REFLECTIONS

As we were pulling out of the driveway headed to Heathrow airport, it was hard to believe two years had come and gone. It seems just like yesterday Amber and I were discussing travelling overseas and here we are, been there-done that-back home. As I reflect on the experience, there were many highs and some lows. I won’t dwell on the lows, that’s boring and depressing; besides they were mainly just frustrating adjustments to international life. I will focus on the highs. I think the highs for me were one part professional and one part personal. From a professional perspective, I will be forever grateful for the opportunity that was provided to me and also that my loving wife was willing enough to take the plunge. It was an opportunity of a lifetime to be able to partake in setting up the shared service center and I learned so much from it, met so many wonderful people, and will have many lasting memories. From a personal perspective, the travel was unbeatable and the expanded view of the world is something you will never get in the US. It is so expensive to travel to Europe from the US, takes so much time, and really, until you live there, you don’t know all the secrets to getting around. We were fortunate to be stationed in London with cheap flights and the ability to leave on a whim and travel somewhere new and exciting. I think the most memorable places had to be Italy because it was the first big trip and also the France/Germany trip we took in the summer of 2008. Other memorable experiences were visiting the Youngs in Amsterdam and our parents’ visits in London. I never thought I would be the translator for my parents in an English speaking country. They aren’t even old yet!!! And it was really cool that Amber was able to surprise her Mom and take her to Paris (which was my suggestion by the way). Also, me surprising Amber by taking her to Vienna for her 30th birthday was exciting!

Living overseas also expanded my view of the world tremendously. Sitting in the US, you just never appreciate the differences of the others living on this globe, nor can you really understand. Many things came to life living in Europe. Europe is full of history, many different cultures and customs, languages, and ways of conducting business. While I am truly enjoying being back in the US with all we are afforded here, I am appreciative of the different perspective I gained living in Europe.

Most of all, I am happy to be back with my friends and family, which were too far away while we were there!!!!

~Matt

I can't add much to what Matt said. It was an experience that has changed us forever and we are so grateful for that opportunity. It was tough at times, especially when Matt was away for work and I was on my own in England, but our relationship is stronger for it. There were so many emotions throughout the whole process. I said that if we could make it through that we could make it through anything. I can't imagine seeing the world with anyone else! I look forward to future international adventures - and there definitely will be more! Maybe South America next...!

We want to thank our family and friends for all the love and support they've given us while abroad. We also want our new friends in Europe to know that we will never forget them and hope that our paths cross again in the future!

~Amber

Shhhh…Matt turned 30!

Shortly after returning to the States, we were on a plane again – this time we would be vacationing in Hawaii for two weeks to celebrate Matt’s milestone birthday.

Yes, for my 30th Birthday, I asked Amber to take me to Hawaii as a gift. It was a nice surprise and was very thoughtful of her to pick it out! No, really, we had wanted to go to Hawaii for some time now and we thought it would be a good time to go during the transition back to the US.

The only downside to our trip was that we were still fighting with various things related to our move back home and my lost golf clubs on the way to Hawaii. Whatever you do, don’t use FedEx for shipping boxes between UK and the US. They will royally (no pun intended) mess up your order from start to finish. Be prepared to get aggravated and spend a lot of time on the phone with various people, though. Okay, moving on to the fun stuff in Hawaii.

We took off on Wednesday for 2 weeks, looking forward to lots of fun! Wednesday was pretty shot with travelling from Denver to Honolulu and then on to Maui, our final destination. We were staying with my Uncle John, so he met us at the airport and took us back to the house up in Kula for a nice dinner with him and our new Aunt Boonta. Kula is located high up in the mountains at about 4,000 feet above sea level, and the views are tremendous. You get a complete view of the North and West shores from the house. The living arrangements were fantastic as we had our own bedroom and bath suite separate from the main house. We spent about 12 days in Maui and then another day in Honolulu before heading back to Denver. We had a fantastic time in Hawaii and thanks so much to Uncle John and Aunt Boonta for the wonderful hospitality and recommendations they provided during our stay!

Some of the highlights of our trip include:

-Helicopter tour: On my birthday, we took a tour of the whole island including the crater area, wetlands, and saw all of the celebrity homes. Amber and I got to sit in the front seats by the pilot and had great panoramic views of the scenery.

