Notas and Noticias

Happy 4th of July to everyone and happy 3rd anniversary to me!  Spending my anniversary away from my dear wife isn't the most fun thing in the world, but there is Skype... And I am focusing on the positive: God willing, there will be many more anniversaries to come that we'll be able to celebrate together.  I'm just happy to have her in my life and to be building a life together with her.

Yesterday was a fabulous day, perhaps my favorite so far.  I spent the day out in Forest Grove (the town where my alma mater is) visiting friends.  It was lovely.  As I stepped off the bus onto the Pacific campus so many memories came flooding back.  I remember being a wide-eyed, innocent Senior in high school touring Pacific with one of my best friends, Josh.  I wore a long, navy blue, wool coat and double french braids.  I was more than a little intimidated by the whole process because it was the first college tour I'd done without my parents.  Josh and I flew up alone and stayed in a hotel together for two days visiting the school; both of us ended up going there. :)

 I remember training for cross country on the roads around the Grove and walking every last inch of the town with one of my good college buddies.  The stately trees and green, green grass blow me away now after years in the olive groves.  The campus looks like something out of a movie.  Being there was so familiar, yet the campus is very different from the one I knew as a student.


I remember pre-race oatmeal at Maggie's, and the occasional lunch out or quick coffee.  Then there was the seedy bar just off campus that was a favorite hang-out senior year... don't ask me why.  There is much laughter and many pool games tied to my memories of My Place.  I think all of us were too excited to be legal to worry about much else; and it was always a kick people watching the local regulars. 

My whole day was wonderful, meeting with friends who are ex-professors and bosses, seeing their lovely families, eating delicious homegrown berries and cooking to my heart's content.  Sara was able to meet us after work for dinner which made the day even better.  We ate tortilla de patatas, jamón and greek-style salad.  It was a fantastic dinner and the only thing that made it better was the dessert we concocted: dark chocolate brownies drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt.  I could have died and gone to heaven!


All of this culinary goodness was followed by chit-chat on the couch until one in the morning at which point we decided to just stay the night.  I don't know how long it's been since I did a sleep over, but that's not something you get a lot of in Spain. ;)  It was pretty fun!  Breakfast was left over tortilla and now We're home, have run up Mt. Tabor and are getting ready to head out for our respective family functions to celebrate the fourth of July.

Brings back memories...  I do love french braiding little girls' hair.

Two of my friend's lovely children--so cute!

  

Two of my most favorite women in the world...in the same room! :)

Our delicious dinner...  there is no photo proof of the brownies because we ate them TOO fast.

Oh!  And I just checked my grades for the semester and they are as follows: two sobresaliente and two notable (that's more or less two As and two Bs).  I am pleased, though I didn't do quite as well as I expected on one of my exams.  Oh well, life goes on.