Cruisin' With The Kinzers

Turning Taiwanese: January to June 2011

2011-09-04T06:34:00.000-07:00

Our return to Taiwan brought us back again to the frantic pace of life we had become accustomed to during the past several months, but had forgotten about while enjoying the slower pace of life over the Christmas holiday. We were immediately thrown back into our roles and teachers, coaches, and colleagues - not to mention still newly arrived foreigners living in a still somewhat mind-boggling atmosphere. As we began to catch our stride we realized how much we had needed our short interlude over Christmas; the rest we got over the last two weeks of 2010 would have to sustain us over the first two months of 2011. Basketball, traveling, conferences, a soccer tournament, a Master's class, a Kinzer family visit would all have to fit on top of our already busy 'regular' schedule of things to do.

KAS basketball teams in Beijing - outside the Forbidden City

January can be summed up by "Basketball". Dan's Varsity team had to focus it's preparation for their big tournaments at the end of the month - first in Beijing, and then in Seoul. They had Saturday tournaments the first two weekends after Christmas break (one of which was Erin's birthday, and a visit from one of Erin's former Swedish teammates - Lotta, and her boyfriend, Fredrik), and then they were off to Beijing. The teams played very well in Beijing, and enjoyed making new friends with student-athletes from other schools in China even if they didn't quite like the freezing cold temperatures. We also got to experience the Beijing subway and made our way down to Tiananmen Square to explain, experience, and contemplate the past, present, and future importance of the place. We only had a couple of hours but we took a quick photo with Mao and then made our way into the Forbidden City to marvel at the grandeur of the ancient Chinese empires.

It felt as though we had just found our way back out of the Forbidden City when we set off to South Korea with another pair of basketball teams. With only one day back in Taiwan between trips it felt as though we were just visitors to our own home and classrooms. Nevertheless, we were excited to experience Seoul and compete in another tournament. We were also happy to find out that, unlike Shanghai and Beijing, the student-athletes would get to participate in a homestay with players from Korea International School - the host of the tournament. This adds another dimension to the experience for the players, and it was fun to listen to them describe the food they ate, the personalities they encountered, and the different culture they were able to observe from the inside. A couple of logistical hitches at the last minute kept a few players from traveling, and as the plane approached Incheon International Airport outside of Seoul we were amazed to see a sea of white - Korea was covered in snow! All we could do was shrug our shoulders and laugh - just another 'added dimension'. The boys and girls faced tough competition on the courts in Korea, but fought hard and earned the respect of their friends and fellow competitors, and the Sportsmanship Award. We try to remind ourselves, and our players, that playing your best and giving all that you have, is the only thing you can do. We were proud of our players for living this out over our weekend in Seoul. As always, the team travel experience has such a positive impact on the players (and the coaches) and it's a real joy to be able to watch (and experience) their growth first-hand. Coaching, more than teaching, demands a greater commitment to the relationship between leader and follower. Even though most people argue that academics are 'more important' than athletics I sometimes think the reverse is true - success in life depends upon pursuing common goals with an intensity and trust that is very difficult to achieve in the context of a classroom, but comes much more naturally within the dynamics of a team. As a teacher it can be a struggle to get to know all of our students. We often have more than 100 of them, and get very little focused time with each one. As a coach, we have the privilege of a lot of focused time with each player and by the end of a season we really get to know each other well. Perhaps this is just cause to reconsider the way we teach young people (we would argue it is), but if not, it at least provides a good reason to value the lessons taking place on the courts and the playing fields - these are the lessons that will often matter most.

Vulcan Mayon - Philippines

February brought in another New Year Chinese New Year, and our time off school gave us the chance to travel to the island of Palawan in the southwest Philippines. It's a beautiful and wild place, and we spent most of our time in Bacuit Bay, just off shore of the town of El Nido, exploring the hundreds of islands and wiling the day away sea kayaking and scuba diving. The place we stayed, El Nido Resort, was posh and a bit extravagant but we decided that for a short stay and a much needed vacation we didn't want to spend our time, as we often do while traveling, trying to figure out logistics. So everything was taken care of for us - in fact, Dan was even able to Skype with his good friend and photographer, JB, in order to work out the details of an upcoming class session and project with his Humanities students. It's amazing to think that we can now see the person we're talking with when they're in New York City and we are on some remote beach a short flight and long boat ride away from any significant civilization. Needless to say, we fell in love with Palawan, and the Philippines: from the intrigue and natural beauty of Bacuit Bay, to the world's longest navigable underground river, to the friendliness of strangers - this incredible nation made of up thousands of islands captivated our spirits of adventure and love of nature. We knew we would be back. We didn't quite realize that we would read about the quiet little village of Donsol on our way back home, and decide to make our way back to the Philippines later in the same month for a 3 day weekend filled with chasing whale sharks, scuba diving, admiring volcanoes, and playing a little street ball with the village kids. In between we moved from coaching basketball to soccer, and enjoyed the festive Kaohsiung Lantern Festival that kicks off every Chinese New Year. Fireworks over Love River, good street food, and rabbit-themed lanterns everywhere - Happy Year of the Rabbit!

Dan (and Erin, the photographer) scuba-diving in the Philippines

Like January and February, March would also prove to be a busy month - filled with lots of work and play. In the middle of the month, during Tim's spring break from USC, the California Kinzers made a trip to Taiwan. During their first weekend Dan took them down to Jialeshuei to catch a few waves and admire the beautiful southeastern coast scenery, and get a whiff of chou dofu, or stinky tofu, at the Kenting Night Market. Erin tried the stuff back when she was in Taiwan for the Deaflympics, but Dan still hasn't tried it, and couldn't even get his family to believe that smell was coming from something you are supposed to eat. Erin was in Shanghai for the first part of the weekend for a meeting of Athletic Directors from all over China, but arrived back in Kaohsiung on Sunday so we could share a meal with the family before sending them off. Dad made it back to Taipei the following weekend, after a few work days in Korea, and we went up to meet him to hang out in Taiwan's biggest and most well known city. We spent the days wandering the streets and visiting the major memorials and museums, as well as the zoo. In Dan's five years in Pensacola, Florida his family only came to visit one time - for the wedding. In our two years in Curacao they made one trip to celebrate Christmas and New Years. In just our first year in Taiwan, the whole family has already come once, and we've gotten to spend time with Papa Kinzer four different times. Maybe we just needed to move to the other side of the world to get more frequent visitors. After the Kinzers left we had some work to tidy up before leaving for Spring Break, which would be filled with work and play in both Malaysia and Bali, Indonesia. First, we were off to Kota Kinabalu again for an East Asian Regional Council of Overseas Schools (or EARCOS) Teacher's Conference. It was a fantastic professional experience as Dan was inspired by, and connected with, some incredible educators - some well known, and some soon-to-be well known. His favorites from the Conference were Carl Hobart, of Axis of Hope and Boston University (www.axisofhope.org); Geoff Green, of Students on Ice (www.studentsonice.org); and Michael Thompson, co-author of Raising Cain and an expert on the educational challenges and potential of boys. Like Dr. Zhao, from the Conference during the first semester, these three educators are changing the face and heart of education and Dan was thrilled to begin developing a working relationship with all three. Besides being a wonderful professional experience it doesn't hurt that the conference is hosted in one of Malaysian Borneo's most luxurious hotels, and we both enjoyed the fantastic scenery and interesting culture of Kota Kinabalu before heading off to Bali.

The Year of the Rabbit - Kaohsiung Lantern Festival

Bali was a dream come true. Despite having too many people living on too small of an island, the culture and energy of the place make it a true tropical paradise. We spent our first few days relaxing, surfing, and wandering around the Bukit Peninsula, a region of Bali renowned for it's epic surf spots (Uluwatu, Padang Padang), it's beautiful temples, the laid back vibe, and where the beach scene in Eat, Pray, Love was filmed. We both caught some great waves and enjoyed the quality time together. After a few days of surfing and relaxing we made our way by boat towards the island of Lombok. Like most of Indonesia, but unlike Bali - which has retained it's largely Hindu identity, the people of Lombok are predominantly Muslim. Other than the Maldives we haven't spent much time inside the Muslim culture, and while we look forward to traveling to Northern Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia in the future, we were excited to get a glimpse at Indonesia's muslim identity. It didn't actually work out too well: we had chosen to spend our time on the small island of Gili Trawangan, or Gili T as it's affectionately known, to do some diving and experience the culture. The culture was more of an ex-pat diving community filled with mostly European tourists and a few guys from Lombok who had discovered an opportunity to make decent money selling weed to these tourists. We politely declined on the marijuana and made our way down the single dirt road to the small dive shop and hostel where we had booked a room for our two nights there. Despite not being surrounded by the culture and community we sort of expected the few days we spent on the island were wonderful: fantastic diving and even a decent right-hander peeling off the reef on the southern point. After a few more waves, and some world-class diving, we made our way back across the straits to Bali and on to Ubud - the cultural heart of Bali. We had two days left to enjoy traditional Balinese dance and craftsmanship, and just enough time to squeeze in a little bit of work and adventure as well. We made our way to visit Bali Green School (www.baligreenschool.org), an inspiring initiative to build a school that not only teaches, but models, sustainability and an environmental conscience, as the main piece of its curriculum. The school is growing and flourishing, and after speaking with the founder, John Hardy, as well as some of the students and employees at the school, we were convinced that the school will ultimately push the Bali and global communities towards a better way to educate young people. We also got to bicycle through some charming villages and serene rice fields, enjoy some close encounters with the Asian elephants at Bali Elephant Park, and paddle hard down one of Bali's few rivers open for white-water rafting. It wasn't even one day out of Bali that we were already itching to go back.

A day of mountain-biking, white-water rafting, and riding elephants in Bali

Actually, it was only one day out of Bali and Dan did have to go back … well, sort of - to Indonesia anyway. The Global Issues Network students that Dan advises at KAS were attending their regional Conference at Jakarta International School. The Conference lasted four days and while the students shared their thoughts and action plans for solving some of the world's most daunting challenges, Dan was able to network with other educators from around Asia with a similar vision for education. All of us were inspired by the keynote speakers, and the students' and teachers' energy in working together to make our world 'suck less' - as one of the less eloquent young minds phrased it. While Dan was being inspired in Jakarta, Erin was back in Kaohsiung busily dealing with the final preparations for the soccer tournament that KAS was hosting. Ten teams from all over China were making their way to Kaohsiung for a weekend tournament in mid-April. This was KAS' and Erin's first experience hosting a major tournament, but with the help of the KAS community - teachers, students, and parents - Erin pulled off an incredible event. The kids were healthy and competed hard under the already hot sun of southern Taiwan. While it was a relief to have the tournament come to a close she also felt a great sense of well-deserved accomplishment.

Fire Dance in Bali

The rest of April seemed to be the beginning of the end of the school year. We began to prepare for final exams and work with our students on their final projects. Dan celebrated his birthday with his good friend, and new college James, as well as Papa Kinz - who made one more trip to Taiwan to bring in the Big Day with Dan by climbing one of Taiwan's tallest mountains. It was no easy climb, but it was exactly the kind of birthday celebration that Dan hopes for. Once April was over it really was "down hill." Middle School basketball and high school soccer and volleyball tournaments kept us busy, but having fun, during the first two weekends, and after that both of us were working hard to meet all of the requirements of the end of the year and prepare for our summer travels, work, and study. Of course, we also had our end of the year party for school and several invitations for lunch/dinner before many of us parted ways for at least the summer (sometimes indefinitely). We got all of our work and preparations in order and managed to sneak away for a weekend to celebrate our 3rd Anniversary. Courtesy of Typhoon Songda, our Anniversary getaway happened to coincide with 15-20 foot swell on the east coast of Taiwan. The swell began to dwindle as the weekend faded away, but Dan was still racing down the faces of a near-perfect overhead left-hander well into Sunday afternoon. In only the most wonderful way, it is hard to believe that it has only been three short years. We have grown so much together while we worked, played, and explored alongside each other. There have been so many people, and so many places, in our first three years of marriage that have helped to shape and define who we are, and pushed us to discover what we want our life together to be about. From our old friends, to our family, to our students and student-athletes, to the numerous colleagues we've had the privilege of working with over the past several years, to the travel companions and gracious hosts that we've met on each of our adventures - these people, and the places in which we've shared our company, are helping us become who we are, and want to be: adventure, compassion, generosity, humility, love, insight, innovation, exploration. What will today add to our lives, and how about tomorrow?

A romantic dinner in the Gili Islands off the coast of Bali

As could be predicted, our last week in Taiwan was a bit frantic. Dinner dates, and lots of hours up at school - packing up classrooms and organizing for next year; Dan had a meeting with a group of young and energetic students from around Kaohsiung who are helping to coordinate the first ever TEDxKaohsiung, of which Dan is the main organizer. This is an exciting opportunity that Dan hopes will help him dive deeper into the Kaohsiung community, and build a bridge between the large number of expats and local Taiwanese living in Kaohsiung. Other new partnerships and potential projects in Taiwan have us both excited to return in August, despite being overwhelmed at the enormity of our voyages between now and then. "Between now and then" - finding that balance between cherishing the present moment, and anticipating the future possibilities - is perhaps what this summer will be about. There is so much to be happy for now today, and there will be so much to be happy for tomorrow. We hope you've enjoyed the stories from some of our yesterdays, and that you too will discover the joy of your present moments and future possibilities. For now, our possibilities reside at the beginning of our summer voyage - here we come Beijing.

The Temple of Heaven - Beijing

Turning Taiwanese: July to December 2010

2011-09-04T05:39:00.000-07:00

What better time and place than to sit back and contemplate the last year of life than together, amongst new Russian friends, somewhere near the border of Europe and Asia riding the rails along the famed Trans-Siberian bound for Moscow (and then on to St. Petersburg, Stockholm, Brussels, Lisbon, Madrid, and Ireland)? A ride in the plastkart, or 3rd class train car, for three days across the beautiful and boundless Russian landscape has a way of putting life into perspective and pulling on the thoughts and insights that have buried themselves in the hectic pace of our personal and professional pursuits - or maybe it is just making us crazy. I find myself wondering if it had a similar effect on the countless Russians exiled to this part of the world during harsher times. The two of us certainly long to venture out from the tracks, and escape the train for a few days at each brief stop along the way, but we know this time of reading, reflection, and introspection is what we really need (and we don't have the time this go around).

Boarding the train in Mongolia

So here it goes: while our bodies journey across the plains of Russia and over the Urals into Europe (for Dan's first visit to the continent and Erin's first time back in over 10 years) and we're tempted to ponder the rich, varied, and sometimes brutal culture and history of this part of the world we will instead go back to a different time and place - nearly one year ago as we began making our lives in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Perhaps the context of our travels will uncover some hidden insights, and if we're lucky, reveal more to us about the world and our place in it than we have even anticipated.

An unusually clear day on the Great Wall of China

SIDENOTE: Before going any further: if you're one of those who prefers pictures to words, we have included many new photo albums from our lives in Taiwan and various trips around Asia on the right side of the blog, and we have frequently updated Facebook with pictures as well. A good photograph is often worth far more than a thousand words, so please feel free to skip the rambling below and enjoy a more visual story-telling. If you can tolerate it, continue on, and hopefully you'll discover something of yourself in the stories of our lives and adventures of the past year. We've included some of our favorite and most vivid photos in this post, but it only scratches the surface of what we have seen through our camera lens, not to mention through our own eyes. Please share your own stories and questions as you like - we love to hear of others' escapades as much as we enjoy our own.

Our new home - Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Exploring Kaohsiung and discovering Ilha Formosa, as Taiwan was called by early Portuguese traders, has been an incredible blessing for the both of us. When we arrived to our new home at the end of July last year we knew we were in for a completely fresh and foreign experience, but we had no idea how challenging and inspiring living on the other side of the planet would be. Both personally and professionally, life in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and East Asia has forced us to reconsider our views and values and broadened our scope of possibilities. Nearly every day feels like a tremendous learning experience - a session in ethnography, language, balance, culture, city planning, nature, spirituality, negotiation, history, politics, globalization, partnership, psychology … the list goes on. As always, it is an incredible journey that the two of us get to take together, and we're glad to be able to share it.

A popular park near our apartment building

Our initiation to life in Kaohsiung was a bit frantic. We arrived late in the evening with many of the other new teachers (a few of which shared our flight across the Pacific) and were taken to our apartments. Over the next couple of weeks our primary focus was adjusting to the demands of a new job at a new school, getting to know our colleagues, and acquainting ourselves with the city we now called home. It was intensely hot, but the blue skies of August we were told would give way to gray, polluted skies for most of the school year - so we should enjoy it while it lasted. Kaohsiung American School, or KAS, has a short twenty year history where it has grown from a small kindergarten class in the basement of the county hospital to a school of over 400 students in kindergarten through grade 12. The last few years have seen a significant amount of growth in terms of size and reputation of the school. Its current location is an older facility that we are beginning to renovate to meet the needs of our growing school community, and it sits in an intriguing, historical section of Kaohsiung that constantly makes us laugh, stare, and wonder. Very nearby we can walk around Lotus Lake where you can wander up and down the famous Dragon and Tiger pagodas, visit the Confucius temple, or give wired wake-boarding a try. No matter where you are in the city you've got to keep an eye out as thousands of scooters zip in and out of traffic and onto the sidewalks. Tea shops and food stalls line the streets, and we quickly honed in on our favorite offerings - pu tao you lu cha and guo tie or grapefruit green tea and fried dumplings. Kaohsiung also has many parks and a couple of beautiful natural landscapes. The main one is Monkey Mountain where we could retreat from the hectic pace of city life and escape into a forest filled with wild macaque monkeys. Kaohsiung is also Taiwan's largest port, and one of the biggest and most important in East Asia. Taiwan is well known as a manufacturing hub, especially for electronics - hence, the "Made in Taiwan" that appears on so many cell phones, computers, etc. - and the various products made here are sent out to the rest of the world via the enormous quantity of container ships that move through Kaohsiung on a daily basis. We quickly found that the best views of the harbor comes from either the viewing deck of Kaohsiung 85 - the tallest skyscraper in the city; second tallest in Taiwan after Taipei 101 (formerly the tallest in the world), and once one of the tallest in the world itself; from the short ferry boat ride across to Cijin Island - a stronghold of the local, fisherman culture that has existed in this part of Taiwan for a long time; or from the Lighthouse atop the hill at the entrance to the harbor. The city is bisected by the Love River, which is lined on both sides with a bicycle path and wonderful walking parks that we hope to take more advantage of next year as we will certainly fall deeper in love with our new home - from the school (both the place and the people), our apartment, the city, and our beautiful island. We're thrilled to dive more fully into life here - exploring and involving ourselves even more in the community and it's fascinating history and potential - and continuing to build our 'home' together.

The Dragon and Tiger Pagodas at Lotus Pond - a few blocks from our school

As time moved on, and we began to know our new home and neighbors more intimately, we inevitably came across the things we would/could do without. Most are minor annoyances, and as we've written about before, actually become some of the reasons we have for loving the place and the people that are now part of our idea of home. We can look at the pollution, the 'crazy' scooter drivers, the noisy streets, the stray dogs - we can stare back with a smile at the locals - and we can love Kaohsiung even more. We're trying to become thankful for it's imperfections, and our own - discovering new possibilities and opportunities in all of them. As time moved on we began to settle in, find our routines (going to our gym, bowling with colleagues, our favorite restaurants and food stalls, Chinese lessons on Thursday afternoons) and also found ourselves with more opportunities to explore beyond the boundaries of KAS and Kaohsiung, and venture out to other parts of our 'beautiful island' and East Asia where we found even more beauty, adventure, and a break from the routines we had so recently created for ourselves.

