Reflections on 2005 - Our Holiday Message

2005 has been a blessed one for our little family of two. It was the first year in many where neither one of us changed jobs, locations, or houses. Justin continued working for Ohio State University, Nicole continued in her position at Battelle, we continued working on our 1909 house, and took in some Katrina victims. With the exception of the Katrina victims, this new found stability allowed us many freedoms.

We have traveled a great deal this year. Justin spent a great deal of time in Europe and China. As you may have noticed on our blog (www.irozelardo.blogspot.com), Justin was afforded the opportunity for the first time since he entered graduate school nearly a decade ago to take the summer off. He chose to spend the majority of the summer in Europe, both in the Basquelands of Spain and Prague. In Spain, he stayed in Donostia (or San Sebastian if you want to find it on a Spanish map) where he enrolled in Spanish Language class for 3 weeks. The immersion was extraordinarily helpful in learning a language. The surfing classes didn’t hurt the experience!

Nicole was able to join Justin for a week in Donostia. She was awestruck with the beauty of Donostia and the area as a whole. We were able to drive up through the areas Nicole’s great-grandparents were born at, Valcarlos and Biddary, and see for the first time how the transition between the Basquelands and the western U.S. must have been for them. The highlight of the trip definitely was meeting with Jean Iroz who is Grandpa Hank’s first cousin. Jean was so kind. Despite the language barriers, we were able to speak for over eight hours. We think we missed a few things, or were maybe misled due to embarrassment about a few topics, but generally we found the evening delightful. It was an experience of a lifetime and one we hope to repeat soon. Post Donostia, Nicole went home and Justin continued onto Prague to spend some time with a friend attending medical school. It was a completely a different experience from Spain, but fun nonetheless.

Justin also spent several weeks in China this summer as well. He was able to accompany Nicole’s 18 year old sister, Kelsie, to Beijing where she will be spending the year studying abroad. While the trip was more laid back than the one he took in 2004 to teach English, getting Kelsie settled in a world completely different than our own took up the majority of the time there. Regardless, Justin found the people warm and inviting; Kelsie is in good hands.

Nicole was able to spend some time this summer with her youngest sister, Emily, and her youngest maternal cousin, Victoria. She was able to take each of them to New York City, seeing the musical Wicked with Emily and American Ballet Theater with Victoria. It was delightful to see the big city through younger eyes. Each of the girls also spent some time with her in Ohio. Additional travels took Nicole to Las Vegas twice (and the ability for her to meet her first niece and nephew), Buffalo NY several times, Orlando, and Boston.

Our home continues to be a work in progress. We had some roof work done, did some painting, restored a few windows, drywalled a few ceilings, got a handle on our landscaping, etc. We love our 1909 foursquare, but sometimes wonder what we got ourselves into.

The craziest portion of our recent months has been the addition of 2 couples that we are attempting to stabilize in our rental units that were displaced from Hurricane Katrina. Both couples are young (ages 20-23), uneducated and from backgrounds of disadvantage. Both women are expecting baby boys in January. It has been an interesting ride. We have moved from immediate needs to long term employment needs. The hardest part is knowing how to separate their realities from our own. The most challenging day to day effort is finding the balance between all of our privacies. Its kind of like having 4 teenagers around! Generally, we still continue to feel it is a decent arrangement and have learned a great deal from the experience.

Finally, the outlook for 2006 looks exciting. Apparently this stability of 2005 is too much for us to deal with! Nicole is in the midst of applying to PhD programs in Urban Studies and Planning at a number of schools outside of Ohio. Justin is exploring the ability to find a job in those locations. Beyond our regular demanding respective research endeavors, we are contemplating what it would take to write a substantial book on our experience with our “Katrina Kids.”

We hope that this brief summary finds everyone well. We see family members soo little due to geography, but think of everyone often. So, with that, we leave everyone with a wish of a very Merry Christmas and a peaceful New Year!