Oh, the places you'll go...

the past 10 days.

2012-02-08T16:25:00.000+01:00

I've been gone for the past 10 days for various conferences -- 2 days in Paris for meetings and then a week in southern Spain with people from all over Europe who are also working with Agape. It was a great and refreshing week, and a much needed break after a BUSY past 6 months. Our conference ended on a Friday, but I decided to stay the week-end in Granada to visit Sophie and Sam and Bekah.

I met Bekah when I first came to France in 2006 and hadn't seen her since 2008, so it was GREAT to catch up again. And now she and Sam are expecting their first baby!!!!

Anybody recognize the yellow arrows? :)

They have dunkin' donuts in Granada!! GOOD coffee!

Seeing Sophie was awesome! I miss her in Rennes!!

It was so cool to see around her study abroad city and to see what her life is like there.

She lives in the center of town, right by a place that caravan's of camels would come to and stop for a drink at the well. Or something like that. :)

This is the view from her kitchen window. Hmmm, GORGEOUS. The Sierra Nevada mountains.

Awesome streets. Different from the cobblestone ones in Rennes.

She had exams the Monday after I left, so while she studied and sipped her coffee at Dunkin' Coffee, I read The House on Mango Street and took her picture. Great book!

It was great to get back to Rennes, and it's been a great week so far. Looking forward to a busy week-end!

my church and sock puppets

2012-01-22T19:29:00.000+01:00

Some of you have asked about what my church is like here. I took a few pictures back in December when we had a Christmas program with the kiddos.

We're in the process of building a new church (which should be ready by September 2012!!) and so for now, we meet at a "maison de quartier" which is a kind of community center that different groups can rent.

For you Emmas people, it reminds me a lot of when we met at Berean for church -- setting up and taking down chairs every Sunday, not having permanent rooms for Sunday School, etc. But for now, this is what works -- and it's not so bad, but it'll be really nice to get a brand new building of our own soon!

I love this church! It takes me about 30 minutes to get there -- walking, then metro, then walking. There are about 75 people that attend, and people from all over the world! Pretty cool.

My friend Simon and I lead the junior high kids. We meet once a month during the service, and it's definately a highlight for me. We started doing this last year -- we had 5 junior highers. This year there are 10 of them and it's a little harder to keep them in line. :)

For the children's program, our group was in charge of the puppets (you can see the white sheet in the above picture with the puppets sticking out).

Simon and I had to make 5 different sock puppets for the junior highers to operate. They turned out SO funny! They LOVED them and wanted to keep them. I thought they were hilarious and some of them looked like Jar Jar Binks. What with the wide set eyes and red tongues hanging out. :)

I'm really proud of these kids though -- we decided a year ago, as a group, that we wanted to sponsor a little boy in South America through Compassion International. So every month, they bring their money for Jon. It's cool to do something like that as a group. He even writes us letters in SPANISH that I get to translate and read out loud!

It was so fun to be able to show my family what my church was like at Christmas. Since Christmas fell on a Sunday it was perfect!

Have a great start to your week! I have an exciting week coming up, including going to three different cities and one other country! More info later!! What a cliffhanger! :)

another Mom story

2012-01-21T09:32:00.000+01:00

I was downloading some pictures from my camera today, and found this one that I had completely forgotten about! I love it!! :) It was the night we all went out for crepes. My Mom asked Ando if he could come and take a picture of all of the Dorsch women getting ready in my little bathroom! Thanks for the pic brother!

It seems like a LONG time ago that my family was here! Man oh man am I thankful for skype!

There are some exciting new things around my apartment!! I got a new piece of carpet / rug for my living room and it's soooooo nice! It's really soft and warm, and much bigger than my other one, so it ties the room together more.

There are also a few less things around my apartment... if you check out my Mom's blog, you'll see on the second picture in her latest post, that she has two beautifully framed pieces of art above the couch. Those once resided in MY living room. True story. My parents' last day in Rennes was a very memorable day. For us all!

It all started with the glorious discovery that even after everything was packed in their suitcases, they still had extra room and space. Now, any person who has traveled overseas knows that extra space and weight is very VALUABLE and must be filled. So My Mom decided to take a little jog around my house and see what she could find that would be useful to take back to Africa. She literally said those words. She is so funny! Oatmeal, coconut, toilet paper... Toilet paper is GREAT for packing! Anyway, so she's walking through my living room when her eyes landed on two framed African pictures on my wall.

Mom: "Oh Melissa, those would look so pretty on my walls! I really don't have anything on my walls and I need some art!"
Mel: But you GAVE me those prints as a gift a couple years ago!
Mom: Well, they were really just a loan. I originally bought them for me and then you liked them and so I thought I'd let you take them back to France for a while. Until I needed them.
Mel: What!?!? You gave me a gift on loan?? Alright fine...

I mean, what else can you say to that!? :) In all seriousness, I was very happy to give them to her. It gives me an excuse to make some other art for my walls. Hello pinterest!

Lest you get the impression that they were solely taking things while they were here -- it was quite the opposite. They were SO generous to me! For example, every time the coffee was running low, miraculously the next morning, there'd be a new package of it on the counter! That's speaking my love language!!

Another exciting and new thing around here is that I have two plants in bloom!! Crazy for January, right?

Excuse the low-quality photograph... I'll blame the lighting!

They are still very small, but what promises of beautiful things to come! AND in January! It will definitely help cheer up the gray, dreary and rainy January weather.

It's overcast most days, all day long. How I miss seeing the sun!

the shoplifting story

2012-01-14T13:27:00.000+01:00

My mom is awesome. I've said it before. But it's so true. She is so much fun to be around and keeps us all laughing and entertained. Christmas break was no different. While there are many stories I could share about "Mom's adventures in Rennes", there is one that really takes the cake.

It all started mid-afternoon on the 31st of December. Last day of the year. Andrew, Lindsay, Erika and I had been given the task of going down to the little store to buy some snacks and drinks for our family New Year's Party. While the 4 of us were going to the little store by my house, Mom and Dad were going to another, much bigger grocery store to look at some stuff to take back to Africa. The plan was to meet back at my apartment; however, Mom and Dad finished early and so came to the store to meet us.

Allow me to insert that the little store that I and my siblings went to, is the store I most frequent, and typically buy all of my groceries at. I recognize the cashiers, know where to find everything in the store, etc. Just because it's where I always go.

So, the 4 of us kids were finishing up when we saw our parents arrive. My Dad sat down to wait for us on a little bench just beyond the checkout counter, while Mom came in to talk to us. As she walked up to me, I noticed that the pockets of her fleece were zipped closed, but bulging.

"Mom, do you have stuff in your pockets?" I asked.
"Yes. I just bought a packet of cornmeal and since we forgot to take along a bag, I just put it in my pocket!" was her reply.
"Mom! You can't come into a grocery store, with food you've purchased at another grocery store, just zipped in your fleece pocket!"
"Oh, no one will notice it!" she assured me.

So we finished our shopping, checked out and then went to show Dad what we'd purchased for a rockin' New Year's party! :)

And this is where it starts getting good. So we're past the check out counter, but still in the store, and we started showing Dad all that we had purchased. That's when Mom unzips her fleece pocket, and puts the cornmeal package into the bag of already purchased stuff.

As an outsider, it really looks like shoplifting. I mean, here is this lady that obviously has something zipped in her pocket and as soon as she's past the checkout point, she unzips her pocket and puts the contents into the "paid-for-stuff-bag"!

We really didn't think anything of it, or really notice that she'd put her cornmeal in our bag, for that matter.

We started walking home, chit chatting about our plans for the evening, how we were going to keep Dad awake until midnight... when all of a sudden we hear someone yelling behind us "madame!!! stop stop!!! madame!!!!! heeyyyy stop!!!!" Turning around, we see the tall security guard, coat tails literally flapping behind him, running across the bridge and waving us down. "What could he possibly want!?" I thought.

He runs up to us and yells at Andrew to give him the bag so he can look inside. Immediately he pulls out the cornmeal and asks where my Mom got it. Oops. He was NOT happy. While Dad was getting out his receipt from the other grocery store that showed proof of purchase, and the time, and the date, I tried to explain what had happened to the guy. He didn't really care, and was not looking for an explanation. After seeing the receipt, and reluctantly admitting that we had indeed purchased the cornmeal, and not stolen it, he lectured us all about not walking into a store with items purchased elsewhere. He repeated it until he was convinced we understood.

Oh man. What an incident!! :) I will never forget the sight of this tall African security guard running and yelling at us from down the street! The tall security guard that I often see when I go to the grocery store... haha.

But oh how we teased our mama about being a shoplifter!!! :)

And then this week, I was checking out at the same grocery store, and lo and behold who should appear but the same security guy. So I smiled as innocently, kindly and non-creepily as I could, and watched his eyes as they moved down and scrutinized my bags. Haha. I guesss he hasn't quite forgotten!

downtown Rennes with the pretty lights

2012-01-04T13:33:00.000+01:00

The first night my family was here, we walked downtown to see the Christmas market and lights.

It was also the opportunity for everyone to try the traditional "galette saucisse". Andrew and Dad especially loved it.

Us girls were more fans of the nutella crepes...YUM YUM YUM.

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire...

Hats, hats and more hats for sale

It's not a very big Christmas market compared to other cities in France, but I still find it pretty cute!

We walked by a macaroon and chocolate shop and while most of us browsed from the window, Dad walked right on in! :)

Everything you see in the window is made out of chocolate!

The pretty streets of Rennes

It was SO surreal having everyone here at the same time! It was a WONDERFUL feeling!

Mom snapped this picture of Dad and his 3 daughters walking home that night. A bit blurry... but what special memories!

such a special moment

2011-12-29T21:51:00.002+01:00

Lindsay and Erika had arrived 4 days earlier and the three of us were now waiting for Andrew and our parents to arrive. We were EXCITED!

We got to the train station 10 minutes before their train was supposed to arrive. The longest 10 minutes ever!

Finally, their train was on approach!

Just a few minutes later, we saw our mama!!!

What a JOYFUL reunion!!!

What a sight to see ALL of my family walking up to catch the bus!

A few pics from the metro that crack me up.

Aren't they just the cutest?

We're kind of all 6 in this picture. I like it. :)

We've had so many fun times and the adventures just keep happening! Today we went to a really really cute medieval town that may be one of my new favorite cities in all of France. I'll have to post pictures later!

the game

2011-12-22T11:45:00.000+01:00

My sister Lindsay is regularly updating her blog about our adventures here in Rennes -- a highly entertaining portrayal of what we're doing. Linds has a way with words that is truly entertaining. :)

So I'm sure she'll be blogging about the soccer game last night, but this is my favorite picture of the night.

Rennes didn't play their best, but we won 1-0! I got the goal on video, as well as our screaming reactions!

2 things to note -- I had a problem with the zoom (lots of up close shots of faces!) AND I was trying to get an excited reaction out of Joel... which eventually came! :)

You can see the video here.

I'm having a LOT of fun with my sisters. Introducing them to friends, taking them to my favorite coffee shops, and laughing a lot. :) Aren't they so beautiful?

We're SOOOOOO excited to welcome the rest of the Dorsches in a few days! Mom, are you getting excited?? :)

I have 2 new roomates!

2011-12-20T23:16:00.000+01:00

The girls are here! After a looooong and stressful trip, they made it and I'm so so very happy. It was quite something to skype with our parents all from the same room! That was a first!

This morning when I got up, I had a facebook message from my brother saying "the girls are probably going to miss their train as they left the twin cities with an hour and a half delay". Oh man. They were supposed to land in Paris at 8, and then quickly get to the train station (in the airport) and get on their train to Rennes by 9h48. It might seem long, but waiting for your checked bags, going through French customs... it takes a long time. So already it was going to be a short window for them to get on the train but then their plane was delayed! I logged onto the Air France website and was watching every update as their plane approached Paris, hoping it would somehow go faster. Their new scheduled time was now 8h52 -- not even an HOUR before the train departure!

I skyped with my parents and they too were skeptical, and wondered what would happen. "Let's pray and wait and see" was their response. And we did. A lot! "What would they do!?!" I thought! It would be so expensive to get a new train ticket, it's Christmastime and there are less places available...and then they'd have to buy calling cards to call me (their cell phones don't work here). It just wouldn't be good.

But I didn't want to think about all of the "what if's" and so I just kept planning on being at the Rennes train station at the designated time, and hoped they'd be on the train.

On my way to the station, I had such mixed emotions! I was SO excited to see them, but what if they weren't there? I didn't want to get my hopes up.

As their train pulled up, my heart started beating faster as I quickly located "car 15" (these are long trains!); the car they were supposedly on. As the train came to a stop, people started piling out and I frantically tried to see the girls. And then I saw them -- not the girls, but 2 hard case Samsonite suitcases. The ones that every member of my family has. They are the greatest traveling-the-world suitcases! I immediately recognized them and KNEW the girls were there! What a sense of relief and joy that flooded my soul!

