There has been a bit of a gap in our regular updates since the last post, so now it's time to play catch up. A lot happened to us after the August update and we couldn't really bring ourselves to articulate any of it, but now (this is actually being typed in February 2010) we can fill you in a bit regarding how we've learned God's goodness afresh. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

After enjoying our cruise in June so much, we decided to go on another one, but this time to Canada. Ivan had a long weekend for Labor Day, so we took a short trip up to St. John's. Susan had been having some health problems leading up to the cruise and they came to a head on the only day we were at port, so that was bad timing and pretty much ruined the rest of the cruise experience for us, but it was a nice get away. We did enjoy the towel animals, which we didn't get on the first cruise.

The main tourist attraction in St. John's seems to be the Reversing Falls. Ummm, can I say "not very exciting?" Certainly the concept is interesting. The fact that it happens is noteworthy (namely, that the river is so low and the tide so high that at high tide the sea water flows into the river instead of vice versa). But going there to look at it? Not so much. It doesn't look any more impressive than a river flowing. See for yourself.


Another mandatory stop in St. John's was the Tim Horton's (thanks, Zhenya) basically the Starbucks of the North. Ivan enjoyed his cup o' joe.

We returned on Monday and on Tuesday Susan had a doctor's appointment. The diagnosis was bleak, but, as we learned a week later, incorrect. Earlier this year we had worked through the sorrow of an early term miscarriage (3 months) learning a considerable amount about how much God loves us to send His Son to suffer the physical and emotional pain of the cross so that we can be reconciled to Him. Also learning that, like Job, we don't have to know why God does something, but to trust that He is doing it for a good purpose. That's a really great lesson that can be applied to many areas of our life and we continue to face situations where we remind ourselves of that very important fact.

But, back to the doctor's misdiagnosis. "Another miscarriage," he said, only to revise that a week later to "you have an ectopic pregnancy." Oh. Okay. How do you treat that? Chemotherapy. Thankfully it was only two doses and Susan was back to having blood tests twice a week. Her arm was a bit worse for the wear.

Nothing like a care package from family to cheer us up. With all of the essential ingredients: food, clothes, and entertainment!


Actually Susan had other complications that added to her discomfort, so even better than the care package was having Susan's mom come out and stay for about a month. We were very thankful for her help. By the middle of October, Susan was feeling much better and we were able to enjoy a trip to Long Island for some wine tasting.

Labels: NY, Quick Trip, Summary

What an exhausting week and yet not really much happened that is worth updating y'all about. How do those weeks happen? Friday night rolls around, your house is a mess, you're exhausted, and yet when you look back at what you did that week there's really not much that you remember? Thankfully, after a week like that comes Saturday. For the most part Saturday wasn't a very memorable day, either, but it ended on a good note. We went to a friend's house for dinner. Altogether there were five couples there. Technically, the host wasn't physically present - we found out upon arrival that he was taken to the hospital on Friday for pneumonia - but he urged his wife to continue with the gathering in his absence. We had a marvelous time. It was sort of potluck style - we brought dessert and deviled eggs (ohh, my mouth waters just thinking about them!!). An Indian couple brought a tasty rice and chicken curry (Joanna - her mother tongue is Telugu - we thought of you!). Other dishes included steak (it's been so long since we've had beef and it was very delicious), chicken (marinated in some sort of yummy-awesome-sauce), peanut noodles (unexpectedly delicious as Susan generally doesn't like peanut-flavored dishes), salad, as well as a completely fabulous and somewhat spicy eggplant and vegetable curry. It was great to hang out, relax, and talk with people of such different backgrounds but united through Christ. Two of the couples will be in our Bible Study resuming next month and it was nice to gather socially outside of the study. We were so blessed by the hostess' hospitality and can't believe we haven't imposed on them more :) Today after church we visited the would-be host in the hospital. It turns out that he doesn't have pneumonia after all (although the doctors don't know what caused his coughing fit that took him to the hospital in the first place). We told him all about the gathering yesterday and he reminisced about how he and his wife used to do things like that more often. We'll just have to encourage that type of activity more in the future - with us invited, of course! He ended up coming home from the hospital around 5pm and alls well that ends well. Now for another week...

Labels: NY

Another fun-filled week of adventure (and, yes, it was blazing hot... again). On Monday we went to a friend's house for dinner. Walter is one of Ivan's coworkers whom we met in DC, since he was in the same LL.M. program as Ivan. Now they work together at Ernst & Young and we all hang out on occasion. Our original plan was for Susan to come into the city around 6pm when Ivan gets off work and enjoy a leisurely stroll to Walter's apartment. However, work on Monday turned out to be crazy-busy and neither Ivan nor Walter got off work until closer to 8pm! That doesn't happen very often, but it left Susan hanging around E&Y for two hours with not much to do. By the time 8pm rolled around we were very hungry. Walter's roommate started working on dinner, so we didn't have to wait too long, before we were served a feast. Walter is from Peru and his mom owns a restaurant. You can guarantee he's a good cook! He fixed us "Spicy Hen" (Ají de gallina) which is a phenomenal Peruvian dish served on rice and potatoes (here's a recipe, not from Walter, but worth a try - let me know if you do). We enjoyed a great dinner with Walter, his roommate (who's working on a law doctorate S.J.D.), and Benjamin (another E&Y coworker).

On Wednesday, Ivan preached his second (and final) sermon for the summer. We're going through a series on "A Biblical Worldview" and his topic was "A Biblical Worldview of Work and Money." Since Ivan has been preparing for this sermon for about a month, we've had lots of time to apply what he's been learning to our own financial situation. We've been quite spoiled these days with an ample salary that doesn't require us to count our pennies and be extra careful. That has led us to be somewhat wasteful in several areas, so we've buckled down and created a budget to help us trim out the fat. Again, Ivan took the day off of work so he could spend the morning finalizing his notes and the afternoon practicing his delivery. Ivan's not a huge fan of topical sermons, so he was hard pressed trying to find one passage to focus on for the sermon. In the end, he had three points and had to settle for one main passage per point: Work (1Thes 4:11-12), Save (Pr 6:6-9), and Give (2 Cor 9:6-7). Here is the handout in case you're interested. Apparently you can order a copy of his sermons on CD ($3), but the Wednesday Night sermons aren't available for download from the church website (www.ns-bc.org). But, I highly recommend this sermon if you're interested in revisiting your perspective on work and money and compare it to Biblical examples.

Now, as if those two highlights of this week weren't enough. There's more. That's right: more! Today the ladies of our church gathered at a member's home for a pool party and bbq. It was so much fun - we wish we could do that more often! The catch is that the house with the pool is an hour away. Susan decided to carpool with some friends and ended up with three other ladies in her car. We enjoyed great conversation on the way out there and it really helped the drive go by much more quickly. About 30 ladies were there and we enjoyed fun games in the pool (which was a nice relief after being in the hot sun), great food, a wonderful devotional message prepared by Rayna. A few of us even tried out the trampoline briefly! Before we knew it, time had flown by and it was already 7pm. We piled back into the car for the long ride home. The conversation was more subdued, because I think we were all a bit tired, but we had a quick and safe ride back home.

