France Pics

Mona Lisa...

...DOES FOLLOW YOU AROUND THE ROOM! That was discovered at the Louvre.
Giverney...IS goregous and explains why Monet had so much inspiration
Versailles...IS a fantastic castle and has plenty of bling for all
The Louvre...IS enormous and has enough artwork to give everyone in the world their own piece.

France was a great trip - met up with Mom and Liz in Paris. We ran around, checked out the art, Sacre Couer, French food in all of its goodness (YUM for crossaints, chocolate filled bread, escargot, dark chocolate and oeufs).

Best part: The Eiffel Tower SPARKLES for 10 minutes every hour from 9pm until midnight.
It's so special.

And the cutest little girl who didn't come to France: Makenna!!!

Good Things and Bad Things

Good things about France:
-The Parisian Metro is amazing, you don't really have to walk outside if you don't want to
-The bread is to die for and cheap
-The coffee is super strong
-The men wear tight pants
-Goregous churches everywhere
-Lots of good seafood and pastries
-To be cool, you just need a scarf and no tennis shoes
-They call McDonalds McDo
-They sell beer at McDo
-Anyone can drink anywhere
-Good wine is cheap.
-Good chocolate abounds for cheap prices
Bad things about France:
-Dog poo everywhere (police don't ticket for leaving it around as they deem that below them...yes, I did step in it.)
-Lacidasical about everything
-Everything is closed on Monday
-It's ALWAYS windy
-Massive PDA's are the norm. I think I saw babies being conceived in front of Notre Dame, and it was so far from immaculate conception.
-Banks are closed Sunday, Monday and don't deal with cash on Wednesdays. There are crazy rules like this all over. I don't know how Vicks deals.

All in all, great trip :) We're going to Monet's house today to go biking around it. Saw Paris for the first time yesterday and will return tomorrow to meet up with Mom and Liz. Adieux. Bisous!

Bonjour!

Aside from almost dying on the way to Mt. St. Michel, everything has been fantastic here in France! Vicky picked me up from the airport donning French-cheese-filled sandwiches and red wine, we meet up with her friends and proceeded to the French countryside. It was absolutely lovely – very green, lots of cows, and old, provincial houses. Her crazy French friend Oliviet organized a 25 person trip to Mt. St. Michel and the beaches around that area of this country. Everything was great - the trip to Mt. St. Michel was a wee bit treacherous – we walked for 2 hours in the freezing cold across where the ocean was coming into (at high tide parts of the day, it is completely surrounded by water). The guide almost sunk into the quicksand, then Oli was pulled out of it by 3 men when it tried to eat him, and when we had to fjord the quickly rushing water, we all almost died. BUT we made it and it was really quite pretty. The chapel at the top overlooks the water and has been maintained itself very well (it’s at least 700 years old;…).

The next day, we went to the beach and it was absolutely wonderful. In Europe, the sky gets so blue…I remember the same pretty skies in Spain 9 years ago. We walked around the little town, ate some bread (it’s the cool thing to do…), and did some shopping. The French are so laid back and seem very relaxed about nearly everything they do. EXCEPT if you are trying to use a bathroom where you shouldn’t…then they are overly aware of your presence and tell you where you can pay to pee.

Today, we went to the Musee de Arte in downtown Rouen, where Vicks lives, and she bought a “pain de chocolat” which means a crossaint filled with chocolate. It’s really, really good. I want one now, in fact. We’re going out for dinner tonight – yeah – and tomorrow head for GIverney.
SIdenote: Lots of French toilet paper is scented. AND it’s rare to find white TP – mostly pink. A far cry from my organic, recycled Berkeley tp!

Ready to go...

Thanks to Tina, I am all set in the French language category.

Some useful phrases for you... France baby, yeah! :)

English: I like you
French: Je vous aime

English: You are goodlooking
French: Vous goodlookiez

English: Will you buy me a drink?
French: Vous fera m'achete une boisson?

English: Will you move to California with me and have five children with me?
French: Fera vous transfere a California avec moi et a cinq enfants avec moi?

This just might be more interesting than I thought...

haha

News just in from my Parisian sister regarding what I should bring...
"Umm if you want to be comfy around Paris wear tennis shoes,
but it is a dead give away that you are either American or Canadian."

