Exciting Events!

Since my last post LOTS has happened. Rocky and Maria came to visit us in Metz, I went with them on day trips, I found my new favorite European clothing store, David and I travelled with them to Switzerland, we all witnessed mass chaos (and some flustered Italians) because of rerouting trains, we saw a robbery, David found Dr. Pepper for me, and we have a new favorite kind of apple juice.

So this post will be about all of that.

Maria and Rocky came into Metz on Sunday, September 16th. That very day, Metz was having some kind of "open house" for almost of the the buildings in town. We got to go into all kinds of churches, government buildings, mayor's offices etc... It was neat. It was a good way for them to break-in their walking shoes! We also showed them around the area surrounding our apartment.

Monday:

Rocky, Maria, and I all went to Luxembourg. Right outside of the train station we found an H&M store. I've heard a lot about them but had never been in one. It was great! I found a new pair of pants and a really nice top, and Maria bought quite a bit herself. It was the most shopping I've done since January! ...I needed new pants though, so it worked quite well. After some shopping we headed into the center of Luxembourg. We found the eternal flame (dedicated to some soldiers) that David had been looking for each time he'd been to Luxembourg... Try to visualize... we are walking down the right side of a bridge. On the right there is a slightly inclined hill that has a paved walking path up it, and you can't really see what is on the top of the hill. Usually this is the side of the street we walk on when going into Luxembourg. With Rocky and Maria we were walking on the left side of the bridge. Being over there, we were able to see on top of that little hill. This is when I saw the flame. I couldn't believe it! The whole time it had been there but we hadn't seen it because of the side of the street we were walking on. Wow, that's incredible. After some pictures we kept walking into Luxembourg. We stopped by a cathedral, some pretty squares with sculptures in the center and eventually made it to the downtown area. At this point it was time for lunch. We ate at a restaurant with French cuisine (even though we all ordered something Italian). We had a really great waitress and at the end of our meal we asked her for directions to the other H&M in town because that one has men's clothing (the first one was just women's). After shopping for Rocky, and finding another pair of pants for me (jeans this time!) we started walking back in the direction of the train station. We tried to find some museums...and we did, but on Monday's nothing is open in France! So we couldn't go in. We continued towards the train station and went walking along a ravine. It was very pretty. The weather was nice, the sun was out, and it was very green. We had lots of fun taking goofy and not-so-goofy pictures and then realized we were lost in the ravine. But, before long, we found our way out and back to the train station. It was a very nice first day-trip. We arrived back in Metz around 5:30pm and went directly to the Techopole and the GTL campus so that Maria to see where David goes everyday. She got a quick tour while David tried to teach Rocky some mechanical engineering and then they left with David to go back to our apartment while I stayed at GTL for my french class.

Tuesday:

Strasbourg! There is much more to see in Strasbourg than in most other neighboring cities of Metz...and for Maria and Rocky there was a little extra. We walked into the downtown area where the Strasbourg cathedral is (because that is always where you have to go first). We saw signs saying that there was going to be a special video presentation that day, so we looked into it and prepared to stay to see it. There is an astrological clock in Strasbourg and that was what the video was about. It was in 3 different languages (French, German, and English) and they just took turns speaking in each. Although, I did notice that some of the things they said in French they did not say in English...so I guess you have to know all 3 languages to really get all the information. The show was very informative, followed by the clock actually chiming so you could see everything working. After that we headed for lunch. We ate at the same restaurant that I have taken everyone to...Le Gruber. But, I think this might be the last time I go there. I think they are under new management and they have "live music" everyday - aka a lady singing, who isn't very good, with a loud speaker that just makes it harder to hear the people you are trying to have a nice lunch with. She also goes around with a basket asking for money afterwards...and this is usually was unemployed people do to make money. So I don't think it was the best decision for the restaurant owners. Anyway...after lunch we needed to digest all that Alsacien food! We headed over to the Ill river and took a boat tour. I might have this memorized by the time we leave France for good...this is the third time I've done it :o) Following the boat tour, we went back to the cathedral and made the long hike to the top. I counted this time, 325 steps! 66 meters. Not matter how many times you do it it still isn't easy. We spent some time on top of the cathedral, heard the bells ring at 15 after the hour, and then went back down. Then we walked around the touristy area a little more and eventually headed back towards the train station. We had a little extra time before the train left so we stopped so Rocky could have his daily cafe au lait and Maria could try a strawberry pastry. We made it home to Metz, and that was Tuesday.

