Hi all,

If at one point you read this blog, please accept our most sincere apology! As the date of the previous post testifies, it has been almost a year since we last updated this page. Ugh.

What a crazy time it has been in the interim. I (Andrew) have been teaching 6th grade in San Jose, CA as part of Teach For America (TFA). If I had only known what I was signing up for!! I've learned to redefine hard work, how to feel hopelessly inadequate and completely defeated, and what getting up at 4:30 every morning feels like. Yet, this has also allowed me to learn what it feels like to tackle a challenge for which I am ill prepared, empathize with and see first hand a reality I could not before hand have understood, and to celebrate even the smallest of victories with great veracity.



As a rational, self-interested human being (homo economicus) the balance of my life must always tilt in the favor of happiness. Despite the epic that has been teaching, I've never been happier! Heidi and I live in a very small, but very cute apartment on the campus of Stanford, CA. This is a wonderful place --though it does little to help my daily attack of nostalgia as I think back to being a college student :) Being married is simply wonderful! All those things people warned me about being married have simply not materialized. I love living with Heidi!

As I like to think of myself as wise beyond my age (which should immediately disspell any notion that I'm correct in that regard), I will close this long overdue briefing with a short series of aphorisms:

-Anyone who thinks they've got it all figured out, simply hasn't seen enough to have a clue.

- People are dumb. They are irrational. They can also be mean. This does not, however, give you any right to intentionally be any of the above.

- Life is too short to be doing anything other than that which you love. The opportunity costs are simply too high.

- Be lazy sometimes. Procrastination may add unduly to your future stress, but it is also often the most efficient way to get things done.

- I really doubt there are such things as "natural rights"--when was the last time nature stopped someone from taking your stuff? This is incredibly empowering however. You now have the ability to view people not has entities protected by some supernatural force, but rather as "poor, nasty, and brutish" creatures deserving of your respect nonetheless.

-Eat lots of pizza and ice cream. This should be self-explanatory.

Sorry for the semi-insightful, semi-ridiculous catch phrases. Pretty sure that is all I have to offer. Ciao!

We're married! And just got back from Costa Rica!! YAHOOO! More posts to come.....

So I've been spending the past six days in Germany with my host family. It's been quite an adventure, but we're headed home today! We're taking a train to Amsterdam this afternoon, and then flying from Amsterdam to Portland tomorrow morning. I can't wait to get home! For a while, I was worried that I wouldn't make it back in time for the wedding, because some experts said it could take months for the ash to clear. But hopefully I'll be home Friday afternoon, just in time for my first bridal shower. Hallelujah!

Awww shucks, Iceland has done it again. Actually, I think this is the first time I've ever had a conscious thought of Iceland affecting my life. As I'm sure you've read, a volcano in Iceland is erupting and all the ash in the air has caused 16000 flights to be canceled today, including ours. We were supposed to fly back to Germany, spend one last night with my host family, and then fly back to the states early Saturday morning. No such luck. We were lucky though, in being able to get a spot (probably one of the last) on a train tomorrow going from Goteborg to Copenhagen, then to Hamburg and finally to Duisburg, which is near the town where my host family lives. I have no idea how the train goes across the water, but I'm excited to find out. We'll be traveling for about 18 hours -- should be an adventure! Wish us luck! I sure hope I make it back before May 15th....

Today I wandered around Goteborg, enjoying the beautiful sunshine. I bought a delicious ice cream cone -- chocolate and hazelnut -- and sat on the steps of a statue of some guy (pretty sure his name is Gustav. It seems like everyone important in Swedish history was named Gustav). I brought a book along to read, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, and people-watched in between chapters. I even had a slightly uncomfortable philosophical discussion with a random guy who came up to me and asked me what I study. I am definitely enjoying the free time and will be sad when it's over.

The second awesome we visited on Djurgarden was Skansen, an open air museum depicting Swedish life in the country. The museum founder, Artur Hazelius, actually bought old buildings and had them transported to his museum.
It was awesome to see how Swedish people used to live, and to see the different architectural styles.
A large portion of the park was dedicated to a Nordic animals exhibit.
They had bears, moose, lynx, wolves, seals, and owls. I thought the owls were so cool. Andrew would have been terrified :)

The park was huge, but it the sun was shining and we had a great last couple of hours in Stockholm wandering through the different exhibits.

This was Artur's house. He actually lived in it, and even died in it.
We stopped at a cute cafe in the park and had some yummy pastries and chocolate.
Since the whole museum was up on large hill, the view of the city was beautiful.

Stockholm was amazing, and I can't wait to go back!

Our second day in Stockholm, we ventured to Djurgarden, another one of Stockholm's beautiful islands. It used to be the king's hunting grounds, and now has a large nature preserve and some awesome museums.

In the morning, we went to the Vasa museum, which came highly recommended. We weren't disappointed.
In 1628, the Vasa ship ordered by king Gustav was completed. It was to be a warship to fight against Poland as the Swedes worked to overtake the country.

It was the largest ship of its time, and had incredible craftsmanship.

Unfortunately, the king cared more about the ship looking fierce and impressive than being properly engineered. The ship was built too top-heavy, and after only twenty minutes into its maiden voyage, the wind blew it over and it sank. So sad. In the late 1950s, the work to recover the ship began and by 1964, they'd restored the whole thing. It was so cool to see the old ship. Here's a miniature of what they imagine it looked like in its 20 minutes of glory.