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/

Thank You Joshua

I have to share someone else's words that echo my own opinion:

(I've edited some spelling errors and capitalization)

"now, this is revolutionary for me, because: 1. I am 21 years old (and its a rare thing for younger people to be interested in politics) and 2. I have never before, before this campaign, been so intrigued and enthusiastic about any other campaign or government matters.

I am becoming a pastor soon, and I work as a intern at my church. From the beginning as I shared about Huckabee, I've heard the leaders/pastors tell me that "he has no chance, but if he gets that far, he has my vote." ...now these are the people that preach to me behind the pulpit about the biblical stories, such as David and Goliath, and Shadrach Meshach and Abednego. These are the people that teach me about faith.

These are the people that tell me to believe in the inerrant word of the Bible. And they tell me about a young boy, going against the odds, and facing a giant. And how he overcomes the giant and ends up becoming king, but they don't think its possible
for a man of God to become President of the United States.

There are too many religious leaders out there, pastors, preachers, evangelists, whatever..that are preaching one thing to the choir on Sunday mornings and not practicing their true faith outside of the church walls. They are willing to vote for a man that has "more leadership capability", however has no stance in his faith, is pro-choice, and believes homosexuality as a normality. Does anyone else see something wrong with this picture?

But, as Huckabee is going against the odds..I'm beginning to see a change in these people. I'll ask this question, and I believe its a question worth thinking about. I know the Bible says that all political leaders are ultimately appointed by God to govern over us, and because of that, we are to respect them. But, God (somewhere where our choice and His sovereignty overlap) has given us the power to choose the leader in this democratic government.

We have the choices in front of us. We see where politicians stand on subjects and faith and other important matters. Would God rather us put in office someone who is more "fit for the job", or "proven a better leader", or a man who fears and reveres God and wants to do everything in his power to please the Creator of the universe, and lead this country as President of the United States? If we believe in God, we should also believe in the ability of God to take a Shepard, and transform him into one of the greatest leaders of history, David. If God never changes, why isn't it possible that Huckabee can be the president that the United States has been searching for, the one that makes us One Nation Under God, again?"

-Joshua Davies

(comment from MikeHuckabee.com)

While it's sad that some of our current leaders aren't realizing this, I'm glad that people from the younger generation of The United States are.

However the elections go, I hope that you will support our nation with prayer and by participating by casting your vote.

Continuing to Follow Huckabee.

Last night (this morning at 2am for us) David and I watched the live YouTube Republican debate. I'd like to share with you the Southern Political Report's survey results from the debate:

"The Florida survey conducted with the Florida Chamber of Commerce showed the following results:

• Huckabee: 44%
• Giulani: 18%
• Romney: 13%
• McCain: 10%
• Thompson: 5%
• Paul: 4%
• Hunter: 1%
• Tancredo: 1%
• Rest: undecided

The survey of 341 Republicans who stated they were undecided, intended to watch the debate and agreed to phone in their opinion immediately after the ending was weighted for age and gender. It has a margin of error of +/- 6%.

A survey of Iowa Republicans of over 1,035 Iowa Republicans taken in the last twenty minutes of the debate showed Huckabee the winner in that state as well. The numbers virtually mirrored Florida. They were:

• Huckabee: 32%
• Romney: 16%
• Giuliani: 12%
• McCain: 10%
• Thompson: 7%
• Paul: 6%
• Tancredo: 2%
• Hunter: 0%
• Rest: undecided

Interestingly, the Iowa poll did not survey only undecided voters. Yet, both a survey of undecided voters in Florida and a general survey in Iowa showed Huckabee the winner. In the media Spin Room, most of the major candidates were left with little if any media attention as virtually all print and broadcast media circled Governor Huckabee."

If you weren't able to watch the debate I highly recommend it. In the same way I highly recommend that you watch any of the debates because in each one Huckabee shows that he is a strong candidate and the best Republican candidate for the nomination of the Republican Party.

I hope and pray that if you are a Christian Republican your faith is strong enough to allow you to support Huckabee 100% even though many "Christian leaders" of today don't think he can "beat Hillary." Well, I don't know what God they serve, but my God is capable of beating Hillary and I believe he can use this man of God to do so.

Be involved! Vote in the primaries!!

Mike Huckabee is also endorsed by Chuck Norris.(see the video at the end)

Oh, one other thing that was pretty funny...

When addressing a question about trying to send someone to Mars (like we did with the moon) Huckabee recommended that Hillary be the one that gets to go. We need a President with a sense of humor!

HuckChuckFacts

MikeHuckabee.com

beginnings and ends

Today in Metz a strike is starting, and it's a pretty big one. All government employees are striking. From teachers, to postal workers, to train employees, no one is going to work, and no one is sure how long it will last. I don't really know all the details, but I hope it doesn't last too long. David and I need to take a train on December 11th to go home!!