Wednesday:

Nancy. The last of our day trips. I've been to Nancy a lot too, but each time I go I find something new. With David's family we found an aquarium, and this time with Rocky and Maria I found a gazebo, a flower clock, a mini zoo in the middle of a park, some flower gardens, a big fountain, flags of the EU made out of different flowers, and another H&M :o) We started by visiting Place du Stanislas, the very ornate golden square of Nancy. Then we began our walking adventure that took us to all these places.The only thing I didn't like about the mini zoo is that they had a chimpanzee that was all alone. He was laying in his cage but he looked so lonely. I tried to play a peek-a-boo game with him but he just seemed so depressed. Poor guy...I'd go play with him everyday if I lived closer and they would let me. Anyway, unlike Strasbourg, each time I go to Nancy I eat at a different place (I should write a travel guide and compete with Rick Steves! ha!) This time we went to a very French restaurant and ordered from a menu even though we couldn't translate everything. Everything was really good, but afterwards we found out that Rocky had eaten pig head - not kidding. I recognized "pig" on the menu, but it seemed like some kind of slang phrase so he thought he would try it anyway. After lunch and finding everything we went to a church and looked around then ended up walking along a busy street back to the train station (this is where we found the H&M; by-the-way, we went into each one we saw just to say that we did, silly, I know.) We got home early so that we could pack for Switzerland! That evening we celebrated Talk Like a Pirate Day (Maria and I dressed up!) and also played a game of Settlers of Catan (thanks John) and I won! But it was a really good game anyway.

Thursday - Monday

Switzerland!

Lot's happened while we were in Switzerland, but I won't go into too much detail unless it is really interesting. First of all, you have to know that Switzerland is BEAUTIFUL! Especially the very mountainy areas where people either live up in the mountain (and have to take a cable car to get to their house) or in the valleys of the mountains where you still have the amazing view. But before we made it to all these places we had to ride the train. Our first train never made it to it's original destination because for some reason the connection was cancelled or something was wrong with the track - ? So we had to ride a bus from one station to a larger station. The problem was, the bus didn't take us to the larger station. It stopped at another small one and the driver made us get off and he drove away. So we, and about 25 other people, were stranded and confused. Luckily David was really the only person who could speak both French and English well enough, while keeping a level head, to find out what we needed to do. So we tried to lead this large group of people to where they needed to go. We met a man from Korea who was also a Mechanical Engineer, an older woman who is an American citizen but originally from Peru who was trying to visit her daughter that is living in Switzerland, a couple from China that, no matter how many times we explained it to them, kept asking us what they needed to do next, a Swiss couple who didn't really do anything strange, and two Italians that just couldn't hold it together...all they wanted to do was "go to Milaaaaano" It kept us entertained though. Then there was the rest of the group who didn't really talk to us but followed us wherever we went. It was so neat meeting all these people though. I really liked the old lady and the Korean guy. Eventually we made it to the Basel SBB station and ended up in Geneva.

Geneva was cool. We stayed in a hostel (my first hostel). We saw a water jet that sprayed 140 meters high...yeah, it was incredible. We also got to rent bike for 4 hours for free! Rocky and Maria got to see all the sculptures of their favorite reformers and we ate at a restaurant at outside tables and got really cold.

The next day we headed to Interlaken. At the Geneva train station we witness something I hope to never witness again. We got on the train and began putting our bags up above our heads when this guy walked by me in the aisle. I shouldn't have, but I said to myself "That guys is pretty creepy." As he passed me he kinda bumped into me and that didn't help my opinion of him. Less than 2 minutes later a lady in our car started yelling "attention! attention!" So naturally, we think someone wants the train to wait while the get on or something like that. As this is happening I see that same creepy guy running outside of our window with an extra bag in his hand. He stole it from the lady who was yelling! The problem is, the people outside of the train just think he is a guy running to catch his train, and the people inside the train can't get off to try and catch him. This feeling of helplessness is the worst! For the rest of the train ride to Interlaken the four of us were talking about it...what the guy was wearing, how it all happened, how creepy he was, and how much more attentive we will be from now on. I don't know what they can do for that lady, but I hope that somehow that guy gets caught.

Interlaken was beautiful, and even more so was Gimmelwald where we were staying (at a bed and breakfast that was up in the mountains). While here, we took lots of amazing pictures, went hiking, met Cori and Frank for the day, ate some typical Swiss cuisine, and enjoyed the simplicity of life there. We stayed in Interlaken for two days and then headed for Luzern. Luzern is more of a city with the mountains off in the distance, but it was still a really nice city. It was very clean and the people were nice. We only encountered one person who was asking for money. We also had dinner at a Mexican restaurant and had a really friendly waitress! We also found the famous "Weeping Lion" and had a blast in a museum that had a mirror maze and 'fun house' mirrors...I don't think any of us have laughed that hard in a really long time. I've also decided that I want a maze of mirrors in my house someday. We also visited a Swiss Transportation Museum. It was huge! we could have spent multiple days there, but we only had a few hours, so we did a speedy tour. They also had a planetarium there.

