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!
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