All is well with mother and baby.
More to come...
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Friday, December 11, 2009
Big Day
So today is December 11. Tomorrow is supposed to be the debut of our little baby and it's also Brett's graduation! I don't know if the kid will actually meet his deadline, but at least we can count on Brett graduating. If I haven't had the baby by Monday, I'm going to be induced. I'd really rather not be induced because it makes me a little nervous, but I'd also like to not be pregnant anymore. I'm ready for the "it's all worth it" phase of this thing. Everyone says that once you get that little baby in your arms you finally feel like all the sickness, pain, and overall grossness of pregnancy is worth it, and I guess it must be true because women continue to have babies after the first one... So I'm ready for that. I know that motherhood is going to be hard and I'm not going to sleep for a while, but at least I can feel like less of a mentally unbalanced, constantly uncomfortable person... at least hopefully :) I'm sure that our next post will be about the baby... so stay tuned.
Also, I would just like to say how proud I am of Brett and how happy I am that he will be done with school. We're both so excited to start our lives as "real people." No more of this moving every few months, scrounging for furniture, and (hopefully) less money troubles. Maybe one day we'll even have furniture that matches or at least looks nice.
Brett has worked so hard in school and we're both so grateful that all his hard work is going to pay off, especially with how difficult it can be to find a job right now. Throughout his schooling we have been blessed with a number of amazing opportunities like living in Austria and beautiful Monterey. We've also traveled to some incredible places, but it will be nice to settle down.
I guess that's about all I have to say for now. Mostly because I'm getting kicked like crazy which means I should walk around a bit. We're looking forward to coming home for Christmas, so all of you people in AZ, get ready to party and to see me in a strange new role as a mom. I'm sure it's going to be hilarious to all.
We went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium today, so this is the most recent belly photo. (Oh and we found our camera cord)
And here is my favorite picture of Brett and Lexie. I promise this was not staged.
Also, I would just like to say how proud I am of Brett and how happy I am that he will be done with school. We're both so excited to start our lives as "real people." No more of this moving every few months, scrounging for furniture, and (hopefully) less money troubles. Maybe one day we'll even have furniture that matches or at least looks nice.
Brett has worked so hard in school and we're both so grateful that all his hard work is going to pay off, especially with how difficult it can be to find a job right now. Throughout his schooling we have been blessed with a number of amazing opportunities like living in Austria and beautiful Monterey. We've also traveled to some incredible places, but it will be nice to settle down.
I guess that's about all I have to say for now. Mostly because I'm getting kicked like crazy which means I should walk around a bit. We're looking forward to coming home for Christmas, so all of you people in AZ, get ready to party and to see me in a strange new role as a mom. I'm sure it's going to be hilarious to all.
We went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium today, so this is the most recent belly photo. (Oh and we found our camera cord)
And here is my favorite picture of Brett and Lexie. I promise this was not staged.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Good News
I just noticed that we haven't blogged in a while, so I wanted to at least get something out there. This will be short...
Brett has been applying for jobs since Vienna and he finally received and accepted a job offer!!! This is HUGE for us. So it looks like we are eventually going to be heading back east. Once HR gets his processing done, we'll be real people earning real money! Before that we might be in AZ though, so that's pretty exciting for us. :)
Anyway, that's the news. I'm so proud of Brett. :)
Oh and I'm still pregnant, with less than a month to go. So weird. I can't believe we're going to have a little baby. I think we might be getting closer to a name, but we might not settle on one until he gets here...
We don't have our camera cord here, so even though I have some pregnancy pictures to put up, they will remain on our camera for now. So, here's a picture that I just like.
Brett has been applying for jobs since Vienna and he finally received and accepted a job offer!!! This is HUGE for us. So it looks like we are eventually going to be heading back east. Once HR gets his processing done, we'll be real people earning real money! Before that we might be in AZ though, so that's pretty exciting for us. :)
Anyway, that's the news. I'm so proud of Brett. :)
Oh and I'm still pregnant, with less than a month to go. So weird. I can't believe we're going to have a little baby. I think we might be getting closer to a name, but we might not settle on one until he gets here...
We don't have our camera cord here, so even though I have some pregnancy pictures to put up, they will remain on our camera for now. So, here's a picture that I just like.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
So as it turns out, pregnancy is one of the most uncomfortable experiences EVER and I still have to go through that whole labor thing, which I hear can also be somewhat uncomfortable. All I know is that this kid is kicking, punching, and draining the life right out of me. He's been sucking up all of my iron and even finding a way to make sure my lungs are good and squeezed so I can't breathe. But in the "bright side" category of all of this... I guess this means that he is healthy. It's good to know that he's moving around like normal (even if it hurts me), and that he has a "good, strong heart beat" according to the doctor. So all is well there. And now in the "holy crap I can finally relax a little bit" category, we finally have insurance for me and little guy!
Applying for insurance here in CA has been a real headache and we were seriously starting to think I would have to fly back to AZ to apply for AHCCCS - you know, health care for people who don't have jobs that provide insurance or people who can't afford other health care. At first they told us we had too much money to qualify. I thought it was funny that having "too much money" sure felt like not having enough, considering that the money in my bank account was money we had saved specifically for when we moved here because rent, groceries, and gas are all super expensive in CA. And the money Brett had was mostly from student loans, which is like fake money. At any rate, after jumping through all of their crazy hoops, I finally have MediCal insurance. Woot woot!
Also in other good news, Brett is starting to finally hear back from some jobs. He's been applying for all kinds of jobs since we were in Austria and it's been really stressful for him waiting to hear back. I didn't stress about it too much because I couldn't fathom how someone like Brett wouldn't get a job. That's just plain crazy. So all-in-all, things are finally looking up for the Walker's. Life in Monterey started out a little horrible, but things seem to have taken a turn for the better. And for the sake of adding a picture to the blog, here's me and Lexie (my little sister's dog that I have dognapped for the time being.) She's been great company since Brett is gone all day most days and she also forces me to actually go outside and walk for at least 30 minutes a day.
I realize this is a short post, but we'll have more updates later. I just wanted to get the good news documented.
Applying for insurance here in CA has been a real headache and we were seriously starting to think I would have to fly back to AZ to apply for AHCCCS - you know, health care for people who don't have jobs that provide insurance or people who can't afford other health care. At first they told us we had too much money to qualify. I thought it was funny that having "too much money" sure felt like not having enough, considering that the money in my bank account was money we had saved specifically for when we moved here because rent, groceries, and gas are all super expensive in CA. And the money Brett had was mostly from student loans, which is like fake money. At any rate, after jumping through all of their crazy hoops, I finally have MediCal insurance. Woot woot!
Also in other good news, Brett is starting to finally hear back from some jobs. He's been applying for all kinds of jobs since we were in Austria and it's been really stressful for him waiting to hear back. I didn't stress about it too much because I couldn't fathom how someone like Brett wouldn't get a job. That's just plain crazy. So all-in-all, things are finally looking up for the Walker's. Life in Monterey started out a little horrible, but things seem to have taken a turn for the better. And for the sake of adding a picture to the blog, here's me and Lexie (my little sister's dog that I have dognapped for the time being.) She's been great company since Brett is gone all day most days and she also forces me to actually go outside and walk for at least 30 minutes a day.
I realize this is a short post, but we'll have more updates later. I just wanted to get the good news documented.
Monday, September 28, 2009
It has been a while since we last blogged. I might feel bad if there was something to actually be blogged about. Though we both agree that this has easily been one of the longest months of our lives.
Since the housing market crash and all the foreclosures, many people in Monterey have begun to rent. This puts quite a strain on the already difficult (and expensive) rental market. Since technically school is done in December, we were looking for a place to stay only through the end of the year. Nothin doin. The rental agencies have gotten wise. Minimum one year leases are the new norm, and all rentals have gone up about $200 a month since a year ago. Bummer.
We finally found a place that would let us go month to month right away. But it needed a serious scrubbing down. I literally bleached the walls and ceilings of this place. When one does this, it is best to wear gloves. Extended exposure to bleach can open up some pretty gnarly sores on a person's hand. But the new apartment is doing the trick. And it's only a 5 minute walk to the beach.
Other notable occurrences in this last month were the anti-nationalized health care protests in Monterey. Lots of people were protesting Obama and his proposal with slogans on big white poster boards. Except for one rascal. One grizzled protester had a tattered cardboard sign that just said "Quit Lying, Bro." He is obviously light-years ahead of the political dialogue in this country.
I can't believe that is the most memorable thing from this last month.
Lindsey's belly is growing out of control. I swear it was like I woke up one morning and our little guy just decided to thrust his presence on the world. But she is such a pretty little pregnant woman. Three more months and our band of gypsies grows by one. Unreal.
