Postcard from Italy

Well, we didn't have much time to write postcards since it was such a quick trip, but hopefully this blog will be a suitable replacement.
We had a wonderful time. We started out near Ancona, which is the area where the bride grew up. We spent four days there and the bride and groom organized social events for each day, so we had a great time hanging out with friends (old and new). Both the wedding ceremony and the reception were wonderful. We stayed with one of the brides friends, Serena, and got to know her and her boyfriend a little. It was a struggle at first because very few people in this particular area speak English, but our trusty phrase-book carried us through. It was Andy's first time in a non-English-speaking country, a very exciting experience for him.
Our friend Arnaldo then drove us up to his home in Venice. What a strange and beautiful place! We loved the atmosphere: no cars, the sound of water at night, beautiful homes with some much detail in the architecture, and some of the best food we have ever eaten in our entire lives. Arnaldo and his parents were so kind in welcoming us into their home and taking care of us.
So, back to life in London, we are happy to be home and in the comforts of routine. It's been a very cold summer, so we were glad to get away, but it is finally warming up a bit here.
Hope all of you are well.
Peace, Mandy

One Down One to Go!!!

Hello there everyone,

Well my first year is done and man what a great experience it was. To celebrate Mandy and I are packing up and going to Italy for a week. (I am sure picture will be coming soon) I am still processing all I learned this year. I am looking forward to this summer to relax and let it all soak in.

Here are some pictures for you,
I think it is from bottom to top.

First is Jeff: we went on a brewery tour at Fullers Brewery, and had a great time. I highly recommend it to you if you are in the neighbor hood. It was 6 pounds each and at the end of the tour you get to have a quarter pint of every beer they make, and a full pint of your favorite. Which adds up to about 4.5 pints, or nine cans of beer, plus it's English beer so it packs a little punch. So after wards we decided to go back to ours and have some dinner and a beer or two, and Mandy gave Jeff a hair cut. It was a very fun night, but for some reason the next day I was very thirsty for water.

Second is Mandy: This is her massage room at her new salon in Islington, which is a part of London. It has been great for me to see Mandy thrive in massage. It really suits who she is. After many months of working Aveda retail the salon is open and Mandy's spirit is really blossoming. Even tough we came over here for me to go to school it is so exciting to see all the ways Mandy is growing and changing too.

E's B-day: A group of us went and celebrated our friend Elisabeth's birthday in Hyde park. E is a Lispa student and wonderfully kind person. We had a really nice afternoon.

Next is my good friend Soren: Soren was on kitchen cleaning duty when we moved to our new flat. He is from Switzerland, the country where OCD is encouraged, so he is very thorough when it comes to, well everything. It was a good move two of our friends let us use them and their cars and we had it done in no time. It is amazing the amount of stuff you can collect in 10 months. We are still settling into our new flat Soren and I painted the living room the other day and now that I am done with school I have been working my way through the boxes in the closet. Mandy and I love our new place. It is in a very vibrant part of London and it is about 30 min from anywhere. Oh and the best part is the water pressure is incredible!!!!

Rague and Poker night: My friend Arnaldo is from Venice and all year he has been bragging about how great his pasta is. (I think it's an Italian thing, cause I alway brag about my Jello) So one night I had a couple of guys over to play Texas Hold'em and he cooked up some Rague y Penne. It was really good. Arnaldo is who we are staying with in Venice. He have a boat and is going to take us around the canals which is very exciting! It is nice of him to do all this after I took all his money that night.

Next is a picture of my extremely attractive wife... that one speaks for it self.

After that is people rehearsing the 20 movements at school. The 20 Movements are the last thing we did at school this year. Basically it is 20 different mimed movements that help the actor work on physical control and stage presence. They are to actors what singing scales would be to a singer. Some of the movements are: climbing the wall, turning the stick, ice skating, rowing, etc..... So threw out the year we learn the movements and for our final critique you have to link the movements together and perform them for the teachers and all the other students, and afterwards (like every time we perform) the teachers tell you what didn't work. I went on the last day so Mandy could come watch and really learned a ton watching everyone else that week while I was working on my own and thinking about where I was and what I wanted to do. I really enjoyed the exercise.

The last three are of the graduation party for the second years. Each person was asked to bring a dish from their home country, so the kitchen table was full of great food from around the world. My good friend Ryan and I made 3 kinds of Jello: Lemon and orange with carrots and cellory, blackcurrant Jello shoots, and raspberry jello with grapes and blueberries. We all hung out ate and had one of the most touching graduations I have ever seen. It was a beautiful day.

Well I am going to sign off there, I have to tie up some loose ends and head down the road. I hope you are all doing well. I miss you very much.

Peace.

Andy

Schedule FYI

Hello Friends!
Hope all is well. We've been pretty busy around here, especiall Andy as he wraps up his final project for school. The weather has been pretty cold and wet lately, but we're already looking forward to summer.
For those of you thinking of making a trip over, I thought it would be good to inform you of our scheudule. I will be around all summer, I have a pretty steady work schedule. Andy has been blessed with two wonderful opportunties this summer/fall. He will be attending a week long workshop in Denmark around mid-August. Also, he will be going to New York to divise a show and perform around the end of September, beginning of October.
Peace, Mandy

New Job!