After that we had to go back to our hotel to pick up our bags and go to the train station. It was time to say goodbye. Rocky and Maria were headed to Zurich and we were headed back to Metz. :o( I was feeling a little nauseous from a merry-go-round that David spun way to fast so Maria and I sat down while Rocky and David went to go buy cheap food for our train rides. They came back, we all said goodbye and went our separate ways to our platforms. When on the train David pulled out the bag of food he had bought and inside of it was a Dr. Pepper! Why is this so exciting? Because I haven't had a Dr. Pepper in over 9 months...they don't have them in France! Plus I wasn't feeling well and David knew it would be a nice surprise. It was, and it did help settle my stomach a bit.

Altogether we had a really great time and I was sad to see it end. Back in our apartment on Tuesday I realized that I don't like it with so little life there. Before Maria and Rocky came we were pet sitting for Alex so the cat was always there, then they came and they were always there...now, during the day, it's just me again, and that isn't a whole lot of fun. But, I am excited that we'll be going home to see everyone in about two and a half months! Hopefully David will be able to incorporate celebrating the passing of ALL his quals with celebrating our 1 year anniversary!

(Obviously there are a lot more pictures than what I've shown you here...check out my web album on PicasaWeb)

More later!

Technology Thrives.

Tonight David and I were able to make use of some pretty interesting technological things. First, we were able to keep track of a Georgia Tech football game as it was happening via an ESPN website and an internet radio broadcast from Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta (790 The Zone).

This picture is a screen shot from the ESPN site as the game was happening. It was just after Samford made their first touchdown. The delay between the radio site and this site was only about 5 - 10 seconds. But, it was so neat to be able to follow a game and even hear the marching band playing in the background. I was just amazed at how quickly the plays appeared on the screen as they were actually happening. As you can see in the picture, each play was tracked from the kickoff to the touchdown. AND, when you placed your mouse over any of the plays you could see detailed information about what happened during the play (who carried the ball, who tackled, etc). The amount of information available is incredible! Imagine if we were able to do this with more important things! Anyway, the game eventually ended Samford 14 - Tech 69.

While we were watching we tried calling David's family, because they were attending the game and we wanted to hear the delay from the radio broadcast to the actual game. We had a calling card donated by Danielle Adair (thanks!) so we tried using it, and it worked! David's dad was SHOCKED to get a telephone call from us. He asked David to tell him his social security number to prove it was actually him. He wasn't at the game at the time so they talked instead.

Since then, we have been looking up things on Snopes.com* to see whether the rumors are actually true or false.

Example: I got an email recently (FWD of course) saying that the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser caused some serious chemical burns on children after they had used them. Why the kids would be using the eraser instead of their mother is an issue for another day, but, we found out that the rumor, was in fact, FALSE. This is the second time that we have disproved an "email rumor" (and we plan to continue). We are amazed at how often people send out emails before even checking to see if it is fact that they are spreading or not. Our goal is Universal Responsible Email Use. UREU as I'll call it. :o) Junk mail has got to stop! If people were a little more aware that the stuff they send out is really junk...there wouldn't be so much junk! It doesn't take much effort. http://www.snopes.com/* - There, I even found the link for you. Bookmark it. So, take part in spreading UREU! "It starts with U!" (I totally just came up with that! David is embarrassed...he'll have no part in the slogan...)

That's all for now. Bon Dimanche!

*Q: How do I know the information you've presented is accurate?
A: We don't expect anyone to accept us as the ultimate authority on any topic, which is why our site's name indicates that it contains reference pages. Unlike the plethora of anonymous individuals who create and send the unsigned, unsourced e-mail messages that are forwarded all over the Internet, we show our work. The research materials we've used in the preparation of any particular page are listed in the bibliography displayed at the bottom of that page so that readers who wish to verify the validity of our information may check those sources for themselves.

The Mirabelle Craze.

Here in Metz there is a fruit called a mirabelle. Metz is the capital of the mirabelle. And, this means that we have a festival for the mirabelle. Why? Probably the same reason that Georgia has a Cherry Blossom Festival - because people like festivals!

So anyway, a mirabelle is basically a small yellow plum. They are a little larger than a grape and they have a pit. Although, the picture is a little deceiving...they don't have big blue eyes.

The mirabelle festival lasts about 2 weeks. Each night they have various things going on around town. The festival begins with the crowning of the Mirabelle Queen...who is also Miss Lorraine. Miss Lorraine goes on to the Miss France competition, and then represents France in the Miss Universe competition. But, for the Mirabelle festival, Miss Lorraine - Reine de la Mirabelle (Queen of the Mirabelle) is the star of the show. She pops up every now and then at the different activities that take place and everyone oohs and ahhhs.

Well, we love taking part in our cities activities so, of course, we went to the beauty pageant! I made a video...

Other mirabelle activities include water sport 'demonstrations' and 'initiations' - David went wake boarding and we went kayaking and got some kind of official card for doing it.

They also had a rescue dog demonstration. This was very interesting. Their trainers would ride a boat out into the water...fall of yelling for help...and the dogs would go rescue them.

There was also jousting...from boats instead of horses. The winner is obviously the one who doesn't fall in the water. But it was hot on Saturday so I say the winners were the ones who did fall in....I wanted to.