There might not be any more posts until then... because we're lazy people.
Since the housing market crash and all the foreclosures, many people in Monterey have begun to rent. This puts quite a strain on the already difficult (and expensive) rental market. Since technically school is done in December, we were looking for a place to stay only through the end of the year. Nothin doin. The rental agencies have gotten wise. Minimum one year leases are the new norm, and all rentals have gone up about $200 a month since a year ago. Bummer.
We finally found a place that would let us go month to month right away. But it needed a serious scrubbing down. I literally bleached the walls and ceilings of this place. When one does this, it is best to wear gloves. Extended exposure to bleach can open up some pretty gnarly sores on a person's hand. But the new apartment is doing the trick. And it's only a 5 minute walk to the beach.
Other notable occurrences in this last month were the anti-nationalized health care protests in Monterey. Lots of people were protesting Obama and his proposal with slogans on big white poster boards. Except for one rascal. One grizzled protester had a tattered cardboard sign that just said "Quit Lying, Bro." He is obviously light-years ahead of the political dialogue in this country.
I can't believe that is the most memorable thing from this last month.
Lindsey's belly is growing out of control. I swear it was like I woke up one morning and our little guy just decided to thrust his presence on the world. But she is such a pretty little pregnant woman. Three more months and our band of gypsies grows by one. Unreal.
There might not be any more posts until then... because we're lazy people.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Home
So I didn't write anything before I left. There are many complex reasons for for this, but mostly it's because I didn't want to.
Growing up I never was able to go over seas or "do" Europe on my summer breaks. So this last year around the world, and especially this last 6 months in Austria, has been without precedent. This will be a short summation of Europe through Brett's eyes.
Firstly, I have always been a big fan of stereotypes. Anyone who knows me knows that. I find they are a shortcut to the truth. Being an American, I have collected many preconceptions about Europe and its inhabitants throughout my life - many of them thanks to The Simpsons. I am proud to report that everything you have read on the internet and seen on TV about Europe is true.
The most pronounced feature of Europe by far is the smell. While we like to joke about smelly Europeans and how they don't shower, etc., I can honestly report that I have never had a stereotype confirmed in such an aggressive way. Hot summer days on unconditioned subway cars make for some highly offensive commutes.
The second thing is the size. Everything in Europe is small. I had about 6 inches of wiggle room in our little shower. So I could hardly move without bumping the faucet handle and turning the water off, turning it to scald, or turning it so freeze. Whereas in America the shower is a good place to relax, get warm and give yourself a good scrub-down, in Europe it is a constant battle against your own body mass. I suppose this reality might be a factor in the previous observation.
Lastly - the styles. Europeans loves wearing scarves. They wear scarves as long as humanly possible before they sweat to death. And mullets. The mullets in Europe are like a thing of the future. The really stylish kids all have mullets. In fact, the regular mullet is just a starting point. Anyone who considers themselves totally sweet has at least the basic mullet. But it's how you improve on the basic model that really proves your worth. To be taken seriously one must have some tight jeans with all kinds of pockets and zippers on them, and a mullet with some serious razzle dazzle.
That's all I feel I can say about that right now. So on to my feelings about fatherhood.
I am not actually sure I've come to terms with the fact that Lindsey is pregnant. I know there is something kicking around in her belly, because I've felt it. And I know that it is growing, because I can see it. But that's about all the reality that has hit me so far. As for being a father - who even knows how to prepare for a thing like that. I guess I'll not leave out sharp objects as much and try to watch my cursing as best I can. But I just know that the whole gush of fatherhood's realities are going to hit me as soon as I actually see the thing for the first time. Until then, I really don't even know what to say about it.
Also, we really don't know what to name him... so suggestions are welcome.
It's good to be back in AZ.
Growing up I never was able to go over seas or "do" Europe on my summer breaks. So this last year around the world, and especially this last 6 months in Austria, has been without precedent. This will be a short summation of Europe through Brett's eyes.
Firstly, I have always been a big fan of stereotypes. Anyone who knows me knows that. I find they are a shortcut to the truth. Being an American, I have collected many preconceptions about Europe and its inhabitants throughout my life - many of them thanks to The Simpsons. I am proud to report that everything you have read on the internet and seen on TV about Europe is true.
The most pronounced feature of Europe by far is the smell. While we like to joke about smelly Europeans and how they don't shower, etc., I can honestly report that I have never had a stereotype confirmed in such an aggressive way. Hot summer days on unconditioned subway cars make for some highly offensive commutes.
The second thing is the size. Everything in Europe is small. I had about 6 inches of wiggle room in our little shower. So I could hardly move without bumping the faucet handle and turning the water off, turning it to scald, or turning it so freeze. Whereas in America the shower is a good place to relax, get warm and give yourself a good scrub-down, in Europe it is a constant battle against your own body mass. I suppose this reality might be a factor in the previous observation.
Lastly - the styles. Europeans loves wearing scarves. They wear scarves as long as humanly possible before they sweat to death. And mullets. The mullets in Europe are like a thing of the future. The really stylish kids all have mullets. In fact, the regular mullet is just a starting point. Anyone who considers themselves totally sweet has at least the basic mullet. But it's how you improve on the basic model that really proves your worth. To be taken seriously one must have some tight jeans with all kinds of pockets and zippers on them, and a mullet with some serious razzle dazzle.
That's all I feel I can say about that right now. So on to my feelings about fatherhood.
I am not actually sure I've come to terms with the fact that Lindsey is pregnant. I know there is something kicking around in her belly, because I've felt it. And I know that it is growing, because I can see it. But that's about all the reality that has hit me so far. As for being a father - who even knows how to prepare for a thing like that. I guess I'll not leave out sharp objects as much and try to watch my cursing as best I can. But I just know that the whole gush of fatherhood's realities are going to hit me as soon as I actually see the thing for the first time. Until then, I really don't even know what to say about it.
Also, we really don't know what to name him... so suggestions are welcome.
It's good to be back in AZ.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Francy Pants
Lindsey and I went to Paris for three days or so. We are not going to spend any time blogging about it because anybody can already guess everything that we did and saw when we were there. Guess what? There were palaces, cathedrals, a river, and tasty local cuisine...
Here are the pics from the event.
We will be home from Europe on Tuesday. But before we come back, I plan on writing a final treatise on our European adventure, and how I feel about fatherhood. I'll also include some personal thoughts on soon becoming a dad. Stay tuned...
!!!
Here are the pics from the event.We will be home from Europe on Tuesday. But before we come back, I plan on writing a final treatise on our European adventure, and how I feel about fatherhood. I'll also include some personal thoughts on soon becoming a dad. Stay tuned...
!!!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Salzburg
I just want to state for the record that I now understand why Maria was traipsing around the hills of Salzburg singing.
Case in point:
(Also, doesn't Brett take nice pictures?)
We didn't have a lot of time to hang out in Salzburg, so we basically just wandered around the downtown area, checked out where they filmed parts of The Sound of Music, and we tried to go to the Eagle's Nest on our last day. Unfortunately you can't drive up to it and it was 15 Euros a piece to take the bus up there and that doesn't include the tour that you have to pay for if you want to go inside. Sure, we could have walked up to the building, but that would have been two hours of walking and although I'm in the best shape of my life right now, we didn't have time for that because we had to get our rental car back to Vienna. (Please tell me you know I was being sarcastic about the "best shape of my life" comment.) At least the view from up there was worth the drive.
Somehow I don't think Hitler ever sat back and enjoyed the view though...
Here is a picture of me and Brett by the river (and you can kind of see my baby bump).
Schloss Mirabel is where they filmed the Do, Re, Mi scene. So obviously I had to walk around the whole place singing the song... although as it turns out, having only seen the movie once I didn't really know all of the words. Is there more to it than the Do a deer, a female deer, Re a drop of golden sun, etc.? The world may never know.
We also visited the palace where they shot some of the exterior shots of the Von Trapp home. Here we discovered the "Sixteen going on Seventeen" gazebo from the movie, but Brett was too disappointed with it to take a picture. (Apparently all of the interior shots of the gazebo, including the dancing, was shot on a sound stage in California. And this particular gazebo is locked up because according to imdb, "the public had to be excluded from the interior because film fans who were considerably older than 'sixteen going on seventeen' were injuring themselves while trying to dance along the seats.") So here's just a random picture from the palace.
We also hiked up to what we thought was the stone theater they used in the movie. It didn't turn out to be THE stone theater from the movie but it was A stone theater...