Kung Fu Dan and Jacky Chan at Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong

One of the first breaks in our routine, and an opportunity to venture outside of Kaohsiung, was a surf trip to the south east corner of Taiwan. Of course, Dan had done his research and made sure there were waves in Taiwan before agreeing to move there, but the first trip to the small beach town of Jialeshuei exceeded all expectations. To top it off, he found out that great surf he found there was pretty common, and that further north he could find even better surf. August of course, is right at the peak of typhoon season and Dan had several opportunities to surf the breaks on both the east and west coasts of southern Taiwan. Incredible beaches and good, consistent surf weren't the only attractions calling us from beyond Taiwan. A short drive outside of the city are some of the most beautiful mountain landscapes in the world, and we made our first exploratory visit when Papa Kinzer came for a short weekend visit in the middle of an Asian business trip. We discovered that the same typhoons that bring so much joy to Dan, and other surfers, often ravage the interior of the island and the small indigenous populations that live there. We scrambled over a washed out bridge and enjoyed a hike up a mountain stream, but left unsatisfied - with a longing to return and go deeper into the mountains of Taiwan. We did make it back to the beaches and fell in love with the rugged east coast, where Dan not only found the great surf he was promised (especially in his latest typhoon surfing adventure at the end of May), but a thriving surf community made up of expats and locals alike. We also made our way to, and through, Taroko Gorge, an incredible marbled canyon running from the east coast and up to the central mountain spine - it would have been nice to enjoy the scenery a bit more but time was short and we were really there to join a few of our colleagues in running the half-marathon. Erin, as always, performed very well while Dan was happy eating his gummy bears and bringing up the rear. We spent Thanksgiving thankful to be in the company of wonderful new friends in the high mountains of central Taiwan, and amazed at the number of meaningful relationships we had already developed since arriving in July. Dan also found a way to get more involved in the Taiwanese community - through one of his favorite mediums, TED (www.ted.com); TEDxTaipei is a young and flourishing organization that hosts multiple events each year, and Dan was able to get a few of his students into the TEDxYouthTaipei event to be inspired. Beyond the details of our lives in Taiwan we think there are many lessons - some new and original, others timeless and worth repeating. The creativity and spontaneity of adventure and the significance of the concept of 'home' … the importance of a balance between a routine, and breaking the routine … the incredible beauty that is revealed unexpectedly when you step off the beaten path. Life in Taiwan is rich - rich in culture, natural beauty, international flavor, adventure, and an ancient spirit - and rich in lessons about ourselves and our place in the world.

Sunset over Malaysia Borneo

Even in the midst of discovering Taiwan, and appreciating the lessons of our new lives there, our love of travel, and growing responsibilities at work, took us off the island three times between our arrival in July and our departure for the United States over the Christmas holiday in December. Travel has lessons of it's own, and the context of being in some place new, as a guest, and for a short amount of time gives a different perspective than the one we were acquiring as residents of Taiwan. And yet, while travel connects us physically to different parts of the world it also connects us conceptually. We cannot help but compare our destinations to home, and seek out the patterns and elements that unite and distinguish different places and people. Two of our trips were work related. First, in mid-October, Dan travelled to Shanghai, China with the boys volleyball team for their tournament and visited the Bund and the World Expo during it's final week there. The boys and girls teams came back to Taiwan with 3rd place finishes after competing very hard and having legitimate chances at the championship, but far more importantly they were able to learn important lessons that only team sports and travel can teach. It's always a joy to watch teams bond and work out problems with increasing mutual respect, and become more 'grown up' as they're forced to take more responsibility for themselves. It's also a pleasure to take students on their first somewhat independent adventure through a foreign city - working our way through the subway system, finding our way through the city streets, marveling at the differences and the similarities between the new sights and the ones they are so familiar with back home. Coaching and traveling with the teams is one of our favorite aspects of our new jobs in Taiwan - familiar to us in so many ways, but opening our minds in so many others. Second, at the end of October, we both travelled to Malaysian Borneo and the city of Kota Kinabalu. Erin was there for an Athletic Director's Conference and Dan just wanted to tag along, but they found themselves with some time to get away and squeeze some play into Erin's work schedule. Their were two major highlights of the trip, which was fantastic even if it was far too short: the first was the day spent in eastern Borneo visiting the Orangutan and Probiscus Monkey sanctuaries and the second was listening to and getting to know Dr. Yong Zhao (zhaolearning.com), a University of Oregon professor and dean of education who resonates with our own philosophies and ideas surrounding the future of learning and schools. Our other trip was pure enjoyment: early October had brought Papa Kinzer back to Asia, and this time to Hong Kong - so we hopped a short one hour flight across the Taiwan Strait and joined dad for a weekend outing in Asia's answer to Sydney, San Francisco, New York, and London all rolled into one. Wandering around by foot, taxi, ferry, and train pondering the urban density of this unique international city forced us to consider the future and ask ourselves, "Is this the future you've chosen for yourselves?" As a growing percentage of the world's growing population moves to major cities around the planet, and especially in East Asia, we have to wonder if this is the best design for human communities. We are both biased towards beautiful natural landscapes and uncrowded, open spaces - but even we can't escape the powerful pull and intense energy of the world's most sophisticated and dynamic cities. In spite of these questions running through our heads, ultimately the weekend was about another opportunity to enjoy some time with Papa Kinzer. It is such an incredible miracle of the times that we can not only move to the literal 'other side of the world' but enjoy the company of family and friends; whether walking through remote river canyons or the city streets of Hong Kong or Taipei - sharing waves in southern Taiwan or beers in SoHo, Hong Kong - we cherish time with family and friends anywhere in the world.

Monkey sanctuary in Malaysia

Time with family in friends anywhere in the world is great, but nothing is the same as a trip back to our childhood homes. El Segundo for Dan, Pensacola for Erin - these places, and the people that live there, saw us grow up … no, they were the places and people that grew us up … before we ventured out to discover what more we had inside and what else the world had to offer. It is wonderful to meet family in Hong Kong for the weekend, or have friends from around the world visit us in Taiwan, but it is as wonderful to be able to return back to our childhood homes to celebrate family, and with family, during the Holiday season. We left Taiwan at the end of our first exciting and exhausting semester to spend two weeks in both Los Angeles and Pensacola. It had just started to cool down a little bit in Kaohsiung, and those gray skies we were promised when we arrived had made more frequent appearances (but not nearly as frequent as they had made us think they would). We were ready for a chance to step away from our lives in Taiwan, and back into the comfort and ease of life back in the U.S. for a couple of weeks. We flew to Los Angeles for a few days and enjoyed time with family and friends. Dan's grandmother, with whom he was very close, passed away while we were in Taiwan and it was a blessing to reunite with that side of the family to celebrate her life and one another. From Los Angeles we moved on to Pensacola, and brought Dad, Mom, and Tim Kinzer along for a Christmas in Florida. Pensacola could have given us a warmer welcome but it stayed quite cold the week that we were there. Regardless of the weather it was fun showing the California family some good ole' Southern Hospitality and having both of our families together to celebrate. Day trips to Destin and through South Alabama, bowling, Pensacola sight-seeing, and a get together for wings and beer at Kooter Brown's kept us busy when we weren't enjoying Momma Hirsh's delicious Christmas dinner, wine and good cigars with friends on Papa Hirsh's back patio, or unwrapping presents together. It was Christmas just as it should be - sharing time together with the ones we love the most.

A November trip with friends to Green Island off the coast of Taiwan

As 2010 came to a close, and the California Kinzers made their way back home, the two of us jumped in our rental car and made our way north to Atlanta, Georgia to celebrate the New Year with our wonderful friends, Jennifer and Scott/Mandy and Seth and their beautiful families. It was a relaxing couple of days spent playing with the kids and catching up. We were also lucky enough to get some time with another Atlanta friend, one of Erin's close friends from college days, Elizabeth. To top off an already perfect couple of days of cherished time with friends, Mandy and Seth had gotten us 2 extra tickets with them and Mandy's parents to the Chik-Fil-A Bowl in the Georgia Dome, where we watched as cows fell from the ceiling and Mandy's alma mater, Florida State, defeated the University of South Carolina. It was an exciting game and a wonderful evening - and a perfect way to finish off an unbelievably blessed 2010 and ring in an incredibly promising 2011. It once again reminded us of how outrageously lucky we are to spend so much of our time visiting dozens of new countries and exotic destinations while making friends across the globe - truly exploring the world and the inspiring beauty and diversity it has on offer; and yet still be able to return to our roots - the friends and family we've always had, and the people and places who know us best.

The beautiful beach where Erin grew up - Pensacola, FL

Listening to the Lessons from a Summer in South Africa (and a few other places)

2010-09-01T02:57:00.000-07:00

With the swarming vuvuzelas still ringing in our ears, it is time to sit down and reflect on our summer experience. Taiwan is fast approaching (we'll land in our new home in one week - now, we're already here (because it has taken me over a month to finish this post) and memories of Curacao are already being overtaken by the excitement of South Africa and the anticipation of the coming culture shock (yes, it has been shocking). The questions are the same at the end of every summer: how have we grown; how have we changed; what fresh new perspective can we take with us into the coming school year; when is Dan going to shave that beard? (The answer to the last question is 'when you least expect it.')

Along the right hand side of the blog you'll find our series of slideshows from all of our travels since getting married two and a half years ago. The slideshow from South Africa is at the top of that series. We hope you enjoy those photographs and can begin to unravel our visual experience for yourselves. You can also check in with us on Facebook for even more pictures, or on YouTube for a few videos; and I'll be sure to include a few of our favorites here in this post. This post, however, will be about the lessons we learned and the teachers who taught them to us. Our adventures this summer were some of the most exciting and dramatic of our lives. Through sharing our most memorable experiences we hope to shed some light on what we feel are the most valuable insights we'll be taking with us into our new lives in Taiwan and beyond. As one of our inspirations, Gandhi, said, "My life is my message" and we hope by sharing our lives we are also able to share our message.

Lesson #1: Saying "Good-bye" OR Leaving a Place Better Than You Found It OR Being in Love

Curacao will forever hold a special place in our hearts. When we arrived on the incredibly small Dutch island two years ago we didn't know what to expect. I had hardly heard of the place before we accepted the positions to work there. In the midst of wedding preparations, Nicaraguan adventures, our bachelorette/bachelor weekends, Final Exams, the Wedding Weekend, Tim's Harvard-Westlake School graduation, and our incredible honeymoon voyage to Singapore and the Maldives, we had little time to develop any actual expectations - let alone some actual knowledge of the place we would soon call home. In fact, it was the first place we could honestly call home as a married couple, and until our recent arrival in Kaohsiung, the only place.

Life in the Dutch Antilles may sound idyllic, and truth be told, in many ways it is pretty ideal. Beautiful beaches, palm trees swaying in the constant tropical breeze, an eclectic blend of cultures and ethnicities from all corners of the globe, and turquoise blue water teeming with an abundance of sea life. We spent our last weeks there enjoying sunset cruises, happy hour cocktails, and some spectacular diving; but that wasn't our whole life there. We lived in the frantic traffic and sometimes suffocating pollution. We dealt with long lines and customer service in dire need of a training session. We paid exorbitant prices to escape the tiny rock and venture out into the pulsating surrounds. We taught, and learned from, people young and old who sometimes weren't much interested in learning or teaching - only existing on some fairytale tropical island we couldn't seem to discover. In our two years in Curacao we truly made it home. We understood the discomfort of 'island fever' and we came to feel passionately about 'our' new island abode. Many people talk about how much they 'love' a place, or something, or someone; and often we see that they 'love' the idea that place, or thing, or person represents. Perhaps, they even feel an intense connection to the wonderful things that it offers; but I have a sense that a more meaningful version of love entails looking at a place, or a thing, or a person and reflecting on all of the faults, the ugliness, the bad habits, the chaos, the problems and still allowing that connection to grow. Maybe love is not naive - maybe love is knowing everything, good and bad, and then loving even more than you did before you knew.

While we were living in Curacao we sometimes got caught up in trying to 'fix' it. We sent emails, stayed up late, showed up early, started committees, recycled, conserved water and electricity, signed petitions, attended meetings: all in an attempt to make Curacao better. We did these things out of a kind of love that wants to change. In all honesty, it may have left us a little disappointed. You see, we believe we did change the island, but not in any of the ways we set out to. It doesn't need to be changed after all; it needed to change us; and we needed to learn to love it for what it was, and probably always will be. Erin has always said to her students and athletes, "Be sure to leave a place better than you found it," and while I'm not sure we managed to leave Curacao a better place than we found it I can definitely say we left Curacao better people than we were when we found it. There's a small chance that was the intention all along (and if it wasn't ... well, maybe it should have been): just be sure to grow a little bit better every time you show up someplace. Take a piece of it with you. So even if we didn't leave a big mark on Curacao, rest assured it left its mark on us, and we're just fine with that because it means we never have to really say "Good-bye".

Lesson #2: How to Cook Triggerfish OR Stand-up and Paddle OR American Soccer Fans OR Family Matters

Summer-time family vacation ... it's a Kinzer family ritual. This year, the entire crew got together in the Outer Banks of North Carolina for a week of good 'ole fashioned, southern-fried, sunburnt, beach livin'. Seeing the family and running around my old beach haunts of Vandy Surf Club days was the perfect relaxing start to our summer of adventure. Erin and I learned to stand-up paddle surf with my dad, went fishing for bluefish with the New York contingent, and watched the last remaining World Cup group stage games alongside the entire Kinzer clan as most of them pretended to care, if only for a brief moment for Erin's sake, about the great game of soccer. As I observed my family over the course of our few days in North Carolina I realized how truly magnificent the notion of family really is. Erin, of course, is a natural Kinzer woman and always fits in perfectly when it comes time to put the Kinzer men in their place or make sure that everything is in proper order. It just reveals how even those with the mighty challenge of being married into the Kinzer family bring not only their unique and 'outside' experiences to the family table, but also manage to find such a comfortable and permanent seat. You would be hard-pressed to find more diversity in imagination, demeanor, religious or political views, and character across all the nations of the world than you would find at the dinner table of our guest house on the Outer Banks. Yet, that is not what is remarkable. It's the unconditional, if not sometimes difficult to muster, love that we offer one another at that table. As different as we all are, we all know that family matters. It's incredible to me that in the midst of such diversity we can be so willing to stay connected; perhaps it can be explained through evolution and genetics, but perhaps we've evolved past those simple explanations. Or maybe, and this is most likely to be the case, I am blessed with a family that has moved beyond minor differences to see the beauty of unconditional love. Here's to wishing the same for everyone else.

Lesson #3: Shifting Gears Left-Handed on the Right Side of the Car on the Wrong Side of the Road OR Playing African Instruments Made in China

I went to South Africa with only two major concerns. While others were concerned about robbery or other forms of crime, the logistics of accommodation and transportation, and dangerous wildlife I was predominantly consumed with worries about ... the vuvuzela and driving on the wrong side of the road.

First, the vuvuzela: a loud, but not especially alluring instrument with its roots in tribal southern Africa. I could understand its role as a sounding horn to call the tribal community together, but in a soccer stadium? Even before arriving in South Africa I was wary. Will these things leave us with a constant headache? Will we suffer permanent hearing loss?

As it turns out, you are more likely to get a headache from wanting to play your single-note vuvuzela than from listening to your neighbors, and as far as hearing loss ... who needs their hearing anyhow? The World Cup variety proved a great deal of fun as long as you were willing to join the party, which was no problem for us. To make the vuvuzela situation even more compelling was the fact that the World Cup variety had to be manufactured in Chinese factories thousands of miles away and made with plastic that I'm sure will turn up as toxic. Add this to the fact that the World Cup theme song, Waka-Waka, is performed by none other than the great African ... I mean Colombian vocalist, Shakira, and the only beer available for purchase in all World Cup stadiums was that fine African ... I mean American ale, Budweiser (not even Bud Light?!) If there was anything I should have been concerned about it was the corporate takeover of World Cup by FIFA endorsed contractors that left South Africa with far less than what they deserved for doing such an amazing job of hosting this epic event.

Second, driving on the WRONG side of the road: it's just wrong. I know that all formerly British colonies can be expected to behave in similarly ridiculous ways as the British, but you would have thought they would have rectified at least this one Victorian brain fart with independence. I only had one other experience on the wrong side - 4 years ago in Australia and New Zealand, and while I enjoyed exploring both of those countries I struggled to accept the silliness of sitting in the passenger seat while driving. So after making the decision to explore South Africa via rental car I began the long and arduous task of shifting all of the left brain to the right side and vice-versa in hopes that this would somehow help.

Again, as it turns out, our rental car was not the automatic transmission I had reserved, but a manual transmission 4-wheel drive. Did I mention I don't really drive stick-shifts? I mean, I know the rules - clutch in, shift gears, clutch out, and come off easy out of first - I just have nearly zero practice. And wait ... I'll be shifting with my left hand while driving on the wrong side of the road and sitting in the passenger seat. Accident waiting to happen? Definitely. But the first two weeks were safe with Erin at the wheel. After a few brush-up lessons from my very patient (and extremely brave) wife I took the wheel, and the stick, and ... absolutely loved it. Driving had never required so much of my attention, and there had never been so many interesting things to pay attention to. Surrounded by beautiful South African scenery and blessed with what were surely newly-paved roads I found myself falling into a 'flow' - a sense of harmony - the feeling that I was needed as one part of a working system. Conventional driving (that is ... driving from the driver's seat rather than the passenger seat) comes easily and happens with a frightening lack of attention and sense of purpose. In fact (or close to fact anyway), in the United States they have to pass laws to keep people from trying to talk on their cell phones, design their new living room, and build model airplanes while driving on the freeway. Driving in South Africa couldn't have been more stimulating and purpose driven. At the end of it all, I can't wait to tell future generations about learning to drive a stick shift with my left hand while driving from the passenger seat on the wrong side of the road. I love it when my biggest concerns turn into sources of great joy and insight.

Lesson #4: Penguins Are Funny OR Baboons Are Dangerous OR Jet-Lag Sucks

Penguins look cute and cuddly. They are, although they stink. Baboons also look somewhat cute and cuddly (see our photos). They are NOT, and they also stink. Immediately upon our arrival at the Baboon Road Block on the Cape we were screamed at by the Baboon Monitor (no joke, real job title - said so on the back of his vest), "Lock your doors! DO NOT get out of the vehicle." We immediately scanned the area for the nearby lions, leopards, or South African rock pythons but couldn't see a thing. It can't be that bad, right? The baboons looked cute and I wanted to get a better angle for a photo. So I did what any ignorant Western tourist would do - I jumped out of the car and started approaching the family of baboons. Almost immediately the big male began his charge and showed me what I had to look forward to if I didn't beat him back to our vehicle and quickly lock the doors - his five inch fangs. So now I would make a pretty good Baboon Monitor because I too have seen the angry side of a baboon.

Penguins and baboons were our primary wildlife experience while in the Western Cape and Cape Town. For most people visiting this part of the world for the first time it would stand out as remarkable, but to me, it was simply not enough. I came with grander plans. The stretch of ocean where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet at the southern tip of Africa is home to what many people believe is the largest population of Great White Sharks in the world. I have had a long-standing fascination and appreciation for sharks, and especially the king of the sharks, the Great White. When we decided to travel to South Africa for World Cup one of the "Must Do's" was getting in the water (preferably knowingly, but without being in a cage) with these awesome creatures. It sounds crazy to many, and some would guess I would be defeated in my attempts: by common sense, by bad weather, by a wife with a quick left hook; but it wasn't any of these things that stopped me. It was jet lag. Jet lag sucks. To make it worse, it wasn't even my jet lag. I have discovered that while experiencing jet lag (I rarely suffer from it) must be really lousy, it is actually far worse to be the good friend and travel companion to someone with jet lag. So, with half the crew of four not really being up for our daily activities until sometime approaching noon, getting into the water with the Whitey's just wasn't going to happen. Well, at least not this summer. I'll be back. Tell my big buddies in Shark Alley.

Lesson #5: It's Finally Good to Be Dutch OR How to Scare the Lions OR Finding the Best View in Jeffrey's Bay

The Netherlands defeated Brazil in what was one of the most exciting matches of the tournament. We were there. That is awesome!

