4th of July

So, life is been interesting since we graduated. I'm working for a company called Western Standard, doing Romanian<>English translation and David still works at BYU because they let him work on campus. It's pretty complicated but it worked out for him and we're not complaining. Not too long ago we found out that David got accepted into the Ethnochoreology Graduate Program at the University of Limerick, Ireland and we've been getting ready to go there at the end of August. Keep your fingers crossed that we'll be able to go. Why I say that? Well, it's been quite an adventure trying to get student loans. Not only is it hard to obtain loans if one goes to school in the States but it's even harder if one wants to study abroad. So, right now we're in the process of applying to Stafford Loans and other loans to help pay for out plane tickets and at least the first month's rent. I will be looking for a job once we get there but for now we have to rely on loans.

What else happened since the end of April... Well, we graduated and walked on the 24th of April, went to California at the end of May for Aunt Sheri's funeral, celebrated my birthday in California, worked a lot, got some dental work done and my wisdom teeth out (which cost almost $2,000 - yeah, that's where my salary went!) and had fun at the Highland Games at Thanksgiving Point and celebrating 4th of July in Provo watching the Stadium of Fire and in Midway having hamburgers and corn on the cob. So... a pretty busy summer so far. I only got to go to the pool twice this summer and I really want to go, but I went to the gym more and actually lost 10 lbs. since February. I'm pretty proud of this particular accomplishment. A couple other things we did were spending time with our friends Carl and Karina, going to baby Adam's blessing in Payson (Eni and Aric's baby boy), celebrating Romanian and Catholic Easter with Romanian friends and having a cool Romanian barbecue in the Rock Canyon Park in Provo. Oh, one other thing I'm happy about is my green bell pepper plants that I've been taking care since they were little babies and who are now all grown and are producing very tasty green peppers. :)

I'll give you a little more details on some of the stuff that we did. I told you that we went to aunt Sheri's funeral. Aunt Sheri is David's aunt and his mom's sister. She was very young and has three kids. She was engaged to be married and died in a car crash in California. Charity, David's sister was in the car when it happened but she was very lucky to only break her arm and get some scratches and bruises. Of course that is not lucky but it's better than dying... So, we went to the funeral and it was really sad but it was good to meet and see family that we only get to see once every couple of years.

The Barbecue with the Romanian and friends was really cool though. We had a wonderful time with Cristina and Brandon, Amy and Jeanene, Viorica, familia Geambasu, Maria-Taylor and bebe Luca, Eni-Aric-baby Adam and Aren, Eni's parents si Gaby creata. Fratele Geambasu cooked mici and sora Viorica brought branza si rosii, while Eni and het family brought some very tasty chicken drumsticks and cake. It was real fun especially watching the boys playing Bocci and enjoying each others company.

This is our summer so far. I'll try to post more in the future, once we get to Ireland. I'll also post a few pictures of the events I talked about above. Love and hugs to everyone!

Life...

Dahlee and David's Graduation Ceremony

Dahlee and David are finally graduating from Brigham Young University! Dahlee is graduating with a BA in Linguistics and David with a BS in Exercise Science.

If you'd like to come to the Graduation Ceremony, you'll find below the information you need.

The ceremonies will take place at the following times and locations, on the 24th
of April 2009:

- Dahlee's ceremony is at 8:00AM
- David's ceremony is at 2:00PM

- Dahlee's is at the Marriott Center, Provo, UT
- David's is in the Smith Fieldhouse, BYU Campus, Provo, UT

We hope that many will be there to celebrate with us.

Christmas Newsletter - 2008

Happy Holidays!