I was SO happy to see them! Then all the questions came, "I didn't think you'd be on the train!!" I said, "well, neither did we" answered Lindsay.

Apparently they ran ran ran to make it on in time, and actually hopped in 3 cars away from the one they were supposed to sit in. So they had to make their way through the aisles, with all their baggage. Erika said she ran over someone's toes.

When I asked them what they would've done had they not made their train, Lindsay very confidently and excitedly said, "we would've visited Paris for the day!!" :)

What a joy to have them in my home! Erika has even done the dishes already! Woohoo! Lindsay and I enjoyed a wonderful cup of coffee together, and it seems surreal that we are actually in each other's presence. What a blessing and a gift.

We went to the outdoor fruit and vegetable market to stock up for the week (sounds yummy huh Ando??) and snapped a quick picture on our way home. Not the best picture we've ever taken but... we're together!

Tomorrow we're going downtown, having coffee, walking around... the girls will probably take a nap (jet lag!) and then a RENNES SOCCER GAME!!!!!!!

the story of my intercom

2011-12-16T23:20:00.000+01:00

About 2 months ago, my intercom stopped working. Just like that. It buzzed when people pushed the "Dorsch" button, but then nothing happened. I couldn't hear them, I couldn't talk to them, and most importantly, I couldn't buzz them in.

So I would holler over the railing "helllloooooooo???" and then tell them to catch my keys so they could let themselves in. I live on the 3rd floor, so sometimes catching the keys was painful. Oops. :) It was border-line effective and a truly annoying system.

But it wasn't this way for 2 months because of any fault of my own! It was a long, complicated process.

1. I asked Dan (Jack of all trades, team leader of mine) to look at it. He couldn't see what the problem was, and said I needed to talk to my agency.

2. I called my apartment agency who told me that problems with the intercom had to be dealt directly with the company who was in charge of the WHOLE apartment complex. You see, my apartment complex has both renters and owners living in the apartments and so my agency doesn't deal with problems related to the whole building. So I was told to call the company that deals with the intercom, elevator, and other "general use" stuff.

3. I called this company. They said that they couldn't do anything until my apartment agency faxed them a paper, explaining in detail what the problem was, and then they would call me back and let me know where to go from there.

4. I talked to my agency AGAIN and asked them to kindly fax a paper to Delphine, explaining the problem.

5. They did, and then I just had to wait. And wait. And wait.

6. 3 weeks later (it took several months between steps 2-4 because things just take a long time here) I got a call on my cell phone from an unknown number saying "can I come over tomorrow to look at your inter-phone?"

That was yesterday. So he came today, and it was highly entertaining.

Several times since I've lived here, various technicians or workers have come here to do work on my apartment, and I still NEVER know if I'm supposed to stay and watch them work, in case they need anything, or if I should go and do other stuff and let them call me when they need me.

Today, I decided to hover. :) It must've been quite irritating to the guy because after a few minutes he said, "can you go downstairs and ring the intercom to see if it works?" Hahaha. It was like 2 minutes after he got there and he'd had only enough time to dismantle the phone!

But I obediently went downstairs and stood out in the cold pushing "Dorsch" over and over again, without any response from him. Finally he came down to the door, and said "you can come back up now." How kind.

When I got back up to the apartment, I figured I shouldn't just hover around him any longer, so I went to another room.

After a few minutes he called out and said he was going downstairs to test it.

I took the opportunity to take 2 pictures.

Trying a few different intercoms ones, to see if the problem was in the wiring of the phone.

Once he realized that the problem was with the main "buzzer system" downstairs, I was instructed to stand by the phone and answer it when he buzzed, so he could see what the problem was.

So for the next 25 minutes, I stood by my inter-phone, answering "alo? alo?". When he finally got something to work, he'd say "do you hear me now?" and I'd answer "yes" and he'd say "how about now?" "and now?" and we did that for FOREVER.

I don't know what the deal was, but it FINALLY started working every time he buzzed, and not just every 3 times.

The last time he called, he goes, "ok. it's fixed. have a nice day." And just like that, he was gone. I didn't sign anything, I didn't get to say thank you...nothing! I don't even know what the real problem was!

But I'm thankful that it's now working!

And as for what's missing from the fountain...

Apparently the head has been removed for some needed fountain repairs. :)

something's missing...

2011-12-15T22:26:00.000+01:00

Halle and I were walking around downtown tonight (yes, in the rain... it's been raining non-stop all day) and we came to this fountain...

Anyone know what's odd about this fountain? :)

a bit of Christmas cheer

2011-12-14T08:25:00.000+01:00

Guess who I saw last week when I was downtown? Can you see him?

Yup, it's Santa! He was wandering all over the streets of Rennes, looking for children to say hello to.

It was very interesting. I have yet to see a "Santa Workshop" set up somewhere, where people go and take pictures of their kids sitting in Santa's lap. I guess maybe here, he just wanders around... bringing Christmas cheer wherever he goes.

I mean, I was excited to see him! :) Can you tell how lovely the weather was that day? Gray, rainy, cold. That's what the weather is like here during winter. So seeing something bright and red definitely stands out and makes you smile!

There is a new little tea shop in the shopping area where I do my grocery shopping. (Could I say "shop" one more time in the same sentence!?!) It's kind of like an indoor mall with lots of little stores and then a really big grocery store. I don't go there a ton, but when I need to stock up on big items (like 12 liters of milk!) that's where I go.

The other day, Kat and I went there to buy decorations for our Christmas party, and we had a little bit of extra time, so decided to try the new tea shop. I got coffee of course.

Aren't the cups cool? It stayed really hot!

This is a brand new section of the "mall" and I almost thought I was in America. See the hugely lit Christmas tree? It's soooo big! And then if you look up and to the right, it's a new fitness center with tons of workout machines and people who are working out RIGHT by the window! It reminded me of the rec center at Kstate.

In the end, we concluded that it wasn't our FAVORITE place to get tea and coffee, but always nice to try a new place.

Speaking of favorite places to get tea and coffee -- a week from now, I'll be able to take my sisters to my favorite place! OH MAN!!!! :)

family traditions continue!

2011-12-12T16:12:00.000+01:00

Sophie is doing a study abroad year in Granada, Spain this year. It's been really really sad having her gone from Rennes, but I'm really happy that she is having a blast and getting to experience so much fun stuff. And she teaches me cool gangsta Spanish!

She was just home for 10 days (before having 2 more weeks in Spain, and then coming home for Christmas break) and so we got to decorate for Christmas!

For the past several years, she's come over to help put up the tree and one of the nativity sets, and last year Sam (her fiance) came over to put the star on the tree. Thus start traditions...

Sam was in charge of taking pictures. This kid cracks me up. He takes TONS of pictures of everything and nothing, just so I can have a few surprises when I look through my camera later on. Praise God for the digital age, is all I have to say about that!

But there are always a few that crack me up. This one for example. Hahaha. It's a picture that I have framed and he took a picture of the picture. I don't know what Molly's thoughts are towards this picture, but it makes me smile so big all the time. I love it! The flowers in the head, my scarf on her head, hugging the world in our little apartment on Laramie street.

Sophie always sets up the manger scene. :) The shelf needs a little help with some extra decorations, but I haven't decided what yet. Ideas?

Anne, don't you want to say "awwww" for this picture?? :)

Little side note -- when Anne came to visit me (a year ago), she, Sophie and I went to the little town where Sam grew up (there are really cool medieval castle ruins there) and we walked all around the city. Sam and Sophie weren't dating YET but pretty close! They were cuuuuuute.

Sam put the star up!

After we finished putting up the tree, we celebrated by watching the latest Psych episode. Love that show.

The whole time I was decorating, I kept thinking about how MY FAMILY is going to be seeing these decorations in person this year and not just through skype and blog pictures! And there are only two stockings hung up -- mine and Sophie's, of course! :)

A week from tomorrow Lindsay and Erika will be here! Wahooo!

november / december craft

2011-12-11T21:54:00.000+01:00

Gabrielle, Mallory and Julie -- 3 little staff girls came over for an afternoon of crafts a couple weeks ago. We actually did it in 2 parts, since we didn't have time to finish our projects on the first day.

I was inspired by pinterest for the yarn wreaths, and Meg for the the hand print snowmen balls. I love how these projects turned out! The girls did a great job!

Mallory brought over Santa hats for us to wear :) So cute!

For part 2, Gabrielle couldn't come, but Julie's little sister Anna (and their mom!) joined us.

After we finished the Christmas ornaments, we did a Christmas tree painting with the two littlest girls.

Isn't she just adorable? :) Her Christmas tree turned out so well!

She calls me "may-ssa" -- it's so sweet!

Definitely love doing crafts with these girls once a month! The time always goes by so quickly! But it's so fun to do creative projects like this with them!

the head picture thing

2011-12-09T08:42:00.001+01:00

You know those paintings or signs that have pictures on them with holes for the heads? And you can go and take your picture in it?

Well, Tara had the genius idea to make one of those for our Christmas party last night. She was the brains behind the operation, and I helped her paint it. It was a lot of fun, and I think it was a big hit with the students as well.

In the end, it gave this...

I thought it was great! People had a lot of fun taking pictures in it. I'll put some more up later.

Lisa and I! :)

the letter

2011-11-30T08:08:00.000+01:00

Once a week I give an hour-long English lesson to a 9 year old French girl. I've talked about her before, and shared some of her stories.

Several weeks ago, I asked her to write a letter (in English, of course!) using the new "fall" vocab we had been learning. I told her that she was writing to a person named Molly, who was someone that was very special to me and a good friend of mine. She thought the letter writing idea was a great idea, but didn't seem to care much as I launched into how Molly had the cutest little boy named Noah and how when we were in college we did all kinds of crazy/fun things and how I am so sad not to be able to see her every day.

But she worked hard on it! For almost 45 minutes! And then when it was time to write it up nicely, she wanted to make it extra pretty with fall colors.

When I first read it, and got to the "do you like Melissa?" question, I was greatly perplexed. What did this question have to do with fall?! It was like she was trying to sneakily include one of her personal wonderings without my knowing. But wait -- why was she doubting that someone I had described as "a special friend friend of mine" liked me?? So I asked.

Me: Roxane!?! Why did you ask her if she liked me?? I'M HER FRIEND!

R: well, you said she was your friend in college, does she still like you?

Me: OF COURSE SHE STILL LIKES ME!

R: well sometimes you stop liking your friends

Me: whaa---???

At this point I didn't know whether to laugh because the conversation we were having was so funny, or whether to get angry at the apparent need of proving Molly's undivided love and friendship to me after all these years. So I resolutely stated, "Roxane. My friend Molly and I met in college and became good friends and we're STILL GOOD FRIENDS today even though I don't see her but once every two years."

She just looked at me blankly and then said, "ok." As if to say, "yeah right, I'll leave my question in the letter and see what Molly answers back."

Seeing the skeptical look on her face, I tried to further convince her, "and besides, even IF Molly didn't like me anymore, do you think she'd tell you in a letter that I am going to receive and that I am going to read first???"

She obviously thought so. Oh dear. I was greatly entertained.

So Flat, written affirmation that you STILL like me is needed here in Rennes!! :)

oh so thankful

2011-11-29T21:05:00.000+01:00

I celebrated Thanksgiving 2 times this past week! Once with 85 students and once with just my staff team (about 30 with all the kiddos included!) Both were great!

We made a little video of these pilgrims and Indians lost in Rennes. You can check it out here

It was pretty comical watching people's reactions to these strangely dressed people!

Briag (bottom left) was HYSTERICAL. I was laughing sooooo much while Tara and I were filming.

We cut out hundreds of leaves and feathers for the student Thanksgiving. Team work is a beautiful thing!

And then everyone got to make an Indian hat!

And after the party, my kitchen looked like this:

I would like to point out several things about this picture:
1. The dishes are clean, not dirty.
2. There are a lot of dishes.
3. Those two pieces of paper that are crookedly hanging up are Spanish verbs that I'm learning.
4. Fer, tu peux voir la photo que tu m'as donné? C'est posé sur la lumière! Je le vois tous le temps et je kiffe!!
5. The coffee cup that is on the drying rack is THE coffee cup I use every single morning. It's the biggest one I have. :)

Sunday we had our staff Thanksgiving. Great food and so fun to all be together and with the little (and big!) kids.

The food was really really good. This is Dan's plate. :)

BFF's Nathan and Joel showin' some luuuv. Ooooooh it's Joel's birthday today! Happy Birthday, Joel!

I have so much to be thankful for.

This was Thanksgiving number 4 spent in Rennes, and it was so nice being here. I felt very much at home.

my "not so little" little brother

2011-11-26T12:51:00.001+01:00

Yesterday (November 25th) was my brother Andrew's birthday. I didn't get around to posting something on his actual birthday, BUT... better late than never, thought I. Especially when I found this picture on my computer from when we lived in Bangui (central africa):

Our Dad built us this sandbox!