At Sea View Lion Park you can enjoy the experience of playing with lion cubs ... big lion cubs. It's unforgettable and will forever connect us to the wild side of Africa (watch the YouTube video).

Jeffrey's Bay will be our home one day. I already feel as though it is. We stayed 8 nights on the sand dune overlooking the world renowned Supertubes ... the surf was pumping ... for 3 days we watched the world's best surfers compete at one of the world's best breaks. Yes, I'm addicted, and I'll never quit. Even Erin fell in love all over again, and she never even got in the water.

Lesson #6: Shopping for Semi-Final Tickets OR Leap of Faith OR Suspended OR How to Find a Room in Idutywa

On the certificate I received for leaping (harnessed) from the edge of a 400 foot waterfall into the famed Oribi Gorge and experiencing the bliss of flight through the incredible canyon:

"Come to the edge," he said. "We are afraid," they said.
"Come to the edge," he said. "We are afraid," they said.
"Come to the edge," he said.
They came.
He pushed them.
And they flew.

Whether hoping to come across a steal on some World Cup Semifinal (Spain vs. Germany) tickets outside the Durban stadium only minutes before kickoff, contemplating your leap from the edge of a 400 foot waterfall overlooking the magnificent Oribi Gorge, dangling over a deep canyon at the center of a decades old suspension bridge, or looking for a place to rest your tired eyes in a seemingly run-down South African township, this profound little passage packs a lot of insight. Take a few minutes to let it sink in and imagine yourself face to face with the edge. Will you come to the edge? Will you ever fly?

Lesson #7: The Difference Between a Whale and a Whale Shark OR Is That a Hippo on the Beach OR How to Spot the Big Five

Surprisingly, whale sharks are the size of whales but have none of the fearful characteristics of sharks. They are beautiful beyond description. Swimming alongside a gentle giant for several minutes in Sodwana Bay was definitely one of the highlights of our trip, and in fact, our lives.

The coastline along the northeastern stretch of South Africa is awe-inspiring in so many ways. Making your way to the beach you're likely to encounter a family of hippos or a Nile crocodile sunning itself. A drive up the coast to check the surf will take through the Greater Saint Lucia Wetlands Park where you have to keep your eyes peeled for Cape Buffalo, Rhino, Eland, and many other members of the African wildlife family.

We saw so much of this family, in fact, that we can nearly claim having spotted all five of the famous Big Five: Elephants, Rhinos, Cape Buffalo, Lions, and Leopards. While we missed out on seeing the elusive leopard in the wild we were able to see the other Big Four plus some - giraffes, zebras, wildebeest, and warthog were everywhere as we drove through several of South Africa's finest game reserves.

Lesson #8: What to Do With 5 Hours in New York City OR A Happy Homecoming OR A Thank You Note for BP

Returning home after epic adventures is always a bit depressing, and this time would be no different. With an oil spill still looming over the Gulf and a general depression sinking in along the Gulf Coast I wasn't prepared to deal with the post-adventure sinking feeling while surrounded by gloom. Fortunately, on our long voyage back to Pensacola and then on to Los Angeles before setting off for Taiwan, we were able to spend an afternoon with friends and family in Manhattan. We landed early in the morning at JFK, had to gather our luggage and hop the bus to La Guardia, check in our bags with United, and get picked up with our wonderful friend Marla - who was back in New York on a visit from Curacao to visit her family. It was off to Manhattan for a few hours to have some lunch with Aunt Jeanne and Cousin Julie, and then to venture through Downtown to grab some organic smoothies with our friends Alison and Zolton. To wrap up our time in "The City" we scrambled over to Chelsea to check in on my other little brother from another mother, Timo, who is now moving out of the ranks of up-and-coming and into the realm of established fashion designer. It was a packed few hours, but the perfect little layover break on our way back home.

When we arrived in Pensacola that night and were picked up by Mom Hirsh I have to admit it actually felt good to be 'home'. It's a long journey from the southern tip of Africa to New York and back down to the Panhandle. Our few days there turned out to be a lot more uplifting and enjoyable than I would have guessed - while the people of the Gulf Coast may have been down about the spill they always manage to be a friendly people, and it had been way too long since we had gotten to spend quality time with friends and family in Pensacola. It's always a Happy Homecoming when you get to return to so many wonderful and inspiring people, and it never fails to amaze us how lucky we really are. The same can be said, of course, of the Southern California crew - who we visited for a few days before embarking on the final leg of our summer bonanza.

Lesson #9: Turning Taiwanese OR Making It Home

I have always thought of 'Home' as an illusion that others succumb to simply because they never manage to muster up the courage, resources, or will power to hit the road and explore. It certainly didn't feel like it existed for me: my life for the last many years (perhaps in some ways my entire life) has been spent in transit, and my mind always thinks forward to the next 'destination'. That doesn't mean I don't leave a piece of myself in the places I've lived, and that they haven't left an indelible mark on my life - I have, and they have, as most recently shown in Curacao; but it does mean that I've never been able to call a place 'Home' in the way most people mean it when they say it. Something about this summer, our past two years of married life together in Curacao, and this new move to Taiwan has made me think that perhaps I've misunderstood the notion all along. It's not the place - it's never been the place ... it's clearly the people and the attitudes we carry with us. I believe that technology is going to continue to change the concept of 'Home' and I believe it will happen in a way that I can embrace. My friends and family in combination with myself - my 'Home' - has managed to follow me and Erin around the world and land itself alongside us here in Taiwan. I can't express what a gift that is - to be so completely and utterly new in a place I have no comprehension of, and to feel, so remarkably, right at home.

Mixing Business with Pleasure in South Florida

2010-05-04T16:57:00.000-07:00

Alright, the trip was almost entirely pleasure. It was so fun actually it is probably not fair or honest to call it any part business; however, since we did have to stop by the Taiwanese Consulate in Miami twice and left Miami on Monday with Taiwan Resident Visas placed in our passports it can be called a business trip. So Thursday and Monday were partly filled with official business, and Friday through Sunday with official fun and adventure.

A few beers and good food in South Beach with my long-time friend Joey

Friday was airboat rides and wildlife viewing in the Everglades, Saturday was skydiving over Key West and subsequently enjoying the people watching once safely back on the ground, and Sunday was fishing for trout, snook, and tarpon off the dock in Key Largo and a trip through the Everglades to see the American Crocodile.

Welcome to the Alligator Farm! Yee-Haw!

Skydiving ... what an incredible raw experience: it's like a dream and a nightmare come true at the same time; but no doubt about it - I can't think of a better place in the world to fall from a plane!

Ready to go again?! or So Happy to be back on the ground at the Southern-Most Point in the U.S.A.?

I can't believe Erin didn't have the camera ready for the HUGE one I caught right before this one!

Smile :)

It was an added benefit to spend great quality time with two great friends of mine: one from high school, Joe, and the other from Vanderbilt, Jack. It was also our last real get-away from Curacao before making our final get-away this June. I think this past weekend marks the beginning of the final chapter of our lives here in Curacao, but no matter the remaining details this has been another story we'll never forget.

Pushing Limits, Taking Risks, and Thoughts on the Meaning of Failure

2010-04-11T15:46:00.000-07:00

Knee deep in a gurgling, swampy, road-side mud pit I began to laugh. Our guide, Otto, had insisted that I wear the rubber boots. They didn't come close to fitting properly (it took 3 grown men and 10 minutes just to get them off) and I had wanted to be barefoot, but without boots I wouldn't be allowed to enter the swamp. Now I was glad. Thirty seconds into our endeavor, with my wife and our other traveling companions watching from the safety of the road, and in the middle of a warning from Otto to be sure to poke around well with my stick before taking a step, a 5 foot caiman (South American alligator) snapped at us as he lunged from his resting place below the dense growths of water hyacinth. Ahh, rubber boots ... good idea. Ten minutes more of poking our way through the water, mud, and vegetation (and two or three more encounters with grumpy gators) and our driver, Barbarito, had found what we were looking for. With beautiful reddish-orange streaks down the side of her enormous head, various shades of green and brown organized in perfect camouflage along her back, and a gorgeous, vibrant yellow underbelly, the 15 foot female anaconda was a testament to nature's ability to plant both inspiration and awe into our hearts. At first we could only feel her, and watch as the mud and water plants began to give way as she woke from her slumber beneath the surface. As the giant snake began moving beneath the water and plants in my direction Otto and I ran around to the tail and pulled the enormous snake out of the mud and into full view for our audience. It was a spectacular moment as I felt the power and life twisting and tugging inside the body of this incredible animal. I'll never forget it.

To be honest, I won't forget much about our most recent trip to Venezuela. It was truly remarkable.

Four days in the mountain state of Merida with four friends from the International School of Curacao did not disappoint. The beautiful scenery and delicious food (specifically referring to the gallons of 'fresas con crema' that we devoured) provided the perfect surroundings for our day of adventure canyoning and paragliding. To be lifted off a narrow mountain crest and into the air by means of a giant kite is thrilling - adrenaline courses through your body and its almost euphoric - but as you settle into your seat and a sense of security you imagine what it might be like to be a bird. The freedom and beauty of those brief moments in the sky (flying for 30 minutes seemed to go by in an instant) are impossible to adequately describe, but will also remain with me forever and leave me leaping for another chance to take flight. Everyone in our group participated ... even those with aversions to heights and a significant amount of anxiety to overcome, and for all it was a tremendous success. I decided if Erin and I ever establish a school that paragliding (and the equally fun and exhilarating canyoning - you should see the 'Psycho Jump' we had to do on that trip) will be a mandatory part of the teacher and student orientation and training. I know not everyone is an adrenaline-junkie, but the lessons in risk-taking are a necessary step to achieving continual progress and growth.

From the mountains of Merida we traveled southeast into the flat plains region of Venezuela known as Los Llanos (that's spanish for 'The Llanos'). We enjoyed our last night with three of our friends from the International School and then ventured deeper south into Apure state to visit El Cedral, a gigantic cattle ranch (or hato) that has also become a prime spot for birders and wildlife viewers from around the world (excluding the United States given current political differences between the two countries). It was here where the story I first recounted about the anaconda took place, but the adventure was not limited to that one animal encounter. We saw pink fresh-water dolphins, went fishing for piranas, were chased by 14 foot Orinoco crocodiles, snuck up on giant anteaters, watched a large anaconda catch and swallow a duck, and sat back in amazement at the seemingly infinite number of birds and other wildlife co-habitating on the fields with the 19,000 head of cattle managed by the ranch.

It was truly an adventure of a lifetime, the kind that Erin and I have been lucky enough to have several times since we first started traveling together over 3 years ago. If we had listened to our friends and family we might never have made the trip - Venezuela is on a 'no go' list for many people, not just Americans. Caracas, it's capitol, is considered one of the most dangerous cities in the world, and perhaps rightly so. Our friends from that city were shocked to hear we wanted to travel to their country and many warned about the various dangers of going there - ranging from petty theft to kidnapping to murder. So we avoided Caracas and couldn't have found the parts of the country we did visit to be any more inviting. We are so glad we took the risk - we have left Venezuela more inspired as travelers, explorers, global citizens, teachers, friends, and partners.

Although we haven't posted about Colombia since putting our pictures on the blog upon our return in February, we have much the same notion about Colombia as well. Known in recent history as the home of the likes of Pablo Escobar and FARC as well as the world's #1 cocaine producer and exporter many people came to view Colombia as a 'no go' country. In recent years, under the leadership of President Uribe and the crackdown on the drug trade and guerilla groups it has rebounded and the country is a vibrant and intoxicating place for travelers. Our trip there in February found us enjoying the cosmopolitan and colonial blends of Bogota and then heading for some colonial relaxation and backcountry adventure in the mountains north of the capitol. The photographs we took tell a story of a Colombia filled with incredible history, vibrant cities, adventure, and brilliant colonial towns hidden around every bend of the Colombian Andes. From El Museo de Botero, the funicular up Monseratte, sunsets and horseback riding in Villa de Leyva, eating big-assed ants in Chicamocha Canyon, whitewater rafting outside of San Gil, to the Bodies Exhibition back in Bogota before returning to Curacao, we are so glad we went back to this amazing country - as with Venezuela, Colombia too has made us into better people than we were before we went there. It would be dishonest and naive to say that either of these countries are anything close to ideal, or that their recent histories and political situations don't lead to sometimes unstable environments, but my warning is not against their minor (or possibly even major) failures, but rather against not embracing them. There is so much to learn from the stories of these two countries, as there are from each and every country, community, or tribe on the planet. Failure is an integral part of who we are and the growth we experience, as individuals and as a community. It is also fundamental to a life of risk-taking, but these are also a fundamental part of a life of great reward and fulfillment.

As I reflect back on our last few months I am amazed at the amount of growth we have experienced. In every dimension of our lives we have added new and exciting perspectives to our lives. Right before we left on our Venezuelan adventure I came across an interesting short post from Daniel Pink, one of our favorite authors and a genuinely kind and thoughtful guy. It was about failure vs. mediocrity and I enjoyed the discussions I had with my students on their fear of failure, our definition of that word in the school setting, and how they felt about mediocrity. We all agreed we knew how we were 'supposed' to feel: that failure was ok, something to learn from, and that mediocrity was the real evil - but our lives, our actions, didn't play out that knowledge nearly enough. Failure is 'bad' and at best it is something to gloss over or ignore, even pretend it didn't happen. I think that's dangerous, and entirely off-target. Whether it is traveling to unknown or 'dangerous' places, wrestling with anacondas or antagonizing crocodiles, running half-marathons or competing in triathalons, or any other risk, challenge, or boundary you are presented with in your life take it as an opportunity. I sometimes joke that "I'm not livin' unless I'm almost dyin'" and I mean it - I crave the growth, rewards, and success that come with overcoming limits, but I also cherish those times I try and fail. I have tried to climb mountains, failed, and loved every minute of it. My basketball team lost by 1 point in the Curacao School Championships but I'm so proud to have had the privilege of being their coach. Failures are a gift - a chance to see things in a new way and a chance to try again with more creativity, desire, and focus. Of course I hope to live a long and happy life (notice the ALMOST in my aforementioned joke) but I am not willing to settle, or compromise, for anything less than the best.

In recent months I have spoken with a lot of friends, students, and colleagues about failures in our lives - whether they're unhappy at work, or in a broken relationship, struggling to find motivation at school, or whatever the case might be, and I'm convinced that those moments of failure will pass and play an integral role in bringing about the fulfillment and success they're looking for. An incredible life rarely falls in your lap - you have to keep trying to find it. That means taking risks (sometimes crazy ones) and pushing limits. It means becoming a better person, through failures and triumphs, each and every day. It means living an inspired life. I am so thankful that Erin and I get to live inspired each day, and hope the same for you.

Enjoy the photos of the trip ... In a while, Crocodile

Know Your H2O by Surfrider Foundation

2010-03-22T04:35:00.000-07:00

In honor of World Water Day Surfrider Foundation has created this video to remind us of the importance of our clean water supply - not just for the vitality of our oceans and beaches where we love to surf, but for the health needs of the entire planet. Check it out.

The Cycle of Insanity: The Real Story of Water from Surfrider Foundation on Vimeo.

Dan's Diabetes Goes Wireless?

2010-03-10T08:13:00.000-08:00

Check out this TED talk on the implications of wireless technology for medical treatment. I'm excited to think about how my ability to manage my diabetes will improve in the coming years as Erin and I continue to travel the world.

Check out the current wireless monitoring devices already in use to help manage diabetes. It's great to think that if our children ever face a life with diabetes it will be with tools that give them even more freedom and possibilities for adventure than I have had.

TED Favorites: Life Explained

2010-02-02T05:21:00.001-08:00

Check out these cool TED videos!

Drive ... by Dan Pink

2010-01-30T16:21:00.000-08:00

Two questions that can change your life from Daniel Pink on Vimeo.

Read Dan Pink's Drive to learn the secrets behind motivation in work, at home, wherever you happen to be. Then check out his talk at TED.

The Journey Continues

2010-01-27T15:17:00.000-08:00

As could be expected, the last several months haven't failed to deliver Erin and I on many adventures. Since Erin's return from Taiwan after winning the Gold with the U.S. Ladies we have found ourselves exploring the rainforest along the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica and visiting schools along the Rio Sarapaqui; smiling, dancing, and laughing at our cousin John and his beautiful bride, Sam's, wedding in Northern Virginia; scuba diving (often late into the night) along the splendid reefs of Bonaire for Thanksgiving; and galavanting around the island with our dear friend Elizabeth from Atlanta before heading off to Southern California and Santa Fe, New Mexico to spend the Holidays with family and friends in the surf and the snow. In fact, just since we've returned from our Stateside adventure a few weeks ago we've celebrated Erin's birthday (we're not allowed to say which one) and finished a reverse triathalon to help fight cancer.

Life for the two of us seems so good, it strikes us as unfair. As the journey for us continues, and our dreams manifest themselves as our lives, our hearts wrench for those who are suffering because of the earthquake in Haiti. My friend, and NASA 'SpaceCamp for Teachers' roommate, Jeff, lost his wife and 1 year old daughter in a tragic encounter with an elephant in Kenya - and my mother shared the story from the LA Times, unknowing of our relationship, as I enjoyed the inspiring and comforting company of those closest to me. We live our dreams each day, each week, each month, each year - and we promise to keep living them as long as we can - because we know our time is precious. We hope you know that too. We share our stories because sharing our lives, our dreams, is what we enjoy the most.

As we look forward, the journey only gets more exciting. A half-marathon and our first official triathalon will be in Aruba, and here on Curacao, in March. We are hoping to visit Haiti soon to help care for and teach the young children under the protection of Child Hope International. We find out next week which 2010 World Cup tickets we received in the lottery, and will soon buy our plane tickets for this upcoming summer. Last week we accepted, in great anticipation and enthusiasm, job offers to live and teach in the city of Kaohsiung, Taiwan. It will be hard to say good-bye to the island where we started our married life together, but we could not be more thrilled at the opportunities presented by our move to Taiwan. All we can do is be thankful and full of joy for all that we have had, all that we have, and all that we hope to have in our future. While we strive to make ourselves better, and lift up those around us, we understand how little we can control - and that's ok by us. We're ready for more adventure.

See ya' later Alligator

Finding Gold in Taiwan

2009-09-30T17:27:00.000-07:00

I have sat down several times in the last two weeks and tried to jot down my thoughts about my experiences in Taiwan. I cannot seem to find the words to express the relationships I formed, the knowledge I acquired, and the emotions and patriotism of winning a gold medal. I’m hoping that with the images below and my feeble attempt to paint pictures with words, you will get a glimpse of what I’m trying to express.

On August 26, I met Team USA at the Westin Hotel in Los Angeles. The U.S. had over 300 athletes representing 13 different sports and everyone was packed into the ballroom trying on their new gear, anticipating the journey to Taipei and waiting patiently for dinner to be served. We were all booked on a red-eye Malaysia Airlines flight so we had a lot of down time before we were shuttled to the airport that evening. The flight to Taipei was about 14 hours long and it was definitely the largest aircraft I have ever been on complete with an “upper deck.” I was impressed to see that the majority of the flight crew used sign language with the athletes and the coaches. I was able to pick up a few more signs just by being a spectator.

When we arrived in Taipei around 6 a.m. (a full day ahead of home), we breezed through customs and were greeted by cheering locals waiving American flags. The six charter buses (with police escort) drove us three hours south to the city of Chia-yi where our training camps would take place over the next week. The town sits on the flat lowlands in the middle of the island, about 155 miles south of the capital, and is bordered by mountains to the east. Our 14-story 5-star accommodation was the Nice Prince Hotel which was attached to a large shopping mall where I could get a daily dose of Starbucks coffee (instead of my daily cup of green tea). Our two-a-day sessions were held at National Cheng Chung University about 20 minutes from the hotel. Being the rainy season in Taiwan, the temps were between 85-95 degrees Fahrenheit and we were guaranteed a daily afternoon shower.

