I want to be a world connasseur.

i swam in the pacific ocean.

2009-07-18T17:43:00.000-07:00

Sorry that I didn't blog yesterday--I couldn't get the internet to work. Also, I had sweaty palms from the days activities that kept my fingers from remaining on the keyboard long enough to type. Yesterday we did the canopy tour through the trees and over valleys and through dangerous winds. There were 12 zip lines, one free fall and a tarzan swing. Being that I am not a fan of heights, I was proud of myself for participating in all of the zips and free fall. A couple of times I inadvertently stopped in the middle of the cord and had to pull myself across the rest of the way. One time I had to get rescued. I couldn't muster the gumption to do the tarzan swing. I swear, for a few of the zip lines, we were hundreds of feet in the air and some of the zip lines seemed to last for 300 feet. Then afterward, we did horseback riding through the mountains of Costa Rica. That was pretty amazing. It was an exhausting day. Today we transferred to Jaco Beach and swam in the Pacific Ocean. The sand is black and the beach is rocky. The water feels amazing. Before we got to the beach, we stopped at a bridge over crocodile river and saw about 20 crocs basking away in the humid tropical air. Unfortunately my camera fogged up, so my pictures stink. What can you do.

i survived the road to monte verde.

2009-07-16T19:34:00.000-07:00

We have discovered on our travels in Costa Rica that many of our students have motion sickness--unbeknownst even to them. This problem became evident as we traversed the roads in Costa Rica, none of which goes straight in any direction for more than 50 feet. We had several vomiting issues. Today we drove for about 3 hours to a local school in Monte Verde. The roads were dirt and windy and hung over large precipices. There was an instance where our bus driver had to drive our motor coach over this 8 foot wide bridge, which is the exact width of the bus less a centimeter or two, held up by what looked like dental floss. We had to get off and walk over the bridge as he did a 100 point turn to line up the bus exactly so as to fit over the bridge. It took a good 10 minutes for him to succeed. Then when we finally go to the school, whose population of students totals 15, we got to see a typical Costa Rican folk dance done by several of the students. We joined them for some dance time afterwards, a little Macarena, Hokey Pokey, and ChaCha slide. The roof of the school had been blown off in a storm and the students were meeting in another decrepit building. Many of our students were moved to donate their personal funds to help this school. We're hoping to get more Murray and Ashley students to donate supplies to we can mail them when we get home. Our bus ended up getting some sort of transmission malfunction and we missed a rain forest walk this afternoon. Instead, we walked into town and relaxed for the afternoon. Tomorrow is our canopy walk and horseback riding. Sorry I can't upload pics right now, 11 mbps doesn't lend itself to uploading. I will try again since I have some good ones! Adios!!

Pura Vida

2009-07-15T13:10:00.000-07:00

We are having great difficulties getting to phones and internet. The hotel we're at for the next two days doesn't even have phones and we had to walk into town to get to an internet cafe. I will have to keep this blog brief since I'm almost out of minutes. Yesterday, we drove to a biodiversity park and saw a 3-toed sloth, iguanas and caimens. Then we drove to a volcano and hiked to the cater. It was too foggy to see much. Then last night we saw an erupting volcano (from a very safe distance). The lava shows well against the pitch black sky. Being near the equator means that the sun is up at 5:30 am and it's dark by 7 pm. Today, we went kayaking in the largest man-made lake in Costa Rica and then we hiked this crazy trail to a waterfall for swimming. Tonight we will go to hot springs. Everyone seems to be having a marvelous time and there are plenty of rice and beans for us all at every meal--including breakfast.

