Now things are getting going.
We are now very organized with the nitty-gritty of our 2011 plans. Some short trips for the next few months (including a trip to California coming up in a few weeks) and a trip to the UK in the summer for Andy's mum and dad's 50th wedding anniversary. Then we will be taking a month to study and get our teaching English as a foreign language crendential in Vancouver, taking classes full time Mon - Fri and then working on the weekends. And then ..... taking some overseas time. We hope to achieve our dream of living and teaching in Asia by the fall - hopefully for about 6 months. We're open to where and when, although it is still very much our goal to spend some time travelling in China.
So now our focus is on working and saving as much as we can. Evan is hard at work nearing the completion of his degree in anthropology. His capstone project includes our worldwide travels, and an associated project is a photographic project of religious expression as we have observed travelling through the various countries - so this week we've been looking through hundred of photos that include the churches of England, Spain, Italy, Iceland and Eastern Europe, Cambodian spirit houses,Nepal funerals and Hindu gods, Egyptian pyramids and mosques, Easter Island statues and bird gods, palaces of Thailand, temples of Hong Kong and China, mayan sites in Costa Rica .... and on and on. Inspiring us all the more!!!!
So lots going on - all very exciting...
"That is the charm of the map. It represents the other side of the horizon where everything is possible" (Rosita Forbes)
Monday, January 31, 2011
Italy photos
Finally ... some of our photos from our recent trip to Florence and Pisa, Italy.
First five - Florence:
1. Florence's famous Duomo dome (main cathedral)
2. From the Ponte Vecchio along the river Arno
3. Piazza del Duomo - the main cathedral square
4. The fantastic interior of the Duomo dome
5. A not completely legal photo of the 17 foot tall David
Last two - Pisa:
1.From the top of the Leaning Tower of PIsa - overlooking the Field of Miracles
2. The cathedral and famous leaning tower
First five - Florence:
1. Florence's famous Duomo dome (main cathedral)
2. From the Ponte Vecchio along the river Arno
3. Piazza del Duomo - the main cathedral square
4. The fantastic interior of the Duomo dome
5. A not completely legal photo of the 17 foot tall David
Last two - Pisa:
1.From the top of the Leaning Tower of PIsa - overlooking the Field of Miracles
2. The cathedral and famous leaning tower
Monday, January 17, 2011
Saving to Vagabond
So, most of our time is being spent as we said in our last post: working to put money away for an exciting summer and fall. The spa has picked up just in time for Ev to save, and Andy has as much work as he wants as per usual. Andy's parents will be coming in the spring, so we helped them arrange that this past week. Andy is speaking to our friend, Gina, at this very moment to help us arrange our California trip which sounds like it will be happening in February or March. Ev will speak to his mom tomorrow to finalize things... trying to arrange dates that work for all involved.
We have booked our flights to the U.K. for Andy's parents' anniversary which will be in the first part of the summer, and next will be arranging dates, locations, and plans for our big fall vagabonding stint.
Ev's degree application has been approved as has his senior project which means all he has to do now is follow through with the next two terms of classes, and the bachelors is a done deal!
The most exciting events of the past few weeks have been 1)joining a casino because they were having a drawing for a trip wherever one wanted to go (we didn't win) and 2)listening to an inspiring talk at our local book store by Marcia Shaver, a women from Seattle who walked 500 some odd miles on the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route in Spain; so that's another experience to be had!
By our next posting, we hope to have made some actual commitments regarding our fall departure, but it all depends on how much we can save, so we'll take a closer look at that this week.
Until then......
"We are all travellers in the wilderness of this world, and the best that we find in our travels is an honest friend." -Robert Louis Stevenson
We have booked our flights to the U.K. for Andy's parents' anniversary which will be in the first part of the summer, and next will be arranging dates, locations, and plans for our big fall vagabonding stint.
Ev's degree application has been approved as has his senior project which means all he has to do now is follow through with the next two terms of classes, and the bachelors is a done deal!
The most exciting events of the past few weeks have been 1)joining a casino because they were having a drawing for a trip wherever one wanted to go (we didn't win) and 2)listening to an inspiring talk at our local book store by Marcia Shaver, a women from Seattle who walked 500 some odd miles on the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route in Spain; so that's another experience to be had!
By our next posting, we hope to have made some actual commitments regarding our fall departure, but it all depends on how much we can save, so we'll take a closer look at that this week.
Until then......
"We are all travellers in the wilderness of this world, and the best that we find in our travels is an honest friend." -Robert Louis Stevenson
Saturday, January 1, 2011
New Year
It's been a month since our last entry - whoops! We plan to update every two weeks at the moment until we start to get more exciting things going again. However, we have just got back from a great trip to the UK and Italy over the Christmas holidays, and spent last night doing our yearly ritual to welcome in the New Year. And we're loving our new home. How easy travel was this time.