Pepe Le Pew

Currently, I am super excited about going to France in a few short days.
Here's my itinerary ... any other ideas world traveling friends?

Friday and Saturday - Mt. St. Michael

Sun- St. Malo and drive back to Rouen

Mon- University Tour - Rouen (let's hope for strikes....haha)

Tues- Fly by the seat of our pants...

Wed- Meander to Dieppe (northern coast) and check out the
DDay Memorial

Thurs- Ride bikes through Monet's gardens in Giverney
Night: train it to Paris and meet up with Mom and Lizard

Friday- Versaille in the afternoon with the lovely ladies and Le Louvre at night b/c
on Fridays is it open an extra 2 hours later (until 10:00)

Sat- All the stuff you can cram into one day in Paris!
Here's my list...
1 - arc de triomphe
2 - basilique du sacre-couer
3 - centre georges polpidou
4 - hotel des invalides/napolean's tomb
5 - musee de cluny
6 - musee d'orsay
7 - musee picasso
8 - notre dame
9 - you guessed right..that silly tower

OOhh I am so excited! France. Paris. Vicky, Mom, Lizzy, crepes, chocolate, beautiful buildings, art, listening to the French language, cafes, no work. Just lovely.

In other news, CONGRATS to LESLIE and BRYAN!!! So fantastic! www.puddledog.blogspot.com

Yo Yo Yosemite

Two men (one very tall man...), three women, 5 pairs of snowshoes, and a Saturn = a very interesting trip to Yosemite.
Highlights:
-walking around until midnight along a river with the huge rocks surrounding us and the moonlight helping us trip less than normal
-playing "snowshoe" rather than "bullshit" because the lodge had a lot of kids
-getting ambushed by Jess, Liam and Jaye's snowball stockpile as Owen and I tardily approached the falls thanks to my forgetfulness
-falling and thus sliding down a steep icy hill
-biting it on snowshoes and geriactrically getting up 10 minutes later
-learning about how Jessica loves crows
-using show chains - kudos to those things
-mountain men
-hot chocolate, game of spoons, and a fire-warmed lodge
-if book of questions. "if you had to _____________ (insert random question here), what would you do?"
-eating the wonderful muffins Chef Jessica made (millet-raisin-something or other). YUM!

All in all, a great time was had and it is suggested you go to Yosemite in the winter. The waterfalls are still going and there are lots less people around than in the summer.

Such a different world..

...I am actually on a corporate-call conference device right now with friends all over the country trying to plan a trip somewhere cool :) As a teacher, I didn't even realize that these things exist, services where you call a 1800 number, enter a code, and then are instantly put together with other people to talk over the phone. Wow. Cool. I need a job that has perks like this :) I am elated if I can actually make 50 copies without a paper jam, use the internet in the office without removing a 3 year-old from a game on it, or get my room sweeped (I am up to it being cleaned a total of 2 times this year).

In other news, Deepa ( a wonderful friend who I am lucky to have in my life) and I had a great talk today about traveling this summer through October. We feel that we have earned this right as we are so burned out by our current jobs and need to find the fun, exciting selves that we seem to have lost a bit of to teaching craziness. Tentatively we will be in Africa in July/August, India in September, Asia and Australia in October. Then on to get another job and make us some moola.

Things I am looking forward to:
--Visiting Vicks in April
--Skiing this weekend in Tahoe
--Potentially running a marathon in June
--Making cool things in pottery
--Getting things I ordered online in the mail
--Eating the homemade chowder my roommate is making right now!

yosemite

Hey...I want to go to Yosemite this weekend and go snowshoeing. Anyone interested? It will be fun and pretty!!!

haha

Pacific Northwest Holidays

Oh how I love Mount Rainier, friend, family, coffee shops galore, plenty of local brews, "mist" aka icky rain, flying fish, underground tours, people in hiking boots everywhere, the influx of Outbacks ( I swear you are not someone unless you drive one), bars with bulls in them, and more. The trip to Oregon and Washington was a hit. I got to see Gene, my cousin, her wonderful friends, Sarah B from HS and Bobby. Went to the Underground Tour in Seattle, the Seattle Museum of Art, Pike's Market, mosied in Downtown Portland, got back into swimming, and managed to eat 2 great Tday dinners.

Here are some highlight photos:

Joshua Tree!!!!