It has been fun so far. The next big event is the mirabelle fireworks. AKA the biggest fireworks display I've ever seen (all because of a fruit!) This happens this Saturday. We are going to find a spot at the Plan d'Eau at lunch time, have a picnic, and save our spot until the fireworks go off!

IN OTHER NEWS:

• We are keeping our cat guest for an extra 2 weeks!
• Maria and Rocky are coming to visit in about 2 weeks!

Now that you are educated on mirabelles...go learn about the Presidential Candidates! ...pick a good one!

Who are you backing?

David and I have been educating ourselves on the presidential candidates for a while now. We have officially picked a candidate that we feel best represents our political views and moral values as well. In all of the debates so far Mike Huckabee has demonstrated his knowledge and ability to lead our country. I urge you to find some videos of Mike Huckabee speaking or debating and to read about his political views, plans, and beliefs.

Below is a pretty good blog entry that I thought I would share with you all. Please take the time to read it!
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http://onemom.wordpress.com/christians-for-huckabee/

Christians for Huckabee

There’s an article coming out in the September 3, 2007 issue of Newsweek magazine about Mike Huckabee. MSNBC has the article HERE.

The gist of the article is that “on paper” Mike Huckabee is the ideal GOP candidate, but that the party faithful aren’t following him because “he’s too nice to be President”. Here’s a piece of the article, including a quote from the Southern Baptist convention:

The short, cruel answer is that many people who should be his most enthusiastic supporters don’t think he could win if he were pitted in a nasty race against the one Democrat conservatives loathe most. “We like Mike a lot,” says Richard Land, a leader of the Southern Baptist Convention. “But nobody thinks he can beat Hillary, and a fear of another Clinton White House outweighs almost everything.”

There is a further insinuation that these “Christian” leaders would support Mike if he had more money. OK, Christian leaders, listen-up … Mike Huckabee would have more money if you supported him! I have been working on an article regarding the need for evangelical Christians to stand with Mike Huckabee in his run for the Presidency, but this article in Newsweek and the comments from Southern Baptists was so troubling to me that I had to speak out today.
Some key thoughts:

Christians: Mike Huckabee is our brother in Christ. How can you say “we like Mike and think he’s the best person to be President” … and then turn around and throw your money into the pots of other “pseudo-conservatives” because you are hypnotized by their money and power and charisma?!

Christians: Where are James Dobson and the Moral Majority? A word of support from both of these would boost Mike Huckabee into the front of the pack and carry him to the nomination and the White House.

Chrisitans: I call on you today to arise from your apathy - to shake off the stupor that comes from blindly following the mainstream media, and to stand with Mike Huckabee in his run for President.

STAND WITH MIKE IN PRAYER. We must agree together to faithfully support Mike Huckabee in prayer each day as he faces the grueling challenges of being a Presidential candidate.

STAND WITH MIKE FINANCIALLY. We must give more than nice words (through blogs, letters to the editor, talking to friends, etc) to Mike’s campaign - he needs our financial support.

STAND WITH MIKE IN YOUR ACTIONS. Mike Huckabee is not a man of personal wealth (like other candidates, who are able to “loan” their own campaigns millions of dollars of their own money), so even with the growing financial support, he still needs us THE PEOPLE of the country to work on his behalf here in the trenches. Here are some ideas:

• 
  
  Start a blog and join the official “Bloggers for Huckabee” blogroll
  


• 
  
  Write letters to the editor to your local paper and to papers around the country about why you “Like Mike” (be sure to include the URL to Mike Huckabee’s website http://www.mikehuckabee.com/)
  


• 
  
  Pass out fliers in local parades and community festivals. SC4Huckabee is a wonderful example of regular people getting the word out to their community about Mike Huckabee.
  

Mike Huckabee is our brother in Christ - he is not perfect, but he stands on the firm foundation of God’s Word, and he knows that as President that he works for the people, not for special interests and not for himself. Mike Huckabee is running for President - indeed, he is not just running for President, he is running for the good of the United States … he is running to strengthen this nation … to lead this nation and to stand firm on the Christian tenets our founding fathers used to build this country.

I will close with a phrase that I have used before in this blog and I will continue to say it until more Christians get up from their pews and agree to stand with Mike Huckabee in his run for President …

All it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing …

In my lifetime, I do not believe there has ever been a more crucial Presidential election … one that will either strengthen all that is good in this country, or will send us on a path to destruction. I urge my Christian brothers and sisters to realize that the decisions about who will be our next President will be all but etched in stone in just a few months - we cannot wait until November 2008 to vote. We must vote now through our prayers, our money, our actions … we must stand with Mike Huckabee - not only our brother in Christ, but a man who is a true conservative - a man with a proven record of leadership and getting things done while working with people from both sides of the political aisle.