Our trip was short, but it was beautiful. We'll be home in less than two weeks and we can't wait! I am pretty sure that I'm going to put on at least 10 pounds in the first week after we get home though. I'm so excited to eat everything I've been dreaming about. (I literally dreamed about food all night last night. I guess that's what happens when you look at cooking and baking websites and blogs for too long. I just get so hungry sometimes!)
In conclusion, I don't know what this guy was playing, but he sure was good.
Case in point:
(Also, doesn't Brett take nice pictures?)
We didn't have a lot of time to hang out in Salzburg, so we basically just wandered around the downtown area, checked out where they filmed parts of The Sound of Music, and we tried to go to the Eagle's Nest on our last day. Unfortunately you can't drive up to it and it was 15 Euros a piece to take the bus up there and that doesn't include the tour that you have to pay for if you want to go inside. Sure, we could have walked up to the building, but that would have been two hours of walking and although I'm in the best shape of my life right now, we didn't have time for that because we had to get our rental car back to Vienna. (Please tell me you know I was being sarcastic about the "best shape of my life" comment.) At least the view from up there was worth the drive.
Somehow I don't think Hitler ever sat back and enjoyed the view though...
Here is a picture of me and Brett by the river (and you can kind of see my baby bump).
Schloss Mirabel is where they filmed the Do, Re, Mi scene. So obviously I had to walk around the whole place singing the song... although as it turns out, having only seen the movie once I didn't really know all of the words. Is there more to it than the Do a deer, a female deer, Re a drop of golden sun, etc.? The world may never know.
We also visited the palace where they shot some of the exterior shots of the Von Trapp home. Here we discovered the "Sixteen going on Seventeen" gazebo from the movie, but Brett was too disappointed with it to take a picture. (Apparently all of the interior shots of the gazebo, including the dancing, was shot on a sound stage in California. And this particular gazebo is locked up because according to imdb, "the public had to be excluded from the interior because film fans who were considerably older than 'sixteen going on seventeen' were injuring themselves while trying to dance along the seats.") So here's just a random picture from the palace.
We also hiked up to what we thought was the stone theater they used in the movie. It didn't turn out to be THE stone theater from the movie but it was A stone theater...
Our trip was short, but it was beautiful. We'll be home in less than two weeks and we can't wait! I am pretty sure that I'm going to put on at least 10 pounds in the first week after we get home though. I'm so excited to eat everything I've been dreaming about. (I literally dreamed about food all night last night. I guess that's what happens when you look at cooking and baking websites and blogs for too long. I just get so hungry sometimes!)
In conclusion, I don't know what this guy was playing, but he sure was good.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Red, White and BLUE
Over the last three years, Brett and I have had some pretty un-American 4th of July's. Three years ago, Brett and I were thousand's of miles apart, but both equally sweatty and miserable. Brett was in Middlebury, Vermont having a conversation with an FBI agent and anxiously waiting for the power to come back on, while I was in Arizona with my parents attempting to watch the fireworks but being forced to leave early because of my younger brother. This was probably the worst of the last three. (Oh and just in case you didn't know, Brett wasn't being interrogated or interviewed by the FBI agent or anything, he was just talking to a fellow student in the intensive summer Arabic program at Middlebury College.)
Last year, we were together, but we were also in Jordan. We actually did get to see some fireworks that night, but only because you can pretty much count on a fireworks show every night due to the ridiculously high amount of weddings in Jordan. We did manage to make the evening somewhat American with a rousing game of BANG! with some other Americans, but we were also getting over some food poisoning which makes life much less exciting.
This year, we tried again to make things as American as possible, starting our 4th of July with some "I'm Proud to be an American" and any other pro-America songs we could find. That night we went to TGI Friday's and ate some delicious hamburgers.
I love that they have this saying painted on the wall:
After the burgers, we walked down to the Rathaus (City Hall) to see what they were playing for the summer film festival. They really only play ballet's and opera's (it is Vienna after all) and I thought it would be nice to see a ballet, but it was a really weird one, and Brett can only handle so much anyway (he once took me to the Nutcracker for Christmas and could hardly stop giggling at the men in tights...) So after about a half hour, we went home.
On Sunday I decided to make a flag cake. According to my cake there were only 7 original colonies and 20 states, but that's ok, right?
The thing that makes this holiday even more difficult is hearing from family and friends about all the fun stuff that they are doing. Brett's family all headed up to Utah to get out of the heat and just hang out as a family. It broke our little American hearts every time we talked to them and saw how much fun they were having together. So hopefully next year we will be with family and friends in the good old USA. I always knew that I loved America, but living outside of the US has made me appreciate it even more.
As for why the blue in the title is capitalized... we found out on Wednesday that we are having a little boy. :) He was quite the little showman about it too. My mom not-so-secretly hoped I would have a girl first and Brett's mom and Caraline also thought I would have a girl, but I think everyone is happy either way. He's healthy and growing along like a champ. I already have a little bump and I can also already feel him moving around. Even the doctor was surprised that I could feel him moving already. She's also been surprised at his activity level the last two visits. Once when she was trying to get a clear picture of him for us to take home she said, "oh my goodness! He's dancing!" (She actually said "it's dancing" because this was before we knew it was a boy.) At any rate, he's very lively. I hope that he will settle down once he makes his debut into the world... To all the moms out there, do you think there is a correlation between a baby's activity level in the womb and their temperment once they are born?
I think that's about all the news I have for now. Sorry I haven't put up any pictures from the ultrasound's, but you all know what those look like, right? We're just happy that he's healthy and all is well. We also have some other things that we are looking forward to....
Harry Potter, anyone?
(This is my "over the moon" face)
After Harry, we're heading to Paris and then we're coming home, so all-in-all, things are good.
Last year, we were together, but we were also in Jordan. We actually did get to see some fireworks that night, but only because you can pretty much count on a fireworks show every night due to the ridiculously high amount of weddings in Jordan. We did manage to make the evening somewhat American with a rousing game of BANG! with some other Americans, but we were also getting over some food poisoning which makes life much less exciting.
This year, we tried again to make things as American as possible, starting our 4th of July with some "I'm Proud to be an American" and any other pro-America songs we could find. That night we went to TGI Friday's and ate some delicious hamburgers.
I love that they have this saying painted on the wall:
After the burgers, we walked down to the Rathaus (City Hall) to see what they were playing for the summer film festival. They really only play ballet's and opera's (it is Vienna after all) and I thought it would be nice to see a ballet, but it was a really weird one, and Brett can only handle so much anyway (he once took me to the Nutcracker for Christmas and could hardly stop giggling at the men in tights...) So after about a half hour, we went home.
On Sunday I decided to make a flag cake. According to my cake there were only 7 original colonies and 20 states, but that's ok, right?
The thing that makes this holiday even more difficult is hearing from family and friends about all the fun stuff that they are doing. Brett's family all headed up to Utah to get out of the heat and just hang out as a family. It broke our little American hearts every time we talked to them and saw how much fun they were having together. So hopefully next year we will be with family and friends in the good old USA. I always knew that I loved America, but living outside of the US has made me appreciate it even more.
As for why the blue in the title is capitalized... we found out on Wednesday that we are having a little boy. :) He was quite the little showman about it too. My mom not-so-secretly hoped I would have a girl first and Brett's mom and Caraline also thought I would have a girl, but I think everyone is happy either way. He's healthy and growing along like a champ. I already have a little bump and I can also already feel him moving around. Even the doctor was surprised that I could feel him moving already. She's also been surprised at his activity level the last two visits. Once when she was trying to get a clear picture of him for us to take home she said, "oh my goodness! He's dancing!" (She actually said "it's dancing" because this was before we knew it was a boy.) At any rate, he's very lively. I hope that he will settle down once he makes his debut into the world... To all the moms out there, do you think there is a correlation between a baby's activity level in the womb and their temperment once they are born?
I think that's about all the news I have for now. Sorry I haven't put up any pictures from the ultrasound's, but you all know what those look like, right? We're just happy that he's healthy and all is well. We also have some other things that we are looking forward to....
Harry Potter, anyone?
(This is my "over the moon" face)
After Harry, we're heading to Paris and then we're coming home, so all-in-all, things are good.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Birthdays
I realize that I am nearly a month late in posting this, but better late than never, right? So happy birthday, Brett! Poor Brett has spent his last two birthday's in foreign countries without much fanfare, but hopefully next year we will be in the U.S. where at the very least he can have a delicious birthday burrito. Here are just a few of the many things that I love about the birthday boy (and the photos don't necessarily correspond, I just wanted to add some photos of Brett):
1. Before we got married, I wasn't much of a "touchy-feely" person. Turns out I was just holding all of my touching in for one specific person, and he lets me squeeze and hug him as much as I want even though I think he probably gets sick of it sometimes.
