workin' workin'

Things are busy busy, we're working on the house as much as possible. Got the floor all nailed down yesterday. All of the plywood sheets that will be used as the floor upstairs all had to be put into place, cut to size and then screwed down - every 30cm. That was up to me and Mystery Guest. I went ahead and drilled little holes to make it easier to put the screws in and then he followed me with the battery powered screwdriver. That is a lot of screws people! It was nice and hot too so I'm beyond golden brown these days lol.After all that work on the house we ran home, got showered and decent and drove up to Cherbourg to go to the movies. There are 2 movie theaters in Cherbourg, one big multiplex which shows mainstream movies (and always dubbed) and a smaller one in the center of town that shows more artsy movies and sometimes subtitled. We were lucky enough for them to be showing Inglorious Bastards the same week it came out - in English! I'm sooooo glad we got to see it in English, we were cracking up at Brad Pitt's accent when no one else was and got some good comic relief from that :-)
All in all it was an excellent movie! Normally I'm not a huge fan of Quentin Tarantino's movies just because usually they are uber violent and that comedic violence of Kill Bill just doesn't do it for me... But this movie was just amazing, I think Christoph Waltz stole the show from Brad Pitt, he was unbelievable! Anyway go see it for yourselves :-)

It's Sunday and the weather is beautiful but we're happy to stay inside and veg a bit after cooking in the sun yesterday.

And I'm realizing that in just over a week I'll be going to my first office job ever.. hello! Talk about a big change coming up!! But I'm switching over to a new cell plan with BoogeyTel (that's how I like to say Bouygues) with 3G for my little iPhone so I'll be all connected while training it to Caen 5 times a week... :-)

another house update

We've been pounding away! Mystery Guest has 2 weeks of vacation so we've been trying to maximize the time - busy! The reason we've really got to get on it is that the roofer comes mid-September so the 2nd floor has to be ready for him by then! Eeeps! But we're coming along, the frame for the first floor is almost done, including the beams that will support the second floor. We're starting to cut the plywood pieces that wrap around the outside (and really make it look like a house!) but now have to get going on the second floor so it will be prepped. After the roof is on at least it will be waterproof on the inside and we can start with things (like insulation) that are not waterproof...

In other news I got a job offer!!!! A couple days ago I got a job offer where I had an interview a month ago starting September 1st. It's just a temporary contract (6-months) for now but with a possibility of extending that contract or getting a full time job (fingers crossed!) Never thought I'd work at a bank, this will be my first job with office hours! But it will be an interesting change, something new and at least I won't have any classes to prepare when I get home or on the weekends!

learning curve.... er rather straight

On this house project I'm the gopher, I hold posts in place and get tools for the boys suspended on ladders. Biiiig learning curve for this MilkJam - don't know what these tools are in English much less in French! Now I can go fetch des pieds de biche and fils a plomb with the best of 'em! (and use Wikipedia in French to find the English translations... )

FIL used to be in the construction business back in the day and his tools may have seen better days but they still cut it. We have the straightest wooden poles you could ask for!

MIA

Busy busy! Mystery Guest has these two weeks of August for vacation so we're gung ho on the house! Trying to get as many extra hands (and strong arms!) as possible! It's starting to take shape, we've got all the load bearing beams up and are now starting to link them all together to make them more stable. The weather's been interesting, yesterday it was well over 30C (over 85F) all day and almost no wind or shade to cool off - we all got sunburnt. Today it started off good but by the middle of the afternoon the clouds moved in and it started pouring buckets. Let's hope for a compromise tomorrow!

Yesterday we all cracked up when we saw a cow run across the field behind the house, about 30 seconds later a farmer followed him trying to get him back. We all cracked up. Then the cow turned around and headed back, then stopped and and looked towards us - then started coming our direction! The farmer followed him and we managed to shoo him over to another field. Good entertainment in the countryside!