Our UK time was relaxed and quiet, uneventful apart from lots of crazy weather. We were very fortunate to miss the travel disruptions in and out of the UK with the snow and ice. We had three nights in Italy, and made the most of our time - two nights in Florence and one in Pisa. Highlights included seeing Michelangelo's David in the flesh (stone)(in a near empty gallery), visiting the Uffizi gallery to see some truly famous works of art (such as Botecelli's Birth of Venus), walks around fabulous squares and buildings (in the snow!), and some truly memorable and wonderful food - wonderful Chiantis, tender and delicous pastas and hot chocolates that you could stand a spoon up in! We also got to climb up to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and explore the Field of Miracles - full of marble buidings from the 11th century on. We managed to travel around fairly succefully on Italian trains and buses despite severe disruptions with strikes, broken ticket machines, long lines of passengers and snow cancellations. Good (if cold) times. Hopefully some photos to follow soon.
Now we're back in the USA and preparing for this next year, and all we hope for. In the next few months, we anticipate a trip to California and a visit stateside from Andy's mum and dad, while Evan finishes up his degree by the summer and we stockpile some cash. It's also getting time to organize ourselves for one of our bigger plans this year - which looks like we'll be spending a chunk of time in Vietnam. And travel this year ..... China looms!!!!
Happy New Year!!!!
.......
"What are you waiting for?" (Lope De Vega
Our UK time was relaxed and quiet, uneventful apart from lots of crazy weather. We were very fortunate to miss the travel disruptions in and out of the UK with the snow and ice. We had three nights in Italy, and made the most of our time - two nights in Florence and one in Pisa. Highlights included seeing Michelangelo's David in the flesh (stone)(in a near empty gallery), visiting the Uffizi gallery to see some truly famous works of art (such as Botecelli's Birth of Venus), walks around fabulous squares and buildings (in the snow!), and some truly memorable and wonderful food - wonderful Chiantis, tender and delicous pastas and hot chocolates that you could stand a spoon up in! We also got to climb up to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and explore the Field of Miracles - full of marble buidings from the 11th century on. We managed to travel around fairly succefully on Italian trains and buses despite severe disruptions with strikes, broken ticket machines, long lines of passengers and snow cancellations. Good (if cold) times. Hopefully some photos to follow soon.
Now we're back in the USA and preparing for this next year, and all we hope for. In the next few months, we anticipate a trip to California and a visit stateside from Andy's mum and dad, while Evan finishes up his degree by the summer and we stockpile some cash. It's also getting time to organize ourselves for one of our bigger plans this year - which looks like we'll be spending a chunk of time in Vietnam. And travel this year ..... China looms!!!!
Happy New Year!!!!
.......
"What are you waiting for?" (Lope De Vega
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Now things start to take off
We are still really really happy to have moved and to have so much more freedom to do the things we want to do. We especially appreciated being here last week with the significant snow and ice and wind - no more power/well/pipe/snowed in worries anymore - made winter fun!
Thanksgiving came and went ... we spent our day eating simply, walking in the snow and making a joint piece of art for our bedroom wall of the path for the next year.
Of course, it's not long now until our Europe trip, so we're getting ready for that. But now the moving dust has settled, we have been developing the plans for 2011 more. Returning to our earlier plan, we are continuing with the ideas and goals we have developed, but we decided to switch them around - partly because it looks like Evan should be finished with his degree a little earlier and so overseas (out of the USA) options are easier. So instead of Hawaii first, we are looking into pursuing the English language teaching path first, and to take some time out next year to live and study in Hanoi, Vietnam, while we learn and become certified as English language teachers. And we'll add in a bit of backpacking around China while we're there. It is best to get the English language teacher's certificate with a Bachelors degree, and so that should be well timed with Evan's degree completion. And of course, this will serve us well to travel more, volunteer more, and eventually when we set up our charity project, to offer the language classes we want to.
And lastly, current book on the reading list (and a gift to Andy from Evan on our anniversary (#8!)) - "Thrive by Dan Buettner" ('secrets from the World's happiest people').
.....
"There is no teacher who can teach anything new. He can just help us remember the things we always knew"(Enigma)
Thanksgiving came and went ... we spent our day eating simply, walking in the snow and making a joint piece of art for our bedroom wall of the path for the next year.
Of course, it's not long now until our Europe trip, so we're getting ready for that. But now the moving dust has settled, we have been developing the plans for 2011 more. Returning to our earlier plan, we are continuing with the ideas and goals we have developed, but we decided to switch them around - partly because it looks like Evan should be finished with his degree a little earlier and so overseas (out of the USA) options are easier. So instead of Hawaii first, we are looking into pursuing the English language teaching path first, and to take some time out next year to live and study in Hanoi, Vietnam, while we learn and become certified as English language teachers. And we'll add in a bit of backpacking around China while we're there. It is best to get the English language teacher's certificate with a Bachelors degree, and so that should be well timed with Evan's degree completion. And of course, this will serve us well to travel more, volunteer more, and eventually when we set up our charity project, to offer the language classes we want to.