2. We've spent a lot of time apart in our marriage, and I know it sounds strange, but I'm actually happy to know that it's difficult for him too. Sometimes I think he doesn't need me as much as I need him but then he sends me emails like this: "I just miss you so much and can't wait to get back home to you. Home is wherever my Lindsey is." (I hope he doesn't mind that I shared that...)
3. He can make me laugh even when I'm trying so hard to be mad at him. For example: I was having a bad day a while back and the house was a mess and I was mad at him for not automatically noticing how messy it was and cleaning it up (we women are crazy sometimes, I know). He could tell that I was upset, but he didn't know what to do. So I start angrily cleaning only to look over and see Brett frantically shuffling some papers and things around trying his hardest to look busy. He was too funny and cute to stay mad at.
4. Even though there are some things that I watch that he absolutely loathes (like Gilmore Girls and What I Like About You) he will let me watch them without complaint. He even sat down and had a Veronica Mars marathon with me one time.
5. He is always willing to help other people around him. This includes small things like holding doors open for people, giving people directions, or helping a woman with her luggage, to other bigger things like helping people move. Somehow every time we go home to AZ there is someone moving in his parent's Ward. He's always willing to go and help them.
6. Sometimes I make fun of him for it, but I actually love that he is a big nerd. I don't claim to understand some of the things he is studying in school, but I know that he has a passion for them and I know he will be great at applying his knowledge in the future. He's so smart! I hope our kids get his brains.
7. He always tells me I'm pretty. (I know it's vain, but what girl doesn't like to hear that?) Even though I sometimes spend entire days in my sweats with no makeup on and greasy hair, he still tells me I'm pretty.
8. I know that he would do anything for me.
9. He is incredibly self disciplined. The way that he continues to work on his language skills amazes me. Arabic is an especially tough language because to be fluent you have to know so many more words than you would in English. So he continues to work at it on his own every day.
10. I had a dream a few weeks ago that we had a little baby girl and she had Brett's green, squinty eyes. I love his eyes, especially when he smiles.
I will stop there, but there are so many other things that I love and adore about Brett.
And in other "birthday" news... I am due on December 12, which also happens to be Brett's graduation day. So that should be fun. At this point it looks like I will be having the baby in California because I don't really know how else to work the insurance stuff. At least now I know what I am getting Brett for a graduation present! :) Or I guess if the baby is late, he or she can be a Christmas present. Hopefully at our next appointment (on July 8th) we will be able to find out the sex of the baby, but we'll see. I'm still having the heartburn ickyness, but other than that, things seem to be OK. The baby also seems to be trying to make his or herself known by way of a bump. Maybe one day I'll take some pictures, or maybe I'll just wait to surprise you all when I get home. Then I'll really look like I have a little something going on.
Hope all is well in the U.S. We are both pretty excited to come home in about 40 days! (Yes, I'm counting the days) It's been a wonderful experience here, but I'm just about ready to come home. That's all for now!
1. Before we got married, I wasn't much of a "touchy-feely" person. Turns out I was just holding all of my touching in for one specific person, and he lets me squeeze and hug him as much as I want even though I think he probably gets sick of it sometimes.
2. We've spent a lot of time apart in our marriage, and I know it sounds strange, but I'm actually happy to know that it's difficult for him too. Sometimes I think he doesn't need me as much as I need him but then he sends me emails like this: "I just miss you so much and can't wait to get back home to you. Home is wherever my Lindsey is." (I hope he doesn't mind that I shared that...)
3. He can make me laugh even when I'm trying so hard to be mad at him. For example: I was having a bad day a while back and the house was a mess and I was mad at him for not automatically noticing how messy it was and cleaning it up (we women are crazy sometimes, I know). He could tell that I was upset, but he didn't know what to do. So I start angrily cleaning only to look over and see Brett frantically shuffling some papers and things around trying his hardest to look busy. He was too funny and cute to stay mad at.
4. Even though there are some things that I watch that he absolutely loathes (like Gilmore Girls and What I Like About You) he will let me watch them without complaint. He even sat down and had a Veronica Mars marathon with me one time.
5. He is always willing to help other people around him. This includes small things like holding doors open for people, giving people directions, or helping a woman with her luggage, to other bigger things like helping people move. Somehow every time we go home to AZ there is someone moving in his parent's Ward. He's always willing to go and help them.
6. Sometimes I make fun of him for it, but I actually love that he is a big nerd. I don't claim to understand some of the things he is studying in school, but I know that he has a passion for them and I know he will be great at applying his knowledge in the future. He's so smart! I hope our kids get his brains.
7. He always tells me I'm pretty. (I know it's vain, but what girl doesn't like to hear that?) Even though I sometimes spend entire days in my sweats with no makeup on and greasy hair, he still tells me I'm pretty.
8. I know that he would do anything for me.
9. He is incredibly self disciplined. The way that he continues to work on his language skills amazes me. Arabic is an especially tough language because to be fluent you have to know so many more words than you would in English. So he continues to work at it on his own every day.
10. I had a dream a few weeks ago that we had a little baby girl and she had Brett's green, squinty eyes. I love his eyes, especially when he smiles.
I will stop there, but there are so many other things that I love and adore about Brett.
And in other "birthday" news... I am due on December 12, which also happens to be Brett's graduation day. So that should be fun. At this point it looks like I will be having the baby in California because I don't really know how else to work the insurance stuff. At least now I know what I am getting Brett for a graduation present! :) Or I guess if the baby is late, he or she can be a Christmas present. Hopefully at our next appointment (on July 8th) we will be able to find out the sex of the baby, but we'll see. I'm still having the heartburn ickyness, but other than that, things seem to be OK. The baby also seems to be trying to make his or herself known by way of a bump. Maybe one day I'll take some pictures, or maybe I'll just wait to surprise you all when I get home. Then I'll really look like I have a little something going on.
Hope all is well in the U.S. We are both pretty excited to come home in about 40 days! (Yes, I'm counting the days) It's been a wonderful experience here, but I'm just about ready to come home. That's all for now!
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Pea Pod updates
Well since there has been a request for more baby news and I only aim to please, here's what I got:
First things first, is forgetfulness a part of pregnancy? You know how they (they being Dr. Ryuta Kawashima of Nintendo DS' Brain Age) say that when you are concentrating with intense focus, your brain will shut down access to senses you aren't using? Well, I think that my brain has shut off the "memory" function so as to focus on the Build-A-Bear workshop going on in my stomach. Secondly, I feel very blessed to have not experienced the throwing up part of pregnancy, however, heartburn has come at me full-force. Here in Austria the pharmacies don't allow you to just stroll willy-nilly around until you find the medicine you need, you have to actually speak to a pharmacist every time you go in. So the other day I tried to ask for Tums or something for heartburn, but I don't think she understood me. The good news is Brett works for a UN organization that has an area complete with American type things, like cheddar cheese and Tums, only the latter of which I hope to consume. Thirdly, I went to get my blood tests done last week and although the nurse who took my blood didn't speak English, I think we got along just fine. She would gesture, I would nod, and really, getting your blood drawn is pretty straight forward, assuming that the nurse knows what she's doing. Unfortunately when it came time for my results, there was no one to gesture, nod, or speak broken English to me. So basically I have a piece of paper that indicates I'm low in 2 areas, but which ones, who knows? I have another appointment with my doctor at the beginning of June, so hopefully she will make sense of things for me.
In other related news, Austria is a hard place to be when you're sense of smell is heightened. Brett said that it's like I have a super power or something, but I can tell you there's nothing super about getting on the subway with a bunch of stinky people practically breathing on you. Why is deoderant still not hip here? Oh well. I seriously spend most of my time at home hanging out, watching cheesy movies, and working. It's a nice set up.
My last thought is that I'm really glad that everyone says I'm really going to love my own kids. I didn't grow up playing with dolls, and the idea of having kids was one that took a while to grow on me. I wasn't the type of girl that gushed over babies or wanted to hold every one that I saw. Don't get me wrong, I love my nieces and nephews and think my friends have some of the cutest kids ever, but the idea of having my own used to really freak me out. I think just like marriage, having kids is a very personal thing and there is no specific time/age to do said things that works for everyone. But for me and Brett, we know that this is the right time and that everything will work out.
To keep from having a blog with no pictures, here are a couple:
Me and my dad when my parents came to visit:
Me and Brett at his office:
Oh and FYI, I'm almost 12 weeks along. That's what everyone really wants to know, right?