Labels: NY

Another month has begun. So far this summer we have enjoyed rather mild temperatures with short, enjoyable bursts of rain. Well, August has decided to buck the trend and be a "real" summer month. Wowsers, it's been hot! And humid! Anyone missing CA yet? YES! WE ARE!! We finally bought an air conditioner thru-the-wall unit for our living room, so we hung up a curtain across the hallway and manage to keep the front of the house a fairly decent temperature. We turn off the AC when we go out and it's not uncommon to come back to a house that's 87 degrees. Blech. Unlike CA where it's almost certain to cool down at night, we've been getting no relief after the sun goes down. So, we've started to sleep on a mattress in the living room. We don't like running the AC 24/7, but that's what it's been this last week. "Welcome to New York."

Labels: NY

Whew! What a long week! This week was VBS (Vacation Bible School) at our church. Originally, Susan wasn't going to be able to help because she was scheduled to go to the Web Science Research Week at RPI in Troy, NY. Susan was looking forward to connecting with more people interested in similar research, comparing ideas, learning from each other, and just overall being encouraged in our research pursuits. However, that plan ended up not being feasible, so Susan was at home this week instead. She volunteered to work with VBS and was assigned to work with a group of children. By the third day her group included four kindergartners, two first graders, and a fourth grader. Rather than divide the groups up by age, our church mixes different ages together so the older kids can help and be a good example to the younger kids. Unfortunately, Susan's group didn't exactly have any "older" kids - although her 4th grader was a great helper. By the end of the week, Susan was worn out by those four little people and she was reminded once again why she didn't go into Elementary Ed! Kudos to you primary school educators who manage to put up with kids who can't read, don't follow directions, and only listen to you if you tell them to "put on their listening ears" (I don't know about you, but I was born with my listening ears firmly attached to my head!) Who comes up with these things?!

She was thankful that other people were in charge of the snacks (thanks, Janet!), teaching time (great job, Won!), crafts (you rock, Susann!), and games (hurrah, Caleb!) [and, of course, honorable mentions to Skeeter and Miss Skeeter - yes, if you say it fast enough it sounds like "mosquito" with a southern drawl]. We learned some great Bible verses and heard all about the miracles God performed in freeing the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. We also learned about passover and how it anticipated the Messiah's death, burial, and resurrection. We are so thankful for Jesus, our Messiah, who lived a perfect life and died the death we deserve for our sins and then rose again demonstrating His victory over death. It's always good to be reminded of that and so, instead of focusing on the exhausting time with a bunch of rug rats, we need to look back on this week of VBS and praise the Lord that many children heard the Good News of Jesus Christ and pray that He would use this week to draw some of them to Himself.

Labels: NY

This summer our pastor started a Preaching Lab for some of the men in the church. Ivan was invited to join and, with about 10 other guys, he met regularly with the pastor learning and practicing sermon preparation. Last night, Ivan had the opportunity to preach at our Wednesday night service. It has been quite awhile since Ivan has preached (unless you count teaching 5th-6th graders at our church in California), so there was a fair amount of nervousness. Ivan took the day off work to finalize his notes and then spent the bulk of the day practicing. His assigned topic was "Bearing One Another's Burdens" (we're doing a "One Another's" series on Wednesday nights) and his main text was Galatians 6:1-6. I must say he did a fabulous job. Sure there were some hiccups (for example, he started out talking far too quietly and there was microphone feedback), but overall it went quite well. I consider a "good" sermon to be one where I learn something new (or am reminded of something that I already know, but need to hear again) and where there's an applicable "call to action" or suggestion for change. I got both of those last night and thus his sermon was a booming success in my opinion. Sitting in the audience I was nervous for Ivan and I'm really in awe of those pastors' wives who sit through their husbands sermons week after week. How do they do it?!

Labels: NY

NY, how do I hate Thee? Let me count the ways...


So, for those of you who follow us on Facebook, you might have noticed that I'm having some trouble sleeping tonight. I blame it entirely on an evil NYS DMV experience.

Let me start from the beginning...

Having decided to abandon our CA residency (which is a long story in and of itself which might get it's own posting some day), we agreed to get NYS driver's licenses and register our vehicles in NY. I spent about 3 hours on Thursday doing research on the NYS DMV website to determine what forms and supporting documents were necessary to bring. It required a few phone calls to DMV and our auto insurance company to get everything in order and on Friday morning we found the closest office to Ivan's work. We rendezvoused around 10am and walked to the Herald Square DMV, arriving between 10:30 and 11am. The first thing we see is a long line at a window marked "Information - Service Tickets". After doing some reconnaissance we were told that everyone had to wait in that line, explain your business, and get a ticket to be serviced. Oh, if only it were that simple. Truly, the only entrance to the DMV office was that roped off line, so we determined that the information we received was reliable.

Instead, we got to the front of that line and we were told that we had to go to a different, even longer line to get our photos taken for our driver's license and then they would give us service numbers to actually get our licenses and change our vehicle registration.

After an hour, we made it to the front of that line only to learn that there was a different "shorter" line to get the photos we needed. We did manage to get a service number for the car registration issue. Indeed, the other line was shorter - no one was in it - but there was also no one servicing that line. We asked a few people and finally after about 5 minutes someone came to help us. He looked over our paperwork and determined that the documents we brought to prove our NYS residency were inadequate because half of them had "FL 3" as part of the address and half didn't. The half that did, would have been enough to prove our residency, but neither had both of our names on it. The half that didn't were supposed to have been enough to prove our residency, but the person at the window said he couldn't accept them since they were issued by the same company. Nowhere on the website did it say that there was a restriction about bringing documents issued by different companies. We then tried explaining that we rent the top floor in a house and we get our mail whether it has the "FL 3" or not, but he wouldn't budge. He did, however, give us a service number to talk to his supervisor. So we waited some more.

The supervisor echoed the same things the first guy said, but consented to walk over with us to discuss the issue with the first guy. We had to wait some more, since the first guy was helping someone else. Eventually they relented and they approved our residency documents. Then we had to wait in line to get our photo taken. Then we had to wait in line to get a service ticket. Then we had to wait for our numbers to be called. So we had three numbers: one of each of our licenses and one for the vehicle registration. By now, we've had the number for the vehicle registration for over an hour and they still hadn't called it. Eventually they called the number for our vehicle registration. Ivan kept watching the "big board" for our other numbers to appear, but then they needed both of us in order for them to process the vehicle registration since both of our names are on the title (although, one of my questions over the phone to the DMV the prior day was precisely this and they said I could do it without Ivan's presence). Meanwhile, Ivan's number was called, so he left. It didn't matter anyways, because the special insurance card that I had requested from our auto insurance company didn't have both of our names on it, so they couldn't process it anyways. Blech.

As that was being explained to me my number for my license was called so I collected my documents and went to the next window. Finally, something was being processed. Although I had filled out a special application to get the enhanced driver's license, the guy helping me assumed that I was getting the regular license, but thankfully asked before completing the transaction. When Ivan was done with his license we double-checked what type of license they gave him and found they had done a regular one instead of the enhanced, so he had to go back and have the transaction reversed and process a new one.

Eventually, 4 1/2 hrs later, we left the DMV having only accomplished 67% of what we went there for. And they aren't open on Saturdays, so we have to go back next week with Ivan taking more time off work, to get the registration straightened out.

Labels: NY

The 4th of July. What a great day for picnics, parades, and fireworks. Well, does one out of three count? Which of the three did we get? Fireworks!! And where, do you ask? The National Mall in Washington, D.C.!! Although we technically lived in DC last 4th of July, that was the day Susan's dad and his friend, Peter, rolled into town with the UHaul to take all of our stuff to NY. In the interest of beating traffic, we left DC around 3pm, made it to Claire's house in NJ (she was gone camping with friends, so good thing Dad had a key). And on the 5th we made it to NY and unloaded all our stuff. That means no fantastic 4th of July show last year and we wanted to get a chance to see the celebration in the nation's capital while we're still living on the LEast Coast (no, that's not a typo - that's intentional... as opposed to the BEST Coast AKA West Coast - at least if you believe my sister...)

