My baby sister

My baby sister is studying abroad in Spain this semester. It's so weird to think of her as all grown up and living in a foreign country. While she's not that much younger than me (7yrs), I still remeber her being a little kid. And just when I got one sister back in the US, the other one leaves. It sounds like she's off to a great start and hopefully she'll keep blogging about her adventures! Here's a link to her page:

Stories from Spain: ¡Finalmente en España!

Trip to Chile: Day 3

Day 3: Wednesday

·         Arrived at bus station in La Serena at 6:30’ish

·         Dropped off our suitcases at Hostal El Punto and since we arrived so early signed up for tour

·         Walked a couple blocks to grab breakfast (rolls of bread and juice) and made it back to the hostal to get picked up by the tour at 8am

·         Tour Name: Punta Choro / Isla Dama

o    Rode in a van for two hours to get to the Humboldt Penguin National Reserve

o    Took fisherman boats out to Choros Island - the weather was colder than we expected but luckily the waves weren't too rough so we could still take the boats out

Our boats before we got on board

o    Saw Humboldt Penguins, many species of birds and sea lions

Our tour guide pointing out the birds, Jackie's on the right

Humboldt Penguins



Path the penguins take to get to the top of the ridge to nest



Sea lions

o    Circled around to outer side of island to look for dolphins but no luck

         o    Landed on Dama Island - walked on Playa La Poza (beach) and did nature walk around island



Nature walk







o    Headed back to the mainland – total time on boat 2.5 hrs, on island 1 hr

Back on solid ground after the boat tour

o    Lunch in town of Punta Choros

§  Christine had Salmon w/French fries & White wine

§  Jackie had chicken (on the bone!) w/mashed potatoes & Escudo beer

o    Napped on the van ride back to La Serena

·         Finally got to shower!!! back at the hostel at 7:30 pm.  Then headed out to check out the town.

·         Walked down Ave Francisco de Aguirre to the El Faro (the lighthouse) and continued down along the beach on the Ave del Mar

·         The sun had already set so the ocean wasn’t much to look at yet but the lights from the neighboring town of Coquimbo were pretty

·         After walking an hour we realized we weren’t going to find a place for dinner along the beach so we hailed a taxi back into the city center of La Serena

·         Ate at Donde El Guaton and ended up ordering waaay too much food on accident

o    Christine had Anticuchos (meat shishkabob), side of mushrooms & red wine

o    Jackie had stuffed beef w/ham and cheese, side of mashed potatoes & sparkling water

·         With full stomachs, headed back to the hostel for much need sleep

Trip to Chile: Day 2

• Our second morning started off with a walk over to Santiago's Plaza de Armas (the city square). We were awed by the beautiful paintings on display by many local artists (Jackie bought one), entertained by street performers and did a lot of people watching.

Plaza de Armas



Human Statue of Chilean Miner



Plaza de Armas & Cathedral

• We also checked out the Catedral Metropolitana which is on the plaza. Due to earthquakes,  at least 4 churches have been built and destroyed on this site. They were having midday mass when we walked inside. Don't worry - I didn't use my flash to take this pic so I wasn't a distraction.

• We took the metro out to Manuel Mantt Street for lunch at Barandian Peruvian Restaurant. Peru is just north of Chile and is known for their flavorful food - it's definitely spicier than chilean cuisine.
• I had steak with sauteed onions and tomatoes
• Jackie had Aji de gallena (chicken with cream sauce)



my peruvian meal



We both had a traditional peruvian fruit drink and bread with creamy hot sauce with our meal

• After lunch we headed to the Mercado Central, a giant fish market. We walked through quickly as I was a little grossed out.
• Jackie took me to La Piojera Restaurant next to try their famous Terremoto drink. We actually had the smaller version called the Replica. The translation for terremoto is earthquake and replica is aftershock. The drink is a sweet fermented wine plus brandy topped with a scoop of pineapple ice cream. It’s SUPER strong and it was good that we only had the replica. We also split an empanada de pino – ground beef with onions, 1 olive and a cooked egg stuffed in a bread pastry. 

• On our walk back to Jackie’s apartment we went through the Santa Lucia Artesian strip to do a little shopping. Back at the apartment we packed our bags for our excursion to La Serena.
• We went back out to walk around more of Jackie’s neighborhood and then found a small Italian restaurant to stop at for dinner.
• We ordered some classic Chilean drinks – PiscoSour for me and FanSchop (draft beer & orange fanta) for Jackie.
• Our salad consisted of slices of tomato and avocado.
• Our pizza was pita bread with goat cheese and cubes of ham…no sauce
• Jackie says the only thing punctual in Chile is the busses so after dinner we grabbed our suitcases from her apartment and headed to the bus station. Luckily we made to the station with plenty of time to spare.
• Our overnight bus to La Serena departed at 11:30pm.
  