First things first, is forgetfulness a part of pregnancy? You know how they (they being Dr. Ryuta Kawashima of Nintendo DS' Brain Age) say that when you are concentrating with intense focus, your brain will shut down access to senses you aren't using? Well, I think that my brain has shut off the "memory" function so as to focus on the Build-A-Bear workshop going on in my stomach. Secondly, I feel very blessed to have not experienced the throwing up part of pregnancy, however, heartburn has come at me full-force. Here in Austria the pharmacies don't allow you to just stroll willy-nilly around until you find the medicine you need, you have to actually speak to a pharmacist every time you go in. So the other day I tried to ask for Tums or something for heartburn, but I don't think she understood me. The good news is Brett works for a UN organization that has an area complete with American type things, like cheddar cheese and Tums, only the latter of which I hope to consume. Thirdly, I went to get my blood tests done last week and although the nurse who took my blood didn't speak English, I think we got along just fine. She would gesture, I would nod, and really, getting your blood drawn is pretty straight forward, assuming that the nurse knows what she's doing. Unfortunately when it came time for my results, there was no one to gesture, nod, or speak broken English to me. So basically I have a piece of paper that indicates I'm low in 2 areas, but which ones, who knows? I have another appointment with my doctor at the beginning of June, so hopefully she will make sense of things for me.
In other related news, Austria is a hard place to be when you're sense of smell is heightened. Brett said that it's like I have a super power or something, but I can tell you there's nothing super about getting on the subway with a bunch of stinky people practically breathing on you. Why is deoderant still not hip here? Oh well. I seriously spend most of my time at home hanging out, watching cheesy movies, and working. It's a nice set up.
My last thought is that I'm really glad that everyone says I'm really going to love my own kids. I didn't grow up playing with dolls, and the idea of having kids was one that took a while to grow on me. I wasn't the type of girl that gushed over babies or wanted to hold every one that I saw. Don't get me wrong, I love my nieces and nephews and think my friends have some of the cutest kids ever, but the idea of having my own used to really freak me out. I think just like marriage, having kids is a very personal thing and there is no specific time/age to do said things that works for everyone. But for me and Brett, we know that this is the right time and that everything will work out.
To keep from having a blog with no pictures, here are a couple:
Me and my dad when my parents came to visit:
Me and Brett at his office:
Oh and FYI, I'm almost 12 weeks along. That's what everyone really wants to know, right?
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Budapest
Firstly, and most importantly, Lindsey is doing well. She has not been vomiting, nor attempting to claw my eyes out, but we still have a few months of pregnancy to go. She will tell you that being away from American restaurants is excruciatingly difficult during this critical period of pregnancy. Unfortunately Chipotle, Cafe Rio, Pizza Hut, Rumbi and Little Caesar's are unavailable.
We had an ultrasound over a week ago and saw our baby. By analyzing the pulsing sounds and images of the little heart, we were able to confirm that our firstborn's heart indeed beats for America. So all is well and we found a very good doctor who speaks perfect English. She also worked in the US for quite a long time as an OB/GYN.
Now, what can be said about Budapest? It is located in Hungary, which is another one of those former Soviet states. It is the third former Soviet country that we have visited since our arrival in Europe over three months ago. Much like Slovakia, Hungary has some visible lasting affects from communism. Not least among these is the feeling that if someone sneezes too hard, several blocks of rickety old buildings will come tumbling to the ground.
One thing that was surprising to see was the people in Budapest - the actual Hungarians. We didn't really know what to expect to see once we arrived. We figured it would have been similar to Bratislava where we were greeted at the train station by a pregnant, gollum-esque woman who was enjoying what was probably one of many cigarettes during her day.
I had assumed all Hungarians were gnarled old women with scarves on their heads and whose knobby knuckles protruded as they clutched crooked walking sticks (needless to say we decided well in advance not to accept any shiny apples from strangers). But despite their super weird language, Hungarians are quite excellent and beautiful people as far as we can tell.
One quick interjection/observation before we continue with this thing. This one is about Europe in general. When we return from our little Euro excursions, people often ask what the place is like and what we saw when we were there. We have noticed that usually no matter what city we visited, our answer to this question is generally the same. It goes like this: "It was fun, there's really cool old architecture, we went to a castle, we saw a cathedral, and we ate (name of local cuisine) at the banks of the (name of river).
Now, don't misunderstand. Europe is not necessarily boring, but we have noticed that each city has the same basic category of sights to be taken in. Furthermore, if any city has been an exception (well, that's not exactly the right word... how about 'enhancement') to this, it has been London. London has all the aforementioned and much, much more. Anyway, that's just an observation. Back to Budapest.
The Andersons were with us on this excursion. They came to Vienna to visit us and to travel around a bit. They also came with peanut butter M&Ms and Costco trail mix. Lindsey and our little embryo were equally thrilled. We stayed at a luxury hotel on the banks of the Danube (courtesy of the Andersons) and took in every reasonable sight in the town. The highlights of which were, get ready, St Stephen's Cathedral, the castle district, and the architecture of the parliament building. All of which are pictured here:
We're glad to be back in Vienna and can't believe our time here is more than half way finished. There is still so much we want to see in the next 2.5 months. But if we can manage to see Paris and nothing else between now and when we go, we'll call it good.
We had an ultrasound over a week ago and saw our baby. By analyzing the pulsing sounds and images of the little heart, we were able to confirm that our firstborn's heart indeed beats for America. So all is well and we found a very good doctor who speaks perfect English. She also worked in the US for quite a long time as an OB/GYN.
Now, what can be said about Budapest? It is located in Hungary, which is another one of those former Soviet states. It is the third former Soviet country that we have visited since our arrival in Europe over three months ago. Much like Slovakia, Hungary has some visible lasting affects from communism. Not least among these is the feeling that if someone sneezes too hard, several blocks of rickety old buildings will come tumbling to the ground.
One thing that was surprising to see was the people in Budapest - the actual Hungarians. We didn't really know what to expect to see once we arrived. We figured it would have been similar to Bratislava where we were greeted at the train station by a pregnant, gollum-esque woman who was enjoying what was probably one of many cigarettes during her day.
I had assumed all Hungarians were gnarled old women with scarves on their heads and whose knobby knuckles protruded as they clutched crooked walking sticks (needless to say we decided well in advance not to accept any shiny apples from strangers). But despite their super weird language, Hungarians are quite excellent and beautiful people as far as we can tell.
One quick interjection/observation before we continue with this thing. This one is about Europe in general. When we return from our little Euro excursions, people often ask what the place is like and what we saw when we were there. We have noticed that usually no matter what city we visited, our answer to this question is generally the same. It goes like this: "It was fun, there's really cool old architecture, we went to a castle, we saw a cathedral, and we ate (name of local cuisine) at the banks of the (name of river).
Now, don't misunderstand. Europe is not necessarily boring, but we have noticed that each city has the same basic category of sights to be taken in. Furthermore, if any city has been an exception (well, that's not exactly the right word... how about 'enhancement') to this, it has been London. London has all the aforementioned and much, much more. Anyway, that's just an observation. Back to Budapest.
The Andersons were with us on this excursion. They came to Vienna to visit us and to travel around a bit. They also came with peanut butter M&Ms and Costco trail mix. Lindsey and our little embryo were equally thrilled. We stayed at a luxury hotel on the banks of the Danube (courtesy of the Andersons) and took in every reasonable sight in the town. The highlights of which were, get ready, St Stephen's Cathedral, the castle district, and the architecture of the parliament building. All of which are pictured here:
We're glad to be back in Vienna and can't believe our time here is more than half way finished. There is still so much we want to see in the next 2.5 months. But if we can manage to see Paris and nothing else between now and when we go, we'll call it good.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
The Pitter-Patter of a little Lindsey or Brett
Well first of all, Brett and I have now been married for four years! Can you believe it? I certainly can't. Time really does fly by. Before we got married, I honestly didn't know exactly what to expect (does anyone really?). My mom made sure to let me know that marriage was not always easy, but I still didn't know how hard it could sometimes be. Fortunately along with all the struggles and difficult times come wonderful, fun, and amazing times. I am so grateful to be married to Brett. He never ceases to amaze me with how smart, funny, and sweet he is. It's also nice that he is so willing to put up with me. We've seen a lot together over these four years and we've grown so close. I can't imagine my life without him.
