Hackentastic!

GTL took the undergrads on a mandatory field trip to Hackenberg and St. Avold yesterday.  Kyle and I took advantage of the all expense paid trip (thank you undergrads) and witnessed first hand a major military base and an American cemetery from WWII.

The Ouvrage Hackenberg was quite impressive, but I'll share a bit of history about it with you so that you can understand more why if it weren't for America, we'd be living in Germany right now.  This section of the Maginot line was built to defend the border from Germans.  Construction began in 1930, and it went into full operation in 1939.  There is a large underground network of railways, storage rooms, living quarters, and of course combat blocks.  Being 30 feet underground felt like being in a combination of Gringotts bank and a Dharma submarine.  Sadly (and as many of you know) the French only held their ground in our region until 1940.  For the rest of the war, the Germans used the fort as a factory (what a depressing place to work~the folks who volunteer there now are like mole people).  Eventually American forces came and liberated our Lorraine region; the only external damage to the Ouvrage Hackenberg is compliments of America and bombs.  The irony of all of it is that the bombs were manufactured by the French~so in 1944 both the Americans and Germans were using French weapons to fight each other.

An underground railroad

Evoking my inner Professor Quirrel~it was freezing on the little subterranean train.

It's a dark image, but this device was a must-have for the French military

As Kyle discovered, danger was around every corner.

To the left, to the left...

Is that a fake mustache?  No self-respecting Frenchman would ever disgrace his military beret by feigning facial hair.

Victimes de la mode

Let me out!  I fear a real life Today's Special event!

A tutorial on how to shoot and drop grenades on the enemy

War is never cute, but these retractable turrets are adorable.

America will blow your building up if you are a Nazi.

Bad romance

It's Thursday night & the mood is 'write'

It's Thursday night, and I'm home alone.  I was struck by an oh-so-common headache today which hindered my ability to work this afternoon and attend Bible study tonight.  Wouldn't you know that a good nap, a complete 180 in the weather,  and the Dark Was The Night album in heavy rotation are all a girl needs to kick her slight codependency on Tylenol?  Thankfully most of this week I've been feeling good in my neighborhood and have enjoyed some joyful events. 

This week GTL is celebrating 20 years of engineering excellence.  A slew of Atlanta bigwigs flew into town, and our little campus pulled out all the stops.  I again reverted to college Leah at the catered events and ate as if I had never seen a free meal.  Kyle and I got to rub elbows with GT president Bud Peterson~I already prefer him to G. Wayne.

All dressed up for the event, but fail on procuring a good image. I don't even know...

 I'm going to Show & Tell then share a bit about our field trips this week in my following entries.

Even if I were a complete failure as an English teacher this year, I'll know that I made an impression on dear sweet Auriana.  Seriously, not a week goes by where she doesn't create something for me.  I hate that she and all my wonderful CM2 students (i.e. 5th graders) have to go to dreadful college (i.e. middle school) next year.  Can't they just stay children a little longer?

Let the blog blast continue!

June and Yet Not Summer

I have been a busy bee, but I don't have many fun stories to share.  Last week Kyle and I had a picnic in a cute park by the river with Nyanza and some of her Strasbourg friends.  We bid farewell to our friend Emma with a dinner; she's off to Columbia next year to fulfill her dream of being the French Blair Waldorf.  Last night we went to see Lauren sing with her choir along with Michael (her husband) and Sarah (a PhD friend at GTL).  Those are the highlights with no corresponding photographs.

During the week, school is getting harder and harder to focus on.  The children are antsy and would rather be outside playing; what dope decided that French students were better off indoors for the whole month of June?  Or should I say, why would they do this to the teachers?  It's funny~I think summer and work have been synonymous since I was in high school.  Why can I not muster the strength to be on top of lesson plans for the next three weeks.  Because it's unnatural~that's why.  The last day of school is July 2nd, and you can bet those children will all be learning about American Independence day.

