Oh so much to be thankful for...

 I am fully aware that today is the red haired step-child of American holidays, Black Friday.  It may not be acknowledged as a holiday, but it's a day dedicated to commercialism and consumerism like any of the highly revered and very traditional national celebrations.  I have to admit that is is a bit of a bummer to miss it.  It was one of my favorite days in my former retail career.  Shoppers are feeling festive and focused entirely on two things: finding the best gifts for loved ones and spending less than the sucker who bought the best gift yesterday.  At the end of the day, my former employer would show me on a nifty graph how Black Friday, Christmas eve, and Independence Day kept our shop afloat during the year.  It is a great time to appreciate a season of success for vendors and a season of giving for consumers.  Capitalism and clever marketing campaigns just aren't relevant in Europe (or at least France) the way they are back home.  I may be the only avowed lover of Black Friday...

I'll do a little Thanksgiving reprisal.  I had the distinct pleasure of educating all my students on the history of Thanksgiving for the first time.  Many had heard modern day traditions of turkey feasts and football fanatics; however, they were unaware of its origins.  My mom sent me a book in the mail that illustrated the whole thing from start to finish....with the exemption of the name of the king of England in 1620 who was persecuting the Puritans.  Turns out it was King James I~the very King James that the Bible translation is named for.  Anywho, it was a treat to fill the children's heads with images of the king sending spies to watch the Puritans, soldiers arresting lawbreakers, Puritans fleeing to America, the potential of pirates or hurricanes attacking the Mayflower, scurvy (they had never learned about scurvy before!), savage Indians, and a wild new world.  They loved the part where William Bradford and Massasoit bowed to each other and then kissed each others' hands...hilarity for children to imagine men kissing each others' hands.  It was really nice explain that the Pilgrims were able to cultivate so many crops that they could host a feast to thank God for delivering them through so many hard experiences (9 weeks at sea, a harsh winter in the few houses they could construct, and the deaths of half the people who made the voyage).  It was just as nice to hear what the children were thankful for.  Surely, there were a few oddball answers that kids always say like their Nintendo DS or their Michael Jackson cd (seriously...), but I loved that so many little ones appreciated their family, pets, educations, and homes.  Perhaps a story about a bunch of Puritans leaving behind everything they knew helped the kids remember how fortunate they are (even if they do have to live in France).  It was a great week at school.

In other school news, my little ones (2nd and 3rd graders) learned a song to help them remember the days of the week.  I needed a teaching tool because repetitions weren't helping them retain the days.  Alas, I resorted to using a song from an overplayed birth control medication in the states.  It goes a little something like this....



...I'm not proud of it, but it's working and the children love it!

Back to Thanksgiving~ Last night the student government at Georgia Tech Lorraine hosted a Turkey day potluck dinner.  It was terrific.  The dinner demographics provided a multicultural experience and international cuisine.  We had the essentials; stuffing, cranberry sauce, gravy, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, broccoli, and of course turkey.  There were also french treats; every dessert tarte you can imagine and quiche.  Chorizo made a surprise appearance from what I can assume was one lone Spaniard in the mix.  Last but not least, there were more Indian dishes than you could shake a stick at (none of which had names I could remember).  What else would you expect from a GT dinner?

Pilgrims and Indians didn't have Fanta

Kyle's plate~no worries Mom, we are not starving here!

Kyle, Phil, and I are happy~check out the turkey by Kyle's head!  Silly....

The program for the evening consisted of a talent show and then karaoke party.  Kyle and his friend Peter had worked up a little ditty in light of the Christmas season.  They competed against a pair of french dudes who sang Karma Police, an Asian fellow giving a lovely rendition of a James Blunt tune, and a couple of other french fellas with unique skills.  Please enjoy the videos...


Kyle & Peter rockin it out...aren't they lovely?



You Has Bees the One for Me~this one is dedicated to Chandler Precious Creel in Germany



I keep hoping there will be a day here where I am not exposed to anything Michael Jackson... maybe 2010?


