Devin and I have been married for 4 years!! Our anniversary was really low key this year...let's face it we didn't have a car at the time, we weren't about to spend a lot of money. On our anniversary (April 29th) we actually played an Ultimate Frisbee game. Devin and I are on an Orem Ultimate league. We played both games in really cold weather that day, but won both of them. Then ate dinner at Zupas.
We celebrated more on the Saturday following our anniversary by going out to dinner at Macaroni Grill, driving really fast through puddles, and just having fun being together.
I love you Devin!!
On other notes, we did get a car!! It's a 2007 Toyota Corolla. We got a pretty good deal under the blue book value and it has separate snow tires too. I'll post some pictures...once I take them :)
Yesterday while I was at work I received this text from Devin at about 9 in the morning:
"The car broke down on the freeway, now it's at some mom and pop shop. They are trying to figure out the problem. I have no idea what is up"
Only to be followed by this one about 4 hours later:
"The car is toast. I shouldn't have taken it on the trip. We are going to have to buy a new car. It will cost way more than it is worth to have it repaired."
So that afternoon I talked with Devin (between his Disneyland rides) and we are now donating that car to charity. The problem...the title is here in Utah and it's in his name -- I can't sign it, he has to. Well after much negotiating with the charity place they'll pick up the car with a note from someone and a copy of Devin's driver license so that the car can be released. Meanwhile Devin and his brothers had to rent a car in order to get home tonight.
I think this trip just needs to end and Devin needs to give me a hug.
UGH!! Trust me it has not been fun to be sick and alone at the same time. I've had a cough for about 2 weeks, but that's not really a big deal. What really got me down was the fact that the night before Devin left to California with his brothers my eye started getting more and more red and sure enough in the morning it was glued shut with puss. That's right folks it was pink eye. The pictures below are hideous, but they really show how swollen and red my eye was. I couldn't open my eye any wider than that. I stayed home from work on Thursday and Friday and watched chick flick after chick flick. I can't wear my contacts until it's all cleared up...hopefully tomorrow ;) But it's made amazing progress thanks to the meds and antibiotics. Don't worry I'm not contagious any more and I don't look that hideous any more either.
In other news, on Friday I went to Joann's and bought two pattern and fabric to make 2 skirts and one dress. I am WAY excited. I've already made and finished one skirt and it's so cute. I love the fabric. I wore it to church today. I took some pictures that I'll put up in just a little bit.
I finally transferred pictures from my camera to the computer. Here are some other pictures of things we've done recently (newest to oldest):
Devin turned 26!! We had his family over for dinner and cake. Like the half eaten cake with "candles" that they're blowing out? His work gave him a huge cake that we didn't want to go to waste and we didn't have candles. We went to see "How To Train Your Dragon" in 3D on the Mammoth screen at Thanksgiving Point. It was a great movie that I'd recommend. Of course we HAD to get pictures in the 3D glasses. We decorated eggs this year for Easter and I even had a little mini Easter egg hunt planned for Devin. These eggs were my favorite of the bunch because of the vibrant colors. Our friends Adam and Lynsie welcomed a little boy Zack to their family on March 26th. I made them this pillow and really liked it so I had to take a picture of it. We went to San Diego to... ... visit the beach... ... to hold all sorts of beautiful birds with the Heywoods... ...to meet my newest niece Eliza Ann Kunz... ... isn't she adorable?... ...we even got all dressed up (sorry the picture isn't the best quality, it's still one of my favorites)... ...Ok so the real reason we went to San Diego was to see my brother Stephen get married! Congratulations Steve and Hannah!
So I haven't posted in a while. I've been waiting for time to upload pictures, but let's be realistic that might not happen in a while. My life so far has been opera, opera, opera. "Opera?" you ask. Yes Opera! My 4th grade students (in fact the whole 4th grade at my school has written and performed an opera. At first when I heard this I was very skeptical thinking the teachers would end up doing all the work. While it still was a lot of work (mainly managing 100 students, keeping them engaged, focused, and quiet) the students really took it all on. They wrote the story line, the music lyrics, made props, backdrops, helped with a lot of the blocking, and even came up with costume ideas. We were able to perform it at the Rose Wagner Theater in Salt Lake last night and were even in the newspaper. My class was the one they interviewed so all the students they quote are from my class and they even quote me!
