Hey everyone! This will be our last post in the U.S. for a while. We leave for Taiwan on Thursday morning. I still can't believe we are leaving in 3 days because it doesn't seem real, but I am still excited.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little nervous. Taiwan will be easy, I speak the language and I've been there before both as a missionary and as a civilian. I am nervous about Bali and Thailand but I keep telling myself not to worry because many Europeans seem to survive there.
Megan and I have spent the last few days driving up here to Anacortes, Washington. We stopped at friends' houses in Boise and Portland. I love all the friends I have. While in Portland I met with a fellow KPMG'er who graduated from BYU. He's way funny and really helped me feel comfortable with joining KPMG (along with the partner who used to live in Taiwan). He has a downstairs suite that he rents out once in a while. We are so lucky that it's empty now and we'll be living with him during the 2 months of the internship! I was worried that we'd have to find a month-to-month apartment somewhere and live on a blow-up mattress. This way is much cheaper now and we'll live in a nice neighborhood with a great view.
The only downside? He lives in a city that no one in Portland has ever heard of. It's called "Happy Valley, Oregon." Really. Megan and all of her friends have never heard of it, so I just tell people "Clackamas" and they know where I am talking about. It's a few blocks away from the mall where I bought Megan's engagement ring (and saved a ton of money on Oregon's lack of a sales tax!!!).
Well, I guess everyone have fun here in America and we'll talk to you when we get back June 4th!
Monday, April 26, 2010
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Being Nice
I have been around a lot of places in the world. There are two places where I was shocked at the friendliness of strangers--Portland, Oregon and Canada. As a newly married person, I planned two days and two nights in downtown Portland as part of our honeymoon. Megan and I spent a lot of time walking around and seeing my new wife's hometown. We would be talking to each other and a a random person walking near us would hear our conversation and comment on it. Crazy! So many people came up and talked to us, asked us questions, etc. I've learned this is normal in Portland.
Canadians are always known for being nice almost to a fault. Americans love making fun of Canadians and I feel bad because Canadians are so dang nice that it seems unfair. Plus, Canadians haven't done anything bad to us (other than Sidney Crosby scoring in OT!!!). We get tons of oil from them and I hear their retirees are propping up the Phoenix real estate market, too. Dang exchange rate, but you can't blame them for it.
Megan and I had just landed at Toronto's airport late at night. We were a little nervous being in a new place (and a foreign country). Things were a lot different than we expected. We boarded the bus for our hotel and sat next to some locals who were quick to talk to us. They pointed out Tim Hortons, a Canadian coffee shop. They said, "You know Tim Hortons, he played in the NHL." Megan and I looked at each other confused and laughed to ourselves, I guess they don't realize that while most NHL teams are in the US most Americans don't care or know much about hockey. Regardless, Megan and I love Tim Hortons and think back to that day in July when we found out about it whenever we eat their chicken salad sandwiches.
The point of this post is that being around nice people is always cause for being happy. Often, I walk around and try to help people and smile and all that but often I get ignored or frowny faces or "Why are you talking to me?" looks. Wow people, lighten up. Shouldn't Mormons be a part of this extremely nice group? I think that many of us play the role we are assigned at church. We only talk to people affected by our calling, only talk to our home teachees/visit teachees, etc. Don't dare step out of that circle! Someone is having a hard time? Well, I haven't be assigned to help, so I don't want people to think I'm taking charge without Priesthood authority, etc. Guess what? It doesn't take a calling or the Priesthood to be nice or helpful. It takes a few words or a smile or a visit.
So when I see you (meaning anyone in the whole wide world) approaching me on the sidewalk, you better smile and look at me in the eyes! When I see you in the laundry room, smile!
Does this make sense?
Canadians are always known for being nice almost to a fault. Americans love making fun of Canadians and I feel bad because Canadians are so dang nice that it seems unfair. Plus, Canadians haven't done anything bad to us (other than Sidney Crosby scoring in OT!!!). We get tons of oil from them and I hear their retirees are propping up the Phoenix real estate market, too. Dang exchange rate, but you can't blame them for it.
Megan and I had just landed at Toronto's airport late at night. We were a little nervous being in a new place (and a foreign country). Things were a lot different than we expected. We boarded the bus for our hotel and sat next to some locals who were quick to talk to us. They pointed out Tim Hortons, a Canadian coffee shop. They said, "You know Tim Hortons, he played in the NHL." Megan and I looked at each other confused and laughed to ourselves, I guess they don't realize that while most NHL teams are in the US most Americans don't care or know much about hockey. Regardless, Megan and I love Tim Hortons and think back to that day in July when we found out about it whenever we eat their chicken salad sandwiches.
The point of this post is that being around nice people is always cause for being happy. Often, I walk around and try to help people and smile and all that but often I get ignored or frowny faces or "Why are you talking to me?" looks. Wow people, lighten up. Shouldn't Mormons be a part of this extremely nice group? I think that many of us play the role we are assigned at church. We only talk to people affected by our calling, only talk to our home teachees/visit teachees, etc. Don't dare step out of that circle! Someone is having a hard time? Well, I haven't be assigned to help, so I don't want people to think I'm taking charge without Priesthood authority, etc. Guess what? It doesn't take a calling or the Priesthood to be nice or helpful. It takes a few words or a smile or a visit.
So when I see you (meaning anyone in the whole wide world) approaching me on the sidewalk, you better smile and look at me in the eyes! When I see you in the laundry room, smile!
Does this make sense?
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Almost there!
How can it be that finals will be over in 2 weeks? Crazy. I'm so happy to finish and relax for a while and spend a bunch of time with Megan.
3 weeks until we'll be somewhere over Alaska heading toward Taiwan!
KPMG let me know that my internship training starts on June 21. 4 days in either New York or Chicago. I'm pretty sure my dad and Megan will go around either city while I am in class during the day and then we can enjoy a $4 haircut in New York or good pizza in Chicago at night!
Our lives are great! We had 2 different couples stay in our apartment over the last two days. One couple slept on our blow up mattress and the other on our bed. Megan and I? On the living room floor with blankets. Wow, that hurt, but it was good to see a former mission companion (Tayler Tibbitts) and Megan's friends from back in the day. See? When we say you can stay over we aren't lying!
We still don't know where we will live in Portland. We will find something. I am really excited to live in a new and cool city. Unfortunately, if you have two dogs, are married, can only stay for 7 weeks, and don't smoke weed (or tolerate it), cheap housing is hard to find in Portland. Gotta love Portland!
There was a point to this whole post, but I forgot it! Hope you enjoyed it!
3 weeks until we'll be somewhere over Alaska heading toward Taiwan!
KPMG let me know that my internship training starts on June 21. 4 days in either New York or Chicago. I'm pretty sure my dad and Megan will go around either city while I am in class during the day and then we can enjoy a $4 haircut in New York or good pizza in Chicago at night!
Our lives are great! We had 2 different couples stay in our apartment over the last two days. One couple slept on our blow up mattress and the other on our bed. Megan and I? On the living room floor with blankets. Wow, that hurt, but it was good to see a former mission companion (Tayler Tibbitts) and Megan's friends from back in the day. See? When we say you can stay over we aren't lying!
We still don't know where we will live in Portland. We will find something. I am really excited to live in a new and cool city. Unfortunately, if you have two dogs, are married, can only stay for 7 weeks, and don't smoke weed (or tolerate it), cheap housing is hard to find in Portland. Gotta love Portland!
There was a point to this whole post, but I forgot it! Hope you enjoyed it!
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