So, our holiday weekend began a bit early as Ivan got Thursday and Friday off. Thursday morning we got ready for the trip and drove down to NJ to pick up our friend Kristen. We spent the night at her house and headed for DC around noonish. Traffic was significantly better than we had expected, so we took a detour through Annapolis. We had never been there before, so we went to the Capitol building and walked to the pier. It's a quaint little tourist town. If we had more time we would have liked to visit the Naval Academy, but that will have to wait for another trip.

We stayed with friends from our church down there and had a nice time visiting with them in the evening. On Saturday, we packed some PBJs and water and headed downtown with the purpose of seeing the parade and going paddleboating (or peddleboating, if you prefer) on the Tidal Basin. "But I thought you said you didn't see a parade?" you ask in confusion. Quite right. Although technically we did see the last float of the parade. Twice.

It took longer than we expected to get going in the morning (hey, we were on vacation - prime time to sleep in!), so we didn't get to downtown until about an hour after the parade started. We decided paddleboating was more important than the parade and thought we still might have time to catch part of the parade after we were done. While walking to the Tidal Basin, we passed the starting point for the parade and there were the Hare Krishna's congratulating our country on it's birthday. Or at least that's what the float said. (Here's a photo of the float - the words were on the back).

We made it to the Tidal Basin and rented a 4-seater (although only two can peddle at a time). We got some nice photos of the Jefferson Memorial and enjoyed the sunny, while not too hot weather. We ate some sandwiches, reminisced about many of the important lessons Ivan and I have learned during our marriage, and talked to Kristen about life in general. It was a great time. Eventually we got tired of peddling and we returned to the dock. It felt like forever, but was really just over an hour later.

We then headed to the Old Postal Tower to get a nice view of the city. Our path took us across the parade route and what did we see but the last float bouncing along (yes, the Hare Krishna float again). So I don't think that counts as having actually watched the parade. When we made it to the Postal Tower there was quite a line, but it moved quickly and we enjoyed a brief look at the skyline and the crowds below. We were somewhat surprised that there wasn't more decorating done to commemorate the occasion and apart from the crowds (and the garbage left behind) it could have been your average Saturday in DC.

We went back to our friends' house to cool off and recuperate before heading back to the National Mall for the evening fireworks display. The show was set for around 9:30pm and we got there about 2 hours in advance. We had prepared ourselves for the prospect of standing room only on the Mall, but brought a blanket to sit on just in case we found a square of grass. Surprisingly, although it was crowded, it wasn't as bad as we had expected. Not knowing the best place from which to watch the show, we approached the Washington Monument from the East and got a front row seat along Independence Ave. There was a tree blocking the bottom two-thirds of the monument, but from what we read on the internet the fireworks would be exploding above the monument, so we figured we would be all right. Well, you know what they say: "Don't believe everything you read." Sure enough, that lone tree was blocking 95% of the show, so we (along with a hundred other people sitting in the same vicinity) quickly jumped to our feet and skedaddled to a spot on the sidewalk with an unobstructed view. It wasn't too bad standing for the show, but now we know that the fireworks actually explode on the north west side of the monument and you're better off approaching the Mall from the Lincoln Memorial side than the Capitol side.

Apart from a strange malfunction to the screen on our camera, we enjoyed the show and got a few photos and a video to boot. Perhaps I'll post some of them when I get them on my computer.

One of the benefits of vacating our spot on the ground and heading for the sidewalk was that we were about 200 people closer to the metro and we didn't have to waste time gathering our belongings after the show. Instead, we high-tailed it out of there and made it to the Federal Triangle station with the first thousand people. The station was a madhouse, but the federal employees did a remarkable job at keeping everything running smoothly. We had opted for the Federal Triangle station over the Smithsonian station because for the direction we were headed we thought the metro cars would fill up before even getting to the Smithsonian. However, the Metro employees were on the ball and sent completely empty trains to the Smithsonian station every now and again to keep things moving.

We had prepared ourselves for an hour long wait for a train, but it was really more like 20 minutes. Once on the train, us gals had a seat the whole way while Ivan gave his up to an older woman (like the gentleman that he is). Once the train left DC and ran above ground, we could see some of the locals making their own fireworks displays (highly illegal in LA county, but apparently not so in MD). We had a few scares as the train stopped on the tracks waiting for the platform to clear and some locals seemingly intentionally aimed their bottle rockets in our direction. We thought we were in for a direct hit, but there were just a few near-misses, instead.

On Sunday we got an early start back home (we were planning on staying for church, but since Kristen and Ivan had to be back at work on Monday we didn't want to risk the afternoon traffic). It started out as smooth sailing, but we were glad we left when we did because by the end things were quite congested.

And now we can say we saw 4th of July fireworks in our nation's capital. And it was so worth it :)

Labels: NY, Quick Trip

What a great week! Last week our friends, the Richardsons, from California came for a visit. As part of a longer trip on the East Coast, during which they visited various historical sights from Virginia to Boston, they decided they couldn't resist a stop in the Big Apple to visit us - and we're so glad! Before we got married, Susan spent quite a bit of time at the Richardson house and this visit definitely reminded Susan of how much she enjoyed their company. The kids will all be in high school next year and it was amazing to reminisce about going to watch basketball games when the youngest was in 2nd grade! As Preston was quick to remind me - I really am getting old! It was fun talking with the kids about the highlights of this trip and their latest school experiences; helpful talking with Karen about life and tips for household management; and great talking with Kent getting caught up on the latest news regarding the building project at our old church. It was also a huge blessing having the family here as the girls volunteered to help in the kitchen and Kent cleaned out the screen in our bathroom faucet and increased the quality of life for our neighbors buy purchasing and installing felt for the bottom of our kitchen chairs! We're so glad that our apartment is big enough to allow a family of 5 to visit without it being too squished.

On Friday we went to the city so the girls could do some shopping in Manhattan (I think more for bragging rights at school than anything else!) and then to meet up with Ivan and go to dinner. The girls found some great Tees for school and Karen bought flip flops for me and her. Then, we headed to Ivan's office. Our original plan was to walk to a Puerto Rican restaurant about 15 minutes away. However, by the time Ivan came down, it was pouring rain. Now, I've seen some storms in my life, but it has been a very long time since I've been in such a torrential downpour. We were ill-prepared for the weather (Karen had an umbrella, Kent had a jacket with a hood, and Kailey had a poncho) so we quickly changed our plans to only walk 5 minutes to the Olive Garden. Kent bought two more umbrellas on the way, but we were still soaking wet by the time we arrived. The wait was supposedly an hour, so some of us went to the bathroom to try to dry off. Someone had the fabulous idea to change into the new, dry clothes and flip flops that had just been purchased and it made for a much more comfortable evening. We had a great time eating yummy food (those breadsticks are killer!) and by the time we left the rain had stopped and the sunset was beautiful. We got to go back to Ivan's office and get some great views of the city at night from the upper floors.

We all took some photos, but I can't find my cord to download mine from the camera, so maybe I'll get to add some to this post later or they'll pop up as a Facebook album sooner or later.