So I'm pooped but just wanted to show some construction pictures. We're hiring independent contractors for the foundation, plumbing, electricity and roof but we (I should say the boys...) are doing the rest ourselves... makes for some long days!

peach pie

I just pulled my first peach pie out of the oven... it smells YUMMY!!! I followed my favorite book, The New Best Recipe. Except for 2 slight modifications: I bought my pie crust (honestly at 40cents a crust and they are gooood in France I'm not going to spend my time making them...) and I cut the sugar in half. I made this pie for the family-in-law and they don't like things really sweet. Otherwise it's looking nummers! I have to let it cool for at least 2 hours, which is fine. It's Sunday and we haven't even taken a shower yet before heading over to their house. Love lazy days.

Sun in V-town

Sitting outside my house having a drink at the cafe enjoying the sun &
a good book...ahhh!

Jersey

On Sunday Miss A-C drove up from Caen to come visit and we headed to the beach. While lounging on the sand dunes catching those afternoon rays we started talking about Jersey (the island, not the new one!) that we could see across the water. I said that it's so fun to go there and in the summer they often have specials for the ferry. She said the last time she was in England was in 6th grade on a class trip to - Jersey and has always wanted to go back. By Monday morning the tickets were bought (50e round trip for an adult in high season) from Granville. Yesterday we both got up at the buttcrack of dawn and drove down to Granville to catch our 10:45am ferry.

Going through customs on these little boats is always entertaining. A few years ago when Mystery Guest and I went to Guernsey the French outgoing customs forgot to stamp my passport and really were scratching their heads when I came back... "how did you leave?" I guess it wasn't too funny when I said I swam..

This time the French customs were on fire... "Wow a beautiful American passport!" they declared for the whole boatload of people to hear. "So you were born in Switzerland? But you have an American passport?" ... er, yes I'm American. "So where are you living now?" V-town. "Oh la la la out there? What are you doing there?" I'm a student (didn't feel like saying I'm unemployed...) "So what do you study????" uhh.. French? After a wink wink and a nudge nudge when they saw my Amsterdam stamp (uh yeah people I landed there from Seattle, not too into coffee shops... but whatever) They finally let me go.

Arriving in Jersey wasn't any better, they were very stiff-upper lip and grilling me about why I lived in France, why I was coming to Jersey, how long I was staying etc.. But finally let me in, much to the relief of my fellow passengers still green from the very bumpy crossing.

Jersey was fun! Last time I was there with Benette was before I started this blog and we had a great time exploring the whole island by bus, this time A-C and I opted for bike rentals and scooted our way out to the west of St Helier. We found some adorable port towns and a secluded beach where there were just a few kids playing pirate. It was so warm and the water was crystal blue so I quickly got my bathing suit and went for a dip! On the bike ride back (the bikes had to be returned before 5pm) we noticed some nasty looking black clouds approaching so we made the most of our sunshine with a delish Jersey ice cream - one of the best ice creams I've ever had! Tasted like real homemade ice cream, with lots of... well.. cream!

We dropped the bikes off and walked around the shops before they closed (why do stores in England close SO freaking early???) and thats when the downpour started... Buckets I'm telling you! There was no point taking out my umbrella because the wind would have carried it away... so we just suffered through it and went to go for a drink. Thanks to Facebook I found out a couple months ago that a Swiss exchange student who was in my hometown for a high school exchange had recently moved to Jersey! So I contacted him (10 years later...) and asked if he would want to meet up while we were there. So we went for an after-work drink before our ferry. It was perfect timing to get out of the rain and get caught up after 10 years! Thanks Facebook! For that and for Bejeweled Blitz (another reason this MilkJam hasn't been posting much... haha)

Right so this turned into a novel instead of a post so bravo for those who were curious enough (or bored enough) to make it to the end!

To sum things up Jersey rocks! Although I think if I were to go back to the Channel Islands I would prefer the hikes and bike rides of a quieter Guernsey or Sark to explore :-)

JPEG

I joined JPG magazine a long time ago but forgot about it... when I came across one of their new challenges I immediately though of a picture (the foot challenge) but that one isn't being voted on right now... soooo I got sucked into looking through my pictures to see if I could fit one of the themes. For color this is one I picked, perhaps not the best for the theme but I really like it.