Kerry

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House Guest

Meet Miya ("Me-yuh")

She will be staying with us for about 2 weeks. She is Alex's cat, who lives with Alex's parents, but they are going on vacation and she can't stay in Alex's building, so she is staying with us :o)

I think she likes our apartment so far...especially the diagonal beams that she can climb up. At night she sleeps on the floor at the foot of our bed underneath the comforter than hangs down. She is very affectionate and playful. It's fun!

everyone needs a pet

The Orchard

My most recent activity has been constructing my family tree...well, one half of it. For some reason, on my Dad's side of the family we have had some very motivated relatives to collect information over the years to make sure that is isn't lost in time. I think it's great! And now I have the time and the means to contribute to the effort.

After receiving an email from my Dad about a recent trip he took to Pennsylvania to visit some family I became motivated to take on the challenge of gathering and putting together all this information...and to seek out more of it! Below is a picture of what I've been working on. It's only a "glimpse" of the tree since you can't read any of it here, or even see all of it. But you can see where I am (circled in blue), and the red circles that you see are my Ancestors that came from Lithuania. So, from this picture you can see back to my Great-Great-Grandparents. Isn't that cool!?

I don't think I'll be able to go back further than this...because nobody knows anybody that is still in Lithuania...and nobody speaks Lithuanian anymore. BUT, we can go forward! :o) At least my kids will already have this info and they can keep passing it on.

I bet there are so many families whose trees go back further because they were in the US longer. Those would be cool to see. But this is mine, on my Dad's side, and my Mom's side would probably go back even less because I think it may have been my Great-Grandmother who came over from Italy.

Anyway, I'm still gathering information like middle names and dates and stuff like that. After this one I and hoping to add to David's side. I think it will end up being a Christmas family activity. We shall see!

Bikes, Bananas, Beef and Berries.

Our entry today begins a week ago. Last Saturday a large group of various people associated with Georgia Tech got together to spend time with a friend who was heading back to the US for good. The day's event was bike riding along the canal (Moselle River) and a picnic lunch. Shaya (pictured far left) was the guest of honor.

Little did anyone know, but this bike adventure would lead David and I to rent our bikes for the rest of the month! We really enjoyed spending the time outside and found it financially a good decision to rent the bikes for longer than just the afternoon. Although, after the weekend, the weather took a turn for the worst! For the majority of this past week it has been raining non stop! We were only able to take our bikes out one other time during the week, in the evening, to ride surrounded by lots of bugs! I think it may have been a good thing though because our bottoms were pretty sore anyway.

The bad weather did inspire me to cook a little though. Pictured below are my homemade Banana Muffins! Yum! Recipes you can find online are actually pretty good, I'd be lost without them...or starving!

Today was the first day that the weather was significantly better. With rain clouds lurking overhead David, Katherine, and I decided to venture out on our bikes again. The rain never came but we did have a pretty good ride.

We tried to follow a bike-path map that we got from the place where we rented our bikes but we ended up getting really off track and just rode around where we ended up instead. We saw some very neat 'country' french homes, gardens, and towns that lie on the borders of the city of Metz.

After our ride we had worked up quite an appetite! Lucky us, we had just purchased some Swedish meatballs and "fixins" from IKEA earlier this morning! They actually serve this at any IKEA cafeteria...if you've ever eaten there you'd sure to have seen something that looks similar to this: Although, they usually serve them with french fries or boiled potatoes...we went with mashed = far superior. :o) I guess this is how they would serve it in Sweden. They use a "gravy" sauce and a berry sauce...of the Ligonberry, a Swedish berry. It is very, very, very, yummy. And also very filling.

Tomorrow we will be hosting a new Master's student who begins his year and a half stay here in Metz. He will be the first new Master's student to arrive so hopefully we can make him feel welcome and at home here in Metz. Who knows, maybe after his masters he will end up married and back in Metz for three years! :o) ...you never know.

Girl's Night

A tradition is forming here in Metz among a few of us girls that are somehow associated with Georgia Tech Lorraine. Girl's Night. To date we have had two Girl's Nights. The first one involved pedicures and dinner, and the most recent was a waffle night and a movie. There are a few essential things for girls night:

#1 GIRLS.

#2 Someone other than the Girls to cook food.

(David has filled this roll twice already - THANKS DAVID!)

#3 Something yummy. This usually involves chocolate in some form or fashion.

It's nice, for girls who are around guys all the time, to be able to do something together like this.

Next, there will be a Girl's Night involving pizza, pedicures, and a pageant. The letter similarity is just a coincidence...

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Buying Harry Potter

Start with ice cream...

...then add friends...
...and make sure you have a watch for the countdown...

...find a participating bookstore...

...await 1:01 am...

...and Harry Potter can be yours!

Admire the cover...try to figure out parts of the story from it...

...then start reading, and don't stop until you are finished!