I've changed venues

2009-07-13T17:30:00.000-07:00

So I've changed venues. I'm in Costa Rica with some students and parents. We landed here around 2 pm East Coast time and 12 pm Costa Rican time. Needless to say, the normal travel exhaustion has set in, I'm ready to sleep on my somewhat questionable sheets. I gambled for my first time ever in Costa Rica and won 1500 colones (which amounts to about $1.50). It's pretty awesome. We ate at a local restaurant and I drank this papaya and milk drink concoction that was pretty scrumptious. As we walked to the restaurant, I noticed several interesting things: a chevorlet dealership (are they not bankrupt here?), and gutters that are about 2 feet deep to help with the monsoon, wet season. We leave tomorrow morning to see an active volcano, biodiversity theme park and some other magical things. We're off to our Costa Rican dinner and then to bed.

bon nuit

2009-04-11T14:11:00.000-07:00

it's 11 pm, and I just finished my last French dinner. I have to be at the bus by 4:45 in the morning, so I'm going to bed. I'll update when I get back to Wilmington.

Everything seems better when you're eating a baguette and cheese

2009-04-09T23:34:00.000-07:00

Wow, my blogging pattern has slacked to every other day--quelle dommage!! Yesterday, we went to a authentic French pottery village where we were able to see how they made various pieces of pottery using clay dug near the Rhine river. Then we went to a German town, had a picnic lunch and lounge in a park, and we finished at the Roman baths. While in the German town, Baden-Baden (incidentally, Obama spent some time here on his visit), I was walking with some students. We all turned back to look at a store. This fatal mistake of not looking where I was going lead promptly to me falling off a curb, twisting my ankle and skinning my knee. I guess we can all acknowledge this has been a trip full of injuries for me. But I really didn't care about my knee as I ate my baguette and cheese for lunch. We walked to the baths, where all of our students were able to enjoy the soothing mineral-filled waters in a variety of temperatures, as well as a steam room with menthol vapors to clear the sinuses and the pores. It was the perfect way to end our official activities in France. When we got back, we all went to a school dance with the French students replete with strobe lights, smoke machines and rocking techno beats. This dance lasted until 10, and by the time everything was cleaned up and all students safely picked up, it was 11 pm before I got home--thus the delinquent blog entry. My apologies. Well, I'm off for a bike ride on this resplendent day. A bientot.

Europa Park in Germany

2009-04-08T13:06:00.000-07:00

Today we went to an amusement park in Germany. We crossed the Rhine river and were there this morning. The boarder between France and Germany, as with many European countries, is open--they don't check passports or anything. Fun was had by all today. I myself rode the newest roller coaster in the park: the Blue Flame. It goes from 0 to 100 mph in 2.5 seconds. That's how the ride begins--shooting you off like a rocket up this 120 foot drop, where you go down and into a 360 degree turn. There are some corkscrew turns and everything in the ride. It's crazy. It's weird to think that we will be leaving France in a few days. On the way to the park, we saw the Hotel Ibis that was burned in the anti-Nato riots last week. I wanted to get a picture, but I couldn't. We returned this evening, and the teachers got together for dinner and France's favorite past time: soccer. I've reflected a lot today about this experience. We worked so hard to get here, and the kids have seemed to enjoy their time here and have learned many new things. I'm looking forward to the next trip already...

Holy Crepes, lunch was good today.

2009-04-07T10:30:00.000-07:00

Wow. Sorry that I missed another day of blogging. I am usually on it, but I have been crazy busy. I am happy to report that on our trip to Paris yesterday, we were able to get all of the students there in back in one piece. We walked through the streets holding hands like the little students in kindergarten.... Only one casualty, sorry Mr. and Mrs. Cole's parents, we had to leave him behind--he got stuck in the protective gating around the Eiffel tower.

Kidding, of course. After our 2 hour train ride from Strasbourg, we took a bus tour of the city of Paris. Many students had to fight their stereo types of Paris, I kept hearing, "Is this Paris?" "I didn't think Paris would look like this." We stopped at the Notre Dame for a few minutes. We went to the 2nd level in the Eiffel Tower and we spent a short amount of time at the Louvre. All in all it was a great time in Paris. What beautiful history.

Today, our students participated in this crazy French revision of dodge ball. Wow, what a great work out this game was. There was a red box where each team had to stay, then the gray area outside of the box was a prison for the other team members. Needless to say, there were balls flying, kids flying, me running around like a crazy fool getting exercise. Then we went bowling. My first game was tres mal. By my second game I was more respectable. After this, we ate at this amazing restaurant that served the best crepes ever. I'm totally in love with them. We ended the day with a tour of the European Parliment.