One evening after dinner, Ken, Terri, George and I were trying to stay awake at a Team USA coaches meeting in the dining area. Who walks in and surprises me? My father-in-law, Dad Kinzer, who was in Taiwan on business. He was only able to stay for a day, but we found some adventure in an international food court with no English menus and a small arcade where I whipped him at air hockey and basketball (I’m sure there will be a re-match over Christmas break). The following day, we took the high speed train back into Taipei to pick up one of my student-athletes from the International School of Curacao. Nikki is a senior who plays soccer for me and basketball for Dan. She is also part of the I.B. program which requires her to write an extended essay/senior thesis and she chose to research and write about deaf athletes. Nikki arrived via a layover in her home country of Holland and Mr. Kinzer departed to get on with his business meetings. Both teams welcomed Nikki with open arms and were eager to help with her paper and teach her the basics of American Sign Language.

On September 2, we ended training camp and departed Chia-yi. We checked into the Miramar Gardens Hotel in Taipei and received excellent service for our entire stay. The men ended up with a 1-5-1 record, but with the highlight of knocking out Great Britain - the former #1 deaf men's team in the world. The women had wins over Germany, Denmark, South Africa (forfeit), Great Britain and Germany again in the gold-medal game 4-0. Katie Romano, Virginia Keeler, Betsy Hoerner, Reagan Anders and Megan Johnston were the five veterans from the 2005 Deaflympics U.S. team.

Opening and closing ceremonies at the sold-out Taipei Stadium were amazing. The Deaflympics had over 9,000 volunteers to entertain us and ensure that things ran smoothly. Light shows, fireworks, instrumentals, singing, dancing, speeches from prominent officials and the passing of the torch were all a part of these events. The athletes traded pins, jerseys and friendly conversation on both evenings showing off their exemplory sportsmanship.

Everyday, I was humbled and inspired by my colleagues and the men and women players.

My tactical knowledge of the game of soccer was expanded by working with Head Coach Ken McDonald. His beautiful wife Terri continued to amaze everyone with the countless hours she put in as both teams' manager. The men's assistant coach George provided us not only with 35 years of coaching experience, but with many laughs and brutal honesty! Our trainers Robyn and Charlie worked overtime to aid our athletes with their nagging injuries and give them the treatments they needed to keep them healthy. We were joined by Ken's brother Paul who flew in from England to share his vast soccer knowledge, to support our teams and get in on the adventures.

In Taipei, we were able to visit: Taipei 101 - one of the tallest buildings in the world; Sun Yat Sen and Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Halls to witness enormous statues, immaculate gardens and the changing of the guard; the amusing Modern Toilet restaurant (where you drank out of glasses that looked like urinals and bowls that were shaped like toilets); Shilin Night Market-great deals and strange foods to try (stay away from stinky tofu); the impressive Jade collection at the National Palace Museum; and the colors, architecture, incense and peace of a Buddhist temple.

(Below) Clockwise from top left:
Paul, me, George, Ken, Nikki and Terri enjoying the atmosphere of the Jurassic restaurant in walking distance of our hotel. This group shared a lot of laughs and have many stories to tell.

Watching the U.S. women beat Germany for a second time to capture the gold medal provoked several intense emotions from me. These 16 women ranging from ages 15-35 all contributed to the success of the team. When the final whistle blew, I witnessed Terri and Ken embrace - all of the sleepless nights and hard work had paid off; our players circling the field taking turns carrying the American flag while waving to family and friends in the stands; George and Paul hustling down to the field to celebrate; Felicia, Megan and Kelly limping off the field having played through groin, knee and ankle injuries; the U.S. Deaf Women's national team on the podium, hands over their hearts, while the national anthem was played. Though they couldn't hear the anthem, several of the women told me later, they could feel it! I was so proud and honored to be a part of something so special and unique. My life has changed for the better and I look forward to the future of U.S. Deaf Soccer. For more details and pictures, check out:

http://www.usdeafsoccer.com/ and http://www.usdeaflympics.org/.

Stay tuned for details of our October trip to Costa Rica!

Summer Time ... and the Livin's Easy

2009-09-24T06:42:00.000-07:00

Summer is every child's ... and teacher's ... favorite time of year. It's not that we don't enjoy what we do; in fact, we LOVE what we do, but Summer provides for a new and fresh kind of learning. Summer is time for the hands-on, experiential learning that is so hard to come by inside the 4 walls of a classroom. We strive for it during the 10 months of the school year, but we get hit in the face with it during these 2 months of bliss.

Dan spent 10 days at Kennedy Space Center at "Teacher Space Camp" and has now deemed himself a future astronaut - NASA's official stance on the matter has yet to be determined.

Erin went back to Pensacola and spent a week training the U.S. National Deaf Soccer Teams in preparation for the Deaflympics in Taiwan; as well as visiting with friends and family.

After nearly 2 weeks apart we flew out to Los Angeles for a visit with Dan's family and to celebrate and remember the life of Dan's good friend, Michael Brownstein.

Finally, to top off the summer we travelled for one month through Ecuador: summitting volcanoes (check out the photos of Cotopaxi!), whitewater rafting into the Amazon Basin; mountain biking down the Avenue of Waterfalls; camping inside of volcanic craters; surfing the points along Ecuador's Pacific Coast; spotting humpback whales migrating off that same Coast; meandering through the streets of Ecuador's colonial capital, Cuenca; or motoring in a canoe half way down the Rio Napo towards Peru and into the dense Amazon Rainforest to spot the pink freshwater dolphin (and to perfect our skills with the blow gun!). It was another trip of a lifetime!

It is the adventures like this that make learning, and therefore teaching, so exhilirating! Life is full of incredible lessons and experiences, and not only in nature, but also within the human spirit that is woven into this rich tapestry along the Equator. From the indigenous people of the high Andes working their fields at altitudes where we could barely breathe, to the colorful and resourceful spirits of the Amazonian tribes, the wealth of the human spirit is as evident in this small country as it is any other place in the world. We hope our pictures (you can see a slide show on the right column of the blog) and our spirit inspire you to get out and see this beautiful world you live in!

Bogota in March

2009-05-03T12:07:00.000-07:00

We apologize for our hiatus from updating the blog. Life has been a bit hectic the past two months and we'll get around to filling you in on work soon enough!
In March, we traveled with the majority of our faculty to a teaching conference in Bogota, Colombia.

Most of our time was spent in professional development workshops, but we did get a day and a half to explore the city. From above La Candelaria, the city's historic colonial center, we took in a breath-taking view from Monserrate via cable car.

Dan couldn't get enough of the food at the host school's "Colombian Night."

A day-time view from Monserrate

A few of the many treasures found at the Museo del Oro (Gold Museum)

About an hour outside of Bogota in the town of Zipaquira lies the Catedral de Sal (Salt Cathedral).

The "Discovery" of the Dominican OR Into the "Unknown" OR The Conquistador Special

2009-03-10T10:10:00.000-07:00

It must have been a terrifying thing to be an explorer in the time of Columbus. There were no Lonely Planet guidebooks, TripAdvisor, Carribean Vacation magazines, or travel blogs to provide the adventurous with suggested itineraries, phone numbers, websites, price lists, warnings, or the "Top 10 Best Beaches". Traveling into the "unknown" takes a special kind of spirit and courage. I'm not sure if I would have made a good first mate to Columbus or not - I like to think that I would have - but I know that travel agents today have the easiest job in the world, except for the fact that their signing up other people for exciting vacations and don't always get to go themselves. I loved putting our week long itinerary together for the Dominican Republic - it builds anticipation and excitement and allows for seeing more in less time; but despite having a wealth of resources to go through in my planning I could not have envisioned the incredible adventure that unfolded for me and Erin during the last week in February. I suppose that's why I love to go even more than I love planning to go - it's the things you don't read about in the guidebooks, or see pictures of online, that make the trip worth taking. The "unknown" is why we go.

We took off from Curacao around 10 a.m. on Sunday morning, February 22nd and the first leg of our flight took us over the heart of the Caribbean to Saint Maarten, where we captured a few great photos from the plane as we came in for a landing and left again. After about an hour sitting on the plane, and trading some of our old passengers for new ones, we hit the skies over the Caribbean again and made our way over the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and into The Airport of the Americas just outside of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. I have not had many opportunities lately to practice my spanish so I was looking forward to this weeklong spanish class, and put it to the test as soon as we arrived. I discovered I wasn't too rusty after all and we successfully changed some money, made our way through the airport, into a cab, and down the Avenida de las Americas to the Caribe Tours bus station without any problems. I purchased 'dos boletos' to Jarabacoa (a small, mountain town 3 hours from the capital) for 250 Dominican pesos (a little less than $8 US), and since we had an hour or so to kill we walked around the Santo Domingo neighborhood looking for something to eat. Since it was Sunday most of the restaurants and shops were closed, but we came to a corner store where a couple of Dominicanos were relaxing, drinking some Presidente (Dominican beer), and watching Titanic on television. We thought that was an amazing combination so we stepped in, laid our backpacks down, bought some chips and a Presidente of our own, and sat down with our new friends to laugh at the plight of the gringos aboard the Titantic (actually, I think Erin was crying). The young clerk working the store was very impressed with my spanish and kept telling Erin and I how smart we were and about all the great things to do in Santo Domingo (mainly, going to Boca Chica which used to be the high end resort beach in the Dominican but is now old, run down, and a little seedy - all of the high end resorts have moved out to Punta Cana or the North Coast). We finished our beer, threw our backpacks on, and hustled back to the bus station to catch our ride into the heart of Hispaniola. Our first night in the Dominican town of Jarabacoa happened to be the country's opening celebration of Carnaval, so we dropped our bags at the Jarabacao Guest House (a great place if you want a cheap room for a night and a wonderfully helpful host) and headed into town to join the fiesta. The music was loud, and the clothes revealing, but despite the temptations we were more interested in relaxing - we grabbed a table on a balcony at a cozy Dominican restaurant overlooking the small plaza known as Plaza Duarte and absorbed the colorful blur that is Carnaval. We talked about our plans for the week and appreciated the novelty and excitement of sitting side by side in a place we had never been before. As we walked back to the Guesthouse under a cloudless and star-filled sky I couldn't help but feel a sense of great fortune and gratitude - how many people get to live the life of an explorer?

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The next morning we woke up to a rooster crowing outside our window and beautiful blue skies. Our host, and owner of the Jarabacoa Guesthouse, had us sit down for a feast of eggs, toast, jam, fresh fruit, coffee and juice - and then we were off to find a ride to La Cienaga, the small village that sat at the entrance to the Dominican Republic's largest National Park and base of the trail that led to the top of Pico Duarte, the tallest mountain in the Caribbean at 3,087 meters (over 10,000 feet). The mountain, like the central plaza in Jarabacoa (and many other roads and landmarks across the country) takes it's name from Juan Pablo Duarte - one of a trio that are credited as being the "founding fathers" of the Dominican. We wove through town and pulled over on a bustling commercial street where we found the public transport to La Cienaga - a small 4x4 truck meant to carry at the most 5 people but we were told would carry at least 10, along with the day's supplies for the town of La Cienaga. While we were waiting to leave we met a young man by the name of Abellito who introduced himself as a guide for the trip up Pico Duarte (note: every male in Jarabacoa introduces himself to obvious tourists as a guide for the trip up Pico Duarte). I quizzed him for a few minutes in Spanish (he spoke no English) over his experience, qualifications, cost, etc. and tried to crack a couple of jokes - he laughed at them and quoted a fair price (3,000 pesos, or about $90 US, for a guide and 2 mules for 3 days) so I decided he was a winner. We made arrangements for me to ask for him as our guide when we arrived in La Cienaga, and then we loaded up to make the trip into the mountains. The ride cost 100 pesos ($3 US) each and would take about an hour up a windy mountain rode. It was actually an absolutely beautiful drive - one minute passing by small shacks and huts along the side of the road and the next staring up onto the side of a mountain where a wealthy Dominican had built a vacation estate. By the time we reached La Cienaga there were no less than 14 people who had shared the ride with us, including a group of 4 Haitian immigrants and 3 old Dominican women who wouldn't stop talking whether you understood them or not. I spent half of the trip sitting in the bed of the truck with the Haitians and the various boxes and bags - hanging on for dear life as our driver, Kico, skirted around corners and left me with a bird's eye view of the river valley below. The entrance to the Armando Bermudez National Park, where we were dropped off, was an absolute oasis. On the outskirts of a poor, rural mountain town of small tin-roofed shacks stood a well constructed and beautifully landscaped office and lodge complete with clean bathrooms and picnic tables, not to mention a pleasant wooden bridge built over a cool mountain stream that marked the beginning of the trail. If this was a fair representation of what was in store we were certain we were in for a treat. The gentleman who was overseeing affairs in the office that day (which meant he was doing nothing because we were the only ones there all day) greeted us and asked us if we needed a guide. I explained the deal we had made with Abellito and he walked into the village to notify him for us. We relaxed by the stream until Abellito arrived and then went with him into town to pick up the food we needed for the trip at a "Colmado" he promised would give us the best prices. There are only a few Colmados (small shacks that sell basic groceries) in La Cienaga but we still felt like insiders with Abellito. We picked out our food for the next few days, paid up (about 900 pesos, or $27 US), and headed back to the National Park office to wait for Abellito to prepare the mules that would be carrying our gear (and our guide, as we later realized) throughout the journey. When Abellito returned to the office it was already after 3 p.m., but that left us plenty of time to walk the first 4 km to the first camp along the trail, Los Tablones. We made our way up a muddy, and relatively flat, mule-trodden trail for about an hour - stopping to take pictures at locally crafted bridges that fell over the river that we were following. We passed by the old lodge and Abellito brought us to the new one - complete with toilets and running water. We set up our tent on a piece of flat ground and as soon as Abellito had tied up the mules and unloaded their cargo he set about making a fire and getting dinner started. "Con-Con", a typical Dominican dish, was on the menu for that night - a simple mix of rice, beans, and seasoning that I had 3 large plates of. We had been told we wouldn't have much company on the trail, as no one had gone up recently before us, and there weren't any other groups expected at the office until the following afternoon, but it turned out we had some guests for dinner: as we were eating a clan of local farmer's dogs came to beg for food (I was too hungry to share) and then a small Dominican man in charge of keeping up the lodge arrived. We shared our Con-Con with him and began talking about various aspects of life in the Dominican Republic. Eventually, the topic of conversation turned to machetes, which was of course the natural direction the conversation would turn since nearly everyone we had seen in La Cienaga was carrying one - including our guide, Abellito, and our new friend. I began to ask about what they used them for (they are really a Dominican version of a Leatherman, used for virtually everything - can opener, nail file, screw driver - you name it), where you can buy one, how much do they cost? As soon as I asked that last question I knew what was coming - "Quieres comprar esto?" There I was in the middle of the tropical forest with my wife and 2 guys who spoke no English, sitting around a campfire, and buying a machete. 170 pesos, or about $5 US, left me with a white-handled, recently sharpened machete with the cool limited edition leather carrying case. You can't find a deal like that on E-Bay. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to get it back into Curacao, but I was willing to cross that bridge when I came to it. I took the machete, and said goodnight - and Erin and I crawled into our tent to spend our 2nd night in the Dominican.

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It is an invigorating experience to wake up and step out of your tent into the fresh, mountain air. Our 2nd full day in the Dominican, and our first full day on the trail, was going to be long and challenging, but even though we couldn't claim the best night's sleep we were ready for the mountain. We prepared our breakfast, loaded up our gear and packed it onto the backs of our trusty mule, Moreno, and headed up the trail. At first it was pretty easy going, and we climbed at a steady but kind pace on a well groomed trail. We made our way up and out of the narrow valley, away from the cool mountain stream that we had followed the afternoon before, and onto a ridgeline that would carry us up and around the first mountain in our way. We were treated with beautiful views of the valley below, and could see the farms and shacks that made up La Cienega sitting at the feet of the mountains that poked into the vibrant blue Caribbean sky. Surrounded by both jungle and pine forest at the same time, it was difficult to say whether it was more like walking through the Yucatan Peninsula or Eastern Tennessee. As the cool mountain morning gave way to the midday sun the temperature began to rise and we shed our extra layer of clothing. At the same time the hike became more and more vertical and the trail became littered with loose rocks that forced us to take our eyes off of our surroundings and focus our attention on where we placed our feet. From 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. we hiked close to 12 km and climbed over 1,300 meters (or about 4,500 feet). For 3 km of the trip we were on what is known to the locals as the "Walk of Repentance" and we thought it was well named ... I certainly needed a trip to confession after all the mumbled curse words I let out on my way up. Yet regardless of how difficult it was (and we couldn't really complain - a mule was carrying our load for us), it was exceptionally beautiful - every 20-30 minutes we would stop and look out over the valley and marvel at how quickly we were climbing higher into the sky. These mountains are called the "Roof of the Caribbean" and I appreciated the fact that so few would ever imagine you could be lost in the middle of 10,000 foot mountain peaks surounded by pine forest and with no glimpse of the ocean or a coconut palm or a white sand beach and be traveling in the Caribbean. After doing what we thought was going to be the hardest stretch of the day (me and our guide, Abellito, had different plans for the afternoon) we stopped to rest at a place called Aguita Fria, a small cold-water mountain spring that serves as the "birthplace" of the countries two most famous rivers, Rios Yaque del Norte and Yaque del Sur. Clouds were beginning to crawl over the mountain tops in front of us and cooling down the afternoon, and we enjoyed a pleasant 3 km stretch that was mostly downhill. It was during this short section of trail that we got to witness the level of destruction that had taken place during a massive forest fire in the park in 2003. Acre after acre was charred and the mountainside was littered with baby pine trees that were just a few years old. By the time we arrived at La Comparticion the clouds had rolled in to take away our view of Pico Duarte, and we relaxed for a minute and explored the camp that we would call home for the night. I thought our hiking was over for the day and that we could spend the last few hours of daylight reading and exploring this cool little mountain "villa", but Abellito had different plans and told us he thought it would be a lot better if we made our ascent this afternoon, so that getting down the next day wasn't such an arduous task. I was a little hesitant: my legs were jello and I really wanted to sit at the top of Pico Duarte just after sunrise, but Abellito was insistant that waiting for the next day to go up would mean a hellish trip back down the mountain. My superwife said she was "up for it" so I was left without a choice - to the top! We left our mules and equipment tied up at camp, and began the final 2 hour stretch to meet Senor Duarte at the top of his mountain.

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Most of you know that I'm a type 1 diabetic, and while I do my best to not that let stand in my way of doing all of the crazy things I love to do (or eating ridiculous quantities of food) it became clear that this final 5 km push to the top was going to push my body to it's limits. I know, it's only a 10,000 foot mountain in the relative warmth of the Caribbean climate - there was plenty of oxygen and no perilous glaciers to cross, but I am just in the beginning stages of my mountain climbing training and even the most seasoned climbers won't typically take on over 20 km and this serious of an elevation gain in just one day. Erin and I had both pushed ourselves (and we would be feeling it the rest of our vacation), but we knew we could make it - we knew we had to make it. The mule we had brought as an "ambulance" was tied up back at camp - even Abellito had to do this stretch on his own. You would have thought that the first stretch of the ascent would have been a relief - mostly flat, or even a gentle downhill, for about 1.5 km; but in actuality it was completely discouraging. To be going down when you know you're going to have to go up is not satisfying. "Why can't we just save the easy part for tomorrow!!" was all I could think to myself. So at first we strolled, and later we pushed, through a beautiful landscape of low lying ferns, mountain shrubs, young, visibly energetic pine trees, and tall lingering corpses of the pine forest that used to be here. The clouds that had once been wisping by overhead were now eerily playing amongst the tall, dead pines. After an hour and a half we finally emerged onto a plateau, or short flat stretch called the Valle de los Lilis (Valley of the Lillies), to a view of the peak, or actually 2 peaks. To our right was La Peloma, Duarte's sister peak and just 5 meters shorter. Directly in front of us was the ridgeline leading up to Pico Duarte. A newfound energy flooded out of my heart and into my legs - only 30 minutes and we would be the highest people in the Caribbean (at least in one sense of the word). We scrambled up and around the boulders that stood between us and our ambition until we finally reached the summit - a rock outcropping with a small cross and a bust of Senor Duarte. From the east the clouds danced over our shoulders and a stiff, cold wind encouraged us to find refuge on the westerly side of the peak. We found a comfortable seat at the base of Juan Pablo's memorial and tried to revel in our glorious achievement. We were alone with our guide and a memory of Juan Pablo Duarte at the very top of the Caribbean. The beautiful beaches, crystal clear turquoise waters, celebrity villas, the salsa and merengue, the poverty stricken hillside pueblos painted in blues and yellows and greens, the sounds of Bob Marley, and the smell of freshly lit marijuana - the first cities of the New World, the lost tribes, the pirates' bounty, the Spanish Empire's Glory, the slave revolts, the curious meeting place of 4 continents - all of this was at our feet, stretched out below us and beyond us in more ways than we will ever understand. I wish these were the thoughts I had at that moment of 'glory' - while I sat and embraced all that it meant to climb this mountain - but honestly, all I could manage was "*&$!, where's the friggin' mule when you need him."