  

Trip to Chile: Day 1

My sister, Jackie, lived in Santiago, Chile for 11 months in 2010. She originally went down with plans to visit for only 3 months but she found a job (or 2 or 3) being an English instructor and tutor so she decided to stay. In November, over my thanksgiving break from school, I was able to visit her thanks to some money my Grandpa put in a c.d. for me many years ago. It was an exceptional trip due to the opportunity to explore Chile but also to see Jackie and experience her life down there. We kept a very detailed journal of all the things we did (and ate). And we also took hundreds of pictures. I can't post all the pics but I am going to post our activities from each day. So without further ado...

Day 1: Monday, 11/22/10

• Arrived at Santiago airport, Jackie was waiting to pick me up, took bus then taxi, made it back to Jackie’s apartment at noon
• Explored Santa Lucia hill

Entrance to Santa Lucia hill

Santiago skyline from Santa Lucia hill

• Checked out Jackie’s old apartment and met one of her previous roommates, Laura
• Saw more of the city on our walk to meet Jano, one of Jackie’s Chilean friends
• All 3 of us went out to lunch at Galindo in the Bella Vista neighborhood
• Bread with pebre (popular Chilean hot pepper sauce)
• I had Pastel de Choclo, a traditional corn and meat pie
• Jackie had Churrasco Italiano, a typical sandwich with grilled steak, tomato, avocado and mayonnaise

  

  Pastel de Choclo

•  Rode the funicular to the top of San Cristobal hill and saw the Virgin Mary statue




View of Santiago from top of the San Cristobal hill







Statue of the Virgin Mary


• Walked through Pio Nono (shopping/dining district) and Parque Forestal
• Ate ice cream at the famous Emporio de La Rosa
• Christine’s flavors – lucuma (local fruit) & strawberry
• Jackie’s flavors – chocolate orange & strawberry



Lucuma and Strawberry

• Headed back to Jackie’s apartment and met her current roommate, Courtney
• Rode the metro back to the Bella Vista neighborhood and went to La Nona bar to meet more of Jackie’s friends (Alli, Jano, Kevin, Sally)
• Drink: liters of Escudo beer
• Food: french fries and ketchup
• On the walk home bought a completo (hot dog with tomato, avocado and mayo on top) from a street vendor
• Bed time - 12:30am

A new year

2010 has been an exciting year for us here in Huxley and as we close the books on another great year it would make sense to take a moment to look back on some of the highlights. However, there's been so many noteworthy things I don't really have the time or space to write about them all.  So that leads me to Resolution #1 for 2011 - Blog more often! When I started this blog this summer I had hoped to regularly blog about events going on in our life. Unfortunately, I underestimated the amount of energy school would require this last semester and I completely failed these last few months. So in 2011 I hope to blog more regularly so that at this time next year I'll have a plethora of blogs to pull from for the highlights. Also I hope my writing improves. I would consider myself fairly proficient in technical writing but story-telling is not my forte. So with more blogging hopefully will come more ease with writing.

Resolution #2 is to work on the many projects we have for our home. We've got a laundry list of all sorts of things we'd like to do that we haven't tackled yet due to such a hectic fall. And with the completion of our home improvement projects, I'll have lots more things to post on the blog! Here's some of the things on our list:

• Repaint our bedroom
• Buy new furniture... maybe a sectional?!?!?
• Paint the main living space... light green?
• Install shelves to organize the garage
• Install engineered hardwood floors  
• Tile the bathrooms and kitchen floor
• New carpet for the rest of the floors
• Backsplash in the kitchen
• New cabinets in kitchen
• Paint floorboards white
• Remove wallpaper in guest bedroom, paint
• Paint wood paneling in basement

I would be floored if we were able to complete all of these projects in 2011 but I have a feeling that time and money will both be constraints. But we've got something to work at so that'll be fun.

Ok, let's see, Resolution #3 for 2011... vacations. I guess this really isn't a resolution but rather a hope for the upcoming year. We've talked about lots of trips we'd like to take in 2011 to places both near and far -- Mexico, Philadelphia, Kansas City, Sri Lanka, St. Louis, Canada, Okoboji, Colorado, Vegas. Some of these we had hoped to take in 2010 but due to my lack of a full-time job they didn't happen. (Luckily I was able to cash in some c.d.'s that my Grandpa gave to me so that I was able to go to Chile to visit Jackie - more on that amazing trip soon!) So this year I'll be working full-time and after we do some catch-up savings for our retirment accounts, I plan to budget our money carefully so that we're able to take a few of the trips on our list.