In other news, Devin and I will not be going to Japan in the fall. Sadly, Devin didn't get the job he applied for but we know that things will work out and we're already looking on the positive side of things trying to find out other options. I will go back and teach at the school I'm at now (unless something happens -- like a baby. For those of you that didn't know we have been trying). I'm happy to go back to my school even though it's a little drive because I really enjoy it there and love the people I work with.
Devin will continue working for the company he's at (while trying to find a better paying job and one that he enjoys more) and focus attention on studying for the GMAT so he can hopefully get into BYU for a masters degree.
We will probably start looking for a new place soon, most likely around Orem because we go down there a lot, have friends/family in the area, and Devin would be close to school and I would be close to people who carpool to my work.
Well, anyway. That's the life of the Andersen family right now in a nutshell.
As many of you know, I was a foreign exchange student for 4 1/2 months in Japan when I was 16. What many of you don't know, is that after I got home from Japan in December 2000, I never even sent so much as a post card to my host family. I didn't even attempt to contact them once! Things didn't exactly end well with us. We still were friends and everything, but we never really got to know each other. I couldn't speak Japanese all that well, and they couldn't speak English at all (except for their daughter who could speak English somewhat well). It was a very lonely time in my life because I just didn't have a lot of friends, and I was really glad to go home.
After I got home I continued to study Japanese, and then after I served my mission in Japan, I felt that my Japanese had improved a lot. However, I knew that I wanted to continue studying Japanese to the point where I thought my Japanese was good enough to impress my home stay family. I had wanted to contact them for years. I even (through a lot of research on the internet) was able to find their e-mail address over a year ago, however I still wanted to wait a little bit longer until I thought my Japanese was good enough.
Sadly, I don't think my Japanese will ever be at the level I think is good enough, so I decided last week to e-mail them to let them know that I was still alive.
Here is the e-mail that I wrote to them. (Obviously I wrote it in Japanese, but this is the english translation)
I have thought many many times about what I would say to you now that I can speak Japanese. All the things that I wish I could have told you when I was living with you and your family, and how much time I have wasted knowing that for years I could have contacted you to thank you for everything you did for me.
First I want to apologize that I never really thanked you. I never thanked you for giving me an opportunity to come and live in your house, and to share experiences with your family. I never thanked you for taking me to Kyoto, or to Nara, or even driving me to the bus stop every day for school.
I never thanked you for making me lunch every day, or for the wonderful dinners that you prepared for me, or even for letting me make my favorite desert (ice cream and cookie shake) whenever I wanted. I never thanked you for doing my laundry every week, or for letting me play the same piano song over and over and over, even though I am sure it was very annoying after a while. I never thanked you for letting me use your internet to talk to my friends, even though I am sure it was very expensive, and it probably cost you a lot of money (for that, I am very sorry)
I never thanked you for finding me my uniform for school, or for driving me to Takayama on Sunday so that I could go to church. I never thanked you for letting me participate in the festivals in the village, or for taking me over to see your neighbors and friends.
I never thanked Kana for her friendship, or for how hard she tried to speak English to me. I never told her how much that meant to me, and how much I enjoyed walking home from the bus stop with her as she would teach me Japanese and I would teach her English. I never thanked Kei for her friendship, or told her how proud of her I was when I saw her do so well at jump roping with her class. I never thanked her for showing me around Takayama city, even though we got lost.
I never thanked du (or ru, or however you spell his name) for being a okii, chiisai, debu, baka, inu, and I never thanked everyone that I met at school, in the city, and in the town of asahi for being so kind to me. I didn’t deserve any of it. I was a lonely, selfish, and depressed teenager, and if I could go back and do it all over again, I would.