In Swafford news... I've been talking to David more about wanting Duncan to come live over here with us, especially since pet sitting our friend's dog. Last night he came home and handed me a piece of paper that looked like this:

We wouldn't have a specific room to put him, but this was just David's way of saying "It's ok with me if Duncan comes over here." !! This is big news, and I'm very excited. I hope I can find the best way to get him over here.

Thursday is Thanksgiving! We will be going to dinner at GTL with about 150 other people (students, professors, and families). My first Thanksgiving in another country, David and my first thanksgiving as husband and wife, and my first thanksgiving without any of my other family. A lot of firsts this year...

And lastly, and David will make fun of me for this... Our last month-iversary is this Friday!! (not that we have been celerating monthiversasries) I told David this is a big deal because we will never have a monthiversary again! Once you reach the first year anniversaries are all that matter... SO, we'll "celebrate" this one. I think we're going to go ice skating :o)

a little more from Halloween

Singing Pumpkin Jack

Je suis retard.

(no, that doesn't' say "I am a retard." It says "I am late." ...in posting)

I suppose we have been pretty busy! Here is a quick recap of the last month:

I finished knitting my quilt!

I got my hair cut, by Jacques. Jacques is very French. He likes to throw your hair around, and he cuts every one's hair as if it were as easy as breathing. I went from having really long and straight hair to having much shorter (than I expected), very layered hair. I'm still getting used to how to style it properly. The picture makes it look pretty bad. It's not that bad.

(before and after)

Next we had "boyfriend Dan" come for a visit. This is the boyfriend of my cousin Anna. He is living in France for a year (like she did) as an English teaching assistant. He isn't very far from us, so he stopped by for the weekend during a week-long break. It was nice to finally meet him! Next time maybe we can see him and Anna together...if they ever get their schedules coordinated! :o)

While Dan was with us we had another overnight visitor. Maddie! Some of our friends went on vacation and I got to pet sit. For the entire week! It was nice having Maddie around. It made me want to have Duncan over here more and helped me to see what it would be like if he were here. Maybe...

We also celebrated Halloween! Here are 4 pictures of our first pumpkin, Jack. From design to slightly rotting (notice his "black eye"). We thought he was nice and scary. The only sad thing is, when we put him outside i the trash one night we saw pieces of him the next morning in the street...I don't think he made it to the dump. :o( Poor guy.

One of the most eventful and anticipated events of the YEAR has also happened. David has finished taking his PhD qualifying exams. After 4 months of studying, 3 written exams, and 3 oral exams, he is finished! What's next? Waiting for the results. Hopefully he passed all of them, but if he didn't he has one more chance (again in March). FYI - he could pass 1 and retake 2, or pass 2 and retake 1, or pass none and retake all of them, OR pass all of them and be finished! This is just something that is required to obtain a PhD... and for mechanical engineers at Georgia Tech it isn't easy (thus the 4 months of studying).

And...we got a TV. Our thanks goes out to one of my english students and his family for donating it. They got two really nice new flat screen TVs and were just going to put this one in the trash, but they offered it to me and I took it off their hands. Not we have access to hundreds of channels with our digital TV service that we have finally activated. We can watch everything from CNN International to the Al Jazeera channel. It's amazing how many international stations we have.

Lastly, we purchased tickets to go home for Christmas last night! We will get to stay in GA for almost an entire month. We are very excited. We will be home on December 11th. Hope to see everyone!

"à tricoter ou pas à tricoter"

"To knit or not to knit."

Because we had such a cool almost no-existent summer, I've decided that I will need a blanket/quilt this winter for around the apartment. So, I'm putting my very limited knitting skills to work. First I bought some yarn and made a pattern:

Then I made a bunch of squares. I started with the big one in the middle and have been working from there. Then, my friend Alex, signed us up for a knitting class (and most of the people there were pretty young...so nobody make fun of me!). At the class the instructor showed me how to knit the squares together properly. So when I got home, I decided to try it! I bought a crochet needle to help me make the seams (essential!).
You have to make the stitches really tight so that the squares aren't too loosely connected. So, you stitch the underside of the quilt like this...and then the top of it ends up looking like this:

It doesn't look too bad. And it feels so warm! So this is what I have so far. You can see the big square (from the design I drew) in the upper left hand corner. I'm currently working on the pieces that surround it so I can add them next and it looks more symmetrical. But it is nice just having this because while I knit I set it on my lap and it keeps me warm already!

This is a close up view of the seam from the underside of the quilt.

Hopefully I'll finish before it get too cold for my hands to keep knitting! (our apartment gets pretty freezing in the winter)

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.