Hike to Kampan

So, last saturday we did a 6am-to-6pm, all day hike (a death march in Christensen parlance).   The scenery was gorgeous.  We followed a dramatic trail up a mountain ridge to a mist covered mountain top complete with an independence era fortress built by recently free slaves in 1804.  At the top of the mountain we made the mistake of taking the advice of a local resident regarding a "faster trail home".  It ended up taking an extra 2 hours...  Fortunately, the shortcut did take us past a gorgeous 100 ft waterfall and down a stunning river valley.  Definitely worth the extra work.  

We're making ourselves at home here.

So far Haiti has been good to us. It's a beautiful country. Here are a few pictures so far.

We've gone to the beach every Saturday. This is part of the group. Me, AJ, and Laura are on the left and we're the three country directors. Ashley and Matt are next - they are on the U.S. Management team and were just here for the first two weeks to help us get things going. Styven and Junior are two of the Haitian employees working for us and Rachel and Caleb, on the right, are two of the volunteers in this first wave. We get new volunteers every six weeks or so. In the second picture, those guys in the boat were catching lobsters right by us. It grossed me out to think there were lobsters that close to the beach. I like to think creepy water animals live much farther out. One of the Haitians caught a shrimp-like creature and ate it alive.

AJ and the other boys sometimes play soccer with the little kids on our street. I'm standing on the balcony of our house looking out over the gate. We have a little courtyard between the gate and our house. We have two loud dogs and a security guard down there at all times.

Alot of our time so far has been sent traveling to different communities within Leogane to see who we can help and how to help them. We hiked to this mountain community the other day to see if we could start an agroforestry project there to help with the obvious deforestation. You can see the mountain sides have been terraced and we found out that this community mostly plants peanuts there! There were peanut shells all over the trail.

I just spent today in the hospital. They let us scrub-in and observe a surgery. I don't know if we'll be able to assist like we thought but observing is good enough for me. I'll post those pictures soon. We're loving it here but we miss air-conditioning, water pressure, and all of you.

Update

So, big news. We graduated from BYU and moved to Haiti.
If you want to make plans with us this summer, make them at sustain-haiti.org.

We'll post pictures soon!

Peace out, hardest semester ever.

Finals are finally over. This semester if finally over. Next time, remind us not to take all of our hardest classes in one semester. Thanks.

AJ and I made a list of projects to do over the break just in case we can't remember how to relax. We have frames to repaint, a disaster of a back room to reorganize, clothes to refashion,  business websites to build, books to read, and Christmas shopping to do. We finished Downton Abbey a while ago, or else that'd be at the top of the list.

Last night I dreamt about homework and for the first time didn't wake up to a pile of real homework on the nightstand. That's what I call a good start to a good break.

Just one of those things.

We've been busy. It's just one of those things. So here's a quick list of recent and not-so-recent happenings:

We took a trip to NYC.
Our summer in DC ended.
We moved back to Provo to finish our last year of school.
We lived with Grandma Baird for a week.
We graduate in April.
We do class, homework, meals, and Downton Abbey. In that order, unfortunately.
Our scooter is our only mode of transportation.
We went backpacking in the Uintahs. My first time.
We finally got a real bed after 2 months of sleeping on a foam pad.
I turned 23.
I sewed my first shirt from scratch.
AJ works two jobs and does school full-time.
AJ is the smartest in all of his classes.
I had the highest grade in my math class for almost a week.
We're developing grown-up tastes. Ramen noodles finally don't sound good anymore.
We want to start a business.
I want to get a Masters degree.

No part of me wants to shrink this next update into a one-liner so here it is:
I mention both offers because AJ is really smart and I want you to know it. I have no shame. Both Cornerstone Research and Bates White wanted AJ for a full time position after he graduates. Cornerstone -- Bates White. San Francisco -- DC. Two great companies, two awesome cities. Cornerstone did everything they could to get him to accept their offer. They flew him out, came out here, took us to dinner, offered huge benefits, everything. In the end we still felt like Bates White was where we needed to be so we declined Cornerstone's offer and accepted Bates White's. So next summer we'll be packing up our bags (and this time our apartment too) for the East Coast. For good! And for who-knows-how-long. And we couldn't be more excited.

So there's the update. We're super busy and super happy. We love going to school, love where we are, and love each other. Here are a few pictures to sum up the last few months.

I wish I were better at this. Thing is, we rarely have free time and when we do meals and Downton Abbey usually win out. Like I said, I wish I were better.

Welkers Come to DC and AJ Has a Birthday

If you think two makes a crowded studio, try five. Last week we hosted our first set of guests. My Mom, Grandma, and sister Kristin stayed with us for a few days before we all went up to Penn State to visit Adam, Liz, and Redder. It was a fun albeit tight squeeze.

For obvious reasons we didn't say anything but we found this guy crawling around our apartment the night before the crew arrived. I'm exaggerating only slightly when I say he was as big as the shoe that killed him.

It was so fun having my family here. AJ was the only man for several days but he took it like a champ and I love him for it. For some reason we don't have many pictures of this trip. We probably worried that the addition of three more cameras would make for picture overload but now I'm thinking we overcompensated. Here's what we have: Our tour of the Capitol (where Brigham Young's statue represents Utah), Thomas Jefferson's library at the Library of Congress, and another tour of the monuments. It was fun to feel like experts of DC and play tour guide.

On Wednesday we rented a car and drove to State College, PA., to stay with Adam and Liz. AJ came up on the bus Friday after work. We logged several hours of Olympics, ate lots of hot tamales, toured Hershey Park, the city of Lancaster - home of the Amish, hiked Mt. Nittany, and explored Penn State campus. The only pictures we took are from the hike, naturally. The view overlooked all of State College!

On our way back to DC we stopped in Gettysburg, PA. AJ is on a real Civil War kick right now and just finished Team of Rivals, and 800-something page book about Abraham Lincoln. This monument dedicates the location of the Gettysburg Address. AJ was so happy I thought he might cry.

 Here we are celebrating AJ's birthday for the second time. This is after my family left. We were in State College on his actual birthday and celebrated with some early morning shoe shopping, dinner at the local pizza joint, and dessert at Adam and Liz's. After my family left for the airport on Monday I took him to a charming little restaurant near our apartment, Local 16. I don't have a picture but you better believe one of his presents was a statue of Abraham Lincoln.

Happy Birthday to AJ and thanks to my family for making the week they were here such a fun one!