So much has happened to me in the past 10 years since I have seen you, and just from reading your blogs, I have learned so much about what you have been doing. I will write you again soon letting you know what has been happening in my life for the past 10 years, but for now, I just wanted to say thank you, and that I am so sorry for the way I acted and the way I behaved in your home. One of my biggest regrets in my entire life is how we left at the airport in December. I don’t think I even said goodbye.
I want to thank you for all of this, for everything that you have done for me. If it is alright with you, please send me an e-mail back at gootar@gmail.com i will be looking forward to it.
Also, if you happen to have Kana's e-mail, please send that to me as well. I am still studying Japanese, so I don't know how ease this e-mail was for you to read, sorry about that.
- Devin (Tim) Andersen
Well, they were pretty surprised I think, and they sent me an e-mail back. I am going to include the actual version that they sent, as well as the translation that I wrote for it. The reason for the actual transcript of the original format is because I wanted you guys to see how funny it looked, and how hard it was for me to transcribe and then translate. Most of you will just think this is jibberish below, but for those of you who can speak Japanese, have fun trying to read it :)
Tim, we are so glad to hear that you are doing well.
My eyes filled with tears to get an e-mail from you after 10 years, and all the way from Utah!
We wanted to reply to you in Japanese, but we didn’t know if your computer could receive Japanese characters, so we had to send it in this strange and barely readable format, sorry about that. The 4 months that you spent with us were filled with so many fun experiences, it brings back such cool and nostalgic memories to think about it.
What are you up to these days?
Kana is currently working for a bank in Nagoya city, and Kei is working in Takaya (probably Takayama city) and she commutes from home by car.
Papa, do (the dog), and I are all doing great. Although we can e-mail you, is it alright if we do it in Japanese? There are lots of things that we would like to talk to you about, but it would be easiest for us if we did it in Japanese.
For now we just want to tell you how impressed we were with the e-mail you sent us. Thank you, and we would be so happy if you would e-mail us again. Because Kana doesn’t own a computer, Kei sent your e-mail to her via text message. Kana also seems very excited to talk with you and reminisce about old times.
We hope you are well, and want you to do your best! We will be waiting for your e-mail
-Aida family
I e-mailed them back and this is what I wrote (again, I wrote in Japanese, but this is the English translation for it)
I have been planning on talking with you for nearly 10 years now. Ever since I came home from Japan, I have been planning on one day, being able to tell you everything I always wanted to, I kept waiting and waiting until I thought that my Japanese was good enough. I still don’t think it is good enough, but if I wait any longer, I will probably never do it. I figured 10 years is long enough.
I think instead of telling you everything that has happened in the past 10 years very simply, I will start with what happened after I came home from Japan. I think it will be much more interesting and fun to e-mail you every few days with another story of growing up, until eventually I get to now. This way, you will get to know me slowly as I grow up through the stories, you will be happy during my good times, and sad with me when I was sad. There was so much I wanted to tell you, so many stories I wanted to share, and so many experiences I wanted to help you see. I think that if I didn’t do it this way, you wouldn’t really get to know me. We would send each other a few e-mails, and then that would be it, we would probably not say anything else to each other for another couple of years, and then it would be over. I have thought about your family many times over the past 10 years, and although I am sure you want to know how I am doing right now, if I am married, if I am in school, if I am working, how did I learn Japanese etc. I want to tell you all of that, but I don’t want to do it all right away. I want to show you how much I really do care about your family, by taking the time to show you who I really am, and not the teenage kid you once knew. For all that you did for me, I think you deserve that.
So starting tomorrow, expect an e-mail every few days from me, telling you what happened after I left you and came back to America. I promise it will be fun to read, and you will enjoy getting my e-mails. I don’t have a lot of time, but I will do my best to make it as much like a story as possible.