Now, as you may have heard or guessed by the title of this blog, we recently discovered I'm pregnant. I had been feeling sick since we got back from London and I had missed my period (sorry for the personal detail), which actually isn't that uncommon, but I just had a feeling that something was different this time. So I went and got a pregnancy test (without telling Brett). The test that I got was all in German and it was a digital test that said Schwanger (pregnant) or Nicht Schwanger (not pregnant) instead of the little +/- or whatever. After I waited that ridiculously long 3 minutes, it said schwanger and I had a momentary freak out by myself in the bathroom before I came into the bedroom to tell Brett. When I first walked in, I just stared at him not knowing exactly what to say. Then he said, "what? what's going on?" I replied, "I'm schwanger!" Of course he didn't know what I meant, so I said, "I'm pregnant." He didn't believe me at first and kept saying "no you're not." Actually, here's a better representation of his reaction to the news:
So I brought in the test to show it to him.
(This picture is actually from the second test that Brett wanted me to take, and as you'll notice it says that I'm at least 3+ weeks along)
Then we both freaked out for a while. We're excited, but we were also caught off guard as we were not planning this at all. We just found a doctor so I have an appointment in about a week, so I'll be able to get a better idea of all those questions that people want to know, like "how far along are you?" and "when are you due?" I did one of those online things that is supposed to calculate your due date and it said Dec. 12, but I don't know about that.... so we'll see. I feel sick pretty much all day long, but I haven't thrown up yet, so I guess that's good. One thing that is super annoying is that I keep craving foods from restaurants that don't exist here. I get so hungry, but I only want certain things... things that I can't have. Oh well. I'll try not to think about Cafe Rio, Chipotle, the Euro Cafe, Joe's Real BBQ or the Mint Thai. Dang it.
In conclusion, I bought some Popsicles the other day only to discover that one of them came with a complimentary wood shard. Talk about a lawsuit waiting to happen! What a tasty lawsuit though.
Now, as you may have heard or guessed by the title of this blog, we recently discovered I'm pregnant. I had been feeling sick since we got back from London and I had missed my period (sorry for the personal detail), which actually isn't that uncommon, but I just had a feeling that something was different this time. So I went and got a pregnancy test (without telling Brett). The test that I got was all in German and it was a digital test that said Schwanger (pregnant) or Nicht Schwanger (not pregnant) instead of the little +/- or whatever. After I waited that ridiculously long 3 minutes, it said schwanger and I had a momentary freak out by myself in the bathroom before I came into the bedroom to tell Brett. When I first walked in, I just stared at him not knowing exactly what to say. Then he said, "what? what's going on?" I replied, "I'm schwanger!" Of course he didn't know what I meant, so I said, "I'm pregnant." He didn't believe me at first and kept saying "no you're not." Actually, here's a better representation of his reaction to the news:
So I brought in the test to show it to him.
(This picture is actually from the second test that Brett wanted me to take, and as you'll notice it says that I'm at least 3+ weeks along)
Then we both freaked out for a while. We're excited, but we were also caught off guard as we were not planning this at all. We just found a doctor so I have an appointment in about a week, so I'll be able to get a better idea of all those questions that people want to know, like "how far along are you?" and "when are you due?" I did one of those online things that is supposed to calculate your due date and it said Dec. 12, but I don't know about that.... so we'll see. I feel sick pretty much all day long, but I haven't thrown up yet, so I guess that's good. One thing that is super annoying is that I keep craving foods from restaurants that don't exist here. I get so hungry, but I only want certain things... things that I can't have. Oh well. I'll try not to think about Cafe Rio, Chipotle, the Euro Cafe, Joe's Real BBQ or the Mint Thai. Dang it.
In conclusion, I bought some Popsicles the other day only to discover that one of them came with a complimentary wood shard. Talk about a lawsuit waiting to happen! What a tasty lawsuit though.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Merry Old London
Lindsey here. Brett said he's done with his blogging duties for a while. So I guess you'll have to live with my less-funny, probably less frequent blogs from here on out. Sorry.
Here in Europe they actually take time off from work to celebrate Easter. So Brett had a Friday and Monday off of work, so obviously we decided he should also take the Wednesday and Thursday before that off so that we could go to London. The cheapest flights we found were out of Bratislava, if you're unfamiliar with the place, see our previous post. The airline is called Ryanair and it comes complete with no seating arrangements and some of the classiest Europeans you'll find. You know the types... just imagine that Europe had Wal Mart, that's where you'd find all of these people. You know they type... They're not intimidated by lines, because they don't stand in them. And they are not afraid to run or push you out of the way for a better deal, or in this case a better seat or to be one step ahead of you getting off the plane.
After a long and gross day of buses, planes, and "tubes" as they call them in London, we finally arrived at our hotel in London. After we got settled in, we went to check out the City and grab something to eat. We were fortunate to arrive on a very sunny day and this was literally the first thing we saw once we got into the city via Westminster station:
Then we went in search of food. London is a little pricy and we didn't know where anything was so we ended up eating at McDonald's. Before that, I honestly can't remember the last time I ate at a McDonald's. For some reason I think that a lot of American's who opt to not eat at McDonald's in the states end up eating it in foreign countries though, so whatever.
We covered a lot of ground that first day. Here are some pictures:
That night the wireless internet at our hotel wasn't working and I had a deadline and Brett had to get a hold of his friend (we were supposed to be meeting up with her the next day). So we took our little laptop and set out in search of an internet cafe. Now, first let me say that we were staying on the outskirts of town (much cheaper that way) and secondly, London is not as big on internet cafe's apparently. So after much searching and walking, we ended up at McDonald's for a second time. Who ever would have guessed we'd eat there twice in one day? Well, they were the only place with wireless internet, so we were grateful.
The next day we wandered around the city some more and then met up with Brett's friend, Nicola, for lunch. She's a Londoner who was attending the Monterey Institute and who also spent last summer in Syria. So this was actually the third country we've seen her in. After lunch we wandered around some more and checked out some shops. That was pretty much that day.
The next day we decided we were going to do our "Hop on/Hop off" tour. Basically they are these buses that drive around and make stops at all the popular tourist spots. So you can get on and off at any time. It's a pretty sweet deal. A favorite on this day was the Tower of London. It's a castle on the shores of the Thames. It's more famous as the place where greats like Ann Boleyn and William Wallace were executed. Speaking of that Boleyn girl, they had a Henry VIII exhibit going on at the time. Henry the 8th was an all around gross person. Here's a taste of the tower he once occupied:
While we were there, one of our objectives was for Brett to eat bangers and mash and fish & chips. Well, we at least accomplished half of that objective by getting him the fish & chips. And I ate all the salt & vinegar chips I could handle.
This blog is starting to get long, so I'll try to wrap things up...
Basically we saw all we could including Trafalgar Square, the National Gallery (complete with some actual Rembrandt, Van Gogh, and Picasso paintings), the London Eye, the Imperial War Museum, Abbey Road, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, some of the beautiful parks, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some other things... But we walked till our feet hurt every day and I even talked Brett into seeing a show. Our last night there we went and saw Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. It was actually really awesome and I think Brett even liked it. :)
You can a better feel for the whole experience by checking out our 150+ pictures here.
We left Sunday morning ridiculously early and took Monday to recuperate from the trip. In conclusion, it was awesome and I highly suggest going.
Here in Europe they actually take time off from work to celebrate Easter. So Brett had a Friday and Monday off of work, so obviously we decided he should also take the Wednesday and Thursday before that off so that we could go to London. The cheapest flights we found were out of Bratislava, if you're unfamiliar with the place, see our previous post. The airline is called Ryanair and it comes complete with no seating arrangements and some of the classiest Europeans you'll find. You know the types... just imagine that Europe had Wal Mart, that's where you'd find all of these people. You know they type... They're not intimidated by lines, because they don't stand in them. And they are not afraid to run or push you out of the way for a better deal, or in this case a better seat or to be one step ahead of you getting off the plane.
After a long and gross day of buses, planes, and "tubes" as they call them in London, we finally arrived at our hotel in London. After we got settled in, we went to check out the City and grab something to eat. We were fortunate to arrive on a very sunny day and this was literally the first thing we saw once we got into the city via Westminster station:
Then we went in search of food. London is a little pricy and we didn't know where anything was so we ended up eating at McDonald's. Before that, I honestly can't remember the last time I ate at a McDonald's. For some reason I think that a lot of American's who opt to not eat at McDonald's in the states end up eating it in foreign countries though, so whatever.
We covered a lot of ground that first day. Here are some pictures:
That night the wireless internet at our hotel wasn't working and I had a deadline and Brett had to get a hold of his friend (we were supposed to be meeting up with her the next day). So we took our little laptop and set out in search of an internet cafe. Now, first let me say that we were staying on the outskirts of town (much cheaper that way) and secondly, London is not as big on internet cafe's apparently. So after much searching and walking, we ended up at McDonald's for a second time. Who ever would have guessed we'd eat there twice in one day? Well, they were the only place with wireless internet, so we were grateful.