And yesterday he turned 25!! I know I'm biased and all, seeing as he's my brother, but he's really an exceptional guy. He grew up with 3 sisters... couldn't have been easy (though they are ANGELS and nothing but delights to be around -- hehe).

He loves football -- Green Bay is his team. He knows every player on every team and every coach and every old coach and millions of details about every player. Sometimes, just for fun I try to ask him a "tough" question about some random football fact I heard somewhere and usually his response is "sigh...I knooooow, Melissa", but then he quickly adds "good job, ita. now let's see if you know this..." and then he asks me a lot of questions that I know zero answers too. It's a fun game.

A few days ago, I was skyping with him and our sister Erika and we played a "who knows how much football trivia" between Erika and I. Andrew was asking the questions. I think Erika won. And I think Andrew was discouraged by how little we knew. :)

He's a patient guy. He loves people. He's a history buff. He's much looking forward to visiting the Normandy beaches with our fam at Christmas.

This is one of my all time favorite pictures of him and my Dad. It's framed in my living room. They had both put their feet in the FREEZING cold stream in Montana on family vacation and Ando is lending Dad a hand.

Cute skype picture with our mama!

I'm so blessed by him. Happy (day late) birthday Ando! Loveyoulaaaater!

It's tomorrow!!!

2011-11-23T09:39:00.000+01:00

Thanksgiving is tomorrow! Over 60 students (so far!) have signed up to come enjoy a traditional American Thanksgiving meal! Which means... cooking cooking cooking! I need to go buy some pumpkins to make pumpkin pies!

But before I head off to the store, I wanted to ask you -- are there some people that seem out of place in these pictures?

A little foretaste of what's to come in the following days...

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

quite an honor

2011-11-19T11:54:00.000+01:00

Lazare is the national director of Campus pour Christ in Ouagadougou. We've known him and his wife for a long time and they're really great people. When I was last in Ouaga -- about 6 years ago, they only had one little boy named Samson.

He had grown up SO much when I saw him in October!

They've since had another little boy, and Sarah (Lazare's wife) was pregnant with their third child when our team came in October.

I had no idea they were expecting again, and also had no idea that her due date was at the same time as our trip! I got really excited at the thought of a new baby being born at the same time that we were there -- how cool!

So one day I was talking with Lazare and telling him how much I hoped it was going to be a girl, since they already had 2 boys. He said, "well, if our baby is born while you're here, and if it's a girl, we're naming her Melissa!" Haha. I thought it was pretty cool, but also was pretty sure he was joking... I mean, he wasn't being serious, was he? Melissa is not a very African name and well... I really thought he was joking around with me.

And then one morning, toward the end of our trip, I got a call on my cell phone:

Lazare: Bonjour, Melissa. How are you doing?

Melissa: Great! How are things with you and your family? How is Sarah feeling?

Lazare: She's tired. She just had a baby.

Melissa: REALLY!?!?!? OH MY GOODNESS CONGRATULATIONS!! What did she have???

Lazare: It's a girl! Her name is Melissa.

Melissa: **insert silence and gasps of excitement / disbelief. Really!?! Is this true?

Lazare: Of course it's true! I told you that if she was a she and born while you were here, we'd name her Melissa!

Snif snif. How cool!!!

So without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to present little Melissa:

Isn't she precious!?!

I'm so proud! It's quite an honor.

USA vs. France

2011-11-12T15:43:00.000+01:00

Did you know that last night was a friendly soccer game of US vs. France? Well, for the occasion, the guys who live not too far from me decided to invite some people over to have dinner and watch the game. It was all French and one American; me. You can imagine the trash talk! But, I stood my ground and cheered, especially for Carlos (the captain of the team with whom I conversed once upon a time in the Rennes train station). Jeremie also cheered for the US, out of the kindness of his heart. So thus the night went: 8 French fans and 2 American fans.

A couple days ago, they asked me to bring a dessert. But not the dessert of my choice, it had to be brownies. I have this homemade brownie recipe that is really really yummy and these guys love them and ask for them regularly. Thanks Laurie for your awesome recipe -- it's very popular! :)

As I was getting ready to make the brownies, the creative and patriotic juices started flowing and I decided that I wanted to make the brownies look like a soccer ball and for them to be pro-USA. And I had just the things for it! I had all these little American toothpick flags that someone gave me a long time ago and that I've never known what to use them for. How perfect, thought I!

I got giddy with excitment at the thought of showing up at the guys' place with their favorite brownies, but also covered in American flags! Woohoo!

And then the hard part. How to make a pan of brownies look like a soccer ball. Thankfully, Stephanie (who is my new 1-month roomate) was here to help me figure it all out. After much thought, drawing, cutting, thinking, and powdered sugar, we managed to get something that KIND of resembled a soccer ball. :) It was harder than I thought! Or I'm just not very talented! Ha.

The solid white shapes are what are supposed to black / brown on the ball.

We pinned down the corners with our aforementioned toothpicks

It KIND of looks like a soccer ball, right? :)

So I took it to the guys house, who straight away asked, "do you really think I'm going to eat that, with those flags like that!!?" Mouahaha.

So I set the pan of brownies in the kitchen and went into the living room to chat with some of the girls. A few minutes later, Sam came in and goes, "hey Melissa, I heard you brought brownies!" And I said, "oh, you haven't seen them yet?? Come and see, Sam, you'll looooooove them! They're decorated especially for you!"

I walk into the kitchen, only to see this:

Hahaha. A French flag, bigger than all the rest, and dominating the center of the brownies. I laughed so hard.

I love this "don't mess with our brownies" look they were giving me.

In the end... France won 1-0. But the brownies were good.

learning how to carry things on your head

2011-11-08T07:09:00.000+01:00

The place we stayed at in Ouaga was really great. One of the nice things was the lady selling fruits and vegetables that set up shop inside the compound all day. Talk about handy! And she was such a nice lady. On one of the first days, she willingly showed Efrem how African women balance and carry stuff on their heads. It's quite impressive.

First, you position the pagne that has been folded up into a kind of head cushion.

She then kindly decided to lighten the grapefruit load, to make it a bit easier on Efrem!

Trying to get it to balance on his head

He's doing a great job, but needs to use his hands to balance it!

Ta-dah!!! I love this picture!

It's impressive how much they carry without using their hands to balance!

She told us that during strawberry season, she carries 20 pounds of strawberries, with a baby tied on her back, and on her moto. Wow! And when you've seen the traffic in Ouaga it's even more "wow"!

And just in case you were wondering... yes, we did buy the grapefruit that Efrem carried and they were GOOD!

staff kid fun

2011-11-04T08:59:00.000+01:00

Silas and Efrem (Dan and May's boys) were part of our project and it was a big plus having them along. They provided much laughter, fun and energy to our team.

On Saturday afternoon they invited the staff kids of the national staff to come over an afternoon of fun, including games, a Bible story, a little gift, and tampicos!! :) They kids were a bit shy at first, but once we got them into the water balloon tossing game, there were squeals and shouts of joy. On my part too... I was laughing so hard. :)

Josué's boys

We did a relay race with ping balls... NOT eggs!

These are Lazare's boys -- Samson and Nephtali! Can you believe how big they've gotten!?!

This little girl is named Erika... after my sister Erika. Her Mom says she talks about my Erika all the time. So I got out a picture I had brought along of Erika and showed her and she just starred at it and then wanted to carry it around the rest of the afternoon. At the end of our time, she came up to me and said "auntie, can I keep this picture please?" in the SWEETEST voice ever. How could I say no!?! It was soooo precious. She loves Erika!

Then we had a water balloon fight... oh man! I learned that there are special balloons that you use for water balloon tosses?? I had just purchased regular ones and so a few of them were hard to break! :)

Silas read the story of Jesus walking on water

This was the coolest thing ever! It's a solid and liquid at the same time... cornstarch and water. Have you ever tried this!? You can make a ball with it in your hands, and then it turns completely liquid. It was quite a hit.

Mom, this picture is for you. Haoua wanted you to see her two little girls!

it was like being home

2011-11-03T13:17:00.002+01:00

I'm back home in Rennes! We all got back Tuesday afternoon safe and sound and with all of our luggage. I'm so thankful for a safe and incredible trip.

As our plane first approached Ouaga I thought it was so funny that at several thousand feet in the air, the temps were already in the 80s (at 8 o'clock in the evening!) as it was in the 40s the morning that we left Rennes. What a contrast! I was also struck by how little light there was in approaching the city. Ouaga has electricity, but the surrounding villages do not, so it's pitch black as you make your descent into the capital -- only seeing lights as you're about ready to land.

I got off the plane and the first wave of heat and smells immediately reminded me of home. I was soooooo anxious to see the other staff (that I hadn't seen in 7 years!!) who I knew were waiting for us at the airport. After checking to make sure we had our yellow fever shot, going through customs and then getting our bags, we were welcomed by about 30 staff and students invovled with Agape -- all wearing matching shirts! It was SUCH a cool thing!!

They loaded all of our bags into the back of a 4x4 pickup and put a couple of guys on top to secure them. You can't really see the bags, but you can see how high the guys are sitting!

Our team piled into a minibus that had a few extra chairs put in to add more seats. :) There were two more in the way back. Very good use of space!

Describing what Africa is like with words is difficult... it is SO different from the US or France. I took over 400 pictures while there... here are just a few to give you an idea of what it was like.

Can you spot our group at church? :)

We bought baguette bread at this little place every morning

Touaregs -- a nomadic people group from the desert. They make beautiful things out of camel leather.

This little girl was 7 years old and carrying a baby on her back!

Aren't the people beautiful? Doesn't it make you want to go to Ouaga? A wonderful place! It took about 2 hours the first day we were there for me to get adjusted and then it just seemed like normal and like I had never left. It was home.

back from ouaga

2011-11-02T13:57:00.000+01:00

Here's our team with our African garb on!

I sooooo didn't want to get on the plane to come back, but I am happy to be back in Rennes.

More stories and pictures to come!

Ouagadougou for 10 days

2011-10-22T08:24:00.000+02:00

It's TIME!!!!!

I'm finishing up my cup of coffee before hopping on a bus, then a metro, then a plane, then a 4x4 pickup!

Will have lots to tell and pictures to show when I get back!

she's a riot

2011-10-19T18:44:00.000+02:00

My parents moved to a different guest house (temporary housing while they look for their own house) in Niamey, and their new home has internet!!!

At their previous dwelling place, there was no internet. They had to go across town to the one bakery with wifi, where the wifi didn't always work, thus, seriously limiting our communication.

But last night, my Mom was able to get on skype in her (temporary) house for the first time! It was awesome. I mean, she's just so cool.

You know how you can take snapshots of people while you're video skyping with them? Well, I was trying to sneakily take some of her, but I kept getting the giggles as she was being so funny. Then we had this conversation:

Mom: why are you laughing?
Me: I've been taking pictures of you! Mouahaha
Mom: WHAT!?! you can DO that!? how do you do that?
Me: oooh I'm sooo NOT telling you cause who knows what you'll do with pictures you take.
Mom: (insert evil giggle) what? I would do no such thing. C'mon! Who do you think I am?

2 seconds later, I heard the "click" of her skype camera. And the look on her face said it all; she'd figured it out and was mighty proud of sneaky little self.

Isn't she a hoot? Oh how I love her!

We had a second humorous conversation:

Me: Ohhhh Kris is calling me on skype!!!

Mom: Well don't answer, you're talking to ME!

Me: Ok. ok. I won't.

2 seconds later...

Mom: oooooh Kris is calling ME! I'm going to put you on hold.

Me: whaa----- and then I realized, I was already on hold. Ha.

Don't you feel so important and special, Kris? :)

My parents have been in Niger for 2 weeks now, and already I've learned a lot through their experience; one of the things being how much I take communication for granted.

It made me think of when our family first moved to Africa in the late 1980s and how we communicated with faxes, handwritten letters and 2-3 phone calls a YEAR. So much has changed from then until now and though I want to enjoy the advances in technology, I also want to keep in mind that it's a privilege to be able to communicate, not a right.

And last night was indeed a privilege.

isn't it a lovely place to live?

2011-10-13T20:51:00.000+02:00

Just a few pictures that I took today as I was walking around. Especially for those of you who now live far away -- a glimpse of your old city and the changes that are happening. :)

This little strip of coffee shops has the New Zealand cafe (with starbucks-like coffee) that I now frequent regularly...

It also has a cafe called the "Le Candiot" which is very famous in Rennes.

But they're redoing it! It's all closed up for renovations!!

They're fixing up the post office buliding at Republic so it goes from this

to this

And this is my little backyard. :)

I love living here. It gives me great joy. Especially the people.

giving simon a haircut

2011-10-10T12:06:00.000+02:00

Last night, Simon oh so willingly entrusted Josephine and I to give him a haircut. :) We didn't have hair cutting scissors which made it kind of difficult... and also took extra long. I think it took us an hour and 20 minutes. hahaha. But it worked, and it was fuuuuuuun.

