avant Noël

We are all set up for Christmas! We bought our Christmas tree and ornaments at IKEA and set them up last week. It's a little scrawny but it'll do! Click on the tree to see more pictures.

We just had our last set of visitors for the year. Phillip and Eileen! They spent a few days with us before heading to Paris. We had a great time with them playing games, touring Metz and Christmas markets, watching movies, and eating yummy food.
They took lots of pictures around Metz to help add to their portfolio. They started their own photography business. Getting married? Check them out! Blume Photography


In Duncan news...

The sun came out today. Duncan and I were playing with his squirrel... as soon as he stepped into the spot on the floor where the sun came in the window, he sat down in the rays and decided to take a nap. I think he really misses the sunshine and back porch in Conyers.

Our anniversary is coming up! 2 years! Not sure what we'll do yet, but we'll celebrate somehow!We are thinking that in the future we will celebrate our anniversary in August, when we got engaged instead...and go somewhere WARM!

We hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas season so far!

"Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Isaiah 7:14

album links

Duncan news.

I got up to take a shower the other morning. When I returned to the bedroom this is what I saw:

We went scuba diving in Belgium. Didn't take many pictures, but were happy that we survived the cold conditions. The water temperature was 11 degrees Celsius (54 F). With our 7mm wetsuits we stayed warmer than we were expecting. BUT, my toes did get really cold... There are two more pictures to see if you click on us.

Yesterday we enjoyed lots of snow! Click on the Duncan paws to see more pictures. But today, it's raining again. :o(

In other cool news - In Japan, there is a restaurant where Monkeys help wait the tables. NO JOKE, it's so cute! They serve drinks, bring you change and hot towels. I totally want to go see them in action. i saw it on CNN international, but here is a clip I found on YouTube.

International and Eventful.

David has been spending quality time with Duncan. Here I caught them playing cards. I especially like Duncan's "chillin' " pose while he's listening. And you should see his poker face...

A few weeks ago we went out to eat at a fondue restaurant. It was delicious. We ordered multiple cheese fondues to share and then chocolate fondue for dessert. Yum.

I never wrote much about Halloween. We invited some friends over and bought our own Halloween candy to eat. We watched an Alfred Hitchcock movie (Rear Window) and made pancakes for dinner. The pancakes were supposed to be dyed orange but the store was out of food coloring when I went shopping. Oh well!


Then we took a trip to Luxembourg to see the new James Bond movie. While there we visited ChiChi's a texmex restaurant. I've been there twice before, but I think they are under new management now...it wasn't as good as before. My chicken chimichanga is pictured top right below.Then, Sunday, we had a Greek inspired lunch. Our Greek friend Konstantinos made moussaka. It was delicious! For dessert we had a lemon tart (yum!) and tiramisu.

After that, we had dinner with some Americans who make awesome crepes. We had buckwheat crepes with ham, potato, creme fraiche, and cheese for dinner, and dessert crepes for dessert.

Then, yesterday after our bible study, I made a meatloaf to share with everyone. This was a first for a few people there, but definitely a hit. How can you not like something wrapped in bacon!? (It's a great recipe.)

And I have an honorary picture to share with you. This is Fred. He is French. If you know anything about the kind of food the French like, you will know that they don't like spicy/hot things. Well, Fred tried a hot pepper while we were at ChiChi's. This was a picture of his reaction. Other than that, he handled it well.
I only talk about food huh?

Well, stay tuned. I think I'll have some very interesting things to tell you about before long...

Black American President

Great! Our next President will be a black American. Honestly, I'm surprised so many people thought this wasn't possible. Racism hasn't been that much of an issue in our country for a while now, although people have been treating it like it has been. Yes, there are still racist people out there, but they aren't the majority of our nation. Hopefully people will finally realize that and stop blaming things on racism!

My hope, now that Obama will be President, is that everyone won't be too disappointed when he doesn't turn out to the the Messiah they are treating him as. Watching the reaction of his win was kind of troubling. People were practically worshiping him. Let's not replace God people...no man or government can do that. And I hope that all the other countries aren't disappointed if they don't get the special treatment they are expecting to get from him. Everytime they have interviewed a foreigner to get their reaction on Obama's election they have mentioned specific aspects of how Obama will interact with their country. He has a lot of expectations to live up to. To the American people and to the rest of the world. He may have given them hope, but now he's going to have to give them results.

I did like how Obama asked everyone to be willing to work and that his change wouldn't come quickly or easily but require people to make an effort. Because, I feel like many people think things will change for them just because Obama was elected...not because they have to join him in the efforts.