Kyle and Peter won the talent portion of the evening and brought home 50 big ones (well, 25 euros each!)  I'm beginning to love the banjo that brings home the bacon more and more.   The karaoke had a much bigger surprise in store for everyone at our wholesome holiday gathering.  Apparently the rented sing-a-long machine came with several catalogs included one where popular songs were set to videos of topless women.  We learned "PB" next to a title didn't mean peanut butter (it meant Playboy...yikes!!!).  Thankfully we were able to enjoy tunes the rest of the night with images from 1990 Disney World and American national parks.  My favorite rendition of a second rate pop hit was two Frenchmen who dedicated themselves to a very animated version of "Barbie Girl".  Loads of laughter...



The first time ever that this song was entertaining


At the evenings close, everyone pitched in to clean up.  I ever so grateful for the French guys who insisted on listening to "Call on Me" while we stacked chairs and rolled up table cloths.  It was the highly favored track of our intern year; we danced to it weekly.  Kyle teased me relentlessly for remembering all of the moves.  It seems he's reserves his brain to more purposeful things than a dance number with 12 other college graduates.  All in all it was a great night.  I'm grateful we had good friends and plenty of food to share a Thanksgiving meal.



A throw back to my interns...I'm getting all sentimental.


Hope you enjoyed this very video-rific edition of my blog.  I promise that now that I've mastered the method, I will calm down.  Happy Thanksgiving~the first Thanksgiving feast lasted for 3 days; isn't so great that Americans keep the tradition with days and days of left-overs?  I'm coveting all your turkey sandwiches...A plus friends and family!

Holidays, Visitors, and Peanut Butter

It has been an exciting few days.  A week ago, Jack (the minister at our church) wanted to make certain that we'd be at church this past Sunday.  Silly Jack, doesn't he know we love church?  What we didn't know is that we were in store for a great surprise.  Our church was hosting two services~one in French (like always) and one in English.  The first passed like any other culte (church service).  The second was to pay tribute to very special visitors; American veterans had traveled from the U.S. to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Metz from the Nazis.  In 1944, these proud servicemen fought boldly and succeeded in returning the Lorraine region to the French.  Luckily for our most honored guests, Jack is British and speaks English quite beautifully.  He even asked Kyle to lead a prayer as a true American representative from the congregation to welcome our veterans.

Kyle next to Jack before he prayed~you can't tell, but he has a lovely red, white, and blue tie on for the occasion

Jack (right) with several American veterans and their wives

I was moved to big fat crocodile tears for the whole service; we sang Amazing Grace (in French & English together).  Jack preached from Isaiah 65 (New Heaven New Earth).  In it he compared Isaiah's experience under the oppression of the Babylonians to the age when Nazis defeated the better part of Europe.  God spoke through Isaiah to his people about hope for a new home where there will be no more sorrow and no more loss.  People will live long lives and never be another man's slave.  The bad things we know now won't even be remembered.  It speaks to the individual Christian in a way too; we will no longer be slaves to our ever failing flesh.  Instead of being a sinner, we will become God's delight.  Isn't that what Christ's followers dream of?  I'd rather be a joy to God than continue to sin and separate myself from him.  Anywho...it was a lovely sermon both in French in the first service and English in the second.

After church the mayor of Metz hosted a reception at the town hall for the veterans and friends.  French children sang The Star Spangled Banner and La Marseillaise.  The veterans were given the medal of Metz; it's the highest honor that can be given in our city.  They had even prepared a small war museum in a nearby hall.  It was just such a treat to see.

Hotel de Ville decked in stars and stripes!

American Heroes

My favorite soldier from the exhibit

Alas, the rest of this entry may sound a little frivolous...but these next few things just made me super happy.  It happened to be one of the ugliest days today in the history of the time Kyle and I have lived here.  The French call it "un temps de chien" or very bad weather (literally: weather of dog).  We ought not have been surprised to find a friendly little intruder in our dorm...