Labels: Food, NY

We got back from the cruise yesterday morning and had enjoyed our vacation so much that we didn't want it to end. As a result, we decided that instead of unpacking, we should go to a Mets game! For all of you Dodgers fans out there, don't take for granted how inexpensive tickets are to go see your team play at home. Apparently baseball is huge out here (there's the Yankees and Mets teams across the river from each other as well as the minor league teams not far away) so tickets are quite expensive. The cheap seats are over $20 a piece! We bit the bullet and bought them (although we made a trip to the stadium to buy them in person to save the extra $24 they tack onto the price if you buy them online - what a rip off!) We were excited about the game and also about the promo item - the Mets cap courtesy of Nathan's.

We packed all sorts of snacks to avoid the temptation of purchasing hot dogs at the field and the sky was looking threatening so we also packed a blanket, sweatshirts, jackets, and gloves. It's a good thing we did, because it didn't take long before we were quite cold sitting in our seats. One positive thing we found about the "nose bleed" seats was that they were under an overhang of the roof. It was drizzling by the time the game started and the rain continued to fall until the game was delayed due to the rain in the top of the 8th inning. We were relatively dry and warm in our cheap seats, but the 75 minute delay was still a bit too much for us to handle. It was already after 9pm and we needed to get some things done, so we decided that we had our money's worth of baseball and headed home before the Mets lost 3-1 to Tampa Bay.

Labels: NY

We just got back from our very first cruise! It was wonderful! Okay, in the interest of full disclosure, Susan has been on a cruise before. Her family went to Alaska when she was in 8th grade. That was a fun cruise as we did all of the kids activities and ran around like crazy and ate all sorts of food that we wouldn't get at home, but this cruise was very different and even more enjoyable.

As we were enjoying the cruise we often stopped to ask each other why didn't we go on a cruise for our honeymoon?! We left on Thursday, June 11 from Brooklyn on the Caribbean Princess (a Princess Cruises ship). Ivan worked a half-day and we went directly to the port from his office. We packed light and were able to directly board without waiting in very many lines at all. Our 9-day cruise was scheduled to make stops in Bermuda (West End), Puerto Rico (San Juan), U.S. Virgin Islands (St. Thomas), and Caicos Island (Grand Turk) with 2 days at sea getting to and from the Caribbean. One of the great things about the cruise was that we were able to unpack our bags once and not have to worry about changing hotels every few days and it really didn't work out to be much more expensive per day than our honeymoon was (including food - so maybe it was even cheaper!!).

We totally lucked out on our cabin: we paid for the cheapest interior cabin, but ended up in a partially obstructed ocean view cabin (a full 30 square feet larger and with a gorgeous view). We were directly on the bow of the ship which helped with the view, but did seem to be a bit of a rougher ride than closer to the middle of the ship. Thankfully, neither of us got sea sick and we thoroughly enjoyed our cabin.

We were determined to manage our eating to minimize the weight gain and started out great: going to the gym twice a day and eating frequent, small, healthy meals. We "splurged" at afternoon tea, eating sandwiches and desserts, but decided that it was early enough in the day that we could work off those calories. At dinner we limited ourselves to the "healthy" choices or, if we ordered something that wasn't so healthy we would eat no more than half of it (we tried asking for half of a portion to avoid wasting food, but our waiter told us not to worry about it - so we didn't). By the end of the trip we let our guard down a bit, went to the gym less often, and ate food that we would have scoffed at during the first few days, but we still managed to put on less than 5 lbs each (hurrah!).

During the sea days we made a point to attend the ballroom dance lessons and now can hold our own at dancing the Salsa, Merengue, Cha Cha, and Waltz (although we have to practice or else we forget everything!) Unfortunately, they only teach three moves per dance, so our repertoire is rather limited, but it's still fun to be able to find a song on YouTube and dance to it!

At our first port (Bermuda), we paid for an excursion on a glass bottom boat to see a ship wreck and then snorkel and that was a lot of fun. It was a cloudy day and rained a bit while we were in the water, but it wasn't cold and since we were wet anyways, the extra water didn't bother us. We also went to Hamilton to see the city, but didn't have much time and weren't too impressed with seeing the city. There were a large number of "Tall Boats" (the old fashioned full-rigging sail boats) that were preparing for a transatlantic voyage, so those were pretty neat to see.

On the cruise, there was a lot of photography so we decided we should have brought more clothes so we could have more variety in the photos we could purchase, so in San Juan we decided to do some clothes shopping. We also did the AAA Walking Tour of Old San Juan including a visit to El Morro, La Forteleza, and many Plazas. It was a very warm and sunny day, so we didn't last very many hours out in the sun before heading back to the ship for a late lunch.

Our third port was St. Thomas. Susan had done some research and learned that the most appealing shore excursion was a driving tour of the best spots on the island. Rather than book that tour, we found a taxi bus to take us around for less than 50% what we would have paid on board. Unfortunately, it was miserable weather and we didn't get many good photos from the lookout points. However, when we did get glimpses of the water, we were absolutely astounded by how many different shades of blue it was. It was incredible.

Our final port was Grand Turk. We had wanted to book another snorkeling excursion, but balked at the price so instead we went ashore and rented snorkels for $10 a piece (mental note, next time buy a snorkel at home and bring it with you) rather than spending $80 a piece for an official excursion. The water, for the most part was warm and rather shallow and there were a surprising number of fish to look at, although no coral. Perhaps we would have seen more interesting things on an expensive excursion, but we definitely got our money's worth on the beach and enjoyed sitting around and reading a book in between snorkeling.

On the last two sea days we were very ready to just relax. One morning we sat on deck and watched a movie by the pool. Although we were very diligent to apply sun block, we missed a few spots and are now burnt to a crisp in a strange pattern (a few spots on our arms and legs including all of Susan's neck). Hopefully it's not severe enough to start peeling, but we're also glad that we didn't get sunburnt earlier on the trip.

Our highlights were definitely the dining experience and the dancing on board as well as the snorkeling opportunities ashore. We hope to take another cruise in the not-too-distant future.

For more photos, log into Facebook (they will be posted in the next few days).

Labels: Cruise, NY, Summary

Another few busy weeks have gone by. A few days after Papa Viktor left, some friends from California came for a visit (JK and Ira). They were on the East Coast for a conference and were able to stay a few days extra. They also celebrated their anniversary while they were here, so on Friday evening they went to Manhattan. On Saturday, Ivan and Susan went to Mike and Prospera's wedding. It was our first New York wedding/reception. We had no idea what we were in for! Most of the weddings we've attended have been for college friends in California, where it's usually a punch and cake reception that lasts for a few hours. This was a full on crazy expensive reception and we had a blast. It started with appetizers (which were so extensive we thought it was the whole meal). Then, we moved into the dining room where the wedding party was announced. There was a DJ playing music and the couple had their first dance. Then came the four course meal with dancing interspersed. Ivan and I enjoyed a few slow dances and tried to swing dance to a few numbers. We decided we need to take some dancing lessons so that we can feel less foolish next time! But we had a lot of fun.

After the reception, we decided to join JK and Ira in the city for a bite to eat. Ivan showed them his office and took them up to the 33rd floor, where there's a great view of Manhattan. Then, we went to a Sushi restaurant. Usually, Susan is afraid of sushi, but she ordered a few California rolls (ie no raw seafood) and they were quite tasty. We drove the Sheas to the airport on Sunday.