It was the day before Christmas. My family traveled, like every year, to the small village where my grandparents were spending their holidays. After five long hours the train finally stopped in Arpash, where my grandpa was waiting for us with a carriage pulled by his brown horse. It was getting dark and we decided that we needed to hurry. Poienita [Poyeneetza], the village of our destination, was 8 km away and because of the thick snow that kept falling throughout the week, we knew that it was going to take us longer than usual to get there. The carriage started to move slowly in the snow and our excitement grew with every step that the horse made. We were almost there and were going to have so much fun playing in the snow with our old friends! After about 20 minutes we arrived at a small hill. From far away the hill didn’t look like much of a challenge, but close up we noticed that the hill was icy and maybe a little too steep for the one horse that we had. When the horse started to struggle up the hill, we decided to get off the carriage to lighten its weight. Grandpa tried everything he knew to get the horse climb the hill but with no success. By now it was dark outside and we were still about half way to the village. After a while, a gypsy man who saw us struggling came to offer his help. My dad and the man pushed the carriage and grandpa helped the horse up the hill and they eventually succeeded in getting to the top. We kids got back on the carriage and grandpa walked in front leading the horse by its bridle. The horse was visibly cold very tired so my parents chose to walk behind the carriage. We were in the middle of some fields now and getting close to the village. Because my sisters and I weren’t moving much, we became very cold. I was holding Mira and I can still remember that my hands got so cold that I wasn’t able to feel them much anymore. I was crying and wishing we were home, back in Bucharest, in our warm apartment. We didn’t even have a Christmas tree here, in the village and probably Santa didn’t even know that we were here. The night was still and cold. The snow was glittering in the light of the moon and it was quiet. Only the wheels of the carriage sounded in the night. My parents were left behind and I was worried now that they might get lost and maybe eaten by some animal! The forest wasn’t too far away and I remembered stories that my mom and grandpa told us about wolves and bears that lived around here. And we kept going. After a long drive we got to the house. Grandma, who had been worried sick, hugged us and helped us in. She soon put some food on the table and we had a few goodies that she had prepared for the occasion. The house was nice and warm and smelled like cake and cabbage rolls. I love cabbage rolls, I thought. I was safe now. After we ate a little bit, grandma said that it’s time for us to go carol our next door neighbor, Tantee Jenica. I was embarrassed to sing and didn’t want to go out in the cold again but we didn’t have much of a choice. When Tantee Jenica opened the door and we started singing, I felt warm inside and I was happy. I loved Christmas Carols! Tantee Jenica sang with us and then invited us in and served us with really good cake. Later that evening, when we got home, my mom told me something amazing. She said that when they were walking in the silent night, they heard something like a choir singing in the distance. They couldn’t tell what song it was but they said that it was beautiful. Grandpa said that it was some choir from a close by church but my mom knew that they were choirs of Angels singing praises from the skies. I didn’t hear them because I was too busy and concentrated on my own suffering but as my mom talked, somehow I knew that she was right and I really wished that I heard them too. Christmas is a time of remembrance, a time for love, a time for giving and a time for family… Let us all give a little bit more of ourselves this Christmas season and maybe, if we sit still and listen, we might hear the beautiful choirs of Angels this Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas!

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Our Love for Folk Dance

As part of the international folk dance program at BYU David and I both had the great chance to be on SPAC, the team that travels within Utah at the end of every winter semester. We learned many dances from America, Mexico, Israel, Ireland, Ukraine and Hungary. We danced for thousands of elementary school children and traveled all the way to the border with Idaho for some concerts. In June we were privileged to go to Nauvoo, IL for two weeks, where we got better acquainted with the local history and culture and performed every evening on an outdoor stage very close to the Mississippi River. We visited Carthage Jail, and other sites in Illinois and Iowa. In Missouri we visited the Saint Louis Arch which is an impressive piece of architecture. It was a great experience. We had a lot of fun spending time with great friends and sharing our talents and love for folk dance. David decided that he loves folk dance so much that he would love to combine this love with his love for teaching by becoming a folk dance college teacher. He is currently applying to graduate programs offered in several places around the US and Europe. We hope that he will be accepted in the best one that there is. Wish him luck!

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Only One Semester Left!

Last fall semester was a challenging but good one for both of us. It was good because we learned many interesting things for our careers, but it was challenging also because we had difficult major classes. We succeeded however in passing all the exams and in getting good grades. Dahlee finished all her Linguistics major classes and has only one General Ed English class left, which she will be taking online next semester. David took some more classes for his Exercise Science major and is also getting very close to graduating. In fact., both of us are going to graduate in April 2009. What an exciting day that will be, when we will both receive our diplomas, the fruits of our long years of studying and sacrifices. We are happy to have gotten this far and anxious to graduate and move to a different stage in our lives. Dahlee, just like David, is applying to graduate programs in Applied Linguistics and is trying to get accepted into the online Academic Advisement Graduate Program at Kansas University . She would love to become a certified academic adviser and hopefully continue on to graduate school in the field.

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Work is great at the Open Access Computer Lab

One activity that takes most of our time when we’re not in school or doing homework is our work. We still work on the BYU campus, as Lab Assistants for the computer labs. Dahlee works for the Open Access Computer Labs and David for the Humanities Computer Labs. We like our jobs very much. Dahlee’s job is to supervise lab assistants, take care of problems in the labs, answer lab assistants’ questions and help patrons in the lab. David is a lab attendant and he has to help students and faculty with their problems in using the computer. We’ve been working at these places for more than three years now and so we have a good hang of how to do our jobs. As a result, David is always the one asked to update the computers and make them work for both students and faculty, while Dahlee gets a chance twice a month to participate in full staff meetings where together with other supervisors and with the managers discusses ways to improve the organization. As a result for our efforts and dedication we put into our jobs, we received raises at the end of the semester and the appreciation of our colleagues and managers.