To answer your questions, - yes, my computer is able to receive Japanese kanji, so please write to me in Japanese. I can read Japanese just fine, in fact I can read much better than I can speak or write, so don’t worry about using difficult Japanese, it will help me learn. Please e-mail me any time with what is happening in your lives. Please send me Kana’s e-mail address as well. I am glad to know that kei is still living at home, and that Kana is in Nagoya working for a bank.
Well, I will write to you tomorrow. Until then!
-Devin (Tim) Andersen
So, we have started e-mailing each other. I have received one more e-mail from them, and
I intend to write them a lot to help prepare me to translate and write in Japanese more for when we move to Japan.
Other than that, we are doing great. Sarah and I are both working, and trying to save up our money. We are going to go to Sarah's brother's wedding in San Diego late next week, and then after that we will just be waiting to hear back about Japan. We are excited for Sarah's brother, as well as my brother Tyler to come home from his mission.
We are grateful for all of our friends and family, especially the Ferrero's and the Allsop's and all that they do for us. They are truly the best friends/family we could ever ask for.
Well, until next time, this is Devin Andersen, signing off!
Today I decided to make some changes and I am gradually going to be giving myself a makeover. I only say gradually because some of my "makeover" wants require money so it might take awhile to finish the makeover process. It's the first day of my "new self." Here are some things I've done today to revamp my life in all aspects (spiritual, physical, mental, etc...) *Start the day off right with a prayer. This is such a simple thing but it makes all the difference. *Have a good attitude about going to work. Okay so I need to work on keeping a good attitude, even when it seems like none of my students are listening. *Exercise every day (check, I did 45 minutes today) -- Go Me!! *Make a nice meal, but watch what I eat. Instead of dividing equal portions I generously heaped Devin's plate, while keeping my portion small -- except for a very large portion of green beans which I got a lot of and Devin got a medium amount. I ate all the green beans, but not all of the main dish. *Drink water -- this may seem like a simple thing to a lot of you, but for me it's a real struggle. I am picky with my water and hardly ever drink it. *Read scriptures *Have family home evening and take time for Devin and I do just do something together. Tonight we snuggled while watching Angels and Demons. *Say evening prayers.
Other things on the "makeover" list: ~continue to exercise daily ~continue to eat healthy ~continue spiritual strengthening (scriptures, prayers, FHE, etc...) ~get new exercise clothes ~Get a hair cut ~get my nails done ~make a new skirt and other things that I can't think of right now :)
Some of you may know that Devin and I recently (last November) applied for what's called the JET program -- Japan Exchange and Teaching. Devin would be a CIR (coordinator of international relations) and I would be an ALT (assistant language teacher). Now to get the job there are several hurdles we must go through.
Hurdle 1: Application The application is WAY TOO LONG! Yes, I realize this is a big job that lots of people apply for; but really... do you need 3 copies of a 20 page application plus birth certificates/passport copies, diploma copies, teaching certificate copies, official university transcript, plus 2 reference letters (that had to make 3 copies of their reference letter and seal and sign each envelopes). Do you need to know every teaching class I've ever taken? (being a teacher that's all I have taken) Needless to say the application was NOT my cup of tea.
Practically 3 weeks later hurdle 1 was complete and put in the mail!
2 weeks after that we received a small little slip saying they had received our applications but we wouldn't hear anything about if we even made it to the next hurdle until FEBRUARY!! That's almost 3 whole months from when the applications were sent.
Hurdle 2: Interview We haven't quite reached hurdle 2... yet...but yes we will get to hurdle 2!!! Devin and I found out that he will be interviewed with the Consulate General of Japan. (I don't know about you, but that sounds like an important person). His interview is on Thursday February 18th and luckily he's able to interview in Salt Lake. Sadly, I did not get an interview; so we'll just have to see what happens.
Hurdle 3: (if we make it to hurdle 3) see if he made it The next hurdle we'll have to encounter is after the interviews we have to wait until APRIL to see if he got the positions. April? Are you kidding me?!? That's another 3 months of waiting.
Well, we are very excited (and now nervous - realizing that it might actually happen) for all that is in store. Stay tuned for more Japanese Hurdles!
