Road Trippin

by Eric

We're wrapping up week three of training. It's been crazy busy. (Hence the lack of blog posts and Facebook activity...) I'll chat more about training in the next post. First, some news about our trip to the West.

It's hard to believe that four weeks ago we were packing up the last things in the house and trying to get everything to fit in the car. Our goal was to get on the road around 8 on Friday morning, but even with an early start on the day, that just wasn't going to happen. We kept moving stuff to the car, the storage pile, or to the garbage can until the house was pretty well cleared out. We didn't get the floor vacuumed, the cupboards wiped down, or the fridge cleaned out. But thankfully we had forgiving landlords!

It was awesome that we were able to visit some of Karissa's siblings along the way to training! The first few days were spent in Denver with Marilyda, Steve, and Ryker.














We played at a place cleverly named 'Frog Park'.





There was a spinning pole thing. Karissa may have gone one too many revolutions...




She recovered well and was able to have several in depth conversations with Ryker. I believe in this picture they were discussing total depravity and the perseverance of the saints.


We left Denver on Monday morning and drove to Salt Lake City. Our hotel in SLC had a mini-water park, so we hung out there and even played a game of water basketball.

The next day's drive was from SLC to Reno, Nevada. The GPS gave us about four commands during the whole 8 hour trip. Leave the parking lot, turn on the interstate...next turn in 504 miles... Doh. Reno was fun. We didn't see any shows or do any gambling, but we did check out the downtown casinos and enjoyed an awesome buffet. That night we saw some fire dancers in the park. Cool. But definitely strange!

The next day we arrived in California. We visited Karissa's college roommate Rosie in San Jose and spent a night in the biggest suite I've ever seen!

From there it was on to Modesto to visit Derrick, Ruth, Noah, and the new arrival Gavin. Ruth was very gracious to let us crash at their place despite GIVING BIRTH just 4 days earlier! We did our best to be helpful, watching one of the kids when needed and helping Derrick pack things up for their upcoming move.







Noah and I bonded over a breakfast of Cheerios and fresh fruit. We also spent time playing with him in the pool, and playing with his cars and train.





Gavin spent most of his time being cuddly and adorable. (while also keeping up the newborn's full time job of sleeping, eating, and pooping).


And finally on Saturday we drove down from Modesto to Pasadena for the start of training. Google told us our trip had about 37 hours of drive time. The trip ended up being a great chance to hang out with some awesome people and to catch our breath before the sprint of training started.

Training Begins

by Karissa

I taught last night... and the night before. First night was an adult beginner class and last night was a kiddie class. The kiddie class was more like babysitting. The beginner class went really well and I enjoyed it, too. We find out each day at 3:45pm if we'll be teaching that night. Supper is at 5:30 and we leave for practicum at 6:15pm. Tonight we're not teaching and we could make a run to Rite-Aid for an ant trap, looseleaf paper and a binder. We're that busy that if we're teaching we don't have time to run to a store. It's good though. Definitely putting pressure on my introvertedness (I'm an outgoing introvert for those who are wondering.)

Training started on Saturday and we lived off-campus for the first three nights until our married housing on campus was available. We now have the internet in our room. Training is really busy with TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) classes in the morning and culture/adaptation classes in the beginning of the afternoon and then if we're teaching that night, lesson planning. If we're not teaching, we still go along to the practicum sights and observe our fellow teachers.

Eric and I are our own team, which you may already know. There is one other team in the same city. One of the girls is new and one is coming back for her second year. We've met and talked a lot with the first, Jenni. Every morning after breakfast we have Discovery Groups where we go through questions on different topics (conflict resolution, personality, expectations, spiritual growth, etc). We do this with our teams. Jenni's teammate isn't here yet since alums don't have to go to all of training. Jenni is great--she's really fun, laid back, loves to laugh. I like those qualities in a person. :)

The first few days here it was really hot--circa 100 degrees. It has cooled down 80s or so, which is nice since there is no central air in any of the places we spend time on campus.

We're drinking lots of water to stay hydrated and are enjoying the fresh pineapple served at pretty much every meal.

It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday

by Eric

Last week we said goodbye to our lives in Northwest Iowa. It was a CRAZY week, full of tasks and to-do lists and also full of emotion. The tasks and to-dos kept me from getting a good night sleep. I wasn't worried about getting stuff done. Rather, Karissa and I would be up late packing, going through stuff, etc. and we'd go to bed well after midnight. At some point between 5 and 6:30, I'd wake up. Normally when this happens, I roll over and go back to sleep. But when you're moving out within a few days, various things from your to-do list start to pop into mind. 'Don't forget to call this place and change your address'...'Call the health insurance guy back'...'You need to get more boxes'... There's no end. And a new one pops into your mind every few seconds. Of course because you've got sleepy logic, each question comes with a half second of panic. "Did I forget that?" "Is it too late to ___?" After a few minutes of that, sleepy logic goes away and actual logic lets you know that there's no possible way you're falling back to sleep. Time to get up and start another day of packing!

I'm happy to say that we got everything packed and it all fit into the spaces we had to store things in (our storage space and my childhood room out at my parents' place). Big props to the Sjaardas, the Kocks, and the Heathers for all their help packing and moving!

The big emotional moments of the week came with saying goodbye to my family. I didn't know exactly what to expect. I'd said goodbye before heading overseas several years ago. But at that time I was living in Texas and I only saw my family a few times a year. Also, back then I only had one niece who was a year and a half old. But for the last five years I've lived really close to my immediate and extended family. I lived in my grandparents' basement for my first few years back and I got to see them nearly every day. And now there are three nieces and a nephew, all with amazing, fun, distinct personalities I've been able to get to know. Saying goodbye to each of them was really tough. Lots of tears were shed.

