Meet Ries...Our New Pooch!

Ever since I met Romeo in Uganda, I've been dreaming of the day I would find my own little cat-like dog that doesn't bark, does tricks and likes to cuddle. SO, Nate, Georgia and I went to Thyme and Sage Animal Rescue today and came home with Ries - a miniature poodle that wants to be a golden doodle. A friend suggested the name Riesling - like the German wine, and we liked it, but shortened it to Ries.

We're Buying a House!

441 N Baldwin Street, originally uploaded by Nate Bosscher.

If everything goes as planned, Nate and I will close on this house on March 31st. We're excited! Click on the picture to see pictures inside...and know that you can always stay with us during your next trip to Madison.

Madison feels like home already...

We moved into an apartment last Saturday. It's similar to our last place in Alexandria - a 2 story townhouse, although with a lot less character. But it's perfect because it's close to Nate's job (2 blocks), affordable, warm and temporary...

Temporary because we hope to buy a house before summer arrives!

Nate is enjoying his job at NPoint so far - the company is small, the work is interesting and the people are friendly. I'm spending my days hanging pictures, looking at houses online, searching for the perfect job, selling things on Craigslist, running, doing yoga, and planning our social life. :) We're having our first party this weekend - a cabernet sauvignon wine tasting!

I love being able to picture where friends / family are living, so here are some pictures of our place.







Thanks for keeping up with us!
Love,
Alicia

A party for Obama...A job for Nate...A new city for us

Since we returned from Uganda mid-December, we've been working hard to find jobs, but not forgetting to enjoy this time off. We've been back and forth between Washington DC and Madison, WI. You'll recall that these were two out of three of our top choices for places to live. While in DC we remembered why we grew to love it here - political excitement, walkability, ethnic diversity and a mild climate. We enjoyed participating in the Obamania. The inaugural concert, "We Are One," was fast-paced and motivational. And Bono was pretty dang cool - not sure if I know of a celebrity that uses his fame better than Bono does. With only 1 day in-between to rest up, we also walked down to the National Mall for the swearing in ceremony. It was awesome to be there. I'm not sure if I've ever seen 1-2 million people stand more peacefully together.



(Click on this picture to see more from the inaugural festivities!)

Rewinding a bit, we also spent some good time in Madison with Nate's family and good friends from college. We also met Kip - Marcia's adorable 50 lb puppy. The allure of Madison is just as strong as that of DC, but different. It's more about family, old friends, a small town feel, the chance to become more of a hippie (in all the good ways of course) and more affordable living. So which did we pick?...


Well, since we clearly couldn't make up our minds, we let the job market do the deciding. Nate talked to lots of recruiters and did lots of cold-calling, trying to find someone that needed a smart, good looking mechanical engineer. Just this past Friday, he received an offer from a small company in Madison! He has not accepted yet, but intends to. You'll have to email him to ask for a job description, cause its really high-tech and uses the prefix "nano" - that's one-millionth of a millimeter.

So, we're moving back to Madison! I'm pumped. I'm going to find a job too...hopefully one that requires knowledge of kilocalories instead of nanometers. If I can't find something public health related, I may try to work at one of my favorite stores - Trader Joe's or REI. I mean, why not?

See you in Madison!
Love,
Alicia

Climbing Volcanos and a Safari

We were able to write about most of our experiences in Uganda, but here is one more...

The week before we left to fly home to DC, we drove approximately 1000 miles to southwestern Uganda and back. We visited our first Ugandan National Park - Queen Elizabeth, searched for tree-climbing lions, slept in a geo-dome on an island and enjoyed the company of Phil and Bethany - two med students from Minnesota. It was a super low budget trip - lots of camping and pre-planned meals - but so fun nonetheless!

The only animals we half expected to see that we didn't see were leopards and lions. We saw lots of elephants, hipps, crocodiles, warthogs, mongooses, and gazel-like animals. It was awesome having our own own big, rugged SUV (thanks Sarah and Dan!) because we had so much more freedom than some of the big tour groups that escort people from park to park.

The highlight for me was our last 2 days/1 night. We paddled across Lake Bunyonyi to a small island where we made green curry on our camping stove and slept under a mosquito net. The lake and the island are beautiful and peaceful.

