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....

Friends * Food * Fish

Boy oh boy these three things sum up perfectly what this last week has been about.  Monday afternoon I met Kyle at the GTL computer lab after our school days.  He surprised me with news that he was taking me out to dinner to one of our favorite restaurants here~Kefan.  Kyle is such a fan that he is now following their page on facebook; that is serious commitment.  Kyle enjoyed his favorite curry chicken while I scarfed some serious sushi.  We made the grave error of ordering pork raviolis as an appetizer.  I don't know what we were expecting... maybe something like pot stickers.  What we got were weird and not so great.  We'll stick with the spring rolls from here on out...

Wednesday we enjoyed Lost lunch with our friend Peter.  He blessed us with his rendition of sloppy joes.  They were the first we'd eaten since we departed from the mother land and they were glorious!  Kyle served them up with a side of home hash (hash browns, that is.).  It was superb with our mind blowing episode featuring a Jin & Sun story.  For dessert, Peter impressed us yet again with some highly coveted and oh-so delicious Cadbury cream eggs.  It was heaven wrapped in tin foil.

Each Thursday we have dinner and Bible study with our friends at the Pounds home.  God filled Kyle and my CCF void for sure with this all-star line-up of social time over food and then digging into the word of God.  Vicki made cheeseburgers and fries.  It was an all American treat for sure.  I got to hold their precious baby Alicia throughout dinner and keep her little fingers away from my tasty burger.  She doesn't know what she's missing out on yet.

Good Friday was very very good.  Kyle and I have been fasting on Fridays throughout the course of Lent; it has been interesting for us to focus on a discipline in our faith together.  Our fast ended early this Friday when we shared communion with our church family here.  After the Good Friday service, Nyanza invited Kyle and me over for a traditional Haitian lunch (though she's Swiss and Congolese...).  It was amazing~we had a red salad full of potatoes, cheese, carrots and beets all mixed into a mayo mash up.  This was our first ever tasting of beets; they were pickled and very good.  Nyanza definitely did not "shrute" up this beet flavored & colored dish.  Then the main course had a very bony fish and a veggie side with cabbage, carrots, creme, celery (not the stalks but some mysterious other form...perhaps a root?).  The 4 C side was very yummy, but Kyle hastily took a big mouthful of fish with bones and all before noticing them.  He spent a good 2 minutes pulling out nearly 10 tiny little bones.  I hope he didn't swallow any!  Nyanza is a fabulous cook.  We'll have to have her over again and make something a little more impressive than the pancakes we made for her back in February.

Our appetites were back before dinner time and thankfully we passed Friday night with Michael and Lauren on their traditional homemade pizza night.  They had a special topping that kept us excited the whole night~PEPPERONI!  That stuff does not exist here.  If there were no bacon, living in France would be a nightmare.  Michael & Lauren's family had sent the best pizza topper in the mail, and we were grateful that they shared.  For dessert, Lauren made a delicious strawberry and rhubarb pie (did I mention she's a professional pastry chef?).  It was insane delish.  Kyle and I had never had rhubarb before either.  It was a culinary adventure trying beets, celery root (?), and rhubarb for the first time all in the same day.  How magical!

Beets, bears, Battlestar Galactica

Celery... seriously?

Rhubarb~tangy and delicious!

Today Kyle and I were left to ourselves in the kitchen.  We had some tomatoes that needed to be eaten, and Kyle recommended BLTs.  Yes, these are delicious especially on a baguette, but I wanted them to be a bit more interesting.  Tonight we invented the BrieLT!  That's right~we melted some of the famous French cheese onto the baguette and added the typical toppings to it.  I recommend it big time.  It was scrumptious. 

Well, I've gabbed a good bit about friends and food, but aside from Nyanza's osseous ocean treat, I really haven't addressed my fishy fun.  Perhaps it's the change in season, but our lake has become a veritable fishing hole for tons of the locals.  They have so much gear and camp out all day, yet neither Kyle nor I have spotted anyone making a catch.  It's strange but they don't really cast their lines into the water.  They have super long fishing poles that they mount on the shore, and then they just watch and wait.  Some hit the booze and pump the jams on portable radios.  It's a peculiar sight, and hopefully one day we'll see somebody reel in a big one.

Fishing fellas on Lac Symphonie

Last, but certainly not least~April Fool's day is all about the poissons d'avril (April fish).  Like our pranksters back in the U.S., the children here create tons of paper fish and sneakily try to tape them on other peoples' backs.  Think of the hilarity of  a "kick me" sign on someone's back, but more silly because there are multiple little senseless fish taped haphazardly all over someone.  At first I had dodged every effort by my students to fish me last Thursday.  Then I saw how some of the other teachers embraced it~they were literally covered from their shoulders down.  It occurred to me that this would be amusing for the children and I wouldn't have to awkwardly survey my back with my hands to make sure I hadn't been fished.  Let me tell you, I came home with a school of fish made by my school of children.  They are so cute that I hung them all over my wall.  I think I love poissons d'avril!