My class at GTL has also started to take over my life.  Rather than just being one of those creepy old people who audits a class and doesn't participate, my professor has mistaken me for one of the undergrads who has to lose sleep over assignments.  Each week we read at least 30 pages of text in French~which isn't so bad and usually very interesting.  Then we must write a summary and a little something something about what we liked.  We've already had to prepare presentations, and I just missed a deadline on an outline for our first essay.  I forgot the summer pace of classes was a bit nuts... I really love getting the extra french practice and being challenged~ in a normal day what I say in French is limited to phrases like "take out your English notebooks" or "stop hitting Alexis with a ruler" or "no, we are not playing 'Telephone' or 'Simon Says...' today...sorry kid".  I wouldn't be worried about these university assignments so much especially since I'm not being graded, but the professor has the right to kick me out if I get unruly.  Come on July!  Prof Ippolito~your class will be my top priority in just a few weeks...

...or maybe I spoke too soon.  Week 1 of July~I am jet setting to London with Audrey and her mom Sheri.  Since Audrey is such a Shakespeare & Harry Potter buff, we'll likely spend the majority of our time in search for literary lieux.  I have only one place I'd really like to see is the Benjamin Franklin house.  Hopefully I can convince the Lewis' that it's a worthy destination~word on the street is that he used to open the huge windows facing the streets and recline in the nude to take an air bath.  I'm sure it was less refreshing to his neighbors and likely a nasty habit he picked up while in Paris.  Any other recommendations?

Show & Tell?  Yes indeed!

 The first contribution by Hugo A.~I love it when the boys make me a homemade handy craft.  It's now adorning my pencil case.

Kyle gave me this last photo to share with yall.  Despite feeling unusually busy, I still happily make time for naps.  Since we have no blankets in our household, Kyle graciously bestows upon me his large Carhartt.

It's really quite cozy.

Hope some of yall are able to enjoy a vacation or trip this summer.  I'll have an adventure to report later this week~should be good.  A bientot!

Divers Divertissements

This past week has just been packed with activity.  As always, school is going well with the little ones.  Since my schedule was kind of light, Kyle found out I could take a course at GTL this summer with the undergrads.  Four days a week, I am taking a French culture class.  So far, I've learned about France's topographical charms, a bit of history, and Parisian arrondissements 101.  I have about 38 monuments I'd like to visit in Paris before we return to the homeland now that I wasn't really aware of before. 

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....

Departures/Arrivals

As the semester at GTL ended, many of the students have packed their bags, made their way to airports, and taken the long flight home to their native lands.  The end of the semester meant two things to me.  First~Kyle would be done with classes for good (if not for a very long time).  He has just started his summer internship at GTL; come September we'll hopefully celebrate the completion of 8 years dedicated to studying, working, and living all things Georgia Tech.  You'd think after all that time, Kyle would have taken a liking to our football or basketball team.  Alas, I'd rather him be into music than sports.  Anyways, the second end of semester joy~many of the folks departing leave a plethora of goods behind which are free for the taking.  Last week all I could think about was visiting GTL over the weekend and hopefully find some good books to read.  So far the communal bookshelf has lead me to Jane Eyre and Heart of Darkness.  I consider those good finds.  It has also received (to my great relief) my copy of Anna Karenina and Sister Revolutions.  Anna Karenina is only a few degrees better than Madame Bovary in my opinion... that's not saying much.  Sister Revolutions is an analysis on the French & American Revolutions; I figured it'd be a fun read for someone else around these parts.

I had made a summer reading list for myself.  It was based on everything that Sawyer has been spotted reading in LOST.  Silly, I know, but I've always regretting not actually completely Watership Down in my 7th grade target class.  It was mandatory, and I found I didn't mind slacking and getting C's on the exams in place of reading (what I considered) a senseless book with talking rabbits.  Oddly enough that same year, I had no problem becoming completely absorbed in Animal Farm~perhaps I prefer speaking farm animals who have totalitarian leanings... I was peculiar~what did I know?  So the complete list of Sawyer books includes:
    * Watership Down-Richard Adams
    * A Wrinkle in Time-Madeleine L'Engle
    * Bad Twin manuscript-Gary Troup
    * Lancelot-Walker Percy
    * Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret-Judy Blume
    * Laughter in the Dark- Vladimir Nabokov
    * The Fountainhead-Ayn Rand

