The normal, yet satisfying, life in South Dakota.

Since it has been such a long time since we last posted, I just wanted to write a quick update for anyone who still checks back. Life in South Dakota provides stories every week, but not like Europe did! Here's what has happened since last summer...



In the Fall, Heather and I were busy finishing up our undergraduate degrees. I was taking 12 credits and an independent study video project (which pushed my official graduation back to May 2008). Heather had 12 credits and her thesis. Her Honor's Thesis was a study of the communication between doctors and international students during medical visits. She worked very hard on this, doing a lot of research, interviews, data analysis, and writing. It ended up being more than seventy pages long! All said, we finished our Bachelor's degrees in December. Heather graduated with honors and all sorts of subtitles!



The next month after graduation was crazy! Heather began her career as the Manager of the East Asian Institute in the Business School at USD. I decided to pursue a Master's in Computer Science, so I spent the next couple of weeks studying for the GRE, getting letters of recommendation, and doing whatever else was needed to get back into school.



My brother was married at the beginning of January, and I was his best man. So we went to Indianapolis for Jeremy and Jess's wedding for four days. It was a great time we got to spend with family from all over the country.



At this point, Heather has been working for EAI full-time since December, and is considering a few possibilities for continuing her education once she is officially a South Dakota resident. I am expecting to graduate with my Masters in May 2010.



My exciting new vehicle purchase is Doc Hudson, my motorcycle. I got this 1979 Honda CX500 Custom when Heather was spending the week of Spring Break in the NorthEast with EAI. Since I got it I've been fixing it up so that I can drive it whenever the weather is nice.

Well, that's a summary of what has happened in our lives since we've been back. We are happy and look forward to this summer's fun. Thank you for reading!

Fun Times with Family

Over the weekend, we all went camping in Yankton. Pictured is Grandpa and Grandma Conrad, Dad and Mom, me and Matt, Hanna, Josh and his girlfriend Casey Krueger.

Me and Hanna (14) and Josh (20). Chris DeJabet took these photos in the dark!

My little cousin (Mark and Stephanie's daughter) with Josh's new dog Copper

Time for a bike ride! Please admire Grandma's new bike.

Grandma and Grandpa. With the blustery wind, we couldn't ride very far that day!

Hanna and Casey

Grandma and Josh. We love picnic dinners!

I love Copper. He's so cute and cuddly.

Fathers Day Dinner at Grandma's. Roast beef and the works. YUM!

Wee bit late :)

Hello to all of our readers, once again! Sorry it's been so long since we last posted, but we've kept rather busy and are looking forward to some stability now. Heather is working at the East Asian Institute and I'll be working at eTelecare again this summer, an apparent repeat of the last summer - without the marriage and planning for our country hopping of course! We've moved into an apartment in Vermillion, not too far from school or work, and are slowly but surely unpacking and finding a home for our stuff (some find a nice home in the big green bin outside). We now have internet at home and each has a cell phone, so we should be accessible if you need us.

We'll keep you posted on what else happens as it happens! Thank you all for your prayer and support, life is impossible without you.

Final Blog from Spain (2007)

Hey all! We are leaving Spain this Saturday and get to Omaha on Sunday night, so this will be our last blog before we leave. Thanks for reading! We'll keep posting on here, but it might change a bit.
The last few posts were all written on the same day, but they were posted late, sorry!