OH! There is a funny thing I have to mention. Remember when Obama made his speech after his win became "officially" predicted? And he said that his daughters could have a dog in the white house? Well, at the very moment after Obama said that, our sleeping dog Duncan growled in his sleep. It was hilarious! He was jealous I guess...

Election Coverage Observations

Election News is all that is on the news today...of course. But even in foreign countries. It has been an interesting experience to see the world's view of my country while living abroad.

First, I must comment on what I've seen from the French media. The news headlines on the news channels here say "Preparing to Celebrate"... The newspapers this morning implied a victory, already, for Obama, and the polls in the US had not even opened yet. As I watch "France 3" I'm seeing the French reporters interviewing Americans that are in line to vote in various locations in the US, yet they are only airing the voters that are supporting Obama. All-night parties are planned here in France as well as in other countries, to watch election coverage and updated results as they are reported. While the rest of the world is eager for Obama to be President, the Americans are the ones who get to decide, and I'm interested to see the result. I feel like they are just ignoring the fact that there are supporters in the US for MCain. It was the same when Hilary was running. They were saying that she would be the next President. Funny...she isn't even in the race anymore. You should see the people from Obama, Japan. ...bet you didn't know there was an Obama, Japan. I didn't until today.

I have already voted. All I can do is wait. Plus, with either result, I'll survive. I won't be overly upset if McCain doesn't win and I won't be tremendously disappointed if Obama does. I know that either way God is going to use the situation for his purposes. BUT, just because of the response of the rest of the world, and mostly what I've seen from the French, I'm eager to see McCain win just to see their reaction! I mean, this reported just said "Obama, without exception, will win the Presidency." How can he say that so assuredly? I know that the American President is important for the rest of the world, but I don't like when the rest of the world predicts how the Americans will vote with such certainty.

Now they have people dressed up in elaborate costumes...young, old, black, white, Mickey Mouse, Superman, Michael Jackson, some Amish people...all casting votes...they are making fun of us now. ? I'm not catching the jokes. Oh look! a preview for Wall-E ...good movie! ...wait...Obama is in the preview...he is friends with Wall-E. Uh oh, now a John McCain puppet... It's funny, when there is an American character, they speak french with a really strong American accent - makes sense. Uh oh, now Bush...he was just rooting for Obama...hmm...I don't think that's accurate. ANYWAY--!

In other news, we have been trying to successfully wire money from one of our French bank accounts to our Wachovia account in the US. Today we worked out all the bugs and it will go through, but, while we were at the bank they offered us another account. The savings accounts here work much differently than the ones we are used to. The accounts have maximum amounts of money that you are allowed to keep in them. They also have minimums, but it's only 10 euros. So, I suppose because of this maximum limitation they have to offer you multiple accounts so that you can actually save money! When we filled up our first account we were kind of disappointed. I prefer to save money in a savings account rather than just leaving it to accumulate in a checking account. Luckily, nearly every time we go back to the bank to ask a question or deal with something, they offer us a new account with a higher maximum value. Thus, we have 4 French bank accounts now. That's a lot. Now we want to deversify. We know a German banker...think he can get us a German bank account? After that we really would like a Swiss account. We just need to find the money to fill them all :o)

Ok ok. That's all for now. I'm going to see how late I can stay up tonight watching CNN international for election results. They start official coverage at 11pm. Gotta love time zones!

Your dog doesn't do that?

I had to share this with you.

We have taught Duncan that when we go to bed he has to sleep on his bed on the floor. ..and he does. But, every morning, David sets the alarm to go off around 7am. Does David get up at 7am? No! He reaches for his Bose remote and turns the alarm off so that he can sleep for another hour or two. Why have the alarm set so early? Good question!

Anyway. The alarm doesn't just wake us up, but it wakes up Duncan to. At this point he has gotten into the habit of standing next to the side of the bed whining at us until we give him attention. At first I thought he really needed to go outside to go to the bathroom. But, after several early morning walks I was tired of getting up so early so I tapped on the bed and let him sit next to me. Not only did he just sit next to me, but he curled up and fell back to sleep. AND, he didn't bother me again until I got out of bed. Nice! So now our morning routine involves letting Duncan get on the bed after the alarm goes off. It works well. No complaints.

Well, the other morning it was especially cold in the room. When Duncan jumped up on the bed I covered him with the blanket too. Before I knew it he had shimmied his way up to my pillow too. Before long he looked like this:That's right, sleeping just like a person. It's very cute.

Vampire cookies. I told you I'd make them. It took me a while to get them just right, but they finally turned out the way they were supposed to. Look good huh?I prefer the ones with just the holes...the "dripping blood" just looks messy. I've never been much of a sugar cookie lover, but these turned out OK for my first attempt at them. I don't think I'll do them again though - unless someone begs me for them - because, in the Swafford household, we prefer chocolate chip cookies, hands down!