Since I currently own none of these books, I may have a very similar experience as James Ford.  So long as the books at Tech are free, my selection will be limited to that which people brought on planes to this foreign land.  Here is what I found last weekend (I was a bit greedy but didn't know if the selection would be so good down the road):

 

 (from left to right): My Antoina by Willa Cather, The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler, North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell, Island by Aldous Huxley, After the Fall by Arthur Miller, The Minority Report by P.K. Dick, and Billy Budd by Herman Melville

So in addition to my new used books, a few new people arrived in my life this week.  I have seven new students in my classes for the month of May.  I rolled into town for a very special occasion~Foire de Mai which is like a county fair back in the states.  The fair is walking distance from my school; the ferris wheel always catches my eye to and from work.  I can't wait to ride it and all the other rides.  I anticipate a special date on the horizon with Kyle.  We've never been to a carnival together before so I'm pumped.  Anywho, my new students are the children of the carnival workers.  They come to my school every May and are reunited with friends. It blows my mind that this is how they live~touring France year round and being the sort-of new kid at school every month.  At least they do it as a group.

Supposedly this a picture from the Foire de mai, but those folks look like Americans.  Why was the photographer behind a fence?  Creeper...

For some, it is an exciting experience.  Savannah was delighted when she found out I had been to the city of her namesake.  I got to tell her a little about a beautiful place on the Georgia coast with some of the best food and loveliest churches in the world.  For Lola, the transition was hard.  I met her last Thursday in the teacher lounge much as I had met Alexandre last Monday.  She was in tears and distraught about being displaced.  I admit, she walked into a class of 4th graders with a lot of personality.  It had to be intimidating for sure.  She won't participate in English, but I found she likes to draw in class.  I convinced her to show me some of her drawings during recess; she lit up demonstrating how she writes her name in big bold letters and then tries to connect them to make an image of a girl or anything that comes to mind.  I'm excited about seeing her come more out of her shell in the coming weeks and being a friend to her.

Including three 2nd graders that arrived in my mixed 2nd/3rd grade class, I have 10 new students total.  I didn't count them before because the 2nd graders are just along for the ride~ no grades for them in English class until next school year.  My grand total is 150 students.  I pray that I can remember all the new names while maintaining my daily struggle with recalling all the other right first names at the right moments.  What a challenge!  Thanks be to God for there being so many boys named Hugo~I have 8 of them.  If there were more diversity in first names, I think I would have given up a long time ago...

Shall we SHOW & TELL?  Yes, yes please!

 

 This is truly a first.  Auriana decorated a paper towel for me using her scissors and gel pens.  She did this in class while keeping up with the work.  I must not be giving them enough to do...

Cassandra used ripped old school printer paper to write my name while holding 2-3 markers at once.  The purple thing reminds me of a Snorkle from that awesome childhood cartoon.

I always forget what these things are called, but Marine made me this out of fine card stock.  It makes it hard to fold easily, but it'll last a long time.  Some of the answers are "you are a rainbow" or "you love Enzo" or something mean involving bathroom activities.  They must really think of me as an overgrown 4th grader instead of a teacher.  Won't lie~it's pretty funny.

Alors, hope you are having a happy Monday.  Congrats to Miss Foo who made it through her first round of auditions with the Shakespeare Tavern.  Show them that frailty, thy name is NOT Miss Foo (sorry to ruin a perfectly good Hamlet quote...).  Friends,  I'm happy to share that Thursday will be my first day off from school to celebrate the ascension of Christ into heaven.  Living in the Moselle region is glorious.  I bid you adieu for now friends!

Saturdate

Rather than spending a sunny weekend in Paris, we improvised a lovely date day Saturday.  We are having the most glorious weather you can imagine here~sunny, clear blue skies with temperatures in the 60s.  Believe it or not, there is no trace of ash in our skyline.  It's a mystery.  Kyle had to accomplish a good bit of studying as well as prepare a cheat sheet for his upcoming exam.  I took the opportunity to dedicate my afternoon to lovely reading so as to not distract Kyle from his studious efforts.