The following week was Susan's birthday and Memorial Day weekend. We went out to a Mexican restaurant in Manhattan for Susan's birthday dinner and then Ivan had a few days off, so we went to Boston, MA. We had a great time, although we were sort of hoping that Susan would be able to meet with some people at MIT to discuss research ideas, but since it was a holiday weekend, no one was around. So we just enjoyed watching the scullers on the Charles River, walking around Cambridge, and looking at Harvard. The Mets were playing the Red Sox while we were there and we debated going to a game, but it was cold and rainy, so we opted not to. We did, however, make it out to the JFK Presidential Library, which is only a few miles from the city. It was pretty interesting and made for a good half day trip.


Basically as soon as we got back from Massachusetts, Susan turned around and went to New Mexico to hang out with Claire for her birthday. What many people don't realize is that Memorial Day is actually on May 30, but it's observed on the last Monday in May. Well, Claire's birthday is on Memorial Day, but the rest of the nation observed her birthday on Monday, so we decided that she needed to celebrate her birthday every day that week. Susan learned how to play "Happy Birthday" on the guitar and so she played it and gave her a present every night that week. Our cousin, Shelley, also came out from Ohio to celebrate Claire's birthday with her, so we had fun together. On Friday we went up to the top of Sandia Peak and then went to the Petroglyph National Monument. It was a lot of walking and it was a hot day, but we had a lot of fun. On Saturday we took a trip to Santa Fe to see the capitol. It wasn't as exciting as we had expected - Albuquerque is a much larger and more interesting than Santa Fe, but now we can say we've been to the capitol. After we got back from Santa Fe, we went to see "Up" in the movie theater. What a sad movie! It's a tear-jerker: cute, but very sad. After the movie we went out for Claire's birthday dinner to an award-winning barbeque place. Wow! That was good food! We split a sampler meal so we could try three different kinds of meat. We then went back and bought a pound of the best stuff and took it home. We watched a movie and ate some fabulous Strawberry dessert, which we made last time we were all at Claire's house (in NJ).

Susan left on Sunday to fly back to Boston, where she had finally set up a meeting to discuss research ideas with a professor at Southampton University who was in Boston for a few days for some board of directors meetings. It was a productive meeting and hopefully will lead to some concrete progress in her PhD.

Susan took the train home and is ready to return to a less hectic schedule soon.

Labels: NY, Quick Trip, Summary

"What happened to Madrid Days 9 and 10?" you ask. Well, those last few days were rather busy with lots of staying up late. I came home on Saturday, April 25th and was greeted by Ivan and his dad. That's right, Papa Viktor arrived in NYC while I was away. It was his first trip to the US and we tried to do everything possible to make sure he got the most out of it. The first weekend he was here we stayed in NYC and took it easy. The second weekend, we took a trip down to DC, stopping at Philadelphia on the way (thanks, Kristen, for letting us crash at your place). During the second week that he was here, Ivan had an alumni event for Southwestern in the city, so Susan and Ivan went to that while we sent Papa Viktor off to enjoy the New York City Ballet. The third weekend that he was here, we all flew to CA to spend time with Susan's family and introduce Viktor to the west coast (or, as Claire says, "the best coast" - not to be confused with the east coast aka "the least coast").

We left for California on Thursday night. On Friday we spent the day in Ventura. On Saturday we went to Santa Clarita where we had brunch with the Paradises (Papa Viktor had met them almost 15 years earlier in Kazakhstan). Gayle (Ivan's English teacher in Kazakhstan) came with Nanci on her way out of town and it was touching to see how emotional the reunion was for Papa Viktor.

After brunch, Susan hung out with some friends (Joanna and her family and then Caroline and her family) while Ivan showed Papa Viktor The Master's College campus. Then, we all went to Vitaliy and Michelle's house to hang out and catch up with them. I think Papa Viktor enjoyed having a real conversation in Russian! Monday the 11th is a birthday shared by Ivan and Vitaliy's oldest son, Daniel. Daniel is such a cute kid, he loves it when we come over to visit and always wants to talk to us and when we sit down for a meal he wants to sit in between us. It's so much fun to have a friend's kid be so affectionate.

On Sunday we celebrated Mother's Day and Ivan's birthday. Then, we drove to LA, where we showed some of the sights to Papa Viktor before meeting up with Uncle David and Aunt Valarie for dinner. Finally, Susan's parents dropped us off at the airport and we were on our way back home. Yesterday we took Ivan out to the Outback Steakhouse for his birthday meal and today Papa Viktor left to go back home. So, now we have our house all to ourselves again. Overall, it was a very nice visit although quite rushed. Ivan and his dad had some great conversations and even Susan had a few lengthy conversations in Russian. It will take quite a bit more practice for Susan to become adept at conversing in Russian, but this was a good chance to brush up on it.

Labels: NY, Quick Trip, Summary

Another bi-monthly update. Since our last update, not much has happened. We've had friends from church over for dinner a few times and the Discipleship Groups from our church had a get together for dinner (we were the purple team). This weekend was Easter and we got a great care package from Susan's family (thanks, guys!). Of course, Claire was involved so it was very nicely decorated. What a blast from the past! It was filled will those plastic eggs we used to use as kids for the Easter egg hunts. Naturally, there were a few filled with chocolate, other candy, and (of course) money - that's a dentist for you - don't rot their teeth: buy their happiness :)

Tomorrow Susan leaves for a week and a half - she's going to a conference in Madrid to help give her an edge in her PhD research. We'll see how that goes...

Labels: NY

Alas, Claire has departed. It was so nice having her here. Now it's time to return to "normal" life, whether we want to or not. We managed to take Claire to the tofu restaurant while she was here and now, as of last night, we've tried another ethnic local favorite: Korean BBQ. We went with some friends from church as they give you a lot of food and it's not exactly cheap. But boy was it delicious! Each table has essentially a BBQ pit built into it. They bring out about a dozen "side" dishes and then they start BBQing deliciously marinated beef right in front of you. I guess it's so expensive because there were literally 6 waiters hovering around us at all times making sure the beef was cooking to perfection and keeping our plates full. Susan brought her camera, but, alas the batteries were dead, so we didn't get any pictures to document the occasion. If you're ever in NY and have $25 per person to spend, consider some amazing Korean BBQ.

On other fronts, Alexei and his girlfriend left a few weeks ago. Andrei came back and left again last week, and now we have our house all to ourselves. The guests were actually a very good thing for us as it forced us to unpack more boxes to make room for everyone to sleep somewhere. So now the floor is clearly visible in Susan's office and the bookshelves are more full than ever!

Last week Susan invited the pastor's daughters over for some girl time and they had fun eating Subway, baking cookies, writing card to some ladies in the church, and just hanging out. The week before that we went over to the associate pastor's house for dinner with Andrei and we all had a great time, enjoying delicious food and friendly company.

Labels: Food, NY

What a busy weekend it's been! In addition to Claire visiting us, last week Ivan's brother, Alexey, and his girlfriend came to visit us and then on Saturday Ivan's friend, Andrei, arrived. This is the most people we've had staying with us in all 5 years of our marriage! Andrei and Alexey and sleeping in the gym (aka Ivan's office) while the gals are sleeping in Susan's office. It's worked out pretty well so far. Andrei is leaving on Tuesday to go to the Shepherd's Conference in California and the rest of the guests are staying another week or so.

For the most part, Alexey and his girlfriend keep themselves occupied with the typical touristy things during the day, so Claire and I get to hang out, run errands, play games, etc. With Claire's help, we've managed to buy some frames and hang some pictures and art that I've been meaning to hang ever since we moved here 6 months ago!