Indoor Cookout?!

Saturday afternoon we got together with some students who had stayed in Metz for the weekend for an indoor cookout. One of them had wanted to buy a "grill" and decided that this was the perfect opportunity. So, after a trip to Cora the guys arrived with a bunch of food.

I will describe to you some of the pictures in the following collages, but know that you can see full sized pictures on our picasa website.

For our afternoon gathering we played the Wii, made and ate lots of food, played Rock band, and David and Peter played their guitars (top left). Our "main course" was kabas (top middle) consisting of beef, bell peppers, onion, and pineapple. We also had potatoes and hot peppers (I think David was the only one who ate the hot peppers...after he teared up no one else wanted any), french sausages, and lamb prepared Greek-style thanks to our Greek contributing cook, Constantinos, and his homemade olive oil.

While at Cora David bought a pumpkin...because I thought everyone would get one and we'd carve them together after lunch...but no one else was interested so we saved it and carved it Sunday instead. The weather was decent so we ook Duncan and the pumpkin outside to the plan d'eau. We sat next to the water while we designed and then carved our pumpkin. Everyone was stopping and looking at us. Parents were telling there kids: "Look! It's for 'alloween" ("H" omitted on purpose).
Top Right: This is the view from INSIDE the pumpkin while we were carving it. I was really surprised that this picture turned out so good.

We also tried to get Duncan to sit next to the pumpkin, in some fallen leaves, after it was carved so we could take a nice holiday picture of him, but he didn't want to cooperate. I guess the picture before the pumpkin was carved was all he was willing to give us (middle). Cute enough I suppose!

Sunday for dinner we tried a veal parmesan recipe for the second time. Although the pumpkin appears to be saying it wasn't that great, it was actually really great this time. We still have a few things we want to try next time to make it even better, but I would definitely make it this was again. I also want to try it with chicken and egg plant.

I'm going to be making vampire cookies tomorrow to share with the people in our bible study...as long as they turn out ok. I was going to make them today and just bring them tomorrow but the recipe says "best if eaten the day they are made" so I'll wait!

Bonjour!

My apologies. I have not been a diligent updater. Therefore, today's entry will be very random but informative.

We got a microwave! I bought it at Cora and then carried it back via the bus then my feet. The next day I discovered that I had bruises on my hip bones. The box was so heavy that I had to pull it against myself so hard so that I would drop it. I didn't realize, at the time, that it was hitting my hip bones so badly. I also didn't realize how heavy the box was going to be in the first place. The bruises lasted for a while and were quite painful.

We have a friend from Tunisia, Mohamed, who gave us some Tunisian goodies! They were yummy! I really liked the ones with the pistachios (the green triangular one).

Then, one weekend, we went to IKEA. We have been needing more storage space in our kitchen. This was our solution:We bought it, brought it home (this too was very to carry home on the bus, even with the two of us) and assembled it. Once it was together we discovered that it was ONE centimeter to tall! So we had to borrow a hack saw from GTL and we cut a few centimeters off of the legs. Problem solved. It fits very nicely under our stairs. I'm still working on the best way to store things on it.

We went out to dinner last night with some friends from GTL. We went to a fondue restaurant. It was greeeeeeat. We all ordered different kinds of cheese fondue and agreed to share, but David and I were very pleased that the one we chose ended up being our favorite. Since then I have only eatten an apple. It's already 6pm...I guess I'm getting a little hungry for dinner... Sorry, I didn't have my camera at the restaurant...maybe next time.

Tomorrow we are going to go to GTL to get together with a bunch of people who aren't going anywhere for the weekend. I think we will be having a cookout and carving pumpkins and playing video games. Duncan is going to come too. Another dog used to live there (remember Maddie from previous posts?) so I figured it wouldn't be a problem. It'll be fun! I WILL bring my camera for that. :o)

À bientôt.

Sun Swing and Swim

Lately, here in Metz, the weather has been great! But I have to give you a few statistics.

Since we first arrived back in France I have been keeping track of the weather each day. Rain or no rain, that is the extent of my tracking. For the first month I am able to report this: 41% of the days we had rain and 59%, no rain. (Aug 20th - Sept 20th). Although, recently we have had 10 straight days of NO RAIN! It really has been amazing. There were only a few days during this time where it was overcast too. Mostly sun! I'm glad that Metz weather isn't ruining my opinion of my favorite season :o)

It has been really great for Duncan too because he isn't used to living with no sun. He used to sit in the sun everyday back in Georgia on the porch. Luckily, we have one window in our apartment that gets direct sunshine when it's out. Below you can see him basking in the rays! He ends up following it as it moves across the room so that he can lay in the warmth the whole time it lasts...sometimes I do it with him.

