DeRosa Family.com

Well, the move is complete, and Jim, Sue, and family are now living in Quincy. It’s a bit of an adjustment of course. The walls are thin, and the place is compact, so noise spreads quickly and personal space is limited. In fact, even our family dog has felt the move’s impact. Nala cried all night long on the first day there. On the plus side, my father spent quite a bit of time and energy remodeling the apartment before the move, so the interior looks nice and cozy, with the same old feeling of home.

If you read the previous posting, you’d know that Nick was preparing for his trip to Tanzania to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. Well, he has traveled there and back since then, and is happy to report that his trip went wonderfully. It was everything that he expected it would be and more. He got to do a night safari and experience a night in a small, local village, as well as spend over a week’s time climbing to the peak of the mountain and back. If you’re at all interested, he’s posted pictures of his trip at the following link– http://www.nebuloid.com/kili

A short time after the last posting, I booked tickets for a trip to Morocco. So at the end of August, I flew out to Casablanca to study Arabic in Fez for three weeks. During the week days, I had 3 hour classes each day. But on the weekends, I was able to travel. My first day there, I got to see Casablanca, and then the following weekend, I traveled up north to see Asilah and Chefchaouen. The following weekend, I traveled to Marrakech and stayed there for two days. I also took a couple of day trips out to Meknes and Ifrane. Then the final weekend I got the meet Madiha’s family in Temara (near Rabat). That was the best weekend by far. They took care of me so well and treated me like family. I wish I could have stayed longer.

Since I returned, I have been busy with the graduate classes that I enrolled in at the George Washington University. Between work, school, and soccer, Madiha and I have very little free time. But we make the most out of the time that we do have. Check out our website for more information and pictures about us– http://www.steveandmadiha.com/

The summer is now over, so Bri has returned to school too. Chrissy and my mom are still working at Planet Subaru. Apparently my mom is doing pretty good at selling cars. Most months, she ranks second at selling cars after the internet salesman, who racks in the most sales every month simply by being the sole online representative for the company’s Hanover branch.

As far as Nick is concerned, things are going pretty well on his end. He and Stef threw a Halloween party at his apartment last weekend. But Nick has more to celebrate than just Halloween. He just recently interviewed for an art teacher’s position at a school in Marshfield and was offered the job just last week. So he happily accepted, and handed his resignition letter in to his current employer. Now he’ll be paid more and have a short commute of only six minutes!

Well, that’s all the news I have for you now. Please check back though, as we’ll be sure to update you as time progresses.

Welcome to the first posting of the new category: Jim, Sue, & Family.

From time to time, we’ll post updates on what’s happening with our family, and we hope you’ll do the same. You can create a user name for yourself, and if you email myself or Bri, we can set up your own category where you can post updates about yourself and your family.

As for our family, it truly is a season of change as my parents prepare to sell the house in Hanover and move into the house in Quincy. This directly affects them, as well as Bri and Chrissy, who currently live at home. Indirectly, of course, it affects Nick and I, as we will have to say goodbye to the house we grew up in and move our belongings out of the rooms we have lived in nearly all of our lives.

Yet, we’re not the only ones to say goodbye to our house. Last weekend a large group of our friends and family said bye to our Hanover residence as we threw our final 4th of July Party. The DeRosa Household is famous for it’s 4th of July parties, and without a large enough yard or house in Quincy, this was our final one– at least for the forseeable future.

As for our family, Nick is heading off next week to Tanzania to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. He’s been saving up for this trip and talking about it for over two years and now he has finally booked his trip.

Sue, my mom, has been working at Planet Subaru for a couple months. She doesn’t love the job, but she seems to like it enough to stay. She works long hours and her co-workers aren’t the friendliest people around, but it’s good money if she’s on top of things and selling cars regularly. The good thing is that she works at the same dealership as Chrissy, so they get to see each other from time to time during the work day.

There’s nothing new going on with the rest of us. I’m still working at George Washington University in the DC area, Bri is working at Blockbuster, and Chrissy is still at Planet Subaru. Jim, my father, although still working for the Post Office, is looking towards retirement in the next couple of years.

Please check back on us, and we’ll be looking forward to hearing about all of you! Thanks!