When one chapter of life comes to an end and a new chapter begins, there's a wide range of feelings about each one. You're excited, eager, and maybe a little scared about the possibilities that lay in front of you. However, at the same time, you have mixed feelings about the chapter that is closing. You're ready to move on from some things. But there are other things from the closing chapter that you're going to miss. And as you move forward, you really have to mourn the loss of these things.

All that said, He's given me a good amount of peace about the whole situation. I fully believe that He has led us to Vietnam for the next year. And I know that the best place for us to be is in the center of His will. That doesn't make everything about the transition easy. But having that as a cornerstone makes it a whole lot easier to weather the changes.

The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD!

Today!

Today we leave Sioux Center. We're driving to Denver to spend the weekend with Marilyda, Steve and Ryker. Mostly I feel tired. We had a pretty late night last night packing up the rest of our stuff into boxes and packing stuff into suitcases. Fortunately, neither weight nor space seems to be at a premium in our suitcases.

We've had so much help with this move as it came to packing, getting paper work in order, support raising, etc. We are so thankful to be part of this (Sioux Center) community and all of our past communities. We are blessed.

I need to run and get ready for our trip today. We're excited to start this new phase of life!

Getting Real

by Eric

A few weeks ago I was wondering when the reality of our upcoming Vietnam adventure would set in. Now I know!

A few weeks ago the switch flipped. We’re leaving for training on July 9. Once the countdown clock went under one month, something shifted. I think it’s because we’re now hitting A LOT more ‘last times’. They would occur every so often in the last few months. But now there seems to be a ‘last time’ happening every other day! Last YATEC, last book club meeting, last time to play at Harp & Bowl, last time seeing some friends, last time hanging out with all my siblings, etc.

As you can imagine, stronger emotions bubble up as some of these ‘last times’ occur. I’ve shed a few tears as various things from this chapter of life have come to a close. Memories come rushing to mind. There are a few regrets, but mainly it’s a highlight reel of the last five years. Lots of good times with good people!

Our schedules have been crazy busy, so there hasn’t been a lot of time for introspection. I’m looking forward to the travel time between Sioux Center and California to have some time to reflect, ponder, and look forward. That's one of the many good things about major life changes. It's an ideal time for a little self reflection and goal setting.

More on this in a future post. Maybe. It'll depend on what my brain comes up with as the miles roll by!

Oh the Places You Will Go (Part 2)

by Eric

We’ve traveled a lot of places over the last year… And now we know where we’re going next year!

This past week, the home office of TeachOverseas went through all the personality profiles, questionnaires, and preference sheets from the Vietnam teachers. Based off all this info, they had to figure out who should be paired with whom and where they should serve. While we were each sure we knew one of our teammates, there were still a lot of questions. Will we be a two person team, or will we be teamed with 2-4 other teachers? Will we be in Northern, Central, or Southern Vietnam? Will we be in a large city (6+ million) or a ‘small’ city (500,000 – 1 million)? Or …

Wednesday, the email arrived that let us know where we'd be serving, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam! We'll be a two person team and we'll be at a new location for TeachOverseas. They have had one team in HCMC (I've already found that it's MUCH easier to abbreviate!) at an English center for several years. We'll still have a team at that school and Karissa and I will be working at a 'sister' location.

While there is still no shortage of questions to wonder about, now we can start checking out pictures of our new ‘home’ city and read all about in the Lonely Planet! Looks like there’s plenty to do! We’re not exactly sure what our apartment situation is going to be like, but we should have a spare room or a couch for guests to crash on. Or at least some floor space… Or the phone number of a local hotel… So give us a while to settle in and then come and visit us in our new city!

Oh the Places You Will Go (Part 1)

by Eric

May is over! It was a busy month for the Sjaarda’s! We were out of town together for three weekends, and Karissa was out for a fourth weekend visiting her younger sister. Each trip took us to a different state! Omaha, Nebraska for our anniversary; Dallas, Texas for work and a little bit of fun; Minneapolis, Minnesota for family and fund-raising; and Indianapolis, Indiana for family! The traveling schedule calms down a bit in June. So far we only have one confirmed weekend trip, though we may have another small getaway, depending on how the packing and other preparations are going.

We got a new camera just before the trip to MSP. So far, we're VERY happy with it! This is probably my favorite pic of a weekend full of testing out the camera on some adorable models (aka nieces).

We leave for training in 5 weeks. The reality of our departure is sinking in more and more each day. Normally when you visit family and friends, you know that you’ll probably see them again in a few days, or weeks, or at the most months. The dynamic of saying ‘See you later’ changes a bit when you know you’re saying goodbye for a year! So far, the goodbyes haven’t been too teary. I’m not exactly sure why… Is it because the implications of a year apart haven’t sunk in yet? Is it because the people we’ve been saying goodbye to are people we don’t see in our everyday lives? Is it because as you age, you realize years go by pretty quickly and next summer will be here before we know it? Or are the emotions just storing up for a time when the reality fully sinks in? Time will tell I guess.

May was a really good month. We got a lot done! Fund-raising went into full force and we were blessed with prayer and financial support from a lot of wonderful people! There’s still a ways to go, but we feel good about the start we’ve had.

We also took some big steps in the physical preparations. Old boxes are being gone through, non-essential things are being packed up and moved to storage, and our garage sale pile continues to grow! While packing and moving is certainly a large task, it’s really nice to take the time to go through things and figure out what you don’t need. Our trash can is pretty full by pickup time every week!

Of course, there’s still PLENTY to do and I have a feeling June will be just as crazy busy as May was. Stuff to pack, books to read, people to contact, funds to raise, language to learn, …

Better get crackin!