rock after Day 3 of our road trip. It was my intention to write a bit more during the journey, but then the internet connection in the hotels were sometimes too shoddy or I was just too damn tired to write a blog. Our road-trip stamina is not what it used to be. And we were doing relatively short days of 8-9 hours! Suffice it to say that the rest of the trip was really good – no adverse driving conditions other than some fog in Sacramento – and we made it to Eugene, OR on December 31st. The photos will have to say the rest:

We arrived in Eugene around 8 o'clock, but we were too tired to stay up until midnight, so we just watched some of the festivities from other parts of the world with Kristen's Grandma and then hit the sack by 10. I did wake up when the fireworks started. And promptly went back to sleep. Took it fairly easy the next couple of days. Just visiting relatives, unpacking the car, opening the boxes of stuff we had ordered from Amazon during the course of last year, taking car of the car registration, and so on. We even had a “little christmas” with Don (Kristen's Dad) and Bev.

This past Saturday, we hit the road again. A much shorter trip this time: to Sisters in Central Oregon. It's a small town near Black Butte, about 20 miles from Bend. Despite the snow remnants and risk of icy roads while ascending and descending the Santiam Pass, it took us about two and a half hours to get to Jim and Judy's ranch (Kristen's aunt and uncle). Though we did not have snow tires, the A4 made it without the slightest trouble. We didn't even have to put the chains on.

Central Oregon is very different from the Willamette Valley region. It is drier and higher elevation (3100 in Sisters). Lots of Pondersa pines and scrubland. And LOTS of wildlife! The weather can be much more harsh in the winter (bitterly cold) and summer (searing heat). When we arrived, it was most definitely COLD! There was still lots of snow on the ground, though it had been plowed away from the roads. We are staying in a 100-year-old ranch house (it was originally the main house on the property) right by a small stream and pastures with cows, alpacas, and Friesian horses. Right now there are hundreds of robins hopping around on the grass by the living room windows and in the pasture. (I always thought they were solitary birds). It's not as cold now as it was when we got here. In fact, most of the snow has melted and it's almost Spring-like. It is VERY peaceful out here. And SO much SPACE! This is just the kind of decompression we needed after living in England and after our time in Florida [photos].

We are little-by-little getting our life started here and I'm working on becoming an Oregonian. (It's not going to be difficult for me... I feel like I've been on a 33-year journey to get to the place I'm supposed to be!). Today we set up a PO Box here so we have a mailing address while we figure out where we are headed. The employment situation in Central Oregon is not so good (unemployment is around 10% right now), but we are looking here even though our main goal is still to move to Portland. I'm a bit torn because I find both prospects quite appealing (living in an amazing city VS. living in the “wilderness”). We are casting our net wide and will go where the job is. It's either Bend or Portland. Right now, it's anybody's guess, though job-wise Portland is ahead because we have already found and applied for 2-3 jobs each in Portland and zero in Bend. This kind of open-ended, follow-your-fate existence is both invigorating and frightening. Although, I'd say we are in a much better position now (mentally and financially) than we were when we landed in Belgium, almost on a whim. Sure, we have to pinch our pennies right now because neither of us has full-time employment, but we're safe at the moment and I feel strongly that one (or both) of us will reel in a job in the near future. Then we'll be on our way to a little house with a dog, three chickens, and a garden. And soon I will be able to brew beer again!

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OK, so that's you all caught up (for the most part). Now there's just this business of the year-end wrap up as is our custom on this blog. Better late than never!

2008 was a year of...

*Change. Not just Barack Obama's Change (for which we are incredibly relieved, to be sure!), but the change that we have enacted by pulling the plug on our life in England and heading back to the US (a change that we had been getting ready for all year). The change of acclimating to American culture. The change of being homeless (i.e.- living out of a suitcase and staying with family) for a while. The change of getting ready for our life in the US, under very different circumstances than when we left a little over 5 years ago.

*Scholarship. Kristen finished writing her PhD thesis in June and endured a brutal viva (defense) in August. Then after making the required changes and additions, she was granted her doctoral title in November. She kicked the ass of that PhD; finishing it in record time!

*Drama. There was always something going on in the Kingsgate building. If it wasn't the cadre of pensioners trying to assert themselves against us, it was the various maintenance issues requiring utmost patience and endurance while trying to find resolution. I still think the Rosemary's Baby allusion is particularly apt. They kept wanting to get in our apartment!

*Spain. After spending a long weekend in the Catalan region of Spain, we absolutely fell in love with it. We were completely taken by surprise, actually. At the moment, we are completely done with long-haul flights, but when we recuperate from that at some stage, we definitely want to explore more of that country. It is beautiful, laid back, and filled with amazing food! We have been cooking a lot more Spanish dishes since then and will continue to do so.

*Planning. We had to keep it a secret for a long time because I didn't want my job to find out about it prematurely, but from the beginning of 2008, we knew we were going to move back to the US. We bought the tickets in December of 2007. It was a bit frustrating because there was a lot of juicy stuff we could have talked about on the blog. We came up with our "exit strategy" and then there was a long process of weighing the pros and cons of various places we might like to live. The list started out quite long and was whittled down to two or three places eventually. It wasn't easy! As our departure date got closer, we had to figure out all the logistics of the move.

*Fitness. I continued with my classes at the Minnesota Kali Group UK and also achieved Level 1 grading in Jun Fan/Jeet Kun Do. Kristen started taking some of the classes, too; mostly the kickboxing, but eventually I convinced her to try Kali. And sure enough, she liked it. We also added an extra element to our fitness routines. Kristen started volunteering 2 days per week at the YMCA in town which meant that she could use the gym for free. Then she convinced me to get a membership (cheap as chips at the Y!) and start weight training. The resident trainer drew up some training programs for us and the rest is history. Both of us are hooked now (Kristen more than me probably, but I pretty much hate exercise!), so much so that the day after we arrived in Florida, we got a temporary membership at the local gym there! Anyway, we've both seen major improvements from this added exercise, so we're really happy about that.

*Politics. The 2008 Presidential Election. What a doozy! We didn't realize exactly how tense we had been about it until, to our ecstatic relief, we saw Barack Obama give his victory speech at 5am (UK time). Both of us reached an historic level of interest in politics and activism during that race. We felt like our post-repatriation happiness absolutely counted on an Obama win. So, between emails and Facebook, both of us partook heavily in the internet war for the White House, fighting for Obama's team. And we feel so proud of the US now.

*Facebook. Speaking of which, I spent a fair amount of time on Facebook last year. This social networking site is quite addictive. Kristen eventually folded and signed up for it, too. More evidence for my theory that, eventually, EVERYONE ends up on Facebook!

*Lack. We only posted 67 blog entries in 2008. And that was down from 72 in 2007. Our peak was 122 in 2004 with 109 in 2006 and 107 in 2005. Shameful! I guess between getting exhausted from my job, feeling a bit burned out by blogging, and having our hands "tied" for job security reasons, the blog suffered. To be honest, I'm not sure what the future holds for this blog. It's "Project: Repatriation" now. Once we're "repatriated", then what? We will probably keep it going for at least one more year to see us through our process of settling in Oregon because I'm sure there will be a lot to talk about. After that, perhaps it gets retired. Or perhaps we start a new blog. Maybe a member-based one on Ning.com?  We'll see, I guess!