Je suis fatigue

2009-04-05T13:38:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is a big day for us. We will travel to Paris at 5:45 in the morning. I am convinced that everyone in our group should hold hands all day. This way we are assured that we will lose no one. Today, we met up with an old colleague from Murray--Ian Cotton--and had lunch at a cafe. After that, I got to meet my friend from Germany. I went to college with her and haven't see her in years, so that was fun. We drank coffee at a cafe. Then all of us went to one of the French teacher's houses for dinner. We also played ping pong. I don't have pictures yet, I will have to hijack them from someone. So, until then...

Je suis desole

2009-04-05T02:21:00.000-07:00

I will post twice today since I didn't post yesterday. Yesterday was the big day of NATO protests because the NATO meeting, and its 60th birthday, were yesterday. I saw a group of protesters dressed as clowns yesterday, firing balloons and riding toy horses through the streets. I really wish I had gotten better pictures of this. But I had a battery crisis and by the time I fixed the batteries, they protesters had moved on. I didn't think it was wise to run after them carrying my camera. They were laughing and smiling, and making horse noises, etc... There was another man staying on the corner dressed as a Charlie Chaplain, or maybe a Hitler figure, singing "Happy Birthday" to NATO in protest. All of the violence and tear gas on t.v. was far removed from me. It was very frustrating the other night when all of the teachers tried to meet up for dinner. Every road we turned down had a police barricade. Every person we talked to told us to go a different way. Wow. Everything is cleared up now since the heads of state have left. Obama is actually in Prague now. So life resumes in Strasbourg. As a note on life in the States, I was up until about 4:00 am watching the UNC final four game...Go Heels!

Bon anniversaire a moi....

2009-04-03T10:05:00.000-07:00

I spent my birthday waiting an inordinate amount of time to sit and listen to Obama speak for only about 45 minutes. But then I remembered that this was an opportunity that very few people have--to meet the President. There was this moment when I realized how amazing it was to be sitting in this room with the President only 300 feet from me. I realized the reason he won the election is because many Americans believed he offered change and hope. Then I felt like the moment nearly encapsulated the entire reason why the other teachers and I wanted this trip to happen: there can be change and the change can be good, but it needs to come through the education of our children. We must teach them to be compassionate, generous, intelligent and sensitive beings, and part of this education must come from cross-cultural interactions. While I wish that we could have actually shaken hands with Obama or that he could have signed my book, I am still amazed that we all had this experience. It's the kind of birtday you don't forget: I saw the President of the United States in person, and brought 30 students with me. As a side note: France is quite ready to kick the tail of anyone who wants to threaten the NATO meeting--there are police and military personel everyone. I'm going to try to take a picture of this.

I need my bed

2009-04-02T15:06:00.000-07:00

I am extremely tired and tomorrow we have a long day ahead of us. We're suppose to meet Obama tomorrow. It's crazy how they've done security around here. You can only walk in certain areas of the city and you must have your passport and a special card depending on what zone contains your house.
Today, we went to a "reconstructed" medieval castle--it was never entirely clear to me which part of the castle was original to the middle ages. We also went to a typical French grape-growing village and met some assistants to the major. This village was particularly important to us because it's the area where Charles P. Murray fought off the Germans during World War II and won a Medal of Honor. After that, we went to a Brazilian restaurant to celebrate Caroline's and my birthday. Hers is April 1, and mine is April 3.
Well, au revoir and to bed I go...

Jouez au volleyball

2009-04-01T16:11:00.000-07:00

Today, we played some sports with the French students. While my volley ball skills may be lacking, they're enough to beat whatever the French students or American students had to offer. After volleyball in the gym, the teachers walked around Strasbourg to eat lunch and look in some stores. It was great! Also, the whole city is gearing up for the NATO summit this weekend. There were lots of helicopters and military vehicles driving around. We all have to have a special card to even leave the houses this weekend. Crazy!!

