2014 was filled with weddings and wedding planning and somewhere in there I managed to finish my Master's degree. Check out some of our highlights over the last year below!
We kicked off 2014 celebrating Ashley and Adrian's wedding. Anelle was the maid of honer and cousins with the groom Adrian, so it made it a little more special.
Throughout our planning, I thought a lot about what our parents and grandparents have gone through establishing themselves. We could only imagine what it would be like to immigrate somewhere. Leaving everything you know for the chance of something better. Our plans are not anywhere near that level but similar in some aspects. My thoughts sounded something like this, "Our grandparents did it and they probably had way less resources and support. They did it under difficult circumstances and probably really had to grind at times. I know I've heard stories from my Mom about eating 'tacos de frijoles y queso' and we are over here having slices of apple and cheese with crackers and a glass of wine as we wind down...the struggle is real! Haha. And now look at what our grandparents accomplished and how it's translated over to their children and grandchildren. What we are doing is much simpler than all that so we should be able to land on our feet. And if we can't make it happen...then we simply come back home." And that's pretty much the mindset we've had.
Before we left, Anelle and I visited her grandparents and I had the opportunity to have a great conversation with her grandfather...well, it was more like him telling me about his move to the States and me listening. His stories were confirming. It was great to hear and it gave me confidence in us before leaving. He didn't spill any life secrets to happiness or anything like that. To be honest, his advice wasn't even something I didn't already know. The point is, he shared his story. He shared difficulties and how they came out of it..."take care of your wife, and she'll take care of you." It's that simple! I knew Anelle and I would have to lean on each other to make it work. It's simple and so far, he's 100% right.
So here we are, almost 3 months to the day living in Adelaide, Australia. Anelle has a job, I've been working a casual retail position while trying to land a University position (I've had 3 interviews but haven't been fortunate enough to land one), we have a tiny studio in the middle of the city with a great view, we've made a few friends, and we are taking care of each other trying to make a dream a reality.
Three months and what have we done you ask? We've stuck to exploring the small city of Adelaide, the beaches and the nearby bush land. I am excited that we've booked our first getaway later this month (I'll have a different post on this later). Take a look!
Stay tuned and please feel free to comment and share because we would love to hear from everyone :)