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?