Tooth drama continues

2009-03-31T13:52:00.000-07:00

Yeah, so it was an abscess in addition to the cavity. There's nothing quite like having medical problems 4000 miles from home. I just knew after using almost an entire bottle of advil and barely sleeping for yet another night, it was a bad omen. I soldiered on today, not being able to eat due to the large goiter occupying the majority of the roof of my mouth. Then around 5 pm, before our party with the French Rotary and our dinner with St. Etienne's, I went back to my dentist friend. "Oh yes, yes. This is bad. It was not this bad yesterday. This must have been quite uncomfortable today. How do you say "abscess" in English?" I said, "$1000 of dollars worth of dentist bills...." To sum up, he relieved the pressure, but I'm not even close to being done with dealing with this problem. 6 days of antibiotics and a promise of a dentist retreat upon return to the states await me.... On a happy note--it still hasn't cost me a penny...
Our students went to a concentration camp today, as well as a museum on the relocation of people in France during World War II. I was impressed overall with how somber and reflective our students were as they realized the atrocities of the Holocaust and World War II on Europe. Our kids are awesome and it pleases me greatly to see them soaking up this big world and realizing they're just a small piece of a much bigger puzzle.

Oh my gosh, I forgot to mention...

2009-03-30T12:25:00.000-07:00

Today on our school tour, we saw an interesting relic of a saint: his hand. Yeah, there was literally a hand in a glass container on a shelf in the wall surrounding the altar. It's pretty much disgusting.

J'ai vais une carie

2009-03-30T11:23:00.000-07:00

When I arrived in France on Saturday, I noticed the beginnings of some tooth pain. Of course, being that I was in another country, I was going to try to suck it up; grin and bear it; shake it off. But, it kept me awake for two nights. After about 50 Advil, this morning I realized it was an unspeakable pain. Also, I noticed a knot in the roof of my mouth. I thought to myself, "This is not good!" So Caroline and Michele got me an appointment with a French dentist. After several hours of pain, I finally had official word: a cavity had grown under a previous filling and was pressing on my nerve. Within 10 minutes, the dentist had drilled the decay and repacked my tooth with a temporary filling. Going to a French dentist was different than my experiences at American dentists. First off, there were only two people in the whole office--the dentist and his assistant. Second, the building was this amazing historic house and his office was in the one room where he had his dentist supplies, chair, x-ray machine, etc... Even better, it didn't cost me a dime to go. I missed the boat tour that the students took today while I was taking care of my periodontal crisis. I did pick back up when we did our tour of the cathedral and of petite france. We ended the day with a cup of cafe au lait at an outside cafe. Did you know that in a French school's cafeteria, the teachers are served wine with their lunches??

A Day of Respite

2009-03-29T12:05:00.000-07:00

Today was a low key day. I didn't even get out of my pjs until 1pm--jet lag can be deadly. We walked around a park with a zoo in it. We ate some ice cream. I almost got run over by a crazy Frenchman. C'est la vie.

France, take two

2009-03-28T09:16:00.000-07:00

So I'm back again, but this time I have 30 students and 4 other adults. There's nothing to stop your heart quite like getting 30 students through luggage check, security check and boarded on a plane. Even more is when one of the students can't find a passport when you're about to go through customs in Frankfurt. It's very difficult to communicate with German security officials when you only speak English and a little bit of French. Let's just say "Dankeschön" goes a long way. Disaster averted, all is good--the passport was located on the airplane. Everyone made it to France in one piece, though amazingly exhausted. It was tremendous to finally see this part of a global vision come to fruition. The battle to make this happen was uphill all of the way; there were times when my fellow chaperons and I would look at each other and wonder exactly what we had gotten ourselves into. Luckily I had a group of colleagues who believed as strongly as I do that experiences such as these can permanently change a student. Many of our students on this exchange have not ever left the country; some have never even been on an airplane. How much is it going to rock their world to see the Mona Lisa, the Eiffel Tower, different power outlets, and eat fromage blanc? So our sixteen day journey begins--A la vôtre!

Bon Voyage

2008-06-27T12:10:00.000-07:00

Today is my last official broadcast from France. I got to do my bike tour today. And I almost can navigate the Paris subway system--though having 2 suitcases and a backpack while traversing it is none too fun! I'm actually about to pack it in for the night--my flight is early tomorrow morning--so I will leave you some images of magical Paris.