They kind of blend into the wall... I love a colorful fish.

While we're on the "F" theme, I might as well include a final comment on footwear.  I have been looking forward to the day when I could dispose of the boots that made me miserable throughout winter.  They soaked through whenever their was snow, and the zipper is permanently jammed because of the water damage that snow inflicts.  They were my warmest shoes even though they couldn't face all the outdoor elements, but I am happy to finally be free of my feet's foes.  Behold for one final time my boots...

Bad boots be gone!

Farewell for now friends.

Hope you have a happy Easter~remember the Fisher of men!

I know I will if I can distract Kyle from his studies for just a bit!

On Buses

I was telling Kyle about my bus ride today and how particular I am about where I sit.  At moments when I admit to myself my weird-o tendencies, I know youth has abandoned me and I'm at the doorstep of old ladydom.  I only like to sit in the front section of the bus; if I have to sit in the back section of the bus, I generally feel so awkward.  You should know that the difference between the front and the back is distinguished by the exit door; you can't just descend where you got on the bus where the driver greets you.  He or she doesn't want to see you after you validate your bus pass....move on back, sucker.  The awkwardness from sitting in the back comes from the close proximity of all the seats; there is not an easy way to casually look out to window or around the bus with out making eye contact with all the other sorry folks sans voitures.  And since this is not the cheery South of the good ole U.S.A., eye contact with strangers is a most undesirable consequence of riding the bus.  The fellow passenger typically reacts as if you've intentionally stepped on their foot or knocked something out of their hands.  The audacity!  You looked at me!

Sadly I've become accustomed to passenger prickliness syndrome that I don't like it when a looky-loo stares at me.  Please don't dwell on my wind blown hair or my un-chic shoes too long, person.  I can tell you're really unimpressed, but believe me, I am living out of two suitcases worth of clothes and couldn't come up with anything better with which to impress the locals.  So it's much better to sit in the front where there is much more space, and if I get the front seat, I don't have to share it with anyone.  There are far fewer moments to be scrutinized by strangers....most of the time.  The terrible part about all of this is that the front section is typically reserved for certain people.  The elect chosen for the front of the bus are the elderly, pregnant women, women with small children, the disabled, and.....those who are disfigured from war.  Seriously? French soldiers who have seen combat?  I'm more likely to ride the bus with a unicorn.

So while in one of the highly coveted and forbidden seats, I often think what excuse I can make if ever reproached on the subject of my not belonging.  Most simple is to say I am pregnant but am not showing just yet.  The list doesn't say how pregnant you have to be.  I thought about telling any accuser that I'm like Benjamin Button, and though they can't tell, I'm terribly old.  I have to give Kimmmiey Bostedo credit for my last excuse.  I would say that I was serving in the military until I injured the cushy part of my heals so that the really no longer exist, and each and every step I take is uncomfortable (for those who don't know KB, she developed this rare and irreversible condition in high school cheerleading~what I believe to be equivalent to French military training.)  Thankfully I've never had to use these, and I am more willing to give my seat up to someone who actually qualifies to sit in the reserved places before defending my choice to a surly Frenchman.

In other news, I'm still in the good graces of at least one child at my Marly school despite having deserted them more than three weeks ago.  Behold what I like to call my Robot Camel....

His torso is a parallelogram.

Also I have this student Hugo who always manages to convince his parents to let him stay home from school on test day.  And not just test day, but every make up day that I have scheduled for his test from the dawn of time.  He's quite skilled in procrastination.  I finally had his teacher administer his exam.  I haven't graded it yet, but it did yield one amusing response I'd like to share...

The question reads "What 3 body parts do you like?"  His response, "I like cheese, knee, and foot."  Buddy, we all like cheese, and I doubt you'd be French if you didn't.  It probably is a part of his body~full credit for Hugo's cheese answer.

Terribly sorry this entry dwelt on where I sit on the bus.  With some reflection, I realize it sounds as petty as it did when I was in elementary school, and the seats in the back of the bus were all the rage. Perhaps something a little more eventful or charming will happen this week.  I guess I could have shared with you how we had a group of friends over for a pancake brunch on Sunday after church or how we have Bible study tonight with the one and only Jack Mac.  Even that Peter is coming to lunch at our place to watch Lost (I think we're getting a Sayid episode!!!  Wish he'd been married to Shannon in the new 2004...)   All sorts of things have more meaning; I hope to choose more wisely in my next entry.  Later folks!