So wonderful MilkJam followers, please go and have a vote if you have a few minutes! I'd sure appreciate it!

frozen

A few years ago I wrote about my discovery of bagels in Picard and the weirdness of a store that only sells frozen foods. Well today Mystery Guest and I decided to stop by similar store (no Picard in our neck of the woods) to see if they had bagels and this amazing chocolate cake... Well no bagels but they did have a similar cake... it is currently defrosting and we're about to dig in while watching True Blood - can't wait!

Here is the weirdness of the store for you to get a visual image...
No bagels but pancakes! lol Cracks me up that someone would pay 3e for 8 little tiny pancakes (frozen of course) instead of spending 5 minutes to make them... but I guess those are the same people that buy Bisquick at home!

house update

Things are really taking shape out where the house is being built, it has sure changed a lot since last time! They finally got the big rusty truck off the land (the former owner stuck it on the field behind... "for the moment" haha) and the ground was landscaped and the first part of the foundations were poured Friday! They're going to do the rest next week and things are getting all prepped for us to come and put together the frame etc in August!
(I love the picture of Mystery Guest leaping for joy on top of the gravel pile... now a classic!)

While we had our little picnic this afternoon I caught sight of a monster dragonfly buzz around in the grassy area behind us. I crept up on him and managed to shoot a good 20 pictures with him standing perfectly still. What a great model! ;-) I swear the thing was huge though! At least 2.5 or 3 inches long!!

a morning walk in V-town

This morning as Mystery Guest headed out the door I took a look outside and the torrential rain from yesterday had finally stopped. There were a few rays of morning sunlight so I headed out to catch V-town as it is waking up on a Saturday morning. There are some really beautiful hidden areas of town. There's one street I wanted to photograph but I got turned around and couldn't seem to find it. I'll go back though, it's all on my front stoop :-)

Bastille Day weekend

On Monday Mystery Guest and I jetted off near Etretat for the weekend. Unlike the dark clouds in this picture the weather was pretty much drop dead gorgeous both days. We had bbqs, swims in the pool and dips in the jacuzzi... I swear they need to start charging us to come! But besides the wonderful company and relaxing setting the real reason we went was to meet the newest member of the family! The little guy was born 2 days before we flew out to the States in May and weekends that go by too quickly made it hard to find the time to get out here. Boy are we glad we did, look at those little tootsies!!
He is just the sweetest baby ever! Just happy go lucky and smiling all the time, a real joy. Plus his mom asked me to do a photo session of him in the bath which was just so much fun to see him splashing around.

It was hard to leave but has been fun since we got back because there is some real progress on the house front... more pictures to come ;-)
(there would be some now but someone *er....? me??* forgot her memory card in the computer and not in the camera where it was supposed to be...)

Here are before and after pictures of the work we did today. We had to get the entryway prepped for the people who are going to come on Wednesday to do excavation work before the foundation is poured. Mystery Guest's parents came down to give us a hand and they brought tools! yea! and gloves! yea yea!
The story of the land itself is pretty funny. The guy who owned it is in his 80's and used it to store his crap. He had a little garage (more like a carport) for his trucks on the side of the property but about 25 years ago during a big storm it collapsed and wrecked his truck. Instead of cleaning it all up he just left it there and it was overgrown with all sorts of blackberry bushes, nettles and other random plants. You couldn't even see that there was a truck under all the mess!! Well the guy has started to clear it away and now the rusted skeleton of the truck is visible and he's supposed to clear it all away before Wednesday. We had to clear out all those lovely plants from the entryway, we thought it wouldn't take too long but low and behold there were a few surprises...
3 concrete EDF poles half buried
25-30 sheets of tin roofing half rusted away
bricks, cast iron tubs, big wooden logs that once held an electric fence...