French people sell wine boxes instead of juice boxes.

2008-06-26T14:58:00.001-07:00

Today is my last broadcast from Strasbourg. I'm leaving on a train early tomorrow morning to spend a day in Paris, then I fly out of Paris Saturday morning. I'm hoping that I will be able to do a bike tour of the city before I leave. Today, I went on one last tour through a botanical garden here, I walked the streets of downtown one last time and the family I'm staying with had a cook out--the three teachers that will come to Wilmington were all there. When I was in town today, I went into a grocery store and was quite amused to see that the wine comes in boxes just like the juice in America. I guess here for lunch you pack a wine box rather than a juice box. Also note the size of the car--this golf-cart-size car is relatively common here in Europe. The car is similar to the car I used for my Barbies as a young lass. But they get pretty good gas mileage and parking is never a problem because it can fit in a phone booth if necessary. Strasbourg has been amazing and the people have been welcoming and very generous. I have loved my time here and I am very excited for the group to come in October!

Yesterday's pictures.

2008-06-26T01:17:00.000-07:00

Here are the pics of Germany. You'll notice the construction looks brand new compared to the French pictures. That's because this particular town was pretty much entirely destroyed during World War II, so it's "only" just been built. Germany is much cheaper than France, I noticed. Also, Germany just won a semi-final game in the European cup last night--so everyone's waving their German flags.

wow!

2008-06-25T15:26:00.000-07:00

I went to Germany today and did a little shopping and eating of German desserts. I also went to another Rotary dinner. But the most exciting place I have to go right now is my bed. A bientot!

Margot l'escargot.

2008-06-24T15:04:00.000-07:00

So today I tried escargot for the first time ever. The texture was slightly troubling--initially I thought it would be more on the slimy side, but it turns out that it's more chewy and rubber band-like. I went to Jardin de L'orangerie--the famed gardens of Empress Josephine and home to about one million storks. It was beautiful and full of flowers. Also they have a zoo. I received several lessons in biology watching the animals. We also saw the building where the Council of Europe meets (not the same as the European Union) and the European Parliament. After this, I went with Michele to her aerobics class (she is the instructor). The whole time she kept asking me if I wanted to go to her gymnastics class. She said I could participate with her students if I wanted and afterward they were having a cookout because it was their last class for the summer. I was thinking the whole time: I can't possibly do gymnastics. Once 30 set in, my body stopped working the way it is supposed to. I envisioned myself dying from falling off the balance beam or hitting my head as I tried to vault or decapitating myself on the uneven bars. It wasn't until we were leaving that I finally realized she meant an aerobics class. That I could handle--except it was taught in French. This made things interesting. But, nonetheless, I worked up a sweat to the Beach Boy music that she played whilst I did my lunges and squats. Probably the sweat was due more to the lack of air conditioning than to the amount of effort I was exerting. Well, it's about time for me to enter the deep slumber that comes after a weary day--au revoir.

Je suis fatigue!

2008-06-23T14:06:00.000-07:00

Today I bought cheesy tourist items to make a display at Murray representing Strasbourg. Then I went on a school field trip to a bowling alley. It's pretty evident when you watch 11 and 12 year olds in France bowl that the sport is an import. Being that it was standardized in New York near the 1900s, it's probably one of the only things France imports from America aside from soda and McDonalds--bowling balls. Also, the language of "strike" and "spare" and "pin" are all English (not having a French translation). You could hear the clump of balls being dropped at about shoulder height as opposed to the distinct sound of a ball rolling as it is set down properly. The average score amongst the group was about 40. But these students had a blast and so did I. I especially enjoyed the Velcro of the French bowling shoes instead of the laces I'm accustomed to, and though my score was not what it should have been, I was able to beat another teacher. Then Michele had me teach her "English" P.E. class (that is, a P.E. class that is taught in all English to more advanced 7th graders). I played a typical French game--Hares and Hunter with them, and then taught them a game from my American camp counselor days--Pin Dodge. Several students received fat lips under my care as they played this version of dodge ball. Luckily I didn't get kicked out of the country. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I was transported to school via Michele's scooter. That was a pretty fun ride to drive through the streets of Strasbourg on a scooter. Lastly, one of the student's mothers owns a Brazilian restaurant--so tonight for dinner I ate Brazilian food in France. It was pretty much delicious. I'm worried that my clothes are soon to become too small for me if I stay in France much longer.

