The Wonderful Summer

Ahhhh.... summertime. It has been a great one. I was so happy I had the opportunity to be at home in Colorado this summer, not working and just enjoying life. And that's just what I did.

With Macey and Amy in Minneapolis

Somehow I have managed to stay completely busy this summer and haven't even been able to do all that I wanted to. But, I did get to do some pretty great things. I've made my way to 3 states so far this summer and will head to 2 more before taking off for Prague. I visited Jason down in Dallas and my friends Macey and Amy up in Minneapolis (it was my first time in Minnesota, great!). My dad and I flew his plane for a quick two day trip to LA, where we hung out in the city, visited with my cousin Adam and picked up my suitcase that has been sitting at his house for the last 9 months!! We also had a great scenic flight around the Grand Canyon, Lake Powell and The Vegas. (Oh, and we stopped for fuel in Utah on the way there and Arizona on the way back, so I guess that's two more states I've been to this summer if you want to get technical about it.....) And before heading to Prague, I will spend about 5 days in the New York - New Jersey area, visiting friends and family. Jason will meet up with me there and we will take off to Prague (with a day stop in Brussels first) from Jersey. Phew!

Dad and I self-picing on the flight to California at 15,000 ft

We also had a lot of great company visiting this summer. Two of my mom's cousins and their kids came by Colorado for a long weekend during a road trip from California. Jason visited for a couple of weeks, and right after he left, Alicia, my roommate from Barcelona, and her boyfriend, Jimmy, came out for a few days. And of course a few of my great friends from around Colorado came up a couple times to visit. I was so happy to see all of them and had so much fun doing great things around Glenwood with them all. I did so much great hiking and biking this summer once the weather actually got warm enough. And I even faced my fears and went rafting for the first time in about 10 years (Thanks for being a great guide, David!). I went to every Summer of Jazz concert, which was always the highlight of my week. I got to do a little gardening with my mom and loved picking and eating all the fresh fruits and veggies. I made it up to Denver to visit friends a few times and got to go to two great Rockies games with my aunt and uncle.

Jason and I hiking up beautiful Savage Lake

With my parents and cousins up Hanging Lake

Really, what more could I ask for? It's been wonderful. Oh, and one of the best things has been the adorable new cat my family has acquired. My mom and I randomly decided to adopt a cat who was being transferred from one animal shelter to another. He's a very sweet and playful cat, and I'm really going to miss him when I leave!

Sweet baby Miko, the newest addition to the family

Just 3 more days left in Glenwood. It's definitely bittersweet. Better get packing......

Prague, Here We Come!

After months and months of indecisiveness, we have finally arrived at a decision! In just a matter of weeks we will be making the big move to Prague, Czech Republic. We're both very excited and a little nervous about our next destination. We're moving there without anything prearranged, so it makes it a little scary. At our previous destinations pretty much everything was set up before we arrived. But this time, we don't have a job or a place to live or anything, really. But that's not because of poor planning or few options. Things just work a little differently in the Czech Republic. Where as most other parts of the world will hire English teachers through email and phone interviews, it doesn't work that way there. It makes it a little scary, but it will actually be better for both the school and for us to be able to see the school and meet the staff before signing a contract. This way we'll know what we're getting into and won't get into a bad work situation without knowing something about the school first.

So the big question everyone seems to be asking is, "Why Prague?" And to that I say, "Why not Prague?"

Neither Jason or I have ever been there, but it's a place that we've both had a strong interest in visiting, as well as the rest of Eastern Europe. And Prague seems to be one of the big spots for American Expats and teaching English. (Probably our ideal place in Europe would be Spain, but it is very, very difficult to get a job there as a Non-EU passport holder for visa issues.) Prague is supposed to be a wonderful city, everyone who visits loves it. When I studied abroad it college, I loved living in Europe and I'm excited to be back there again.

The other reason to go to Prague, is that this is just how it worked out with applying for jobs. Some of our other hopeful options kind of fell through. We had considered going back to Korea, but with North Korea becoming more of a threat in recent months we decided against it. We had also looked into some positions in Mexico and Japan, but nothing was really working out how we had hoped it would. The Czech Republic was always kind of the option that we thought we'd be able to work out no matter what. But don't get me wrong, we are both very excited for this new adventure.

Our first few weeks in Prague will surely be a little stressful, finding a job and an apartment and everything, but I have faith that it will all work out. And if it doesn't? Well, then we got to vacation in Prague anyway.

My future home, in just a few weeks!