Soyez enthousiaste, fils de pute!

Home, yes. Competely with it, no.

2009-07-19T08:17:00.000-07:00

Just to let you all know we are home, safe and sound. Although 18 hours in Heathrow airport was something I don't think I need to experience again. As for being aware of everything around us, I am going to go with no. Over the next few weeks Patrick and I will be in touch with people. Right now I am trying to understand why every person I speak to tells me that Obama is doing something wrong, asks me when I am going to get a job or what I plan on doing with my life, and asks the retorical question, did I have fun in France.

Answers: 1. No one is perfect so stop thinking that Obama is not going to make mistakes. At least he is addressing issues on health care, education, and the economy. 2. I will get around to finding a job, but first let me figure out what time zone I am in. 3. Yes, I did have fun but remember, we lived there. Even though it was relaxing and we got to travel, IT WAS NOT A VACATION IT WAS LIFE.

As for continuing with the blog, we will see.

Have a good Sunday.
Molly

Sheep go to Die and we follow!

2009-07-09T05:33:00.000-07:00

So the past few weeks we have just been hanging out as it has been very hot. I always lack the ability to do anything, let alone walking to the grocery store, when it is really hot outside. That is not to say that we haven't been doing things so I will catch you up.

To catch up we actually need to go back to June. In fact we must return to June 20th, Brook was still here and the three of us went to Die, France. Patrick and I had been to Die in October and I had been to Die in the winter so it was time to show Brook the wonderful town of Die. We went to see the Fete de Transhumance, where the sheep are herded through the town and then up the mountains, where I went snowshoeing to be precise, and you can walk with the sheep. We took the 6:50am bus to Die and got there around 8:30am. It took longer as it was Saturday and they go through a bunch of small towns. We stood around for about a half hour or so but soon the sheep made there way to the edge of town where we were waiting for them. Not only did the sheep come but so did a bunch of people. It was great to follow all of the sheep and there were so many of them. They were so cute and some had fun hair styles. All of them had different markings on them to, what I can assume, are sheep of different owners.

It wasn't so great to follow the sheep with a bunch of people acting like sheep, especially the families who insisted on holding hands through out the entire thing so you couldn't pass. It was as if they were a wall of sheep people who refused to let you pass unless you put your ankles and feet in danger of jumping into ditches or sheep hooves as to try to get around. Also, I had no idea just how much sheep went to the bathroom so walking a long in my flip flops was not the best choice on my part, but I didn't step in too much poop.

We followed the sheep up into the hills and then ate a little snack in a meadow with a local cup of beer. It was the ending to a perfect morning. We eventually made our way back to town to market and had lunch. After lunch we took Brook to Jaillance to taste Clariette de Die. It was a wonderful day in Die!

A few days later Brook left to go to the states. I still wish Brook was here with us just hanging out in France. Although, we will see her soon in Colorado. It makes me wish more people could have come to France for a visit. I am very happy to all those who did make it as it added that little something special to the whole experience. So, I guess you know what that means...we all must plan trips to France!! Yeah!

More to write about later, but I am off to enjoy some more cheese and wine. I have to get all that I can while here.

Ta ta,
Molly

Part 4: Barcelona June 10th to the 17th

2009-06-26T03:23:00.000-07:00

Before I get into our trip to Barcelona I just wanted to quickly touch on the fact that Michael Jackson has died. Crazy! I just found out about an hour ago and I still cannot believe that he is dead. Regardless of the type of person is was or was not in his personal life he was still a musical genius. May he rest in peace.

Barcelona! I really enjoyed Barcelona but I feel the best way to understand what all happened in Barcelona is to divide it into 2 parts. Each part was great in its own way but each had its downside.

For the first part of our trip we stayed in the town of Sabadell. It was not only super cheap but a lot quieter than Barcelona. However, the 45 minute commuter train, which should have been no longer than 30 minutes, made us all question was it worth the money saved. Every train ride left us all feeling sick to our stomachs and slightly dizzy. Although, on the Saturday after seeing the night life of Barcelona we returned to Sabadell to a local festival celebrating their heritage. I think seeing a bunch of young Spaniards dance to rock-and-roll covered folk songs was an amazing experience we never would have seen if we had stayed in Barcelona. It was also strange to see so many people, from a variety of ages, up until 2 o'clock in the morning dancing to rock folk music.

In fact, Patrick and I should have lived in Spain. They do everything late there and the friendly energy of the Spanish is contagious. You move quicker in Spain than in France, but you never feel rushed. Barcelona is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever been to in my life. They love architecture and do a wonderful job blending the old and new to make a wonderful mosaic of Barcelona's history through their buildings. It was also pretty easy to get away from the tourists, it just took a little walking, which is nice as they were all annoying after some time.

Make the effort to take the metro to the last beach stop and you will find a local beach full of more families and less people yelling: "Beer, cervaza, agua, fanta, hasish." Also little Asian ladies yelling: "Massagie, por 5 euros!" The down side of beaches in Barcelona is they are covered with trash. You would think that all of those Spanish PETA people who spend all their time posing nude for animal rights would spend more time cleaning their beaches might actually make a difference in the environment.

Most of the first part we spent hanging out and walking around the city seeing the Gaudi stuff. Barcelona museums are over-priced especially compared to cities like Paris. The food looked amazing but was a little out of our budget. We did have paella one night but it was not worth the money we spent on it. Next time, Patrick and I decided to go to Barcelona for the food. However, we did get 3 for 2 fresh fruit juice, which was perfect. Nothing beats the heat like a mango y coco juice.

Part two of our trip didn't start off the best, in fact, there wasn't suppose to be a part two. We showed up to the train station on Monday morning to find out that our train home had been canceled by France due to a f@*king strike! GOD DAMN FRANCE! Of course I had just spent the whole commute to the train station telling Patrick how much I love France and how I missed it. I think God likes to make me look like an idiot.

We were told by the train station person that the best thing to do was come back in the evening to see if the strike would continue through the next day. So off we went to enjoy another day in Barcelona. During this day my wallet was stolen and all of my money was taken out of my account. Yeah! I didn't realize until about dinner time where I preceded to flip-shit. Patrick stayed wonderfully calm during the whole thing while I called my bank to cancel my card; he booked an appointment to begin to get my passport re-issued. After taking care of business we went to the local police station to file a report. In the middle of giving my report the lady who worked there handed my wallet back to me with my passport and all of my identification cards. Patrick said that my face was the face a woman make when their newborn is handed to them for the first time. My card was gone as was the 30 euros that was in my wallet but I had my passport and that was all that mattered.

Later that night we found out that the strike would continue until Wednesday. Lucky Brook was there to help us buy bus tickets home as Patrick left all of this credit cards at home since why do we both need to bring cards since I was taking care of this trip. So we spent the next two days living super cheap. I mean we lived on less than 10 euros a day. I think we spent 6 euros the first day on food and maybe 7 euros the next day. Euro meat baby; it isn't completely meat but it works! We did have money left over from the deposit on our rental place in Sabadell that Patrick had in his wallet, which we used to stay in a hostel and eat.

We did enjoy our few extra days in Barcelona and managed to go to the beach again and see some really cool exhibits for free, so all in all it wasn't bad. I am still figuring out my bank situation but we are safe and I have my passport. The most annoying thing is we planned our budget perfectly as to have more than enough money to live on for the last month. We just didn't plan to be victims of theft or a strike, oh life. Now I will set money aside in the event of theft or strike from now on. So that that be a lesson for all of you, save money in the event of a shit storm during a trip.

I would write about the awful bus ride home but this is already long enough so I end this post here. Barcelona was great minus the whole bullshit at the end.

Ta ta for now,
Molly

Part 3: Perpignan June 8th to June 10th, 2009

2009-06-25T02:39:00.000-07:00

Oh, Perpignan! Perpignan is home to Dali's train station (I guess he was obsessed with this tiny, not very impressive train station. Perhaps it is because he is from there.)

It is also French Catalonia at its finest. It is a great little city in which you can spend the morning in the Pyrenees and the afternoon on the beach. The train ride to Perpignan is also incredibly beautiful with the mountains to the west of you as you ride through lakes, literally through two lakes, and along the sea.

Once we arrived we took a cafe as we all were exhausted. After some strong coffee we met up with our couchsurfing host Juliette and had lunch at her house. She was a very nice and helpful host, but a little shy. She had a cute house just outside the old part of Perpignan. That night we also got to have dinner with Juliette and her friend Sandie, who splits her time between Dijon and Nimes and was visiting her folks in Perpignan, which was a nice evening full of conversation about travel and life.

As for the town of Perpignan, I liked it. There is not too much to do there but it felt like a town where real people live their lives even with all the tourists passing through. Perpignan would make for a great place to stay while making day trips around the area, which is what we did our second day there. On the 9th, we decided to take a break from the beach and visit the Pyrenees. We took a 1 euro bus ride to the town of Villefranch-de-Conflent.

It is an UNESCO site, which means it is a protected historical site. Another UNESCO site is the whole town of Bruges in Belgium. Villefranch was a nice village but I can safely say we spent too much time there. We were going to take this little yellow train down the canyon to other towns, but the rail tracks were being repaired. We did have a nice short hike up to the fort of the town where we each drank a glass of rose and took in the beautiful scenery. That night we had a kebab for dinner, which is always delicious.

All in all, Perpignan was a nice place to catch up on some much needed sleep and rest.

Tomorrow we head to Barcelona!! I really liked Barcelona and all of the adventures we had there minus a few. :)!

Molly

Part 2: Montpellier June 6 to June 8, 2009

2009-06-23T03:07:00.000-07:00

We got into Montpellier around mid-morning and hung out in a plaza right near the tourism office. After our usual picnic lunch we went to a really great photography exhibit that just opened. It was free, but also had a wide variety of photographers as well as view points. It is one of the most comprehensive photography exhibits I have been to in my life.

We finally met up with the people we were staying with in early afternoon. After we dropped off our stuff and showered we all went to a little town of Sete. It was nice to walk around and see a smaller town. It seemed every older person in Sete was sitting outside on the front steps in lawn chairs. I have a feeling as the summer continues more and more people sit outside on their lawn chairs.

After our brief tour of Sete we went home and ate dinner. That evening Brook and I went to a French discotheque (dance club). We wanted to go dancing but the funny thing is not a lot of people dance at French dance clubs. They just stand around and drink, very strange. There were a few people dancing so that was fun, but overall I would skip the dance club. They are full of too many people not dancing but merely posing like pretty boys and girls from an Ambercombie and Fitch catalog. Oh, and, French men, what a trip. I am so glad that I have traveled most of France with Patrick by my side. Not just because he is my love, but French men, at least at this place, were...um...I guess I will go with not-my-type-of-person-to-meet and leave it at that. After an interesting adventure home we finally went to bed at 4:30am. A typical disco night in Europe, but I did not get my dance on enough to consider it a true success.