Whatever happens the flame of French resistance must and shall not die. (Charles de Gaulle)

2008-06-22T09:07:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to two French social gatherings. The last of which was with the rotary club that initiated the schools exchanging students. You will notice in the picture that I was drinking Baileys with only a little bit of coffee for dessert along with a grilled banana and chocolate. After this, we attended a "fete de musique" (music festival). All over France, different towns had these. I took a picture of this "band" that played the bagpipes and drums as they marched through the streets. This morning, I went to a concentration camp (Struthof); I felt nauseous the entire time. The pictures and displays they set up in the museum and former concentration camp were unsettling to say the least. The propensity that a human being has to enact this violence and barbarism on a fellow human being was revealed in all its gore as I walked through this place that housed 52,000 "criminals" (people who didn't support the Nazi party), resistance fighters, Jews and others, 22,000 of whom were hanged, shot or cremated at this exact cite. Or they died from starvation, disease or medical experimentation. That's a disturbing thought and it was chilling to walk through this place and imagine the suffering and agony that occurred from 1941-1944 when the Nazis abandoned the area. They showed the rooms where people were imprisoned and tortured--I have a photograph in the cell for solitary confinement. Also, I saw the crematorium, a room with a drain used to kill people, and many other gruesome things. The barracks for sleeping no longer exist, instead, there are gravel lots to show where the dorms would have been for sleeping. I am still processing all that I saw and read about. Actually being on such a cite, though, enable me to see the atrocity of the Holocaust in a whole new way. One of the prisoners explained her life as a Jew in a concentration camp as this: "What am I? A bag of bones, a human wreck?" This place definitely had a profound and haunting impact on me.

Fanny packs are cool in France and the milk and eggs aren't refrigerated in the store.

2008-06-21T03:17:00.000-07:00

I went to a huge grocery store today with Michele. It was every man for himself in this store, almost total anarchy. It's their equivalent to our Wal-mart. Only, if you can imagine, more crowded and chaotic. They had a fish section in which you could buy entire fish that had just been caught. They had a butcher section for meat (much like here) but the milk and eggs are sold on a regular isle just like the one American's use for juice or cereal. They don't refrigerate their milk until it's opened. Also, the containers in which the milk comes are much smaller than the gallon or 1/2 gallon we purchase. It's more like a liter. And speaking of liter, their soda comes in 1 liter bottles rather than 2 liter bottles. The wine is also cheaper than the soda--the wine is about 1,50 E and the soda is about 3,00 E. All produce sold in stores must have a sign stating from which country the fruits and vegetables were imported. When they purchase produce, they weigh it themselves and put the price on the bag (please note my angst-like expression as I tried to find avocados on the scale); the cashier does not do this at the register. You pay for the bags at the store or you bring your own from home. Also, there is no one to bag your groceries for you--you must do that yourself. Furthermore, you must put a Euro in the cart to use it. You notice in the picture, there is a slot for the money and an escalator that takes you down to the store. Once you return the cart to the correct place, you get your Euro back. So, this means the store does not pay people to collect carts in the parking lot--who wants to pay the equivalent of $1.53 for a cart every time they shop? No one probably, so they put the carts back when they finish.

Pictures that wouldn't fit.

2008-06-20T13:24:00.000-07:00

I miss my top sheet and half and half for my coffee.