A kitty under our bed!!!

She obviously was trying to evade the nasty dog weather.  After a few minutes of playing with our new friend, we returned her outside.  Afterall, our landlord/RA Fabrice (pronounced like Febreze) would have probably given her the boot or something worse.

She's looking a bit more disgruntled now that she's back outside.

Last but certainly not least, we got a package in the mail from my parents!!!  It was loaded with excellent American items which are either super expensive or non-existent here.  I am most excited about my dryer sheets and SHOUT color catchers.  I think the French don't use color catchers because all their clothes are black.  If they had dryer sheets, it would diminish static cling and they might be a cheerier bunch.  If they were static free, they might even consider throwing some pink or green in their wardrobes and end up needing color catchers.  Perhaps it is a brilliant money saving method to just stick with static-y black attire....

Kyle's favorite item from the package is a toss up between granola bars and log cabin syrup.  The perplexity is how syrup cannot exist in France?  After all, isn't french toast french?  Well...according to wikipedia french toast was known to Americans and British folks alike as "german toast" prior to WWI.  It was changed due to the rise in anti-german sentiment.  That is, if you believe what you read on wikipedia.... Being the goober that I am, I've disclosed a picture of some of our treasured American cuisine.

Yep, that's real Duke's mayonnaise.  France has got nothing on it.

Happy Thanksgiving to you, my friends and family.  I hope you are well and have a fantastic turkey day!

Busy week....

We kept it busy and we kept it real this week.  From fulfilling our day to day jobs to laundry, paperwork, grocery trips, and Christmas planning, we are glad it is Friday.  As one of Kyle's french friends says, "I am TGIF!!"

Several things occurred in school this week.  It was the first time I had to turn up the discipline.  It was inevitable; the novelty of having a real Americaine in the class has worn off.  Surprisingly, it has resulted in a deluge of cute little knick knacks and doodles~perhaps a measure from my highly favored students to pacify the stern foreigner.  Thank goodness that when I'm strict with them I'm speaking English and not German...who knows what they'd be giving me? Stehen Sie auf!  Setzen Sie!  Then again, I probably wouldn't command much more authority in German either...

So crab shapes... that's what we always called the little fish pieces that were real crab flavor that you can buy at the grocery store.  It was a staple of my childhood.  Kyle and I found some here, and it is practically free it is so inexpensive.  We figured we'd give the small pack a whirl (20 crab shapes in all).  Well, using it before it goes bad has proved quite a feat.  Those things go forever and ever.  They have provided the key element in 3 great meals we've had.  A crab inspired quiche was consumed Sunday; we had some friends over, and it turned out to be pretty good.  On Monday and Tuesday we had a crustaceus sea bug inspired salad (we took the old tuna salad number and put a new spin on it).  Very tasty sandwich, indeed!  Lastly, tonight we are about to partake in Kyle's first crab bisque.  We thought we'd augment this little number with canned crab meat (which surprisingly is not very expensive either).  All that said, it is time for us to eat... and yes, it's the last of the crab shapes.  Bon appetit!

Troll the Ancient Yuletide Carol

Kyle and I have been  shamelessly enjoying an early Christmas season by playing holiday music non-stop while at home.  The melodies inspired us to take the next step.  Since we'll only be able to enjoy the decorations we bought in France for one year, we figured we'd enjoy them for as long as we could.

Our holiday fervor began with a much needed trip to Ikea last weekend.  Going to Ikea back home is always a major time commitment and even more so here since we depend on a bus schedule (which doesn't come too often to the suburbs on Saturdays).  Naturally we had to make a day out of it; thanks to the cafeteria and Kyle's prior knowledge of Ikea's inexpensive breakfast, we started our shopping day eating tasty pastries and drinking limitless hot chocolates and coffee. The oddest part about this is the time of the morning when (what we can only presume are) Ikea mascots are released into the dining hall and begin to terrify the children with their mere presence.  It was hilarious and we got pictures....

