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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!