Hurrah for sisters :)

Oh, and here's a photo of the Russian chocolate that Ivan's brother brought us from Russia!

Labels: NY

Disclaimer: it's been 4 months since our last update, so we'll post a few updates to sum up our life since February and post them as if they had just happened, including back dating them!

What a great surprise we received this week! Well, it was a surprise for Susan, but Ivan was in on it the whole time. Claire came to visit!!! Just out of the blue to cheer us up and keep Susan company while Ivan is at work. She came on Thursday and is staying for a couple of weeks! It's so great that Claire's not working at the moment. The timing couldn't be better.

Today we went to a friend's baby shower. Liisa. A friend from high school who is now married and lives in New Jersey. So Claire and Susan got to go there together. They are expecting a little boy and won't tell us what they plan on naming him. He's due in April.

We had a great time seeing Liisa again, although we didn't really know any of the other people - well, one gal was at the Christmas party that Ivan and Susan went to in December and Liisa's sister, Karin, was there - she knows Ivan from college.

So, what was promising to be a horrible week is not going to be marvelous! Thanks, Claire!

Oh, and of course, since Claire LOVES to cook, she introduced us to a great new way to eat cauliflower:

Just sprinkle on some EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) and Mrs. Dash with a pinch of cayenne pepper, rub it around with your hands to mix it and bake at 350F for 45-60 min. D-Lish!

Labels: Food, NY

Yes, I know. A rash of blog postings! What has gotten into us? Well, don't get used to it. Today Susan was cleaning out her office and came across an empty box. The contents at one time (barely 2 weeks ago, in fact) made up a care package sent to us by Susan's family. The great things about care packages from Susan's family is 1. they are guaranteed to contain yummy food, 2. they are guaranteed to contain a few non-food items to brighten your day, and 3. they are guaranteed to come decorated if Susan's sister is in charge of mailing them!!!

What do I mean by "decorated"?

Well, see for yourself:


So many fun stickers!!

As you can see from the photo on the right, we got all sorts of good stuff in this package: Almonds, Beef Jerkey, Chocolate, a card featuring Mom's new dog, Shortbread Cookies, Coconut Macaroon Cookies, Craisins, Gatorade powder, Chocolate-covered Sunflower Seeds, Dove Special Dark Chocolate, Homemade Jam (made by Susan and Uncle David during her visit in October but which couldn't be smuggled onto the plane), Gummy Bears, Homemade Persimmon Cookies, 17 Bean Soup Mix, Sudoku book, Sabrina movie, and a Latin Music Mix CD. Not pictured are copies of the family portraits which we got taken during our Christmas visit as part of our gift to Susan's dad. So as you can see, lots of good stuff to cheer up anyone's day! In fact, the Sudoku book and Gummy Bears came in handy because the very day that we received this package we decided to hop a plane for CA and Susan was able to keep herself occupied with the Sudoku and gummy candy for the entire plane ride. I would dare say that receiving this package was, in fact, a catalyst for our speedy departure to warmer environs. The thought process went something like: "Wow! That's so sweet! I love my family! What are we doing here? Let's go visit them if we can find cheap tickets!"

We love you guys!!

Labels: Food, NY, Quick Trip

I needed a flashlight today. I always forget that in our tool box we have a flashlight, but today I didn't forget because we left our tool box out last night after putting together our bookshelf. So I got the flashlight and went to use it. Of course, the batteries were dying (although, surprisingly, they weren't dead yet [I'll avoid the Monty Python quote...]). Since I need to go to the hardware store today anyways, I decided to check the batteries to see what size I'll need to buy. I found out that they were size "C" and noticed a strange sticker on the side of one of the copper tops:



Notice that TMC Bookstore price sticker? Wow! That's one old battery! And it's not completely dead yet! You know what they say: "You can't top the copper top!"

Labels: NY, Random

Today was another great day to eat out. Last night when we were deciding where to go (we ended up going to Jane's mom's restaurant) another option was to go to Chuckie's (another friend from church) family's pizzeria (Marinellas Pizzeria and Restaurant). We looked at the pizzeria on the map and found that it wasn't that close to home, so we decided to go there today after church when we would have more time to drive there and back again.

We went to the early service, so when we got out there was plenty of time to spare before the pizzeria opened for lunch. Our original intention was to use our GPS to find a mall near the pizzeria and hang out until the restaurant opened. On the way, the road started to look familiar, so we checked "Daniel" (the name of our GPS) and found that the IKEA wasn't far away. We decided to take a detour to IKEA (we need a bookshelf and had previously picked out the one we wanted, but never actually bought it). When we were near IKEA our GPS battery was dying, so Susan quickly jotted down directions from IKEA to the pizzeria and then we turned Daniel off.

We walked out of IKEA with a bookshelf, two end tables, a service tray, and a picture frame - and still had lots of time to spare - so we went to Macy's and then Target looking for clothes for Ivan (although in the end we didn't buy any). Finally, it was time for lunch and we were starving!

We made it to the pizzeria without our GPS and got there just when Chuckie was starting his shift. Ivan decided to get a grilled vegetable salad (lettuce topped with grilled eggplant, peppers, portabellos, etc with a balsamic dressing) while Susan opted for the considerably less healthy sausage, peppers, onion roll (like a calzone, minus the tomato-based sauce - see photo at right from Marinella's website - we forgot to take our camera with us again - grrr!). We also ordered an appetizer of Mozzarella Sticks (which we enjoyed tremendously). The food was fabulous and filling. After we were done the lunch crowd slowed down and we had a chance to visit with Chuckie for awhile. We also got to chat with Chuckie's dad, Anthony Sr., for awhile and he made some fabulous canoli (which Ivan washed down with espresso, which reminded me of the macchiato from Milan). Italian food at it's best (albeit a bit Americanized).

Yet another meal out that left us both completely satisfied, bordering on stuft (or is that stuffed?). We came home and put together the bookshelf that we bought (beware if you've never shopped at IKEA before: you get pretty cheap furniture that you have to put together yourself. If I was McGyver, we could have put it together with a paper clip and some chewing gum, but instead it required two screw drivers and a hammer).

Then, we had to rearrange our living room only to decide in the end that the bookshelf would be better off in our bedroom (which is huge and hardly has any furniture in it). But, Susan always enjoys spicing things up by rearranging the furniture, so now we have a new layout in the living room to make her happy.

Labels: Food, NY

Happy Valentine's Day! It's so nice for Valentine's Day to be on a Saturday - all day to hang out with your honey without needing to go to work or church. Today started out great for us. We slept in without worrying about the alarm clock. Last night we had thought about getting up early to beat the crowd to the IHOP for breakfast (basically the only franchise around here, apart from KFC). But then we decided - it's a Saturday! Let's sleep in and fight the crowd at the IHOP.

First, we exchanged our gifts for each other and then by the time we got to IHOP it was packed! The wait was only estimated to be 15-25 minutes - I think that's the default time they say regardless of how long it will actually take. We decided to go across the street to take care of some banking and got that done with plenty of time to spare. It was still crowded when we returned, but it was only about a 10 minute wait from when we returned to get seated. We enjoyed our pancakes and eggs, coffee and hot chocolate (the whipped cream is the best part of the hot cocoa and the waitress put a TON of the cream on it - it was great!)

