We celebrated our one-year anniversary in Medan today. If you go by days of the week it works out because we arrived in Medan on a Sunday evening. But if you go by dates, like any civilized human being, then tomorrow, February 13, is our one-year anniversary. We’ll celebrate a little bit tomorrow as well… Continue reading One Year-ish
Category: Change
The Sun Is the Same, In a Relative Way…
…but we are older. This was us one year ago today – younger, tired after being up until 2am and then having to get up VERY early. Freshly dropped off at Sky Harbor International Airport (I defy anyone to name a more beautiful airport name) in Phoenix to begin our long-awaited departure towards a new… Continue reading The Sun Is the Same, In a Relative Way…
First Teaching Gig!
The bywords of living overseas are adaptability and flexibility. These are essential just to handle all of the changes in culture and ways of doing things one encounters regardless of where they decide to move to. They are also essentials for my unique position in the Southeast Asia Region, as I’m deployed as a regional… Continue reading First Teaching Gig!
Goodbyes
In just under two weeks we’ll celebrate our 1-year anniversary of our arrival in Medan. Hard to believe it’s been a year. Also hard to believe it’s only been a year! We’ve met a lot of people in this year, and continue to meet new folks regularly which is a joy and blessing. But there… Continue reading Goodbyes
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year from Indonesia! We celebrated Indonesian-style – by launching fireworks on the street outside our house. The din from fireworks going off all over the place throughout the city was impressive at midnight! We pray your New Year celebration is safe and happy!
Merry Christmas!
Moving to the other side of the world necessitates choices. What to take, what to leave behind? There was no shortage of advice from people on both sides of the world about what they found invaluable or what they realized they could do without. But at the end of the day we had to decide… Continue reading Merry Christmas!
Standing Out
We’ve been in country now for nearly 11 months. I’ve learned to ignore the stares (mostly) and turned heads from locals amazed at seeing a bule (Caucasian) way out here in Medan. We have routines of a sort, places we usually go, and after a while you stop thinking about it. This is partially necessary… Continue reading Standing Out
Happy 18th, Mika!
Hard to believe it, but our daughter turned 18 Saturday. Her birth was in Arizona, her first few birthdays were in St. Louis, fourteen of them were in California, last year she celebrated in Arizona again, and now in Indonesia. Instead of a birthday cake Gena made her a bunch of cinnamon rolls. I know… Continue reading Happy 18th, Mika!
Mika’s Birthday!
How can it be that our daughter is about to turn 18? It seems so improbable, such a long time in the making to be over in the blink of an eye. So Gena and I went out to get her birthday present. I thought the store was a short walk away from where we… Continue reading Mika’s Birthday!
Christmas in the Tropics
While I was gone the family was busy not just with visas but with preparations for Christmas. We were ecstatic to find out (back in September!) that Christmas decorations (including artificial Christmas trees) could be purchased in Medan. The kids were particularly excited to make the place feel a bit more festive for the Advent/Christmas… Continue reading Christmas in the Tropics
The Nelson Family Indonesia 