David and I really enjoyed the book. There were even a few times where David would be reading in the back half and I would be reading the front half, just so that we could read at the same time. It's a little sad that the stories are finished, but they were very good and remain to be read again and again. If you haven't read them, we highly recommend it. They are easy to read and full of adventure. Even if you find out how it ends there is still so much you're missing out on! Read read read!

A Bunch O' Stuff.

I've been a tad behind...so here is a bunch of stuff that has been happening lately.

The 14th of July is a big national holiday here in France. Non-French people call it Bastille Day, but the French just call it the 14th of July. They had a military parade going down the road right outside our apartment - here are some pictures from that.

They had tanks and guns and all kind of stuff that they use in the military. For us, seeing this helped us envision what it must have been like during war times when tanks would be going down the streets randomly. It was very interesting but also kinda scary when you think of it that way.

Next - we now have a vacuum cleaner! Isn't it beautiful? I've never been so happy about a vacuum cleaner.

The main reason for the purchase is cleaning that rug that you see in the picture. A broom can only do so much! It is truly a time saver when it comes to cleaning.

Then we had some visitors! Cori and Frank came to visit us from Germany. Cori is American and Frank is German (her boyfriend). Cori and I (and our families) have known each other for a really long time and now that we are both living in Europe we think it's pretty cool. They stayed for a couple days, it was fun.

And, I am pet sitting. For the Grandidiers! In 8 days they will be in Atlanta for their summer vacation. So, while they are gone I have volunteered to pet sit. It's been great. Although these birds aren't the same kind of "interactive" pet I've really been craving, it is really nice to have them around. They make very pleasant noises and are fun to watch when they take a bath...and they do it all the time.










I just hope it doesn't get too hot while they are here. They are used to the nice temperature inside the Grandidiers house because they have such high ceilings. But, with all the baths they take, they should be ok.


Here is a closer picture of the three of them. Two are the same colors, and the other one (the one in the front) is a little bigger and colored differently. Aren't they cute?



My pet sitting adventures will continue after these guys leave too!! Our friend Alex has a cat at her parents house, and when they go on vacation someone needs to watch it. Alex can't have it in her dorm room so she asked me. Before she could even finish asking I said yes :o)

I'm really excited about the cat :o)


On a less happy note, our neighbor cat, it moved. :o( No more random visits or watching her from the window. They moved out last week. Maybe the next people who move in will have something.


Chopsticks! Random, I know...but this blog is about a bunch o' stuff! Pictured here are four sets of chopsticks. Two from Japan and two from China. Can you tell which are which?

Ok, I'll tell you. The blue and green ones are from Japan (you may have recognized them from a previous "Joy." post) They can from our friend Eileen while she was in Japan (now she is at home planning her wedding!!) And the red ones are from China! They came in a fancy box. The box says "A handmade Chinese gift." Our friend Wui, another PhD student, gave them to us. He prefers using a fork and knife so gave us his extra chop sticks. I think we should start a collection now. Next we need some from Korea... anybody going to Korea soon?

Aside from that bunch o' stuff, David stayed home today to study for his Qualifying exams because he woke up with w really sore neck. We have no idea what he did to it to make it hurt, but it's been giving him some problems - maybe all the studying and note taking? Hopefully it will heal so that his studying isn't hindered. The end of October will be here before he knows it!

The last Harry Potter book comes out TOMORROW. The excitement is killing me. I hope we get a copy of the book in a decent amount of time. Nobody talk to me about it until you are sure I've finished reading it.

We will be going to a concert tonight with some of our friends from Church. We are pretty sure it is supposed to be a Christian French band, and it's really close to our apartment, so it should be lots of fun!

More later.

Tuesday and Wednesday

They are having a series of concerts in Metz over the course of the next few weeks. This past Tuesday was the second one so far and I think it was supposed to be the most the one with the most popular band. SuperBus took the stage and the crowd went wild. They are a French group (female vocalist and guys on all the instruments) Most of their songs all sounded the same...drums, bass, electric guitar, club-mix sound. It was interesting though because many of their songs included English words...some were entirely in English. The only problem was that some of the people in the audience really had no clue what was being said. We heard them trying to mimic the words and that made it clear that they didn't know what the words were. Some people knew enough English to figure it out, but others were just enjoying the beat.

One of the things I found most interesting was that the stage was set up right next to the Cathedral (as you can see in the picture). It's strange to me to see a huge cathedral with several hundred years of history right next to a concert stage and tons of people. I think that if this had been a situation in the US that they would have never let a concert take place right next to such a piece of history...maybe it's because there isn't as much history in the US in the first place...?

Wednesday morning we headed to Luxembourg to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. :o) Although probably one of the hardest Harry Potter books to make into a movie, I think they did a pretty good job. Enough said...you need to see it for yourself.

Wednesday evening we went to a PhD dinner hosted by the Asian PhD students: Zheshen and Wui. It was incredible. To see all of the pictures from it click on the More Swafford Pictures and Videos link.