The next day we wandered around the city some more and then met up with Brett's friend, Nicola, for lunch. She's a Londoner who was attending the Monterey Institute and who also spent last summer in Syria. So this was actually the third country we've seen her in. After lunch we wandered around some more and checked out some shops. That was pretty much that day.
The next day we decided we were going to do our "Hop on/Hop off" tour. Basically they are these buses that drive around and make stops at all the popular tourist spots. So you can get on and off at any time. It's a pretty sweet deal. A favorite on this day was the Tower of London. It's a castle on the shores of the Thames. It's more famous as the place where greats like Ann Boleyn and William Wallace were executed. Speaking of that Boleyn girl, they had a Henry VIII exhibit going on at the time. Henry the 8th was an all around gross person. Here's a taste of the tower he once occupied:
While we were there, one of our objectives was for Brett to eat bangers and mash and fish & chips. Well, we at least accomplished half of that objective by getting him the fish & chips. And I ate all the salt & vinegar chips I could handle.
This blog is starting to get long, so I'll try to wrap things up...
Basically we saw all we could including Trafalgar Square, the National Gallery (complete with some actual Rembrandt, Van Gogh, and Picasso paintings), the London Eye, the Imperial War Museum, Abbey Road, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, some of the beautiful parks, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some other things... But we walked till our feet hurt every day and I even talked Brett into seeing a show. Our last night there we went and saw Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. It was actually really awesome and I think Brett even liked it. :)
You can a better feel for the whole experience by checking out our 150+ pictures here.
We left Sunday morning ridiculously early and took Monday to recuperate from the trip. In conclusion, it was awesome and I highly suggest going.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Tombstones and Bleeding Hearts for Bratislava
We wish to inform you that since our last post, the weather has taken an extreme turn for the awesome-er. This has exponentially increased our ability to be tourists. So our obvious first tourist stop when the weather started getting cheery - was the cemetery. The Vienna central cemetery boasts some of the most famous (and infamous) corpses of all time. The main reason we were interested in going was to reconnect with our classy roots by paying respect to Beethoven. Obviously the best way to show respect for the dead is to physically embrace their headstone.
This is actually Ludwig's second tomb. His body was moved there in 1888 along with composer Mr Franz Schubert. I'll bet they're really glad that they are homies 4 life, and 4 death. They now share a quiet little corner of the cemetery with other classical cats like Brahms and Falco. But somehow I don't feel like Falco belongs in this group. What do you think?
Other notables in the cemetery include basically every statesman from Austria, as well as the professor who rejected Hitler's art school application thus forcing America to use nuclear weapons against Japan (non sequitur stolen from a Brian Regan joke). All in all it was a fun day thanks to some German friends who invited us along for the afternoon. Ze Germans were especially helpful when a nice Austrian tour guide began pointing out (in his native language) the final resting places of interesting people. Two months in this country really has not done wonders for our German language ability. We were glad to have willing translators.
Our gloomy adventures continued yesterday when we visited the former Soviet land of Slovakia. Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, is a mere 60km from Vienna. Even though we had already visited the former Soviet Union once (Czech Republic), this was the first time we really experienced the remnants of communism. The city is basically divided by the Danube river. On the west side of the river is the beautiful and historic city center as well as the old Bratislava castle. On the east side of the river is this:
It is Soviet bloc housing as far as the eye can see. You can get a better sense of what it looks like by opening the image in a new window and viewing it full size. It is interesting to think that a truly international city like Vienna was a mere 40 miles away from the edge of the iron curtain.
But to say that it was all gloom is inaccurate. It was actually a beautiful day outside and we spent time in the fun little historic district where people sell their crafts and play their accordions. What also made it a good time was the company. We went with a couple that we met here. Luckily one of them speaks fluent German. So between the four of us, nobody still had any idea how to read the Slovak street signs. You can see all the pictures from our Bratislava adventure here. Seeing these kinds of things really makes one glad to have been born into favorable conditions.
This week we are taking off for London! We hope to find out if Bob really is our uncle, and what the heck "bangers and mash" is. We were surprised to learn that, despite the general lack of religiosity in Europe, most countries here have a four-day weekend at Easter (Friday through Monday). So we are doing the American thing and turning that four-day weekend into a six-day one. We leave Wednesday for merry old London, return Easter Sunday, and then we'll obviously use Monday, the last day of our vacation, to blog our experiences and our feelings.
We're also taking suggestions on where to go next (after London), so send us a comment if you think you know what we should be seeing while we're here.
Finally, here is another random picture of Vienna:
This is actually Ludwig's second tomb. His body was moved there in 1888 along with composer Mr Franz Schubert. I'll bet they're really glad that they are homies 4 life, and 4 death. They now share a quiet little corner of the cemetery with other classical cats like Brahms and Falco. But somehow I don't feel like Falco belongs in this group. What do you think?
Other notables in the cemetery include basically every statesman from Austria, as well as the professor who rejected Hitler's art school application thus forcing America to use nuclear weapons against Japan (non sequitur stolen from a Brian Regan joke). All in all it was a fun day thanks to some German friends who invited us along for the afternoon. Ze Germans were especially helpful when a nice Austrian tour guide began pointing out (in his native language) the final resting places of interesting people. Two months in this country really has not done wonders for our German language ability. We were glad to have willing translators.
Our gloomy adventures continued yesterday when we visited the former Soviet land of Slovakia. Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, is a mere 60km from Vienna. Even though we had already visited the former Soviet Union once (Czech Republic), this was the first time we really experienced the remnants of communism. The city is basically divided by the Danube river. On the west side of the river is the beautiful and historic city center as well as the old Bratislava castle. On the east side of the river is this:
It is Soviet bloc housing as far as the eye can see. You can get a better sense of what it looks like by opening the image in a new window and viewing it full size. It is interesting to think that a truly international city like Vienna was a mere 40 miles away from the edge of the iron curtain.
But to say that it was all gloom is inaccurate. It was actually a beautiful day outside and we spent time in the fun little historic district where people sell their crafts and play their accordions. What also made it a good time was the company. We went with a couple that we met here. Luckily one of them speaks fluent German. So between the four of us, nobody still had any idea how to read the Slovak street signs. You can see all the pictures from our Bratislava adventure here. Seeing these kinds of things really makes one glad to have been born into favorable conditions.
This week we are taking off for London! We hope to find out if Bob really is our uncle, and what the heck "bangers and mash" is. We were surprised to learn that, despite the general lack of religiosity in Europe, most countries here have a four-day weekend at Easter (Friday through Monday). So we are doing the American thing and turning that four-day weekend into a six-day one. We leave Wednesday for merry old London, return Easter Sunday, and then we'll obviously use Monday, the last day of our vacation, to blog our experiences and our feelings.
We're also taking suggestions on where to go next (after London), so send us a comment if you think you know what we should be seeing while we're here.
Finally, here is another random picture of Vienna:
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Updates
These last two weeks have been pretty low key, but we have been able to get out and see a little bit more of this great city. We explored the oldest parts of Vienna hoping to see some ghosts from WWII - but all we really saw was this creepazoid who invented the printing press. Behold Gutenberg:
So if you have ever felt guilty for not diligently reading your bible, you can blame this guy. He is the one who made mass production of the text possible.
We have really gotten to like this city. It has a lot to offer: great architecture, pastries, operas, drunk Turkish people singing songs at train stops etc. But by far one of the most magical things we have done here is skating at the Rathaus (pronounced "Rat House" [by Brett]). The rats were nice enough to set up a cool skating rink in front of the big city hall. We have posted pics of this previously, but this time we went and actually skated. Check this out:
Now, we understand that it has been beautiful weather back home in AZ. And to that, we would just like to inform you that in Vienna last Thursday mother nature dropped the biggest snowflakes that the cranky old hag ever produced. So we wish you the warmest and comfortable-est of springtimes.
In other news, I have just found out that I'm invited back to the Middle East to attend and assist in the conference that I helped plan last summer when we were in Jordan. So I'm headed back to Amman in June. And the Arab Institute (where I worked) is paying my travel expenses. Luckily I have a flexible work schedule so I can do things like this (you know, take off four days in the middle of the week to do something that has nothing really to do with my real job at IAEA).
Lindsey is keeping busy with her work. We are fortunate that she has a job that allows her to work from anywhere in the world as long as there is an internet connection. It has been an invaluable source of income. After all, we need money to go to places like Tacos Lopez and the Fresco Grill (the two best Mexican restaurants in town). Last night we had a nice evening at Tacos Lopez. Everything was completely magical and the atmosphere was great - until a dog started barking... from underneath the table next to us.