Would you believe me if I told you that's his thinking face?

Hizzle Cizzle

It gets worse the closer you get.  I only like talking about random variables when hypothesizing Lost theories...

Kyle rewarded my good behavior with a Coke!

The view from my cozy couch at GTL.   Told you~ no ash here!

Keeping it classy with Jane Eyre and Braised Chicken flavored ruffles.  Even french snacks are so chic.

This was a lovely way to pass the afternoon, but we were on to more serious date related activities for the evening.  We returned to our abode for a fancy salad.  You know I'm in the kitchen preparing dinner when it's a salad.  I found these awesome jars of salad mix~sun dried tomatoes, feta, herbs, and lots of olive oil.  Throw in some olives and hard boiled eggs, et voila~ fancy European salad.  Kyle is so sweet; he kept telling me it was a great salad as to not discourage me from further esculent experiments in our kitchen.  I think it's working~ I'm going to make pigs in a blanket today using pate feuilletee and saussice de strasbourg (that is, puff pastry and hot dogs... it's so regal sounding in French). 

I should note that this day was special because I insisted on Kyle choosing a shirt for me to wear.  He instinctively selected my most plaid garment as well as one of his own.  His Scottish love for tartan textiles is in his blood.  You'd know it even if you didn't know his last name is Hamilton.  (On a brief side note, Hamilton is also the maiden name of C.S. Lewis' mother.  I hope through some genealogical miracle that he and Kyle are related...)  It just makes the day so much better when you're in plaid.  It inspired me to look up quotes where I could easily insert the word "plaid" in the place of "glad".   I added the best one to my facebook account, but I'll share some of the less than charming examples I came up with...

For Ladies:

I've been a wicked girl," said I: "But if I can't be sorry, why, I might as well be PLAID!
Edna St. Vincent Millay

Let the wife make the husband PLAID to come home, and let him make her sorry to see him leave.
Martin Luther 

A woman whose smile is open and whose expression is PLAID has a kind of beauty no matter what she wears.
Anne Roiphe

Just silly:
Bluegrass is wonderful music. I'm PLAID I originated it.
Bill Monroe

I never forget a face, but in your case I'll be PLAID to make an exception.
Groucho Marx quotes

The great secret of happiness in love is to be PLAID that the other fellow married her.
Henry Louis Mencken

I'm PLAID I don't have to explain to a man from Mars why each day I set fire to dozens of little pieces of paper, and then put them in my mouth.
Mignon McLaughlin

 On Life:
I suppose what makes me most PLAID is that we all recognize each other in this metaphysical space of silence and happening, and get some sense, for a moment, that we are full of paradise without knowing it
Thomas Merton

Be PLAID of life because it gives you the chance to love, to work, to play, and to look up at the stars.
Henry Van Dyke 

Foodies:
I don't like spinach, and I'm PLAID I don't, because if I liked it I'd eat it, and I just hate it.”
Clarence Darrow

“Thank God for tea! What would the world do without tea! How did it exist? I am PLAID I was not born before tea”
Sir Philip Sidney 

There you have it... the less desirable PLAID quotes.  Back to date business.   My salad certainly couldn't fill us up.  We needed dessert and headed to our local McDonald's to satisfy our ice cream craving.  A little over a year ago, this McDonald's burned to the ground, but we never learned if there was criminal involvement.  They rebuilt and incorporated super modern decorations to make this McDo very trendy (here's a news article if you are interested and can read French).   The McFlurries are pretty good, too!

Thankfully, it no longer looks like this...

Still no ash, inside or out.  Just happy cups of glace italienne (soft serve in French).

M&Ms were a good choice!

I can really get into plaid, salad, ice cream dates.  We topped off the evening with our friend Peter and his girlfriend Cecile.  The fellas jammed on guitar and banjo, and we enjoyed beer and wine until super late at night.  No pictures from this segment; it was our first time meeting Cecile.  I have yet to snap a shot of someone to put on my blog in our first shared social event.  May I never be "that girl". 