This is a picture of the Chef, Zheshen (on the right). He began cooking at 4pm and made 3 appetizers, and 13 entrees! It was incredible. We ate things like, seaweed, mushrooms, squid, pork, beef, shrimp, cabbage, scallops, peas, chicken, tofu, potatoes, eggs, and rice of course, all in different Chinese dishes. Did I mention it was incredible?

Below is a picture of just six of the main dishes that he made. The ones I liked the best were the bottom right one (pork, tofu, and mushrooms with a yummy sauce), the top middle one (marinated mushrooms), and the bottom left (very spicy pork and cabbage). Very good very good. The only problem was that David and I forgot to bring our chop sticks! We went to dinner with Wui last Friday, to a Chinese restaurant and he gave us a lesson on the proper way to use chop sticks, so we wanted to practice some more... Oh well, we will just have to eat with them again. :o)

After the meal we had dessert, although it was not Chinese. I was volunteered to make it - chocolate chip cookies. They were pretty good, but I'm still trying to perfect my recipe. There were 80 cookies. Yummmmm.

All things new.

Today's story begins on Saturday morning...

David and I woke up to happy thoughts about heading to Belgium to go kayaking. On our way out the door we stop down in our cave to get an old t-shirt for David to wear that has previously been packed away with all our winter clothes. At our cave door David asks, "Susan, why did you leave the cave unlocked...and why did you throw our winter clothes all over the place?" "Huh?" I replied. After walking into the cave I noticed that our winter clothes were thrown all over the place...definitely not how I left them. I had packed them all away in some of our suit cases to store them for the summer and now they were out everywhere. This is the point where David and I realized that someone had gotten into our cave. They had pried to door open and gone through all of our stuff.

In our cave we have, out of season clothes, our 2-second tents, 4 pieces of luggage, a jar of apple sauce, a can of green beans, and lots of boxes. After repacking everything we have found that nothing was taken. It's strange - what were they looking for? Not clothes, not food, not shoes...something more valuable? Like an old TV maybe? So, the conclusion is that they wanted something different than what we have, or our stuff wasn't good enough...both are fine with me. We also looked around in the cave area a little more and discovered that another cave had been broken into, and a third had been attempted. We can't really tell if any one's stuff was taken though. We also saw the door that leads to the outside of the building to the street...it was open...broken open. So that is how they got in. We're going to tell the agency tomorrow morning and post a note in our building to inform everyone. I don't know how often people go down to their caves. BUT, if someone left the door from the caves to the main building open someone could get into our apartments and that is really scary. I won't be going into the cave by myself anymore!

We went to a new country...well, it was new to me, David had been there before. With some other students from GTL we car pooled through Luxembourg and up to Belgium. What we saw of it was very beautiful. The river that we went down had a lot along it to see as well. We saw this really cool castle on a hill (more pictures on my PicasaWeb site) and there was another really large rock that some people were climbing. Then we saw some cows. They were mooing like crazy. It sounded like they all had a stomach ache. There were also a few places where the water was a little rougher and that was fun too. We stopped a few times at various places. At one of them we got out, some people bought drinks, and I headed to a bathroom. Right next to the bathroom there was an ostrich. It was enormous and kind of out of place. It was a "camping" area with a random ostrich. At the same stop, when we were getting ready to leave David and I realized that our boat was missing... Eventually we found it about 30 feet from where we had tied it, and a paddle was missing. Some friends found our missing paddle a ways down the river...

We deep cleaned our apartment today. While doing so, we decided to do a little rearranging. It was fun and we really like the result. We just moved things around in our living room but it now feels much more spacious. A new arrangement of things is always refreshing.

What else is new? David has discovered that with PicasaWeb you can post locations with your pictures. So he has been sitting here placing each picture that he has on a map exactly where the pictures were taken. It is pretty cool, but I think he's obsessed.

I made blueberry muffins for breakfast this morning in one of those silicone bake ware things. It's the first time I've used one but it worked really well! Too bad we don't have anymore blueberry muffin mixes! I guess I'll have to look up some recipes and make them from scratch. Oh well.

Harry Potter this Wednesday! Hope you are as excited as we are!

Young At Heart

I am very excited to tell you about one of the common activities that we do when I baby sit the Barry children. They don’t watch any TV so that leaves them lots of room to be creative. Very often I will come into the house to start a night of babysitting and they will have pieces of paper and markers scattered all over the kitchen table while they diligently work on drawings. They don’t color in pictures that are already drawn for them, but they create their own…and very often they aren’t just creating a picture.

For example, below is a picture of something we created together. It was inspired by previous castles that they had been working on. From the pictures they had already drawn they began to cut out the drawings of the knights and bad guys and the weapons that the people had…these became game pieces. Then we took the pictures of the castles and made a road to connect them. It ended up being like a game board. There was even a princess to be rescued (thanks to me…it would have just been fighting for fighting’s sake if I hadn’t recommended the princess.) The castle ‘stage’ continued for a while…and they still love castles. Luckily they are living in France, so they can see a lot of real ones in person.