We made it back to our camp that night at La Comparticion just as the day was coming to a close, and were surprised to find out that we would have some company for the evening. Two groups of hikers had made the climb up to La Comparticion behind us that day and had decided to wait until morning to go for the summit. I had to admit I was a little jealous that they would be on top for the sunrise, but privately thanked Abellito for pushing to go this afternoon. Both groups would be waking up at 4 a.m. for a quick breakfast and cleanup of camp before setting off for the peak - once they arrived shortly after sunrise they would have to begin the trek back down to La Cienaga - 23 more km that while mostly downhill were no "walk in the park." While Abellito got dinner ready I quickly set up our tent and sleeping bags and Erin got cleaned up. I joined the 2 groups by the campfire and listened contently as the conversation moved from Spanish, to Italian, to English, to German, and back to Spanish again. One of the groups was a a mix of an Italian man and his wife, and a funny, sarcastic guy from Germany. The other group was made up of 3 Dominicans, who were happily passing around shots of the whiskey their mule had carried up the mountain for them. They offered me some, but I politely declined, trying to hint at the fact that we had a lot of work left to do the next day (and so did they). They shrugged, and the linguistic feast continued until dinner was served. The other groups had obviously paid the $300-400 USD per person that different tour operators charge for the trip up Pico Duarte, and so their guides had brought up chicken and ribs to cook along with their seasoned rice. Everyone was in a sharing spirit so the feast was passed around for everyone to enjoy. We all sat around the campfire and things grew quiet as we filled our hungry stomachs with this delicious meal. It didn't take long for the food to settle, and Erin and I said our "Good nights" and climbed inside our tent for our 3rd night in the Dominican.

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We woke up the next morning to the sound of hungover Dominicans grumbling about having to get up so early. We were both happy to be able to lie in our tent and catch a couple more hours of sleep before our trip back down the mountain. When we did finally emerge from our tent around 7 a.m. we quickly packed our things and sat down around a glowing fire to eat our healthy breakfast. Abelito was still packing up the mules when we finished, and he encouraged us to begin our trek. So we were off down the mountain - exhausted from the previous days challenge, but soaking in the glory of our achievement. We made it all the way back to the little spring - the birthplace of the Dominican's two major rivers - before Abelito finally caught up; we had conquered the only significant uphill climb we would encounter that day and spent the afternoon skipping down the loose gravel and rocks that littered the trail. We came across a few small groups of hikers on our way down the mountain and finally landed back at base camp in La Cienaga. As soon as we arrived the skies opened up and it began to pour rain, and we couldn't help but think how wise Abelito had been to have us summit the previous afternoon, and how wise we had been to listen - and those poor souls who were somewhere halfway between the "Roof of the Caribbean" and us, trudging through mud and sliding down rocks as they cursed themselves, their guides, and probably, their mules. We relaxed to the sound of raindrops landing on the spanish style roof and the wind howling through the tall pines and waited in peace for our driver from Jarabacoa to arrive. We had made these arrangements with the driver when he dropped us off, but I wasn't quite certain if we could trust him to be back to pick us up, but sure enough, and only 1 hour behind schedule (which means he was early in the Caribbean), Kico arrived to take us back to Jarabacoa. We made it back the Guesthouse around 5 in the afternoon, managed to get cleaned up and make our way to dinner, and then crawled back to get into bed. This day was incredible, but of all the days of our adventure, it alone stands out as a blur. Maybe I was just so drained of all energy that I couldn't focus in on the details, or perhaps I was just so proud of me and my wife for conquering Senor Duarte's mountain, but even now I am impressed not by the vivid details of our trip down the mountain and triumphant return to Jarabacoa, but rather by a dull, glowing, feeling of satisfaction. I remember going to sleep that night and holding on to that feeling - letting it tuck me in, and put me to bed.

Thursday was going to be our travel day, and we knew that a travel day in the Dominican could be painfully slow, but that it would be outrageously cheap. We woke up a little late, around 8:30, and enjoyed our breakfast at the Guesthouse. When Tim, the owner arrived, we settled our bill with him (2 nights + 2 breakfasts for $50 US), and headed off to catch the gua-gua (local bus) to La Vega - the largest nearby city. It was a 45 minute trip, but the 9 passenger mini-bus was filled with 18 people, and Erin and I were the last ones on so we were stuffed into opposite corners with our backpacks. At least we had window seats and we spent most of the ride hanging out the sides of the bus. Once we reached La Vega we boarded another gua-gua headed for San Francisco. This ride was much more comfortable (not nearly as crowded) and took us through some beautiful countryside. This was about an hour trip, and we were beginning to think how lucky we were to be moving through the country so quickly. When we arrived at the Caribe Tours bus terminal in San Francisco around Noon our luck ran out - the next bus to Samana didn't leave until 3:30. We walked around for a bit, but finally settled in at the terminal to wait for our bus. We enjoyed some local food and shared some of our candy (I had brought a big bag of Now-n-Laters for a sugar supply on the mountain) with a 10 year old boy with club foot who was trying to sell his own candies in the terminal. I never bought any of his candies, but he really enjoyed our Now-n-Laters and we practiced our Spanish and taught him a little bit of English. He had to either walk with a cane, or hobble around on one good foot, but he never quit smiling. I had recently been learning more about club foot because Erin's father, Leon, had just traveled to Central America where he met a woman named Robbie who works to cure club foot throughout Latin America. Coincidentally she had just transfered to Santo Domingo to work in the Dominican Republic, and even though we never had the privilege of meeting her face to face we began to exchange emails and I told her about the boy. Who knows, sometimes coincidences aren't always the coincidences they seem to be. We had to say good-bye to our new friend when our bus arrived and we boarded the large, and comfortable bus for the 3 hour trip to Samana, a small town on the mountainous peninsula of the same name in the Northeast corner of the Dominican Republic. The drive to Samana took us past some interesting sights: within 15 minutes of leaving the terminal a huge ball of flames caught our attention and to our surprise a small mini-bus had exploded on the side of the street in a small town outside of San Francisco. The bus drove right past, checking with the spectators that the "Bomberos" had been called, but then continuied on its way to Samana. We drove along the northern coast through a city called Nagua and I spotted what looked like some potential surf spots there. We made our way through some mountains covered in lush vegetation and coconut palms and finally caught a glimpse of Samana Bay, the home of the humpback whale reserve, and the reason why we had made this long journey. Someone had given the bus driver a copy of Terminator to put in the DVD player so my attentions drifted between Arnold "The Governator" trying to destroy the world and the beautiful colors of the jungle on one side and the Caribbean on the other. We pulled into the town of Samana just as the sun was going down, and you could tell that what used to be a quiet little fishing town had remade itself into a tourist hub. We later found out that cruiseliners had started stopping here to let their passengers visit the famed Cayo Levantado. We were immediately haggled by taxi drivers when we got off the bus and rather than search for a gua-gua (the last one to Las Galeras, where we were going, had actually just left anyway) we decided to pay the $20 for the 1 hour taxi ride to our destination.

Las Galeras is an ideal destination, and while I haven't visited the more well known spots of Puerto Plata, Cabarete, Punta Cana, among others I would have to recommend this little beach town to anyone looking to get away from the tourist centered existence of the other destinations and wants to see a bit more of a truly natural and authentic Dominican Republic. Quite a few Europeans (mostly Italian and French, with a few Germans) have made Las Galeras their home, but it only adds to the charm as the main street in town (and the only actual street) is home to several authentic Italian and French restaurants. There are a couple of beautiful all-inclusive hotels on the beach if that is what you're interested in, but we happened to book 3 nights at the most charming little house we have ever seen. Words will not do the Chalet Tropical justice - you need to see it for yourself. From the hand-crafted wordwork and incredible attention to detail, to the stone shower, to the wonderful loft with a king sized bed, to the humungous toads that live in the yard, this place was as ideal as we could have hoped for (http://www.chalettropical.com/). It's only a short walk from the main street and an even shorter walk to a beautiful secluded beach, where coconut palms lean out over the shallow waters of a protected cove. The house includes a full kitchen with a great antique gas stove, and Erin and I were able to prepare many of our meals at home. The owners, Mateo and Sara, from Italy, were so helpful and pleasant - and made sure our short visit to Las Galeras was remarkable. They even showed us the inside of the two chalets that they are building on the adjacent property. Each chalet has it's own unique personality and was designed by Mateo and his father. One of the new ones is more fit for a couple's romantic getaway while the other has been built with a family in mind. We were so impressed with the location, and the Chalet, that I was already concocting plans to build a school in the hills above Las Galeras and create residentials dorms modeled after the little house. As soon as we arrived at our Chalet on Thursday night we knew we were in for a treat.

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I suppose that our "discovery" is not all that different than the one Columbus is credited with making over 500 years ago. Sure, he didn't really know where he was (and still thought he might be just off the coast of mainland Asia) and he couldn't even begin to speak the language of the native people, and he had to travel weeks on a rickety old wooden ship with a bunch of rowdy and foul-scented sailors; but all in all he arrived in a place he had never been before and we also arrived in a place we had never been before. We crossed rivers and climbed mountains, and walked along beautiful, secluded white sand beaches for miles without seeing anyone else; we even slept out beneath the star speckled night sky surrounded by the Caribbean's tallest peaks; our trip was full of glory, terror, flames, confusion, history, swords (actually ... machetes), friendship, and betrayal; we went into the "unknown" and we conquered it, or at least fell in love with it.

Anticipation

2009-02-21T15:50:00.000-08:00

Since Erin returned from the marathon last month we have celebrated her birthday, kicked off our seasons as Coach K and Coach Erin, watched the Superbowl, sent Erin to Aruba, and celebrated a quiet, but love-filled, Valentine's Day. With so many things to occupy our time and minds we haven't taken the opportunity to anticipate our next adventure.

Although our dance moves will certainly be put to the test as we celebrate Carnaval and Dominican Independence next week it was Erin's birthday and that was all the reason we needed to party!

A group of friends treated Erin to a surprise dinner at a local Curacao ranch. All they serve is chicken and beef, and it is DELICIOUS. It was a great night with friends, and Equus (the ranch) became one of our favorite restaurants on the island (too bad it is only open 1 night a week).

Coach K and the ISC girls basketball team!!! Go Lady Sharks! Both of us have enjoyed the beginnings of our seasons in basketball and soccer. We haven't had much time to think about exploring the Dominican between our practice and game schedule since we came back to school.

Erin spent a fun-filled long weekend with her maid of honor, Erin Pryor, in Aruba. Pryor came down for a friend's wedding on the island and Erin popped over to be her date. While Erin has taken two trips off the island in the last month, Dan can't wait for his first trip off the island since July!

We also got a little taste of America while we watched the Superbowl with some friends.

It wasn't until yesterday, when we assembled our camping gear, got our passports out, and began making a packing list that we really began to anticipate this upcoming adventure. This trip to the Dominican will mark the 10th country besides the U.S. that we've traveled to together. It's only 1 week, but we're planning on making the most out of it.

Maybe we'll learn a little merengue, and we'll certainly get to practice our spanish. We're both excited to do some actual mountain climbing - we'll be standing on "The Roof of the Caribbean" on Wednesday morning! We're also looking forward to spotting some humpback whales, and spending our days on the gorgeous secluded beaches of the northeast Dominican Republic.

More than anything else I'm looking forward to the time away from the everyday "busyness" of our lives. We so easily become wrapped up in the world we live in: teaching, coaching, the apartment, grocery shopping, and life here in Curacao. The challenges that come with novel experiences are refreshing. In fact, we need them to inspire us - to help us transform our current world into something even greater. We certainly have these challenges in our everyday life - that is why we love our lives so much, but there is something about being somewhere you've never been before that wakes up a part of you that you're not always aware of. When you're traveling you're always awake, always alert, always observing - everything needs to be absorbed and remembered and cherished. We hope you travel with us - check the blog next week for updates from the Dominican, and a fresh outlook on life.

Running Into the New Year

2009-01-20T16:20:00.000-08:00

What better way to start the new year than running a marathon? Well, running wasn't exactly the first thing on my mind when I flew to Orlando on January 8th, one week before my 32nd birthday. This was my first trip back to the states since we moved to Curacao last July. I was definitely more excited to see "the gang" than I was to pound out 26.2 miles, especially since my training was minimal in the Caribbean heat. However, I was ready to take on the first challenge of 2009.

On Thursday night, we watched the Gators beat the Sooners for another national championship. Dad, Jess, Selena, Grace, Tessa and I were in the company of Sheri and Robin (both UF grads) at the local Ale House. They were fired up! On Friday, Christie, Kim and Stephanie joined the party at the pool and Casey stopped by on his way back from the big game in Miami. Who else popped in unannounced for a big surprise?

My friends Deanne and Bonnie!!! Friday night, we enjoyed dinner and mostly dessert at the Rainforest Cafe - party of 12! Casey had his hands full with Grace and Tessa vying for his attention. On Saturday morning, Sheri and Robin completed their first half-marathon. We enjoyed the race expo at the Wide World of Sports and more relaxation during the day. Saturday evening, we all met up with Marti's gang and Cherri for a wonderful dinner at the House of Blues and the carb-loading began. Our alarms were set for 3 a.m. on race morning. We got dressed and caught the shuttle to the starting line along with the other 25,000 runners. Somehow, in all the chaos I bumped into my friend Tammie and our running club became the "Sassy Six."

The Disney marathon has got to be one of the most exciting marathons. The course begins and ends at Epcot running through all of the parks. The entire cast is bright-eyed and in costume cheering you on. My favorite is Animal Kingdom where some of the animals are brought out to greet you. You can stop and take pictures at each mile marker sign or have your picture taken with your favorite Disney character. Your name is on your race # so the fans call you by name and encourage you on. A couple of stretches of highway are anything but boring when you are entertained by high school bands, cheerleaders, DJs, and others (who have to be on a caffeine high) dressed up, singing and dancing.
Hours later..........we finished with everyone still standing and in need of the trainers with the ice bags.......or maybe that was just me! We earned our big Mickey medals and limped on back to the hotel.

Sunday evening provided me with the comforts of home as my girls sat around the pool, catching up, reminiscing and playing SkipBo. Old friends reunited, new friendships formed, many laughs shared, pictures taken and memories made........and it was the first time in almost a year since I had put on jeans and a sweatshirt! Ah........the simple things in life!
Oh, and I did say that this would be my 5th and final marathon................then I returned to Curacao and learned that the island hosts a half-marathon and marathon here in December.
Any takers?

Goodbye 2008, Hello 2009

2009-01-17T05:50:00.000-08:00

I'm of the mindset that every year should be better than the last. Life should just keep getting better. So far, with only a few exceptions, it has held true in my life, and 2008 was certainly the best year of my life to date ... in fact, 2008 was so fantastic that I'm forced into the realization that topping it in 2009 leaves me with my work cut out for me. We'll take you on a tour of the end of the year that beats all other years, and give you a glimpse into the adventures that await in 2009.

Erin and I went fishing with our good friends, the van Griekens: Chris, Davis, and Matilda. I was feeling (and looking) like Old Man and the Sea, and a couple of promising tugs early in the afternoon left us itchin' for some action, but it wasn't until sundown that we managed to pull in this beauty ... say hello to our friend, Jack. (That's me, Davis, and Jack in the photo)

We wrapped up our first semester at the International School and then had a week to 'relax' before our visitors arrived. We spent one morning with our friends Dale and David (that's David with Dan in the photo) climbing up Mt. Christoffel.

A couple hours later, we were enjoying the view from the highest point on the island.

After one week of 'relaxing' our friend Christie arrived from Pensacola, and we spent the next few days showing off the island's most beautiful beaches. The three of us spent a lot of time snorkeling and soaking up the Caribbean sun.

When the girls weren't on the beach they were in the gym, which isn't so bad when you have this view from your elyptical.

After a couple of days spent hanging out with Christie we welcomed the Kinzer clan from California, and the first thing we did was take everyone to Spanish Water for some windsurfing lessons. Dad, Tim, and Christie all proved to be quick studies, and they were racing across the water in no time.

It didn't take long to wear out our guests ... after their first morning in Curacao they were already tired!

But the fun didn't stop there ... we left the windsurfing behind and headed for the Ostrich Farm. We enjoyed a nice lunch in their African-themed restaurant, and then headed out for a tour of the farm with our favorite guide Alexander.

We tried to talk mom into riding one of the ostriches, but this was as close as she was willing to get.

As the 24th came to a close we took the whole crew to our Fellowship on the beach for a Christmas Eve sunset service. The sun broke through the clouds as we sat and sang carols together. Just as we were leaving the sky opened up and it started pouring rain, but we were off to the old Fort Nassau for a delicious and scenic dinner ... then it was off to bed early so Santa could come.

After opening up our presents on Christmas morning we took everyone out for the real treat ... a day exploring the 'other' end of the island. Our first stop was Boca Ascension, and the Tortuga Trail, where you are pretty much guaranteed to spot sea turtles feeding in the shallow waters of the inlet.

And sure enough we spotted several, including one very large leatherback! It was our lucky day.

From the Tortuga Trail we made our way around the tip of the island to Playa Forti, the island's best cliff jumping locale. The whole family went out to the end as Tim, Christie, Dad, and I leaped off the 35 foot cliff into the turquoise waters below. Erin and Mom took the photos this time.

The local kids had never seen this approach before, and we had to explain that it was latest style in the U.S.A.

We all survived, and even had enough fun to come back later in the week so Dad and Tim could do it again!

We went back to the house to clean up for our Christmas dinner at Landhuis Daniel, a quiet and elegant European-Caribbean restaurant set on the patio of a ... wait a second ... who is that guy with his arm around my wife! Oh yeah, that was me sporting Erin's Christmas present, and she even made me put a picture of my baby-face on the blog for all to see ... I'm way too nice. But dinner was interesting, perhaps a little too 'interesting' for some of the family, but nonetheless a marvelous way to end our Caribbean Christmas Day!
(Christmas Menu for those interested: Duckmousse and Goose liver to start and then baked Rabbit for the main course ... yummy)

The day after Christmas (or the Second Christmas as the Dutch call it) was a day for the high seas. We all boarded The Bounty for a sailing and snorkeling adventure. While most of us took the opportunity to catch a few rays and admire the aquatic life, an unnamed member of our party took kindly to the open bar and their rum punch - which made for a very entertaining day at sea.

After our adventures on The Bounty we took the gang to one of our favorite local hangouts, Yo Yo Ala's, for a back porch dinner of chicken wings, french fries, and the coldest Polars (Venezuelan beer) on the island. It was a big success and perfect way to unwind and get our land legs back.

On Christie's last day in Curacao we had to show her, and the Kinzer family, the view from the top of Mt. Christoffel, so we set off early and made our way to the top.