Oh the joys of hidden treasure! lol But we came away unharmed (mostly save for a few blisters and stinging nettle scratches...) and are quite pleased with the results!

Public Enemies

Tonight we went out for some sushi and to go see Public Enemies. The sushi was excellent and the movie was well.. ok. The sound in the theatre was too low and it's never good to strain to hear a movie that and the filming was really weird. Half the time it felt like a documentary... with a slapstick editing job. Both of us felt the time drag on which is never a good sign. I did leave for a minute to ask the guy to turn up the volume but it didn't seem to change much.
That said maybe if you had a better sound system (by the way the soundtrack was excellent! I love Billie Holiday!) you might enjoy the movie a little more...
We also decided to go out to celebrate the official purchase of the land that will soon have a house on it! Mystery Guest signed all the papers and is now fully in debt but is now the proud owner of a huge chunk of land. My offer still stands for anyone wanting to show a little muscle and come help us out the beginning of August... any takers?? :-)

in a pickle

Well not really but it's such a great expression ;-) I tried my homemade pickles at dinner today - pretty good if I do say so myself with a good tang to them. They stayed pretty crunchy too. I kept them in the fridge because I was afraid since I was reusing a jar (and seal) it wouldn't be a good idea to keep them in the pantry. The jar still had a nice pop when I opened it though ;-)

And that crunch sure was better than the crunch I experienced the other day... there were a few cookies leftover from 4th of July so Mystery Guest and I polished them off. As I was crunching through the chunks of chocolate I bit down on something hard. Ok this is really weird but this little round piece of metal was baked in my cookie! I showed it to Mystery Guest and he said that he realized it was those little spots on a knife handle that cover up the screws (does that make sense?) sure enough afterwards the big knife I used to chop up the chocolate was missing one... and the stupid thing chipped my molar!! Dangerous cookies....

And I know (since I'm doing a big 'ole update...) that you're all waited with baited breath about the job hunt... I had an interview at a bank for an English speaking position. That might turn into something. The interview went very well, they're basically looking to expand their team sometime in Septemberish and want people on hand to start right away once the higher ups give the ok on the expansion. As a back up I'm still applying for jobs left and right and am going to send my CV to the Rectorat the end of Aug for subbing positions if all else fails.

In the meantime we're jetting off for part of this long holiday weekend to Etretat to visit some friends and meet their new son for his 2 month birthday!

Cherbourg

Bayeux 2009

Here's a little glimpse of all the fun we had in Bayeux today for their annual Medieval Festival (held the 1st weekend of July). The weather was fantastic, not too hot, not too cold. There were a few too many people but a great atmosphere and they added a whole new area at place de gaulle with lots of demonstrations and activities. So fun!!

We stayed for about 2 hours, wandering up and down streets until we had seen all we wanted to see. Then we came back home and decided it was a beach day so we drove out to Mystery Guest's parents for an afternoon of relaxing on the beach and a (quick) dip in the sea.

Ahhhh weekends in the summer... :-)

happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July!!! For America's 233rd birthday I was invited to a BBQ in Bayeux at an American woman's house. She and her husband have 2 kids and there were other Franco-American-whathaveyou children running around. This little girl is half American, half English and growing up in France. She is just a doll and beautiful in that little dress grandma sent! We feasted on hamburgers, potato salad, watermelon, baked beans - the works! The weather was beautiful and sitting in the sun all afternoon works for me!

Oh and everyone liked my cookies :-) a big hit as usual!

Tomorrow Mystery Guest and I are going back to check out the medieval festival they put on every year - can't wait!!

hot hot hot

Well I dragged myself into the kitchen this afternoon, we've been having a heatwave (I'm not complaining! I looooove hot days but wish the beach were closer...) Anyway, hasn't really made me want to cook but I was invited to a 4th of July bbq in Bayeux tomorrow and last time I was invited to this lady's house I brought my cookies and they were a BIG hit so I offered to bring more. The dough is in the oven to chill for a bit. In this heat if I stuck them in the oven right now they wouldn't stay in nice cookie shapes but form a monster cookie me thinks.