There is still a glimmer of a hope that the Hamiltons will come to visit us, but it's no guarantee.  Hopefully we'll get to see them soon and share some stories with you.  A plus et bon dimanche!

Hooray!

The wee-ones have returned from their vacation and thankfully so has their art.  I should note that I haven't seen many of my students at my big school since February 8th.  Talk about a month of Sundays before returning to their English studies.  Well, without further ado, I give you the highest complement I've received from a French student...

I feel just like Barry White.

This image crafted and provided by the lovely Yeliz indicates two things to me.  First, I have failed each and every child in the grammar department...although, the spelling is quite good.  Second, I have at least succeeded in the area of showing the little ones that I care about them.  This was especially evident today each time a class period ended; I was pursued by at least two children per class so that they could inform me of something special from vacation, an English word they had picked up, or even get in one of my notorious secret handshakes.  Much to the other teachers' chagrin, I break professionalism by instructing my students in the fine art of "pounding it".  It's my responsibility as their liaison to all things American, right?

In all seriousness, it was a true delight to return to work.  Though I despise lesson planning and I dread administering a huge test for my 5th graders in a few short weeks, I love having a routine and seeing my treasured students.  I've backslid in my quickness at remembering their names, and for that I feel ashamed.  I kept returning to prayer today to recall Sabrine's name or Marine's (there are two~a 5th grader & 4th grader.  I often forget both their names on the same day...).  I should remember that the names I often forget are the ones' which rhyme (Sabrine, Marine, Laurine, Louane, Melanie, Danae...okay, so perhaps not all of them rhyme).  For the boys it's simple; when in doubt just say Hugo or Edgar and at least someone will respond.  

Since the weather has not been so cruel, I enjoyed a stellar walk to GTL after I was done at the elementary school for the day.  I'm reading Through the Looking-Glass and had plenty of quality time to enjoy it while Kyle was in class.  What I'll call the Student Lounge at GTL is where this all went down.  I'm not sure whether I ought to be astounded or completely underwhelmed that the student population here is very similar to what you'll find in GT Atlanta's Student Center.  The Tech fellas (to over generalize) aren't always smooth operators when it comes to social skills.  One of our acquaintances here just today fell in this category.  While I was reading on a nearby sofa, he was listening to some tunes while being active on his laptop.  His listening pleasure was enhanced by his loud humming.  I spent a good ten minutes on one page in my book (likely with glazed over eyes) trying to figure out what he was listening to.  My efforts were futile as his humming, though varied in pitch, didn't communicate any melody I had ever heard.  Thankfully I had my iPod with some Fleet Foxes waiting in the wing to remedy my reading time.  I should note that all Tech boys don't fall into this category.  For example, my sweet husband Kyle is incredibly knowledgeable when it comes to computers, and thus necessarily very dorky.  However, he is quite sociable and not an ounce inept when it comes to other people.  He's really quite kind.  

Kyle has me engrossed with something on a computer during summer vacation (notice my bathing suit and sunglasses are on and there is sunshine outside).  He's probably blowing my mind with some kind of brilliance.

I'm happy with the balance of French children's education as my occupation with a few things from home to keep it real (am I too white or female to say that?).  Thank you GTL for being like the real thing.  Happy March to the readers!  Hasta luego!

Nazis, The Great Satan, and Epiphany

I've mentioned before that the pastor at our church is a British Anglican preacher named Jack.  We have attended this church for a few months now and have noticed a common thread in Jack's preaching.  Not a sermon passes where he doesn't compare someone in the scriptural passage to a tyrannical dictator or group of people.  Most of the time it's Nazis because it is the easiest parallel the French can draw to the Jews whenever they are subjected to empirical rule.  For today's epiphany sermon, we were in for a treat when he astutely compared Herod, the so-called King of the Jews, to Hitler, Stalin, and Pol Pot.  I think he could have taken it a step further with Chairman Mao Tse Tung, but alas, we'll have to wait for his appearance in a sermon on another occasion.  Perhaps Oliver Stone should consult Jack the Anglican Englishman on his upcoming tyranny series....

 Flee, wise men, run away!