The next day we went to the beach all afternoon after going to market in the morning. Yeah, I said morning. I woke up at 9:30 to church bells, oh don't you love church bells after a night of dancing! That evening we had a nice dinner and went to bed early.

Alas, we did not get to spend a whole lot of time in Montpellier for one reason or another. It seems like a bigger Boulder with more art and closer to the beach. I realize that this is truly a brief summary of our time in Montpellier, but I have my reasons. I will say that the key information I left out will only highlight why it is so brief of an account. I am sorry for being so mysterious but you are all smart; figure it out.

Tomorrow we travel to Perpignan!

Later gators,
Molly

No, we have not forgotten you!

2009-06-22T01:26:00.000-07:00

I realize it has been a long time since our last blog but we were gallivanting around the Mediterranean. As it has been a while I fully plan to break down our trip over several posts during this week. There is too much to highlight and I don't want to bog anyone down with a long account of our travels. So here we go with a four part series about our trip to the sea. Friday's edition will be a comprehensive discussion of our last month left and what we hope to see. Can you tell I miss NPR a little too much?

First part: Marseille, June 3rd to June 6th, 2009

Oh, Marseille how I love this city. I would describe Marseille as edgy, laid-back, active, doesn't give a flying f*@k what you think of me city. It is Denver meets New York City. It is amazing! I like Paris, but Marseille makes Paris that boring, more popular kid who gets by on a name. Make it to Marseille in your life and I promise you it will change the way you view France.

Patrick, Brook, and myself arrived at 9:30 in the morning and made our way to our hostel. We stayed at this place called La Cigale et la Fourmi, the cicada and the ant, it was a hippie commune. We slept in a lofted space with beds on the ground with any where from 10 to 20 strangers. People were coming in and out of the place from all walks of life and we paid at the end of our stay, since you never know how long you are going to stay! We were all a little skeptical when we arrived especially since some kid yelled down the door access code from a window while a cigarette balanced between his fingers. We couldn't understand what he said but the cute old French lady, who lived next door and was outside, helped us since she knew the code too. What?

You enter a tiny hallway only to go up a set of an even tiny stair case that felt like an Escher drawing. We finally made it to the main room, where there was a red couch with some guy sleeping on it, and a series of foreigners being served coffee by a French Filipino. We "checked-in" with Jean, the owner, and were showed to our beds by a Belgian lady named JoJo. More to come on our little hippie commune in a bit but all in all, it was great!

We left our commune to see the city. We took a bus to the metro, took the metro into the city, and then another bus to the Basilique de Notre Dame de la Garde. It is a really cool church that sits on top of La Garde hill on the east side of the old port. We had lunch there and saw the church and crazy tourists. From there we walked down the hill to the old port to the west side of the port to the old part of Marseille. From there we went to Cathedrale Le Major and then walked along the sea back into the old port. On our map of Marseille there was an advertisement to taste artisan pastis which was located on our way home so we stopped by to check in out. It was really good pastis and we learned that pastis actually originated from Absinthe. For those of you who don't know pastis, it is an anise flavored liquor. It is a very refreshing summer drink. We then went home and ate dinner and hung out with the rest of the people at our commune. It was a special evening as we had great conversations with a variety of people and nationalities. It was one of those nights that only happen at hippie communes minus the hippie hypocritical rhetoric.

The next day we went to Cassis, the next town over, to hike the Calanques. We hiked a couple of hours to a remote beach with only about 30 people or so at any given time. The hike was kind of difficult as there was a bunch of loose rocks through out the whole trail and the rocks were incredibly slippery. Right before getting to the second beach where we swam, we had to hike down a steep hill to the bottom. However, don't worry folks I had the proper foot ware. I hiked this part in my flip-flops. :)! What...I needed to work on my flip-flop tan.

The beach was quiet enough that you could here the water and birds more than the other people on the beach.

Oh, and a really annoying helicopter doing some sort of exercise that no one could figure out but everyone on the beach watched with utter confusion; oh, and took a photo of it. On occasion you saw a tour boat that takes tourist to all of the Calanques come by but it was far enough out that it wasn't too annoying. It was one of the coolest things I have ever done in my short life. The sea water was clear with a slight bluish-green color, but refreshingly cold. I don't think you could drown even if you wanted to as you would just float back to the top. I think we spent 5 hours on the beach once we got there. This being said, it was difficult to want to leave let alone muster the courage and energy to hike back. Throughout the day we saw a variety of people leave a different route than we came up the side of cliff that created the south wall of the Calanques. One family left with their dog on this route so we thought we should give it a try.

I wore my tennis shoes for this part of the hike home as I thought I was pushing my luck with hiking in flip-flops there. I am very glad that I did as there was no trail only three separate sections of a wall of rock. Yep, the three of us rock-climbed out. I can safely say the three of us were all a little afraid and realized that we were idiots for following strangers out of a place we had never been before. Ironically, Brook and I moments before leaving this way were discussing rock-climbing and how much fun it can be and wish we could do it more often. God has a sense of humor, no?

We made it out alive and a little smarter.

The rest of the hike home was fine but we were all very tired. We finally made it home after walking to a shuttle bus, which then took us to the train station where an older French man preceded to tell us that all of France's problems are do to the Arabs. Have Patrick and I mentioned how racist some French people can be?

We got home around 9, 9:30, and ate dinner and went to bed. The next day was spent not doing a whole lot as we were all beat. Brook and I did go to the Fashion Museum and then we all had a beer at a cafe. That night we hung out at the commune and had a fun time until we all went to bed around 1 am.

This concludes our Marseille part of the trip. It was amazing and slightly terrifying. Tomorrow for part two of this series we are off to Montpellier.

Molly

Adventures

2009-05-31T10:21:00.000-07:00

Here's a list of the things we have done in the last 2 weeks:
Tain l'Hermitage - We hiked up into some vines and up to a small Chapel in one of the nicest wine regions in France, Hermitage. We tasted wine in 2 wineries and went to town at a chocolate shop under the cover of an enormous American tour group.
Lyon - It rained in Lyon again. It always rains in Lyon as far as I can tell. We visited the zoo and then went to a wine tourism fair that we got free tickets to and tasted a number of wines. I tried to get some free bottles by batting my eyes, but to no avail. We had a little party at the Corsica booth and enjoyed some cheese and a ton of wine. I think we were poured 3 full glasses at the one booth alone.
St. Peray- We ate dinner at a coworker's house. The family raises chickens and sheep and there were 2 lambs. One was 2 weeks old and the other was 4 weeks old and as cute as you can imagine... probably real tasty too.
Grenoble - Another wine expo! Free tickets to this one too! We tried wines from all over France. We were able to compare 3 different champagne producers, tried 8 different Sauternes, Burgundies, Bordeaux and others. Grenoble is dead on a Sunday, which is odd because it's a university town, so we just came home and went to bed early.
Cornas - We went to Cornas, a fantastic wine region, with the explicit purpose to taste and buy. The wine producers are all really small operations and we found ourselves in strangers' basements tasting wine. The last producer we visited was actually closed, but we caught them as they were coming home so they let us taste. They had a nice tasting room, different from all the others that day, and we were poured very generous pours and chatted for about an hour about all sorts of things. I hope to post a photo of it soon, maybe sneak one in after everyone has read this. But it was the most comfortable wine tasting I have ever been to.

Ireland- Heck yeah! We flew from Grenoble airport, which is in the middle of nowhere and the size of my parents living room, to Dublin. Ryanair is just as you would imagine, discount-y. With a budget airline you get budget pilots, but no barfbags. Odd.

Dublin was really expensive, but I think we did it very inexpensivly. First of all, they don't check tickets when entering the Book of Kells. We found this out once we had already walked in to the exhibit and then realized that we had just walked into the exhibit. The Guinness Storehouse does check tickets, but if you ask to go to the gift shop, then you are in without paying for the tour. You don't get the free pint at the end of the tour, but you do get to taste halfway through it. On the 6th floor we bought bottles of Guinness Foreign Extra, a brew that you cannot find in the States, and asked the bartender if he had any extra tokens. He did, and we got free pints on the 7th storey bar which has a great view.

We CouchSurfed with an American and his Finnish roommate on the south end of town. They were really cool but had really bad drinking problems. They were really generous and it was a great way to ease into the city.

We ate dinner at the O'Neills house. The O'Neills are great people whom we met nearly 2 years ago in Colorado. They came to visit my folks and a friend of my folks after said friend of my folks introduced the O'Neills to my folks and my folks stayed with them in Ireland when my folks went to an art thing for my pop. Did you follow that? The O'Neill kids are amazing kids who are some of the most creative people I have met. Tim and Christine, the parents, are very smart people who are experts at conversation (a big change from our CouchSurfing hosts). We had a great evening and I was excited, of all things, to eat brown rice with dinner.

Howth - We rode the Dublin commuter train north to a small penninsula with a small fishing town, Howth. We saw seals and boats in town and then went on a hike along cliffs that line the sea. We stopped just before making it to the light house and cut our loop short because the clouds on that end of the penninsula were so thick that we couldn't see the lighthouse that was a kilometer away. We walked up a hill and then had a pint, the cheapest one we found our entire stay, in the sun. It was here, in Howth, that Molly and I got sunburns. Who would have thought to bring sun block to Ireland?

We saved a lot of money on this trip, which was an added bonus! Not only did we save about 20 euros a person by walking into attractions, but we also got a ride to the airport in Grenoble, saving us 20 euros a person. Upon arriving in Grenoble we hitchhiked into Grenoble, saving us 12.50 euros, and then took a bus to Valence TGV station instead of a train, saving us a buck, and then were given a ride by the sister of a student of mine, my student happend to be on the same bus, from the TGV station to our home. That saved us a three mile walk in the rain!

We are gearing up to go to Marseilles, Montpellier, Perpignan and Barcelona in the coming weeks! So I'm sure we'll write something about that here.

Cheers!
- Patrick

New Chapter... I'm tired of this old one.

2009-04-28T08:58:00.000-07:00

Today was my second to last day as an assistant here at the lycee. I can safely say that the connections that I made to my students this year are not as strong as the connections I felt to my students when I was doing my student teaching in Broomfield. Very nice kids, of course, and I don't think it was a communication issue... I am certain that it was the fact that I saw kids one hour a week if I saw them frequently and one hour every six weeks on the other end of the scale.

I received some very nice gifts from students in a few classes. A bouncy ball (balle rebondissante), some candy, a Star Wars magnet of C3PO and as a gag gift, a razor. Then I was given a t-shirt with signatures and "WE (heart) YOU" on it. I cannot wait to wear that to a baseball game in the States!