We walked home (well, Susan basically waddled, because she was so full) but it was a nice clear day and not too chilly (of course, we were wearing our thick jackets and long johns - thanks, Simsons!).

We spent a nice leisurely afternoon at home. We called Susan's mom to wish her a happy birthday (yep, she's a love baby - born on Valentine's Day), Ivan called his family (one of his Saturday rituals), and we hung out.

We decided to be adventuresome for dinner and went to a Korean restaurant we've been threatening to go to for awhile. It's owned by the mother of a gal in our church, but in general Susan is scared of ethnic food, so every time Ivan suggests we go there Susan manages to come up with an excuse not to. Today we decided that if Susan absolutely hated what she ordered then we would go across the street to KFC (something we never eat because it's so greasy). Well, the backup plan was completely unnecessary. We both loved it. It's called Book Chang Dong Soft Tofu. It was a bit intimidating walking in as we were the only non-Asians in the restaurant. When we were seated they gave us this strange drink that at first one might expect to be tea (like in a Chinese restaurant) but instead it's cold and tastes like barley. We finally decided to order two different kinds of soup: Chicken Soft Tofu Soup and Vegetable Soft Tofu Soup. All of the food comes in one of four spicy levels: Very Mild, Mild, Spicy, and Very Spicy. We opted for the Chicken Soup (which Susan was primarily going to eat) to be Very Mild and the Vegetable Soup (for Ivan) to be Mild. Once we ordered the awkwardness only got worse when they brought out 7 little bowls of food that we didn't order (see picture). Ivan had been to a Korean restaurant before and said that these "side dishes" were for mixing into the soup once it came. However, we saw people eating their side dishes with chop sticks - not putting them into their soup, so we got a bit nervous - like Gringos in a Mexico. Also, why did they bring out these side dishes so quickly if they were supposed to go into the soup? In the end, we waited to put them in the soup and it was a good choice.

The soup came in super hot cast iron bowls and it was literally still rapidly bowling when they put it on the table. One of the side dishes contained two eggs which we promptly cracked and put into the boiling soup to make sure they got all the way cooked. The soup was still way too hot to eat. Thankfully, the side dishes were cold so as we added them to the soup it helped cool it down a little bit (although we still burned our mouths several times in attempting to eat the soup). The side dishes included (we think): eggs, some sort of meat, cucumber, bean sprouts, potatoes, Kimchi, and tofu. We both put a bit of everything into our soup and it was quite a feast. In addition, they brought out a large cast iron bowl full of rice. The rice was just enough to fill up two bowls (one for each of us), but when they were done dishing out the rice there was a layer of it stuck to the bowl. Instead of removing the mostly empty bowl, they filled it up with water and left it on the table. We saw other people scrape out the bowl and eat the rice and then drink the water from the bowl, but we weren't feeling that ambitious, so when we left, the bowl of rice water was still full on the edge of our table.

All things considered it was a very delicious, healthy, filling meal and wasn't too expensive ($10 per person). We had a great time (when we weren't feeling awkward about what we were supposed to do with things) and we definitely expect to go back. It was a great Valentine's Day experience!

Labels: Food, NY

On Monday night we had some friends from church over for dinner. Susan cooked a modified version of Quick Chicken Divan and our guests, Chris and Christina, brought an amazing Italian Fruit Salad Cake. Chris is Italian and he used to work at the bakery that makes this fabulous cake. Generally we don't eat very much dessert, but we each enjoyed TWO slices of this fabulous cake!

The cake has a base of angel food cake (about one inch thick) topped with banana pudding with loads of fresh fruit on top (strawberries, bananas, and peaches). The fresh fruit is what makes up the majority of the height of the cake (and it's weight - this is one heavy cake!) and it's all iced with a heavy cream-based "frosting". The fruit certainly makes it healthier, so we only felt a little guilty when going for seconds. The angel food cake is so light and fluffy that it doesn't seem too unhealthy. Only the rich cream topping makes you think you're really eating dessert. So, we're officially big fans of this cake and Susan is wondering if there's a way she can make a healthy version of it that we could eat more regularly.

Labels: Food, NY

Another Monday. Another snowy day. Thankfully, another day for Susan to stay inside where it's warm and cozy :) As we were driving to church yesterday (it was snowing) we commented on how less peaceful the snow looks in person than on the postcards. What was worse, was that by the time we got home from church it had stopped snowing and, instead of a beautiful white blanket covering the ground, the roads and sidewalks had all gotten mucky from people travelling on them. Yuck. We don't really get that much snow at once - maybe an inch - but since it's snowing pretty much every night (and sometimes during the day, too) it's staying fairly white outside.

Our landlord and most of the neighbors do a very good job keeping the sidewalks in front of their houses shoveled. Our immediate next door neighbor doesn't, however, so it seems quite out of place - walking down the sidewalk keeping your feet relatively dry on freshly swept (yes, if it hasn't iced over, they use a broom to clean the sidewalks rather than a shovel) and then you get to our neighbor's sidewalk where there's a couple inches of snow to trudge through until you get to the next clear spot on the driveway. "Pictures?" You say? "Pictures!" Man, I just can't win with you guys. First, you bug us about updating our website ("It's not October anymore...") and now you want pictures? Okay. I'm a push over, what can I say? I found my camera and all the cables necessary, but, alas, both batteries have been drained. So I'm charging a battery now. Although I really don't know what's so exciting about seeing a photo of our lazy neighbor's sidewalk :) [Update: Now you can see the photo of our lazy neighbor's sidewalk] Once the battery is charged maybe I'll even get around to posting some photos from our Europe trip (yeah, it was in July/August and we *still* haven't posted photos). But it's likely that most of the photos will be posted on Facebook, rather than on this website, so if you aren't on Facebook - too bad. Well, I might post a link that is at least temporarily available to non-Facebook users.

So, that's our Monday. Not very exciting, eh? Now do you wonder why you were so eager for us to start posting about our lives again? Yeah - I wonder too.

Okay, you want a bone of something that is really interesting? Enchiladas. Oh yes, you heard/read me correctly. Enchiladas. "What's so interesting about enchiladas?" you wonder. Well, I'll tell you. Susan *loves* Mexican food (granted, she has wimpy tastebuds and can't stand spicy food, but she loves tacos, burritos, fajita, and, yes, even enchiladas. We're having a Bible Study meet at our house after church on Sundays and so we prepare some cheap, easy lunch for the group. Last week, as we were driving home from church we passed the Taco Bell. Usually we don't pay attention to it, but last week it caught Susan's attention and she had a sudden craving for Mexican food. Ivan, like the good husband he is, offered that we stop there on the way home and buy something for Susan, but we had Crock Pot Chicken (the recipe that Jessica and Jane made for us when we got home from our honeymoon - also quite yummy, but not very Mexican-y) waiting for us at home, so we decided not to stop. However, that set the menu for the following week (ie, yesterday): Enchiladas, Corn, and Black Beans. Yum. It's not as common out here as it is in California. A classic illustration of that was when we served it we announced that they were chicken enchiladas and one member of the group, after tasting it commented on how much her husband would enjoy it and asked "What do you call these again?" How many Californias do you know who, when presented with enchiladas, wouldn't know what they are? Clearly we need more Mexican food out here.

