First Anniversary

On October 5th, we celebrated our first anniversary. It's still hard to believe that it has been a whole year since our wedding - and what a year it has been!

The last twelve months have been full of adventure, travel, and growth. We moved into our first apartment together, Devin moved to Spain, we have traveled the world, made it through times of distance from one another, and navigated the new challenges and joys of married life.

We tossed out many ideas for how to celebrate our anniversary. We toyed with the idea of going to Paris or Amsterdam, renting a car to go to Southern France or Andorra, but we finally decided that we wanted something different than our other travels. We wanted to go somewhere that we wouldn't have so much to do, but we would be able to focus on each other, to have lots of conversation and quiet surroundings!

We finally settled on going to a "Casa Rural", which is like a Spanish B&B in the countryside. They are on farms or wineries, away from the city. The one we chose was called Can Caponet, and was about a 45 minute train ride away from Barcelona. It is owned by a Spanish family, and can host up to 12 people at a time. The property was absolutely incredible. We stayed in one of two cabins down the hill from the main house, which provided even more quiet and traquility. The whole wall of our cabin was glass, so we could see out to the woods surrounding us. We could not have been happier.

We spent our time relaxing, reading, laying by the salted pool, walking on a nearby trail, and having hours and hours of conversation. We had a candle light dinner in the house on Saturday evening, prepared by the owners, and made with products they grow in their garden. It was a perfect weekend.

We loved the foggy mornings

To the cabins!

Our cabin by the eco pool

From the garden and local wine

Dinner in the house

One of the corners where we could tuck away and read.

Coffee, tea and fruit were left out for us 24 hours. 

The fireplace in the living room of the house, which we especially loved.

The floating bed

We finished the weekend in Barcelona, with our own candelight dinner of our favorite Fall foods on our roof terrace, and watching our wedding video!

As we reflect on our wedding, we are reminded (as we are every day, really), of the immense support and love that we have surrounding us and our marriage. We remember clearly who shared our wedding day with us, and are still so deeply grateful to those who celebrated love and new beginnings with us, and who vowed to care for us and encourage us in the life we were creating with one another.

Although we are far from most of you, we feel the love from you, and frequently watch videos or look at pictures from our wedding day and feel so encouraged by your presence. The day was perfect, but beyond that, we have had a whole year of marriage in which we were covered in love. Marriage has been an incredible experience so far. We have had successes and failures, but most importantly, growth. We are both more complete people and are becoming better versions of ourselves as we learn how to best love one another.

We are grateful to everyone who is a part of our life, and do not take you for granted. Thank you for your part in our lives and our marriage. Thank you for not forgetting about us just because we are far away.

Here's to year two!!

Some of the places in which we have been able to spend time getting to know each other more and experiencing new things together in the past year! We are so grateful to be on this journey together.

Trolltunga

Trolltunga, or “the troll’s tongue,” looks much like how it sounds.  It is a giant rock sticking straight out of the side of a cliff, high above a majestic fjord.  We had heard that the hike was long and very difficult, ranging at least eight-ten hours round-trip with several thousand feet of elevation gain.  For this reason, many people choose to split it up and camp somewhere in the middle.  We did not have the time to do this, so we set our minds on doing it all in one day. It proved to be well worth it!

We began the hike early in the morning, at the bottom of an old wooden funicular which was not in operation.  The trail zigzagged up the side of the fjord near the wooden rails.  Almost immediately, we hit fog… and lots of it.  When we reached a relatively flat spot near the top of the funicular, the fog was so thick that we could hardly see 50ft down the trail! We kept turning around, expecting to be rewarded by the view after gaining such elevation...but we could see absolutely nothing but fog. We just kept pressing on, and remained hopeful that it would burn off by the time we reached the tongue a few hours from then.

Hoping it got better...

Along the way, there were small houses here and there, hidden in the fog a ways off the trail. For a majority of the time the trail was undefined, and the dampness of the smooth rock made it very hard to climb. At times, there was not exactly a trail, but more a general direction marked by the occasional red “T” painted on some random rock nearby. They were especially hard to find in the thick fog, but we managed to never get too far off track. Every so often, we’d encounter a signpost that told us the number of kilometers we’d traveled, and the number remaining.  At least we kept our conversation riveting, otherwise four hours in a cloud might have become slightly tedious. 

Only 1 km to go! (notice all the fog still...)

Finally, we reached the tongue!  And just as we did, the clouds began to lift!!  Although we only saw a few other hikers on the trail, there were crowds of people at the tongue who had all been waiting for the fog to go away.  As it lifted, the entire fjord slowly came into view, and everyone formed a line to take turns getting their picture taken out on the edge of the overhang.  It was a bit nerve-racking, since the thickness of the rock was really only a couple of feet near the end.  But, this didn’t stop everyone from doing a “jumping” picture. 

