Winter? Spring?

Every morning is a lottery when putting on our shoes and coats. We don't quite know if winter is gone and spring is here; we always have a back up pair of gloves, winter hat, and an umbrella in our backpacks. Last week we had a blizzard come in and a few days of wet, slushy, icy weather. Then all of a sudden the birds are chirping, the sun is out and the flowers are blooming!

Take a look at some pictures that we took last week and this week. What a difference!

in the courtyard of our apartment building.



a happy little kid and his annoyed grandma.
Alexander Nevskova Monastery, St. Pete

The brightly colored houses down the river from our apartment.

Road trip to Seaside, Oregon

5-7 Feb 2008

Cam and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary in St. Petersburg by going to an Indonesian restaurant. But we really celebrated by going down to Seaside Oregon and staying at a hotel on the beach. We had no idea that the wind and rain would be so powerful that it would throw the furniture around on the balcony like a bunch of matchsticks. We had a great time on this mini road trip. In Oregon we visited Seaside, Cannon Beach, Hug Point (almost got stuck in a raising tide), and Tillamook (home of Tillamook cheese and ice cream). It was fun to show Cam a little more of the United States – too bad we were having horrible rainy and windy weather and point break waves. Oh well! We had a wonderful time nonetheless. Oh, and Cam got a new camera for an early 30^th birthday present. He had fun taking all kinds of pictures (mostly of seagulls).

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St. Petersburg in Seattle

4 Feb 2008

Cam and I met up with some friends, Tim and Emily, that lived in St. Petersburg last year. They came to Russia to work as English teachers in a local university and ended up falling in love and they’re going to married within the next couple months. Emily went to university at Seattle Pacific University and Tim is originally from Vancouver, BC. They came down to Seattle to meet up with us and we took the Seattle Underground tour at Pioneer Square. The tour was a historical breeze through the origins of Seattle, and we actually went underground to were city was originally built. There was a huge fire in the late 1800s that demolished the original part of the city and they decided to rebuild, above the older buildings. Our tour guide was pretty funny and a real history buff.




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FINALLY a Winter Wonderland

28 Jan 2008

Within the first couple days of arriving back in Seattle we had a winter wonderland (something that we’ve been lacking in St. Petersburg). My parents live outside of the city in the country near the mountains and it was glorious to wake up to snow all over the property and frost and ice on the trees. It disappeared within a couple days :o(



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New Years in Norway

It’s a little late but we want to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. The best way to wind up the busy year is to spend the new year’s festivities with family in Norway. Cam and I were able to take a mini-trip over to Oslo, Norway to see my aunt and cousins and to take in the beautiful scenery.

We’ll be coming back to the States for five weeks starting Jan 27^th. We’re going to still be working during this time and will be visiting friends and family. Cam will be celebrating his 30^th birthday 19^th of Feb!!! We’ll also be celebrating my parents 70^th birthdays in Feb. We’re very excited to be going to the States to see friends and family and would very much like to catch up with you if you’re available during that time!


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Time for exploring...

Well with my Exam and studies finally over for another year, yesterday Sonja and I decided to explore a part of the city we hadn't been to before. It's a little funny though, because this part of the city is actually one of the first parts you see when coming from the Airport. So we've been meaning to visit it for a while. The place is called the monument to the heroic defenders of Leningrad. It's located on a round-a-bout in the middle of the main road to the Airport, but really needs a visit to appreciate the monument. St Petersburg in World War II was surrounded for 900 days by the Germans, and nearly a third of the population died from the war or starvation. The museum was rather interesting and a nice break from the weather on this gray dreary day. As you can see from the photos...

Bratwurst, lederhosen and the wrong train!

I (Sonja) traveled to Germany, Kandern and Giessen, for training in my new position at work. The town of Kandern (pronounced Kon-dern) is so charming and quaint that I want to bottle it up and take it home with me. Kandern is the birthplace of John Sutter who later moved to California and was one of the first to strike it rich and find gold. Everything about Kandern is clean, all the houses are clean and freshly painted, the streets, the cars, even the kids faces are clean. Some buildings are hundreds of years old yet hold a classic modern charm that only well-kept buildings could possess.

When I was leaving from Giessen (pronounced Gee-son) to catch the plane in Frankfurt I traveled by train. I had to make a transfer and I got onto the wrong train! It was going in the direction that I wanted to go but it by-passed the Frankfurt airport that I was headed for! I ended up in some town and had to wait 30 minutes for another train going back to the main station and then had to get another train to the airport. I arrived only an hour before my plane left and had to wait 45 minutes in line at the security check; I made it to the gate right when the plane was supposed to leave and found out that the plane was delayed a few minutes. I made it home just fine!