Annnd after reading about making your own dill pickles I was inspired today at the market when I saw pickling cucumbers this morning. Usually in France you find those long cucumbers, which I adore, but I spotted some short fat ones that look just like the ones she used in her recipe. At only 50 cents each I snapped on up to try. I also managed to fenangle some fresh dill from the same lady. I've never seen fresh dill sold as an herb here (dried only) but it was attached to the bulb (finocchio) so I asked her if she could snip some of the dill off for me - score! Free dill! The spice lady also had mustard seeds for a euro a package so I picked some of those up too. Anyway I followed the recipe as best I could (without canning tools) and figured I'd keep the pickles in the fridge after canning them (instead of in the cupboard). I can't wait to try them!! (just found out they have to sit for at least 3 weeks... boo! oh well the wait will just make them taste better!) Grrr... turns out fennel and dill are NOT the same thing, even though they use the same word in French... I wonder how it's going to taste...

Phh I'm beat! I escaped the kitchen and am going to tackle some admin phone calls to the Prefecture (surprise surprise my carte de sejour wasn't ready after all... grr!) and the ANPE but something tells me the reason they're not answering their phone is that they've decided to take Friday afternoon off... grr...

Iced coffee

On these hot days an iced coffee tastes juuuust right after lunch :-)
To make one here's my MilkJam ice coffee recipe:
- 1 sachet if instant coffee (or 2tsp)
- cold milk
- sugar (I used agave syrup because it dissolves better, could try maple syrup or honey maybe?)
- ice, or frozen coffee cubes like I so as not to water down my frappé
as they melt...

Stir well making sure you fully dissolve the coffee granules and enjoy!

* the red heart Ikea ice cube trays are not a requirement but sure are fun! ;-)

Test 2

iPhone test...

sunday breakfast

Normally we have a tradition of Sunday Morning Pancakes at the start of Mystery Guest's weekend but today after watching an episode of MasterChef Australia (still totally addicted) we decided to try some of Gary's scones. We followed the recipe as written minus the lemon zest and dates (no lemons or dates on hand). They turned out pretty good! Especially with some fresh mara des bois strawberries on the side...

Test

test.

my iphone (or blogger) has a bug that when I send a picture to my blog via email from my iPhone it shows up as a broken jpg... but randomly it works from Mystery Guest's iPhone... too weird...

Saint Lô

I took the bus down to the capital of our department today where the Rectorat offered me 15 hours of teaching intensive English classes before the school year starts. I've got tons of time to kill until my bus so I thought I'd share some random St Lô festival... What's with the Indians & western theme??



Sent from my iPhone

vroom vroom

Just a quick driver's license update.. I've spent the whole morning on the phone doing all sorts of different things, but one good thing is that I called the DDE to see if they've gotten me a new date to pass the code. I had received a letter a few days ago saying that I would be getting a date sometime in September. I also asked if there was any possibility of either taking it in English or having more time etc because I'm not a native French speaker. He said there is 1 test offered every 3 months for non-francophones and the next one is September. So if I have to wait until September anyway I might as well take that one! It will still be in French but I'll get more time per question and if there is difficult vocab I can ask for a definition. I just think that the testing environment will be less stressful that way and I might not choke the way I did last time..

I also found out that my new carte de sejour is ready and waiting for me at the Prefecture. Problem is that my old one hasn't expired yet so they won't send me the new one. Say WHAT? It just cracked me up that they've actually managed to get a new one done before the old one expires! Normally I'd be waiting a good 4 months for a new one! I just can't believe it! Or the fact that it was the easiest carte de sejour to get ever! All I had to do was send a few documents (in the mail, not even through the mairie):

-proof of address
-copy of my old carte de sejour
-70 euros of OMI stamps
-my last paystub
-the formula they had sent me to fill out

That's it! No PACS docs or anything... I'm still holding my breath but it sounds like I'll have that puppy in my hot little hands next Tuesday! Wow...

