Volcano, Schmalcano

Seriously, Iceland. A volcanic eruption can be pretty inconvenient when it screws up thousands of international flights and strands passengers for days upon days.

Of course my parents planned to fly to Europe on the first day that flights were canceled because of the ash cloud. I woke up Thursday morning and saw the news about the eruption and that airports in Ireland and England were closed. I immediately emailed my parents the story and said 'I hope this won't be a problem for your flight' in a mostly joking kind of way. My dad wrote back that German airports were still open and he didn't think it would be a problem.

That afternoon, I was getting so excited for their arrival and came home from my classes and packed all of my stuff to meet them in Berlin.

Jason and I went out to drinks with some friends in the evening, preparing to take our bus early the next AM to Berlin. Heading home from drinks, excited for the weekend, I got a phone call from my mom.

Flight's canceled.

What a let down. Add to that, my parents were in the middle of their 3 hour drive to Denver. It's not like they can quickly turn around and go home and wait for news about flights. So they continued to Denver, hoping they might be able to get on a flight the next day.

Jason and I woke up early the next morning to catch our bus to Berlin, hoping the same thing. Unfortunately, as we all know by now, that was not the case. So Jason and I had a weekend in Berlin and my parents headed back home and changed their travel plans.

On the bright side, Berlin was wonderful. We had perfect weather and had an amazing time walking and cycling around the city, enjoying beers at sidewalk cafes and lounging in the Tiergarten park. Just lovely. Only thing that could have made it better is if my parents were able to join us.

So for the new plans, Mom and Dad will fly to Berlin this Thursday (keep your fingers crossed!!) and spend the weekend there before heading to Prague on Monday. Also on Thursday, Jason's mom will arrive to Frankfurt, where Jason will join her. They will travel to visit Jason's cousins on an Air Force base in Germany, then head to Munich and Salzburg before heading back to Prague next Wednesday. I had plans to join them, but alas, things have changed. And I'm not too keen on the idea of hoping back on a 5 hour bus to Berlin for the 2nd time in 3 weeks, so I think I'll have a relaxing weekend here by myself.

Now the big news is that our parents will all be here in Prague at the same time and will finally get to meet each other for the first time! Next weekend we will all head down to the famous Czech town of Cesky Krumlov for a little countryside fun and 'bonding time' I suppose.

So, changes are ok. All around a little disappointing that things haven't worked out how we planned, but I'm confident that this time around things will be better and it will be a fantastic trip!

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......

Home Sweet Home

My Big Family.

I have been having the best time being home and just enjoying beautiful Colorado. It has finally started clearing up and getting nicer out. For about the first month that I was home it rained everyday. But in the last couple of weeks, we have had the beautiful sunny days that Colorado is known so well for. Since I'm not working this summer, everyone keeps asking me what I'm doing to keep busy. Glenwood is a small town and I have very few friends around here these days, so I'm not exactly sure how I'm keeping busy, but I am. I babysit occasionally for a little extra spending money, try to make it to the gym everyday, and apply for jobs, work on uploading pictures (almost done!). I feel really busy and am afraid of how fast my time at home is going, there just isn't enough time to do everything I want to. I had a great visit to Dallas to see Jason and am excited for him to come up here at the end of the month! Next weekend I am going to Minneapolis to visit Macey and Amy, who both happen to be living there right now. I'm excited to see my friends and to go somewhere in the States that I've never been before.

As for the job hunt.... everything is still completely up in the air. Korea is looking like it's probably out, but we're still looking at several other countries. And we could make it back to Korea sometime next year, who knows!

Until next time....

Back in the USA

I've been back home for a little over 2 weeks now and it has been wonderful. Our travels were amazing and I wasn't ready for the trip to be over in the end, but there's definetly something to be said for sleeping in your own bed. I've loved so much relaxing in my parents' beautiful house, eating the delicious food my mom makes and having my own space in a clean and comfortable room. Oh yeah, it's been nice spending time with my family and friends, too. Actually, it's been really great. I didn't realize just how much I had missed my parents until I finally saw them again. I've been doing so much since i've been home, I didn't even have time to finish unpacking my suitcases until a couple days ago. And here I thought I might not have enough to do and get bored! Colorado spring (the weather is not quite acting like summer yet) is beautiful and I love being outside hiking, biking, doing some gardening and enjoying the fresh mountain air.

Right now I am on yet another plane, headed down to Dallas to visit Jason. I'll be there for a week and a half and then later in the summer Jason will come up to Colorado for a visit. Our future plans are still up in the air at this point. We were planning on going back to Korea but situations have been deteriorating there lately so we're not sure yet if it would be a good idea to go back there or not. We were also looking at Japan but just learned that the JET program (the main resource for teaching English in Japan) involves a 9 month application period and we just don't have that kind of time. Whatever we are going to do we need to figure out in the next couple of weeks if we want to leave around the end of August. I'll keep "y'all" posted...

My Father, the Dare Devil.

My dad flying his plane through the valley and doing crazy tricks.  Yes, that's really him flying.