-Whale watching tour: We took a boat tour to go and watch the whales jumping out of the water. We were there towards the end of the whale season, though, so most of them had already started migrating back to Alaska. We found out it takes them about 60 days to travel from Hawaii to Alaska and they do it in one full swim, no stopping.

-Golf: I had the opportunity to go out and golf with my PGA tour capable uncle and some of his friends. Unfortunately, I am the farthest from PGA capable and it showed. I played a fair amount in England, but it went out the window. I swear the views caused my swing to mess up, so it wasn’t my entire fault. Meanwhile, they shot somewhere in the Tiger range and taught me some lessons.

-Road to Hana: This is a long windy road that leads from downtown Maui to the little town of Hana. The best thing about the drive is not the destination, but the scenery along the way. We traded our crappy Dodge Caliber rental car for a Subaru and put the all wheel drive to the test. We left Maui about 7am and without much traffic on the road, we ended up in Hana about 8:30am. It was supposed to take closer to 4 hours to get there with summertime traffic. With me driving - and if it had actually taken 4 hours - we would have arrived in a state of divorce, so Amber was partially glad for the shorter drive time, but her stomach was trying to catch up for a while. On the way back, we stopped for lunch at a roadside BBQ and it was one of those meals where you cannot stop smiling because the food was so good. (Matt was literally squealing with delight. ~Amber)

-Mama’s Fish House: For my birthday celebration, we went out to the famous Mama’s Fish House on the North Shore. The food was really good, but a little pricey, and we had great views while eating in the open air near the ocean.

-Parasailing: On our way back to Denver, we stopped in Honolulu for a day and went parasailing. It was a tandem parasail and we were the first to go up, so we didn’t have time to get scared beforehand. It was really fun and you could see a lot that high up. They even dipped us in the water on the way back down before landing in the boat.

-Pearl Harbor: Also while in Honolulu, we took the trip out to Pearl Harbor. It was nothing of what I expected; it turns out I was completely ignorant what to expect. It is a very sombering and moving experience going there. I have said before and will say again, to learn history you need to visit history and this is another point blank case of US history you cannot learn in a classroom. I would highly recommend the visit if you are in Honolulu, it is a must see thing to do. The ship is still buried in the water where it was shot down and a memorial bridge has been built above it to commemorate the fallen soldiers. Every so often you can see little oil droplets coming up from the ship and some say it is the ‘blood’ of the soldiers, a very moving place.

-Honorable Mentions: Haleakala Crater, watching the surfers on the North Shore, laying on the beach, snorkeling, Jazz night with David Benoit (he is incredible)

One Last Visitor

Our first European visitor was Bartosz...but sadly he was the last in our home abroad.

Bartosz, one of my team members out in Poland, came to visit us for a weekend in London. Bartosz hadn’t been to London before, so it was a good opportunity for him to get out and see the city. And since Bartosz has one of the most brutal jobs on the project team in dealing with all the IT stuff in all the countries, I figured the least I could do is give him somewhere to sleep and introduce him to London.

Dining at Vapiano
In the London Underground

On the train back to Basildon

He arrived on Friday, but we spent the day in the lovely Basildon office. Compared to the Poland office, Basildon looks like it originated in the 1800s, so he wasn’t too impressed. On Saturday, we ventured into London for the day. We ended up splitting up and doing some sightseeing on our own before meeting back up for dinner. I think he got to see quite a bit of London while we were there; he didn’t mess around. While we were in Germany during the project, we ate several times at the Vapiano restaurant, so we decided to eat at the newly opened London restaurant. It is a pizza/pasta/salad type place where they cook in front of you with all fresh ingredients. It is really good and on the cheap side pricewise. I introduced Bartosz to Belgium beer, which is one of my favorites. Then on Saturday, we took him out to Chelmsford to meet up with some of our British friends for lunch at a Spanish tapas restaurant. He got to see some of the countryside of England on the way there. Then it was back to work on Monday. Unfortunately, he had to hitch a ride to the airport with some weird guy named Paul who leaves at 3:30 in the morning for a 6:30 flight when the airport is only 30 minutes away. Sorry Bartosz, that wasn’t my fault! We enjoyed having you and are looking forward to your visit to Colorado in the summer.

Matt

With the Buckleys at La Tasca

Our Dear Friends in Poland!

So, in Europe they want to say goodbye to you with a big bang. My office sent me off with a bowling party, Matt’s office sent him off with a dance party, and we said our final goodbyes to other friends in England.

