Merry Christmas!
Wanting to stay on the cutting edge of what's cool, I've decided to write my annual Christmas letter this year via my blog.
Happy Holidays!
I have been sending out a Christmas letter for a number of years now, doing my best to capture the essence of my year while keeping you all entertained. Upon writing this year's letter I reflect back to a time not so long ago, when I was single, living in a basement apartment, and hawking books at a now defunct book store in St. Paul. That, my friends, was a challenge to my creative writing skills in producing an interesting, entertaining letter. Then there are years where the letter really just writes itself. 2008 is such a year.
Didn't make the cut for last year's Christmas photo:
A year ago at this time, I was still single, living in St. Paul, speaking mangled English most of the time, and savoring my time on the couch. A lot has changed-the love for the couch hasn't diminished, but I now find myself married, living in Peru, and speaking mangled Spanish a good deal of the time. It's been quite a year, I guess! To be honest, I think back to the beginning of 2008 and it's one big blur. Perhaps it's because the carefree days of my college years and early 20's are finally catching up to my brain cells or perhaps it was because Marianella and I blacked out everything except the combination of planning for our wedding and planning our move to Peru. I tend to think it's the latter, although I'm sure there's a few of you in the audience who will vote for the dying brain cells theory. Anyway, January, February, March, April, May. . .I trust they were good months. I spent more time devoted to wedding details than I ever thought imaginable. When I was a younger man, I thought my wedding day responsibilities would begin and end with picking out a DJ for the night. Ohh, how foolish I was in my days of youth!
The days become clearer when we step into June and I say without reservation, the best day of my life occurred on June 21, 2008 when I married Marianella Vizcarra. The whole weekend fell into place perfectly and it was so nice to spend the time with family and close friends. There were a lot of emotions present-pure joy along with sadness for those who couldn't be with us (Marianella's parents and my father). I was particularly fond of all the attention paid to me that day. People bringing me drinks without asking, paying close attention to my long winded stories, laughing at my jokes, complimenting my dance moves-let me tell you, I could get used to that treatment. Marianella and I agreed that we would love to get married again-which we did (more on that later).
At Last:
Our big day was followed up with a short honeymoon to Door County and then we got to dive into the other major event of our life together-the move to Peru. Marianella left about a month after the wedding and I followed her about three weeks later. There were some tense days as Marianella frantically packed for the move and I advised her just to relax, we had plenty of time to get everything taken care of. After Marianella left, I soon understood why she was a bit high strung as she prepared to leave. I have a tough time getting myself together for a weekend trip down to my Mom's, much less an intercontinental move. Fortunately, I was able to gather myself together in time to successfully make my plane and arrive in Lima as planned.
How has Lima been? Pretty great actually. I've enjoyed being a curiosity here with my blond hair and blue eyes. In fact, if we got a dollar for everytime someone told Marianella and I that we have to have kids because they will be beautiful, as long as they get her dark skin and my blue eyes, we might not ever have to work again. Besides the attention given by strangers, I have been taken care of very well by Marianella and her family-Marianella tries to keep the spoiling of me in check, but I'm afraid it's a losing battle for her with her parents and who I am to refuse my in-laws' wishes? So far my life in Lima has been pretty relaxed-I told someone that it was like college, except I only had one class and my social life no longer includes house parties. I've dabbled in teaching English (remember the movie Stripes?) and working as a copywriter, writing colorful prose for items such as anti-wrinkle creams, blankets, and massage chairs.
In addition to acclimating to Peru, Marianella and I took a second honeymoon to Argentina in October, where we split our time between Buenos Aires and Iguazu Falls. It was a wonderful trip, providing cosmopoliton and natural experiences that will be hard to match. Not to turn the Christmas letter into a travel brochure, but if you ever have a chance to visit Argentina, don't let it pass you by.
Upon our return from Argentina, Marianella and I decided it was time to renew our wedding vows again (with a little push from the Peruvian government). We had a small private ceremony with Marianella's family members present that gave us a chance to share our special day again with her parents, brother, and other family members. And we're not done yet-we still plan to recreate the big show down here in Peru sometime in 2009. 'Why settle for just one wedding day?' is our motto.
Speaking of 2009, we are looking quite forward to the new year, even if there is a great deal of mystery as to how it will evolve. 2009 will begin with a trip to visit cousins, aunts, and uncles in southern Peru, with a side trip to Bolivia thrown into the mix. About a week after we return from that trip, I get on the plane for the trip back to the States which I'm eagerly anticipating. As I've recently told you all, I will be starting a new job here in Lima, either in February or August as a high school counselor at Colegio Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the American school in Lima. As I've also informed through the blog, Marianella has quickly impressed her supervisors here (as we all know, she makes a great first impression) and will be the head of the 1st grade teachers beginning next school year. We're both excited about the new challenges we'll be facing professionally and we're also still loving the honeymoon stage of our marriage (which we figure, as long as we keep celebrating weddings, it just extends the honeymoon that much longer, right?)
In addition to my return home, we're also hopeful that some of our family and friends will venture south to visit us here in Peru. Our new apartment has plenty of room and Marianella's family would love to spoil and feed more gringos, so just let us know if and when you might be interested in visiting.