We've also been able to go on a lot of really nice walks each afternoon. I've walked around more of Metz than I ever have before. Even though we have all this sun, you still have to remember that it's chilly outside. On our walks I still have to wear a jacket. The temperature has been around 65 degrees.

Good news about the weather, huh? Well, David and I have figured that it can't last forever. In fact, God only promised to never flood the entire earth again...so we are a little concerned about the future of France. Ha! Seriously though, rain is supposed to hit us either later today or tomorrow.

Yesterday, we were lucky to get some free tickets! We got to see some of the Moselle Open tennis tournament. I've never been to a tennis tournament before and it was interesting. We watched most of one match between a South African guy and a Swedish guy. It was neat because whenever they got frusterated or needed to talk to the official, they spoke in English so we were able to understand what they were saying. I wonder how much of what the official was saying to the crowd they understood.

It was also kind of strange to watch an indoor tennis match. I've always played outside, so by default, I expect to see it played outside. When we walked into the arena it was very quiet except for the squeaking of tennis shoes and the bounce of the tennis ball. I guess that is what a golf tournament is like. It was fun to watch the people on the front rows. Their heads would go back and forth and back and forth following the ball...very stereotypical, yet proven true. And the kids that are in charge of running after the balls and making sure that the server is fully stocked were pretty funny too.

Tonight our scuba diving club starts up again. David is very excited of course. He always says that Monday nights are the highlight of his week. It will be a little different this year because the other students from GTL who participated with us aren't here anymore and we will be practicing with a different group of people because we've already been certified at a higher level. Plus our favorite instructor will remain with the level 1s, so we will get a different guy...we don't know who yet.

Long Overdue

I've been meaning to write another post since last weekend...

Last Friday morning, I was taking Duncan outside for him morning walk. We headed toward the plan d'eau because I was planning on letting him run free for a little while when all of a sudden I saw people falling from the sky! Haha, well, they had parachutes. We got a little closer and watched for a few minutes (well, I watched, Duncan wanted to go walk along the lake). Then we turned around and headed back toward the apartment. I was hoping David was still there so that he could see and was planning on grabbing my camera so that we could go back out and take pictures.

As we were walking David jumped out in front of us! He said he saw us walking under the bridge as he was going to catch the bus. So I told him he couldn't go to school yet because he had to go see the people falling out of the sky! So we went back down and watched some more.

Eventually we found out that it was a national competition. Team Parachuting. How you parachute as a team I don't know...I guess they just combine the scores, because these guys were jumping individually. Above is a collage of some of the pictures that I eventually took and if you click on the image it will take you to my picasa website where there are some more pictures and explanations. It was pretty neat to watch them jump out of the plane and then let their parachutes out and land on the huge grey circle. But I must admit, it got kind of boring. It was the same thing over and over for the entire weekend. No cool tricks or anything, just jumping and landing. And everyone we saw hit the target. A few misses would have made be interesting...haha.

A little on David...

Recently, it seems like David is having to write reports for everything. Reports about reports he has already written and then another report just for the heck of it. It all seems kind of time consuming and pointless. SO, this morning David asked me to send him a list of anything we needed from CORA (because he was going to stop by before he came home). And then, jokingly, he said, "Write me a report about it." So I did... If you'd like to see my creativity you can find it here in the Swafford Supplies INC Report. For understanding purposes...Fred is our friend who offered to drive David in his car.

And today I leave you with some humor. Understanding Engineers...

A priest, a doctor and an engineer were waiting one morning for a particularly slow group of golfers.

The engineer fumed, 'What's with these people? We've been waiting for 15 minutes!'

The doctor chimed in, 'I don't know, but I've never seen such ineptitude!'

The priest said, 'Hey, here comes the green keeper. Let's have a word with him.'

'Hi George, what's the matter that group ahead of us? They're rather
slow, aren't they?'

The green keeper replied, 'Oh, yes, that's a group of blind fire-fighters. They lost their sight saving our clubhouse from a fire last year, so we always let them play for free anytime.'

The group was silent for a moment. Then the priest said, 'That's so sad. I think I will say a special prayer for them tonight.'

The doctor said, 'Good idea. And I'm going to contact my ophthalmologist f riend and see if there is anything he can do for them.'

The engineer said, 'Why can't they play at night?'

The city n'est pas ma tasse de thé

Franglais translation: "The city is not my cup of tea."