MilkJam socks!

I finally finished those socks I started back in April! My first pair of socks for me :-) (Please ignore the pasty-white legs, my shoulders have gotten some color - wish I could say the same about my legs!)
I feel much more comfortable knitting socks now, I understand the layout and how it all works so these ones were finished much faster than the other ones, even the 2nd sock in this pair seemed to go a lot quicker :-)
Mom gave me some beautiful sock yarn from home, I can't wait to experiment with it!

Tea Forté

When we went to the States in May we stayed at a friend's house in Oregon. I felt bad arriving empty handed, and even worse when she gave me a gift! She gave me some Tea Forté saying it was all the rage in the tea and coffee shops downtown.

I see why! I brewed some a few days after we got back and it is probably the best ice tea I've ever tried! (none of that naaaasty NesTea stuff! eww!!) It's not bitter at all and the flavors are really there.. YUM!

I'm trying to savor these tea bags, the box only came with 12 bags but so far we've tried the blackberry/pomegranate, and wild ginger/pear and they are both amazing... I have some ceylon gold chilling in the fridge as we speak for tomorrow... :-)

(Here's the French site if you're interested, I was surprised to see they had one!)

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Norman Adventures Day 3

Mont Saint Michel and a service in the abbey, castle ruins near Coutances, a beautiful sunny day, salted butter caramel ice cream... ahh priceless!

i'm alive!

Just a quick little update, Mom & KC are here visiting and it's been busy! But busy in a good way, so far (knock on wood) the weather's been stunning. We've eaten lots of yummy galettes and been on the road visiting the northern coast of the Cotentin, the Dunes and then today all the D-Day sites (Arromanches, Bayeux, the American Cemetery, Pointe du Hoc, and Sainte Mere Eglise!).

More to come later, but for now you'll have to live with just a little collage :-)

touched

Inside the church in Barfleur.

I've been tutoring a sweet 13 year old girl in English since February. She saw my ad in a bakery and wanted desperately to get into seconde euro next year. She does fine in English but was not exceptional and mostly lacked a lot of confidence. We met once a week on Saturday morning and in the beginning we did very school based activities but it evolved into conversation, I didn't feel like I was doing a ton besides talk to her but I guess that's what she needed! In March she came over one week grinning from ear to ear; on her recent English test she got 20/20! Her grades continued to get better and better, for her oral exam the teacher couldn't see himself giving her a 20/20 so he gave her an 18, she was extatic!

Then it was crunch time, she had an interview coming up with the English profs to see if she'd get into that class next year. We worked really hard on what she should say and what kind of questions they might ask, personally I thought she sounded great. I told her not to stress out too much and she would probably be fine.

On Monday I texted her to ask how it went. Terrible, she answered.

My heart sank, we worked so hard and this little beanpole is obsessed with physics and math and knows that she already wants to be an astrophysicist- at age 13. She's a smart cookie and knows that as a scientists research and conferences are done in English and while it's not her strongest subject being in this class will help get her to where she needs to be.

Yesterday I got another text, she was accepted afterall!

Today she came over for one last session before her exams and the summer vacation with a red rose. So sweet.

still huntin'

Job hunt update:

After my interview on Tuesday with the social security place I decided that since they would only be offering a contract of 1 month paid minimum wage and that it would likely fall right when my Mom and KC would be here visiting (they arrive tomorrow! yea!) that I would turn it down.

Well they beat me to it, calling me yesterday saying they had picked someone else.

I figured they probably would, it makes more sense for them to have a native French speaker who speaks English fluently than the other way around, but it would have been nice if I were the one who told them no even though the end result is the same!