(the pictures are super grainy...sorry!)

Doesn't he look reassured that we know what we're doing?

We kept getting the giggles. Maybe that's why he wasn't too reassured.

We had SO much fun! That is, Josephine and I. It was definitely a team effort. I'm sure Simon loved it too, though a bit worried through the whole process. :)

He's a new man! I think it turned out great!!

If anyone else needs a haircut, just give us a holler!! Unless you live in Kansas, and then call Lisa Wiebe in Hesston and she'll do a fabulous job!

buying fruit from a friend

2011-10-03T20:41:00.000+02:00

Tereza got a part time job selling fruit at various farmer's markets around town. On Saturday, I went to the biggest farmer's market (as seen in previous posts) and it was SO fun to see her there selling stuff.

So then it was my turn. She convinced me to buy some grapes -- with seeds of course, as all grapes in France.

They were really really good.

She was a very good little fruit seller, though no friend discounts were given. Ahem. Maybe next time.

There's a new place I want to try into town! Lisa told me about it and when I saw it, I was convinced. En plus, it's BAGELS!!!!

happy birthday to my maman cherie!!

2011-09-30T23:24:00.000+02:00

My Mom is a riot. She makes me laugh so much and is SO much fun to be around.

Here we are (Mom, LITTLE brother Andrew, and me) in Albertville, France.

Andrew's face cracks me up.

And then a year ago, we thought it'd be cool to take another bandana picture. I was having a really hard time not smiling for the picture. :)

I love doing silly things with you Mom!

Happy happy birthday! I'll get you a mille feuille when you come to visit in December. :)

Happy packing!!

monthly craft time!

2011-09-28T21:15:00.000+02:00

This afternoon was craft afternoon with Mallory, Gabrielle and Halle too! We worked on a "pumpkin in a frame" craft. Everyone got to be artsy and design how they wished. I love how cute they turned out!

The picture isn't very good, but I showed G how to use a paper cutter and she thought it was amazing. :)

And then she went around and helped everyone cut their paper!

This just makes me laugh because I have no idea what's going on. What am I doing!?! Gabrielle took this photo...

It's SO fun to have them over and do crafts with them. It delights my heart.

my favorite raspberry picking spot

2011-09-25T19:57:00.000+02:00

Thank you, Hubert!!!

Your garden is my favorite in all of Rennes. I especially love that it's within walking distance of my house. :)

sunday afternoon apple picking

2011-09-19T07:31:00.000+02:00

Yesterday I had lunch at the Workman's and loved spending time with their family. They have a really special family and it's so much fun playing with the boys.

They're going through the same homeschool reading curriculum that my Mom used with our family, and it brings back so many memories of great books we read. "one more chapter, Mom!! Read one more chapter!"

Yesterday we talked about Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink-- it's a GREAT book.

Efrem read Wagon Wheels to me. I don't look very happy -- it's a sad story! Well, sad and happy. But we must've been at the sad part.

In the afternoon, we met up with Hubert and Catherine and their family and went to pick apples for free! The apples were beautiful and big and delicious.

I had visions of applesauce dancing in my head. Now I need to find jars and a pressure cooker.

After the boys had eaten many and picked a few, they set themselves down in the parking lot and played.

Felicitations, Hubert! C'est toi et non ton jardin qui est sur mon blog! ^^

Have you ever eaten plums right off a plum tree? ooooooh yum. It was like candy!

It was a great way to spend Sunday afternoon, but now I have a million apples I need to do stuff with. Anyone want to help?

special post for my Wiebe aunts! :)

2011-09-16T12:37:00.000+02:00

Dear Aunt Florene, Aunt Donna, Aunt Helen, Aunt Terry and Aunt Marilyn (and Maman),

I've been thinking about you all a lot these past few days. Well, I think of you often, but I thought you deserved a SPECIAL post on my blog, so that everyone can see how much I love you! :) Is it not one of the biggest honors you've ever received? Hehe.

I'm a very blessed individual to have such wonderful women to look up to in my life. You have all blessed me in so many and unique ways.

I have a few pictures from around my house that I thought YOU would enjoy.

I bought milk today. So handy to store it in my pantry until I open a liter. Kind of like buying it at Braums, no?

(Abby, notice the wheaties box??)

Woohoo! My Mennonite ancestors would be so proud of these used and re-used ziplocs!

Aunt Florene, the two orange-ish tinted ones were from frozen pumpkin that I finally got around to using in pumpkin bread.

The newest addition to my kitchen... soooooo fun! I've been saving up for a kitchen mixer and finally found one that I liked! It's kind of in the same family as Mom's bosch, but there isn't that middle thing in the bowl -- you know what I'm talking about? The plastic center thing? And it comes with 3 possible hooks -- a dough hook, beater, and mixer hook.

If you take the bowl out, and bend down the arm you use the blender! Milkshakes anyone?

There's also one of those food chopper attachments (like for cutting potatoes, carrots, cabbage, etc.) that can go on top.

I've used it once and it was so efficient! Hello whole wheat bread and no more kneading by hand!

Still some geraniums blooming on my balcony

Anyway, just wanted to share a few pictures with you that I knew you'd like. Maybe not so interesting for the rest of you, but these ladies are so dear to my heart, that they deserve their own post!

With Mom and Dad leaving, it's so reassuring knowing that A, L and E will have family close by. By close I mean... the same continent. Thank you all for having invested in my life and for continuing to love me and care for me from afar! I love you all sooooo much! Give your hubbies a big hug from me! :)

quick update

2011-09-13T12:24:00.000+02:00

After 4 hours and 15 minutes of waiting in line, I handed in all of the documents needed and got a new temporary resident card! Wooohooooooo!!!! It was quite the experience -- looooots of pushing and shoving and angry people.

Funny story. I got to the building at 7h30, and there were only about 10 people in front of me. The guy right in front of me was this young too-cool-for-school kid, probably about 17 years old, who moved around with one of those over-exaggerated and unnatural struts, and who spoke in gangsta tones. You know the type? :)

So I'm standing behind him, patiently waiting, my ginormous thermos of coffee in my hands, when he turns around and says, "are you angry?" Uhhh, what? I asked him if I looked angry and he said no. Then he said, pointing to my thermos, "is that coffee in there?" I said yes and he goes, "oh. it'd be better if it were tea." Hmmm, what!? Strangest conversation starter ever. But we talked a bit, both concluding that we hoped to get a ticket and that we weren't standing in line for nothing.

Cause you see, as the time got closer to 9 (when the doors opened), more and more people were coming to the front of the line, butting in front, and very much not respecting those who had been waiting hours. I knew it was going to end up being pushing and shoving your way through the entrance, and I was NOT looking forward to that. And so this guy looks at me and goes, "yeah, it's too bad that people are cutting in line, where's the justice in that!? But don't worry m'am, when it's time to go inside, I'll protect you!" Again, what!?!? Hahahaha. I decided to take the opportunity to talk to him about how competitively waiting in lines definately shows what human nature is really like; selfish, individualistic, doing whatever you can to be first and to protect your own interests. He wasn't too interested.

And maybe that's because he was feeling guilty, because RIGHT before they opened the doors, he ran to the front and pushed his way through, and was one of the first in the building. Unbelievable.

But, I was able to get a ticket, and then enjoyed a cup of coffee and a croissant with Sophie and Joel who showed up a little later and kindly kept me company while I waited.

What an experience! But now I can stay in France for another year and that is worth all those hours of waiting in line.

the not so fun part of living in France

2011-09-12T19:27:00.000+02:00

Every year I have to renew my "french resident card" which is THE document that allows me to stay legally in the country. The actual renewal process is quite easy -- the same documents need to be furnished every year, new ID photos, an 85 euro stamp, etc. It's a 2-step process. First, you hand all of these documents to the lady behind the counter and then she gives you a temporary card. Step 2 happens several weeks later, when you go back to pick up the pretty, laminated card that gives you permission to stay yet another year. Easy peasy.

So why is it the "not so fun part of living in France?" It's actually the process of getting to the counter to hand the lady the documents that is the hard part.

In order to get an apointment with the lady, you have to get a ticket and then wait until it's your turn.

The hard part is getting the ticket.

At least it is this time around. I don't remember it being so difficult the past 4 years, but I am NOT having an easy time this year.

Since they only have a certain amount of tickets that they give out per day, and since it's first come first serve, Halle and I decided to get there 30 minutes before the government building opened (Halle is on step 2 of the process, I'm on step 1). Clearly, we weren't the only ones who had this idea.

It was early... I had a large thermos of coffee and we decided to take some pictures to pass the time. We actually look like we're having a good time (and at this point, we were!)

Eager with anticipation at the thought of being able to spend another year in France!

And then, right when we got to the front of the line, they said that there were no more tickets. UGH. We'd waited for about an hour...

Halle, fortunately was on step 2 of the process (she just needed to pick up her card) and thankfully she was able to do that without needing a ticket. She was a happy camper. Way to go, Helenka!

I, on the other hand, still needed to get a ticket in order to get an appointment in order to hand in my documents in order to get the renewed card in order to stay in France another year.

But there was nothing more to be done right then and there. The building closed for lunch and opened again at 13h30 with a new set of tickets to hand out, so I thought I'd try again. This time, I got there at 12h45, waited in line again, and AGAIN they ran out before I could get one. Sooooo frustrating! I talked with one of the ladies that worked there and she said that usually within 10 minutes of when they open the doors, the tickets are gone and it's no use waiting in line.

Which means, I need to go again tomorrow. Sigh. So tomorrow morning, I'm planning on being there between 7h00 and 7h30 (yes, 2 hours before they open) to hopefully get a ticket. :(

It's so easy in these situations to get frustrated and start complaining about the French system. And even if it's not the most efficient way of doing things, this is how it's done here, and it's OK. It's a great opportunity to practice patience, kindness and gentleness to those around me and to NOT complain. It's a privilege to be able to live in France, and going through these little "hurdles" to get a resident card helps me appreciate being here even more once I have it.

I hope tomorrow evening I have good news!

stethoscope.

2011-09-11T13:22:00.000+02:00

Yesterday I skyped with Shorty, and look what she showed me!

She has a stethoscope! And not one of those cool plastic ones we used to play with as kids, but a for real, expensive and for nurses one!

Linds, you know exactly what I'm thinking, right? ("our baby is all...") Snif snif. :)

And hmmm, notice it's purple? K-State all the way baby!! Woohoo!

strange? I think yes.

2011-09-06T19:17:00.000+02:00

Today I was walking down one of the main streets in Rennes, things looking pretty normal and then...

...do you see something strange in this picture?

The green tree-person in the corner?

What is it / he? What is he doing? Where did he come from?

He was just standing there, waving his arms and strange fingers in very obscure and modern-dancey ways, his eyes often remaining closed, not saying anything.

So I'm of course cracking up and taking pictures, looking around to see other peoples' shocked faces, but no one seemed to think this was out of the ordinary, and NO ONE was taking pictures.

And that's when a slight fear crept into my head. Here I was, on the side of the street, taking pictures of this strange gangling being and trying to conceal my amusement at the oddity of what I was seeing, but...what if it was supposed to be serious?

Haha, I don't know -- like promoting "go green" or environmental something or other?! No one else was laughing or taking pictures...

Suddenly I was determined NOT to make eye contact with him, for fear he would walk over to me and reprimand me. Can't you just picture it in your mind? Tree guy chasing me down the streets of Rennes bellowing in a deep voice, the sound ricocheting off the buildings "doooooon't mock meeeee, American!"

I was cracking up. Oh man. You NEVER know what you will see on the streets of Rennes. :)

at the count of 3, jump!

2011-09-05T13:51:00.000+02:00

Saturday our whole staff team (plus their kids) went to the beach for a day o' fun. Apart from feeling a little under the weather, I had a good time! The high was 78 degrees, and it didn't get that "hot" until around 17h30 or so. It was cool!

The kids were so fun to watch. They're awesome. 2 Americans, 2 French, and one Franco-American.

I told them I wanted to take a picture of them, and right away the oldest boy turned to them and whispered "let's make a face!!" ha.

Then I wanted to take a jumping picture of them -- cause jumping pictures are always so fun. But they had a haaaaard time jumping at the same time. Do we jump on 3 or after you say 3?!?! I was laughing so hard.

This might be my favorite.

It would not be the same working in Rennes without these kiddos on the team.

6:03 am

2011-08-31T22:27:00.000+02:00

This is what I saw from my balcony this morning when I woke up. The colors were incredible.

meet my new plant

2011-08-30T21:48:00.000+02:00

A couple days ago, I got a coupon in the mail that said "one free little plant" from a big gardening store in the area. The coupon didn't just say "one free plant", it very clearly specified that it was "one free LITTLE plant". Probably so the coupon-receiver didn't get overly excited thinking they would acquire something "normal sized".

But regardless of the qualifying adjectives, I was stoked to get a new plant. And for freeeeee!?! Yes, please!