Then, in my volunteer conversation class, I was given a very nice gift by two brothers. I accused them of stealing from their parents, but they insisted that they did not. I was given three beautiful bottles of wine. This may not mean much to many of you, but I received a 2001 Paul Jaboulet Aine - St. Peray (white Cote du Rhone), a 1999 Meursault (red Burgundy), and a 1996 St. Emilion (red Bordeaux). When I opened the box I was rendered speechless. If purchased in the States today this could cost about... umm... 300 bucks, easy. I am sure that the parents of these boys purchased the wine from the wineries the years they came out at any number of wine expos that go on in France any weekend of the year. That would have only cost em about 45 euros at the time, shoot in francs at the time, so maybe less. But the gesture is still incredibly nice! I will try and give the rest of my classes guilt trips an hopes of other nice vintage years!

All in all I beleive that the last 7 months were good. Friday starts the second chapter in our stay here. We're looking forward to the change!

In other things...
Marseille is a great city! We went there over the weekend with Patrick and Marielle (Math and English teachers) and their 3 yo boy Enslin. He's kind of a butthead, but he is three. Lots of repetition, but it was fun to hang out with a kid. It makes me want to play with my nephew, Zain, more than ever! Then I will hand him over to his mom and dad and look at a new nephew sleeping!

Marie, the German assistant, left for home last Thursday. This was kind of a owner as she is the one person whom I feel I really got to know while over here. It just means that my German will have to improve so that we can go visit her in Jena... and drink lots of beer!

I am looking for a job picking fruit. So far I have not had any luck, but I know that there are a lot of jobs and I just need to continue in my hunt. Apparently cherries are cheaper to grow in harvest in Turkey because they can exploit workers even easier! Not as good for me, but the apricots and blueberries will arrive soon.

The weather in Valence has been beautiful and it hasn't been raining too much. This city is a lot nicer in the spring than it is in the winter. I would have invited bombers to level it if I had received the offer in February. Now I am liking it more and more. Markets are lively again, and flower beds are full. That's nice.

So there you have it! Let's turn the page!
- Patrick

French retirement

2009-04-23T04:36:00.000-07:00

So Wednesdays in France are a little different "hump day" in France than in the States. All elementary schools are closed and high school students spend their Wednesday afternoons in art and film classes or club sports. Thus, Wednesdays for Patrick and I take on a feeling of a Saturday, since he doesn't work.

Yesterday we slept in, ate a late breakfast, went to feed the ducks, and buy food for dinner. On our way to feed the ducks, there are lots of little ducklings around our area that play in the canals that cut through Valence, we found a boules club. Boules is like bocce ball from Italy, as far as I know, and is usually played by old men. They seem to be very intense games of great skill. These men seem to know just how to throw the heavy metal ball to score a point or block an opponent's balls from getting a point.

One of the men playing boules noticed we were feeding the ducks and decided to tell us a very interesting story about his friend who fell off his bike into the canal. He swallowed some of the canal water and had to go to the hospital. It turns out that his friend died because the water was full of poison and rat pee. Well after such an interesting story and I developed a slight fear of dying from accidental canal water consumption, we decided to watch this group of people play boules. We sat for a while on a bench under a newly leafed tree watching a group of about 7 men and 1 woman, all over the age of 60, play. We were easily the youngest people there except for a few children playing near the boules game area. We were joined on the bench by an elderly couple who came to watch too. I guess this is what you do when you are retired in France, you play or watch boules during the nice April afternoon.

Perhaps Patrick and I will try to play this summer with the elderly people of Valence. Here's to spending a brief moment as a French retiree. All it needed was a glass of Ricard and we would have been set!

Only in France would feeding ducks lead to a random conversation about death and a game of boules.

Here's to France!
Molly

April already?

2009-04-02T05:00:00.000-07:00

I am always surprised at the rate in which time passes. It seems like just yesterday Patrick and I just arrived and now it is April, crazy. Spring has arrived in Valence, which not only makes Valence more enjoyable with beautiful flowers beginning to bloom and trees budding pretty little flowers but also improves my general mood. Here are a few updates from the pass few weeks.

Paris: Round 2

I have to say the more time I spend in Paris the more I enjoy the city. Don't get me wrong I loved Paris when we went in December, but Paris is not like the rest of France. It lacks some of the best qualities of French life because it is a city that runs like all big cities do - non-stop, tourists after three days begin to ruin the cities charm even for me - another tourist, and anything that resembles "real" French culture has a price - an expensive one. However, all that aside there is a magic to Paris, just like all big cities, it gets under your skin and moves you like a marionette to the play that Paris wants to tell you.

This trip was a little different this time since we had our dear friends Devon, Rosie, and Kevin come to visit. The role of being simply a tourist morphed into that of a tour guide. Patrick had to work part of the week so I was left alone to show them the city. It was so nice to see them and to share with them France. I loved getting to watch each of them see the city and the country. Rosie's eyes were wrapped up in everything around her so much so that Patrick and I had to make sure we didn't loose her. Devon became keen on French, you could say, as we would walk around the city I would teach her the little French that I know and got to watch her practice her French with real French people. As for Kevin it took him a little bit to see the city as his mind was on other, more important things, than merely a trip to France. You see Kevin planned to propose to Devon while on the trip and the day was set for Saturday. However, after the proposal and the celebration of their engagement Kevin got to enjoy the city too. It was great to watch the newly engaged couple have little romantic moments all throughout Paris.

Life Update

I returned on Friday morning to a beautiful day in Valence. The sun was shinning and flowers were in full bloom. This Friday I finally received word from UCLA about my application status; I didn't get in. Oh well, no graduate school for me next year. I have a plan B which involves taking some classes, writing a lot, and working so that I can reapply again. It might take some time to get where I want to go but I will get there.

That is about it for now. Patrick and I are preparing for the summer with looking for fruit harvests to work on, getting excited for Brook coming, and trying to figure out how to afford that last little bit of travel. My goal is to see the west coast of France before we leave, which is feasible. So get ready for summer stories about Rose wine, late nights, picnics, French camping, and fruit harvests.

A bientot,
Molly

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em

2009-03-19T05:44:00.000-07:00

Sigh.

Today there is a grève générale in France. This is the second general strike in France since Molly and I arrived in France and the 8th strike that We have witnessed in any number of ways since arriving (this includes a strike we read about where life drawing models protested nude in Paris in the dead of winter... idiots).

Normally this strike business is kind of laughable. It seems to be the only tool that the French populous has to tell the government that they are unhappy about an issue. When you discuss other tool, e.g. boycotts or letter writing campaigns, they look at you as though you have enormous eyes, green skin and antennae. The strike in France is an institution. In Paris, and some other cities, the place in front of the Hôtel de Ville (City Hall) is called the Place de la Grève. This is just an example of the way the strike penetrates the lives of the French.

Also, I need to explain that a French strike has very little in common with its' American counterpart. That is unless a specific factory strikes. That is the only time you see a picket line in France. The general strike is more of a come-if-you-want-to kind of situation. It is not uncommon for people who cannot afford to strike to work for the day. Trade unions are not unique to specific trades necessarily, but instead are tied to, leftist mostly, political parties.

I mention the strike today not because of how effective it is in getting anyone in the government's attention (it doesn't really), but by how inconvenient the French make the day simply because they can! Follow me as I take you on four different journeys to the train station.

Molly and I have some friends coming to visit us in Paris for a week. In general, the best, easiest and usually the cheapest way to travel in France is with the trains run by the SNCF (Société Nationale des Chemins de fer français) which is run by the French State. We bought our tickets online in advance to get the best prices and Molly and I walked to the train station to print the tickets out. This was on Tuesday morning. Upon returning home I swung by our mailbox at the school to discover that there was a flyer advertising the strike. We immediately walked back to the train station to ask someone about how this would affect Molly's traveling (as she left this morning ahead of me). On our second trip we were told that the postings of what trains would be running would be posted the following day.

Wednesday Molly and I woke up and headed down to the train station with our fingers crossed that Molly's train would not be effected. Sure enough, Molly train was cancelled and that flash of worry filled her eyes! We went to the ticket window and asked about what trains would be running Thursday morning and whether we could exchange Molly's ticket. There was a train running! The trouble is that it left from another train station nearby and Molly would have to take a bus there. We double checked that all the buses would, in fact, be running. We were assured that, yes, all of the buses would be running. Can you guess where I'm going here?

Well, relieved, Molly and I went home and began packing her bags for her trip, and then may bags for the train on Friday. Everything was fine and we emailed our friends before they went to the airport to explain that Molly would be running behind schedule . It was hard to sleep last night for all the excitement of seeing people from back home as well as getting away from Valence for a little while and see some art, beggars, tourists and monuments... and a store or restaurant that stays open later than 7:30!

6:00: Molly woke up.
6:05: I woke up.
6:20: Molly and I left for the train station (#4)

Molly and I wanted to get her to the train station early in case there should be any funny business with this here strike. Every thing seemed in order and we waited at the "gate" for her bus to arrive. 7:00 bus to the train station, 7:36 TGV to Paris. Things were gonna be fine.

6:50: The bus had not yet arrived.
6:55: The bus had not yet arrived.
7:00: The bus had not yet arrived.
7:05: Molly's eyes went from quiet anxiety and wishful thinking to that look she gives me when, well when that bus you were promised would take you to the train station so that you could meet your friends in Paris and get to the rented apartment on time so that you have a place to stay, where you already put 200 euros down, and no one has cell phones like in the States because cell phones are an over-priced joke over here and there's the fear that even though you planned everything so carefully it may all go down the expensive tubes, well when that bus doesn't arrive... that's the look she gave me.

We waited another moment, debated running to the house of someone we know who has a car and would not be going to work that day to ask them for a ride. There was, of course, no one working at the train station to ask questions. Finally we flagged a passing taxi and put Molly in the back. Hopefully she would make it to the train station in time and hopefully that train would in fact be running today.

That train was scheduled to leave the station at 7:36 this morning. I haven't heard that it was cancelled, so I am expecting that Molly has made it to Paris. I am expecting that Molly has met with our friends and is now taking photos of Parisians in the Place de la Grève where she is showing our friends that real slice of France that so many tourists miss!

So I was scheduled to have a class today. One teacher would not be taking part in the strike and I was expected to take my half of her class. Well you know, if France is going to cause me this kind of stress at such an early hour of the morning with broken promises and assurances, I don't think I have to put up with it. I have made a sign that I plan to parade around the streets of Valence today. It says, "The French State Lies!" SNCF is, after all, run by the state.

I feel lied to! And damnit, I'm taking to the streets!

- Patrick

p.s. Yeah, I didn't make a sign.

French Engineering

2009-03-11T10:03:00.000-07:00

So those of you don't know but Patrick and I live at the school where Patrick teaches. It is like living in the dorms your freshmen year of college only we have a kitchen. Granted, we have to walk outside and through another door to get to our kitchen BUT it is super cheap.

So the other day some work men from Orange, which is like a Comcast, came to our residence to work on phone lines or internet lines or something, who knows what they were working on, but they are still working on it. Now I don't know that much about engineering but I am pretty sure their rigging for this new line is not safe. Let's Take a look at the photos, shall we?