Iran and I had a great time in Joshua Tree this weekend :)
Highlights:
getting hissed and shaked at by a rattle snake that was less than a foot away
listening to coyotes howl all night
meeting weird people that live in the desert
seeing an actual road runner
hiking lots and lots

Dead dogs and all that jazz

So, while playing an icebreaker where students tried to find one thing they have done that no one else has done in the class, the following became the highlights:

"Have any of you ever picked up a dog thinking it was a stuffed animal, and then realized it was a dead dog. And then, when you realized it was a dead dog, you threw it at your sister."

This came in second to this:

"Well, have any of you ever banged on the bathroom door while your papi is in there going number 2, and he yells at you to stop, but you keep hitting the door and he keeps yelling. But, the yelling stops and you realize he is coming out to find you, and he is really mad. Well, then, have you put pillows in your bed to make it look like you are there while hiding from your mad papi under your bed and watched him hit the pillows on your bed?"

Seriously, these kids are hilarious. They may not be able to read and write well, but they certainly have some crazy life experiences.

Sidenote: Jenni, I should ask them if anyone has propositioned them with poo crayons. :P I suppose we all have our stories...as random as they may be....

hehe...

Check out www.postsecret.blogspot.com for more secrets...
Happy Labor Day! Thank you to all family and friends who have helped Andrea and her community out in Louisiana. You are phenomenal people.

British response

If you are interested, I suggest you read this article...it provides the responses of the British people who were in the Superdome and finally got back home recently. Warning: it is also upsetting to read about their experience as it casts Americans as pretty awful. Worth reading, though, to get an international point of view.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4212684.stm

Weird trees and bootlegging

My car has been enveloped in this weird, sticky, mini-drop mess. Apparently Berkeley and Oakland are plagued with "Yellow Leaking Sap Trees" or something awful like that, and they are attacking the poor, slow, defensless and now dirty Saturn. It is really quite exciting.
Sidenote: I just had some breadsticks and they were fabulous...and now I am going to watch "50 First Dates" - the non bootleg version**- and then sleep lots and lots.
**For those of you who have not watched proper bootleg DVD's (like from Chinatown in NYC), you can totally tell that someone videotaped what you are watching from the back of the theater - people actually get up and their shadows walk across the movie, sometimes they cough, and if you are lucky, they make ridiculous comments!

Durian, its nastiness, and the fam

During our exciting work training, Jessica announced today that she had the grossest candy ever last night: Durian Sucky Candy. Haha. Then we engaged in a conversation about just how disgusting durian is and debating if people can ever really like it, or if they are just confused.
Other news: My mom just sent me that picture and since I am becoming tech savvy, it is online here now. Say hello to the fam!
More other news: School starts in a few days and I really have no clue what I am doing yet....moreover I am not worried about it. What is up with that?

tech savvy and loving it

So I finally have gotten my pictures online from my travels, have begun online banking, got all the music Leslie and Vicky gave me into Itunes and have learned how to use a mac.
In other news, Joyce (my next door neighbor growing up) was out here for an interview and we went out for a wonderful sushi dinner. I've also been working the past 3 days at a program for our 7th graders and the kids are pretty tough....the year should be interesting! Lastlu, Ben came up and Leslie and Bryan met us for drinks which was great - I love where I live now! We walked all over and found a great little bar and cheap Mexican place for dinner. Today I am going into my classroom to set up. Exciting - I know you are all jealous :)

Saturns, Kayaks, and Hiking Boots

Jay, Vicky and I have been busy touring California and the unfortunate city of Reno. Conclusions:
Yosemite is goregous, but hiking up mountains poses challenges unmet in the Midwest.
The lack of humidity is loved by all (me escaping Asia, them escaping the Midwest)
Cold water or pop is the best thing after hiking.
More Europeans travel in our parks than US citizens.
It is really hard to Kayak on Tahoe. It is necessary to befriend rich people with boats (anyone....anyone???)
Good times were had by all. We toured around SF today and said hello to the Golden Gate, sea lions, Ghirardelli chocolate and vats of ice cream, the lovely Pacific Ocean and Redwoods, and the random crazies around the city. Tomorrow we are going to the great city of Sebastopol with Johanna and Ry to experience the greatness that is the apple festival.