Joel and Jeremie went with me and we decided to name her Chuckita. "Ita" being a Spanish diminutive for little. So yes, "little Chuck". Don't you think it suits her? :)

She doesn't seem very small in the pictures, but that's because we re-potted her, encouraging much growth and expansion!

What a happy day to open up my mailbox and get a coupon for a free little plant!

cafe latte and a rainbow umbrella

2011-08-30T00:25:00.000+02:00

Joanna and I really wanted a "cafe con leche" the Spanish way this afternoon. When we were in Spain, we had these amazing cups of coffee and they tasted a bit different than what you can find here in France.

So, upon seeing a sign for a "latte" which isn't super common here, we decided to chance it.

Hmmm. It wasn't like the ones in Spain. But it was still good. We had a wonderful time anyway. :)

Joanna is so much fun. She was on the camino with me TWICE and she's going to Burkina with us in October!!!!!!! Doesn't that cup look ridiculously small??

While we were having coffee, I noticed this little girl not too far from us, just standing outside of a shop, holding a huge rainbow umbrella.

She was so cute! Moral of the story? Always always bring your camera! And always always have time for coffee. (just for you helenka^^)

first game of the year!

2011-08-26T12:32:00.000+02:00

Last night a group of us went to watch the awesomeness that is Rennes football. And with a final score of 4-0 we were not disappointed!!

It rained the whole time, we got really wet, but we're hard core so we it didn't phase us.

Have you met Sam before? He's soooo funny. He's marrying my cool cool friend Sophie. They're super cute together.

This picture cracks me up. Look at all those different expressions!

Hard core fans these are.

Halle's parents are visiting and what a blessing and privilege for them to be here at a time when they could go to the Stade Rennais game!! It was soooo fun to meet her parents; they're so much fun.

Now let's get down to business.

New goalie this year.

My new favorite player is number 7, hailing from BURKINA FASO!!! We call him "Pitt" for short. He plays forward and is incredibly fast and talented. I don't have to point out that it's the guy in the red, right? You knew Rennes's colors are red and black?

I told you Rennes was hard core -- we even had a player playing with a cast on his arm. :) Oh, and that's Pitt in the front of the picture

We played against Belgrade, Serbia (Europa League) and the fans that came from Belgrade were OUT OF CONTROL. Twice they made this explosion noise that sounded like a bomb and several times they lit those bright flares that put off sooo much smoke.

The second time it happened, the director of the stadium made an announcement on the loud speaker that "if the fans of Belgrade don't calm down, we will stop the game". It was that serious. So for about 5 minutes, the players just hung out on the field while they waited for things to calm down.

After the game we came back to my house and set up a mini cinema with a video projector and speakers and continued the star wars saga that we've been having this month of August. Seriously cool movies. Shorty, be so proud that I'm learning so much about the force.

31

2011-08-23T19:21:00.001+02:00

My parents are celebrating their 31 year anniversary today! How cool.

And they're so cutesey and in love and wear matching bandannas. It's an awesome awesome thing. Seriously great example to so many people.

Happy Anniversary Mr. and Mrs. Dorsch! I loooooove you!

on my balcony

2011-08-20T22:31:00.000+02:00

I have LOVED being here this summer and trying to grow things. And by "being here" I mean, being around enough to tend to my little garden. I would not have been able to do so without the help of Joanna and Jeremie who faithfully (and successfully!) watered my plants for me while I was gone on a couple different trips.

Simon's tomato plant. He planted little tomato seeds and then gave the little (and dying, I might add) plant to me when he left Rennes at the beginning of the summer. It's now producing beautiful little tomatoes!

Some of my flowers

This hibiscus plant was a birthday gift and it reminds me so much of Africa! I love it.

It's so much fun having flowers! I have big ideas and dreams for how I can further transform my balcony but... one year at a time.

I've been doing a few "fresh for fall" (as Halle calls it) things around my apartment, just to well, freshen things up for the fall. :) Things such as sewing new polka dot pillows for my couch:

And I have a few more projects that are slowly coming together that I'm pumped about. Oh how I love DIY projects and craftiness!

new wall art!

2011-08-17T11:30:00.000+02:00

I saw this idea a while back, and thought it was soooo cute. I love maps and loooove doing projects with scrapbook paper, so it was the perfect little project. But forget America, I wanted to make Africa. :)

I would still like to write something on the top right (I had a spacing / layout problem) but haven't had much inspiration as to what I should write. Ideas? Other than "africa"? :)

Flatty, dost though approvest?

THE yellow arrow

2011-08-12T17:43:00.000+02:00

I wonder how many yellow arrows there are on the whole camino? A lot. In the little village of Ligonde, I think there are 3 total. One right as you come into the village, and then two on the wall of the refuge we were at.

The two that were on the house badly needed a fresh coat of paint, and I was overly eager and excited to help repaint them. I mean, making yellow arrows yellower!? Helping people find their way along the camino!? Sounded like a highly important job and responsibility. I was up for the challenge.

So I found some yellow paint and started painting. And yes, I most definitely am rocking a pink bandanna.

A beautiful and new yellow arrow!

Enter Jairo, my new Columbian friend. He wanted to help, so he started repainting the other yellow arrow, which is actually the first one you see when you're coming down the road.

Since it's the first arrow you see when you're at a "crossroad", technically it could be considered the most important arrow of the two. SOME might even argue that my arrow is a useless arrow.

Useless arrow?? I think not. I mean, if anything it's MORE important because it's a confirmation that you're still going the right way. Right? I mean, who doesn't like a bit of confirmation that they're going the right way in life!?! Exactly. I think I won that battle.

And then I'm not exactly sure what happened. Somewhere between arguing which arrow was the most important,

and fighting over who got to finish painting the first arrow,

I got a yellow arrow painted in my hair.

Hahaha. And this yellow paint is most definitely oil-based paint. :)

It took a LOT of washing of my hairs to get it out! Oh but it was entertaining hearing all of the "compliments" on my newly highlighted hair from people.

Thank you, Jairo! I think you've found your calling in life!

it was just... FUN!

2011-08-12T00:00:00.002+02:00

One of the things I loved the most about the two weeks in Spain was getting to be on a team of really fun people from ALL over the world. There were 30 of us all together and it was amazing to me see how quickly we became a close community of people. Maybe sharing 2 showers and 2 toilets helped with the close bonding! :)

I have sooooo many pictures... here are just a few to give you a flavor of what our team was like.

There are probably more cows than people in the little village of Ligonde, and several times a day, they would walk by our little house.

Which meant that one of the daily tasks was making sure the walkway in front of the house was cow-poo-free.

Everything is training was our motto.

He literally rolled down the hill.

This cracked me up. These were my walking buddies that day; the Columbian and the French. We were all so tired and thought the ditch looked like a comfortable spot for our lunch. So we sat down, ate, and the guys took a 45 minute "power nap" while I took pictures!

cutest Dutch couple ever. seriously.

Two of our leaders -- Marc and Felix making their famous garlic bread!

What a blessing to meet and connect with quality people in such a short time!

the walking

2011-08-10T12:06:00.000+02:00

In between our two weeks of serving pilgrims at the refuge / house, our group walked for 5 days on the camino. A grand total of 113 km! Each of the days we walked around 12 miles except for the killer day when we walked 18.

We'd start walking around 7 in the morning and finish around 14h or so in the afternoon, depending on how often we stopped for breaks. It is hard! We'd get to the place we were staying at that night (usually a big gymnasium) and take out our mats and just crash and rest, or stretch, or whatever. We were so tired at the end of each day. All of the places we stayed at had showers (cold water except for one time!) which was a huge blessing.

It's kind of funny thinking about our whole group of 30 people walking across Spain, often by ourselves, or just with a couple of other people. How did we know the way? Always always follow the yellow arrows!

These are all pictures taken at different points during the walking. Very varied scenery.

Look at those smiles! At this point, we're only about 10 km away from our FINAL destination!

It's seriously a cool experience.

my home in spain

2011-08-09T14:53:00.000+02:00

The last two and a half weeks in Spain were so rich and wonderful. I lived here in this little house:

It's a bit hard to imagine what it's like just from this picture, but the beads on the door open up to the living room, and then there are bedrooms upstairs. On the right of the house is the garage that fits 10 camping cots for sleeping. That's where the boys slept.

The "refuge" (albergue, in spanish) is situated right on a corner of the camino. When you walk on the camino, you are guided by yellow arrows that lead you through little villages, through woodsy areas, rocky paths, etc, but you have to follow the yellow arrows in order not to get lost. See the yellow arrow on our refuge?

So the "pilgrims" (what all the camino trekkers are called) walk by and we offer them a free coffee, tea, clean bathrooms or fresh water from the fountain. It's a way to serve the people along the way and give them a chance to sit and rest as they are usually exhausted.

Every night, 10-15 pilgrims stay at the refuge and we serve them a hot dinner and spend time talking, sharing and listening to stories about their adventures along the way. You meet people from EVERYWHERE!

The inside -- the dinning / living room all set up for the evening meal with the pilgrims that stay with us.

Kitchen and small office:

You most definitely feel like you're in another world when you're there -- in a village of about 50 people and about that many cows.

SO much more to share about all that happened there, and the 5-day walk that we did, but for now, just a few pictures of what I called home the last two weeks. I miss it already!

and I'm off!

2011-07-21T12:58:00.000+02:00

My apartment is all clean, my plants are watered, and I'm all packed -- all of this AN HOUR before my train leaves. Even enough time to take a picture of my bag and blog about it. Dedication, I tell you.

Somehow I fit my life into this 40 liter bag for the next 2 weeks, including my sleeping bag and jungle speed. Two very important things to have whilst on the camino.

To you Kansans who haven't yet been introduced to the fun that is jungle speed, invite yourself over to play with Lindsay or Erika sometime soon. It is F.U.N.

I'm excited to go! A little nervous as to what the 2 weeks will look like and the impending blisters, but mostly excited!

in the top 3

2011-07-19T17:24:00.000+02:00

Without any hints, Lindsay guessed correctly what one of my absolute favorite parts of the trip was. Good job, Linds! It must be because she just officially became a teacher. So smart. Woot.

So what was it?!?! Standing in the room where Victor Hugo finished writing Les Misérables.

Hugo was exiled on the island by Napoleon III (he called Napoleon a traitor to France... oops) and lived there for almost 15 years. He had started writing Les Misérables when he lived in Paris, but finished the work in Guernsey.

But his house was really interesting. He designed and decorated the whole thing himself. He said, "I missed my vocation: I was born to be an interior decorator". There were tons of cleverly made pieces of furniture, decorations, mirror placement, etc.

For example: a chandelier he made using spools of thread for the candle holders

And although it was "cool" in the "wow, Victor liked DIY projects!", I didn't so much care for his decorating style. Too dark.

Until I saw this:

3000 books. 3000 OLD and COOL books! Makes you want to throw out your kindle or ipad, doesn't it? :)

The view from his balcony was also pretty spectacular. Our tour guide thought that one of the reasons Hugo purchased this house (people had said it was haunted prior to his arrival) was because on a clear day, you can see the cost of France from atop this balcony.

And here it is... where he wrote the masterpiece of Les Misérables. It looks like a big room, but what looks like a door in between the windows is actually just a mirror.

In the corner you can see a dark piece of wood and that was his desk -- there was one on each side, and it was just a simple desk that he could fold up or down.

This is at the very top of the house; lots of light.

The back:

He ate some sort of oats, a raw egg, and drank cold coffee for breakfast every day. Gross.

It was incredible to think that such a chef d'oeuvre was created there. 30 different film adaptations have been made of his book.

Guess what book I'm taking along with me to Spain? Part 1 of the 1200 page novel. :)

guernsey

2011-07-18T22:25:00.001+02:00

It's a beautiful island. B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L.

The island isn't actually that far from Rennes. We had to take a bus from Rennes to St. Malo (1.5 hours) and then a 2 hour ferry ride to St. Peter Port, Guernsey. Riding on the ferry was a blast. Well, on the way there it was. On the way back the sea was a bit more agitated and we were swaying to and fro quite a lot. I haven't been on many ferry rides in my life, but whew -- turbulence on a boat, when you're completely surrounded by water is much more terrifying than turbulence on an airplane. For me, anyway. Seriously, at times, you could hardly stand up and walk straight as we were dipping to the left and the right so much. But we survived!

We stayed at such a cool campground. The family that owns the campground have been running it for over 40 years and they were so sweet and kind. We rented these "hire tents" (as we don't have our own) and it was like staying in a little hotel. We each had our own little compartment to sleep in!

They even came equipped with a kitchen!

This was our field. It was so calm and peaceful. Do you see the two people by the blue tent? That's Pete and Jane, who became our buddies during the week. They were Londoners and were the "real campers".

We even convinced Jane to play 2 games of bananagrams with us one night. True friend. :)

St Peter Port is the main city on the island. Look at what side of the street the cars are driving on! We had to look both ways multiple times before crossing!