Last dinner with my friend Ela

Unbeknownst to me, my ‘Leaving Do’ started out with a Sushi dinner with the Poland SSC leadership team. There was a huge sushi boat platter enjoyed by all! Amber doesn’t like sushi, so when I travel, I love to go out and get my fill. The guys in Poland love sushi and so we always have a good time.

Then afterwards, I was told we were going to a bar to have some drinks (well, something along those lines). It was earlier than normal that evening when we ate, so something didn’t feel right. We ended up parking our car near Sopot (seaside resort town), which has a lot of clubs and bars, and started walking towards the beach. Then we walked into a bar I hadn’t been to before. As we walked in, I noticed the DJ, who was near the door area, was staring right at me. I have always been conscience when walking around Europe, but I couldn’t figure out why she was staring directly at me. Then I took a few more steps and………the whole room erupted. Many of my colleagues had come to dance (with me of course) and party the night away. I had many fun nights dancing (no, I cannot dance, I just pretend and have fun) and partying with the team in Poland and this night was added to the memories. I will definitely miss those guys and I just have to say that the memories will never leave me!!!

The only picture from our Farewell Party

I can never thank the team in Poland enough, especially Mr. February (who asked not to be mentioned in this blog), for the absolutely unforgettable experience I had there over the last two years. It was more than I could have ever imagined and wished for. I am definitely inspired by such a young group of hard working team members and look forward to getting back to visit. Keep up the hard work, stay young, party some more, and remember me when I return. I will need a place to sleep!!!

Amber with Management Team

And for some last parting memories, I wish to leave some messages for my colleagues:

Mr Luty-drink some milk, it will stop your mouth from burning!
Mr Izydorczyk-can I borrow your small software?
Mr Twarowski-we all know you had a baby boy last year…you can stop smiling now!
Ms Rakiej-can you ask them to highlight the numbers and put some footnotes?
Mr Andryszak-Those German footballers are good!
Mr Wanagos-I found the printer receipt in Warsaw, should I send it over?
Mr Lutkiewicz-We are still anxious to meet your assistant!

Matt and Management Team

To the UK team-I still have my VIB membership, wanna bowl?
To the German team-Excuse me guys, but the other residents would like to sleep!
To the Baltic team-You are not invited to bowl with the UK team and me; I learned my lesson!

To all: Dziękuję & Do Widzenia!

Matt

BBWCVS

I did not mention this before, but I got a job back in the fall. I was volunteering with projects through the Volunteer Centre at Basildon, Billericay and Wickford Council for Voluntary Services (BBWCVS) since the summer of 2007 and had gotten to know the staff pretty well. Last summer they had a couple of people leave and when the new Chief Officer arrived I volunteered to fill in temporarily until they hired someone new or until we moved back. It was great returning to work and what was even better was that my schedule was flexible and part-time, so I was still able to travel and volunteer.

Volunteering at the Basildon Library (taken for the Yellow Advertiser)

Shortly before the end of my employment, a colleague and myself had planned an ‘Away Day’ for staff and volunteers but the day happened to fall during the week of the blizzard. We had planned a day out in London, which would have been fabulous, but had to change the location to somewhere local. We ended up going to Festival Leisure Park for bowling and lunch. It was a great day and we were grateful that the entire staff was able to make it as well as a couple of volunteers.

Some of my BBWCVS colleagues

Staff Members and Chief Officer (l to r)

My last day of work was at the end of February and for my ‘Leaving Do’ we returned to Festival Leisure Park for bowling and dinner. It was such a fun evening and it was hard saying goodbye to my colleagues. I do hope we can all keep in touch – especially since most of us are on Facebook!

Matt in Athens!

Matt doesn’t get mentioned often on the blog as he is always traveling for work - and about the only thing he gets to see is his office, hotel room, or restaurant for the evening – so we thought he should write a little more about one of those experiences.