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2008 Timeline

· From January until April we attended winter semester at BYU, which we finished successfully.

· In May we toured Utah and danced for elementary school kids.

· In June we went to Nauvoo, IL

· From mid-June until September, we worked full-time at the computer labs on the BYU campus.

· At the end of August we took a short vacation to Las Vegas, NV where we had a great time together.

· From September until December we attended fall semester at BYU and were successful in passing all our classes.

· At the beginning of November, Dahlee went to a Translators Association conference in Orlando, FL and learned a lot about how to be a better translator. She does translations from Spanish into English as a freelancer.

· We spent Thanksgiving with Patrick, Daniel and their family, and the day after, with our friends Carl and Karina.

· We are now getting ready for Christmas by decorating our house and packing presents.

“Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger”

Last Semester!

School has started about 7 weeks ago and we are now almost half way through. It feels good knowing that I'll be finishing all my major classes this semester. It's been a long journey at BYU but its almost over and I'm looking with much anticipation to the graduation day in April. David will be graduating at the same time so it will be fun to do that together. The experience at BYU was great. I had a wonderful time learning a lot of new and interesting things. I discovered more about myself and about life in general. My major in Linguistics made me really happy and learning how to teach English as a second language was a very rewarding experience. My work as a lab assistant in the Open Access Computer Labs has been a great experience and I enjoyed every minute of it. I loved working with other students, learning about computers and just helping students in the labs. It was the best job I've ever had and it taught me humility but also to be happy with who I am and to always strive to be better. As much as I want school to be over, I know that I'll miss being a student and I'll look for every opportunity I'll have to learn more in the future.

SPAC Tour - Utah and Nauvoo, Illinois

We're back from our tour with the BYU Folkdance Ensemble. We had a great time both visiting Elementary Schools in Utah and dancing in Nauvoo, IL and the surroundings. Here are some pictures from our tour.

School is out and tour is at the door!

My dear friends, celebrate with me. I finished one more year at BYU, having only one more semester to go! On Wednesday, the 23 of April, I had my last final exam of the semester and now I'm FREE! :) Well, not quite actually but it feels good not having to worry about readings and homework. My SPAC tour will start on Monday, the 28th of April and I'm really excited and nervous at the same time. I had a lot of shopping to do and now I'm waiting with anticipation to start the tour. David is on the team as well but being a second year SPAC-er he doesn't feel as nervous as I am. That helps me relax a little bit. Because of being nervous and wanting to have the time pass faster, why I've been meeting with friends to keep me busy and help me forget. Yesterday, Gabi Creata and I went shopping and had a good time. I drove all over Provo in intense traffic and it felt great. Today the two of us and Eve will make cozonac and at midnight we'll go to Salt Lake to the Orthodox Church to celebrate the Orthodox Easter. I'm excited to be outside of the church tonight, carrying lit candles and singing "Hristos a inviat". Tomorrow we'll have a potluck dinner with our SPAC friends and we may even spend some time with Gabi again. Hopefully all this won't wear us out and we'll be ready at 7:30 AM on Monday for our first tour day! We've worked hard this semester and learned many dances that we're all excited to share with the kids around Utah and with the visitors that will be in Navoo in June this year. I'll keep you posted on how the tour is going and I'll share pictures as I'll have some. So, stay tuned!

2007 - A year of joy!

December 2007

Dear family and friends,

2007 is been a full year for us. We’ve been going to school full time at BYU and we also worked on campus while also being on a folk dance team. Here is a short review of our year. We hope that you’ll enjoy hearing from us.

In March David and Daliana decided to unite their lives and got married in Manti, Utah. They were happy to see so many family and friends who came to celebrate with them and they would like to thank everyone who sent presents for being so nice and thoughtful.

Daliana is a senior in College. She just decided to change her major to Humanities with a French language emphasis. Besides her major, Dali is working on a World Dance minor and a TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) minor. As a result, she still has a few more semesters to go until she graduates. Dali still works at the Open Access Computer Lab on campus and starting January she became a Shift Supervisor. She enjoys her job very much.

David is a senior in college as well, majoring in Exercise Science and planning to go to Medical School afterwards. He is working on a World Dance minor as well. David works as a Lab Attendant in the MAC/PC Humanities Computer Lab and as a web programmer in the Humanities Department. In May 2007 David went on a one-month folk dance tour to all the Elementary Schools in the Utah Valley. He enjoyed his experience very much and is excited to be doing it again next year. He thinks that this time it will be an even better experience because he will get to do it with Daliana.