This is a photo of the line running in front of the other building where the other assistants live at the school. Let's continue to follow it.

I realize it is hard to see since it is an electric line hung from the building and is hanging in the middle of the air, but what is it attached to?

It is a tree! Yes that is right folks they hung a line from a building to a tree. I don't know if this is legal, but I am pretty sure it is not safe. Maybe I am just seeing things; maybe it is something else?

Nope it is a tree alright. Well wait to be precise, they have a tiny little black plastic thing attached to the line, which is then attached to a metal hook, which is then attached to the tree. Is it is not in the tree, persay, but it is attached to something in the tree. Well, where does it go from there?

Why, I don't know? Let's get a closer look.

Why it is the transister box that holds all of the cable lines for the area! Now I wonder what would happen if the tree, or the box, or the fense that the line runs through, or the bushes that the line also runs through were to be hit by lighting?

Please let me know if I made a mistake in assuming that this "rig" is unsafe, okay?

Thank you for taking a moment to view French Engineering.
Molly

Vacation Part 2 plus March

2009-03-03T07:45:00.000-08:00

All in all the second part of vacation was wonderful. I have to say I understand why so many people go to the South of France because it is beautiful and warm. I think Nice is not only really nice but an excellent city. Here are the highlights of the trip:

1. The weather. It was so nice to just sit on the beach and let the sun hit your face as you watched little waves roll up onto the rocky beach. I took so many photos of the whole coast.

2. Going to Italy. Patrick and I left France and walked to Italy. It total we walked, maybe 11 miles to get the the city of Ventimigilia, which is 6 miles or so from the border. The other five miles came from walking from Menton to the border. This does not include the 2 mile walk to the bus station that morning in Nice or the 2 to 3 mile walk back into town from the wrong Menton train station. However, it was so strange to truly see how different Italy is to France on every level; including how cheap everything is in Italy, at least in Ventimigilia. As for the hike there it was all along the road, which followed the beautiful coast, but it was long. My feet were killing me by the end of the day.

3. Carnival was amazing. There is no way really to describe the energy and excitement of Carnival; it is just something that your should do in life. I look forward to planning a trip to see Carnival in Brazil. So if you want to go, start saving your money now.

4. I got to see Fireworks in Menton, France! We had gone down to the South of France to go to the Fete des Citrons, the Lemon Festival, which takes place in Menton. While the town is full of dying Brits, the fete was neat to see. Although the timing of the parade was a little off, I could let it pass because of the fireworks. As well as the tiny French lady, with the biggest glasses to eye ratio I have seen in a while, who stood behind us the whole time make little noises and singing along to the Elvis music, which accompanied the fireworks. 'Oh lala!' she would ring out.

5. How cheap it is to travel along the French Rivera. For a euro, you can take the bus all along the coast; however, get the bus at the station and sit in the back so you have a seat. It is a long bus ride if you have to stand the whole way. Did I mention we had to stand the whole way on the bus to Menton, the same day we walked 11 miles and stood for an hour to watch the parade.

As for March, we went to Romans for another Carnival. Yeah, they celebrate Carnival here after Ash Wednesday, because everyone needs a break a week into Lent! It was a cool experience to see a small town really throw quite the party. It was no Nice Carnival, but it was far more political. So well done to Romans!

In 16 days our dear friends Devon, Rosie, and Kevin are coming to visit us in Paris, which I am super excited for and cannot wait! I might go into shock once I see them but it will be fun to get to explore more of the city with them.

Interesting observations:
1. It seems that all young French children are pawned off on their grandparents, who all seem to live in the South.

2. Old British people go to the South of France to die; therefore, they take away from the area's charm.

3. Monoco is worth maybe two hours during the day and an hour at night. Other than that amount of time, it is a boring place, full of bad art and high rise buildings erected in the '70s.

4. March weather has been warmer but now that I have said something I am sure it will return to its usual awful rain.

That is all for now.
Molly

First part of February

2009-02-14T03:08:00.000-08:00

Since we are half way through February I thought I would catch you all up on the first part of vacation. Out of the four weeks of the month of February we have two weeks of vacation. I love France! I guess I will give the highlights and low points of our trip up North.

Highlights:
1. Dijon, France is great. I look forward to visiting that city again for the wonderful mix of architecture and people. I wish we could have walked more of the city so, back to Dijon we will go this spring. Although we did not eat mustard, or drink Creme de Cassis (a local liqueur), or visit vineyards. Most of the vineyards head south from town so we will see those this spring. Patrick and I have already figured out the backpacking trip from Dijon to Beaune through the burgundy wine region. Also the people we stayed with were wonderful. They taught us a great party trick involving your fingers moving to create a "sausage bridge". It is hard to explain so ask us to show you when we get back.

2. Couch-surfing was a great way to meet people in each of the towns we visited. For the most part it was a wonderful experience and I felt we got to meet a lot of great people. I look forward to meeting other wonderful people in our second part of our trip to Nice.

3. Traveling with Grace and Kelsey, two of our great friends here, is always a pleasure. Although we all had our moments of "I want to kill you!" they have truly become our little French family here, regardless of the fact that we are all American, and I am grateful to have met such great friends here.

4. Tasting real champagne in the champagne region. I can check that one off my list of things to do before I die. Why does champagne have to be so expensive? Maybe it is a good thing that is so expensive or I would drink it all the time. Not that it is a bad thing but probably not the best for my health.

5. Walking around all of the cities and seeing them unfold before my eyes. Strasbourg is so German from the food to the lay out of the city just feels very German. Strasbourg also has the most beautiful church; I think the most beautiful I have ever seen. Dijon is a mixture of French and German influence as well as the church but everything just fit so well together. Reims (pronounced rinse but hold your nose while you say it) was very Roman and had a lot of new buildings. I say Roman since it is built on a grid. A lot of new buildings due to the war and updating the city. Reims is under construction so I wouldn't go to visit again until after 2012, but worth the trip for the history alone.

6. The long train rides around the area allowed me to see the country side and the smaller towns of the region. I also had time to read since there was nothing else you could really do on the train.

7. The last pull-out bed that Patrick and I slept on was the most comfortable bed we have slept on in France.

Low points
1. The first group of people we stayed with in Strasbourg put a sour taste in my mouth as well as the city. They were...um...how do I put this...strange. Yeah, I will go with strange. I will never be able to look at pink elephants quite the same way since they had a collection of them in their living room. Did I mention that they were two grown men? No, yeah they were two grown men with a stuffed animal pink elephant collection. The second group of folks we stayed with saved us, to say the least, and were wonderful people.

2. It was cold, really cold. I can only hope that the warmth of Southern France will thaw the chill left over from the cold wind of the North.

3. I was really tired from having to go from one house to the next. This is the down side of couch-surfing. Every time you move to a new place it is a new set of getting-to-know-you conversations. Now add speaking in French and I get tired just thinking about it. So, the lesson has been learned that maybe weekend trips or long stays are the best for couch-surfing.

4. I heard from University of California Santa Barbara and I didn't get in so that sucked. The downside I am now worried about the rest of the schools I applied to but only in those silent moments of doubt which occur either late at night or afternoon. The upside we all went dancing and had a lot of fun. Yeah both Patrick and Kelsey (two people who claim not to like dancing or say they can't dance)danced which was so much fun, so it was more of a highlight after all.

So that is a quick summary of the first part of our trip. More to come later.

Peace,
Molly

Pittsburgh, PA

2009-01-26T09:15:00.000-08:00

link

There are new photos of Nimes and us raising our glasses to the new pres.
Word.

- Patrick

J'ai fait les raquettes dans les Vercors

2009-01-26T07:00:00.000-08:00

The translation of the title to this post is: "I went snowshoeing in the Vercors." I will get to my snowshoeing experience in a second; right now I would like to gloat about my French abilities. I didn't write it in French to sound pompous, but to demonstrate my ever growing ability to butcher the French language. I missed an article and misspelled raquette, but other than that I got it correct. Yeah for me, to a point. I still feel like an idiot every time I open my mouth, not that I am not use to putting my foot in my mouth, it is just worse speaking in another language. I am more aware that I am creating, perhaps furthering, stereotypes that Americans sound like fools when speaking French.

Oh well, I can sound like a fool when I speak English so I am not going to worry about it too much. It makes for an interesting time when in a conversation with a French person and they look at me like I am speaking anything but French. I look at them wanting some sort of recognition that they understand me but all I get is a blank stare. So from now on, when I speak to non-native English speakers, I am going to be super active in my facial expressions to the point that they think I have a tick or something.

I would recommend that anyone who visits France during the winter try to partake in their winter sports. I went to the Col de Rousset, which was sunny and had amazing views of the Vercors mountain range. It is also 20 minutes from Die, France; where we had hiked earlier in our trip. I went with a group of assistants and went snowshoeing with Abi, an American, and Marie, a German. Patrick decided to stay home for the day so it was my own little adventure; although, I wish Patrick would have been there.

Abi, Marie, and I took the chair lift above timberline. We looked like an odd collection of people going out to snowshoe. Marie looked like the mountain expert, Abi looked like someone had dragged her from Paris and dropped her off, and I hiked in jeans. Yeah, I looked like a bum. From the base of the timberline we started our hike. It was great! I didn't bring my camera but I will steal photos from Abi and Marie and post them in photobucket as soon as I get them. We hiked along the edge of the mountain, which is more of a cliff, making sure not to get to close edge of the mountain as we easily could have fallen to our deaths if we got to far out. However, the views were worth the slight danger.

We hiked for an hour and then turned around and headed back. On the journey back the clouds moved in, blending the sky with the snow, only to leave just as quick as they arrived. It felt like being in a cloud, which fulfilled a childhood desire of knowing what it would be like to be in a cloud.

We made it down the mountain to catch the bus to go back to Die with time to spare to have a beer. The whole trip including rentals, getting to the resort and back, and lift ticket was under 25 euros. It was so cheap and fun.

However, we didn't make it down the mountains in time to catch our train home. There is nothing quite like watching your train leave right before your eyes. Super lame, but ca la vie! This is France where the only things that are on time, 90% of the time, are the trains and buses. Three people caught a ride with another assistant to make it home early while the rest of us stayed to take the last train home.

So after getting somethings for dinner Abi, Kelsey, Eric, Becca, Allison, Patrick (another assistant who lives in Die), and I went to Patrick from Die's place for dinner and drinks until our 11:52pm train. It was fun just to hang out and eat. We also played a couple of rounds of a great game. Everyone has a piece of paper and a pen. The first person writes a sentence on a piece of paper and then passes it to the next person, who then has to draw a picture of the sentence. The person who draws the picture folds the paper so only the picture is seen and passes it to the next person. So everyone is drawing and writing something on these sheets of paper until it makes it around the circle once, then everyone takes turns reading the story in front of them. It was hilarious to see the different stories that un-folded as the sheets were read. Too much fun!

