Happy Holidays!

Good tidings to you!

As always a year with Jeremy and I ends up being rather eventful, and 2007 was no exception. Sure, it can be exciting, but I hope 2008 is a bit calmer! Let's take a look at each season this year...

I can hardly believe that, last January, Jeremy and I were enjoying a short mild respite in Istanbul, Turkey from our year in Samara, Russia. It had been ten years since my last visit and I was anxious about my Turkish although it suddenly became apparent Turkish is a lot easier to learn than Russian! Seeing my good friend Bahadir and finally meeting his super wife, Neslihan was a great treat. Jeremy particularly enjoyed the drool-inducing food, spectacular mosques and the hospitable dispositions of the Turks.










We spent the rest of the winter fending off emotional reactions to the missing sun and blustery days of Russia. To get our minds off the inevitable seasonal unpleasantness, we travelled quite a bit around the Volga region making new friends and contacts while learning oodles more about the marvelous culture. Needless to say our "train Russian" improved considerably.

In Samara, you know spring is coming when you arrive home from the market with plenty of mud on your pants - yuck- but at least the accumulating layers of ice are finally melting from the sidewalks. We continued travelling around our home away from home at this time, but the lump of SAD had taken its toll on me and I vowed to return home sooner for the summer break just to soak up the sun and alleviate my homesickness, but before doing so, and with the help of Jeremy and our Samara friends, I planned an American Film Showcase at the local American Center. This had been a goal of mine back in the fall. For three days we showed films spanning from the 1930's to today including activities to help viewers with their English. Fortunately it was a surprising success and the highlight of my time in Samara.

In early summer, just as I arrived in Westminster, Jeremy received an offer from the University of Wisconsin La Crosse to be an associate lecturer in the fall. This had come as a great surprise for us since we had expected to spend another year in Russia, but such a position was Jeremy's sole goal the year before, so we agreed to come home for good. Sadly we had to say good-bye to our friends which was the hardest part of leaving Russia. Then it was time to plan all those little things one needs to do to return home like buying a car and furniture, moving boxes from the parents' basement (thanks Mom and Dad!), finding an apartment and driving ourselves in a large Budget truck to Wisconsin.

Fall has given us a chance to finally get settled, learn more about the city and connect with old friends and family. Jeremy's first semester has been refreshingly less consuming then his previous jobs and he's enjoying working with his students from all over the world and his helpful coworkers.


We also added a new member to our family. Jeremy's sister Kate gave us her cat who we named Dima in memory of our time in Russia. He's got a lot of character and has made an impression on everyone, even my dad who called him, "the coolest cat I've ever met." You can imagine how happy we are to have him in our home. Jeremy was inspired to start a blog showcasing Dima's many charms through poetry. You can check it out at dimapoet.blogspot.com


To be more active, I joined the Choral Union of La Crosse, the La Crosse Writing Group and then I convinced Jeremy to take ice skating lessons with me which have proven to be a slow learning process since we've never skated before but we always leave the rink happy and satisfied. We've both decided to experience all things Midwestern while we're here, so we've enjoyed a cranberry festival and Oktoberfest with my parents, becoming members of Norskedalen, a Norwegian heritage center, and learning to drive in the snow. Next on our lists are eating venison and skiing.




This Christmas we will be making a road trip to Westminster, so we hope to see you before or during our trip "if the fates allow." We'd like to extend to you all an abundance of peace and joy in your lives this season and into the new year. Hopefully we'll see you some time in 2008. Our wishes for the new year include welcoming a human member to our family (keep us in your prayers as we keep trying!), planning out 2009 before it gets here, preparing for a PhD (Jeremy), enjoying my new job rating English tests (me) and learning to crochet (me). Here's hoping your wishes for the new year come true too. Let's work to make this year more peaceful than 2007!





Love to you all,





Jenevieve and Jeremy