Celebrating Year One

On July 23, Jacob and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary! Hard to believe it has been a year - and I go back and forth between feeling like it went really fast and that it went slow because of all the stuff we did.


We decided to spend our anniversary checking off some of our Rochester Bucket List items by biking around the city, eating, sitting & talking, and enjoying the super hot day. And eating. I forgot to get a picture at the planetarium, so it really looks like all we did was eat and drink...

10am - Breakfast of fried spam and caramel rolls

11am - Jacob tries a cigar from a local cigar shop. I chewed gum :)

12pm - Lunch at Dac Hoa, a wonderful Vietnamese/Thai restaurant.

Helmet hair :)

1pm - Dessert at Cheesey Eddie's - Amaretto Cheesecake! Cute little place. Then we bummed around South Ave, checking out a guitar store, the Hedonist Artisan Chocolate & Ice Cream shop (we only sampled - weird right?) and a bike shop.

Bliss!

2pm - Coffee at Equal Grounds, an LGBT-friendly coffee shop, where we sat in sweet arm chairs and talked about Singapore.

Jacob seems apprehensive sitting so near this monkey - he and monkeys do not get along.

3:30pm - Ring of Fire at the Planetarium - awesome (old) movie about volcanoes and earthquakes shown in the planetarium. Absolutely perfect activity for a 95 degree day. Plus we got hum Johnny Cash and ooh and ahh over the beautiful lava fountains.

He's half the man I thought he was...

4:30pm - Half pints at the Half Pint - adorable bar. When you buy a pint, you can split it between two beers (or ciders, as the case may be.)

It comes in pints?!

5:30pm - Incredible sushi dinner at Plum House (we had a groupon, score!). Look how gorgeous that is - and it tasted even better. We nearly finished it all too (actually, we did finish it later in the evening).

Left to Right: Miami Roll, Yummy Yummy Roll, Dragon Roll, and RocCity Roll

7pm - We went back to our apartment, popped some champagne and watched the wedding video that my cousin Stuart put together for us. It was fun to see it all again - from the comfort of our futon and without any of the pressure. We particularly enjoyed reliving the Groomsmen Bands rendition of 'I'll Make Love to You' - we can never thank you guys enough!

9:30 - Back out to the Old Toad, a great British-style pub (you actually have to have an accent to work there) for trivia. We were a bit late, but we managed to find a spot when some complete strangers welcomed us onto their team. We did pretty terribly - however, I felt truly Rochesterian (and nerdy) when I was able to correctly give the population of Rochester (210,000). It was ok that we didn't win - we came in second at the trivia game we went to on Wednesday night!! (Appropriately, the trivia game is called Geeks Who Drink - yep)

So that was our anniversary - our only one in Rochester. But we've really enjoyed spending the past year or two here, and we'll definitely miss parts of it! (Just not the drivers, pedestrians, or anywhere northwest of Avenue D)


A final picture of us at Charlotte Beach on Lake Ontario -

Next Stop: Singapore!

Dearest family & friends,

Jacob and I are excited to announce some exciting news: we will be moving to Singapore within the next few months! Thanks to help from Garrett Klein and Mara Fink, fellow Oles who have been living there for the last year, we've both found jobs there. Jacob will be teaching private trumpet (and other brass) lessons at international schools through a music store called Partners in Brass. He's also hoping to play gigs around the city/region and perhaps with the Singapore Symphony. Meanwhile, I am (hopefully) in the final stages of securing a job as a Research Assistant at the Lien Centre for Palliative Care, which is affiliated with the Duke University-National University of Singapore Graduate Medical School. It sounds like the research will be a mix of clinical, social and cultural research. I'm pretty excited to be getting into a new field of research, and I think I'll be learning a lot!

This will be happening pretty quickly! Jacob has already received his employment pass from the Singapore government and, as schools start in early August, Jacob will be aiming to head to Singapore around the 15th or so. I am still waiting for the final documents to go through and then will need to get an employment pass, but am hoping that I can join Jacob in early September. That way, I can also work a few more weeks at my job in Rochester and spend a bit of time with my family in Barrington.

We expect that I will receive a 2-year contract, though we don't know what the future may hold for us after that. We're hoping to see as many of you as possible before we leave, and will keep you updated on where we expect to be over the next few weeks. Details to follow, but we plan to be in the Minneapolis areas around Aug 10-11 after spending time at Grace Lake, MN with the Dalagers and in Bayfield, WI with my Grandma. Jacob will be staying in MN from Aug 11 until whenever he leaves. I plan to return to Barrington around Aug 25/26 and will hopefully be there for a week or two.

This is a bittersweet announcement. We are so excited about this next step, but we are going to miss you all. From our time abroad before, we are aware of some of what we will be missing - nieces, nephews, and cousins growing up; celebrations of births, weddings, anniversaries and holidays; and the joy that comes from just spending time with our loved ones. We feel fortunate that communication - and travel - today makes it so much easier to stay connected, but we know that there will be times when our hearts long for home. We *hope* to have many visitors - you know, if you happen to be in the area! We appreciate all the support that so many of you have given us during this decision process, and ask for your continued support and care as we prepare for this major transition. We are so blessed by you all.

Lots of love,

Hannah & Jacob