And lastly, current book on the reading list (and a gift to Andy from Evan on our anniversary (#8!)) - "Thrive by Dan Buettner" ('secrets from the World's happiest people').
.....
"There is no teacher who can teach anything new. He can just help us remember the things we always knew"(Enigma)
Monday, November 15, 2010
Winter is Quickly Approaching
Well, Winter is fast approaching, but we are not getting ready to hibernate. Life in the condo is brilliant! It's afforded us the ability to spend more time on the things that matter to us, and it will enable us to do a lot more adventuring.
With this in mind, we are looking at the various options we'll have once Evan finishes his degree. The graduation application has been submitted and approved for this Summer being his final term. There are a lot of possibilities, and, in the mean time, we'll be taking some shorter trips to tide us over.
The first of these is back to the U.K. for Christmas. Christmas is not a holiday either of us relish in, but it means a lot to our U.K. family, so we are off next month. Andy has been homesick, and the tickets were surprisingly low for the time of year; this way we can bring some joy to our family in England while also alleviating the homesickness. Being us, however, the U.K. isn't particularly adventurous, so we'll be taking a jaunt to Florence, Italy while we're away! Bought Rick Steve's Guide to Florence and are very impressed with it.... getting excited to put it to good use.
Work is ticking right along for both of us. The spa has been a little slow for Ev, but this means people were anxious to pick up shifts, and the holiday is already covered. Andy is in demand as usual, and his boss was very gracious in her support of his need to go home for the holidays.
Let's see... Ikea trip was a success for the most part, and we settle in more each day. It took us until last week to get some of our art up, but we finally did, and that made it much more our home. Although we'd kind of grown used to the simplicity of bare walls. Next stage is finishing with knick-knack display and clearing out the garage of the stuff we moved over but decided we don't want/need. Then we'll set up part of the garage for an art studio for Andy. The coolest part of our latest house projects is that they are one-time deals. At our old place, it was an unending list which grew ever longer, but in the condo environment, the list gets shorter and shorter. We even feel a bit lost sometimes with the free time we now have.
Enough for now, and we'll post again in a couple weeks. Love to all!
"What are you waiting for?" - Lope de Vega
With this in mind, we are looking at the various options we'll have once Evan finishes his degree. The graduation application has been submitted and approved for this Summer being his final term. There are a lot of possibilities, and, in the mean time, we'll be taking some shorter trips to tide us over.
The first of these is back to the U.K. for Christmas. Christmas is not a holiday either of us relish in, but it means a lot to our U.K. family, so we are off next month. Andy has been homesick, and the tickets were surprisingly low for the time of year; this way we can bring some joy to our family in England while also alleviating the homesickness. Being us, however, the U.K. isn't particularly adventurous, so we'll be taking a jaunt to Florence, Italy while we're away! Bought Rick Steve's Guide to Florence and are very impressed with it.... getting excited to put it to good use.
Work is ticking right along for both of us. The spa has been a little slow for Ev, but this means people were anxious to pick up shifts, and the holiday is already covered. Andy is in demand as usual, and his boss was very gracious in her support of his need to go home for the holidays.
Let's see... Ikea trip was a success for the most part, and we settle in more each day. It took us until last week to get some of our art up, but we finally did, and that made it much more our home. Although we'd kind of grown used to the simplicity of bare walls. Next stage is finishing with knick-knack display and clearing out the garage of the stuff we moved over but decided we don't want/need. Then we'll set up part of the garage for an art studio for Andy. The coolest part of our latest house projects is that they are one-time deals. At our old place, it was an unending list which grew ever longer, but in the condo environment, the list gets shorter and shorter. We even feel a bit lost sometimes with the free time we now have.
Enough for now, and we'll post again in a couple weeks. Love to all!
"What are you waiting for?" - Lope de Vega
Monday, November 1, 2010
Halloween update
Spent an interesting Halloween watching the now annual Thriller zombie dance in downtown Bellingham - quite fun - the videos are on You Tube for those interested. Also went to Hellingham - an improv murder mystery show at the Upfront Theater (the one owned by Ryan Stikles from Whose Line is it Anyway?). Apart from that we have been busy getting settled in, unpacking, changing addresses, working out our new routines and getting ready to enjoy the increased flexibility that will now be ours with the move to the condo.
We are totally loving the condo and living here - so nice. Very happy. Have a neightbor from Canvey Island, Essex (where Andy's grandparents used to live). Big Ikea trip for tomorrow (discount coupon inhand!). Looking at our travel options while Evan continues with his degree - only three more semesters left ... Looking towards our plans prevously laid out but slightly delayed due to the move .... Lots to get going now ....
That's all for now!
We are totally loving the condo and living here - so nice. Very happy. Have a neightbor from Canvey Island, Essex (where Andy's grandparents used to live). Big Ikea trip for tomorrow (discount coupon inhand!). Looking at our travel options while Evan continues with his degree - only three more semesters left ... Looking towards our plans prevously laid out but slightly delayed due to the move .... Lots to get going now ....
That's all for now!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