Most recently, at night, the older boys have been reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with their parents before bed (and when I baby sit I get to read to them instead). The book has got them into a chocolate factory mind-set, so everything they talk about can some how be incorporated into the Barry Chocolate Factory. I think I have enjoyed it a little too much. Last night we each designed a candy making machine that would make something really cool for the chocolate factory. Reid’s made chocolate balls…sports balls. A soccer ball with white and dark chocolate…a basketball with orange and dark chocolate, other more colorful balls…that, I suppose, was supposed to be used for some kind of sport. Neil’s also made balls – an original idea of course - but just colorful ones. But my machine…it made fruits. Well, not just fruits, but it made fruit seeds. And the seeds are meant to be planted so that the fruits can grow. But they don’t grow real fruits of course! That would be absurd for a chocolate factory! It makes fruit seeds that grow into fruits that are chocolate! Confused? Use your imagination! The “fruits” grow from the seeds, but they aren’t fruits at all…the are chocolate shaped fruits. The purpose is to trick parents into thinking that their children are really eating healthy, but instead they are really just eating chocolate :o) As you can see from the machine, the ingredients are added at the top, into the funnel. You will notice that there are cocoa beans as well as other ingredients that are necessary. Then, the machine does all the other work to create the magical seeds. If you pay attention to each bean’s path you should be able to figure out what kind of fruit seed is being produced. (there are also picture hints in the upper right-hand corner) Honestly, I think I had more fun than the boys did.

I think the moral of this story is that when you use your imagination things are way more fun…the best way to accomplish this is to not have a TV.

It is time that you meet the boys I baby sit for. Starting with the oldest, pictured with his Chocolate machine is Reid, he is 7 years old.

Then we have Neil, he is playing with Pokèmon cards…and don’t worry, he doesn’t always have the shirt on his head. Neil is 5 years old.

And last, there is Dean. Dean is almost 2 years old and this is one of the only pictures I have of him not sucking his thumb. I usually baby sit for him the most because his brothers are either in school or their mom wants to take the older boys out to do something without having to worry about the little one. I guess we shouldn’t tell him this or he might feel left out.

There is another little insight into my life here in Metz.

International Connections

David's Mom and Sister have been visiting us for the last week and a half. They have had the opportunity to meet the Grandidiers (see below) as well as travel to nearby places.
I have taken them to Strasbourg and Nancy, and today they are in Luxembourg on their own. This weekend we will be with the Grandiders again to travel to Germany.

David will begin studying for his qualifying exams next week and I will continue tutoring and babysitting. In the near future we will be going to Belgium to kayak, and Luxembourg to see the next Harry Potter movie. Other than that we will be waiting for our next visitors...Rocky and Maria?

Fête de la Musique

June 21 - Fête de la Musique - takes place all throughout France.

Here are some videos from all the different musicians we saw last night.

A little bit of life here in Metz.

A lot has been going on around Metz lately for multiple reasons... but I think it is mostly because the weather has been a lot nicer lately. Enjoy this video of some of the things we've seen lately.

if you can't see the video above, go here:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=jKUOtSnlBH4

Rocky à Metz!

We have finally hosted our second visitor! Rocky came to visit us here in Metz before going to a conference being held in Paris. Although Metz isn't a very exciting place Rocky came at a pretty exciting time. This was also a very good excuse for us to make the guest bedroom a more official guest bedroom. The blue futon is now in it's permanent home having been replaced by a dark grey one in our living room. It works very well because it fits perfectly in the space.

Before we get to the exciting part... We took Rocky down to the technopole and gave him the grand tour of Georgia Tech Lorraine. Then, while I was giving an English lesson, David and Rocky worked in the PhD room - David on his research, Rocky on his presentation for the conference. The weather was pretty warm while he was here (except for the time when there was a huge downpour of rain...at least he got to see what the weather is usually like in Metz).

Rocky also got to experience my cooking - helped a little too. Doesn't it look like he is having a lot of fun? :o)

Ok, so for the more exciting part. During his stay the TGV (fast train) to Metz finally started running...and this means celebrations. The city set up a huge stage right in front of the gare and both Friday and Saturday nights there were performers and entertainment of all sorts. We got to see an orchestra, electronic sliding trombone-like instruments, a video of how train travel has evolved, the French "American Idol" equivalent runner-up, and fireworks. Since he was leaving on Sunday (the first day of the TGV actually running) he was able to take it for his return trip to Paris. BUT the night before he left he took us out to dinner. We went to a restaurant that we've never been to before, but definitely will be returning to. We all had delicious 'french style' meals followed by dessert at Top Ice Cream...the best ice cream place in all of Metz.

We probably could have shared ONE of those desserts between the three of us, but we didn't realize that when we ordered :o) ...we usually only get cones.

That concludes our time with Rocky. It was nice having him come and bring a little feeling of home. Everyone is welcome!