And with all joking aside, we send our love to you all and wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We're fortunate to have such loving family and friends and we cherish our relationships with you, no matter how many miles are between us. ~Marianella & Tim
Not quite a White Christmas. . .
Didn't make the cut for last year's Christmas photo:
A year ago at this time, I was still single, living in St. Paul, speaking mangled English most of the time, and savoring my time on the couch. A lot has changed-the love for the couch hasn't diminished, but I now find myself married, living in Peru, and speaking mangled Spanish a good deal of the time. It's been quite a year, I guess! To be honest, I think back to the beginning of 2008 and it's one big blur. Perhaps it's because the carefree days of my college years and early 20's are finally catching up to my brain cells or perhaps it was because Marianella and I blacked out everything except the combination of planning for our wedding and planning our move to Peru. I tend to think it's the latter, although I'm sure there's a few of you in the audience who will vote for the dying brain cells theory. Anyway, January, February, March, April, May. . .I trust they were good months. I spent more time devoted to wedding details than I ever thought imaginable. When I was a younger man, I thought my wedding day responsibilities would begin and end with picking out a DJ for the night. Ohh, how foolish I was in my days of youth!The days become clearer when we step into June and I say without reservation, the best day of my life occurred on June 21, 2008 when I married Marianella Vizcarra. The whole weekend fell into place perfectly and it was so nice to spend the time with family and close friends. There were a lot of emotions present-pure joy along with sadness for those who couldn't be with us (Marianella's parents and my father). I was particularly fond of all the attention paid to me that day. People bringing me drinks without asking, paying close attention to my long winded stories, laughing at my jokes, complimenting my dance moves-let me tell you, I could get used to that treatment. Marianella and I agreed that we would love to get married again-which we did (more on that later).
At Last:
Our big day was followed up with a short honeymoon to Door County and then we got to dive into the other major event of our life together-the move to Peru. Marianella left about a month after the wedding and I followed her about three weeks later. There were some tense days as Marianella frantically packed for the move and I advised her just to relax, we had plenty of time to get everything taken care of. After Marianella left, I soon understood why she was a bit high strung as she prepared to leave. I have a tough time getting myself together for a weekend trip down to my Mom's, much less an intercontinental move. Fortunately, I was able to gather myself together in time to successfully make my plane and arrive in Lima as planned.How has Lima been? Pretty great actually. I've enjoyed being a curiosity here with my blond hair and blue eyes. In fact, if we got a dollar for everytime someone told Marianella and I that we have to have kids because they will be beautiful, as long as they get her dark skin and my blue eyes, we might not ever have to work again. Besides the attention given by strangers, I have been taken care of very well by Marianella and her family-Marianella tries to keep the spoiling of me in check, but I'm afraid it's a losing battle for her with her parents and who I am to refuse my in-laws' wishes? So far my life in Lima has been pretty relaxed-I told someone that it was like college, except I only had one class and my social life no longer includes house parties. I've dabbled in teaching English (remember the movie Stripes?) and working as a copywriter, writing colorful prose for items such as anti-wrinkle creams, blankets, and massage chairs.
In addition to acclimating to Peru, Marianella and I took a second honeymoon to Argentina in October, where we split our time between Buenos Aires and Iguazu Falls. It was a wonderful trip, providing cosmopoliton and natural experiences that will be hard to match. Not to turn the Christmas letter into a travel brochure, but if you ever have a chance to visit Argentina, don't let it pass you by.
Upon our return from Argentina, Marianella and I decided it was time to renew our wedding vows again (with a little push from the Peruvian government). We had a small private ceremony with Marianella's family members present that gave us a chance to share our special day again with her parents, brother, and other family members. And we're not done yet-we still plan to recreate the big show down here in Peru sometime in 2009. 'Why settle for just one wedding day?' is our motto.
Speaking of 2009, we are looking quite forward to the new year, even if there is a great deal of mystery as to how it will evolve. 2009 will begin with a trip to visit cousins, aunts, and uncles in southern Peru, with a side trip to Bolivia thrown into the mix. About a week after we return from that trip, I get on the plane for the trip back to the States which I'm eagerly anticipating. As I've recently told you all, I will be starting a new job here in Lima, either in February or August as a high school counselor at Colegio Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the American school in Lima. As I've also informed through the blog, Marianella has quickly impressed her supervisors here (as we all know, she makes a great first impression) and will be the head of the 1st grade teachers beginning next school year. We're both excited about the new challenges we'll be facing professionally and we're also still loving the honeymoon stage of our marriage (which we figure, as long as we keep celebrating weddings, it just extends the honeymoon that much longer, right?)
In addition to my return home, we're also hopeful that some of our family and friends will venture south to visit us here in Peru. Our new apartment has plenty of room and Marianella's family would love to spoil and feed more gringos, so just let us know if and when you might be interested in visiting.
And with all joking aside, we send our love to you all and wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We're fortunate to have such loving family and friends and we cherish our relationships with you, no matter how many miles are between us. ~Marianella & Tim
Not quite a White Christmas. . .
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