Together, Dali and David went on a trip to California where they had a wonderful time with their grandparents and other family members, and before that they went to the Arches National Park and other National Parks in Southern Utah.

As you can see, we had a great year. We hope that you and your family had a prosperous year as well.

Marry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love,

David and Daliana Johansen

I made it!!!!!

On Wednesday David and I found out that we were selected to be part of the Spring Performing Arts Company at BYU, or SPAC. SPAC is the back-up touring folk dance team at BYU. David was on it last year but for me is the first time. I've been folk dancing for almost two years now and this is a great achievement for me. We will go on tour in the month of May 2008 and will dance for all the elementary schools in the Utah Valley and around. it's going to be tons of fun. The picture is from a concert that we had a few weeks ago in Salt lake City with my current team, 9 RB. I love folk dance and I'm so excited to dance with David next semester.

Long time no posts.....

It's been more than two months since I last wrote something. Time to repent and talk a little about our wonderful California vacation. We stayed in Garden Grove at David's grandparents and we had a great time. We went in LA a couple time and saw the Griffith Observatory, the Hollywood sign, the Grumman's Chinese theater and the boulevard of stars. Another time we went to Disneyland and had a blast remembering what being a child was like. I liked feeling like a child again in the land of happiness. I got myself a Tinker Bell green shirt and David got himself a nice big cup (tradition). Of course that the beach was on our list of things to do, together with some Romanian and Filipino food shopping that we did at the little stores in Garden Grove.

Springville Fun

This last week David and I had a great time in Springville, UT with some friends who visited from out of town. I'm talking about Marta and Mark Chapman and Aura Ene. We met at brother and sister Smart's home, had dinner together, played games took pictures and just had old plain fun talking and joking. Marta and Aura are from Romania and I've known them for more than 7 years now. They are really nice and fun people to be around. I hope you'll enjoy some pictures of our adventure.

Folk Dance

One of the things David and I love is folk dancing. We both started folk dance at BYU and made it to different teams. David was even on the back-up team (or SPAC) this year!

Anyway, like I said, we love dancing so we decided to be counselors for the folk dance camp this year. That was a great thing and we had a lot of fun with the kids. I had a group of 6 girls between 10 and 13 and David had a group of 6 boys between 9 and 18. It was a lot of fun to take care of the kids and to help them learn the dances and enjoy the camp. We did everything together. David had to teach the boys a couple dances and that was a good experience for him. We learned Irish dances, African, Hawaiian and Polynesian dances and also a mixture of dances from all over the world including my and David's most favorite, Israeli folk dances.

Now, that the camp is over and we both got back to our jobs (we both work in computer labs on campus), we decided that we wanted some folk dance in our life so, I became a TA for the international folk dance class and David TA-s for the clogging class. We both have a lot of fun TA-ing even if it's hard sometimes to teach dances. It's a very rewarding activity too because we get to learn from the teachers how we can become better teachers and dancers and in the same time we help students get better and learn the dances faster.

Because I want to get better at dancing, I decided to take an Irish Dance class at the Power Academy of Irish Dance. It's a class where I can learn proper technique and become stronger and more true to the Irish dance style. I like the class because it gives me the chance to practice and learn new things and it's also fun and entertaining. All the students are friendly and the teacher, Aubrey, is really nice and a great dancer.

I love being a TA and I love folk dance. Oh, I forgot to mention this: It's because of folk dance that I met David. We were in a dance class together when we first met last year. But that's going to be another story...

Hello world!

Well, I'm new to this but I'm excited to share a bit of our life with you.

I'm Daliana, a senior at Brigham Young University, Utah. I'm a French Studies major and I have three minors: World Dance, Computers and the Humanities (CHum) and TESOL (Teaching English as a second language). I'll probably graduate in a year and might go to grad school to become a certified TESOL teacher. I love to dance, to travel and also to have fun. I love foreign languages like French and Spanish and other cultures too.

On March 3, 2007 I married David Johansen. He is a student at BYU as well, studying Exercise Science and planning to go to Med School. He loves Mac Computers, folk dance (clogging and Israeli in particular) and watching movies. He also plays computer games sometimes.

So, this is our little life in a nut shell. We love it. We live in Provo for now but would love to travel and live around the world. I was born in Bucharest, Romania and came to the United States on December 31st, 2002 to study at BYU and David, who was born in Provo, Utah has lived in Germany, Korea and Japan and visited many other countries. He's also been a missionary in the Philippines and speaks a language called Visayan (Cebuano).