Before my European stint ended, I had the opportunity to visit the last remaining country where First Data has major operations in Europe…Athens, Greece. Our actual offices are on the outskirts of Athens, but our hotel was in Athens. I had been reluctant to want to go to Greece for work or pleasure, but was pleasantly surprised on both fronts after being there. Our hotel wasn’t directly in the city centre, but was quite close so we were able to go in each night for dinner. Our first night, we arrived late from London, and ventured out to find a Greek diner that was still serving dinner. I had always heard that Greeks eat quite late, but evidently not on Sundays (other days it was true). We found a lovely diner tucked back off one of the streets, and took the Chefs’ recommendation for a mixed grill platter. Even by American standards, it was a lot to eat, so we ended up wobbling back to the hotel after eating some chicken, sausage, pork chops, hot dogs, and salad. Oh yeah, and the Alpha beer wasn’t too bad either. I had not previously liked Greek salads (b/c of the Feta cheese), but really enjoyed them in Athens as it is pretty typical at dinner. Later during the week, I had the opportunity to eat at two different restaurants overlooking the ‘lit up’ Acropolis. At one of the restaurants (The Filistron in Thissio), we were sharing the main room with a birthday party group and they had a small live singing band, so we got a taste of live Greek music. I got some good pictures at the other restaurant which had better views of the Acropolis, but unfortunately, they didn’t turn out. I just have to say that each night we had something wonderful for dinner; it was very tasty food, well prepared, and lots to eat. And the scenery was excellent!

The Filistron

Acropolis at night

On the business front, our offices in Greece do a lot of printing for various clients. They print anything from credit card statements to electricity statements to gambling tickets. Yes, gambling tickets!!! I think that is the only place in Europe (and the US probably) that we print gambling tickets. It was neat to see. We also got to see some of the up and coming custom credit card statements they were printing where you have targeted advertisements on each statement based on user aspects. Being in accounting, you don’t typically get to see the operational areas, so it was a unique experience getting to see it up close and personal. Thanks to Errikos for the time he took to take us on the tour! And thanks to everyone in the office there for the wonderful hospitality!!

Also, for some of you that don’t know, I used to cook in a Greek/Italian restaurant when I was in high school. The restaurant was partially owned by a Greek family and so I had been exposed to Greek customs a long time ago. It was really interesting to see the resemblance of various things that I saw in them during my visit to Athens. I will just say this - a Greek is a Greek is a Greek. It’s all good though!!!

Oh, and in case it sounds like all I did was eat, that is correct. We were working long days getting a project done, so we didn’t have time for anything else. I had a wonderful time in Greece and hope to go back and take Amber with me. I hear the islands are also wonderful to visit, so something additional to go back for.

Matt

More Visitors!

Carol, Me, and Liz

January did not pass without another set of visitors. This time Matt and I hosted Liz and her sister Carol. (Liz is my sorority sister and was active in the Denver Alumnae Association before she and her family moved to Wisconsin.) They flew over for a long weekend and arrived in Basildon on a Friday evening. They wanted an authentic British pub experience and we gave them one! Our first choice for always taking guests happened to be reserved/booked for the whole evening, so we went to another good spot that was crazy busy. Saturday they went into London on their own and then we all went in together on Sunday. That is one of my favorite parts of going into London, the train ride. There really isn’t anything special about it, but since we don’t use public transportation often in Colorado it is just a different experience. I love seeing the city come into view!

Liz and Carol had a few things planned for themselves, including a special tour of Buckingham Palace, so Matt and I went to Greenwich to the Maritime Museum and Royal Observatory. We were supposed to meet up with them at Trafalgar Square but their tour ran over and they were quite late. It was freezing cold and started to snow so we took cover in the lobby of a restaurant near one of the underground entrances of Charing Cross. Amazingly, the girls came out right in front of us! The snow was coming down pretty heavy at that time so we decided not to trek out to another restaurant and settled for dinner where we were. On the train ride home we could tell that it was going to be quite a snowfall when it was all said and done. Luckily we made it home because some of the later trains were cancelled.

standing in two hemispheres at one time

Prime Meridian in Greenwich

National Maritime Museum

I woke early in the morning because I was anxious to check the weather for Liz and Carol as they were flying back home that day. The news was reporting about ‘Blizzard Britain’ and stated that parts of the underground were closed as were national rail lines. Well, so much for Liz and Carol taking the train and tube to the airport. They were up by this time preparing to head out with plenty of time to catch their flight. I broke the news to them about the weather and told them that Matt and I would take them to the airport. We really didn’t mind doing this and actually the motorways were quite good compared to other parts of the region. We got them there with hours to spare! The next big question was whether their flight got out, which it did and was one of the few.

First night of snowfall

They thought they left the snow behind in Chicago...