Canoeing in the Asturias

Sunday morning was just as beautiful as the day before and we were very thankful because we were about to jump into canoes on the icy river! We were all fitted into a wetsuit and were given a lifejacket that fastened on the sides, and of all things, it had a strap that went from the back in between the legs to fasten in the front. The canoes were made of brightly colored plastic and were meant to seat two adults, but Matt and I went with Leanne because there was an odd number of people. Oh my! How we struggled to paddle in rhythm with one another while avoiding skimming rocks on the shallow parts and trying to fight the current that often carried us into the riverbanks. Finally, we got the hang of our boat and its movements and we slowly paddled along while enjoying the beautiful scenery and the peacefulness of the day. Our group was far ahead of us when we decided to pick up the pace and follow the current; not more than a few minutes later, we found ourselves bearing a hard left along with the rushing water, heading straight towards a large tree trunk along the bank jutting into the water. What happened next is a bit fuzzy, but somehow all three of us knew we were about to hit that tree, and yet none of us anticipated the strength of the impact or the pull of the current. After the crash we briefly struggled to pull away from the bank and the trunk, but instead we were tipped over into the icy water. Leanne and I were trapped under the canoe while Matt was quickly above water, just in time to realize he had lost his prized canteen in the boat’s capsizing. He then made a quick decision and left the canteen for lost and aided us girls in pulling off the canoe and catching our breaths before we scrambled for the oars, the boat, and the tub with our lunch. We were sitting in the boat, wet and shivering cold, when Evaristo called, “HEY you guys! Are you alright?” It’s funny how a person thinks. Leanne answered, “I lost my shoes!” and Matt yelled, “Catch the tub! It has our camera in it!” The rest of the trip was much more calm and we took our blessed time and made various jokes teasing each other, like, “Hey Leanne! I think I see your shoe floating over there!” And that was it. When we finished we ate yet another sandwich for lunch and took showers before heading back to Vigo. We had fun chatting in Spanish with Evaristo on the way home and that made the hours pass quickly. We were back in Vigo by 10 pm; today, we felt just fine, no muscle pain or anything (I mean, very little). You know what? This morning with Matt’s binoculars we saw Leanne’s shoes floating in the harbor. What a pity Matt’s canteen didn’t come along with them ☺

Hiking in the Asturias

On Saturday, we were happy to sleep in and were content to meet for breakfast at ten in the morning. The hostel prepared a nice, abundant breakfast for our group: bread, butter, jelly, coffee and milk. I was a bit disappointed, honestly. We needed bacon and eggs for energy! Soon afterwards, we drove even higher up in the mountains for another hour and half more and parked in a small tourist village at the head of the trail. The hiking was amazing; the views were spectacular and the weather couldn’t have been more pleasant. We hiked until midway and stopped for our much needed lunch break and never, ever has a ham and cheese sandwich tasted so good! We also had yummy raisins, yogurt, and a bit of chocolate, so afterwards, Matt and I felt much more energetic. We took lots of photos and enjoyed good conversation with Leanne, our friend from Kansas City. We arrived back in the village 18 kilometers later, happy, exhausted and full of fresh air. What a good feeling! After going back to the hostel and showering, our group went looking for a nice restaurant to eat supper, only it was 11 pm. As expected, no one restaurant could seat and serve thirty people, so we split up into groups and chose according to our preference. Of all things, Matt, Leanne, and me ended up eating pizza, which was totally mundane and uncool, but it was the cheapest and at one of the few places still serving food. We did try the famous Asturian apple cider known as sidra and then went back to the hostel to enjoy some well-deserved sleep – it was almost 2 before we even got back! What do you think of the photos?