The other job interview I had at the private school in Caen got back to me yesterday, they can only offer me 3 hours a week. They said they totally understand if I don't take it but that it would be wise of me to get my foot in the door. The problem that I have with that (and I need to email back for more clarification) is that from what I understand that "door" is a vacataire position without much chance of leading to a permanent job .. not really a door that I want to get my foot into. Especially since if I do get another job offer during the year and I end up not being able to take it because I'm stuck with 3 measly hours somewhere else...

So now back to scratch I guess... anyone know if McDo is hiring?

Obamarama

Well now that I can finally sit down to write a decent post last Saturday has just been mulled over in my head too much and I can't figure out what I'd like to say!

The day was amazing, too much waiting but so worth it! The complication was that Sam came in the day of instead of the day before and as the train station in Caen got rid of their lockers after 9/11 and the shuttle wouldn't allow you to take anything more than a handbag we had to figure out what to do do with her bricks... er suitcase. Luckily Natalie was also planning to go to the ceremonies so we were able to leave it in her basement (not up the 5 flights of stairs to her apt...) that also meant that we had to take the shuttle back to Caen (unbelieveably disorganized after the ceremony, it was so well done on the way there but such a mess on the way home...) get her bag and then grab a train back to V-town. All the waiting wouldn't have bothered me so much except for the fact that I had to get to Caen only to go 3/4 of the way home again (we don't live far from the cemetery) and then do the whole thing in reverse!

But I must say that the ceremony was beautiful, as was the cemetery. It turned out to be a hot summer day, quite different from June 6th 65 years ago... the battleships off in the distance almost transported you back in time and the few veterans that made it this year were proudly wearing their medals. Sadly although we were only halfway back in the crowd of 9,000 we were behind the TV cameras and so we couldn't see any of the speeches. I thought all of them were very good but I have to say I prefered Obama's, just because he wasn't saying the same thing over an over despite the fact that he was last to go. And yes, Gordon Brown did rename one of the beaches, Obama Beach ;-)

One thing that struck me was the respect, respect for the place, the day and the veterans. I'm always shocked at how poorly elderly people seem to be treated in France, brushed aside by someone in a hurry, those big sighs and exhales as people wait impatiently in line behind someone taking a while to pay, no one offering to give up a seat in public transport... but on Saturday all that changed and it was really refreshing.

So anyway it's been busy around here since Saturday! Sam came over and although she arrived with sun and departed with sun it mostly rained all day Sunday/Monday... we did our best to try and play tourist and take a few pictures between showers but I guess that way she got a real taste of Normandy ;-)

I'm now getting ready for Mom and KC's visit! They're arriving Sunday and staying for a week! Mystery Guest and I are writing out a whole list of things we can do or show them while they're here! I'm so excited that I'm not working or caught up in something and that I can just enjoy my week :-) Let's just hope the weather cooperates!

D-Day

The lovely Sam is visiting right now so I'll be sure to write more about this later but I wanted to leave you with some pictures of a wonderful day!

d-day

Just a quick post, I'm off to go see OBAMA tomorow at the American Cemetery but walking to the grocery store this morning I saw a bakery's window decorations - WWII stickers and American/British flags in the window. This last week I've seen WWII era jeeps, 2 fighter planes flying overhead this afternoon and flags everywhere! The tiniest villiage around here has Allied flags all down the main streets...

I'll be sure to post some pictures tomorrow! I can't wait! It will be a long day but so worth it!

crusin'

Yesterday I had my second lesson at the auto-ecole... I had the same moniteur, who looks about my age, as last time. He's really nice and a great teacher. I finally mastered starting on a hill in a stick shift - without rolling 5 feet back! Whoot! He also explained how the test would work, 25 minutes of driving including 2 of a possible 6 manouvers (parking, parallel parking, backing up along a sidewalk etc..) We practiced some of those and other than the fact that I didn't control the reverse gear too well he thought I did totally fine. When he asked if I passed the code my face dropped though.. so he said that I might as well wait to take other lessons until after I pass my code since I have to wait 3 months.

