More pictures

Andy, Curt, and margaritas



trying the Camarones Rancheros



Andy's chimichange platter



Curt attacking his Carnitas (meat platter)



Mmmm...fried ice cream



There are shops all around the outside of the restaurant



Back in the condo, playing Guitar Hero :)

November

The weather has stayed absolutely gorgeous here, making November seem very surreal. I've started wearing some gloves for my morning ride to school. The days are still absolutely gorgeous, especially if it's sunny out.

For Thanksgiving, we went to our friend Andy's grandparents' house in Sun City. Andy is an old high school friend of Curt's who now lives in L.A. He took the MegaBus down here (pretty cheap fare) and spent time with his family and then with us. It was fun hanging out with someone else's family but I did miss mine...

Speaking of which, everyone seems to be talking about Christmas and plans. We will be driving from AZ to MN. We're leaving on the 21st, soon after school is done for the day. We'll be arriving in MN late on the 22nd. The week will go pretty quickly as we have both sides of Curt's family to see, my family, and as many friends as possible.

I'm going to stop before I get too far ahead of myself. My time at school is now mostly being spent rehearsing students for the Winter Program on December 20th. This is the first concert I'm doing so I'm excited and nervous at the same time. The theme is "Tracking Santa"; we're going to follow him all over the world and have songs from several different countries. I think the most overambitious one I'm doing is "O Tannenbaum" - the 5th graders are learning one verse in German. I think it's good for them. :) I'll let you all know how the show turns out.

I'll post some pictures now. We've been to South Mountain twice this month (on the very southern edge of Phoenix). I also got some pictures of the condo (finally). Last but not least, we took Andy to a restaurant called Tradiciones. If you visit us, we will take you to Tradiciones. We've taken (or tried to take) everyone there that has visited us so far. We've had a lot of visitors already! Sky, Meagan, Audra and Andy have all been here. :)

Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.
Nicole





Mountains to the west at the South Mountain Park Reserve



View of the Valley of the Sun from South Mountain



Looking through a structure on the mountain



Same structure



New addition to our condo - I hope I can keep it alive!



The window scarf I made with all my free time last Friday



It will be a Red Lion Amaryllis in about six weeks



Our living room, dining room and kitchen



Dining room table from Ikea



Look how big Jack is!!!

weather

It might rain again today. It rained yesterday. How strange.

Phoenix is sunny something like 350 days of the year.

cultural differences

I have been a little surprised to hear what the kids have to say about my moped. They all think it is cool; some of them think it goes a little slowly but that's the worst they can say about it. Then there are a lot of older kids (boys, mostly) who think it's strange for me to drive it. They know I am married and say my husband should drive it and let me have the car. I don't think they understand that I don't want a car, or that the moped is more or less mine. It's nice that they're worried about my safety, but it makes me think about how they view women in the Hispanic culture.

Just something to think about.

Nicole

already?

thoughts

things i like about phoenix:

- the fact that i can sit outside on our balcony, in november, and eat dinner in complete comfort
- riding my moped around town
- the farmer's market that goes year round
- the light rail opening next year
- the palm trees
- the sunshine
- how most people aren't from here
- finding culture where you least expect it
- being able to buy beer and wine on sundays!!!
- being closer to the west coast
- not having to do daylight savings time (ha!)
- the cacti
- our condo

things i'm not so crazy about:
- the way people drive (no blinkers, ever!!!)
- being away from the people i love
- how it is still hot during the day
- having to dig for cool places
- the construction (mainly due to the lightrail)
- the building of choice is a strip mall
- the traffic

camping

We went about an hour and a half north of Phoenix, just north of a town called Payson. There is an unmarked road that one of my teachers told me about that leads to all kinds of campsites.

moped!

After six years, I finally have my own (motorized) wheels. I haven't had a car since I was 18 and moved to Minneapolis. I am now the (extremely proud) owner of a 2007 Honda Metropolitan moped named Athena.





isn't it cute?!





in all our nerdy glory.



Theenie!



See ya :)



Curt and I are leaving to go camping up near Payson as soon as we get packed. It should be significantly cooler than the last time we went (Labor Day was near 100*). I'll bring my camera and post pictures when I get back.

I woke up this morning to Curt giving me three awesome birthday gifts: a Lily Allen CD, the new Harry Potter book (I still haven't read it! Eeeiii!) and a hardcover edition of "Where the Sidewalk Ends" by Shel Silverstein. :)

All right, I'd better get off the computer!

By the way, it is still in the 90s and 80s down here. A bit strange to see snowflakes and Christmas stuff everywhere when it's still blazing hot. I'm loving it, of course.

Ciao!
Nik