We had packed a picnic lunch which we ate sitting on the edge of the cliff above the tongue, with a complete 180 degree view of the fjord and surrounding mountain range topped with glaciers and teeming with waterfalls. It was difficult to take in the depth of the beauty before us, and we all sat in awe as we nibbled our carrots and trail mix. We could have stayed at the lookout point forever, but with such a long hike back and another big hike planned for the next day, we took our pictures, ate our food, and began the trek downward – only this time in full view of the fjord!  And what a different experience it was.  We actually appreciated this fact, because “hike backs” can often seem redundant and pointless, but for us it was totally new, and every step was breathtaking!

Picnicing...and staring.

That T was one of our trail "guiders". 

Arriving at the top of the old funicular, we had to choose between stumbling down the same trail that we had taken up the mountain, or squeezing through a hole in the fence (marked "do not enter")  and walking down the wooden steps.  We of course chose the latter, since the view would be amazing the whole way down, but we really didn’t have a clue as to exactly just how many steps it would be!  In addition, the steps themselves were thin, narrow pieces of old wood separated by several inches at times, and the only thing we had to hold on to for stabilization was a steel cable, beyond which was a good 20ft to 30ft drop off at times!  Our legs were shaking the entire 1.7 km of narrow steps, begging for relief; it seemed to never end!

View from the funicular climb down. Well worth it!

Conquered!

By 6pm, we had reached the bottom, and felt quite accomplished! We couldn't wait to get back to our little cabin, and continue dreaming of the most incredible views of our lives.

Norway

Only one and a half weeks into the school year, we had a four day weekend for the National Day of Catalunya. After being in the city for a couple of weeks, we, with our friend Holly, decided we were desperate for some fresh air and invigorating nature... so we went way north, to Norway. All we knew about Norway was that it was supposed to be really expensive and really cold. We had no real idea of the beauty awaiting us. We researched the fjords and hikes, and decided our main hike would be to a famous rock called Trolltunga. We would fill in the other days with whatever we found in the area once we got there!

We landed at 10am, and after driving three hours with our jaws on the ground while we starred out the window, we arrived at the small village of Odda, which is in the Hardangerfjord. The tourist center in Odda told us about a glacier just a couple of miles away that we could hike to with the remaining daylight. Even though we had been awake since 4am, we were so invigorated by the crisp air and high peaks, that we were completely ready to go explore our surroundings!

On the ferry ride on our way to the fjord from the airport.

The glacier hike was about three hours, during which we frequently had to use ropes to pull ourselves up the side of some rock structures. The whole hike was alongside a large flowing stream and provided incredible views of the valley behind us. It was a great introduction to Norway!

On the drive to our campsite from the glacier, we found that the fjord was lined with apple orchards and fruit stands. They would leave pears, apples, plums, and zucchini out on the side of the road with a sign of how much they costs, and people were just supposed to leave the money in a small box. We loved the quaintness of this and had trouble not stopping at each one!

The next day, we hiked Trolltunga, which deserves its own post, so stay tuned to hear about it!

Our last full day there, we hiked into the fjord by our campground. The hike was called "the four waterfalls," which raised our standard for waterfalls to a whole other level! Each one was stunning, unique, and huge. Again, the trails were hardly marked, and we found ourselves slipping and sliding at many points. But it was all worth it when we were picnicking in the sun by a lake, surrounded by mountains, listening to waterfalls, and trying to make the moment last forever.

Our last day we spent in the city of Bergen. Bergen is surrounded by 7 hills, so although it is a city, it hardly feels like it! It is on the water, and everywhere we looked, we saw people in activewear, taking advantage of the sunshine. We had our suitcases with us, so we spent a couple of hours sitting outside a cafe, drinking chai tea and reading, and afterward, explored the area of wooden houses called Bryggen.

After a weekend of perfect weather, rejuvenating nature, and physical challenges, we all bumped Norway way up on our list of favorite places we have been. We can only hope to go back, as there is much more to be explored!

Happy School Year!

The school year is full swing here!                                                         (Author: Rachel)

We got back from Ireland on August 24th, and I went right back to work on the 25th. I had one week to set up my classroom and get started on organization and lesson planning for the year. I always have high hopes of accomplishing so much during this week, but things always seem to take longer than I anticipate. I spent multiple night at school until 8 or 9 pm.

One of the challenges of teaching in this city is the lack of ¨teacher stores¨. There are not really even large craft stores like Hobby Lobby where you can find everything cheap. I am always at a loss when I want supplies for my room that are creative or colorful. It is hard to even have much a vision for classroom set up, because I don't know where to get anything! Thankfully, my friend Nicole saved the day by showing me large stores outside the city that had many of these things and helped me envision and execute the new plan for my classroom design! Thanks to her creativity and her knowledge of what's available, we were able to turn my empty, white, lifeless classroom into a colorful, happy place, hopefully set up for lots of learning!

Nicole and Devin both put in long hours helping me hang, cut, stick, draw... and bit by bit, make my classroom someplace that both my students and I enjoy being (afterall, I spend way more time here than I do at home!).

Some of you have asked what my job environment is like, so I thought I would show you where I spend most of my time!

Welcome to Ms. Rachel's music room!

My door opens to the outdoors

Back wall when you enter. The back of my piano doubles as the setting of "Music Street"

My desk space

Unpitched percussion instruments

Our word wall

May many musicians be made inside these walls! Hoping for a great school year!