Matt throwing snowballs

Cheyenne loves the snow!

Apparently, this was the biggest snowstorm in 18 years! Businesses and transportation routes were closed down and people were urged to stay home and off the roads. Of course, there was great controversy over the preparedness of the city of London but give them some credit, they only deal with this once every 20 years or so and did their best given the situation!

Kathleen was here!

January was quite the busy month for me. My good friend, and former coworker, Kathleen was in London recently with her husband Sean. Sean had to travel for work and he surprised Kathleen at Christmas with a plane ticket to join him. Boy was I surprised and excited when she called me up and said “would you like to have lunch next week?” What?! She was going to be in London?! Of course, I had to see her. She and I we were office mates for a couple of years, before I changed jobs in Denver, and became great friends. She and Sean moved from Colorado to Michigan shortly before Matt and I moved to England.

I met her in London one day and we hopped on a train at Waterloo Station to go out to Hampton Court Palace and visit one of King Henry VIII’s palaces. It was a grand site and we enjoyed an official tour and stroll through some of the gardens. Afterward, we savored a Tudor-style lunch in the Privy Kitchen. We ended the day having pizza and ice cream in Harrod’s!

Our delicious lunch from the Privy Kitchen

Two days later Kathleen ventured out to my neck of the woods – about a 25 minute train ride east of the city – for dinner and a drive through the country. After a mix up at the train station that had us both waiting in different areas for 45 minutes, we finally met up and I drove her to one of my favorite Italian places. We enjoyed a lovely dinner and then went to my house. She had a brief time to say hello to Cheyenne and take a look around before we had to get her back to the train station for the last train into London that evening. While I would have been happy for her to stay overnight, I know she wanted to get back to the city.

Kathleen, it was so wonderful to see you! Thank you for including me in your plans during your first visit to London!

It took 12.5 years…

…but I finally visited my friend Sonja in Berlin! Sonja was an exchange student in my high school when I was a junior. We played on the volleyball team together and became fast friends. When she returned to Germany I vowed to stay in touch with her and one day visit. The two of us moved several times over the years and stayed in contact through letters and emails. I knew that I could not return to the States without visiting her and with only a couple of months to spare I finally made the journey to her hometown. She is quite the busy woman now as she is a doctor, but I appreciate the time she was able to spend with me during my visit.

These pictures were taken quite early in the morning - Sonja had to go to work and I had to head to the airport.

I was graciously invited to stay with her and her boyfriend at their new flat. The first evening we went out with some of her friends, but surprisingly I was too insecure to try my newly learned German language skills on them. What was more interesting is that Sonja’s boyfriend is from Spain, so throughout the weekend she went from Spanish to German to English quite effortlessly. Sonja and Rafa showed me around the city a bit and it was nice to see areas that Matt and I did not visit during our previous trip. It is always nice to experience the local’s way of life too. The visit may have only been a few short days but it meant the world to me to finally say that I made good on my promise. Now, if only I can get them out to Colorado in the next 12 years!

Sanssouci Palace gardens, Potsdam

Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin

Day Trip to Paris

My great friend, Angela, and I took the Eurostar to Paris for a day! This was my third trip to the city but Angela’s first. I was excited to able to share the experience with her. Cheyenne and I stayed over at her place Monday night and then on Tuesday she and I caught the train from Ebbsfleet around 6:00am. We arrived in Paris just over two hours later. Can you believe the weather high was 16 degrees Fahrenheit that day?! There was ice and snow on the ground, but it was all very beautiful. I can’t lie and say we were snug in our clothes b/c we were not quite prepared for that temperature, but we didn’t let that ruin our day. We did not intend to go into any of the museums or anything since we were only there for a ‘whistle-stop’ but we did make it around the city to see many of the sights. I do feel sorry for the American couple who was turned away at the Eiffel Tower b/c it was closed due to ice.

Sacré-Coeur Basilica

We first went up to Montmartre to see the Sacré-Coeur Basilica and a panoramic view of the city. Near the basilica was Tetre Square – full of street artists where we had our portraits drawn. Of course, we made our way along the Seine River past many of the historic sights to the Eiffel Tower, did some window shopping along the Champs-Élysées, and walked the grounds around the Louvre at night. We wined and dined in a couple of quaint restaurants to complete our Parisian experience. We ended our fabulous day around 9:00pm when we had to catch the train back to England.

Musée du Louvre