We made it to our train and made it home after midnight. I enjoyed the train ride home to contemplate the day and focus on getting to my bed. It was a great day of being outside in the snow with great company.

A bientot,
Molly

PS I realize that there are accents in a bientot but I don't care.

Follow us!

2009-01-25T13:07:00.000-08:00

There is now a map on the right. Suivez the map pour voir the places that nous avons visited.

Quelle fucking impolitesse!

2009-01-22T08:40:00.000-08:00

It only takes one rude person to put a negative light on a beautiful day. This goes in any culture, but when you want to tell a kid to pull his head out of his ass, a direct translation is a bit weird. It would be so much easier if I was a little cooler under pressure and if rude people were not so damn rude!
I ran into a teacher I know just moments after an altercation with a student, whose name I never caught, and the prof's suggestion was to just lay into them in English. "They won't understand anything but the F-word and they may understand just how angry you are," he suggested.

Of course it wasn't the littering, which began the encounter, that made me angry, but the general attitude of what I try not to generalize as the attitude of the youth in France, but single out as individuals being impolite. Really impolite.

On a lighter note, we're gonna go to a Cote-Rotie wine expo in a small town named Ampuis. I hope we find it with no trouble... or more importantly, I hope we find our way home!

Here, now, are some soothing images.

- Patrick

Everyone's all smiles today

2009-01-20T00:05:00.000-08:00

People, strangers even (I guess the know I'm the American on campus), have been smiling at me all morning. Every so often someone mentions what today holds, but it's usually just a silly grin.
I imagine it's because I'm the one grinning and they are reacting to that sparkle in my eye.
Thank you to everyone that got off their asses even if it was just that one Tuesday.
- Patrick

Sunshine in January... does a body good.

2009-01-17T02:36:00.000-08:00

An interesting thing happens between blog posts, it seems. Either nothing happens so you start mentioning that you would like to write about small things that amuse you or frustrate you, or a lot happens and you want to do it justice, so you put it off until you realize you should just write it anyway. This also is the case when a good friend emails you. You want to respond with something good, but you end up just living your life ad realizing that nothing big is really going on at the moment and you end up just writing a very bland and very belated response.

CouchSurfing is something I have known about for a while now, but we finally did it and had a wonderful experience! Kelsey spoke to a guy in Nimes who was willing to host us for a long weekend. This guy, Thomas, had dated and married an American assistant (who is currently in Grad school in NY) and was extraordinarily helpful because of this. In fact, Thomas wasn't even there for the weekend, but instead visiting his family in Grenoble! We were given a key to a real kitschy flat within spitting distance of the Roman arena and told to have a good weekend... and we did.

The first night was perhaps the most colorful as we didn't have the time, or energy perhaps, to go see any of the town, but instead made dinner at home and then, after some American television shows (Gossip Girl) and three bottles of wine, we went to an Irish pub. The evening started off slowly enough, but quickly declined/mounted into a lot of laughs. I suggested that Kelsey go talk to a young man who was pretty cute. He had a striped shirt and glasses and he was carrying a number of drinks back to his table. I told Kelsey to go ask him about what he liked to do in Nimes and to introduce herself. This she did... then sucked his face all evening.

Denim was originally created in Nimes. Those bluejeans you own, well Levi Strauss lived here and made his pants. In French "from Nimes" is de Nimes. So there you have it... denim. Well I had some trouble remembering the name of this new beau of Kelsey's. He was very nice, very outgoing, but I quickly tagged him with the nickname of Denim which led to Bluejeans.

Well Bluejeans was a cool guy and I told him that Kelsey would call him the following day once my older brother role was allowed to come out and play. So we did call him... or Kelsey called him, and we met for a picnic in the park. The picnic turned into driving to another town by the name of Uzes, and having coffee there because the Bonbon Museum was closed. He drove us back and we had a series of nice conversations throughout the day. Kelsey did not kiss him goodnight.

We had made plans to drive to the Camargue, a delta region of France where there are wild horses and flamingos, but, like I said, Kelsey didn't kiss Bluejeans goodnight, so we may have lost his willingness to drive us an hour away at 1.71 a litre of gas. He did meet us for a drink though, and we watched some soccer together at another pub.

Nimes itself is a gorgeous town that begs to be returned to. We left snow on the ground in Valence to sit in the sun over our picnics, coffees and monument tours. It was a perfect getaway from a wintry Valence, and will be even better when the weather is even nicer. The monuments were on a scale of really cool to... seriously? I would never have paid for that! but then we, of course, did not pay for any of the monuments because if you can prove that you live in Nimes, you need not pay entrance fees. With a fake document, signed by Thomas, we walked right in... well Kelsey was pretty funny in her apparent refusal to speak in French, or even English to the lady at the first monument who didn't know what Kelsey was handing her. That slowed things down, but free is free!

Coming back to Valence was horribly depressing. We passed through a tunnel on our way back north and, upon coming out the other side, we were suddenly faced with dreary weather and snow on the ground. We went back home and made some dinner with the warm sun still on our minds and on our sun-kissed noses (I was proud to have a peeling nose on Wednesday).

This weeks classes were uninspired and uninspiring. Want to share any ideas you might have? I am only working three days a week this semester... and that's pretty sweet, but not spending too much time at school leaves you thinking about time spent away from school and not your students... unless you're Kelsey. Did I mention that Bluejeans was only 17? Maybe 20, but I can't even remember his name let alone whether he could legally drive.

Until the next adventure... or bout of inactivity.

- Patrick

Happy New Year!

2009-01-08T06:40:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone!

Not a whole lot is going on in Valence. The only few things that are exciting is we are going to Nimes for the weekend to visit the south of France more and for a change of pace. It snowed in Valence and actually stuck to the ground. I was told by the lady who tutors me in French that it hasn't snowed in Valence since the 90's. I would give you an exact year but I am not sure if she said 94, 96, or 98 since I couldn't understand the last part of the number very well.

Paris was wonderful. I think Paris spoiled living in Valence, but only in that there is nothing to do in Valence in the winter. I will say that I expected Paris to be more, quaint. I would definitely tell anyone who wants more of a typical view of French life not to take Paris to be like the rest of the country. The thing is, I like the "real" French life more than the French life in Paris. Yes, it was great to be in a city and all the energy and life that comes from city life; however, living in Paris, I think would suck unless you had money, kind of like New York City.

The only observation I have had recently is that French people never seem cold. I see cute little French ladies walking around in the wind and snow (think Colorado blizzard but with less snow and a more humid wind) with skirts, tights, and a coat. I walk around with at least one layer of thermals on under my many layers of clothes, sweat shirt, scarf, hat, coat, and gloves. I look like such a ninny compared to these women.

The other day on my way home from the store one such lady and I shared a moment of cold. She looked and me and smiled so I looked at her and smiled; then she said it was cold and I agreed. However, compared to her I looked like I was ready to walk through a blizzard; she looked just fashionably adorable. I did feel kind of special since she said something to me on the street. French people do not say hi to one another on the street. If you do, they look at you funny.

Oh, we have a computer now and so will start using Skype more. If you are interested in setting up a chat please email us so we can coordinate a time.

Thank you all for the holiday wishes and the same to you in the event we couldn't reach you.

Ta ta for now,
Molly

Christmas in Paris

2008-12-30T07:06:00.000-08:00

1. The apartment we stayed in was a glorious surprise. It was clean, large, stocked with some spices and near two metro lines.
2. The weather cooperated for the first few days we were in Paris which is good because we didn't enter any museums or monuments until Boxing Day.
3. As the week went on it became more of a hassle to pull out the camera, but there are still some photos to suggest that we were there for six days.
4. We hit... umm... 11 National Monuments or Museums in two days. It was exhausting. We went to some other places and or museums too. Next visit will see us at the Sewars and the Catacombs too.
5. Photos tell the story better than a bulletined list. So check 'em out.
6. Happy Christmas to you people that celebrate! Happy day off to those of you who do not. All our holiday love. Not our real love, just the holiday kind!
- Patrick

A little story

2008-12-15T09:59:00.000-08:00

Today, Patrick and I were walking near downtown Valence. As we walked past a store I saw a mother helping her small son pee against a wall. Yeah, that is right, instead of taking her son to a bathroom she was holding his penis for him so he could pee outside.

I think this is why France should stop charging people to pee in public restrooms.

Just a thought.

Molly

Tidbits

2008-12-15T09:50:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the small things that have happened lately or things that I feel like mentioning, but none is individually important enough to write about.

- On Thanksgiving (I had to teach) I made a girl cry. There were a few minutes at the end of a class and in order to fill it, I told about the tradition, that I dislike soooo much, of telling things we are thankful for around the thankgsgiving table. Well, I went around the room and asked people what they are thankful for, and decided to call on a girl because I knew her name. The trouble is that I could not see her because of another girl's enormous head. Well, it seems that she wasn't very thankful for my last-minute time-filling activity and was in tears. I tried to save the situation, but luckily for me, and E_______, the bell rang. I tried to speak with her after class, but she didn't really want to say much. Go figure.

- I decided to teach "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" to classes that didn't have Muslims or Jews or Atheists or... My reasoning, really, for teaching the story was to teach the word "grinch" and because I couldn't think of anything else to do and a friend suggested it. Well I asked a class if everyone enjoyed Christmas or if there was anyone who didn't like Christmas. In most classes I took on the role of the grinch and complained about the holiday because everyone over here loves buying crap. Well in one class I asked this question and one girl raised her hand. "Do you like Christmas or do you not like Christmas?" I asked. "I don't like Christmas." "Why do you not like Christmas?" "My parents are divorced," she all but sobbed. I clearly didn't think this one through, eh?

- After three months of living in France, the French government decided to send me to a doctor to look at my lungs. The only doctor in the entire Rhone-Alpes region who can take an X-ray of my lungs is apparently in Lyon, an hour north of Valence.
The whole situation makes me feel guilty for eating meat... for a second.

I have never been pushed through so many small doors, processed and spit out quite like this doctor's visit. First they corner you and send you through a door, then they ask you questions and shove you through to be weighed. Then they stuff you in a 3x2 "room" and tell you to take of your shirt. They don't tell you to wait, but they don't tell you to come back out either, in fact they only tell you to take off your shirt. Just about the moment that you think, "did I not hear her say something more?" a door opens on the other end of the "room" and a woman leads you to an upright board in the middle of the room. Against this board she shoves you and you begin to think that you never want to be strip searched as I'm sure they, too, are not gentle. Then, once you've been pressed against this board, you realize that the woman has disappeard! "What? Where the heck did she go?" you may think until the board starts to shudder and you think that the machines around you will explode. Before the ringing in your ears stops, the woman yells at you to put your shirt on and closes you back into the box where your shirt is hanging. Well, wait a tick. What the hell just happened? and how many people's frozen nipples have touched that board today?