An Ikea bee~notice the lack of children--they are all hiding.

Once we ventured into the labyrinth that is Ikea, we were thrilled to see it had been transformed into a winter wonderland.  Happily we collected a green beaded garland and a mega pack of silver ornaments.  I was fully committed to making the first Hamilton Christmas tree in the Slytherin colors, but that's really no way to celebrate the birth of the Savior.  We decided to try a pack of red tinsel...I can tell you that this is our first and final Christmas with tinsel.  It has, however, made our otherwise Malfoy-inspired decorations a little less abrasive.  

We managed to find some gift wrap, ribbons, and bows that are lovely~red, white, and blue... so either really American or really French.  We prefer the former.  I was able to craft a small wreath out of a garland we got.  Up to this point,  we had the music and the decorations mostly covered, but a major element was still missing.  We had the sights, the sounds, but we lacked the smells of the holiday season.  Thankfully we came across huge packs of scented tea light candles to instill the warm and cozy winter sentiments.  We went for the cinnamon apple ones if you were curious, and they are delightful

The raw materials for our winter wonderland (thanks Mom & Jan for the Advent calendar!)

This weekend we had to run a few more errands to collect the most essential items~our tree, a tree skirt, a string of lights, and a star.  There is a bazaar near one of my schools which, in English, would be called "The Inferno".  Kyle ventured there to find a super cheap artificial tree and a bright gold star to top it.  We both came from households where traditionally there was an angel or a snowman topping the merry sapling.  Tis a sad state of affairs because the French don't sell products that allow deviation from the traditional star.  On a similar note, tree skirts are pretty much non-existent.  We ended up converting a festive table runner into our tree skirt.

Below I'll provide a series of photos of our tree's progress (which was not too dissimilar from Charlie Brown's unfortunate conifer's transformation in "A Charlie Brown Christmas")

Pitiful and plain, but we saw the potential...

Tinsel town~we strung the lights & garland on our coffee table

 

Kyle admitting that in the future he'd rather put hooks on the ornaments instead of hang them on the tree.  Perhaps he wasn't feeling too tree-ative (get it? tree + creative = tree-ative)

 

 Our silly first attempt of putting the star on the tree and perfectly timing it with the picture

 

The less adventurous, but more cute version of putting the star on the tree

 

The lighting of the tree~It looks good with the tree skirt!

 

Our tree pictured with the centerpiece I fashioned

Now all that is left is buying our Christmas presents, wrapping them, and celebrating the Advent season.   Christmas time here!  Happiness and cheer! Oh, that we could only see such spirit through the year...

Date Night

I'll begin this entry with my top 3 French pet peeves~I assure you it dovetails quite nicely with an account of our date night. Here we go...

3.  Splotchy greasy spots on the bus windows~ I depend on the bus lines to take me to work each day as well as to church on Sundays.  One of the nastiest sights is when someone who has sat in a seat before has rest their head on the window and besmirched the glass with such grease the you'd think we were in Venezuela where folks are told to only bathe for 3 minutes a day.  There isn't a shortage of water here, but that may be news to my fellow bus passengers.

2.  Shopping sans music~ Kyle and I will be out shopping and carrying on a conversation when we walk into a store and suddenly realize how loud our voices carry.  There is a serious lack of sound systems in about half the shops.  People awkwardly wander around each other and maybe mutter things to their shopping companions.  Something about the lack of tunes makes one feel horribly exposed as if everyone will turn and stare if you bang your purse or basket against a shelf.  France~put your shoppers at ease and pump the jams, seriously!

3.  Deja su (already known)~ the French have a knack for never volunteering information.  For instance, last night Kyle and I discovered a huge shopping center really close to our dorm.  It had home and kitchen stores, a huge toy store, a Best Buy type store, and several restaurants.  It's been under our noses for months.  We've talked to folks about furnishing our dorm and wanting to eat out at affordable places a bunch, but mums the word on offering any information.  You have to ask very deliberate questions to learn anything from a French person.  Once you've used the right phrasing, they begin to spill all the details they know about this or that and happily help you.  Generally one of these moments is followed by someone saying, "why didn't you say so to begin with?"  Kyle and I have not yet mastered the questioning process...