They were really good - with all the fixings: lettuce, olives, sour cream, salsa, extra cheese (beans and corn, I already mentioned). Not that Susan makes the best enchiladas in the world by any means, but she sure does enjoy Mexican food. Can you tell she's looking forward to having left overs for lunch today? Oh, yum. Speaking of which... I think it's lunch time :)

Labels: Food, NY

Well, we're all up-to-date now. And now that we've found all of the paraphernalia related to our camera, hopefully future posts will include photos. January is already 1/2 way over and it seems like we were just in CA last week. How time does fly. We've been keeping ourselves busy with a small group that we're hosting at our house each week. There are 3 other couples and we're going through the books The Excellent Wife (for the ladies) and The Exemplary Husband (for the men). We're encouraged by the opportunities for service that our new church affords and will be under consideration for membership in the members meeting later this month. It's still snowing here on a regular basis (for example, yesterday) and it's nice to see the clean freshness after a night of snow (although we try not to go outside more than necessary - poor Ivan still walks to the train station every day).

On Saturday night (after a full day of snowing) we went out with some friends to a pizza place in Long Island which, we were told, has the best pizza on Long Island. The pizza was surely delicious and the company was great - although we all decided that probably the drive wasn't worth it considering the weather conditions. But we had a great night and only "lost control" on the road twice. (I put "lost control" in quotes, because the second time our friend was driving and he looked to be in complete control even though we were sliding into the intersection.) Thankfully, no damage was done and we had a great time.

Labels: NY

Yet another fun filled weekend and yet another post without photos from our camera. I brought it with me, but we forgot to take photos (and I still haven't found my cable yet, anyways). So, what have we been up to? Well, the next few weeks are going to be very busy, so we decided to take a special trip this weekend to celebrate our anniversary a month early. The weekend of our anniversary we will be on a retreat with our church and the three weekends before that Susan will be in California and next weekend we have other plans. Yep - like I said, we'll be busy.

One of our favorite things to do is go to a nice place and simply enjoy each other's company (and eat food that we don't allow ourselves to eat at home). This weekend we stayed fairly close to home - only about 40 minutes away - in a town near White Plains, NY. Susan left home shortly after noon and checked into the hotel. When Ivan got off work, he took the train to White Plains and Susan met him at the station. White Plains is an area that we were considering moving to when we first learned about Ivan's new job, so we were looking forward to this as an opportunity to check out the area. Although we didn't get in any serious house hunting or neighborhood reconnaissance, Susan has determined - based solely on Friday evening traffic around the train station - that she hates everything about White Plains. That was easy - cross another city off our list! Truly, it is a nice area within an easy commute of Grand Central Station, but everything about the traffic was atrocious - badly marked lanes, unclear turning zones, improperly timed lights, too many cars, and too many one way streets, to name a few. Thankfully, our whole weekend did not revolve around bad traffic, so after collecting Ivan and going to Whole Foods to pick up some of our favorite snacks (although they didn't have Cheez-Its, which left Susan rather disappointed), we returned to our hotel for a relaxing evening.


The view from our balcony

We were pleased to learn that the hotel had a great fitness center and tennis courts, so on Saturday we made good use of those. Tennis is such a fun activity that leaves you worn out (if you try hard enough) but not bored to tears (like riding the stationary bike).

Speaking of tennis, Susan has been playing quite a bit of it lately. Last Wednesday she played with a sweet, elderly woman from church, Alma, who has played quite a bit of tennis in her day and had lessons from Van Der Meer University. She was able to share her wealth of knowledge to help Susan improve her game and they had a great time playing. On Thursday Susan played with another gal from church, Ayumi, and they had a great time. Hopefully a few tennis games a week will become a staple in Susan's schedule to help her jumpstart the need to get physically active again. Today Susan and Ayumi will be playing again and tomorrow she has a date with Alma, so things are looking good.

On another note, Susan has been feeling quite discouraged and confused about her PhD progress (or lack thereof). After much thought, she decided that making a daily schedule would help her squander less time and be more productive. Finally, yesterday she sat down and made that schedule. It actually did help her stay on task yesterday and was a big factor in why she actually did the dishes this morning (yeah - pretty sad when you have to schedule in time to do that, but some of us need more structure in our lives, what can I say?)

Anyways, that's probably way more information that most of you wanted to know, but we don't have much else to blog about, so there you go!

Labels: NY, Quick Trip, Tennis

Are you sensing a theme here? Well, we were *trying* to post an update at least every week - and Monday seemed to be the day to do it, but I missed yesterday, so you're stuck with a Tuesday update. I hope you don't mind. I was also hoping to post a photo of last week's trip to Connecticut, but I haven't been able to find my cable to hook up my camera to my computer (OK - I haven't looked very hard... yet). Alas, another week with no photo.

Our highlights of last week both happened on the weekend. First, on Saturday we visited with Susan's old time friend Liisa and her husband Josh. Susan and Liisa were in 9th grade together at VCS which Liisa's parents were on furlough. A few months ago Susan learned that Liisa was living in the NYC area, so we decided to visit her once we got settled in. We had a delightful time and ate fabulous food (homemade filafels - to die for!) and went for a walk to the river where we admired the NYC skyline (they live across the river in Jersey City).

Our second outing was lunch with the church secretary, Rayna, and her mother, Alma, and a friend, Katie. We had a delightful time getting to know these ladies and found much in common apart from our bond in Christ. Again, we enjoyed more home cooking (meat balls!) and great conversation. Susan found a fellow tennis lover in Alma and they have a play date for Wednesday - hopefully it won't rain.

Labels: NY, Tennis

Labels: NY, Quick Trip

Ivan's first week of work has passed. At Ernst & Young, they assign the new employees to shadow a veteran employee for the first few months on the job to learn the ropes. He's excited to learn that the woman he'll be shadowing is actually working on a big deal now, so he'll be doing real work. Of course, that probably means he'll have to work long hours, so we'll see how that pans out. They say that 9am is too late to get to work and leaving at 6pm is considered early, but they don't give many details on the work schedule beyond that. Ivan has been getting to work around 7:30am and leaving between 5:30pm and 6pm. We'll see how long that keeps up.

Susan started work today - she's resuming her job at The Master's College as a software engineer, but only working 1 day per week. The rest of her time should be spent conducting research towards her PhD. We'll see how that pans out. The sermon yesterday was about prayer and we were encouraged to go to the midweek prayer meeting at church on Tuesdays, so, since Susan doesn't have any other plans for tomorrow, she'll be going to that. Hopefully that will help her become more disciplined in her own, personal prayer life and she'll be more sensitive to the needs of the congregation.

Labels: NY, Work

Well, today was Ivan's first day of work. They must be easing him in, because they let him go at 2:30pm today! I suppose he shouldn't get used to that, but it was nice :) Today, tomorrow, and Wednesday are all training days, so he shouldn't have to stay late those days, but after that we really don't know what to expect. Church again was great yesterday. We were invited to lunch at a lady's house with a number of other recent attenders and a few other older timers. We had a great time and enjoyed some rich and cheesy pasta - yum, yum. Not exactly on our list of things we can eat frequently, but so nice every once in awhile.

Labels: NY, Work

Happy Labor Day! One more week of freedom before Ivan has to start laboring again. It has been so nice to have time together and get back into some sort of routine after the craziness of the last two months. We're settling in here in Queens and are so glad that we don't live in Manhattan: we have a place to park our car, there's normal stores around here (Target, Costco, and supermarkets), and we really like the church we've been attending. It was recommended to us by a fellow CHBC member, Babatunde, who used to live in this area and was a member of the church, North Shore Baptist Church. Things have been going great, but we're preparing for when reality hits next week and Ivan has to become a productive member of society.

Labels: NY