LOST Brunch and such

Despite living in the future, relative to our friends and family in the United States, we must enjoy all television a day after Americans thanks to all the lovely folks who post videos online.  I admit that I am a t.v. junkie, which makes living overseas without a television just a little bit more of an adventure.  Among my favorite series is Lost.  I was late to the Lost fad as I was for the sensational Harry Potter era.  In the case of JK Rowling's books, I only began reading them after the first 6 books had been written and released.  Those several months living in anticipation for the 7th book were very difficult; I can't fathom how the faithful friends who were hooked from book one persevered all those years.

In contrast, I had watched a couple of episodes of Lost my last year of college with my next door neighbor Taylor.  By that point we were already half-way through season 3, and nothing made sense (but I remember liking Mr. Eko).  Perhaps this is akin to seeing a Harry Potter movie before picking up a book... Anywho, last March I watched the pilot episode with my family on dvd.  I was instantly hooked.  From that point on, Miss Foo and I made it our life's ambition to complete watching seasons 1-4 on dvd as well as catch up on season 5 via the internet before season 5's finale in May.  Every free moment was devoted to it; despite working 3 jobs, planning a wedding, and at some point in there training for a half-marathon, Miss Foo and I succeeded.  We lost countless hours of sleep just to see what happened next.  Poor Kyle was a bit bewildered with my new obsession.  However, it wasn't long before I persuaded him to jump on board with Lost (and also Harry Potter).  Today I feel the satisfaction I felt the day that The Deathly Hallows was released (although no costumes for the Lost premier)...

Miss Foo and I are dressed as which two Harry Potter characters?  Can you tell?

To kick the season off, Kyle and I invited our friend Peter over for brunch and Lost.  Kyle prepared bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits for round 1 with cinnamon rolls and coffee for dessert.  He's good, isn't he?  Well, because we depend on the internet we returned to our best resources for television.  Unfortunately we got confused about the Ben Linus narrated recap of all Lost events as the first episode.  This led to a very confusing viewing of part II of the premier episode.  We questioned, "How did Hurley know Jacob was dead?" and "Where did they get Juliet's body" or "Who are those dead people in the foot that fake John is pulling around?".  It also led to a very un-climactic revelation that fake Locke is indeed the smoke monster as Ben revealed when he called him (obviously) a "monster".

After brunch was over and we were left scratching our heads, I turned to the blogosphere to see if I could gain a little understanding of what we had just seen.  Suddenly, I come across character's names like Boone, Desmond, and Charlie, thinking, I didn't see any of those people in the episode I watched.... what gives?  Well, it took going to the source, ABC.com, to learn that there were in fact 3 episodes that I believe aired last night in the U.S.  I also discovered a new blessing; perhaps it's our Georgia Tech server, but we're able to watch video on ABC's website (unlike Fox & NBC).  This is happy news because we'll be able to watch the whole new season in high definition with the occasional commercial.  All in all, I thought the premier was very good and I'm happy with the direction they took.  Thank goodness Sayid is not dead, but I figured I'd wear my super french black t-shirt and jeans today to mourn Juliet and Jacob.  One complaint~couldn't we exchange Arzt with Shannon, please?

In light of the new season, I thought I'd share the LOST dance commercial.  It's so good.  Also, because I'm just an internet video junkie now, I thought I'd share some other happy dance videos I've enjoyed watching....

Creepy dance....

No good segue... Rush breaking it down to Poker Face

My favorite routine from last season of So You Think You Can Dance~thanks Nappytabs!

Miss Foo told me about this one the other day. I wish I could tap...

Any good dance video suggestions?  I felt an urge to include a Fred Astaire clip too, but I decided against it for the sake of not making this post too long.  If you like tap too, google Fred Astaire videos for a delightful sight.

In other news, life is fairly normal here.  I can't believe it feels normal.  Kyle and I hit Ikea yesterday to have an afternoon date.  He bought me a coke and 2 hotdogs as well as some really excellent things to organize my work life better.  Kyle didn't fail to pick out a few things for the kitchen; if he keeps making sushi and cinnamon rolls, how can I refuse to give him any tool he asks for?  

Roll out, KHam!

A perfect spicy salmon maki!

The weather in Metz has been disgusting.  Each week it snows for a couple of days, melts entirely, rains, get clear skies for about 30 minutes only to revert back to freezing temperatures and more snow.  On the bright side, my students love it, and it's a treat to watch them go wild at recess.  Also, I wearing out all the clothes I brought with me because I wear multiple shirts each day to keep warm.  It means I can throw out my sad wardrobe sans guilt before attempting to pack my bags sometime later this year.  I can pack the really good stuff (like Christmas market mugs and my students' artwork). On the horizon, I have a winter holiday in a little over a week.  Kyle and I may try to visit Germany again (seriously, we can't get enough) and Luxembourg.  I'll keep you posted... Later!