This is just a taste. There is also a doctor who treats you like shit because his job involves talking to immigrants with poor language skills. Then when he tries to make chitchat and you ask him a question about his suggestions. Well he doesn't actually know what he's talking about so he turns on you and is suddenly a little less gentle with the rest of the physical exam. Cough.

- When you don't have a phone, the students you tutor cannot easily call you and tell you they are not coming. You end up standing outside in the freezing rain for the polite 20 minutes before you can declare that a French person is a no-show.

- In Switzerland you can still smoke indoors, and it doesn't matter where. You want a coffee? Well you get second-hand smoke too! When in Geneva I second-hand smoked about three packs I would imagine. Cough.

- Food here is wonderful! For the Christmas holidays, the French eat fois gras. That means that the rest of the duck is really cheap! Duck is actually cheaper than chicken in December. The other evening Molly and I ate a delicious meal of duck breast with figs and garlic. It was like heaven!

- Molly made gingerbread cookies. Once we figured out that molasses is only available in healthfood stores and that baking soda is not kept anywhere near other baking ingrediants.

- Advent is a big thing in Germany. The third day of advent people celebrate with candles and cookies and vin chaud. Marie let us celebrate Dritter Advent with her and this made the holidays feel like they are approaching. The whole event was relaxing and really fit my need to lounge around in a home-y environment.

There are some of the little things that make up my life here. Some of the key moments that make me smile or feel like an asshole (sorry E_____!).

I hope your December is going well!
- Patrick

Fête des Lumières à Lyon

2008-12-11T09:57:00.000-08:00

That is to say, Lights Festival in Lyon.
Every year around the 8th of December Lyon gets a tourism boom. People come from all over France and Europe to come see this weekend event where the entire city of Lyon kicks off the holiday season (by that, I mean Christmas season). You can read about the history... some priest suggested something and all the good Catholic citizens of Lyon followed his suggestion. But the current state of the event is pretty cool.
Below is some video of where we started our night with the fête, but you could say that we began it about an hour earlier when we arrived in Lyon (an hour by train north of Valence) and bought our first, of many, many, vins chauds.
As I cannot describe the situation like the video may, I will just add that what the video lacks is the feeling of awe that flowed through the crowd as the lights came on and the production began. This is only part of what we saw, but it is a pretty cool thing to imagine seeing with 3,000 of your closest, smelliest, coldest Europeans.

Mind you, we didn't shoot this video. Our video is better, but shorter. But I tell you, the idea of settnig up a youtube account just to post one video when someone else has already done the work just seems silly. Oh well. Check out our photos from that night. You will see the wonderment and awe in our eyes!

- Patrick

p.s. There is really only one photo of me during the spectacle, and I look pretty unimpressed, but it was still very nice.

So, what do you do everyday?

2008-12-02T12:27:00.000-08:00

This is a question I get a lot from people back home as well as people here in France. Most people can gather what Patrick does in a day since we moved here so he can teach in France. As for myself, it is a little different everyday. I will try to break down into how I spend my time day-to-day.

Typically, I get up around 9 or 10 in the morning, which is amazing for a variety of reasons. First, anyone who knows me knows that I love sleep so it has been great to average 9 to 10 hours of sleep each night. This pretty much happens most nights except when it is too hot in our room or when my bed becomes unbearable to sleep. Second, I am very rested so the rest of the day I have a lot of energy. When we first got here I tried to get up every morning with Patrick but that lead to 2 to 3 hour naps in the afternoon, which messed up my sleep schedule.

After I get up I either: a) eat breakfast with Patrick; or b) shower then eat breakfast with Patrick. About the time either of these tasks are finished in addition to any picking up of the room/kitchen it is noon. Now in the United States I would go run errands for 2 hours and then eat a late lunch but France shuts down in the middle of the day so I generally check my email, read, or plan out the rest of my day. At around 2 to 3 I run errands around town or get ready to go to my French tutor. After I come home, I get on the Internet for about 4 hours in the afternoon. This is usually when I get to talk to all of you online. After internet, Patrick and I make diner, get ready for bed, read, and then go to sleep around midnight. This is my day in a nut shell.

I realize that this is not a lot, but it takes up a lot of time. I am sure many of you right now are rolling your eyes at the fact that I just explained a typical Saturday or Sunday for most of you minus a few activities. However, everything in France takes longer. To get to the store, shop, and home from the store takes a couple of hours. Try to visit two stores or markets in one day and it takes the whole damn day. For example, I made pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving (this was a lot of fun and I will write about it another day) which was a three day or more process. You see the French don't have canned pumpkin so we had to make it from scratch. Saturday, we bought the 5 lbs or so of pumpkin at market and then walked home with it. Monday we spent 4 hours, yeah 4 hours, steaming and processing the pumpkin in a food mill since we don't have a blender or electric hand mixer. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I baked pie. Why did it take so long to bake four pies? Well the oven we have access to can only really bake a pie at a time. Since I am still a novice at French, I thought I bought pie dough that had two sheets a package but it was two recipes in the package. I didn't have my dictionary with me so it was a guess. I could do a lot more in a day if it didn't take me 5 whole days to do a task that should take no more than 3 hours.

Just add a few trips around France and to other countries, dinner with other assistants and hikes and that is a complete summary of life in France for me. I would like a job but only if it was for a few hours a week around 2 to 4 hours a week. However, right now I am just focused on learning French especially since the applications for graduate school are finished. I am enjoying not having stress and each day as it comes. I realize that I am 100 percent lucky to live this life. I have my moments of missing home a lot and miss having a job; however, this time of reflection and rest has been great(more on that topic later).

Much love,
Molly

I read a book by Charles Dickens

2008-11-18T05:30:00.000-08:00

I have started three books by Charles Dickens; A Tale of Two Cities, Hard Times and Great Expectations. None of these books did I ever finish reading, though I have picked each of them up more than once. I always had something better to do than continue reading e.g. slamming my hand in a car door for fun. Last night, though, I finished reading Great Expectations, and to tell you the truth, I'm not that pleased with the fact that I did. You see, the story really ends up being a disappointment on a grand scale... 500+ pages of grand dissappointment.
Normally, once I have finished a book, I close it and begin to reflect on the journey of the story and simply reflect on what I have read. After 518 pages, I put this book down and immediately grabbed another one to keep from throwing something against a wall or out the window. What. a God. Damn. Waste. Of Time! If I ever again want to read a book by Dickens, I will first ask someone to read it before me and underline the passages that are beautifully written. This way I can just skip to them and then ask said person what happens in the story.
Dickens is a wonderful writer, I'm not gonna argue that, but the racket he dreamed up is even more genius than his turning of phrases. He builds such a world that you trudge through to see what the hell might happen at the end. The writing between his pretty phrases is mostly basic and he is constantly introducing different characters to distract you from the fact that he has a goal for his wordcount and little else, and! and! he purposely writes dialogue in accents and dialects that are difficult to deceipher just, it would seem, to slow you down. People hold Dickens in high esteem because of the number of characters he created, but these are the same suckers, some of 'em, who don't believe in religion. Those that wrote the Bible created a bunch of different characters too, you know! Big effing deal.
So as I read a more modern book with no dialects to figure out and about half the pages and twice the story, I am glad that I can now give away this book that weighed me down (mentally and physically) through my travels over the last month. Next time someone askes me about Dickens or suggests I read even a short story of his, I will come back with my, now well rehearsed, response that does not suggest anything about his ability to write the English language, just stories in the English language...

Dickens sucks!

- Patrick

Proud to be an American

2008-11-06T09:10:00.000-08:00

I am truly proud to be an American. Not simply because Obama won but because of the progress our country has made to elect a President who is not white; our country had one of the highest turn out rates for an election in years; our country watched the election in this highest numbers since 1980; and our country was celebrated by most of the world instead of mocked. These are all things and so much more that make me proud to be an American today. Regardless of your political views it was a great day for our nation.

As President-Elect Obama asked all of us in his speech what are you going to do to help the nation. I also ask what are you all going to do to help our nation get back on track? If I get into graduate school I will not only help the community I move to but I also have two things I want to focus on when I return. I want to advocate for education because it is a nonpartisan issue. Everyone has the right to an education and having an education helps solve/ease social issues. Second I want to be an advocate for better education and awareness about sexual violence. I have heard too many stories in my life from other people. There is no excuse for sexual violence to be as rampant as it is in our nation and the world.

So that is what I am going to do. Now that I have told all of you, hold me to it.

What are you going to do? Let me know.

Molly

Six Weeks In

2008-11-06T05:41:00.000-08:00

I finally stepped in dog shit. It only took six weeks, but I walked across eight feet of grass and stepped in an enormous, fresh dookie.
Three days later, different city, same shoe, another turd.

Fuck.

- Patrick

Releif

2008-11-06T05:36:00.001-08:00

Ahhhhhhhhhh.

Market day

2008-11-01T10:52:00.000-07:00

I speak French with an accent. My accent isn't horrific, but to native speakers it's noticeable. I am reminded of this from time to time as I speak with different French folks in different situations. I like to think that my accent isn't that noticeable, but instead, that people realize I am a foreigner when I begin to search for a simple word and let out a very American “ugh” rather than a French “eh.” In my mind my accent is indistinguishable, but once I speak, yeah, I hear it. I was reminded of this earlier this week when at a market. Molly and I went to the small town of Romans-sur-Isère to visit a friend, Kelsey, who is also from Colorado.
Markets are very important in France. Local farmers come from their nearby farms to set up tables and sell their produce, meat or wine and to chat and get the lowdown from other farmers or customers. Large towns tend to have a lot of markets throughout the week. Every market has beautiful produce, a butcher in a converted van that resembles an American lunch cart and many old people that move slower than escargots as they look over apples and lettuce. The leeks are the largest leeks I have ever in my life seen and just scream to be turned into Vichyssoise with those golden potatoes to the left.
In a large town, six, sometimes seven days a week you can find this delicious selection on display to suggest the flavors of the season for your dinner table. Small towns, however, are a little different. The leeks are just as big. The mushrooms, picked the afternoon before, are just as fragrant as those in large towns. The elderly move at about the same pace as their metropolitan bridge partners. The difference is the “grandesse”of the event.
The small town of Romans-sur-Isère has only one large square and it is far too small to contain a Sunday market. Instead, the market in Romans winds through the town, around a large cathedral and along the Isère river. Before you know it, you have made a loop and are admiring the very same carrots with which you began the brief kilometer walk. As there are only three market days in the town, everyone makes an appearance on Sunday. Four different vendors are selling roasted chickens. Get there early if you want a small chicken, those suckers move fast.
I follow the same course at every market: I make a tour of the entire market to admire and price the produce I need for the night's meal and to see what else catches my eye. I always find something in every market that intrigues me. There is often a chili pepper I do not recognize or a fuzzy wheel of cheese that needs tasting. Produce always fascinates me at these markets because I am able to compare prices and names to American counterparts. The cheese, however, calls me to it in a different manner. Maybe it's the fragrance, maybe the people selling it, maybe the marvel of the process, but certainly the flavors have something to do with it!
Having made my tour of the market in Romans, I was prepared to commit to certain vendors and alter my dinner plans to include the seasonal mushrooms I saw in Rue du Fuseau. I also had a plan for the afternoon's picnic and on the top of the list was the cheese. Having selected the vendor from my tour, I slowly made my way to the quai where they were stationed and along the way buying half a chicken, some grapes, those mushrooms I mentioned before, a bottle of wine and, naturally, a baguette. Coming upon the cheese vendor Molly, Kelsey and I discussed what kind of cheese might fit our appetites. Upon greeting the two “veneuses” behind the piles of cheese, our game plan changed.
A simple “bonjour” goes a long way in a French market and can make anyone smile. From behind the cheese, two women with recently coiffed, gray hair looked up from their conversation and adjusted their glasses. I addressed the woman on the left first as the woman on the right had a lazy eye and I tend to focus on the wrong one.
“Bonjour monsieur, dames,” we were greeted with smiles.
Kelsey asked about Gruyère and I asked about chèvre. Then came the question... “Where are you from?” Damn!
We explained where we are from and the response was, “Are you lost?” Did I mention that Romans is a small town?
The explanation led to some very local cheeses being presented and tasted and a simple pride the French possess led to information about cheese making and recommendations about serving and other flavors that pair well with the cheeses. I finally was able to find which eye to focus on when speaking with the woman on the right just in time to bid her adieu and make my way along the quai to eat our afternoon meal.
Saving the best for last, we dipped into our cheese selection and relaxed in the sun as we finished our bottle of wine. We raised out glasses a final time and praised our educators for their recommendations and decided that our French need not be perfect. Had we known the correct vocab or not given ourselves away with accents, we would not have experienced such a fine showing of French hospitality.