This past Sunday the weather was beautiful, unlike Saturday - it rained all day long, so David and I took Duncan for a nice long walk. Our goal was the top of the "mountain" that we can see from our window. So we headed towards it the best way we knew how. After walking an hour and a half, and trying to use bus stop maps to help us, we found ourselves at the end of a paved road leading up into a forest-like area. In we went! Within the next 20 minutes we passed an old military fort (we plan to go back with flashlights and actually go inside), met a dog that was the same color as Duncan (he was naturally white, but had really enjoyed his muddy walk), and made it to the top of the mountain. Once atop we turned over our left shoulders to see the top of the mountain that we were actually intending to climb. Oops. Regardless, we felt accomplished.

Anyway, while we were walking we passed through a town called Plappeville. It was beautiful. It was laid out more like a neighborhood and we walked by a couple houses that smelled as though they had fires burning in their fireplaces. The view was amazing because the entire time we had been walking up so we could see down onto the town of Metz...we saw the cathedral and some other things close to our apartment. We even walked by an automatic baguette dispenser. Yes, you read that correctly. It was like a vending machine for baguettes! I've never seen anything like it and was kicking myself for not having any change with me. The slot, where you pick up your item, was baguette length. It was Sunday, so the bakery was closed therefore this was a brilliant idea! I just wish I knew if those baguettes were any good...they don't last that long before they are hard as a rock.

So the point of all this is that while we were walking I realized that I really don't like living in the city. I don't like the smells, the noise, the mess, the crowds, the lack of space... Not that we're going to move while we're here, but I think I know now that when we leave, we will not be looking for homes within a city. And I think Duncan agrees. He wants a yard.

In other news

• I'll be starting English lessons again soon. Probably next week.
• David got some movies from the internet server at the student dorms. We watched Enchanted (very funny), Be Kind Rewind (wasn't as good as I exected, but had it's moments), Stardust (weird...a combination of at least 3 different movies), and have begun and old season of 24 that I haven't seen, but David has. We have some other ones too, but haven't watched them yet.
• I think I've figured out how to survive morning walks with Duncan when it gets colder. It involves buying one of these awesome electric water heaters (WAY faster then waiting for water to boil), a thermos, and tea or cappuccino mixes.
• I'm loving the down blanket that Katherine got me - how have I survived without it?
  

First Swim

Yesterday I got a message from our friends Laurence and Martin saying that they were home from their vacation. After a few correspondences we eventually arrived at the conclusion that we were going to meet down at the plan d'eau so that they could meet Duncan!

We met by the playground and did some walking around. It was a beautiful day outside, very sunny, nice and warm. Before long we ended up sitting down by the side of the lake and Duncan ended up in the water. I brought the stick (featured in the last entry) and Duncan retrieved it multiple times showing them how good of a swimmer he was. He was very happy to be wet. So happy in fact that he wanted to share the experience with Martin who was comfortably sitting on the nice dry blanket.

Duncan likes them, and I'm pretty sure they like him too. It is the start of a wonderful friendship.

"Ok, throw it already!" - Duncan

"I have the stick, I have the stick, I have the stick..." - Duncan

"This view reminds me of my old backyard" - Duncan

After a nice day outside I introduced Laurence and Martin to our Wii. It was their first time playing one and they quite enjoyed themselves. Here they are playing Wii Sports, Boxing :o)

After some Wiing (I figure that you'd drop the last "i" and add "ing"...anyone else know proper Wii grammar?) we ate dinner together, took a walk to Place St. Jacques to get ice cream for dessert (Ice cream dude upped his price by € 0.30), and headed back to the apartment for some Mario Kart. It was fun!

After the lovely weather yesterday, today it is raining. I'll do a monthly update of my rain count around the 20th. But I just thought I'd share.

It's a new 'season' of blogging so I figured I would change the look of things again. Hope you like it! Happy reading.

Sunday Afternoon Excitement

Today, after "church" we took Duncan for a walk to the plan d'eau. Last night on our walk we took him over there and because no one was around we let him off of his leash and ran around with him. Well, this afternoon it was a similar situation. Hardly anyone was outside - a few bikers, walkers, and a roller blader - so we tried it again. I was very impressed. Being off his leash he is actually more attentive to where we are to make sure that he doesn't get left behind. And he has to follow us, instead of us having to follow him because he's attached to us with the leash. As long as there aren't lots of dogs around I will continue to do this with him and hopefully it will work well for the both of us.

We also found a stick and Duncan actually chased it! Usually he only goes after sticks if we throw them into water and he can swim and get them, but this time he actually did it on land - amazing! One time he even got the stick and brought it back to us...one time. He seemed to be having lots of fun. He is a brief video I made. To those of you who know Duncan, I think you'll be impressed.