There were INCREDIBLE flowers everywhere! Everywhere. They were so beautiful.

This is the home of our campsite owners.

Ahhh yes, a John Deere tractor even on the little island.

Halle is waiting on the ~~wrong~~ right side of the road for our bus.

On Saturday, we decided to go hiking on some cliffs on the south part of the island. It was rainy and overcast, but we were rewarded with an incredible view of the sea!

Check it out. Doesn't that water just make you want to dive in!?!

On Sunday morning, before we embarked on the ferry home, we had "cream tea" -- well, I substituted the tea for a latte. Yummy homemade scones with "cream and jam". The cream of course coming from our dear Guernsey cows.

Amidst the visiting of quaint little cities, hiking on the coast, and avoiding being hit by buses, we also had lots of time to read. Ahhhhh, one of the greatest parts of vacation.

I took along The Book Thief and LOVED it. I had heard so much about it, and was not at all disappointed. I highly recommend it.

I also recommend our campsite... if you ever decide to visit the island, John and Peggy will be more than helpful in accommodating you!

And one of my favorite parts of the week I'll tell you about tomorrow. Oooooh, soooo suspenseful am I!

soooo many stories!

2011-07-17T23:31:00.000+02:00

Guernsey was a blast. Oh man do I have stories to tell! It was such a cool island to spend a week on. For now, just a few pictures.

Guernsey milk cows...

Only Guernsey milk is allowed on the island, and their ice cream, as you can imagine, was YUMMY. Incredibly creamy.

One quick story from today.

Our ferry was 4 hours late getting into St Malo (northern France, an hour by car from Rennes) and so we missed the last bus and train connection. We had no idea what we were going to do or how to get home. Amazingly (and thankfully) there were about 15 other passengers who were in the same predicament as us, and who were trying to catch the later train from Rennes to Paris. Looong story short, the 15 of us walked down to the bottom of the ship to get our luggage and as soon as we docked, we were hurried off the boat, went through customs and jumped into taxis they had waiting for us. The ferry company PAID for us to get a taxi back to Rennes!

Do you know how much it cost to ride in a taxi for an hour!?!?

Look at this taxi meter. That's exactly 218.10 dollars!

What a way to end our holiday! A free taxi ride in a niiiiiiice car almost all the way to our front doorstep, and for FREE! :)

It's good to be home.

cool choir concert in cathdral

2011-07-09T10:54:00.000+02:00

Check out that alliteration. Sweet. Last night I went with Halle and Tereza to a children's choir concert in the cathedral downtown. Not just any choir concert -- 700 children. Different choirs from all over this region of France came together this week and performed several times in Rennes, last night being the grand finale. It was really really cool. You can imagine how beautiful it was with the acoustics in an old cathedral. The harmonious sounds floated around the room, filling every ounce of space and wrapping around each individual; giving one the impression that the music was not only filling the building, but penetrating the human soul as well.

The scaffolding added a modern touch to the rustic 12th century cathedral.

I'd never seen so many people in a cathedral in France.

The individual choirs performed 2 songs each, and then the whole ensemble of 700 children would sing a couple songs in between.

"The sound washed over me and invaded my soul with delight. Mmmmm." said Halle when asked what she thought of the concert.

The very last song performed by everyone was the Hallelujah Chorus. Oh man. Talk about incredible -- the sound resonated everywhere! And the sopranos hit their high notes beautifully! Speaking of hitting the high notes, Halle and I did not. But we couldn't help but sing along (somewhat quietly) whilst Tereza raised a quizzical eyebrow, seemingly saying, "oh girls, let the professionals sing". :)

It was the last song, so there was of course an encore, and they sang the Hallelujah Chorus again.

Random side note -- did you know that "encore" literally means "again" in French? Interestingly enough it is not what French say when they want the performers to come back and do one last piece. They might use the Latin "bis" or just start clapping in unison.

Anyway. It was a cool concert.

And here's a very bad quality video of a little boy singing Ave Maria

one of the reasons I love this city

2011-07-08T08:40:00.000+02:00

I was walking around downtown yesterday with a friend when I happened upon this group of very joyous and entertaining musicians. They were so funny! They had so much joy and were obviously loving playing in the street for people.

Oh yes, that is indeed a red sequined jacket. This was the leader of the group.

His eyebrows moved up and down when he played and it reminded me of the puppet show in Sound of Music! Remember the guy who was playing the tuba? And his bushy eyebrows that moved?! This guy was just like that.

It's not an uncommon sight to see street musicians performing, but typically it's just a few people playing; not a whole group. There's a guy who plays the accordion sometimes, and I loooooove that too! Rennes's got talent.

Oh, and to go along with our red-themed pictures, lookey here! If you want to come over for a snack and have a cherry tomato, you're more than welcome to!

our 4th of July

2011-07-07T23:30:00.000+02:00

Halle and I wanted to celebrate the 4th of July in style. We had lots of great ideas and laughed a ton thinking of everything we could do with French people. Bean bag toss? Pin the hat on Uncle Sam? 3-legged races? A teaching session on how to properly fold the American flag? Relay race including marching (instead of running) and American flags? Hahaha. Oh man. We had a lot of good laughs. In the end, we both concluded that kickball was the way to go. We had a cool American flag cake (we couldn't find blueberries so we opted for blue m&ms, and something strange happened with the homemade whipped cream...). Halle brilliantly thought of bringing watermelon. Good idea Halle.

We did what we could... This picture does not really give one the desire to partake of it... but it was actually good. Just not so much aesthetically pleasing. :) And it was not yellow-ish. Haha.

And this was one of the most hilarious moments...

I have no pictures of the kickball game, but it was fun. Bases made out of cardboard, and a big red rubber ball. :)

It was a fun 4th of July.

post for my mama

2011-07-03T20:35:00.000+02:00

Here are "today" pictures of my growing things, Mom. :)

oh, and the curtains that I hemmed up. I made sure to take the picture of where I sewed in a straight line. :)

Now it's your turn to show me pictures of all of your potatoes and your newly painted porch!! Go Mom go!

Wednesday was a big day for Rennes

2011-07-02T08:21:00.000+02:00

I'm not going to tell you every time I eat a tomato, but... today a second one was ready! And since there were people here for lunch, I divided the little fruit into 4 equal pieces for all to enjoy. Happy to report that all 3 partakers enjoyed it. I mean, I was starring them down as they ate, as if daring them to say anything but wonderful, encouraging, kind and flattering things. As Andrew would say, "hey-ho!!"

Sometime last week, I heard about this "city-wide sidewalk sale" that was going to take place on Wednesday of this week and I was pumped! A giant sidewalk sale!?!? Saweeeet. But helas, I was somewhat mistaken, and thus greatly disappointed. It was indeed city-wide, but not so much of a sidewalk sale. I was expecting stores to put tables out with all of their sale items, used stuff, etc; a sidewalk sale! But it was not so much that but was more these random stands of mostly cheap-o clothes, shoes, underwear, bags, etc.

The biggest score for me was finding a couple places that were selling used English books (I found 5 books for 2 euros!) and then finding some fabric 50% off! Woot. Hello soon to be new pillows on my couch. I have big sewing plans. Aunt Florene, get your phone ready! :)

The festivities were concluded with a HUGE concert that night. There were a loooot of people.

It was... a unique experience. I don't especially love huge crowds of crazy drunken people (especially as the night went on), but it was fun to hear live music and to experience it all with Joanna!

Yesterday I talked to my youngest sister on the phone and after telling her how yummy my second tomato was (I'm kind of proud of the fact that they are actually eatable...) she asked in a rather mocking tone, "are your plants still alive too?" Gasp. She of little faith. So I would like to say to all of you doubters out there, that while my thumb may not be very green, all of my plants and flowers are blooming beautifully, especially the brightly colored geraniums on my balcony!

my first tomato.

2011-06-28T00:52:00.000+02:00

I ate my first tomato. It was sweet, juicy, and mostly perfect.

I say mostly perfect because look...

Isn't that wierd? It's mostly just on the outside skin, and I obviously cut it off before eating. But I don't know why it's like that. The others aren't like that...

More to come, I hope!

June 21

2011-06-22T23:09:00.000+02:00

The first day of summer is always much celebrated in France; it's the fête de la musique, or music celebration day. It's the longest day of the year and it didn't get completely dark in Rennes last night until after 23h! So, various artists and groups set up shop all throughout the city, down quaint little streets, in the middle of busy squares, and passionately play the music that inspires them. It was kind of cool walking down several streets and hearing jazz, then rock, then techno (haha, only in France...), then old-style French songs. It's very diverse and draws tons of people.

Some of my friends sang some awesome Gospel songs! I'll see if I can put up a video of their "Oh Happy Day"! The acoustics were awesome!

Newlyweds! They crack me up! They've been married 1 month and 2 weeks! :)

Look at all those people at Saint Anne!

Of course, no city-wide celebration in Brittany could be complete without galettes and saucisses. Halle had one, and said they were yummy.

While Halle contended herself with a galette saucisse, I opted for a nutella panini. Melted nutella...yumm-o. Not quite as good as that one cup of hot chocolate made from real chocolate that I had once upon a time, but... it was a close second.

At the town hall, there was a drumline group, and a group of very happy Spanish tourists who formed a congo line. Haha.

A couple years ago when my mama was visiting, we saw a group of accordion players that was SO cool. I really wanted to see them again, but didn't find them. BUT, we did happen upon this little group, and the accordion player seemed SO happy to be playing. :)

one last craft time

2011-06-11T12:02:00.000+02:00

A few times this year, I had Mallory and Gabrielle over to do a fun craft and spend some time with them. Both of them are going to the US this summer with their families, but we managed to squeeze in one last time. Unfortunately Gabrielle couldn't make it, but Halle joined us instead, AND hosted us in her apartment!

I saw an adorable project on Meg's blog, and thought it would be so cute to try with the girls. I didn't have a butterfly punch, so we tweaked the project a bit and used a flower punch instead. I love how they turned out, and it was so fun to do something crafty. It'd been a long time!

This girl was getting a bit giddy towards the end. It was quite amusing.

Ta-dah!

On a different note, I FINALLY put up curtains in my room. And when I say I, I really mean Simon. Dan's power drill makes me a little nervous, but Simon was obviously up for the challenge.

And he did a great job, I have a very sturdy curtain rod up. I'm just not convinced I love the curtains... which is why you aren't seeing any pictures of them. Maybe I'm too picky, but I go back and forth on them. I'll let you know when I decide their fate. :)

the opera!

2011-06-05T17:59:00.000+02:00

Friday night, the Rennes opera put on "The Abduction from the Seraglio" by Mozart. While that is cool in and of itself, it was even cooler on Friday because the city diffused the live opera on a huge screen out in the open for all to see. The opera itself was televised and broadcast on a French TV station, but me, and 5000 other people watched it from a big screen. :)

It was SUCH a cool experience and such a good opera! The music was incredible.

The pictures don't show nearly how crowded it was. This was at the beginning, with lots of people still trickling in.

See my jean picnic blanket, Mom? :) The concrete was nice and warm to sit on, after having been warmed up by the sun all day.

We had a great view from where we were sitting. It doesn't get dark these days until after 10h30.

This couple was phenomenal! Everything was in German, with French subtitles.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day with temps in the low 80s, and perfect for an outdoor summertime opera.

On a tooootally different note, some people have been wanting to see what state my tomatoes are in. This is what they look like today. Growing growing!!

a good pickin'

2011-06-01T22:51:00.000+02:00

I went a strawberry pickin' this morning! Catherine knew of this farm / apple orchard a bit outside of Rennes, that has strawberries, raspberries, red current bushes, and much more! ("oh much more sir!" --> name that movie shorty or linds!!)

Upon seeing the apple orchard, it not only made me think of the awesome fun I had picking apples with Abby last summer, but also, immediate visions of homemade applesauce danced in my head. I must go back.

This is the shop area. When we arrived, a guy came riding up on his 4-wheeler and oh was it was a beautiful site. THE 4-WHEELER! :) It is the first 4-wheeler I have seen in the 3 years I've lived in Rennes. A. Terry, tell Taylor I immediately thought of him and all of the dangerous trails he took me on last summer!

There actually weren't a ton of strawberries... at least, not a ton that were easy to find. I think it's nearing the end of strawberry season, and this year it has been warmer than usual and a lot less rain, so the berries were smaller.

It was kind of fun not having a million strawberries covering the bushes though, as it made the discovery of one little fruit all of the more exciting and precious.

They are sooooo sweet and yummy!

I picked 1.4 kg (about 3 lbs) and they're all washed, cut up and ziplocked in my freezer. I think it's time for a strawberry pie.

monday.

2011-05-25T08:44:00.000+02:00

I haven't been taking very many pictures lately, but Monday evening I hung out with Joanna and enjoyed gorgeous weather! As we were walking around, I saw this:

It's not the first time I've seen this, but it cracks me up every time.