Date night!

So at this shopping center that we found there is a stellar Asian restaurant with sushi and an all you can eat buffet (things that make us smile!).  I have been craving sushi since the day we left and am very very grateful to now have a supplier so close to home.  On top of the food being great, they brought us a complimentary Kir on arrival (Kir is a blend of Creme de Cassis and a dry white wine~a very tasty aperitif).  Another gold star goes to our Asian restaurant for having ice in the water--it was quite a treat!

Did a glass of ice water merit a picture in my blog?  Probably not, but how exotic to have a cold beverage!

After our delightful dinner out, we came home and watched a chick flick.  I can't even tell you how restorative it is to me to have a dinner and a movie night like back when Kyle and I were dating.  It was one of the first times while being in France in which I felt like we were doing something normal.  Everything feels so foreign most of the time that it was good to have an authentic American date night.

Watch out RuSans~I've got a new favorite!

In other news, we finally got Kyle a winter coat.  There were some sales going on this week post-Armistice Day (French Veterans' day), and we snagged a deal on a little number that is part pea coat and part Carhartt.  It subtle and yet sophisticated.   See for yourself...

Check out his new scarf, too!

I'll update again very soon on our getting to the Christmas season early and all that that has entailed so far...Hope you are well.  Au revoir!

Back to school...

Today was my first day back to teaching English.  After discussing how my job was going with my mom last week, I have come back with a renewed sense of dedication and hopefulness for the next few weeks.  Happily, there are plenty of holidays coming to educate the wee ones about.  Since Halloween is such a non-event for the French, it'll be a a delight to Americanize the classroom for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Speaking of Christmas~ the city of Metz has already erected their enormous tree next to the train station.  The men on the cranes have been busy stringing lights and adorning the tree's branches with those classically Christmasy red orbs.  I'm definitely holding out on picture posting until the tree is complete....anywho, my typing fingers have wandered from school.  Here are a few highlights from my classroom today:

Moment 1~Each student has their own English notebook.  I had given them a little activity to write which element of nature/weather they liked (I like the sun or I like the snow).  They were to follow with an illustration of what they enjoyed most.  However, when I approached two girls, I found they were having a disagreement.  Finally one asked if I was American, and  I answer that I am genuinely American.  At that, she declared to her peer, "See, I told you she wasn't Canadian."  Then she followed with her next question; she inquired, "did you know Michael Jackson?"  Sadly, I disappointed them by responding that I didn't know him personally.  At this point, I was ready to check their progress on their assignment only to notice that there notebooks were closed, and the covers of their notebooks were filled with images of the late and great King of Pop.  Very peculiar for 9 year old French girls....

Moment 2~There is a 15 minute recess in the morning.  As the young ones were returning to their classrooms, I noticed two (different) little girls with books.  I thought to myself that these were exceptionally studious children for taking their assignment outside as an alternative to playing.  I got the opportunity to ask them what they were reading while climbing the stairs.  Much to my surprise, these weren't text books.  They were trading card collector books filled to the gills with pro-wrestling athletes (if you want to call them that).  I impressed my two students by telling my preference for Ray Mysterio, Jr. and that WCW wasn't the same after he took off the mask.  Although it was humorous, I am still asking myself how the worst of American pop culture finds the most precious little french girls.