2008-06-20T12:19:00.000-07:00

Today I went with Michele to pick up her daughter, who is 13, at a camp. Students are still in classes here and won't be done until next week. The school sent about 55 students this age to a week long outdoor camp that involved orienteering less the cross-country running. So this means that the teachers release groups of 5-6 thirteen-year-olds with a compass and a topographical map and they must navigate their way through 6 different check points. Some of the students remained lost for several hours before they find their way back to the camp. In past years, I've been told, some students resort to hitchhiking when they get too frustrated to find their way via compass and map. They have several activities like this, along with classes, for the entire week. They sleep outside and build their own fires. Today I ate lunch with the PE teachers who run this camp. The mountains where the camp is located are about an hour from Strasbourg. Once we started driving up the mountain the roads got very narrow and windy--please note the pictures. The food we ate was actually Indian, but I had also some famous French cheese, wine and a beer/orange liquor concoction indigenous to this region. Oh yes, and the dessert they severed after lunch was one of the best things I've tasted since I've been here. The closest thing we have to it in America is yogurt, but this had more of a cream cheese flavor and also fresh blueberries. I can't explain it accurately. But it was tres bon! We drove through several small towns that I photographed. It's like watching a Knight's Tale or something when I see these towns. I also saw a Medieval castle in the background but I couldn't get a good photograph. Also please note the purple flower. I was warned several times not to touch them unless I wanted to die.

French Postcards

2008-06-19T12:14:00.000-07:00

Don't try on the corsets in French museums!

2008-06-19T11:30:00.000-07:00

Today I went back to St. Etienne's school to observe a P.E. class taught by my next hostess here, Michele. I was amazed today to realize how little supervision there is for these students and how well behaved they are in spite of that. They have sometimes up to an hour of unsupervised play on their "playground" which is an asphalt lot enclosed by the school building. I did not see one problem among the students with my acute eagle eyes. During P.E., the teacher was called away several times to handle issues and the students continued on as instructed in their game. Quite amazing, and very unlikely to occur in the United States without a lawsuit. Speaking of P.E. teachers, in this school of 1500, they have 10 P.E. teachers. After this, I ate lunch of tarte flambee at an outdoor cafe. This was a delicious thin crusted, fire cooked, cream cheese, onion and ham concoction. (In the picture, the beautiful sky and architecture are far more noteworthy than my cheesy grin!) After this, I went to a museum with Michele (teachers can leave school whenever they do not have a class to teach, so often they will leave several hours in the middle of the day) that explained the history of Strasbourg. Aside from the fact that I got yelled at in French by a curator, I thoroughly enjoyed walking through the museum with a headset that explained all of the exhibits to me. See, throughout the museum, there were several "hands-on" activities--like, as pictured, trying on medieval armor. Well one exhibit had French women's fashion--the ruffled collar, the hat and, of course, a corset. Apparently, the collar and hat were allowed to be handled, but the corset on a hanger right underneath was not to be touched. I learned this the hard way! "Non! Non! Vous n'avez pas le droit!" Ooooppppssssss. It was a little embarrassing especially since several people were standing near me and slightly snickered at my misfortune. The picture of me in this getup will come later. However, I have included helmet pictures for your viewing pleasure. I ended the day by meeting many of the parents of the French students that will travel to the U.S. They graciously bestowed upon me a beautiful book, written in French, of the Alsace region (which contains Strasbourg) and a stork (a common bird in these parts). I also ate kugelhopf, a French cake with yeast so it rises into this dome shape. Delicious!

Bonbons and more!

2008-06-18T08:43:00.000-07:00

Caroline, the English teacher with whom I am staying, and I went to watch the soccer game at a bar called "Toons." It had pictures of Loony toons all over the wall. But let me assure you, the French flags and soccer jerseys every where reminded me exactly where I was. A group of German students also were watching the game. Did you know the drinking age is not enforced in France and they have no official smoking age? France had a disappointing loss that involved the team scoring a goal against themselves on a penalty kick and a player being ejected with a red card. This morning, I saw a clock in the Strasbourg Cathedral (the one I climbed to the top of yesterday). It was the tallest structure from 1647 until 1874. In this cathedral, there is an astronomical clock. The clock in the cathedral is not the original clock, rather this clock was rebuilt around 1840. However, this elaborate and Armageddon-esque structure can indicate leap year, equinoxes and Easter, and much more astronomical data that is quite advanced considering the time in which it was built. I say Armageddon-esque because of the messages of death and judgment (think skeleton with scythe and angel with an hour glass). At noon, after the skeleton rings a bell and the angle turns over the hour glass, the 12 apostles circle around Jesus at the top of the clock. This clock is massive as you may imagine. Also, I meet with two classes of French students today to talk to them about America and Wilmington, NC. I took a picture of the 8th graders on a wall build by the Romans in the 1st century. The 10th graders are some of the students that will be traveling to Wilmington in October. I also stopped by a French candy store (magasine de bonbon)--I can feel the cavities coming. But it's good!