There's another message I want to get a picture of sometime that is equally, if not more, entertaining. I'm sure your curiosity is peaked.

I mean, who? why? Haha. Take a walk on the wild side. Thank you, city of Rennes. :)

Rennes is so quaint.

donald duck or a bird??

2011-05-23T21:29:00.000+02:00

For a few months now, a debate of the most serious kind has been going on in Rennes. I've been trying to convince a friend of mine that these carvings are those of Donald Duck's head, and not those of a bird. :)

Now, before you dismiss my Donald theory entirely, please look CLOSELY at the picture

Do you see how it's the profile of his face? I mean, you need to use your imagination a LITTLE bit... but I think the city of Rennes definitely had Donald in mind when they were carving these bushes.

Not everyone is convinced... especially not my French friend. He argues that the city of Rennes would not carve Donald Duck's head into the bushes of the the most beautiful park in the city. But can he prove it? I think not. Hehe. :)

And this is where you come in. I NEED you to vote as to whether you think this looks more like Donald or a bird.

I also know that more people will read this than will vote, but I'm trying to prove a point people, so leave a comment and tell me what you think!!! Ok Kris!?! And Jeff can vote too :)

the first one!

2011-05-11T12:27:00.001+02:00

I didn't know I could get so excited about tomatoes. But when I was checking on my plants this morning and I saw this little guy, I think I had an outloud outburst of joy!

I HAVE A TOMATO!!!

Really sorry all of my latest blog posts have been about plants...will try to remedy that. But really, it's nothing short of a miracle that things are growing at my house, so must rejoice while it lasts! :)

hello new growth!

2011-05-09T18:47:00.000+02:00

Geraniums.

African violet.

Tomato plants.

northern shore of France

2011-05-06T17:24:00.000+02:00

Monday-Thursday of this week, our team had a 4-day planning retreat for what the coming year will look like.

We stayed in this little house on the northern coast of France -- a 3 minute walk to the seaside. It was soooo beautiful!

This part of the coast is called the "Pink Granite" coast, and it's really neat. No beaches, no sand, just these beautiful rocks lining the border of France.

Fun to discover an area that's only a couple hours away from Rennes. Isn't France so beautiful?

may the fourth be with you

2011-05-05T16:57:00.000+02:00

Right. So, the fourth was yesterday.

HOWEVER, I have not been connected to the internet since Monday morning, and so couldn't post about the fourth until today. I haven't yet figured out how to write a blog post, save it and have it post automatically at a future date. Is that possible?

Anyway. Yesterday was my middle sister Lindsay's birthday!!! She's so proud to be born on the fourth as it gives her reason to be jedi-like and say "May the fourth be with you" to anyone and everyone. I wonder how many times she said it yesterday. :)

I'm so proud to have such an accomplished, talented, beautiful, smart and HILARIOUS sister. She has been such a blessing to me! She STILL IS such a blessing!

Those of you that know her, know that she is super super funny and can entertain people for years. It's one of the things I love about her, and consequently, one of the things I greatly miss, living on separate continents.

One of the other things I love about her is our shared love for reading classic literature AND our shared desire and, shall we say, lifetime quest of imparting this desire on our youngest sister, Erika. You see, while Shorty has greatly improved in the "love-of-reading-classic-books" realm, she would still much rather do other things. And that's fine...there's absolutely no judging... we just see it as our older sisterly role to one day succeed in getting her to love classic novels as we do. :)

Last summer, Linds and I took a road-trip to visit our brother in Minnesota and for the entire 10-hour trip there, Linds read The Scarlet Letter out loud to me. We finished the book in one trip. And she consequently had no voice left by the time we got to the Twin Cities. But what a great book!

So Lindser, in honor of your birthday, I decided to do something oh so special, and write you a message in the sand. And not just any sand, sand from the the northern coast of France!! (it's where our team went for the past 4 days for planning for next year -- no internet, remember?)

I didn't find a stick to more clearly write a longer message, and so contented myself in scrawling out the two letters "HB" for "happy birthday " (thank you captain obvious) and thought that this simple thought would speak volumes to your heart. Doesn't it?!!

I love you so much, Lindser! Can't wait to see you in 8 months! :) Happy Happy Birthday!

Halle calls it "Kansas"

2011-05-01T19:49:00.000+02:00

I love love LOVE the country.

And living where I live, within 10 minutes of walking, you're surrounded by countryside. Halle calls it "Kansas". :)

While it really doesn't look much anything like Kansas (sorry Helenka), there ARE cutsey little farms scattered around, occasional cows, and small fields... and it DOES makes me feel a bit like home when I walk around there.

...and the waving wheat!

The paths around "Kansas" lead to Hubert and Catherine's garden, which we frequent regularly... just to make sure everything is in order. Muahahaha.

Despicable Me and Pizza

2011-04-30T12:36:00.000+02:00

Last night 7 of the staff kids came over for homemade pita pizzas and movie night! You may remember the last time we did it. Oh man look at how little they were 2 years ago! Lots has changed since then!

My apartment has changed a lot since then too. Different decorations, more books (hehe), furniture rearrangements, and PLANTS! Plants, that are real and alive, I might add.
And that computer sitting on my coffee table in the previous post experienced some major problems, crashed and no longer exists.

Some things didn't change...
Each person still made his or her own pizza (per request of the young-uns)
We still had an American dessert (this time peanut butter chocolate chip cookies)
I still have the American flag hanging up in my apartment.
They are still LOUD. :)

Oh, but this time, instead of watching the movie on my 15" computer screen, we borrowed the campus team's video projector and speaker system. MAJOR improvements from last time.

Here's our group photo. Look how calm and angelic we are.

Ha. This is a more accurate representation of who we are:

They were very creative with their pizza making. Some looked appetizing, others... not so much.

This guy (below) is hysterical. I was getting the pizzas out of the oven when he walked into the kitchen and goes: "hey Melissa, do you know what I like best about your eyes?"

Thinking that this was going to be one of those hallmark moments that I'd treasure in my heart forever, I instantly put down the pizza pan, and give him my full attention.

Once he saw that I was all ears, he looked at me with his most convincingly endearing face and goes, "what I like the best about your eyes is my reflection". And he burst out laughing.

Pffffff. Oh dear. Though not as endearing as I had hoped... it was still quite humorous, especially seeing how proud he was of his own creative joke.

Look at how grown up Mallory is! She has become quite the talented singer and dancer!

Great times with these kiddos. They're very special to me.

52 hours

2011-04-28T22:27:00.001+02:00

It's still hard to believe that last week-end I was in the Twin Cities. It seems so surreal...almost like it didn't happen. Good thing there are ~~some~~ a lot of pictures to prove it.

I'm now back in Rennes -- it was a very shorty trip (52 hours on US soil) arriving in Rennes on Monday evening.

Since many people have asked me how it all went down, here are some more details... on Tuesday night of last week, Amy called me asking me if I wanted to be flown home to spend Easter with my family. hmmm, what!?!?! and hmmm, yes yes please!! So in 2 crazy days, Ruth and I booked tickets, got me to Paris and I arrived in Minneapolis at 4:30 in the afternoon on Friday. I was supposed to arrive at 1, but I sat on the runway, in the airplane for 3 hours. THREE HOURS. There was some valve that wouldn't open for the engine to start. Cool. After 2.5 hours, they served us some peanuts and a glass of water. Generous.

So the 9 hour trip became a 12 hour trip. But knowing that I was going to see my family (assuming the valve would get replaced and there would be no engine problems over the atlantic...) it was not a big deal.

Chad (Ruth's husband) and their two girls Bella and Piper came and picked me up at the airport (with a sign -- so cute!) and took me to their house, where they let me borrow their car to drive to Ando's house.

So about 5:30, I rang Ando's doorbell and right when he saw me his mouth dropped open and he just starred at me. I quickly gestured for him to be quiet, so as not to ruin the surprise (I really wanted him to film the rest of the family's reaction). He did give me a big, yet silent hug though! So good to see him!

And the rest you saw in the video...

Thank you SO much Ruth and Amy, for making this trip possible. It was SUCH a blessing. I know you know that already, but don't you feel cool getting mentioned publicly on my blog!?! Ha. What an honor.

Shorty after I surprised them one of Andrew's roomates was like "family picture time!!" We willingly consented.

There are just too many pictures to show...I made a couple collages (so fun to do in picasa!) and if you click on them to enlarge them, you can see them better.

We laughed a LOT. A lot. And we took some crazy pictures. Oh, and the twins (AJ and TJ) are Ruth and Chad's boys. We can't tell them apart.

The Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday was a lot of fun. Lindsay and I were in charge of hiding all of the Easter eggs and we hid them in very hard-to-find spots. I still don't know if we found them all. Lindsay was very cold when we were hiding them.

Not trying to be cheesy or anything but... it was probably THE best Easter ever.

And lest you think from the first picture that my little brother is short...let me reassure you.

Happy Easter!

2011-04-23T21:45:00.001+02:00

Some super super great friends of our family spontaneously decided to fly me home for the week-end in order to surprise my family for Easter. My brother lives in the twin cities, and my family was planning on coming up here for the week-end.

I showed up at my brother's house, aka "The Lodge" and after his shock at seeing me at his door, he videoed the rest of the fam's response. :) Dad was in shock. Oh, and you'll understand why his house is called "the Lodge" when you see the deer head mounted on the wall. :)

What a FUN thing! Amy, is this the reaction you were hoping for!?! :)

THANK YOU!!!

goin' to the chapel and we're

2011-04-19T20:24:00.000+02:00

gonna get ma-a-a-ried. and they did!! Matthieu and Katharina are now Mr. and Mrs. Matthieu Reisz!! It was SO wonderful!

Everything was in French and German as he's French and she's German. They got married in a cute little chapel on an old American army base (woot!)

The little "flower people" were so cute! The little girl kept throwing the petals right into her dress, but she didn't seem to mind! :)

They had an orchestra that played a Handel piece beautifully.

Weddings are very different in Europe than in the US. The bride and the groom had special chairs to sit on in the front of the chapel. Kind of cool -- that way everyone can see them and they don't get so tired standing up. Bridesmaids and Groomsmen are not a tradition in Germany (or in France), but they each chose a witness (his brother and her sister) to sign the marriage license.

Hahaha. The ground was REALLY soft, and at the end of the afternoon, there were holes everywhere from all of the high heels! Here are Audrey and my feet sinking way down. :)

Tous les Rennais that were present!

Love these guys.

These weddings are quite the ordeal. Nothing like American weddings, other than there's a bride and a groom.

The wedding started at 14h with the ceremony in the little chapel.
Then from 15h30 until about 18h we had the "honorary wine" which is a mingling time right outside the chapel (where the women's high heels were sinking down into the ground). They had several tables set up with lots of food -- salty and sweet.
Then from about 18h30-midnight we had dinner at an Italian place that they had reserved. Throughout the dinner there were different games, skits, songs, fun fun things.
Then more hanging out, dancing (there was REAL waltzing!!!) until wee hours of the morning.

We left around the same time as the bride and groom -- around 2h30, so not too bad.

Weddings are so much fun here! Loooooong days but quite the exciting celebration!

dissapointment.

2011-04-18T19:27:00.000+02:00

Sad day in Rennes today.

I had a REALLY REALLY good week-end (I'll tell you all about it later) but today was not so great.

Some of you know that a team of 14 of us were scheduled to leave for Burkina Faso a week from today. Well, those plans have suddenly changed.

Since last Thursday, there has been unrest in Burkina due to different elements of the military wanting better treatment (salary, benefits, etc.) from the government. This has caused some rioting, pillaging, and unrest in Ouagadougou (the capital) and another city on the Ghana border. Since Sunday there has been a curfew from dawn until dusk, and both the American and French embassies have advised people NOT to travel to the country.

Today, I talked with several friends of mine that live there, and even though they said that the situation has calmed down and things seem to be fairly normal, there is no guarantee that it will stay this way or if in 48 hours the situation will worsen.

With all of these factors taken into consideration, all of us staff decided to cancel the project to Burkina. There are too many unknowns and too many risks with what is going on right now in the country, for it to be wise to take a group of 14 people there.

I know that this is the right decision; we need to err on the safe side, especially when we're responsible for not just ourselves, but other students coming with us.

But it is a HUGE disappointment. I have been so excited and looking forward to this trip for several years (even when it was just an idea at the back of my mind).

Hmmmm. I guess eating fresh mangoes will have to wait until another time.

And Sarah, since I know you're dying to see a picture... I'll show you 2. :)

"American smiles" just for you. :)

africa on my mind.

2011-04-12T18:48:00.001+02:00

In just 2 weeks I'll be back in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. I'm SO VERY EXCITED.

I mean, it's going to be hot. Like pushing the 110 degree weather. With only a bit of AC at night.

But, the people!!! The Burkinabé people are so generous, kind, selfless, loving, and welcoming.

And eating mangoes all day for super duper cheap!!!! YUM!