Moment 3~My second class of the day is wonderful.  These students are fifth graders and are the most well-behaved class out of all seven that I teach.  Today there was just one little wrinkle in their typical pristine conduct.  I had the students copying weather vocabulary in their notebooks in English and in French.  I always try to check each notebook to make sure their are no spelling mistakes.  It is very common in France for the teachers to walk around the class, check the work, and make corrections to each child's work.  I like the personal attention. However, I believe it has led to a familiarity with some of the students because I have a bad habit of making comments that spark conversation which ultimately detract from the educational process (topics like pro-wresting and Thriller, just to name a couple...).  One little fella took the liberty of using my correction time to show me his sketches of a boy, girl, dog, and cat.  I noticed that the cat and dog had words on their foreheads: schat and schien. This translates in English to scat and sdog.  So rather than asking him to present his notes to me, I posed a question about the meaning of the "s" on the animals' foreheads.  His response: "Why, it's because they are super!"  It was adorable. (In case you were curious, his notes were already complete and perfectly copied.)

Sometimes I wish I weren't their teacher, but rather their babysitter.  I'd like to have them draw pictures and sing silly french songs and play outside more...but alas, that is not what school is for and I am paid to fill their heads with all things anglophone.  Plus, how unrealistic would it be to babysit 150 children from age 6-11?  Yikes...hopefully I'll have more funny accounts to report soon.  Oh, Mom~Sammy had a bad day today.  More prayers please!  A plus!

Weekend de bonheur

My parents are making a small tour of Europe; they began their voyage in Germany, passed through Metz for a long weekend, and are now headed to Luxembourg for the few remaining days.  When we first moved here, I thought it would take forever to get to, but it really snuck up on Kyle and me.  It was an eye opener for us to realize that we had not spent much time enjoying the history, food, and weather here.  It was fun to discover the city with my family.

Jan & Mom on our porch!

Friday~My parents arrived at lunchtime, so we explored (in their mercedes!) the neighborhood and ate at a restaurant Kyle and I had walked by before.  We enjoyed a lovely aperitif, Kir, and a very big lunch.  After lunch we drove to Grange aux Bois where one of my elementary schools is to show the folks where I spend my work days. It was a bit of a surprise when we spotted a couple of my young male pupils relieving themselves in a bush nearby, but alas, I suppose that's what boys do.  The bakery in G-a-B is the best; we stopped in and got 5 beignets (jelly doughnuts) for less than 2 euros for Saturday morning breakfast.  We all returned back to Technopole where Kyle and I live, and visited Supelec and Georgia Tech's buildings.  We passed the rest of the evening at the dorms.  We got to show off our bicycles; I still have yet to post a picture of Kyle's Lance Armstrong road bike and my Barbie dream bike (as we have fondly named them).  We ate a big tasty dinner~I prepared a salad and Kyle made a quiche Lorraine (a la Hamilton style-bigger than a puny french egg pie).  Jan & Mom brought a tasty red wine from Germany, and we definitely enjoyed it.  For desert we had Nutella-filled crepes. 

Lunch together for the first time since early September!

Saturday~Kyle and I had planned on taking the folks all throughout downtown Metz.  The loose plan was to hit all of the major historical and religious landmarks and then tour the places (squares) and the shopping district.  We kicked off the tour with lunch at a boulangerie; we had enormous panini-style sandwiches to energize us for our walking tour.  We visited several locations which were significant to military history.  This region has passed between French and German rule for centuries.  Next was the highlight for my mom; we visited the oldest church in France.  It was built in 380 A.D by the Romans and was initially used as a gymnasium.  It was converted to a worship center for Christians and thankfully has been preserved (although it has seen many architectural augmentations through the years).  We then passed through the garden next to Place Republique and headed towards the Moselle river and cathedrals.  Jan happens to be an excellent photographer; we have lovely pictures of Metz~you can expect to find them at facebook.  Traditionally in cathedrals in Europe, the Catholic church or even monarchies used the art of the church to educate the people because they either were illiterate or Bibles weren't available to them.  Leaders used these opportunities to commission pieces (like paintings, altars, or stained glass windows) that were unbiblical and surprisingly anachronistic.  In one cathedral here in Metz, we labeled one such piece as "stained glassphemy" (that's a combo of stained glass & blasphemy for those of you who are into motlanging).  But I digress...