Another highlight, now that its over, was our crazy hike up an extinct volcano with three peaks. The top half of the 9 hour hike required climbing vertical ladders nailed into the side of the mountain. I was scared. Apparently lots of people turn around and quit before they reach the third peak. We didn't know this until we returned back to the lodge, otherwise we might have turned around too. Well, maybe. Actually, probably not.

DSC_4236, originally uploaded by Nate Bosscher.

There sure are some beautiful places on this earth! Click on the picture to see our other pics from this trip.

We're home!

We flew into Washington DC on Sunday morning and we're staying with my parents at the Washington Navy Yard until we leave to drive to Michigan on Christmas morning. We plan to be in Madison/Oconomowoc from Dec 28 - Jan 6 or so. We're happy to be home!

In case anyone has not heard, we've made the decision not to move to Seattle for Nate's PhD program - he is more excited about a design engineering job than he is about research and teaching, so we're following his heart. :)

We're open about where we live/work/play/love - possible destinations include Denver, northern CA, Madison, and Washington DC...it all depends on where we find jobs.

Thanks for keeping up with our adventures...we'll keep this blog going as we travel through life!

Today we give what? Thanks.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone.

We have the day off today, so we're preparing for a thanksgiving feast! Since we arrived in Africa and realized that cooking from scratch is the only way to eat some of our favorite foods (thai curries, spicy indian dishes, falafel, and baked goods), Nate has definitely caught a cooking bug! Who knew that I would be so lucky to marry a man who likes to read food blogs in his spare time!?! I love it. So anyways, today we're enjoying a thanksgiving meal with other eMi members and their families. Nate informed me yesterday that instead of making one dish, like we would be expected to do, we were bringing four: roasted winter veggies, sweet potato casserole, drop biscuits and pumpkin cookies with caramel frosting (these blogs are inspiring)! Its two hours before mealtime and it looks like we'll accomplish all except the biscuits. It's smelling lovely in this hot kitchen!

Since Nate refused to be photogenic with either of his veggie dishes, all I have for you is a picture of the cookies. You can find the recipe here (at www.kitchenscrapbook.com)

Anniversary

²¹But this I call to mind,
   and therefore I have hope:

²²The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,^*
   his mercies never come to an end;
²³they are new every morning;
   great is your faithfulness.
²⁴'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul,
   'therefore I will hope in him.'

²⁵The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
   to the soul that seeks him.
²⁶It is good that one should wait quietly
   for the salvation of the Lord.
²⁷It is good for one to bear
   the yoke in youth,
²⁸to sit alone in silence
   when the Lord has imposed it,
²⁹to put one's mouth to the dust
   (there may yet be hope),
³⁰to give one's cheek to the smiter,
   and be filled with insults.

³¹For the Lord will not
   reject for ever.
³²Although he causes grief, he will have compassion
   according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
³³for he does not willingly afflict
   or grieve anyone.

- Lamentations 3:21-22

Today is the first anniversary of my father's death.  It's still hard to understand, but the hope I have in the Lord gives me some peace.

Ugandans Love Obama...

And we do too!

Although it would have been fun to experience the excitement in Washington DC this morning (where 94% voted for President-elect Obama), we've enjoyed being in Uganda during this election because Ugandans LOVE Barack Obama.

Our intent is not to turn this blog into a political platform, but Nate and I can't help but say, "Woohoo!" We're excited to move back to the US in 6 weeks and be a part of a revived country. Okay, so some of you might not agree that there's been a revival, but we're hopeful that the decision that was made yesterday will lead to some great change.

We woke up at 5 am to watch the results come in with some friends...here's a picture of Nate and me with the Obama family :)

Love,
Alicia

Halloween!

We shopped for Halloween costumes at a huge, crowded, dirty market in downtown Kampala last Thursday afternoon. Sarah and Dan were going as the Wonder Twins - 2 superheros that I had never heard of. Since a few of their Embassy friends were also going as superheros, Nate and I decided that some villains needed to attend the party, so we went as Poison Ivy and The Green Goblins. Oh! And Romeo went as a pumpkin.