Duncan has also found a squirrel replacement, crows. He loves to chase them and we love to watch him do it.

While walking we also saw some baby ducks. They were very little, so much so that they were able to sit on the lilly pads like little frogs!
But their mommy didn't like Duncan hanging around (even though he wasn't paying attention to them) so we didn't stay long.

Hoping for nice weather this week... later!

A Weekend To Remember

This past weekend David and I went to Germany for a couple of reasons.

• To visit Cori
• To pick up Duncan
• To see more of Germany

Here are some details:

Thursday evening we made somewhat last minute plans to head to Germany early Friday morning. We woke up pretty early to catch a 7:41am train to Frankfurt. As soon as we had crossed the German boarder the train controllers came around to check passports. Ours were in the bags above our head. I think David and I had just woken up so when they asked it took us a minute to remember where they were and then start to get them. This must have been normal for them because as I was reaching for the our bag the man said "Americans?" we said "Yes." and then he said "Nevermind, it's ok." ?? Well that was strange. Something has been strange lately, because when we arrived at the airport in France they didn't stamp our passports there either. Oh well! We've missed out on two more stamps though...

On our way to Frankfurt we were surrounded by kids. It was lots of fun. A set of German twins, an American girl (who knew a few languages for such a little kid), and a little black boy whose mothers language we didn't recognize. It seemed like all the Moms saw other children and then congregated in our car...right next to us. They were all very cute and fun to watch. The funniest thing was when the little black boy put his hand on the German Dad's knee so that he wouldn't fall over and the little German girl tried to kick his hand away (she was sitting on her Dad's leg). I've never seen a kid be defensive of their parent like that.

Then we took another train from Frankfurt to Wuerzburg to meet Cori. We got a quick tour of the downtown area of Wuerzburg and just missed a trash can fire...but caught the end of it when the guy put it out with a fire extinguisher and the police showed up. Then we went to Wertheim, where Cori lives and got to see her new apartment - it's nice! Then we picked up Frank from work (because we were borrowing his car) and proceeded to watch a documentary about David Hasselhoff...long story.

Saturday we went to a flea market, then a town market, ate some Bratwurst for lunch, and headed back to the apartment. I took a nap, and David and Cori read books. Later that evening we met up with Frank again and went to a Festival in a nearby town. It was a blast. There was a huge ferris wheel, another crazy ride that would make you lose your lunch, some swings, and of course, a beer tent. We didn't actually sit under the tent because it was crowded, no one would share their table, Frank didn't approve of the band, and it was kind of muggy in there. So we sat at a table just outside. David and I tried some weiner schnitzel and the alternative for beer when you are at a beer tent, Spezi. It's yummy!

Sunday we woke up and had apple pancakes for breakfast. Then we headed out to meet some of Cori's friends. Richard and Ulli. We had a "barbque" at their house for lunch. Richard was in the military, stationed in Germany, when he met Ulli. They have two daughters. They were really great. They had just put a pond in their back yard and Ulli kept fishing things out of it to keep it clean...especially nuts from a hazelnut tree. We also found out that Richard is into scuba diving. He hasn't done it in a while, but we might go scuba diving with him sometime! While we were there we borrowed their internet to check on Duncan. I also ended up checking the weather in Atlanta - it was looking hopeful! That evening for dinner we went to Cori's favorite Italian restaurant and totally understand why it is her favorite. David had gnocci, I had tortellini, Cori had a really tastey spaghetti, and Frank had a yummy penne. They were all worth ordering again. We left very full.

Monday morning Cori and I did some shopping. I was hoping to find a picnic blanket that had a lining on one side - great for ground that is always went AKA the ground in Metz! But I never found one :o( I did find Listerine :o) (we don't have it in France). Cori got all of her stuff and we headed back so that David could help her with hanging a shower curtain and cabinet in her bathroom. I took a nap :o) After I was rudely awoken we visiting another family Cori is friends with, the Webers. They were the ones who gave her her first job in Germany. We had a really good meal, really good, really really good. To me, it didn't seem German though, but it was really good. It was slightly baked Feta cheese (so that it was warm and soft), a salad made with tomatoes, onions, mozarella, basil olive oil, salt, pepper, and balaslmic vinegar, and bread of course, lots of bread. Some warm with butter and herbs, some just plain. Oh! And they made ice cubes for us to have with our coke. How nice. Oh, the luxury of ice cubes!

While we were there we got a call from my Mom saying that they had just dropped off Duncan and he was on his way - !! How exciting.