Getting to Asturias

It’s been over a month since we’ve last added to blog, and for good reason too. Our beloved computer suffered a screen meltdown (of sorts) so Matt dutifully trekked to Santiago to take the computer to the Apple service center. In the meantime, we stayed busy reading Don Quixote, which we recommend to everyone because it’s funny and silly and smart at the same time, hanging out around Vigo (we saw Spiderman with Jenny and Johnny!) and spending a weekend with Gabriel and his family near Ourense. Then we began to prepare for a weekend trip to the Picos de Europa, which is in the Asturias, with a group of international students. We met at Plaza Espana on Friday night around 8 in the evening and left town just before nine. We made a fun car parade – five in total for our group of thirty. Matt and I were happy to ride with our friends Evaristo and Isabel, whom we met on our first hike earlier this spring. It turns out Europeans are fast drivers, despite the disadvantages of a dark night and curvy mountainous roads. In fact, the Spaniards drove most dangerously, but the cars of French and Italian students certainly kept the pace up. However, I must admit that European cars are much more conducive for driving recklessly because all have stick control and run on diesel fuel and are small and compact. Matt says they weren’t driving too dangerously…just incredibly fast: at times, Evaristo was clocking at 140 km. Around midnight we stopped for a break and I happily believed we were within an hour or so of the hostel in Cangas de Onis, but yet I couldn’t stay awake in the car, and neither could Matt. Somehow I was sleeping deeply and comfortably and yet I was aware of the bitter cold air of the wind when Evaristo would open the windows for a few moments to jolt himself awake. At three in the morning I was woken up by the neon lights of several policemen on foot in the middle of the highway. It turns out, they were conducting a random drug and alcohol check and they chose the very last car of our parade to search: the Italians. Evaristo jumped out of our car to help the Italians with Spanish if they needed it and then he told us the funny story when he got back. The police demanded all forms of ID and licenses and heard the story of their studying abroad and then asked, “Do you have drugs in your car?” Evaristo made a joke, “YEAH! We are from Vigo! What kind would you like?!” As to make fun of two things: first, because Vigo is infamous for drug traffic due to the busy harbor, and secondly, who would admit to having drugs in the car anyway? Consequently, the police opened the trunk and searched the bags and finally were satisfied and let us on our way after more than ten minutes. Thankfully, we arrived at the hostel within the next half hour and Matt and I found our bunk beds and were out for the night. That is, after the Italians decided to go to bed because all Italians are loud, happy, boisterous and active and most of all, they like to party. I mean, if we were to use stereotypes…

Semana Santa y Pascua en Vigo!

Matt and I have enjoyed our spring break: a week without school to celebrate Semana Santa, or Holy Week. We began the week by working steadily on a paper for our Latin American literature class. The paper involves three Spanish authors and has taken a lot of time and patience. In fact, I’ve become a translation dictionary pro and can flip through and find the word in seconds, milliseconds really! Sometimes it’s a nice surprise to learn a word we really ought to know, like “Aha! So that’s how you say convince”! Anyway, we took a long break and enjoyed time with our church family out in the countryside near Santiago. We met up at the church Thursday afternoon and traveled with a group for the hour and a half drive to the church retreat center. I was listening to a heated conversation between a woman from Argentina and a man from Brazil about which country’s soccer team is better, and of course each supports their native team. I wanted to show I was both listening and understanding so I asked if they like the team in Vigo. Unfortunately, I used the wrong word: equipaje instead of equipo, and so I asked if they like the team’s uniform, not the team itself. The poor man stopped and looked at me before saying hesitantly, “Yeah, I like blue and white,” before carrying on with his debate. I had a terrific laugh that night when I came home and looked the word up in the dictionary! On Friday, we went with our Spanish friends Veronica (Vero) and Bruno to Vero’s family home in a small town in the mountains. Their home is truly beautiful; a peaceful little house situated near a river and within walking distance of other family. We went for walks by the river and sat in the sunshine and froze during the night because the temperature drops quickly when the sun sets. It felt really good to cuddle in fleece blankets! All weekend long we ate delicious meals that Vero prepared for us and we even sampled five different kinds of cheese. Our new favorite is Queso Manchego, which is made from sheep milk. It’s strong but tasty. On Saturday evening we went to a Catholic mass and met the priest who was so kind to us and happy to have us experience the traditional service. We were back in Vigo on Sunday afternoon and so we had a quick rest before going to our church’s main service at 7 pm to celebrate Resurrection Sunday. Our church is so delightful; the church service and songs were meaningful and heartfelt and we appreciated the comfort of an Easter message similar to ones we knew our families were hearing at home. Afterwards, we had the opportunity to call our families and so the day, and the weekend, ended on happily. Tomorrow we are going back to school - ah carumba! We hope everyone had a blessed Easter and we still love and miss everyone with all our hearts.