In het Nederlands

Visiting RIT    Lou with bird	Happy 2008, or whatever is left of the year, to one and all. Last year's missive left off with the snowstorm of the century, at least in Santa Fe, and Saskia flying back to Holland for the second half of her first year at the University of Wageningen. Niels was again an only child, with all of the perks and disadvantages. Knowing he was in the home stretch at Santa Fe High gave him motivation to push forward and complete senior year. He started to seriously think about where he wanted to attend college. For spring break, we decided to go check out Rochester Institute of Technology, in central New York state, one of the few places where one can earn a professional degree in computer game design. This is a lucrative new field that did not exist when us old folks were choosing what to study. New York is so different from New Mexico, with more water, trees, grass and a much more driven work ethic. The latter says as much about NM as it does about NY. Here in mañana land it is sometimes hard to get things done because it's too laid back. In NY people are more driven to compete. Niels seemed to have initial culture shock. He wasn't sure that he'd fit in. We also visited nearby Syracuse, our former stomping grounds. It was wonderful to reconnect with old friends Lou and Marian, Geoff and Linda, and Karen and Dick, who of course are not old but we've known them for a time (30 years is significant). Interesting that Niels immediately took a liking to our friends. Maybe that as well as a nice scholarship package convinced him that RIT would be a good place to be.
Niels and Hillary	In May, Niels graduated from Santa Fe High, thereby allowing us to graduate from about 15 years of volunteering with the public schools. He got a diploma and we got some free time to turn down well- meaning people who thought we needed to get on more committees, adopt a puppy or take on an exchange student (all actual offers) to fill our "empty nest." Hah! Forget it! Deb's New Years resolutions were to be more thankful for how sweet life is and to not take on any new activities that require meetings where minutes are taken! After graduation, Niels went to Europe on his own. He visited our former German exchange student, Andre Rinn and family as well as our friends, the Judds, who had returned to live in the UK after living in Santa Fe for 11 years. He also saw Hubert's family and found that he could actually communicate with them using an interesting blend of Germanish and Dutchish words. He also managed to get quite lost in his first 24 hours there. Instead of going straight to the Rinn's house Niels got lost in Germany by getting on the wrong train. The phone number he had for the Rinns was out of date. He ended up heading back to Holland, where he had landed that morning, and woke up his sister in the wee hours to beg for a place to sleep. After the first 24 hours things went better and he managed to have fun. In July, Saskia returned from the Netherlands for about a month. It was fun to have her here. She is a joy to have around and she is a great cook. We ate some very tasty vegetarian treats. In mid-July we travelled to Baton Rouge for Deb's mother's 90th birthday bash. Sisters-in-law Mary and Glenda Pollard certainly know how to throw a fine party and the festivities ended hours later than originally planned. People didn't seem to want to leave. It was a good time.
With aunt Suze in Covington     With Sissy in Abita Springs	After the party we were able to visit our south Louisiana connections, Hubert's aunt Suse as well as Sissy Wiggin in Abita Springs. If we were going to live somewhere in Louisiana that sweet little town would be our choice. It is lovely there, complete with live oaks alleys dripping with Spanish moss. We also visited old friend, Jim Hobbs, who will be marrying his sweetheart, Jolie, this May 23rd on stage at the Bayou Boogaloo Music Festival. It was wonderful to see Jim and meet Jolie. We saw their neighborhood and heard stories about their experiences after Katrina. They are among the handful of New Orleanians who were tenacious enough to get some of what they needed from FEMA and their house is looking good. In the meantime, however, many of the neighboring homes have raccoons living in them and are bombed out shells. It will take a lot of sweat, tears and money to get New Orleans back on its feet. In August, we packed Niels' possessions into 2 duffle bags, a bike box and a computer box. Hubert attended the new parent orientation, while Niels attended his own. Niels moved into the international dorm, his choice for living space. The school shooed Hubert away and Niels was on his own. He gets on fairly well with his roommate and has made a lot of new friends at RIT. In his free time he has been taking several martial arts classes and has been exploring Rochester by bike, in addition to attending the occasional LAN party. His first quarter in game design and development went well as far as grades go. He got a pile of college credit for AP Calculus, Physics and German and has learned that if he wants to he can take 2 more German courses for a German minor. In the fall, Saskia and her study group spent a few weeks in Tunesia to look at irrigation and erosion problems and solutions there.
After-game picnic     Rapelling down a waterfall	In November Hubert played in a soccer tournament in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Theirs was the only team in the over-50 age group. So they played against over-40 teams, one of which recruited 20-somethings from among the hotel staff. That made the tournament less fun, since even a fit 50 year old man cannot outrun a 25 year old. Puerto Vallarta itself is a bit overrun with tourists from gigantic criuse ships. However there are some lovely smaller places reachable by water taxi or bus in minutes. The highlight of that trip was the Outdoor Challenge canope tour. From Vallarta, we took a water taxi to the starting point. Next we clambored into an open 4WD truck and drove to the the tour base, where we donned helmets and harnasses. We were taught the basics of using a zipline and how to rappel. Then we climbed on mules and headed for the forest path, where we hiked for 30 minutes straight up. After a cold drink we climbed to the first platform, a steel mesh square about 5 to 6 stories above the ground. One by one, knees shaking in anticipation, we were harnassed to a double cable and zipped over treetops and a ravine to the following platform. This routine was repeated 20 or more times. We also got to rappel down 2 waterfalls and ended up soaking wet. At the end we hiked back to the base, where we were served beer, chips, guacamole and salsa. And we got these photos, which were taken by one of the crew since our hands were too full to take photos. This was an incredible experience that we will never forget.
Christmas in the London flat     Hubert's mom and Debbie	In December, we decided that we would meet Saskia and Niels in London. We figured that since Niels was already New York and Saskia in the Netherlands, London would be an easy trip. Deb's brother, Miles, has a lovely flat in London that he let us use. This was a good thing, because London ends up being the second most expensive city in the world after Moscow. We could cook in the flat and save our money for outings to the London Tower and area markets and museums. The tube ended up being more than just a means of transport. It was a study in humanity and a way to see how working class Brits live. An interesting poster in the underground read that the Venezuelan government had given a grant to the British railway system so that Brits on public assistance could receive a 50% discount on their fares. We visited Hubert's mother in Muiden, NL. She is recovering from radiation therapy for breast cancer. At that time she was in a great deal of pain but is now much improved. It meant so much to her and to us to have the chance to be together, even for just a few days.

Wishing you and your family health and happiness for the remainder of 2008,

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