Last but definitley not least, Resolution #4  - Get involved. I haven't really figured out all the details for this one yet but I want to get back involved with doing some good. Back in Iowa City, there were plenty of opportunities to get involved. Then in Omaha, I volunteered at the Children's Hospital. When I moved back to Des Moines I became a Big for Big Brothers Big Sisters. But since getting married, going back to school, moving to Fort Dodge and then to Huxley, I haven't done much. Now that we're settled I don't have any excuse. I feel very blessed to be starting the new year with a home, my health and that of my family plus a job and I think that it's very important to give back.

Our First Christmas Letter

I've been struggling with how to get back to this blog when there's so much to catch up on so I'll start with posting our Christmas letter. While I figured out our picture and addressed envelopes, Matt wrote our letter. I have to admit, I'm super proud of us. I think Matt did a wonderful job and I'm impressed that we got them sent out BEFORE Christmas.

Dearest Friends and Family –
As can be expected, Christine has been a little busy with all of the holiday preparations, graduation, landing a job, buying presents, cleaning the house, and overall making sure I stay in-line. So, I’ve taken this opportunity to step up to the plate and take a swing at this whole “spreading holiday cheer” thing. I assume you may want to hear about what we’ve done this year, but being a little “outside the box,” I’ll tell you first where we’re heading.

Christine landed a new job with Compressor Controls Corporation out of Urbandale, IA. She is excited (I think….or at least she should be) to start on January 10th, 2011. This is the same company she interned with this summer, where she is taking a job as a “Human Resources Training Generalist.” It’s a new position in the company, so we’re lucky they have nothing to compare her performance to…. (Ouch….I just got punched in the shoulder). Over Thanksgiving, Christine visited her little sister Jackie in Chile, where she had quite the experience soaking in the culture, seeing the sights and having fun.

Christine also just graduated (December 17th) from “that other school” in Ames with her Masters of Business Administration. She made lots of friends and had a great time. I will have to admit I did have a good time at the one and only ISU football game she dragged me to, but that was only because there was free food and I was decked-out in black and gold.

I look forward to burning all of the Cyclone paraphernalia she collected during her tenure there- luckily there’s an awesome fireplace in our basement that’s hungry for fuel.

Which brings me to the biggest change for us this past year….our new house! We moved in to our new place in Huxley, IA on May 15th. I was rudely awakened to the fact that the grass does not mow itself. I was even more astonished that the flowers were not self-watering. On a brighter note, we did find out that lots of great food arrives at your front door when you move into a new neighborhood. All-in-all it’s been great to have a place of our own, and we’re looking forward to making a few improvements and changes around the villa in the coming year.

Now, I know you’ve all been wondering….just what the heck has Matt been up to??? Luckily, I’ve prepared a little something:

I still work for the Dept. of Natural Resources as a Conservation Officer, but transferred to the Boone & Story county territory. A normal “day in the life” consists of waking up when I want to and chasing bad guys. It’s been a change- trying to learn the intricacies of the new area and meet the new people, but it has been worth it to get a little closer to family and friends. I also accepted the responsibility of becoming a Field Training Officer for our bureau. I don’t feel any smarter, but I guess they think I’m a good candidate to “mold the minds of the future generation of game wardens” and generally show them the ways of the world.

Overall, we were very blessed in 2010. We’ve been able to spend lots of time with friends and family. Plus, there’s been lots of fun weddings…allowing me to hone my impressive dance skills. We look forward to having a wonderful 2011, and wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Love, Matt (& Christine)

Still alive...

...but barely hanging on. lol! I realize that I'm a complete blogger failure. Yes. My quote of the month is from September and it's almost November. oops. I am completely bogged down with classes, homework, work for my assistantship, and job searching. And I haven't had time to get to my blog or do a lot of things I've wanted to do this fall. Unfortunately, I'm probably not going to be able to put up any good posts until after Thanksgiving break either. Randomly, I was reminded of my complete lack of blogging by both a close friend and my husband over the last 24 hours - weird. So I decided I should probably throw a note out here to let everyone know that I'll be out for the next month but I will definitely be back. And be prepared for lots of exciting posts when I return! Especially about my 10-day trip to Santiago, Chile to visit my sister Jackie over Thanksgiving break! I'm so excited about it but have so much to get through in the next month. Plus there's football games, Wendy's wedding, a weekend getaway to Galena and some fun around the house to post about too! If only all my time wasn't being dominated by school work! ahh! Why did I decide to go back to grad school again??? :)