We had to let Christie get cleaned up after the climb and then said our good-byes at the airport. It is always a blessing to have friends who will come so far to see you! When we got back to the house it was obvious that Tim was either exhausted, or adjusting to Caribbean life extremely well, and in either case the family managed to spend an afternoon relaxing after a tough morning climb.

For the rest of the trip it was a lot of quality time with the Kinzer family. Dad and Tim did spend a lot of time underwater, and both finished the vacation as PADI Open Water Certified Scuba Divers!

We had heard stories about New Years, and how enormous of a party it was here on Curacao, but nothing we heard could have prepared us for the sights and sounds as we brought in 2009. The Kinzer Boys stopped into one the roadside fireworks stands that's open this time of year, and stocked up on some fireworks to set off from atop our hill. Tim, the clear winner of Pyromaniac of the Family Award, couldn't contain his excitement over all of these explosives.

After lighting all of our fireworks while taking in the war-zone like drama unfolding around us we retired to our rooftop to watch as the several hour spectacle continued well into the night. It is hard to put into words, but there has to be few firework displays like it in the world. Non-stop for nearly 6 hours huge 4th of July style firework shows were taking place on every street on the island ... and we could see it all from our house on the hill. What an awesome salute to the year that I will always remember, even if I somehow manage to top it from here until the end. Goodbye, 2008 ...

And hello, 2009! This year will mark my first full year as a married man, and my first full year living outside of the U.S. and in Curacao. This year will hold our first anniversary, and the list of "firsts" won't stop there. Erin and I have trips planned to the Dominican Republic, Columbia, Suriname, Bonaire, Ecuador and the Galapagos, and that's just until July. I've got hopes to spend a week with NASA at Kennedy Space Center and if I'm really lucky 10 days in Ghana learning about the slave trade and its impact on West Africa. And then there's my 2009 resolution ... to be a mountain climber: I've been to the top of Mt. Christoffel 4 times in the last month and we'll be climbing the tallest mountain in the Caribbean (Pico Duarte in the Dominican Republic) next month. If all things go well I'll be standing tall on top of Cotopaxi (Ecuador) at well over 19,000 feet this summer, and if the Big Guy sees fit I'll make an attempt at the summit of Aconcagua (Argentina), the tallest mountain outside the Himalayas, at the end of 2009.

If this all sounds ambitious remember that Erin plans on doing most of this alongside me, and the fact that only 2 weeks into the year and she's already run a marathon! My wife is pure inspiration, and sometimes I think my measely plans might be holding her back - but you can bet she'll be finishing triathalons by summer despite my lack of affinity for anything to do with, even if only partially, running. I'll be there to cheer her on regardless ... it's the least I can do since it must take monumental effort just to put up with my crazy ideas, but she does it with grace. 2009 better watch out, we have our sights set high.

Looking Forward to a Caribbean Christmas

2008-12-07T15:21:00.000-08:00

The ISC Halloween Haunted House Crew

Bon Bini Korsou Ron!

British Trivia Anyone?

Erin and Robin were the stars of the team!

A Moonrise from the Kinzer's apartment

And a Sunset on the other side!

Erin Running into the Sun!

1/2 Marathon in 2 hours ...

The 3rd fastest woman in Curacao!!!

Watch out Disney World ... here she comes!

The 5th hole at Curacao's Blue Bay Golf Course

The pride of Curacao ... Isla Oil Refinery

Dan's students are creating solutions to Global Warming ...

but what can we do about this?

Well, it's been a while since we updated our friends and family, but that doesn't mean we haven't been busy! After Jack and Kori left back in October we celebrated our first Halloween in Curacao. A few tricks, and lots of treats made the International School's Halloween festival a lot of fun. Dan got all done up to play the part of the "Scary Dead Man" in the Middle School's Haunted House. The Middle Schoolers voted for "Mr. K" as the scariest person in the school, and therefore a perfect match for the job. While neither of us are big fans of Halloween we love seeing the kids smiles and outrageous costumes ... and a good scare never did any harm.

Once Halloween was over we had to prepare for the big Election Day in the States. Obama's victory wasn't really a surprise, but it was fun to watch as the World celebrated. Now it will be interesting to see exactly how much "change" takes place, especially from the perspective of Americans living outside the borders. Once the media hoopla surrounding the election was over Dan found himself watching a little bit less CNN (Erin was thankful), and spending more time developing his own plans for "change".

Dan's 10th grade history students have been studying the 19th century and looking at the people, places, and processes behind industrialization, democratization, and globalization. To go along with their study of history the students are participating in a program called Challenge 20/20: studying the causes and effects of Climate Change, and focusing on creating local action plans to address the problem here in Curacao. Their ideas are impressive, and you can follow along with their progress at http://www.gogreencuracao.com/ - where you should find information about the GreenFest concert, windpower projects, consulting services, and educational efforts that will occupy their time when they return to school in January. It is a privilege to be a part of something truly educational - and is serving as a model of how a 'classroom' can function as a place of real discovery and problem solving.

Erin's Journalism students were up to some discovery and problem solving of their own as they wrapped up the first edition of the International School's newspaper, The ISC Times. The paper even had a student-written story on "Mr. K, the tree-like man" and his life with diabetes. Despite some controversy over some "freedom of the press" issues and the students' editorials everyone agreed that Erin and the students did a terrific job, and we all look forward to their 2nd edition in 2009.

As November flew by we enjoyed a night out at the British Women's Pub Quiz Night - full of laughs and a respectable 4th place team finish. We also enjoyed a visit from Ron Emerson (Selena's dad), who flies for American Airlines and finally got a 2 night stayover here in Curacao. We went out for dinner, caught up on life in Pensacola, and filled him in on life in Curacao. We also both enjoyed a beautiful Thanksgiving celebration with some good friends from the International School. In fact, we celebrated twice - Turkey, Ham, Sweet Potatoes, Mashed Potatoes, Green Bean Casserole, Pumpkin Pie, Pecan Pie, Cranberry Sauce, Stuffing - you name it and we ate it! Once we were done with all that eating, and the weekend rolled around, Erin ran off all in the calories in the island's 1/2 Marathon - finishing in 2 hours and coming in 3rd place among the women! I followed along in the car and cheered her on - choosing to soak up my Thanksgiving calories rather than run them off. I did, however, get a chance to burn some calories when the surf came up the week after Thanksgiving, and I enjoyed head high waves!

Now that December is here final projects and midterm exams are among us; and we're getting excited about our Christmas and New Year's celebrations here on the island. This upcoming week is the last week of school, and then it's just another week until Christie comes to visit from Pensacola, and a few more days until Mom, Dad, and Tim come from California. Some windsurfing, mountain climbing, scuba diving, and some good ole' relaxing Caribbean style will be in order; and it will be a wonderful way to spend the Christmas Season.

YouTube Surfing

2008-11-04T15:17:00.000-08:00

Now that the election is over, Obama has won, and we're ready for change, you can check the YouTube video bar at the bottom of the page for the latest YouTube surf videos. Sit back and enjoy the ride!

Our First Visitors

2008-10-26T14:30:00.000-07:00

Jack and Kori in Curacao!

We all climbed Curacao's tallest mountain - Sint Christoffelberg

Tuesday morning found us embarking on a "3 hour tour" ...

the JonaLisa looked like a sturdy, sea-worthy vessel

but when the skies went dark and the rain came down on

Klein Curacao Jack and I were fighting over who would be

The Professor and who would be Gilligan ...

but the skies cleared and we made our way back to Curacao

Yesterday morning I woke up early to take my great friends, Jack and Kori, to the airport in Curacao and said good-bye. They were our first visitors on Curacao, and we had a great week sharing old memories and creating new ones.

Last Saturday Jack and Kori arrived in Curacao after a long day of travelling from Charlottesville, Virginia where they live. 3 flights, 2 layovers, a delayed flight from Miami - but they finally made it ... but they were missing 3 very important things - their 3 pieces of luggage. In their long day of travelling their bags were somehow left behind, and that left our two friends with the clothes on their backs and whatever they wanted to borrow from us.

We don't need to go into the details but the bags didn't finally arrive until 3 days, and a lot of frustrated phone calls, later, but Erin and I were both excited to have our first visitors, and especially because they were Jack and Kori. This small bump in the road didn't stop us from having a great few days of sharing this little island we now call home. The next day we headed into town to try and at least find a bathing suit for Kori but nearly all of the shops were closed so we decided to stick to dry land activities ... it was off to the Ostrich Farm! The Ostrich Farm was a big hit - it's one of Erin's favorite places to go on the island, and Jack and Kori really seemed to like the small piece of Africa in Curacao. Even after watching their Nile Crocodiles snack on a pigeon (thanks to our guide), and despite having eaten a late lunch, we stayed for dinner at Zambezi, their African themed restaurant, where they serve up delicious Ostrich steaks and fabulous desserts!

After a great day exploring the island and checking out the Ostrich Farm, and still no sign of the missing luggage, we decided to spend Monday climbing Christoffelberg, the tallest mountain on Curacao at 375 meters, or approximately 1,230 feet. We had gotten a nice little rain shower the night before so it was a lot of fun trekking through the small streams that coursed down the mountain. After spending the morning tiring ourselves out on the mountain Erin and I took our guests to our famous cliff-jumping spot, Playa Forti, and Jack and I took the plunge off the cliff. Back in the car it didn't take any time at all for all 3 of my passengers to fall asleep and dream their way back into town.

The next day was one I was really looking forward to - it was going to be our first trip to the small, mostly uninhabited island of Klein Curacao (Little Curacao). We had made reservations aboard the JonaLisa, a 50 foot cataraman, and couldn't wait to get out onto the open water and explore this island famous for it's shipwrecks, abandoned lighthouse, and abundance of marine life. The luggage was still missing, but it was a beautiful morning when we boarded the JonaLisa, and we got a view of the island we had never enjoyed before. We scanned the waters for the frequent flights of flying fish and the chance to spot some of the big marlin and sailfish that roam the deeper waters off Curacao. When we reached Klein Curacao we quickly jumped in and began exploring the underwater world on our way to the shore ... we saw pufferfish, eels, even a sea turtle just on our way to the beach! Once we got onto the island we headed off to check out the old abandoned lighthouse - it's insides we're falling apart and if this old lighthouse had even been left standing in the United States it would have definitely been deemed too dangerous to enter. But that's the beauty of being outside of the country - who needs safety regulations?! Jack, Kori, and I climbed to the very top of the tower hoping our next step didn't send us plunging down to the bottom. The view from the top was worth the scary climb - we had a great view of the entire little island! After some more exploring of washed up shipwrecks we headed back to lounge on the beach, do some more snorkeling, and practice our flipping abilities from the boat. We weren't actually bothered much by the rain that came down on us in the afternoon - it provided us with a much needed break from the hot Caribbean sun. We brought up the anchor and sailed back to Curacao exhausted ... but smiling.

For the remainder of the week Erin and I were back to work, but Jack and Kori finally got their luggage and were able to enjoy the last few days of their holiday. We even got to share a little of the International School with them on Friday as we celebrated UN Day - a celebration of the "Internationalness" of ISC. It was a day full of dancing, costumes, and a lot of excellent ethnic cuisine - a true taste of the diversity at our school. From Indian, to Chinese, to Vietnamese, to Lebanese, to Greek, to Jewish - it was a delicious day. We snuck out early from school and headed to one of Curacao's more beautiful beaches, Porto Marie, where we got to see a large Spotted Eagle Ray and swim right along side it. It was a great way to end a great week with our great friends.

It is so important to both Erin and me to share our lives with our family and friends in a real genuine way. I think that is why this blog is so much fun for us. I know that is why we love to have friends make the trip to visit. We hope you enjoy reading the blog, and we hope even more you consider "cruisin'" with us sometime, wherever we find ourselves.

YouTube Politics

2008-10-17T18:52:00.001-07:00

Check out our new feature at the bottom of the page!!! The YouTube video bar will keep you tuned in to what the world thinks about this year's Presidential Race!

Now Erin and I want to know what you think about the 2008 Presidential Race, and we need to send our Overseas Voter ballots back home! Tell us who we should vote for, and why?

Reflections

2008-10-14T17:42:00.000-07:00

Photographs are like reflections - they give us that special chance to look at who we are. Here are some photographs, and some brief reflections, on what Erin and I have decided was definitely the "Best Year of Our Lives".

One year ago today I suggested we take a look at the surf at my favorite place to surf in Pensacola, "the Cross". All part of the plan, it was here that I took a knee and asked the most incredible woman in the world to be mine forever. I'm not sure why, or how, but she said yes ... and the adventure officially began. Sure we had already set off to places like Puerto Rico, Machu Picchu, the Amazon; we had been to Dallas together twice for close friends' weddings; and we had spent a Spring Break and a couple weeks of summer in California with my family; but now we had taken the leap - made the promise to make the promise - and no surprise, it's only gotten better.

I have to admit those first couple of months could be a little scary at times (just kiddin' honey), but I learned that my greatest joys and most cherished moments would always be shared with Erin. Christmas and New Years with the Kinzer family was a blast, and my wife-to-be left no doubts as to her place in the family. Baja surf trips, border crossing haggling for cheap mexican wares, and quietly bringing in the New Year in the living room. As always, she was a big hit - sometimes I think they would have just traded me for her if they could.

We made a couple trips to Vanderbilt for some SEC football and basketball action, and Erin got to see my old college stomping grounds. We also made our second trip together down to Orlando for the Disney Marathon. I chased Erin around the park (I was in the car of course) to cheer her and the girls on. Nashville and Orlando were a lot of fun, but they cannot compare to the experience we had in Nicaragua. Whether it was playing with the kids at the orphanage ... working in the heat to help build the palapa ...

watching Erin's loving spirit as she served up food for the local people ... or just taking in the beautiful surroundings (read: waves) of this most inspiring country - we left Nicaragua changed as individuals and changed as a team.

The Spring Break trip to Nicaragua was amazing, but the best day of the past year - the best day of my life - came a couple of months later ... May 24, 2008. I walked out of the church that evening the happiest man in the world, and I haven't looked back. What a joyful day!!! I even snuck in a few waves with my Best Man (and little brother) and best friend Brian early that morning. It was the party of a lifetime, and I can't imagine celebrating anything more wonderful than the promise Erin and I made to each other that day and the hope and joy we have in our future together.

The party continued as we made our way to California to celebrate my little brother's (and Best Man's) high school graduation. He gives me and the whole family so many reasons to be proud of him. From there we were off on another globe-trotting expedition - Singapore and the Maldives for a Honeymoon that has to rank as one of the best ever.

I guess the Honeymoon isn't really over yet ... we enjoyed a week back in California for the 4th of July and then made our way to the island of Curacao. I never would have guessed just how unique and diverse this small Caribbean island is, and it seems as though every week I find another hidden treasure. Surprisingly, we had a few days of really good surf in early October, and when the waves died down we took the opportunity to learn how to windsurf.

Everytime I look underwater I find something new, and each week during our exploration of the island I make an unexpected discovery. Whether it's the beautiful view from the top of Sint Christoffelberg, the fact that Erin is the "fastest woman on Curacao" and has the 12 Km trophies to prove it, the beautiful cove called Boca Ascension where you can watch the Green Sea Turtles feeding in the rolling waves, or the stunning and humbling candlelit Yom Kippur service in the longest continually running Synagogue in the Western Hemisphere - this island is full of treasures.

I told my breathtakingly beautiful wife (I submit photo above if you need evidence) tonight that this year has been without a doubt the most magnificent of my life. She, despite the fact that I certainly have gotten the better deal, feels that this year is by far the best year of her own life. I should say that the "Best Year of My Life" award is not given out light-heartedly - we've both had some incredible years, and even before we met each other we agreed that we had enjoyed rather fantastic lives. This year has earned it. The amazing thing is, I fully expect that the next 12 months will be even better.

K-Pasa

2008-09-21T16:19:00.000-07:00

The view from the top of Angel Falls ... basejump anyone?!

Erin hard at work cleaning up Curacao!

What a great team!

Another great team!!!

Look at all the trash in the back of that truck!
No, no, not the kids! The back of the white truck!

K-Pasa is the local activity guide of Curacao - keeping us informed of the week's concerts, happy hours, tours, and special events. Here is our own version of K-Pasa:

Tuesday, September 9th
Back to School Night at the International School. Erin and I got to meet many of our students' parents, and were so happy to discover such a supportive and appreciative bunch. School continues to go really well, and we've really enjoyed our first few weeks as coaches.

Wednesday, September 10th
The surf was up on Curacao and I headed for Playa Kanoa to catch a few waves while Erin joined some of the ladies from School for Aqua-Jogging.

Thursday, September 11th
We spent a few moments in silence to remember the people directly affected by the terrorist attacks of 7 years ago, and then went on with our exceptionally busy schedule. I went straight from basketball practice to IB Night - a night to introduce the International Baccalaureate program to interested students and parents, and got to share a little bit about Theory of Knowledge - the IB course that I teach. I really love the course, and the entire IB program, and gave the parents and teachers a good taste of what the class is all about - it was a big hit!

Sunday, September 14th
Brievengat 2.5/5/10K Race. The race began at 6:30 a.m. and I would have had pictures of Erin crossing the finish line except I somehow got suckered into running the 10K and finished well after Erin. I'm gonna catch her one of these days!

Saturday, September 20th
International School of Curacao partners with Maduro and Curiel's Bank to help clean up the road to Playa Kanoa. A huge group of volunteers came out to gather the tons of trash, bottles, plastics, and old tires that are often dumped alongside the somewhat isolated road. The island's waste management company, Selikor, and a new recycling operation on the island, Curaplast, helped drag off the massive amount of waste that was collected. The cleanup was a huge success - the road looks a lot better, and kids of all ages could be heard asking the question, "Why would people do this?" We've got to believe the seed was planted for at least a couple protectors of the environment!
After the cleanup we hit the beach to celebrate one of our new friend's 30th Birthday. Carrie turned 30 and a group of teachers enjoyed some snorkeling and volleyball on the beach. We spent the afternoon and early hours of the evening simply relaxing - it was fantastic.
Once we came home we checked in our football teams: SMU suffered a big loss to TCU, but Vandy came out on top of Ole Miss, and continued making a statement. Vandy is 4-0 overall, and 2-0 in the SEC!!! Could this be the year??? Is Vandy finally gonna be bowl bound?!

We have a lot of adventures coming up soon ... Dan has his first basketball practice with a local team from the island, we have another race coming up next weekend, and the International School just started a dive club and we should get to do our first Night Dive to see the coral spawning - that oughta be interesting. In a couple of weeks we'll enjoy our first full week off since being on the island, and are all signed up for Windsurfing lessons! Be sure to check in and check out the photos of all of our adventures.

Last time we talked about our summer plans and the hopes of a trip to Ecuador! We're still looking for family and friends who would be interested in exploring that beautiful country; but now we're making plans for a shorter trip to Venezuela's Angel Falls right before our Christmas visitors arrive in Curacao. It's the world's tallest water fall, and we're hoping to check out the view from the top!

What's On Our Minds?

2008-09-08T15:24:00.000-07:00

A quick glimpse into our minds over the last week ...

When you live here ... you have lots of time to think ...

One of our favorite authors, Khaled Hosseini:
Read his stories, and then join the fight to HELP Afghanistan

You have got to read his to 2 novels!

Check the facts on Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's RNC speech

Cotopaxi - Climb one of the world's largest active volcanoes

GO VANDY! First win at home versus ranked opponent since '92

June Jones ... raising SMU's offense from the dead!
GO SMU! First win of home opener since '82

YIKES! Here comes IKE - click here for a forecast

If there is a secret method to our madness there is no doubt what it is. The world we live in is rapidly becoming a world of extremes. More and more we look around and witness the polarization that defines the lifestyles and ideologies of our day. For Erin and I, our secret is simple: balance.