After going to bed way too late to wake up this early, we woke up around 6:30ish to head to the airport in Frankfurt to pick up Duncan! We got to the airport around 9am to start the paperwork process. By 11am we were almost done with everything, but it had already taken so long I took a picture of my watch.

Finally by about 11:15 they rolled him out to us and the waiting was finally over! We packed up the car, gave Duncan some much needed water and a 'restroom stop' and headed to the train station for the trip home.

We found a train that left 10 minutes after we bough the tickets so we hurried with all our stuff. On German trains Duncan had to ride in his box, again, or else we had to pay quite a bit. But, we did find out that on French trains we only have to pay 5.50 and he can ride just on a leash! All right for France making something LESS complicated! That rocks.

Now we are home, Duncan survived the 88 step hike to the top of our building, twice, and he sleeping like a baby - trying to ignore all the unfamiliar noises. I hope he continues to adjust well. Do animals get jet lag?

So many things...

So many things have happened within a short amount of time.

First - Last Wednesday the 22nd, my Grandfather (actually, great-uncle) passed away. While I was home I took him to and from multiple doctor's appointments, we moved him into a nursing home, and we watched as dementia began to over-take his mind. He was 89 years old, and an Army veteran who served in WWII. He was buried yesterday. This is a picture of him from early 2002, shortly after he and his wife moved from New York down to Georgia to live with our family. I think that was the last time he saw snow in Georgia. His sister was my Mom's mother, and she was the one who had the red hair that I inherited.

Next - Tuesday evening, David and I went with a large group of Students from GTL, to play laser tag! It was a lot of fun. We broke up into teams of 10-11 people and then each team had the opportunity to play every other team. My team was team "E". We did really well, after the first game (it was just our warm up game). I went from a negative score of -450 and a rank of 21/23 to a positive score of 1600 (still not that high) and a rank of 10/23...and I was on a team of all guys...so that's pretty good, right?

There was only one problem...the vest we had to wear that had the sensors on it was a little big on me and I ended up getting bruises on my arms. They are actually really uncomfortable.

We also had our carte de sejour renewal meeting today (the reason we had to be back here in France by this week). Everything went smoothly and quickly believe it or not. The thing we find particularly interesting is that everytime we have to submit paperwork for something we had to include a copy of our marriage certificate. ...even for a renewal. Oh well, Josyane has about 50 copies so at least we won't run out!

Lastly - Today, official plans have been made to send Duncan. David and I will be going Germany to spend the weekend with Cori in hopes that on Monday the weather in Georgia will remain cool enough for Duncan to get on a plane. It can't be warmer than 85 degrees or Delta won't allow him to fly. The uncertainty makes me nervous, so I bet you can guess what I'll be praying about the entire weekend. :o)

That's all for today. I'll leave you with a picture of Duncan, from yesterday, pre-yawn...isn't he cute?

Full First Day

David and I had big plans for today...so here is how today went:

David set an alarm last night (and I was unaware of this) for 6am. His plan was to start waking up earlier so that he'd begin to get into the habit, in order to force himself to be productive earlier in the day. This also works for me because once Duncan is here he will want to go on early morning walks since he won't be able to go outside whenever he wants to anymore. ANYWAY, I woke up around 1:30pm and rolled over to wake up David. He then asked me "Did you hear the alarm this morning?" To which I answered "No." ...haha, he had heard the alarm and still didn't get up...even 7 hours later. Oops! So that set our day behind a few more hours than scheduled.

So instead of making a yummy quiche for breakfast, it was our lunch. Actually I was surprised by the quiche. It didn't taste like my quiche's used to. It tasted more like scrambled eggs. Granted, it is a lot like scrambled eggs, with onion and ham and cheese, but before it tasted more quichey. Oh well, it was good. I guess the 8 months in the US has affected my in-France cooking skills.

After quick showers we made our shopping lists and headed out! We each had bus passes that we never finished using back in December that still work - fwew! We headed over to the new shopping area near Cora to look in a store called "Saturn" (not a car dealership) it's an electronics store...like a Circuit City. The goal was to look at TVs that would be compatable (have the right inputs) for our Wii. Our initial thoughts were that somewhere people would be selling really old, big and bulky, somewhat large sized TVs that might have the right inputs, but that really isn't the case anymore. I never once saw a TV that wasn't a flat screen. So anyway, we looked at a few and narrowed it down to two, and before we knew it we had decided on one and jsut got it! I was surprised...David never makes a purchase that quickly qith so little research. He describes his mindset in this way "It's not like we're going to be keeping this TV for any length of time so I don't have to make sure it's the best out there at this size for this price." True, so true. So we have this TV...here's what it looks like:Oh, we rearranged our apartment again too...here is a preview:
Then we went to Cora to get a few essential things that we didn't get at our downtown ATAC (grocery store) last night...cereal (it's not that the ATAC doesn't have it, they just don't have a good variety - aka nothing we like), salsa for our tacos, milk, laundry detergent, and a big apple juice. After Cora we skipped going to GTL because it was too late and nobody would be there.