I embelleshed some of this because it is going to a magazine where I'm applying for a spot as a correspondent. Most of this happened... the mushrooms, the lazy eye, the wine. Just hope that I get this writing gig because it would pay 600 bucks. Word.

- Patrick

First Bike ride in Valence

2008-11-01T10:28:00.000-07:00

I am a walker. As such, biking around town is not something I usually do to get around; however, when I need to get some place in a hurry I will bike. I had to do this yesterday in Valence. This was my first ride in Valence and it proved to very interesting to not only bike in a new city but a different country. Until this experience yesterday I never quite understood how different biking around town as opposed to walking. Listening to friends' stories about their adventures being cut-off by cars or chased by angry transvestites through the streets all while on a bike seemed like another world to me. These things don't happen when you walk.

Now yesterday's ride did not end with being hit by a car or chased by someone, but it was quite the adventure. I needed to go to LeClerc, which is like a Super Target in the States only more food items than good items. It is about two kilometers from where we live. I needed to get there quickly for two reasons. First, I had to get there and back in about an hour because I was fixing lunch for Patrick and had to be back by noon. Second, it was cold and the less time outside the less time I have to spend warming up later. One might ask, "Wouldn't riding a bike in cold weather make you more cold?" Answer: No, I actually stayed more warm because I peddled the whole time. It was wonderful to stay so warm.

Valence has wonderful bike lanes for cyclist through out most of the city. The lanes are right next to the sidewalk and our labeled with a green and white picture of a person biking. The cars are very aware of cyclist on the road and share they the road, which is great because you don't have to worry about getting hit by them as much. However, French people have a wonderful habit of double parking and parking on the sidewalk. I normally find this act funny because of the blatant disregard for the traffic laws, which no one seems to care about here. However, I was in the bike lane, where I am suppose to be, only to have a car parked right there. I became annoyed. I came close to being hit, but as I said drivers here are aware of cyclists. It also helped that my bike was neon green, so I was hard to miss.

As I rode I began to realize that cycling is more interactive for me with the world I am biking through than walking. People were more aware of me because I was moving at a faster pace than the pedestrians but a slower pace than the cars. As such a one-eyed dog, which looked like an adorable stuffed animal, was more aware of me (maybe my bike) and ran at me with a bark that scared the living daylights out of me. The dog was like the rabbit from Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail, no pointy teeth but ready for a fight. The equally adorable elderly woman walking the dog was a little slow for my liking when pulling the dog back; but I survived.

After the minor yet traumatic run in with the dog the rest of the ride to LeClerc was pleasant. Once I got to LeClerc it took some time to find the bike rack. Most people in Valence use bike locks but often they do not lock the bike to anything. Many people would merely place the lock in between the spokes of the back tire and the frame. I guess, in theory, it keeps someone from riding the bike but does not keep someone from carrying your bike off. What was even stranger was all the bikes locked in this manner were nicer than the bikes locked to the bike rack. I did not understand the way the bikes were locked or not locked. I have come to say the phrase, "I guess that is how they do it in France." a lot to explain these things I do not understand.

I did my shopping and biked home, uphill. I do not want to give the impression that I live on top of a great hill. Valence's hills are no Rocky Mountains or even foot hills, they are little. However, when your used bike's gears decide not to change as you go up that hill it is not fun at all. In fact, the gears and the breaks were a little unsteady for most of my ride but a free bike is a free bike.

This was my bike ride to LeClerc. Alas, my bike ride home was uneventful but it is probably for the best. I look forward to other rides in and around Valence. Who knows what biking in France will have in store for me. I realized two things after my first ride. First, I need to get my neon bike's brakes and gears updated so I do not have any accidents. Second, I need to practice French phrases like "Attention!" (watch out). As well as learn how to say French phrases such as "Where is the bike rack?" and "Please control your crazy dog!"

Peace,
Molly

Anxiety

2008-10-24T10:18:00.000-07:00

I read a funny little ditty from funnyman Larry David. He wrote, here, about his anxiety for the upcoming election. I found it right funny, but since have pinpointed the reason for my anxiety for the fifth of November to come and go.
My anxiety rests in the fact that I will not be able to watch the returns as I have in the past. Four years ago I stayed up late and cried myself to sleep. Eight years ago I fell asleep with exhaustion and had nice dreams of a positive outcome. It later became a nightmare.
Both times I watched the election returns with anxiety, excitement and hope, but I was able to switch from channel to channel in hopes that one network was lying to me... they weren't.

So my anxiety? Yeah, well there's a problem. If I manage to actually wake myself up at four in the morning to watch the info roll in, I'm not certain I will be able to see the coverage that I so longingly want! I will not have computer access to follow the returns until 7:00 a.m. and I am not sure there is a French television station that will devote everything to the U.S. elections (there is, in fact other news over here). I have no television in my own "apartment" anyway and would have to go to the other assistants kitchen and watch quietly. How will I be able to watch quietly?
So there's the problem.
I voted. That's it. I cannot easily phone bank from over here. I would love to! "Hi, I'm calling from France to urge you to vote!" That would be great, but it's not gonna happen. Now all I can do is wait and hope that some television station picks up my vibes and I can watch, albeit quietly and probably with no remote control, as the polls come in.

- Patrick

We Voted!

2008-10-21T09:20:00.000-07:00

Yeah, that is right. Patrick and I voted today. We stood in line at La Poste, which took forever. The experience of standing in long lines to mail something is universal. So our ballots are on their way, sent via regestered mail to elect Obama as our next president of the United States of America. Heck yes, go us!

Yesterday as Patrick and I were walking to the store we were standing at a street corner waiting for the light to change. Across from us stood a man with his child, he had an Obama shirt on. I can safely say that every French person I have met is hoping, just like Patrick and I, that Obama is our next president. It is not really a surprise to me but to see someone with an Obama shirt shows just how strong the feeling is for people here too. I want to thank all of you who have sent us information, videos, and articles on the election information. It has been great to stay involved and informed even though we are miles away.

I would like to shout out to Joe Plumber, Jane Teacher, Keith Obama-teamster, Colin Powell and everyone else who is hoping, working, praying, and talking about Obama as our next president. We are with you and will be up early on November 5th watching the polls come in. So, if you are up 10 pm MST on the 4th know that we are up with you, watching and waiting.

Yes we can!
Molly

PS: For all of those who read this that are for the other political ticket, I will only truly celebrate once it is official. However, if you decide to change your mind and vote for Obama you still can. You can do it privitely in the voting booth and know one has to know but you. It is ok, you won't go to hell, I promise.

Going to Die

2008-10-13T10:09:00.000-07:00

We went to Die over the weekend! That is, the town Die (pronounced "dee").
I tried to keep from making that joke when we were there, because that would be such a cliché. I was kind of hoping that we would have a close call so that I could have titled this entry "We went to Die and almost died", but that too just seemed like the wrong kind of joke to make should one of us get hurt or in fact be viciously ripped apart by a terretorial wild boar when hiking through the Vercors mountains.
Die is a small town so we saw what there was early and then made our way to a winery where we sampled the local wine, Clarette, took the tour and then sampled some more wine. We ate dinner in our hotel room with a bottle of wine then went out for a walk and another drink. Die is a really small town, so the walk was cut short and Molly and I found the most lively pub in town. This bar also happened to be the biker bar in town and everyone was very interested in the soccer game on TV. If France did not beat Romania, they would not qualify for the World Cup in South Africa. France tied Romania 2-2.
I find it surprisingthat the first person Molly and I talk to just about anywhere we go, we meet the guy who knows the answer. This night we met the owner of the pub, a great guy who is married to an English woman and wanted to speak English with us. He also was tickled that such a pretty lady as Molly was interested in what he had to say and so sat with us to watch the game and have a beer. He then bought us beer and invited us to play baby-foot (foosball) with his waiter who is a huge fan of the band Motorhead and was there drinking on his night off. This man knew everyone in his bar and when 2 Belgians walked in he introduced us to them... now we have a better plan for our trip to Brussels.
As the night went on this great man told us about the rugby team he coaches, how he hates the cops ("Cops are pigs and pigs are cops," Molly told the man evoking the motto of Teresa McKellar), and how he had to through a drunk out of his bar one night and "give him a punch!" By the end of the night Molly and I were pleased that we were still standing straight and near our hotel.
Upon waking I was pleased that I felt great, but disappointed that the bathtub was just that and nothing more. I prefere showers.
Molly and I went on a 10k hike in the morning and took lots of photos. We encountered an old hunter looking for sanglier (wild boar, who knew there were still wild boar in France!) and later heard odd animal noises echo in the canyon. We only ran into two other people on the trail, no sangliers thank goodness, and spent most of the day in the quiet of nature of autumn.

We had a really relaxing time and for the first time really felt like we were in France! There is something about traveling that makes you more aware of your soundings. Die is a typical French town, we went to market, we stayed in the old part of town, we watched an international soccer game with people who were actually interested in the game and we met new people with whom we enjoyed speaking.
There is a small downside to this trip, however. We may have caught the travel bug! I have a school vacation in a couple of weeks and Valence is Windy. Sounds like a great excuse to leave for a few days!