Dogs are allowed to go everywhere in this city. And these are not the personal assistant dogs that some people have. These are just regular old mutts that people can't seem to part with even when they go out for dinner. Can you imagine sitting at a Chili's or something and then a dog starts barking at you from the adjacent table? So it's little things like this that are still taking some getting used to.
Finally, here is a picture of an old Catholic cathedral in Vienna that is currently undergoing renovations. After Lindsey took this epic picture of me, we realized that there was an advertisement draped over the scaffolding. That's right, there is a huge advertisement for a mobile phone company on the side of a Catholic church:
And to send you off with a prettier image than my own, here are some pictures of Lindsey enjoying a jumbo (and apparently Jewish) krapfen, and posing in front of an outdoor market down town
So if you have ever felt guilty for not diligently reading your bible, you can blame this guy. He is the one who made mass production of the text possible.
We have really gotten to like this city. It has a lot to offer: great architecture, pastries, operas, drunk Turkish people singing songs at train stops etc. But by far one of the most magical things we have done here is skating at the Rathaus (pronounced "Rat House" [by Brett]). The rats were nice enough to set up a cool skating rink in front of the big city hall. We have posted pics of this previously, but this time we went and actually skated. Check this out:
Now, we understand that it has been beautiful weather back home in AZ. And to that, we would just like to inform you that in Vienna last Thursday mother nature dropped the biggest snowflakes that the cranky old hag ever produced. So we wish you the warmest and comfortable-est of springtimes.
In other news, I have just found out that I'm invited back to the Middle East to attend and assist in the conference that I helped plan last summer when we were in Jordan. So I'm headed back to Amman in June. And the Arab Institute (where I worked) is paying my travel expenses. Luckily I have a flexible work schedule so I can do things like this (you know, take off four days in the middle of the week to do something that has nothing really to do with my real job at IAEA).
Lindsey is keeping busy with her work. We are fortunate that she has a job that allows her to work from anywhere in the world as long as there is an internet connection. It has been an invaluable source of income. After all, we need money to go to places like Tacos Lopez and the Fresco Grill (the two best Mexican restaurants in town). Last night we had a nice evening at Tacos Lopez. Everything was completely magical and the atmosphere was great - until a dog started barking... from underneath the table next to us.
Dogs are allowed to go everywhere in this city. And these are not the personal assistant dogs that some people have. These are just regular old mutts that people can't seem to part with even when they go out for dinner. Can you imagine sitting at a Chili's or something and then a dog starts barking at you from the adjacent table? So it's little things like this that are still taking some getting used to.
Finally, here is a picture of an old Catholic cathedral in Vienna that is currently undergoing renovations. After Lindsey took this epic picture of me, we realized that there was an advertisement draped over the scaffolding. That's right, there is a huge advertisement for a mobile phone company on the side of a Catholic church:
And to send you off with a prettier image than my own, here are some pictures of Lindsey enjoying a jumbo (and apparently Jewish) krapfen, and posing in front of an outdoor market down town
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Prague Blague
(Brett came up with that clever title)
Eight years ago, as part of an Orchestra tour, I visited Prague. This past weekend, I got to experience it again with Brett. This time around was definitely colder, but Prague is always amazing no matter what time of year you visit.
We actually drove with a couple who we know from Monterey. (They are also here for 6 months doing an internship. His mom lives in Germany, so he has a car here.) It seemed like a good idea at the time, but there were five of us in the car (her friend was also visiting from the U.S.), which obviously meant we were all a little squished in the back and I was sitting on the hump. Brett offered to sit on the hump, but we all know that would just be ridiculous.
We left on Friday around 5 and the guy we were with, Zak, wanted to stop at a town called Český Krumlov. It's a quaint little Czech town with a beautiful castle, as seen here at night:
We wandered around town a bit that night, walked up to the castle grounds, and also ate at a Restaurant called The Two Mary's. We ordered the traditional "Bohemian Feast," which was
delicious.
The next day, we woke up and wandered around some more and then hopped in the car to head to Prague. Once we got there, we found our hostel and got settled in... but not before taking a wrong turn and running into this chump:
I know you can only kind of see him, but that jerk of a cop is giving us a 1,000 CZK ticket which is about $40. While that may not be a lot of money, it's still ridiculous that he even gave us a ticket. We obviously didn't speak czech and we didn't see the tiny sign that apparently meant cars were not allowed down that street. At any rate, we were finally in Prague and once we dropped off our stuff, we headed into town. We wanted to see as much as possible so we did a lot of walking. We started by heading over the Charles Bridge:
And then headed towards the Prague castle and the Old Cathedral, which you may recognize from "A Knights Tale."
The rest of that day included us walking a lot, seeing plenty of other awesome things, and me trying to stop in every shop with bohemian crystal. It's just so sparkly I couldn't help myself.
We also found a falafel place to eat at that night, and Brett was excited to be able to communicate with someone in a common language, since the guy that owned it spoke Arabic. (A lot of people in Prague speak English, but you get what I mean.)
The next day, we went to the National Museum in Wenceslas Square. It was amazing. I don't think we appreciated it as much as we should have, since we were both so tired, but it was pretty awesome. Before and after the museum, we mostly just wandered around a lot. We wanted to take in as much of the city as possible because it really is beautiful.
We also ate a lot of delicious food while we were there including decadent chocolates, crepes, pastries, and a sausage or two. But, I didn't feel too bad about it considering how much walking we did... it all works out, right?
We left that evening at 5:30 via train. We decided not to ride back in the car for my back's sake. It took a little longer than we thought it would, but it was well worth it. No squishing and apparently our friends got stopped at the Czech border and accused of human trafficking. They eventually got through, but yikes.
So that pretty much wraps the trip up in a nutshell.
Oh and my parents are coming at the end of April and they want to go to Prague too... so Prague might be a three-peat for me. :)
So I guess that about sums up the trip. You can see all the Prague pics here
Eight years ago, as part of an Orchestra tour, I visited Prague. This past weekend, I got to experience it again with Brett. This time around was definitely colder, but Prague is always amazing no matter what time of year you visit.
We actually drove with a couple who we know from Monterey. (They are also here for 6 months doing an internship. His mom lives in Germany, so he has a car here.) It seemed like a good idea at the time, but there were five of us in the car (her friend was also visiting from the U.S.), which obviously meant we were all a little squished in the back and I was sitting on the hump. Brett offered to sit on the hump, but we all know that would just be ridiculous.
We left on Friday around 5 and the guy we were with, Zak, wanted to stop at a town called Český Krumlov. It's a quaint little Czech town with a beautiful castle, as seen here at night:
We wandered around town a bit that night, walked up to the castle grounds, and also ate at a Restaurant called The Two Mary's. We ordered the traditional "Bohemian Feast," which was
delicious.
The next day, we woke up and wandered around some more and then hopped in the car to head to Prague. Once we got there, we found our hostel and got settled in... but not before taking a wrong turn and running into this chump:
I know you can only kind of see him, but that jerk of a cop is giving us a 1,000 CZK ticket which is about $40. While that may not be a lot of money, it's still ridiculous that he even gave us a ticket. We obviously didn't speak czech and we didn't see the tiny sign that apparently meant cars were not allowed down that street. At any rate, we were finally in Prague and once we dropped off our stuff, we headed into town. We wanted to see as much as possible so we did a lot of walking. We started by heading over the Charles Bridge:
And then headed towards the Prague castle and the Old Cathedral, which you may recognize from "A Knights Tale."
The rest of that day included us walking a lot, seeing plenty of other awesome things, and me trying to stop in every shop with bohemian crystal. It's just so sparkly I couldn't help myself.
We also found a falafel place to eat at that night, and Brett was excited to be able to communicate with someone in a common language, since the guy that owned it spoke Arabic. (A lot of people in Prague speak English, but you get what I mean.)
The next day, we went to the National Museum in Wenceslas Square. It was amazing. I don't think we appreciated it as much as we should have, since we were both so tired, but it was pretty awesome. Before and after the museum, we mostly just wandered around a lot. We wanted to take in as much of the city as possible because it really is beautiful.
We also ate a lot of delicious food while we were there including decadent chocolates, crepes, pastries, and a sausage or two. But, I didn't feel too bad about it considering how much walking we did... it all works out, right?
We left that evening at 5:30 via train. We decided not to ride back in the car for my back's sake. It took a little longer than we thought it would, but it was well worth it. No squishing and apparently our friends got stopped at the Czech border and accused of human trafficking. They eventually got through, but yikes.
So that pretty much wraps the trip up in a nutshell.
Oh and my parents are coming at the end of April and they want to go to Prague too... so Prague might be a three-peat for me. :)
So I guess that about sums up the trip. You can see all the Prague pics here
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