Spring Travels

Hello Everyone!
Well, today marks the day of the beginning of "normal life." I have just returned from a short visit to Minnesota and Andy is just starting his third term at school. March has been a great month. We had a wonderful trip to Rome with Andy's parents, I started a new job that I love, and it was great for me to visit with my family over Easter. Hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures from my trip to the US, but for now, I'll give some highlights of our time in Rome....



Piazza Navona




Views from St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. One of the pictures includes Maggie's cousin who is working in Rome.


Here's a beautiful view from Maggie and Dave's side trip to Assisi. There are endless amounts of great pictures from that trip, but here's one of my favorites.


A doorway to a flat in the Jewish Ghetto.


Trevi Fountain


A piece from the Vatican Museum. We saw some amazing artwork and architecture there. Unfortunately, you cannot take pictures of the Sistine Chapel. But it is breathtaking, believe me.


The Pantheon


One of our most memorable moments at the Papal Visit. The Pope gave a message and a blessing to 9,000 people from all over the world.

Catch-up

Well, it's been busy around here. As you can see from the lack of blogging. Since the last one, we've celebrated Christmas, New Year's, my Birthday, and we've spent a lot of time with Andy's parents as they are here for 3 months. It's been great to show them what our experience here is like. Spring is on it's way now and the daffodils are starting to bloom. Andy's just finishing his second term (two left only!). We're looking forward to taking a trip with his parents to Italy during his break. We also have some friends from MN visiting over Easter, so we're excited about that, too. The International Mime Festival was held in London this year, so we've been able to see several amazing physical theater performances this winter. Other than that, same old, same old. Our time here is passing very quickly and we're already laying plans for our return.
I've attached pictures of the New Year's fireworks that we saw from St. Jame's Park, some pictures of Andy and I with our niece and nephew (the flat versions, of course). And I've attached some photos of masks that we both used while working on a theater project with one of our friends who recently graduated from LISPA. It was great to play around and I spent a great deal of time putting music to the action, good practice for when we come home and start creating shows.





Hope you are all happy and healthy!
Peace,
Mandy

Beautiful Barcelona

Well, November was another busy month. Abby came for a visit for two weeks. It was great to be able to spend Thanksgiving with her. We went to a friend's house and celebrated with a group of people from the school. Then, Abby and I went to Barcelona for just a few days. I was hoping for sun, rest, green grass, and to see beautiful things. My prayer was more than answered on that trip. We both loved the Gaudi architecture that is found throughout the city. The parks were great, especially Park Guell. Loved the beautiful churches as well. And don't get me started on the tapas. Mmmmm....

Language Lesson #3

Hi Everyone!
Well, it's been a very busy fall. No pictures to show now, but hopefully soon. Andy had a wonderful expeirence in New York with the theatre project he was working on. I had a great time visiting with my sister Martha and her husband Dan in Septemember. Thanks to Dan's hady-dandy guidebook, we found some really great restaruants and pubs that I have since been back to. It was great to catch-up with them. It made me even more homesick when they left. But, enter James! One of the new students at Andy's school came and stayed with me a week soon after Martha and Dan left. He's a fellow Iron Ranger! We had a great week, I loved showing him the ropes in the same way that some of our friends did when we first arrived. Finally Andy came home, and after a few days his mom came for a visit as well. It was wonderful to spend time with her (and to have some good MN home-cookin'). We're looking forward to when she and Dave come back this winter.
So, with all of these visitors, I've been thinking of more language lesson ideas....

The Brits vs. The Yanks
Signage:
Give Way = Yeild
Way Out = Exit
Mind the Gap = Look out for that crack!
Miscellaneous:
torch = flash light
pram = stroller
trolley = cart
biscuit = cookie (but it sure sounds healthier when you say biscuit)
innit = isn't it

That's all I can think of for now, but more to come soon! Hope you are all well.

Peace,
Mandy

summer memories

Hello everyone! Well, our summer went by very quickly. The weather was unusually cold and rainy here, so it never really felt like summer arrived. But, it's gone now. Luckily, we were able to find some sunshine on our travels and the fall weather has been pretty mild so far.
Here's some pictures of what we've been up to (in random order). You'll see photos of Andy on his trip to Denmark where he took a workshop on clowning. It was taught by the director of the school we toured in California when he was first applying for grad programs. Also, our friend John came for a visit (the picture of the guy that looks like a hippie, yeh, that's the one). We had a great time reconnecting with him and introducing him to all of our favorite pubs and cask ales. Then the next photos are from our two days in Bath. We occasionaly try to get out of the city, just to get some fresh air and solitude. Plus we had an excuse, it was our third anniversary. Bath was a beautiful city and it had such a relaxed feeling to it. just what we needed. We got a great deal on a really fancy hotel (bathrobes, country club, hiking trails, and more!). We skipped a lot of the tourist attractions just to spend more time relaxing there.
There's also a photo of our "picture wall" of some artwork sent by our neice and nephew (more are welcome from all of our neices and nephews). And, there's a photo of a decked out vespa. There's a few retirees in our neighborhood who ride around on vespas like this one. It's like a club, you'd have to see it to get the full experience, but here's a taste.
Hope all is well back home. We just realized that one full year has passed since we left. One more to go!
More posts and pictures to come of Andy's adveture in NY and my time with Martha and Dan while they visited, so stay tuned.
Peace,
Mandy

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