St-Pierre-aux-Nonnains~the oldest church in France

After a few hours, our feet needed a break.  We ducked into a great Belgian pub and enjoyed a mid-afternoon beer.  It was about that time when a rare trick-or-treater wandered by with a parent following closely.  We spent the remainder of the afternoon in the shopping district.  We visited the ever popular Marche Couvert (covered market) that has tons of butchers, cheese vendors, and fresh food booths.  Kyle bought us a tasty snack of Rosette Lyon~my favorite sandwich meat in the world.   We wandered from place to place and ventured into a few shops.  My parents treated us to Creme de Cassis, Beaujolais, and Kahlua (for wintery white russians) at a wine shop in town.  We browsed chocolate shop windows and jewelry store displays until dinnertime.  Kyle made us a reservation at La Winstub; it's a nice restaurant that specializes in local flavors.  It was the best meal I've had in France; we had a Pinot Noir (chilled and very good), the men had veal, mom had a lovely chicken dish, and I had a steak.  Each was served with a heaped helping of Alsace-style spatzle.  With full bellies we took the bus home and tucked in for a good night's sleep.

A spooky french trick-or-treater...more rare than a cheese that doesn't stink

Sunday~The parents picked us up for church in the morning.  We ran into a small patisserie to grab some breakfast pastries and snacked on our walk to Temple Neuf.  Since there is a large protestant festival going on in Strasbourg right now, we didn't know if we could expect to see many people at church.  It ended up being a lovely sermon for Toussaint (All Saints' Day) about resurrection of the dead.  I could go on about it; the scriptures were just so well chosen.  However, I'll stick with the topic...Jan and Mom were able to chat with the pulpit supply preacher and his two daughters in English for a bit.  People just seemed excited about how many Americans there were.  Since it was chilly and overcast after church, the folks and I headed back to the car while Kyle made a quick dash to a boulangerie to grab a baguette.

The sanctuary in our church~it's chilly in there!

The rest of the afternoon was like a Sabbath back home.  We had a gouter kind of lunch (snacky); we ate olives, salami, and cheese that the parents brought from Germany and sipped Leffe beer (a staple in the Hamilton kitchen).  We just sat and talked until we were pretty sleepy.  We decided to take a stroll around Lake Symphonie and on the trails by the golf course back towards their hotel.  Once back at the hotel, the men hoped to play pool, but it turns out that the billiard table was not even for pool and quite pricey.  Mom and I had a glass of Bailey's at the bar and just talked about all sorts of things.  After that sleepy feeling came back, Kyle and I headed home to rest for a bit and then prepare dinner.  Kyle made a delicious potato soup and I threw together another salad.  Mom mixed us a homemade Kir to enjoy and we just ate like kings again.  Kyle surprised us with a tarte a sucre (sugar pie) for dessert.  Then we said goodnight for the last time to the parents.

Mom & me~you can tell who lives in Florida and who lives in France's arctic tundra

Monday~The parents set out for Luxembourg today, but not before having coffee and left-over sugar pie for breakfast with Kyle and me.  Before they headed out, we prayed together and hugged a bunch.  It was a nice ending to a great weekend and wonderful way to start a new week.

Back to reality~At the moment I am procrastinating; I really need to prepare for school, my upcoming immigration appointments, and managing the mail from unfinished business back home.  I'd just rather enjoy reflecting on a wonderful time seeing my family and seeing Metz with new eyes.  They really liked it here, and I just had no idea how delightful this place is.  It doesn't have the appeal that Paris does, it doesn't have war memorials like Normandy, it doesn't even have a convenient and modern metro to cruise around on.  However, there is a great history, wonderful food, and lovely locations all throughout.  Plus, we have great friends here~people we really like to spend time with and are fun to get to know.  I feel encouraged.  The first two months flew by here, and it makes me wonder if the rest of our time will speed by too.  I guess we'll just have to see... Au revoir mes amis!