Silly Leah of 2006, while you and your friends were posing by a lamppost, you missed out on the enormous Egyptian obelisk right behind you which dates back more than 3300 years. You were such a dope to overlook such a treasure. Ramses II & Ramses III would be so disappointed.
We live on a lovely little lake here in Metz called Lac Syphonie. We have a wide variety of birds (mostly yucky crows), and we were terribly excited to see some baby birds this spring. Our local swan family had been nesting on bird island (as we call it) for months, and thankfully their little family grew with 5 new babies. Kyle and I stalked them one day to take a few photos.
You may only see 4 babies in between the parents, but there are definitely 5 little ones.
Perfect, fluffy, and already putting their long necks to use~a little post-swim grooming was in order.
At this moment, I'm likely trying to convince Kyle to let us get a pet baby swan.
Well, looky here, someone else has a little baby, too!
At school, we talk about the Foire de mai (read: county fair) every day because of the children of the carnival workers have joined my classes for the month of May. All the children love to talk about the rides and the food; it was too tempting for me not to go. Kyle and I have been to Six Flags and White Water together before, but we'd never been to a carnival.
If it weren't for that fella in the foreground with the man purse and also the French words on the sign, this could be America.
Like a lot of girls, I dreamed about riding the ferris wheel with my beau and him winning a big stuffed animal for me by knocking down some cans with a baseball. We did indeed take on the ferris wheel, but it was really cold when we got to the top. Rather than it being an idyllic romantic moment, we were clinging to each other for warmth counting what seemed like endless tours in a backwards circle.
Before hypothermia set in.
Once we had our feet back on solid ground, we noticed these machines where men could punch a punching bag as hard as possible to then have the machine compute the level of their masculinity. It's amazing how many Frenchmen, young & old, are seduced by a seemingly silly waste of money and time. Alas, Kyle deferred to winning me a prize at our next carnival since we spent the better part of the evening giggling at the seriousness with which these fellas exerted their manhood. Kyle did, however, buy me a chocolate ice cream cone. He's a good man.
He was enamored with the motorcycle version of the bumper car.
Boule de glace, I could eat you everyday.
Despite the weather being tepid about committing to warmer temperatures, we finally got a hot Saturday last weekend. Kyle and I set out for a fun day in the sun.
We love all the beautiful flowers growing at our residence.
We went to the toy store and the Asian market for some treats. In my last entry, you saw the set of Dominoes we purchased, but Kyle also bought me a super bouncy ball just because. I never get tired of those, but our downstairs neighbors might... Stay tuned to see if I stir up any discontent with nos voisins. While at the toy store, we stumbled across the worst game in all the history of time. I think it genuinely reflects a dearth of imagination on the part of its creators...
This translates to something like "Funny Garbage" or "Strange Refuse", but it's a recycling game. The smaller yellow text reads~For learning how to better sort garbage while having fun! I don't think you could convince a child that recycling is fun even if you gave them this delightful and beautifully decorated game. Stick to Operation and Mouse Trap, kids!
I love to go to the Asian market. The owners are super sweet and always help us with the odd ingredients we require to make different treats at home. So far, we've just made sushi at home. Lately, I have had a hankering for pad thai; I have constant thoughts of Tin Drum which inevitably leads to drooling and then begging Kyle to learn how to make it. Our friendly market clerk directed us to a jar of pre-maid pad thai sauce. This was a great relief to both Kyle and me. We had made pad thai once in the states, and it required funky stuff that you can't use in other meals easily like fish sauce and tamarind paste. It turns out that this sauce in a jar was super tasty and saved loads of time, money, and effort.
Kyle in his office
Delicious pad thai at home... now if we can get a recipe for pad woon sen. Thanks, Peter, for the snow peas!
There was a huge event in the U.S. on Sunday night. Since we live in the future, we were asleep while everyone was watching LOST. With some of our new and old friends, we had the LOST supper on Monday night. We decided it should be a potluck dinner but hadn't properly anticipated that all the grocery stores were closed on Monday because naturally there should be a holiday the day after Pentecost. It turned into quite a hodgepodge of dishes, but they were all completely tasty~we had crab stuffed puff pastries, a sandwich station, pigs in a blanket, tarte au sucre, a couple of berry tarts, sloppy joe's, and chocolate chip cookies. We munched through the evening while Kyle had prepared hours of entertainment. We started with the pre-cap show with interviews; who knew that thing would last nearly 2 hours? Then we watched the series finale. Last we enjoyed Jimmy Kimmel with lots of LOST cast members (and the creepy boy Jacob who steals his own ashes). I love knowing so many LOST fans here; thank goodness for Rocky, Maria, Peter, Cole, Chris (the Irishman), and Dr. Stoneman who shared the final LOST experience with us.
I won't dwell on the show for too long, but I was content with the Christology in Jack's last actions on the island. I was greatly relieved that David's mother wasn't evil Tina Fey (aka Zoe) but rather Juliet. I was praying that Boone and Shannon would make a comeback, and I am ever so grateful they did. My favorite part was when Sawyer & Blondie were reunited. It was pure Apollo bar bliss. Anywho, that's all I have to say on the matter for now. I've got to save up my analytical thoughts for our follow up dinner with the group for discussion.
One last fun event of the week, then I'll try to be more dedicated to updating with greater frequency so as to not carry on for days and days recounting too much at once. This morning, Lauren invited me to come along with her to visit the Dickersons. Jeramy and Janice just had a baby girl, Katelyn, two weeks ago. We got to visit and talk for a while; we spend a lot of time getting moon-eyed over their toddler, Kimber. It is a really nice time, and they make me want to have little babies of my own sooner than our Hamilton plan assents to. On top of the Dickersons' happy addition, today is also Lauren & Michael's one year anniversary. Happy first year of marriage, friends!
Shall we SHOW & TELL? Yes please!
This is a rather large boat by Auriana (are you surprised?) She's staying busy crafting me small treasures each week.
Pauline presented me with this perfectly symmetrical doodle~does anyone remember what these things are called? I remember playing with one at my grandmother's house in Massachusetts in the summer when I was little...
Yeliz, the manga master, never ceases to blow me away. As we saw at the entrance to the Foire de mai, here too we have a pristine image of a French boy with a purse. I'm reminded of Charlie in LOST saying in the pilot episode, "Guys, where are we?" Instead of oddities like polar bears or Dharma stations, we have handbags for chaps and pro-wrestling for chippies.
That's all for now, friends. Coming up on the horizon is our 1 year anniversary. We are coming up on a night with English speakers and Jack Mac and church. June is so soon~this will be the last month of school. It's crazy; summer vacation for me starts on July 2nd. Even still, I think I'll have class at GTL until the beginning of August. I'm looking forward to some serious down town and travel opportunities for Kyle & me soon! A bientot....