When we arrived home I made tacos for dinner. Did you know that our first meal here in our apartment was tacos? Now you do. Keep that in mind for future Swafford trivia. After dinner we went on a walk - David's idea (miracle!). The weather here has been great so far. The temperature is what I'm referring to really. Today was like a nice cool fall day. The sun was out a little, but clouds shaded the ground. It's funny, most of the people here are already wearing light scarves and jackets. I was walking around in a tank top. It was lovely.

Speaking of the weather, I had a brilliant idea today, and I really wish I had thought of this last year. But really, last year is the reason why I thought of this. Starting with yesterday, I am going to keep a record of whether it rains or not each day, everyday...and I'm going to make charts at the end of each month and at the end of the year to show the percentage of time that it rains here. But I really wish I had thought if this last year because then I would have proof that 98% of the days last year, it rained. I'm hoping this year the weather will put my idea to shame, but just in case I'll be ready! Just to keep you up to date, so far it is 50/50!

That's all for today!

8 months later

For the last 8 months, David and I have been living in Georgia so that David could work in one of Georgia Tech's clean rooms. He worked very hard, but also a lot longer than he though he would have to. That is why we are just now returning to France. So, to make up for the last 8 months I will do a quick bullet list of things that I probably would have written about in more detail.

• Return home mid-December
• Celebrate our 1-year anniversary
• Celebrate Christmas
• Happy New Year!
• Phillip and Eileen's wedding
• Buy a Wii
  
• Celebrate Rock Dunlap's life
• Move David's parents into their new house
• Mom has total hip replacement surgery
• Trip to the Mountains
  
• Nathan and Rebecca's wedding
• Renovate my old bedroom - paint walls, put in hardwood floors
  
• Rocky goes to Colorado for the summer
• Finish Scuba certification
  
• Grandpa Pete's cuts off part of his thumb
• Ashley and Nathan's wedding
  
• Nurses come to stay at the house to help Grandma around the clock
• David's Dad buys back his old lake house - we go skiing, a lot.
• Grandpa move's to a nursing home
• Learn to slalom ski - ski a lot more
• Luke and Danielle's wedding and Kathryn and Matt's wedding on the same day!!
• Go hang out in Alabama
• Get Duncan ready to be sent to live with us!
• Accumulate TONS of family tree information to add to family tree software
  
• David's parents get their home theater set up
• Go to Florida to scuba dive
  
• Watch Olympics
• pack, leave.

Yep, that covers most of it. Since we have been back we have reestablished ourselves in our apartment. I think we've figured out and remembered where everything is. We haven't seen anyone we know yet (except for Audric who we saw ride by on the bus). Lots of our friends have left Metz. It's almost going to be like starting over.

One of the first things that happened to us when we stepped off the bus at the train station was that we were approached by a man handing out brochures about his church. This is particularly interesting because we think we might have already heard the pastor of his church one time at the other church we were attending. After he visited we told each other that we wished we knew where his church was because #1 - his French was easy to understand and #2 - he taught with a lot more scripture than the pastor/other people that were teaching at the other church. So, we are going to try to find them this Sunday and see how we like it. It will even be closer to where we live - maybe we won't have to ride the bus 3o minutes anymore!

Tomorrow we will journey over to the Technopole to get our carte de sejour renewal paperwork ready. Then we're going to start looking for a tv that will work with our Wii! And all the while I will be checking the weather back in Georgia to see when Duncan can be sent to us :o)

More later.

Heaven Bound

Saturday, February 16th Rock Dunlap passed away.

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23

"All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." Psalm 139:16

"I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever. Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever. Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts. They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works. They will tell of the power of your awesome works, and I will proclaim your great deeds. They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness. The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made. All you have made will praise you, O LORD; your saints will extol you. They will tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might, so that all men may know of your mighty acts and the glorious splendor of your kingdom."

Psalm 145:1-12

Visitation Information:
Monday, February 18th (5-7pm)
Caldwell & Cowan Funeral Home
1215 Access Road
Covington, GA 30015 770-786-7062 http://www.caldwellandcowan.com/

Funeral Information:
Tuesday, February 19th (3pm)
First Baptist Church of Conyers
2100 Hwy 138 NE Conyers, GA 30013 (770) 483-8700 http://www.firstbaptistconyers.org/

In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation: http://www.komen.org/