Photos of Die will come soon!

- Patrick

Photos

2008-10-13T09:56:00.000-07:00

I get the feeling people think we're just hanging out in Colorado not calling anyone. But we're here. Here are the photos that people have asked for us to share, but be warned...
The computers we are using do not have the latest flash player installed. This makes it really hard to edit any photos at all through the photobucket account. We have uploaded almost 200 images, but some of 'em are sideways and none of 'em have been seperated into their proper "albums." But whatever. If you want you can look at what there is. There are a sh!tload of pictures. We haven't even taken the time to delete those that are out of focus, uninteresting or poorly framed. And nevermind the photos where our eyes are closed! There are many duplicate shots in hopes that at least one came out, and maybe none of 'em did. It will get cleaned up soon... soon enough anyway.

So here's the link, I guess.

Applications

2008-10-10T10:30:00.000-07:00

1 down and 3 to go.

One more school to visit.

Can I get a cure?

2008-10-08T09:28:00.000-07:00

Cultural Shock was one thing I was not planning on attaining when I moved to France. I assumed that I would handle the transition as I handle all my past transitions in life. A quick cry then I analyze what to do to feel better and then I am fine. Alas, that assumption made an ass out of me but no one else. It is like a god damn cold virus that the doctor tells you, "There is nothing I can do for you. You just have to drink plenty of water and get rest, it will pass." When ever I get that type of reply I always think, "Thanks doc, I just paid you how much to tell me something I already know? Good for you! Did they teach you that it med school or did you learn that all on your own?"

This is my current state: stuck in cultural shock purgatory. It doesn't help that I am consumed with my graduate school applications. Until my applications are finished I don't think I will truly feel comfortable in France. This is not to say that I am not enjoying myself. I was very torn to write about this difficulty of mine. I don't want people to worry or tell me something I already know. It is hard for me to admit that I am having a hard time with something I feel I should not be concerned with. So here is to the first step, I admit I have a problem. This is not to say I am not having fun or regretting my decision to move to France. I am so glad I did this but for reasons that have nothing to do with "finding myself," more challenging myself to take risks. I can't stand it when people say they find themselves when they move. You find yourself by living life where you are and being honest with yourself about what you desire most in life. Any thoughts from those who read this blog of ours?

I said in my last post that I would talk about things to do when you move to a new country. My main advice is to pack those extra things that make you feel like you are at home. Whether it is a blanket or your favorite poster, bring it with you. Also, pay for the extra baggage fee for your basic cooking/living items. Just do it, that is all I have to say about that topic.

I will keep you all posted with my application process. As of late I am realizing that in Europe they use different sized paper than in the States. Thus UCLA's 8 by 11 paper requirement for all submitted items has become quite the pain-in-my-ass!

Ta ta for now, and remember kind reader that life's obligations do not stop because you moved to France!

Molly

Reason number one that I hate writing posts

2008-09-29T09:19:00.000-07:00

I hate these damn keyboards! For instance, right there when I wanted to put in an exclamation point, it came out as a one. You see, in order to get a number from the keypad, not the 10 key, you have to press the shift key. So when I begin to type and press shift and then the 1 key I expect to get an exclamation point, but instead get the number one. It's damn annoying!
This will explain, perhaps, why you will not get anything out of me when I leave France. Once the keyboard changes again, that's it, I'm not gonna write1...I mean, I'm not gonna write!

Here is the keyboard layout from left to right:
&é"'(-è_çà)=
azertyuiop^$
qsdfghjklmù*
wxcvbn,;:!

Then in caps:
1234567890°+
AZERTYUIOP¨£
QSDFGHJKLM%µ
WXCVBN?./§

Then there is an alternate group of symbols that involve more than one key being held in order to get the surprizingly necessary keys like: #\ and @

What a pain in the ass1... ass!

The trouble is not so much that my hands hurt because I am pushing them in slightly different directions than they are used to, but that I am constantly deleting what I have written because in place of an A there is a Q. When I type my name and do not pay attention, I send emails to the principle of my school or the office of the préfecteur of the depqrtement, damn... departement that have my name spelled O'?eallie.

Nevermind that today I was at the préfecteur and was made to wait in what I imagine the "jails" in mid-sized airports must look and feel like... you're in a small room, there are many interregation rooms without numbers on the doors, you're locked in and there is no bathroom, every seat has somewhere where you can handcuff an aggressive drunk... or terrorist. That was not a problem§... problem! The problem is that even though I want to share my fantastical visions of acting as a drug mule and getting caught and wondering which room has that cold white tile and the barking German Shepard, I am hampered by the rearrangement of the letters on the keyboard.

Until next time I work up the pqtience... patience to write you again, au revoir.
- Patrick

Our address

2008-09-27T02:08:00.000-07:00

I realized yesterday that I haven't told all of you that we have a place to live. We are living at the school where Patrick teaches. It is a small room (10 x 10), we do have our own bathroom and a shared kitchen. However, the rent is by far the cheapest we have ever paid or will ever pay so that is great. Our address is:

Patrick O'Meallie
Cité scolaire Camille Vernet
160 rue Faventines
BP 2137
26021 Valence cedex

In the event that any of you chose to send us anything please put Patrick's full name first so we get it, they sort the mail by name.

Photos to come soon!

Molly

28 Hours Total

2008-09-23T09:34:00.000-07:00

Sleeping has always found a nice place in my heart. My father took a Polaroid of me when I was thirteen, maybe. I had just woken up, at about 2:00 in the afternoon, and told him that I had just had the best sleep of my life. I have this rockin' pony tail and this glazed look in my eyes that would make you think I had just discovered dope. The truth is that I may have discovered dope already, but I had not discovered that other kids got paid a thing called an allowance for domestic tasks like mowing the lawn... or the neighbor's lawn. This being the case I was not high and wouldn't get high for another year or so when I discovered someone to exchange grass for a meager sum.
But please stay with me, gentle reader, as I digress.
What I wanted to mention is that I had two nights in a row over the weekend when I slept for 14 uninterrupted hours. It helps that the French put shutters on every window they have and give this sense of importance to them as though all of your organs will be stolen from your body if you don't shut all the shutters. Thus, you sleep in complete darkness. Which is bad if you have an early morning rendez-vous (if you will), but great if you have just had three days of activity following a 30 hour day of traveling and could really use some rest. It may have been the best sleep I have ever had! ( a quick note: the pillows DO suck! and my matress is kind of like a hammock, but that did not matter until Monday morning-ish when I tried to walk more than a block... but they were French blocks, so it wasn't very far)

With that I leave you. Get jealous. or just hole yourself in a basement room with a small piece of old foam rubber as a pillow and an old hammock and live the sweet life!

- Patrick

Pillows and bread: Life in France so far

2008-09-23T09:16:00.000-07:00

Pillows and bread: Life in France so far

It has been almost one week since we arrived in France and I am not sure where to begin. I guess I will begin with our 30 hour journey here. Good god it was long and the person in front of me on our flight to London was a complete space hog. It was as if he needed more room than anyone else in the plane, which made it difficult to do anything. However, I would like to take this time to express how much I enjoyed the British Airways instructional video for flying information. Of all the people who have traveled internationally not a soul has mentioned these delightful videos. When we fly to France it was the same video only it had French subtitles. They were great for the chessy entertainment it provided. When we finally arrived in Valence we walked around for a while and ate at a Kebab restaurant. We went to bed around 7pm to wake up at 3:30 in the morning. Needless to say it has taken a while to adjust to the time change.

For me, France is different and the same in many ways. It is different in obvious ways such as language. I wish I would have taken a more intensive French class before we left. I am very frustrated by my inability to communicate. I can understand some of what is going on around me but I mostly get by reading peoples' body language. Alas, I didn't take a class and Spanish comes out of my mouth before I even have time to think in French. I have decided to find a tutor or class or something to help me with this situation. I also have been relying on Patrick a lot to help get me around and I thank him for being the main French speaker at this time.

For the most part Valence looks like any modern city in the States except that it has incredibly old buildings where ever you go. It is a little weird to walk around and see Ford cars parked in front of buildings from the time of Napolean. There is a lot of graffiti and trash in the city so it is like walking around New York in some ways. The amount of graffiti surprised me especially since most of it looks like crap. When I find artistic graffiti I will take a photo of it and post it, we will see if I find anything worth capturing via photo.

Yes, French bread is amazing as is cheap French wine. However, the French pillow sucks, big time! Also they have no jalapenos!

I will write more later this week. Topics I will cover: French parking, moving to a new country and what you should bring (in addition to pillows) and odd people I see around Valence.

Until I write you all again.
Love,
Molly

A quick note

2008-09-18T01:15:00.001-07:00

We arrived.

Prologue

2008-09-08T19:47:00.000-07:00

Dinner was nice.

With just enough saved and trying our best to not spend money, yet still attempting to see people, Molly and I are trying to get ready for a trip. It's kinda weird packing clothing for a year when you really don't know too much about what the weather will really be or what activities you may actually be doing.

I set up, I hope, some housing for the first month we will be in Valence. We will not have a kitchen so there may be more comments about restaurant food in the beginning than the end as we chronicle this year.

I am trying to harness my anxiety for leaving (in 8 days) in a word that most people call 'excitement.' "Are you excited," people will ask... then the black ball of anxiety swells in my chest, restricting my breathing. Is this excitement?
I guess. Perhaps I should begin using the word, "excitement."

I am excited. There you have it.
- Patrick

I guess I will start where Patrick left off. I am excited, just not yet completely. Maybe on the plane to France from London is when I will get excited about France. Things I am excited about in no particular order. First, I am excited that I have not worked in 10 days. Second, I am excited that I have seen so many people I love before we leave. I wish that my life consisted of these two things. God that would be great! The only thing that would be better if I got paid to hang out with the people I love, although that might make me a whore.

I am not excited about all the little things I have to do before I leave or that everyone I want to see lives an hour away or more from one another. I would like to take this time to push the importance of a public transportation system that runs the entire I-25 corridor and I-70. I will right a draft of the bill if someone is willing to push it through.

As for preparing for France I worked on my French today with Patrick. We went over the basic vowels today. I had no idea that speaking French is all about the position of your mouth and lips. Maybe all languages are like this, but French is the first language I have noticed that it actually matters, the position of your mouth.

I can't wait for people to come and visit us in France. Please let us know when any of you would like to visit so we can plan for your stay. I look forward to see all of you. I am excited to travel around and see new places. I am just a little worried about the pace of it all. I speak to Patrick how he likes to travel and it kind of scares me. I am a McKellar and as a McKellar travel is relaxing. We see one thing a day and then hang out. We will see and you will all know about it through this blog.

Dinner was great tonight.

Over and out.
Molly

Preface

2008-09-08T18:16:00.000-07:00

We'll get right to that. Let's eat dinner first.