Halleluia! After a year-long process, I have finally started my new job. My first week was fun, but it was a bit unusual. We still had to prepare the spa rooms, so I spent most of my days shopping around central London and buying all the necessities. My bosses are long-time partners Mike and Wendy. Wendy and I had a great time shopping together a couple of times and she made sure that we took much deserved dinner breaks to taste the local fair. I felt so spoiled, it was great! So far, my co-workers and the clientelle seem really nice. Also, I work right next to a park, so I get to eat my lunch with my bare feet on the grass, the sun on my face, and the wind at my back.
Other news...I took a Reiki class. It is called an atunement, and there are three levels (first, second, and master - but you can also become a teacher after that). Reiki is really hard for me to describe, especially since I am still learning about it, but it is about using the energy around us to bring healing to the body. I have to practice on myself for 21 days, then I can practice on others. It has been the most peaceful part of my day and I am loving it so far.
Andy is doing well as his school year is wrapping up. They finish at the end of July, but they are already working on final projects and doing some of their weekly routines for the last time. This term, they have been working on stage combat, so he has been learning some marial arts. He is looking ahead for the summer and considering a 3 week trip to New York to devise and perform in a show with some recent graduates of his school.
Lastly, we're getting ready to move. Through a friend of a friend, we came across a really wonderful flat that is just a couple of miles away from my job. My one hour commute will be closer to 20 minutes now.
Sorry there's no pictures, I'll try to post some soon.
Hope you are healthy and happy!
Peace, Mandy

Nieces, Nephews, and a whole bunch of Minnesota Fun!

We're back in London after a lovely trip back home to MN for a week and a half. It was wonderful! A whirlwind tour of the twin cities, our hometowns, and of course, Tobies Bakery in Hinkley. I think the pictures speak for themselves, we had a great time visiting with our family and friends. I especially loved playing with our nieces and nephews. We had a couple of gathering in which we could reconnect with friends, but we were so busy visiting, we neglected to take any photos.
It was a bittersweet time because we loved being home, but it reminded us of how hard it is to be far from family and friends. At the same time, the flights seemed to quick that we felt like MN isn't actually that far from the UK. On the otherhand, we were both happy to be back in London and after a restful weekend, we got back into our regular, comfortable routines. I'm a creature of habit and was glad to come back to our current "home."
We had a great weekend recently. There was a big social event at our church on Sunday and I was even asked to sing with the worship band that morning. On Friday, we went salsa dancing with some friends from Peurto Rico. It feels good to know that even though we're far from MN, we have some great friends and support here in London.
Hope all is well for each of you wherever your home is.
Peace, Mandy

Visit Home

Hey Everybody!
Just an FYI that we will be travelling back home for a short visit. We'll be in the Cities and up north between April 30th and May 10th. Hope we can reconnect with many of you.
Peace, Mandy
P.S. The picture is if my sister's dog, who I miss and can't wait to see :)

Adventures Gallore!

Well, this past month has been full of adventures. On our recent trip to Yorkshire, we discovered how wonderful it is to get out of the city once and a while. It is such a fast pace here, it was good for us to get away from that and we hope to plan little trips like that more often. But, on the other hand, our time here is short and London is a wonderful place to have new experiences. So, here's a sampling of all the places we've been lately....
This first picture above is of China Town (which is really only about a block here, but it is a great place for dumplings and red bean pastries. The Chinese New Year was not that long ago, so there's more lanterns and decorations than normal.



We also learned about another holiday called Purim. One of Andy's fellow students is from Israel and she is Jewish. We celebrated Chanuka with her in December and recently we celebrated Purim with her and a whole bunch of people from her job. They rented out a room in a club and had dancing a food late into the night. She told us that the holiday involves an elaborate story with all different characters and that traditionally people dress up as the characters. But, now they mostly just get dressed up, kind of like Halloween. We didn't really pack any costumes when we moved here, so we decided to dress up as tourists. It was a great time!



This is a picture of our friends Kat and Michael who did an act in a Cabaret that we went to. Cabarets seem to be quite popular here. They ususally include some music acts, comedy acts, and some dancing. Kat and Michael did this great comedy act where they pretend to do a knife throwing routine with imaginary knives. OK, it doesn't sound funny on paper, but it was really entertaining. The whole night was fun and lots of people dressed up in fancy costumes. They had a hip-hop contest and Andy did a little rap and tied with another woman for a prize of Bavarian sausages. We left the Cabaret with Michael and then went to a club where our friend Imagen was celebrating her 30th birthday. It was a fun night, but a long one. It took over an hour to get to the second place and then almost 2 hours to get home (only buses run past midnight, and cabs are too expensive). We had a similar adventure with Michael recently when we went swing dancing with him. Costumes and long bus rides were the theme that night as well.



Here's us on the bus. Friday and Saturday nights on public transportation is interesting because it is legal to drink in public here. So, whether on a bus or a train, there are usually people just sitting and talking and laughing with a beer in hand. It took a little getting used to it, but it's normal to us now, and from time to time we participate.



In our effort to get a break from the city, we've found a new place called Hampstead Heath. It's this great park that is huge and it's got a really nice neighborhood around it that feels a bit like Stillwater.





The Brighton Pier is what I imagine Coney Island to be like. It's a city that is about a one hour train ride east of the city just on the coast. We went out there and had a nice day walking on the boardwalk, eating lots of fried food, and trying out the games and rides on the pier. It was fun, although it was really windy and cold by the beach. We might go back in the summertime.


So, there you have it. From our pictures, you might think we're running around a lot, but this has all happened over the course of a month. To be honest, we haven't done much at all lately because both of us have been sick. First me just after our Yorkshire trip and now Andy has been in bed all week. We learned an important language lesson, did you know that "conjunctivitis" is really pink eye? How do we know, you ask...we just do. Andy's got is now, and I'm trying desperately to avoid getting it. But, it has been good for us to slow down a little and have time together.

Hope all is well for each of you back home. We'll be back for a visit soon at the end of May and we're counting down the days. I will leave you with one more photo. This is one of a small little alleyway near where I work. Someone has put some poetry on the wall there, here's just one little part of it. Life IS all around you.