I haven't been back since the first few days of January 2005. Wooooohoooooo!!!!!!

real chocolate...

2011-04-11T23:42:00.000+02:00

...and I mean REAL chocolate.

It tastes just as good as it looks. Or better. Yum-o.

tomatoes!

2011-04-10T20:10:00.000+02:00

I have started my container garden!!

This may be wicked boring for some, but it's the first time I've had my OWN garden, and I am just thrilled to pieces. I'll be in France this summer so hopefully I'll have some tomatoes to enjoy while I'm here. And if you come and visit, I'll give you a tomato (or bite of one, if my plant only produces one) during your stay. :)

So here's what went down. Yesterday I went with May to a big garden store and I bought two tomato plants -- cherry tomatoes and regular tomatoes. They were also having a special of "buy two 70 litre bags of soil, get one free" (great deal) and so May and I split those.

Did you know that when you plant in containers, it's good to line the bottom of your pot with some gravel or something to help with the water flow? So this morning I found a big rock pile by where they're building new apartments and "borrowed" a bit of their gravel. I mean, hardly any. And then I planted!

Aren't they pretty? The balcony faces south, so they get good sun all day!

I am VERY excited. Grow baby grow!

And re: the picture of the decapitated head that I posted a few days ago... yes, it is random. I'm sure there's some deep historic meaning behind it, but I'm not in the know. It's in downtown, and kind of...unique. :)

the french excel at public transportation

2011-04-09T11:34:00.001+02:00

There are many things the French are good at. In my personal opinion, their transportation system is in the top 10.

They have fast trains that go everywhere -- connecting big cities, small cities, and villages. Rennes is just 2 hours from Paris by TGV. Word on the ~~rails~~ street (har har) is that "soon" we'll be able to go Rennes-Paris in 1h15 by train. "Soon" can mean a lot of things. I mean, "soon", as in 2018, we're getting a second metro line in Rennes. Line "B". "Soon" the US men's team will be world champions at soccer.

So there are trains that go everywhere on a national level, but locally (here in Rennes) we have buses, one metro, and BIKES!!

My new favorite thing (thanks Halle and Tereza!) are these city bikes. The city of Rennes has set up stations around the city, each equiped with 20 or so bikes that one can check out and ride for free for the first 30 minutes. It's a very simple, effective, and intelligent concept. The big plus being you can take a bike to one place, and wander all over the city, not worrying about needing to go back and pick up your bike. You just hop on another one at the station closest to you. And if you only want to go one-way by bike, you can. LOVE IT.

I gotta admit, I also LOVE the Grandma baskets on the front. It's very handy, and you don't feel as Anne of Green Gables-y when everyone has the same one. :)

This was on our way back from the office the other day. There are these beautiful bike paths to ride along, and it's so agreeable.

I like living on the edge. You know, taking pictures as you're riding.

Bonus question: do you know what the number of the bus(es) I take to get to my house is?

three.

2011-04-07T22:01:00.000+02:00

I arrived in Rennes 3 years ago today! It may not seem like a big deal, but 3 years!!! Time has gone by so quickly! I truly love living here, love the people, the city, the crêpes, the cafés...

It really is a great place to live. The French are so kind and helpful -- really truly! Despite some stereotypes that you may have heard, or that certain French people think are true (^^), I have found the people of Rennes to be warm, friendly and kind. I mean, I want to stay longer, so doesn't that say something? :)

In lieu of this "renn-iversary" as Cecile called it, here's a picture of the decapitated head fountain in the middle of the city. I don't think I've ever posted a picture of it. Why a decapitated head in the fountain? Hmmm... why not?

grand re-opening!

2011-04-06T22:00:00.000+02:00

Remember when I was saddened last September because my favorite EVER tea shop closed down in Rennes?

I loved the atmosphere, the coffee, tea, chocolate and pear tarte (YUM) and the eclectic feel of the place.

When it closed, I was sad. Read about that day here

I had gotten used to the idea that it was never going to open again (sad day) until a couple of weeks ago when I was walking around Rennes, and literally happened upon its new location!!!

It's on the opposite side of town, but still sooooo charming and cute!

Lolly (Sarah's sister) and I went to try it out this past week. I was not disappointed. Still so cute, so charming, great ambiance, etc.

When the super sweet lady came to take our order I exclaimed how joyous I was at finding their re-location and how I've been waiting for so long for this day! She smiled kindly and in the nicest voice she could, said, "we've been open in this new location for 5 months already!"

What!?!?! how did I not know about this? oh well. I'll frequent it regularly now.

Rennes people you HAVE to try it!! :)

The pictures don't do it justice. But doesn't it make you want to go there now? :)

saying hello.

2011-04-03T19:40:00.001+02:00

"La bise" = the French way of saying hello with a kiss on each cheek.

Technically not real kisses, just cheek touching whilst making a kissing noise. Although, in my experience here in France, I've realized many variations are possible, including touching cheeks with no kiss sounds, real kisses, and giving 2-4 depending on the region you're from.

It's definitely something to get used to living in France. You say hello and goodbye to everyone this way. No hugs of course, and guys shake hands with other guys (though not exclusively; for family, and close friends they also do the bise with each other). The nice thing about doing the bise is that there's no awkwardness when you greet people. No really. You don't have to figure out if you're supposed to hug, side hug, hand shake, or whatever with the person. Here, everyone gets the bise.

Today, I found myself in a very "interesting" (and later funny) situation... let me tell you. :)

My friend Kirsten and I decided to visit a new church this morning. It's a much bigger church than where I usually go, and I didn't know the majority of the people there. Shortly after we got to our seats, an older lady who was standing in front of us turned around to say hi and introduce herself. Neither Kirsten or I knew her.

Often when you don't know the person and you are both introducing yourself for the first time, you don't do the bise, HOWEVER; in a church setting like this, and as we were friends of Halle (who attends this church and knows a lot of people) we had been saying "bonjour, je m'appelle melissa" and smack smack. kisses to all.

So I figured it'd be the same for this lady. Ha. She introduced herself, I introduced myself. And as I'm going in for the bise, I realize that she is not moving at all. I mean, normally both parties move in towards each other -- you know, we each go 50% of the way, meet in the middle of each other's space bubbles.

Except she's not moving. Slight panic ensues... Maybe I was wrong about doing the bise to everyone in church, and she is totally NOT planning on saying hello to me in this fashion? What do I do? I've definitely already crossed 80% of the journey from my space bubble to her cheek, so I rapidly start thinking through my options:

1. Retreat back to my own space bubble and pretend that I lost my balance, and was just awkwardly falling forward.
2. Continue through with my greeting and plant a couple of kisses on her cheeks, though she is a total stranger, and regardless of whether she deems this appropriate or not.

At this point, my face is about 2 inches from hers, and that's when she says, "are you from Rennes?" hahaha. "ummm, no, I'm American, but I currently live in Rennes" is the poised answer I almost whisper in her ear, though in my head I was thinking, "OBVIOUSLY I'm not from here -- can't you tell by how I'm standing inches from your face and having a conversation with you??"

Thinking this answer will explain our uncomfortable closeness (because I still haven't figured out if she's expecting me to do the bise or not) I go ahead and decide to give her kisses on the cheek. I mean, may as well make it as awkward as possible, right?

It's then that it dawns on me, that MAYBE she is waiting to do the bise with me, but doesn't normally lean in for the bise, but waits for people to come to HER -- it's possible, I guess and seems like a logical explanation. These things are probably things a French person knows, as the art of doing the bise is in their DNA, but for an American-African such as myself, I didn't realize it right away. Having justified my actions with that explanation, I felt a bit better of having kissed this old lady. So I step back into place, and notice that she's getting ready to do the same thing to Kirsten.

And almost the same scenario happens. Hahaha. Kirsten is leaning in readying to bise her, and the lady isn't moving an inch. By this point I'm cracking up, as I see what it looks like to the confused non-French outsider.

Thinking it my duty to help my fellow American, I start giving her nudges and semi-discreetly whispering "kiss her, kiss her" which just confuses poor Kirsten even more. The lady finally exerts herself a bit more and the bise happens.

As soon as she turned back around, Kirsten and I both had to fight the urge not to burst out in laughter. And that's when I realized she was the Pastor's wife. Hahaha. I knew who HE was, but had never met his wife. Until then.

Halle told us later that she was always like that -- not doing her part of coming 50% of the way... but waiting for people to come 98% of the way to greet her. Good to know.

Ahhhhh, the adventures continue! I can just hear Anne saying, "only you Dorsch. only you."

happy birthday erika!!!

2011-04-01T00:08:00.000+02:00

My little sister turned 19 today! Not so little anymore.

Shorty, some people in France wanted to wish you a happy birthday...be sure to read all of your notes! :)

This one deserves an up close of the drawing...
I especially like, "follow the yellow brick LANE" :)

And this is the best hug I can give you from afar!!! Wish I could do it in person!

I love you so much little sister!

Happy 19th birthday!!!

they're growing!!!!

2011-03-31T00:10:00.000+02:00

Look at the tiny little daisies that have started growing in my pot!!!!

Daisies are hands down my absolute favorite flower in the entire world. So you can imagine my elation when I received packets of daisy seeds from my bank in Kansas as a thank you for being a customer there. Those local banks in Kansas have their perks! :) I got them last summer, and had to patiently (or not so patiently) wait until now to plant them. And so about 3 weeks ago, I carefully planted the seeds, hoping to see signs of growth the next day. :) Unfortunately it takes 5-6 weeks for them to bloom, which seems like an eternity.

So here is what they looked like after I planted them.

And look what I saw today!!

There are 3 little sprouts coming up!!!!! It's sooooooo cool to watch them grow and to see progress!

This is indeed an exciting day.

On a totally unrelated note, I'm well into book 3 of The Hunger Games and they are A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!!!!

a new DIY project

2011-03-28T16:18:00.000+02:00

I've been working on a photo project for a while... people have been making fun of me for taking pictures of numbers. :) but the project is FINALLY coming to completion!!

here is a little sneak peak. :)

frenchifying my balcony

2011-03-27T00:05:00.001+01:00

Thanks to all of you who participated in my kitchen curtain dilemma. The verdict? Let's just put it this way: love is not the word I'd use to describe them... I will keep them until I can find other ones that I like more. While the lace is kind of vintage, I feel like it's the kind of grandma vintage that needs to be updated. I do really like the privacy that the curtains give though, so until I find others, I will keep them up.

Well... the adventures in France continue. Today was a fun fun day.

As it is Saturday, I went to the Saturday market and bought some more flowers. Yes, some more. I purchased some about 3 weeks ago, but they were having survival issues until recently, so I kept them a secret from you. :)

As many of you know, the French are INCREDIBLE gardeners. And by incredible, I mean, wow. There are flowers blooming everywhere and all of the public parks are beautifully manicured.

Speaking of beautifully manicured flowers... remember my neighbors balcony?

Well, their spring flowers are in bloom now, and are just as great as their fall flowers. Which makes me covetous and wanting to have an equally beautiful balcony.

SO, I have bought lots of flowers! :) I now have 12 primrose plants in balcony planters!! I thought they were pansies, until I saw pansies in the store and realized that they were NOT what I had growing on my balcony.

In order to plant the flowers I bought this morning, I needed dirt.

So this afternoon, Halle and I decided to venture out to a BIG flower / plant store to buy some.

The store was UNBELIEVABLE. I wanted one (or five) of everything.

Halle was inspired by the strawberry plants, and after reassurance that she could grow them on her balcony, she was hooked and bought 4 beautiful little plants. Future "yuuuuuuum"

But we still needed dirt. Which is when the big debate started. To buy today or not to buy? Because you see, we don't have cars, we go everywhere by bus. And we were at a store that was 20 minutes by bus to villejean, where we have to get on another bus for about 7 minutes to get to our stop, and then walk about 4 minutes.

And we each needed a 20 liter bag of dirt...which would mean, carrying VERY heavy stuff all the way home.

But it wouldn't be much of an adventure if we didn't awkwardly haul things on the bus, would it now? :)

So we did! It was HEAVY. Part way home on the bus, we got the giggles. :)

AND THEN

As I was walking up to my front door, guess who was standing with their hands full of grocery bags, waiting for the elevator? MY NEIGHBORS!! HA.

Oh the irony! :)

So one of them, noticing the balcony planters in my bag said, "ooh, you're going to plant things!" Ha. I was like, "yeah, I'm going to try. Hopefully it'll work!" To which he quickly responded, "oh there should be no reason why it would NOT work." And I got a big smile on my face because here I was... bonding with my neighbors and they were encouraging me in my garderning endeavors. :)

I didn't want to awkwardly cram in the elevator with them and all of their groceries AND my balcony planters, so I decided to act cool and climb the three flights of stairs (remember I have 20 liters of dirt in my hands...) and I was dead when I got to my door. Haha. But I was sooooooo happy!

And look at my balcony now! on it's way to becoming so French??