Stokes in Peru

Greetings folks, From the other side of the world :-).  Marianella and I have just completed week #2 of our residence in Dhaka and our new venture has been a whirlwind of getting accustomed to our new jobs, new home and new country/culture.  We stumbled off the plane two Sunday mornings ago, relatively spry for two people who had just flown 29 hours (not counting the eleven hours we gained flying eastward during our travel).  Gathering together our thirteen bags at the airport, we were whisked through the streets of Dhaka by a couple of our new employers as we drank in the sights of our new city (more on that later).  Arriving to our new home, we were greeted at the door by our new bearer/cook (bearer's similar to a maid in our terms) who had prepared our home for arrival and a quick lunch of fried rice to satisfy our hunger pangs.  Shortly thereafter, we crashed-and crashed hard.  Sleep over the next few days came at odd hours while we would awake a...

  Greetings folks, Time is ticking quickly on our residence in the Western Hemisphere; by the end of this month, we will be calling Dhaka, Bangladesh home for at least two years and this blog is certain to take a very interesting turn. Before embarking on that grand adventure, we were able to slip in an extraordinary visit  when we recently jetted into the South Pacific to Easter Island.  I'll be honest-when Marianella and I first moved to Peru and were playing the game of "where do we want to travel?", neither of us had Easter Island very high on the list.  It seemed remote, we figured it would be expensive and outside of some giant stone statues, we wondered what the allure would be.  After this trip, we have both recanted our foolish initial thoughts about the island. It is certainly remote-in fact, it stakes the claim as the most remote inhabited place on Earth, with its nearest neighbors being Chile to the east (roughly 2300 miles) and Tahiti to the...

Greetings folks, How have you all been? I will avoid my common refrain of stating how I can't believe how long it's been since I've last posted on this blog. . .instead I will just jump into it and push down the page the disturbing mustache I sported four months ago. Shortly after Christmas, Marianella and I found ourselves back in Minnesota during the most agreeable winter weather I've ever experienced in all my days. Besides enjoying time with friends and family, we also undertook a major decision which I'll share with you all in just a bit (how bout the suspense I'm building?) After returning to Peru, we've been keeping ourselves occupied with work while enduring one of the hotter summers in recent history for Lima. Last week afforded us our first extended break since our return home, so we traveled to one of our favorite spots to visit in Peru, particularly for myself. Leaving the heat and humidity of Lima, we ascended through the mountains to the c...

Greetings everyone~ For those of you wondering what Marianella and I have been up to, it's been the same old, same old-working like rented mules. However, it is the most wonderful time of the year-Movember. As with the previous two years, I took the opportunity to let my freak flag fly with a rainbow of colors above my upper lip. There was a caveat this year-my intention after growing the full beard last year was to go back to the roots of my first year with facial hair, which meant just growing a mustache. However, Marianella and I served as Godparents on Thanksgiving weekend to the daughter of one Marianella's close family friends. In late October when I asked the question if it would be okay to have my mustache in the inevitable pictures on the special day, an uncomfortable pause hovered at the dining room table. Evidently there were concerns about capturing the legacy of the young girl's Godfather looking as if he drove to the Church in a conversion van. I conc...

Greetings everyone~ As the calendar turns to September, Marianella and I have been back to work at school for a month now and we continue to swaddle ourselves in blankets and sweatshirts as the gray, damp Lima winter continues unabated.  It seems ages ago since I was back in Minnesota for the sweltering month of July or in Banff under clear blue skies.  Anyway, let me catch you up on what's been going on for myself and Marianella since I last updated the blog, and at my aunt Carol's request, finally get the picture of the hogheads off of the main page. Minnesota As already mentioned, the trip back was quite a whirlwind; I arrived on June 30 and was back in Lima less than three weeks later, with a trip to Calgary wedged into the vacation also (more on that in a bit).  While back home, I was able to attend my niece Jessica's graduation party, take part in the 50th anniversary celebration for my aunt Betty and uncle Gerry, and witnessed the Twins lose on a beautiful s...