The bathroom and the toilet are two separate rooms in France.

2008-06-17T08:38:00.000-07:00

I did know that the bathroom and toilet room are two different things long before I came to France. What I didn't realize, however, was that it can be very convenient to have the rooms combined. Say for instance that you enjoy washing your hands after using the bathroom, here in France, you must leave the toilet room and go to the bathroom to do so. Also, there are no top sheets used here--just the fitted sheet and the bed spread. Freezers do not have ice makers, so you buy ice in cube shapes in sandwich size bags. I tried a local favorite here--potato cakes. This is onion, potatoes and some other spices mixed together and then fried. Pretty tasty. The people in Strasbourg are very friendly and the town is amazingly beautiful. I walked up about 350 stairs to the top of a cathedral whose construction began in the 1200s. I could see much of the city. I also took a boat tour. Today there is a big soccer game between France and Italy. This is a huge rivalry because an Italian player insulted a French player who head-butted him in the stomach and consequently was expelled from the game. This resulted in a French loss, so the French are out to redeem their honor today. The whole town is showing evidence of their excitement and their hope for a huge French victory.

The cows in France are white

2008-06-16T10:57:00.000-07:00

I took a train ride from Paris to Strasbourg today. Except for the times I was drooling on myself in a deep slumber, I was enthralled by the beautiful countryside of France full of white cows. I guess this would explain their excellent cheese. I also enjoyed a cafe au lait. I walked around Strasbourg for a little while and found a statue of Gutenberg. I did not see the printing press. This makes up for my frustrating morning. First, I had to buy train tickets from someone who spoke little English. Then I had to figure out how to find the correct platform to board. As I was waiting in the train station, French soldiers with machine guns kept walking through the station. When I finally boarded the train, I forgot to have my ticket stamped. So when the conductor walked through the cars checking tickets, he explained that the next time I rode the train I had to have my ticket stamped or I would be charged 10 euro. My last challenge occurred when I had to call my most gracious hostess for a ride from the train station. I realized most clearly at this point how much of my French I had forgotten. I had this moment of sheer panic as I looked at the phone and tried to make out the directions for use. I tried my credit card to no avail. Then I asked a man what to do--me speaking broken French and him speaking broken English. I found out that I had to spend $10 to buy a phone card to make a 2 minute call to Caroline. It was magical after I stopped panicking enough to figure out how to use the pay phone. My jet lag is slowly dissipating and I look forward to more sightseeing tomorrow.

I saw the Mona Lisa

2008-06-15T07:15:00.000-07:00

I made it to France at 2 am Wilmington time. I have severe jet lag and massive dehydration. I went to the Louvre today and saw the Mona Lisa and several other famous pieces of art and I saw the Notre Dame. I think I walked a hundred miles mostly because I still can't get the whole metro thing down. (Speaking of metros, I saw two people nearly get decapitated today by the doors. I think it's how the French folks roll: they will get on the metro whether or not the doors close and whatever may get caught in the way). Paris has amazing architecture, but it's pretty dirty and it has places where it smells like a person or two may not have had the euro necessary to go to the bathroom. I'm watching a cricket game on t.v. right now and eating a baguette. Oui, c'est tres chic.

Leaving for France

2008-06-14T10:10:00.000-07:00

This morning I left for France around 6:00am. In fact, I'm sitting in an airport in New Jersey right now waiting for my flight. Ms. Steger was nice enough to drive me and my 62 lbs suitcase to the airport this morning when I left. In about 12 hours, I will have reached Paris.