As Kyle and I are getting to know Jack better, we are more and more delighted with his witty and whimsical personality.  Since we attend a French church, our conversations typically are in French but drift in and out of English at times.  Jack seems a bit more at ease in French but manages to let out his more humorous thoughts for the English speakers. Today a political refugee from Iran attended the service for the first time.  This man had barely any French or English, but Jack was using only English with him.  As Jack introduced us to the Iranian, he said, "These are Americans.  They speak English.  They are not the Great Satan."  I about died laughing!  What an introduction...Then Jack went about explaining to Kyle that Iranians are conditioned to hate Americans, but he was happy to inform this particular Iranian that we are good people.  I don't believe the Iranian understood anything other than hello, bonjour, and Great Satan, but there's no telling what he was thinking.... On the bright side, the preacher has deemed that we are not evil.  That's good, right?

Our pretty church

Back to Epiphany, it is nice to think about the wise men making it all the way to Jesus.  To celebrate the occasion, Kyle and I walked to the train station where there is a large manger.  We hadn't taken any pictures so I was delighted that Christmas is interminable here.  It's not like Narnia here (always winter and never Christmas); I think there will be Christmas decorations up until March or April like that one neighbor on your street who refuses to remove the icicle string lights.  Anywho...we were shocked and dismayed to find that Jesus had been abducted from the manger.  There is a large cow looming over the place where Jesus ought to be; one might deduce that this obtrusive cow consumed the Savior of all humanity looking at this scene.  It's simply tragic.  Also, we noticed that there is an animal ear on the ground near the magi.  Disturbing.... Needless to say, it wasn't the most moving time...Thankfully we could depend on Luke and his account of the wise men this afternoon.

Joseph:  What gives?  You should be ashamed of yourself, cow!

Wise Men:  To whom shall we give our gifts?  The French have stolen our Savior!

The ear...who else is thinking Picasso in Bethlehem?

Oh, that we could only see such holiday decor through the year

In other news, we are in a veritable arctic tundra.  It makes daily life tricky because there is snow and ice everywhere.  My favorite part of living in a winter wonderland is our lake.  I used to believe that all birds migrated south for winter, but now I know we have brave feathered friends who will weather anything to enjoy their natural habitat.  We have ducks and swans that are as tough as penguins.  It's a happy sight each day.

Kyle~not a bird, but more delightful to me than any duck or swan

Bird lake~they have preserved a swimming hole despite sub-zero (Celsius) temperatures this week

Un petit gouter~the birds enjoy a snowy snack

Another reason winter is enjoyable is trips to cafes.  We live in an area that is more business park than neighborhood so there aren't too many cute boulangeries or salons de the close by.  Thankfully, a new place just opened up next door to our bank.  It's like our new Starbucks; we had our inaugural visit yesterday and camped out like we did in undergrad.  Kyle studied for exams and I did Bible study.  It's a cute place and the staff is super friendly and liked that we hung out all afternoon.

The man knows what he likes~coffee & a pain au chocolat comme toujours

Hello mocha!  This is the kind of "escargot" I can eat everyday

One final note...on our first day here back in September, I was very sleep deprived and sort of emotional about this huge move we had just made.  When we made it to the Georgia Tech building I was instantly reassured.  There are plenty of English speakers (even though a large portion of the faculty and staff are French), and there are tons of images of the Atlanta campus posted partout.  I came across one photo of the Camponile and spotted something (or rather, someone) very interesting.  Walking right in front of the tower was my dear friend Allison Thompson (back when she was a young Miss Wise).  I was just so excited to see a familiar face in France (even though it was just in a picture).  It was random, but I think God knew I needed a little comfort when we arrived and gave it to me in the moment I saw my friend.  I've been meaning for ages to take a picture of it and finally remembered my camera to snap a shot.

Voici le Camponile...

...et Alli P!  Check out that back pack filled with hours of Tech-style oppression, stress, and general fatigue...

Hope you are happy and well wherever you are.  Thanks for reading and take care!  A bientot!

PS~Thanks family for the puzzle.  It's complete!  I think we'll try to visit this castle....