Throughout the school week we race through the days and our long lists of things to do, and when the weekend comes there is not much slowing down, not really. There is too much to explore, too many friends to make, and too much of a desire for adventure - and we want all of this together. Now don't get me wrong - relaxation is fantastic - and I have a hammock on the porch for a reason. Even if it's only a brief sliver of the day I try to find time for quiet and rest, and both Erin and I are racing to our dreams by the time the clock strikes 10 p.m.

However, with so many things in life to love and enjoy, there just isn't room for wasted time. Many people choose to dedicate themselves to a cause - a job, an ideology, a political party, a charity, and as we watch their dedication we recognize the draining effect it has on their lives - we see how desperately they have to run away (even if only for a weekend) from the things they have dedicated themselves to. Our thoughts this week made something very clear to me: both of us are very balanced. Church, education, family, friends, politics, nature, surfing, running, scuba diving, coaching, service - the secret to happiness and sanity for us is not in dedication to one thing, but in a dedication to many.

There is a certain danger in our "balance" as I've called it - it seems likely that in search of a great variety and breadth of experiences we may find ourselves in a shallow existence. We have considered this, and consciously decided that depth is something of great value in our lives. It is sometimes amazing, but I think that the wider your metaphorical lens to the world is, the further you can see. Perhaps happiness and genuine satisfaction are more easily achieved when more of life is brought into focus.

I think this is one reason why Erin and I have fallen in love with exploring. It doesn't always have to be to far off places, on other continents - it can often be just beyond the walls we've built around ourselves, just around the corner, or maybe even down the block.

A few more things before we go.

I hope that you enjoy following the links provided in this post and exploring your own thoughts about some of these issues. I am also so thankful for the millions of people who were spared by Gustav, but we are sending our thoughts and prayers to the millions who were not. Although New Orleans came away from the storm without much devastation there are still many who face the aftermath of Gustav with nothing but hope. On top of that, Ike is on its way into the Gulf of Mexico, and our prayers are the same as before - that love, compassion, and service will be the headlines in the aftermath of this next hurricane.

Speaking of love and compassion we have a wonderful story to share from our church, Curacao Christian Fellowship (CCF). Many of the regulars at CCF are stationed here in Curacao with the U.S. Air Force. This Sunday, as we look ahead to a week that will hold the 7th Anniversary of the attacks of 9/11/2001, a USAF Colonel came to the podium to share a message and light a memorial candle. This was his story: the attacks of 9/11 were not as much of a surprise to him as they were to most Americans - he had been in command of several responses to terrorist attacks around the world: U.S. Embassies, hotels, battleships. He knows the evil and hatred in the hearts of our 'enemies'. He wanted to be clear; they are our worst enemies. Then his eyes went watery, and he paused to gather himself as he obviously choked over his immense pain. He opened his Bible and through the tears that he could no longer hold back he read, "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:43-45 (NIV) Not the words of a typical soldier, but words of faith, and words of balance. Do not hate your enemy - love him! In today's world, is it brilliance or naivete? Of course you're free to decide for yourself, but it was a beautiful moment.

We also needed to mention Khaled Hosseini for those who have not read his two masterfully written novels. Please read them, and let us know what you think. Also check out the link to his website, where you can find out more about him, the stories and Afghanistan - a country that these stories will bring close to your heart.

What are your thoughts on the GOP's Vice Presidential nominee? Erin and I watched Governor Palin's introduction speech at the RNC and have mixed feelings. This upcoming Presidential election presents a difficult choice, and with Mrs. Palin as the nominee for Republican V.P. it has not gotten any easier. If you're into politics, and want to be informed, be sure to check out http://www.factcheck.org/ to get the facts on the latest from both parties. I also strongly suggest looking at the interviews that Pastor Rick Warren held with Senators Obama and McCain. You can find the interview video and script here. Email us, or post a comment to the blog, and tell us who you're voting for and if the "Hockey Mom" makes your cut for the nation's next V.P..

Lastly, Erin and I have begun thinking about the adventures that next summer holds for us. On top of our list is a very beautiful country: Ecuador. You can see the picture of Cotopaxi above, which we would like to climb, and I also have friends working with Manna Project International (see link under 'Our Favorite Websites') just outside of Quito, the nation's capital. Ecuador contains some of the highest mountains of the Andes range, some of the wildest tropical rain forest of the Amazon Basin, and some of the most beautiful beaches (and best surfing) along the Pacific Coast of South America. The country also controls, and serves as the entry point for, the famous Galapagos Islands. So, we are inviting you to consider joining us - whether it's a week in the beautiful mountain capital, surfing and relaxing on the coast, canoeing through the remote corners of the rainforest, chasing Darwin's discoveries in the Galapagos, or all of the above - we want to know if you'd make the trip?!

Tracking Gustav

2008-08-31T19:14:00.000-07:00

Flooding of New Orleans levees, costly damage to the Gulf oil rigs off the Louisanna coast, thousands of citizens staying at home in the path of Gustav - so many concerns. Having just moved from the U.S., and the Gulf Coast more specifically, we can remember the feeling that so many people are having in their stomachs, hearts, and minds right now.

Gustav passed over Curacao a little over a week ago and was not even a Tropical Depression. It brought some exciting electrical storms, one unfortunate tornado, and a much-welcomed rain to the island, but not much else. It was gone, and then quickly forgotten here in the Southern Caribbean. However, Erin and I will go to work tomorrow with many fellow Americans on our hearts and in our prayers.

We managed to enjoy our weekend - a lively one filled with friends' birthdays, big family barbeques, scuba diving clean-ups, and a little bit of work around the house and in preparation for school. It's hard to believe that within a week oil prices may be through the roof (as if they're not already) and school's will be closed before really even getting started, businesses will be ruined, houses will be flooded, and lives will be 'destroyed.' It is so difficult to come up with anything to say when there seems to be nothing we can do. Perhaps we need moments like these to learn how to pray.

My prayers go out to the people who will be affected by this storm. My heart is with the communities that will suffer through this storm. My hope is that the damage is somehow minimized, and that help is quickly received where it is desperately needed. I beg those of you who read this blog to do something to help those who will be affected. If you don't have friends or family in the line of Gustav please make a friend, welcome them into your family, so that it can be said that Americans 'love' each other - that we bless each other - that we are not the self absorbed and emotionally detached people that many around the world believe us to be.

This storm, and it's effects, will be the focus of the news media for the next several days, and this will be especially true if the damage is as bad as they are trying to scare us into believing. Change the news stories, shock the reporters, give them a real story that is worth reporting.

Erin and I are busy searching out ways to help the island and communities of Curacao. Sports programs, building houses, island clean-up projects - we love to see the benefits of a few caring gestures. Gustav can be about something besides devastation - it can be about restoration and rejuvevenation. This will be my hope and prayer.

So Close ...

2008-08-25T11:14:00.000-07:00

Curacao's Churandy Martina behind the new 200 meter
World Record holder, Usain "Lightning" Bolt from Jamaica
Click on the photograph for a news story on the race.

The families and supporters of this years
Little League World Series team from Curacao

I think a place becomes 'home' when you really know the place - when you can 'feel' your way around its corners and creaks, and sense it's joy and it's sadness, it's excitement and it's disappointment. There is something about 'home' that speaks to us: a sound of a floorboard or door, or wind running through the attic, or footsteps down the hall that we recognize in an instant.

This past week was an eventful one for Curacao, and we could tell we are getting more and more in touch with the island because we could feel it's ups and downs. Midweek the entire island went to work but did not have work on their minds - Churandy Martina, the island's world-class sprinter had finished 4th by a nose in the 100 meter dash at the Olympic Games in Beijing. Less than 3 hundreths (.03) of a second stood between him and Curacao's first ever Olympic track and field medal. It was an odd moment for Erin and me as we tried to celebrate the Bronze medal finish of our fellow American and ex-Florida State University star, Walter Dix, but also felt the disappointment that goes with coming so close (and achieving a national record no less), and walking away without a prize.

Later in the week, but early in the school day, it became even harder to focus as the entire island celebrated Churandy's Silver medal finish in the Mens' 200 meter sprint!!! The island's first track and field medal. The star of track and field around the world was Usain "Lightning" Bolt, the tall Jamaican sprinter who was demolishing world records; but here, in Curacao, fireworks were set off in downtown Willemstad, the country's cellular provider promised to double anyone's minutes who charged their phone before midnight, and this small island nation of the Southern Caribbean felt like it had seized a place on the global stage. Jamaica is already on everyone's map for a number of reasons, including it's track and field prowess, but Curacao is an abscure location - we're not sure if it's known more as a scuba diving destination or for it's namesake liqueor.

The rest of the story then, is absolutely heart breaking for an Antillean - and strangely, for me and Erin. It turns out that the man who actually came across the line in 3rd place was the American Spearman, who had been disqualified for running outside of his lane during the race. The American's protested the disqualification, and in the process, also brought Churandy into the spotlight with claims that he was actually the one to step out of his lane. As it turned out the judges decided that Spearman AND Churandy both stepped out of their lanes and would be disqualified, leaving the American Walter Dix to claim the Bronze medal again in the 200 meter sprint.

If Curacao ever makes it onto the world stage in track field, however, it would not be their most endearing athletic accomplishment. This small, dry, lively little island already has it's claim to fame - Little League Baseball. Curacao's youngsters are perennial powerhouses and have won the International Championship a couple of times in the past several years. Unfortunately, 2008 would prove to be a different story. The 12 and 13 year olds that took the field last week against Japan did not look like the confident and well-disciplined group that the people on the island are used to watching 'play ball', and they were routed by a methodical and talented Japanese team in the International Semifinal. For an island of around 150,000 people it may seem like we ought to be pleased with these accomplishments, but we have found that this island wants the 'prize' as much as anyone else.

Perhaps inspired by the amazing ability of this Olympic's 10 meter platform divers, or maybe just in need of some adrenaline after the depressing defeats of the week, Erin and I joined some friends on Sunday afternoon for some cliff-jumping. No back triples, or forward handstands - just back-flops and big splashes - a lot of screaming and laughing and cheering each other on. I also found our first seahorse, and brought it up to the surface so everyone could see it - a pretty cool discovery and nature lesson. Despite having gotten so close to victory and losing, it was a great end to a great week - great because we are at least a little closer to being 'home' than we were before.

It's hard to believe that we have traveled so far, seen so much, and now find ourselves here - together, and more in love than ever - after only 3 months since we said our vows. We can only hope the adventure continues ...

Life's A Beach

2008-08-17T14:05:00.000-07:00

One of our better looking Antillean friends

Curacao's Three Amigos ... Calamari anyone?

Dan is adapting well to island life!

Sunset from our patio ... the oil refinery only adds to the romance

This tugboat isn't doing much work these days ...

but this yellow fin thinks it makes a great addition to the reef

One of our new favorite beaches ... you can jump from right here!

One our funny looking Antillean friends

Just to clarify we did actually go to work this week. In fact, the week at the International School with our students was wonderful! Dan has never had a class full of students with so many great ideas and interesting things to say; and Erin is off to an excellent start with her Journalism class. We are really beginning to feel at home, and even enjoyed a Saturday night out with all of our new friends and colleagues! Erin also got up early Saturday morning to run 17 km with the Curacao Running Club! The highlight, however, has to be our afternoons exploring the beautiful beaches and underwater worlds of the island. These adventures are also well-suited for the camera, which means that our lives in Curacao will seem like little more than never-ending days lounging in the Caribbean sun or splashing around with our new underwater friends if all you ever look at are the pictures we post. So every now and then, get a small dose of reality, and take a few minutes to read about the adventures we're having at school.

We have lived here in Curacao for just over a month now, and it is slightly overwhelming how quickly time is flying by. Work has completely captivated both of us, and we are (as usual) two of the first people in the building in the morning, and two of the last to leave every afternoon. Perhaps we both work too hard, but I think it's only because we honestly love what we get to do everyday. In my World History classes I have several students who speak almost no english - I must sound like a squawking parrot! Erin combined with the ESL (English as a Second Language) team has proven to be very helpful in addressing the issues surrounding these students' education, but it has been eye-opening to face a completely new set of professional challenges. My students (I teach 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grades) are proving themselves not only eager to perform well and earn good grades, but also motivated to learn - just to learn! It's a face and an attitude I'm afraid I haven't seen in the classroom back in the States - at least not as a teacher.

From outrageously creative interpretive performances to dynamic and insightful round-table discussions, even these high school freshmen keep me on my toes. I certainly haven't had a dull moment yet, and I hope the streak will continue for a long while. I know it's only the first weeks of a long school year, but I do not think I've felt this energized by a group of students since I began teaching. They love to learn, and to think, and they encourage every desire I have to challenge them more - well maybe not with more homework, but certainly with more questions to ponder. I don't see me running out of questions any time soon, but it's a nice problem to have.

Erin's challenges are a bit different. She shares an office with a new ESL teacher on the Elementary and Middle School side of the campus. She has been working very hard to design a curriculum for her Journalism classes (the same class that will produce the school's newspaper) while at the same time testing and getting to know the many students who are labeled ESL. It is a daunting task when nearly the entire student body is made up of boys and girls who perhaps speak English, but spoke Dutch, Spanish, or Papamientu, or maybe all three, before ever saying their first word in the language they have to learn in.

We are also both excited about our responsibilities with soccer and basketball coming up. Erin will be helping with the Girls' Soccer team and I'll be coaching both the Boys' and Girls' Basketball teams. Our experiences and adventures on the field and in the gym will be topics here I'm sure. With such an exciting beginning I'm sure we'll hit a few flat spells in the future, and we'll be counting on visitors to help us through! We're already hoping for friends in October, and family and friends in Curacao to celebrate Christmas and the New Year Curacao style. Don't wait until it starts getting really cold - book those tickets to paradise now!

Finding Dan and Erin: a Pictorial

2008-08-09T17:06:00.000-07:00

The Kinzer Wagon at Playa Kanoa - surf's up!

Takin' a tour of the Ostrich farm

Feeding time!!!

Who's cuter? This baby ostrich is no match for Erin!

The ostrich farm's 'green' garbage disposal

Dan's very proud of the Curacao bookshelf he built

On top of the hill ... Pimpiriweg 17

Time to bring out the hammock and call it a day

One of our friends at the Tropikal Parke

The Lions we hear roaring every night wouldn't
come out to play, but this guy is almost as scary

Mr. K's International School classroom

The new gym at the International School

Erin getting settled into her new office

Packin' the wagon and heading home

This local has the idea ... sit back and relax

Exploring the Hato caves ...
Hey! Who turned out the lights?!

The Middle School yard

The International School of Curacao's Emblem

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words ... so we won't say anything. Enjoy!

Life in the Fast Lane

2008-08-07T16:31:00.000-07:00

There are times when life comes at us really fast, and the last few months have definitely been one of those times for Erin and me. From getting married; to wrapping up a school year; to moving out of a house; to spending a month traveling between Los Angeles, Singapore, and the Maldives; to packing 12 suitcases; to celebrating the life of Dan's grandmother in D.C.; to teaching workshops in Atlanta; to the drive from Pensacola to Miami; to moving our lives to the island of Curacao; to starting our new jobs at the International School - this has been a time of little reflection and a tremendous amount of action.

The kids arrived today - early, eager on their first day of the new school year - and suddenly I was back where I belonged. I am not sure if I've ever had such a clarity about my place in life, about the notion that I may have been meant to be a teacher - in fact, I don't remember having felt this way before - but I certainly knew today. I arrived at my splendid occupation entirely by accident, and although I've always enjoyed it tremendously I have also always thought that it was one of many things I could do. This line of thinking was, and perhaps in some regard still is, accurate, but I now think that I would in some way be cheating myself out of a great deal if I someday decided to stop being "Mr. K" and tackle some new occupation. Today my words, actions, exchanges, and direction came so naturally, and watching the responses of the students was so much fun; it drew out an energy that I hope I've always had in the classroom but never really appreciated. I should be tired, perhaps exhausted, but I feel renewed.

And I feel blessed. A beautiful, brilliant wife who loves me more than I will ever deserve; a family that will always be there; a group of friends that is inspiring beyond words; and a life full of adventure. It is nice to be in a place that feels like home again - after several months of transition - and to sit down and give thanks for the blessings that have entered my life. I hope, and pray, and believe the same for all of you.

First Day of School

2008-08-01T17:06:00.001-07:00

Cas Abou Beach ... beautiful above and below the water

This well camoflauged flounder couldn't hide from Dan

Neither could this little leopard eel

Sunrise over Curacao from our bedroom window!

Well, our summer adventures are officially over. Today was our first day at the International School of Curacao, and we spent several hours with the new faculty getting acquainted with the policies and resources of the school. Although the students won't arrive until the middle of next week it certainly felt like our first day of school all over again - so much is new and there is so much to learn. We both agree, this has been one of the best summers of our lives, but we also agree that this upcoming school year will prove to be just as exciting and rewarding. Our next update will contain a lot more information and photos of the school as well as a peak at our new ride and apartment.

Our last week of summer was filled with a lot of logistics - acquiring a car (1991 Mazda 626 station wagon); setting up our bank account; installing our DSL (you can now find us on Skype just about every night - dan.erin.kinzer - go to www.skype.com and follow the free download instructions); getting car insurance ($300/year!) - but we managed to squeeze in a trip to the famous Cas Abou beach and also went diving for the first time on Curacao. We actually used our recent certifications to go by ourselves - just the two of us, no instructor, and our International School connections got us all of our rental gear for free! It was great to be really under water again, and we look forward to many more dives in the future.

Now that this new chapter of our lives is well under way I think we can both look at where we have come from and where we are going, and honestly, and simply enjoy where we are. Being married - going and growing through this adventure together - is a source of pure joy every day, and I don't think either of us could imagine doing this without the other. It will certainly prove difficult to be so far from so much of what we've known, but with the addition of Skype into our lives, as well as the adventurous nature of the people we call family and friends, I am sure we'll always feel closer than we are in physical reality.

Don't forget to download Skype, and look us up - and book those tickets to paradise!

Round or Flat?

2008-07-24T09:38:00.000-07:00

An underwater preschool playground?

Playa Porti Marie

Curacao's flamingo sanctuary

Greetings again from Curacao. Since we last posted our lives have been filled with more of the same - exploring the streets and beaches of this very unique island. We built a frame for the new mattress that we ordered, we both enjoyed a spaghetti dinner and some good Chilean wine with some new friends from the International School, we saw some of the pink flamingos that call Curacao their home during part of the year, we played some tennis at the Hilton Health Center, we went for a 4 mile run around what is known as the Koredor, and we discovered a magnificent beach tucked into the cliffs of the southern coast.

Dan just finished an excellent and insightful book by Thomas Friedman, The World is Flat. For those of you who have kids in school, are just out of school yourselves, or are simply curious about the possible futures of the world, this book is a must read. The book discusses the "flattening" process that the world has gone through and focuses on the major changes that have happened since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the invention of the internet. By "flattening" Friedman means that the world is rapidly becoming more connected and interdependent than ever before, and highlights not only how and where this is happening but also shines light on the effects - positive and negative. Living in Curacao, a small and beautiful island in the southern Caribbean, grants Erin and I a unique perspective. The book was some 635 pages of small print - and Friedman doesn't waste too many of his words - so it takes a little while to get through. Truth be told, in the "flat" world, where people are so addicted to their cell phones and internet, and even work, taking the time to sit down and read the book might seem ridiculous - but it is worth it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, and we don't always cherish it when it does happen, but when something can change the way you look at the world that thing is a prize. When someone or something makes you ask questions you have never asked before that is an absolute gift. This book will do that. That being said, the one thing that strikes me the most is that Curacao is even subject to this flattening - cell phones, internet, laptops, Blackberry's, iPhones are as important here as they are anywhere else. Even people in this paradise are being brought into the "flat" world. That raises the question, and it was raised by Friedman in his book, about whether or not the "flattening" of the world is really such a good thing. Should it be so difficult to escape from the noise and clutter and find peace - find a place where you can't be found or interupted or given a new task to complete?

For those who don't know me, I like the round world as much as the flat. Erin and I both love to travel around the world (something more possible today than ever before), and we hope to see most of it in this lifetime, and Erin loves to stay connected to her friends over email (we are both just old enough to remember when email didn't exist). Even this blog is an example of how "flat" the world is. I can sit here, in a small Dutch cafe, in the middle of Curacao, at the bottom of the Caribbean and send my thoughts to every corner of the planet. My friends in New York, Goa, Singapore, Australia, Mexico, Los Angeles, and Pensacola can all bring it up on their computers in a matter of seconds. Incredible. Yet I also love being able to escape - losing my cell phone was always as much a gift as a burden - and the places I love to travel to the most are often the most removed from this "flat" world. One of the best emails I've received lately was informing me of Erin and I's new address in Curacao. Lianne, our "buddy" from the International School, wrote that she couldn't quite find the exact address but the realtor told her that our contact could be Pimpiriweg near 17 - near 17 - not 17, only close to it. I thought that was awesome! I was ready to be somewhere where I would not be so easily found. In fact, our address is Pimpiriweg 17 Apartment 3, and we already have a cell phone, will soon have a landline, and probably visit this splendid little Dutch cafe, De Tropen, everyday to check our emails. Round - Flat. Round - Flat. They say you can't have your world flat and hide out in it too, but I'm sure gonna try, because I'm not ready to choose.

Bon Bini

2008-07-21T11:51:00.000-07:00

The beautiful coast of Curacao

Dan's so excited ... a Cliff-jumpers paradise!

Church on the beach! Curacao Christian Fellowship

Dan going in for a closer look

Everything is OK!

"Bon Bini", or "Welcome", to Curacao! It is hard to believe this is our new home. Our first week in Curacao has been a wonderful one despite the pressure of getting settled into a new apartment and figuring out exactly what our new jobs will entail. This is a truly unique place with so many different flavors, scents, sights, and sounds blended into a fascinating cultural and geographic topography. There is so much to say, but only a little bit of time - so the best we can do is hope that this introduction to Curacao inspires at least a few of you to make the journey.

Our New Home - Pimpiriweg 17, Apartment 3:
2 Bedrooms, 1 Bathroom, a large open living space, and a giant patio - but that doesn't begin to describe it. First off, Curacao is a relatively flat island compared with many of the other volcanic islands that make up a majority of the Caribbean; but our new home sits at the top - the very top - of a large hill that overlooks the central part of the island. The view is by no means 360 degrees of tropical paradise - some of the sights and scents of Curacao are definitely not paradisical. The island's oil refinery sits off in the distance spewing it's poison into the never-ending blue skies. However, the tropical breeze never stops blowing through our apartment and we can watch the sun rise and fall over both ends of the island, and most importantly have a strategic vantage point in discovering and defining the blend that is Curacao. Brightly colored parakeets sing as they fly by our open windows and as night falls we can hear the lion's bellowing at Curacao's Tropical Parke. Tile floors and white walls mean we can appreciate the natural light that the tropical sun provides during the day, and a few candles do the trick once the sun goes down. When school starts in a couple of weeks, and we make our daily trip to work, I am sure we will appreciate the short 5 minute drive we have from our new home as well.

Discovering Paradise:
I believe that the true paradise of the island resides in two places: the hearts of the people who live here, and just beneath the glistening surface of the Southern Caribbean. Erin and I both look forward to exploring these two dynamic and intriguing places and I imagine that many of our updates will focus in on one, the other, or both. Since we arrived we haven't had the time to go scuba diving, but we have gone snorkeling twice. Curacao is loaded with world-class dive spots and most of them sit within swimming distance of the shore. Along most of the shoreline of Curacao the cliffs drop straight into the deep, crystal clear water (if you want to perfect your double back flip this is the place) but a little bit of searching will inevitably lead you to a quiet lagoon teeming with aquatic life. While eating lunch at a quiet restaurant overlooking a bay on our second day we could see a family of sea turtles swimming around next to a group of dutch teenagers enjoying the thrill of throwing themselves off the forty foot cliff. Right away I knew we had come to the right place. As far as the people here go we believe they are a genuine and kind group, and because they are such a blend of various cultures and nationalities they seem to not be bothered by differences. We haven't met too many Americans yet, and that is ok, but it will mean that we will be the minority here - most people speak to us first in Dutch, or sometimes Papamientu (the local dialect), but have no problem trying out their English on us when we stare back with confused looks on our faces. I have enjoyed speaking Spanish with many of the locals and also trying to figure out Papamientu, and I definitely hope to leave the island speaking four languages (even if two of them are almost totally useless outside Curacao or the Netherlands). Learning languages and exploring a new culture will be fun, but it will be the new friends and lasting relationships that stand out as the real treasure we will take from the island when we leave. Hopefully we'll be able to leave a little treasure behind too!

We're off to tackle some more of Curacao! Until next time, check the airfare to Paradise!

Saying Goodbye

2008-07-12T16:29:00.000-07:00

Here we are at the end of what feels like our first chapter together. Since our All-American Week both of us have been very busy. We flew back from Los Angeles last Saturday night and landed in Pensacola Sunday morning. We spent the day trying to get used to being back 'home' and then spent the night dancing and singing along with The Mighty Tams!!! They were back in Pensacola playing a concert on the beach so we rounded up the Pensacola Crew and brought back memories of our unforgettable wedding reception.

We were up early the next morning, and off to the airport again!? We were both expecting to catch our flight to Washington Reagan Airport to spend the day in D.C. celebrating the life of Dan's grandmother, Elizabeth Kinzer. Unfortunately the flight was cancelled, but Dan was able to find the last seat to Dulles Airport, join his family, and make it in time for the ceremony. 'Betty' as his grandmother is affectionately known, was an incredible woman and it is a privilege to be a part of her family. She is placed next to her husband, Dan's grandfather, General John 'Jack' Kinzer, in Arlington National Cemetary. Dan's visit was a quick one, and he was off to the airport that evening to catch a flight to Atlanta.

Over the next 3 days Dan was busy at an International Baccalaureate workshop in Atlanta, and Erin was busy packing their things at 'home' in Pensacola. It was hard being separated for a few days, but it made us even happier to see each other again when Dan got back to Pensacola late Thursday night.

Now we are in the middle of our last weekend in Pensacola before we move to Curacao. Most of the packing is finished, and we've said many of our "Goodbye's" already. Erin has lived here for more than 20 years of her life, and Dan has called Pensacola home for the last 5 years of his. We met here, were married here, have family here, have many of our best friends here - this is no easy "Goodbye". Yet, we are excited to move forward to the rest of our adventures, and know that everyone and everything here will continue to hold a special place in our hearts - no matter where we are.

An All-American Week

2008-07-05T19:57:00.000-07:00

Public affection in Solvang, CA

Boozin' at Firestone Winery in Central California

Erin and Tim at the Neptune Pool, Hearst Castle

Dan havin' some fun behind the boat on Lake Nacimiento

Erin lookin' cute behind the boat at Lake Nacimiento

It was a long 26 hour journey back to the States after our awesome adventures in Singapore and the Maldives - 3 flights, 12 time zones, Singapore, Tokyo, Los Angeles - but the trip was well worth it. It is always hard coming back home after being in such exotic places but it also felt good to be back.

There was no chance for rest once we arrived in Los Angeles to spend the week with Dan's family. We were off to Santa Barbara early Monday morning to help Dan's brother Tim find an apartment. From there we spent the next 3 days exploring the Central California Coast - cruising through the Danish capital of America, sipping wine at a couple of the dozens of now famous wineries in the area, spending a day touring Hearst Castle, and enjoying a day on Lake Nacimiento wakeboarding, tubing, and surfing behind the boat. It wasn't until yesterday, the 4th of July, that we finally found some time for peace and quiet. We spent the day with Dan's family playing tennis and cards in anticipation of the fireworks show at the local park.

Surrounded by family and friends we were able to fully appreciate the blessings that come with being American, and after traveling through various parts of the world together we really do understand how much we have in this amazing country. The fireworks were great, and celebrating is always fun, but it is important to acknowledge and appreciate what they signify, and not just let the day slip past without reflecting on what it really means. Now, as we prepare to leave the country again, and this time for at least a couple of years, we are thankful for the opportunities that we have had because we were born here.

We hope everyone had a wonderful and safe 4th of July!

Stay tuned over the next couple of weeks as we take the next big step in our lives together! Curacao, here we come!

Beautiful Sunsets

2008-06-27T06:40:00.000-07:00

Our Honeymoon table!

Watching the sun go down from our villa

Watching the sun go down from the fishing boat

Watching the sun go down from the beach

A sideways look at Erin and her great catch

Watching the sun go down over this paradise has been one of our favorite moments of every day. We have gotten to enjoy these beautiful sunsets from our water villa, our Honeymoon table, the fishing boat, the beach, the pool ... and each one is just as unique as it is beautiful. The sunsets are perfect reminders of how blessed the two of us are, not just to be in paradise, but to be starting the rest of our lives together. Thought you might enjoy.

Diving Deep

2008-06-26T00:48:00.000-07:00

Erin and her new friend at the Singapore Zoo

Our breakfast company

A look inside our Ocean Villa

Dan and Erin at the dinner table

A sea turtle's eye view of our Ocean Villa

Dan and Erin just dove down to 100 feet!!! We had our last scuba experience for this trip, and it was a great one. We got up close and personal to an enormous sea turtle (definitely Erin's highlight) and saw a gigantic moray eel. It is another world 100 feet below the ocean's surface, and one we are both very excited to explore.

Anyhow, we were finally able to include some photos of our last day in Singpore and our time here in the Maldives. It is hard to believe we will be making or long voyage back to the States on Sunday, but we are so thankful for having gotten the chance to see this fascinating part of the world.

We have hundreds of photographs that we can't wait to share. We will be sure to keep updating the blog with a few photos every day - surfing, scuba diving, sunsets, fishing - we promise it will be here. Just stay tuned.

Maldives: An Aqua-Adventure

2008-06-22T06:18:00.000-07:00

Still, no photos. We feel bad that we can't share this incredibly beautiful place with you right now, but we promise to do so as soon as we can.

However, the last several days in the Maldives have left us with little time to be concerned with photographs or blogs. This place continues to prove itself as absolute paradise, as well as just a ton of fun! A quick rundown of our adventures since we last wrote:

- Dan was chased by a 7 foot Mako shark while surfing
- Dan and Erin both caught 3 fish during their Sunset fishing adventure
- Dan continues to catch the best waves of his life everyday!
- Dan and Erin both received their PADI Open Water Diver certification!

We have seen deadly stonefish, sea turtles, reef sharks, stingrays, and millions of colorful and unique tropical fish; but we have also both spent time relaxing to enjoy a massage (or a handful of massages for Erin) and share a few drinks and good conversation with our new Australian and European friends in the pool. It has been an adventure for sure, but our own personal butler service coupled with the fantastic level of service and expertise have made the adventure quite comfortable. At some point we will take the time to share a little bit about the characters that have made our adventure so much more enjoyable: Emre, our Turkish scuba instructor; Shareef, our Maldivian waiter; Mark and Richard, the German and British surf guides; Sunil, our Indian butler - they along with the guests from places like the Czech Republic, Brazil, Australia, Scotland, and South Africa make a truly spectacular blend of personalities and world views. I don't think you can bring yourself to this place in your imagination, so perhaps you should start planning your long holiday now :)

Good-Bye Singapore, Hello Maldives

2008-06-17T00:55:00.000-07:00

First, our apologies for not keeping everyone up to the minute on our Honeymoon Adventure. We were just too busy having the time of our lives!

Second, you'll have to forgive us again for not including photographs with this post. It is entirely due to technical difficulties that Dan will solve as soon as possible.

Third, Singapore was an incredible place. By the end of our third day (Saturday) we felt as though we had gotten our bearings in the city, but we had to admit that there must be much more to explore. From our luxurious accomodations, politically minded taxi drivers, cheesy resort islands, to zoos, bird parks, and aquariums we certainly had a fantastic time, but there is much, much more to discover about this complex little country. Perhaps our travels will bring us here again one day.

For our last day in Singapore we decided to visit the world renowned Singapore Zoo. We cannot wait for you to see the pictures. The morning at the Zoo began with hand-feeding two very playful Asian elephants, and then we enjoyed our own buffet breakfast alongside a python and a family of orangutans ... yes, orangutans! They were literally only feet away as we enjoyed our meal and their ridiculous antics. We spent the rest of our morning exploring this marvelous zoo ... we have never seen a zoo with such large, natural enclosures, nor a zoo that let you get so close to so many animals! After the zoo we went back to the Ritz to get cleaned up and relax before heading to the airport to catch our flight to the Maldives!

Fourth, a quick comparison between Singapore and the Maldives. Singapore is an incredibly urban and cosmopolitan affair. Expensive, clean, accomodating. Everything is in English, but the only hints at the British colonial rule of the first part of last century is in the few architectural remnants mixed into the completely modernized city. There was construction everywhere. They seem to want to attract all of the world's big players ... within eyesight of our hotel there were both a Las Vegas style casino and a Disney World Resort being built. It lies at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, the farthest point south on the Asian continent, and just barely above the equator. It is a steamy place, but you never find yourself too far from the comfort (or discomfort) of a shopping mall and air conditioning. Now the Maldives are also a steamy place, and lie just north of the equator in the middle of the Indian Ocean. The architecture here however, is palm frond roofs and open-air. It is a small country made of up probably thousands of little islands, or atolls. It is absolutely breathtaking! Many of the islands hold just one resort (like ours) and are all surrounded by crystal clear water and coral reefs teeming with life. It is, however, a very conservative place. A muslim country where the only drinking or partying to be done is in the privacy of your resort island. It is as though two very different worlds exist at once: one for the tourist and one for the Maldivian.

Both Singapore and the Maldives are odd places. The native people hold their own values and belief systems, but believe that economic prosperity will only come if they allow their visitors to hold their own separate values and beliefs. We were warned before getting off the plane in Singapore that carrying any kind of illicit drug would be grounds for the death penalty and littering or disobeying any of Singapore's thousands of laws could result in very harsh punishment (read: caning). In the Maldives the customs form informed us that carrying any materials contrary to Islam was strictly forbidden: we had to ask each other if we should be concerned about the Bible in our bag. That being said, upon arrival in both places we were only received with open arms and huge smiles. The kindness, and genuine good nature of the people who we have come to call friends is a breath of fresh air, and as usual, we come to wish that people back home in the States would treat others in this way. Anyway, a good reminder of the power of a smile and a few kind words.

Fifth, and finally ... the Maldives. What a magnificent place! The pictures will not do this place justice but they will do a far better job than anything we can say. Our royal treatment in Singapore does not even compare, and our house built over the crystal clear lagoon might have the best view in the world. From the moment the boat picks you up at the airport (Dan was stoked right away) to the absolutely endless array of activities and adventures that we have already enjoyed, this place only gets better each day. Dan has already surfed the best waves of his life in 80 degree water, Erin went scuba diving for the first time, and we've only been here three days. We can't wait to send pictures, and promise to do so ASAP. In the meantime, close your eyes, feel the cool Indian Ocean breeze; see the various shades of blue and green that seem to float through the clear, warm water; and listen to the sounds of the perfect waves crashing on the distant reef ... you're almost here ... almost :)

Singapore: Day 2

2008-06-13T23:41:00.000-07:00

A sideways look at Erin and the world's tallest man-made waterfall

A Cassuary! What a crazy lookin' bird

SeaWeed or SeaHorse?! Underwater World Singapore

The Southern tip of mainland Asia

The cable car ride back into the city!

Day Two got off to a great start as we enjoyed a late buffet breakfast downstairs at the Ritz. After Breakfast we hopped in a cab and were going to explore the resort island of Sentosa until our cab driver suggested we visit the Jurong Bird Park first. As frequent world travelers we have learned to heed the locals' advice - so it was off to the Bird Park.

The Jurong Bird Park was incredible! As soon as we walked into the park we witnessed beautiful tropical birds all around us, and stepped right into a great show highlighting some very talented basketball playing macaws, great hornbills, pelicans, vultures, and more! The Bird Park is also home to the world's largest aviary and tallest man-made waterfall. We spent a few hours exploring the park, and finished just as the heat of the day was arriving.

From the Bird Park we jumped back into a taxi and headed out to Sentosa Island. First stop: the Underwater World. What a great aquarium. Even though both of us have been to one of the world's best aquariums in Atlanta, Georgia it was still a cool adventure to get up close to some of Southeast Asia's marine life. One of the highlights was the pink dolphin show - we both had seen pink river dolphins in South America, but had never seen pink saltwater dolphins.

Sentosa Island is full of attractions, and one of the most popular tourist destinations in Singapore, so after the Dolphin Show we headed for the Street Luge ... 3 times down the track and up the lift! We both had so much fun, but after the long day in the sun, and the adrenaline rush, we stopped to share a pizza, and then jumped on our glass-bottom cable car back to the city. We had big plans for the night, but as soon as we landed in the bed at the Ritz our day was done.

Day Two was wonderful! We can't wait for our third and final day ... we think we heard something about 'Breakfast with the Orangutans'!?!? Check in with us for stories of our next adventure.

Singapore: Day 1

2008-06-13T16:00:00.000-07:00

The view of Singapore from our hotel room.
The Merlion! Half mermaid, half lion!

What a wonderful start to our honeymoon! Our royal treatment here in Southeast Asia began as soon as we set foot off the plane at Changi Airport. We were picked up at the gate and shuttled to a very comfortable lounge where we waited for our bags in massage chairs. Once our bags arrived we were taken out to meet our driver, Michael, and hopped in the Mercedes for our ride to the Ritz-Carlton. We never waited in a single line, or had to find our way through customs! We found out that a popular Taiwanese boy band, 'Lollipop', was on our plane but we don't think they even got the treatment we received.

As it turned out, that was just the beginning. We have been absolutely spoiled by the friendly and helpful staff at the Ritz! Every staff member greets us with a smile and "Hello/Good Morning/Good Evening Mr. and Mrs. Kinzer."

Once we got settled in, and over the initial shock of being in such lavish surroundings, we decided to set out and explore the city of Singapore (our new friends at the Ritz had plenty of suggestions as well as highlighted maps of the city). We walked through the famous shopping district of Orchard Road, visited the Raffles Hotel, paid homage to the Merlion, and generally got our bearings in the city. Singaporeans and the frequent visitors of the city must love to shop! We stayed out of the Gucci, Prada, and Armani stores, but they were everywhere. So much shopping to do, so little money :)

We took the Metro back towards the hotel, cleaned up (it's pretty hot and sticky down on the Equator), and grabbed a taxi to the world's only "Night Safari". It is one of Singapore's most popular attractions and for wildlife lovers like Dan it was a 'must see'. We had a great experience exploring the wildlife park in the dark, surrounded by rhinos, lions, elephants, bats, and more. After our long 19 hour voyage to Singapore, however, we were beat, and couldn't even stay awake for the cab ride back to the Ritz.

And there went Day One of our Honeymoon! We can tell that Singapore will be a fascinating place to explore for the next few days. Please check back for more stories about our adventures in Singapore!

Los Angeles

2008-06-09T14:47:00.000-07:00

Dan and Tim Kinzer
Malibu, CA

Dan's little brother Tim graduated from Harvard-Westlake School on Friday! Way to go Tim! We are so proud of him ... he's now officially a USC Trojan, and Dan's 'Best Man'. Dan's family has certainly been busy celebrating this exciting season of their lives.

We have enjoyed our few days in LA with the family before officially heading out on our honeymoon. After a hectic week of moving and packing back in Pensacola this month of vacation will be appreciated even more. Singapore and the Maldives will be such an adventure, and we hope you'll check in to see photos and read updates from true paradise.

A Thousand Words: May 2008

2008-06-07T13:36:00.000-07:00

A Thousand Words: May 2008
Dan and Erin's Wedding Slideshow
Thank you Patsy Brown!
Scroll down to 'Erin and Dan are married' to watch it