Other good news on the job front, I had an interview on Tuesday with a private school in Caen. It went really well but I'm not sure yet how many people they'll hire or how many hours they will offer (but at least its paid veeeerry well hourly!) I also got a call from one of the social security organizations, they had posted a job offer for a temp job on an English speaking hotline position a while back but when they called I was really busy and hadn't finished my assistantship job yet but they said they would keep my CV on file and they sure did! I've got an interview lined up on Tuesday. I have no idea how long they would need someone, how many hours or how well it's paid but could be random to work on a hotline!

I've also been called twice in the last 2 days by the school district looking for more subs! The first one I couldn't because I would need a car (grrr) and the second one was outside of Caen - feasible on public transport but with a 2 hour commute each way I thought it would be a lot on top of the 18 hours of work a week for at least several weeks... But she said when I called back that someone else was interested anyway - perfect!

Otherwise I'm getting all geared up to go see Obama on Saturday! Sadly our beautiful summer weather seems to be turning and it looks cloudy and/or showers on Saturday... I guess he might get to see our beautiful "norman sunshine" afterall! :-)

photo collage

Just thought I'd throw up a little photo collage from our walk today. The weather was unbelievable, more like August than the beginning of June! We went geocaching but since it was a holiday there were tons of people out and about picnicking on that spot so we're going to save that cache for when Mom & KC come in 2 weeks :-) They'll love it out there!

proof!

Yea!! I finally got my diploma!! It was sad not having a graduation and the recognition of my Master's work in a public way like we're used to at home but it is very nice to have my diploma (now I just need to buy a frame..!)

Woooot!!! I think I'll go find myself a cap & gown and have my own private ceremony with a glass of champagne...

dun dun dun!

Well I'm finally going to let the cat out of the bag... there's been something that I've wanted to announce for the last couple months but first I wanted to make sure that it was going to happen and then second I guess, well, life got in the way and I couldn't devote the time I needed to make sure I wrote this when I had the time.

Ready? (no, I'm not pregnant, I know that's going through your minds!)

Sure?

Well Mystery Guest and I are going to build a house!! Yes! A house of our own!! There has been a ton of paperwork to do, we had to make an offer (which was accepted) on the land, then get a bank to give us a loan (that's finishing up now) all the while making the plans for the house and submitting those to get a building permit, all the joys of administration!

But it's finally coming together! The land is beautiful, about 15 minutes from V-town out in the countryside where we went kayaking last year. It's huge piece of land, about 4,000 m2 - which is HUGE, about an acre I think! The house is going to be a wooden house, 2 floors, 4 bedrooms and 2 baths! It is an enormous project and thank god Mystery Guest's parents have a lot of experience building a house, they've been helping us since the beginning, what documents to get and send, how to plan the house etc...

So things are finally starting to come together and we're looking to put together the house the first 3 weeks of August (the framing etc) with Mystery Guest, his dad and brothers before we call in the electrician, plumber etc. Sooooo anyway want to come raise our house with us? :-) We could use the extra hands and in return you'll get a tour of the lovely Norman countryside annnnd get some big muscles that will look smokin' in a bathing suit on your beach vacation at the end of August ;-)

yeah!! knitting baby!

I couldn't find how to put the video directly in this post but BRAVO Aimee!

http://www.france24.com/fr/20090518-arts-de-vivre-tricot-tendance-wool-gang-pret-a-porter

that time of year again...

... for all the Administration running around to do! Last Sunday I sat down with my MIL to do my French taxes (let's not talk about American taxes yet...). Normally French taxes are just about the easiest things ever, once you've filed once the forms come to you pre-filled out and all you have to do is verify the numbers and sign it, off it goes!

Buuut since Mystery Guest and I got PACSed last year it made things a bit more complicated. We each had to declare separate "single" tax forms from January 01 to March 11th and then a joint tax form from March 12th to December 31st. That meant breaking down the pay-per-day rate and hours worked per day and then calculating all kinds of funkyness for the month of March. Good news is we will probably get a refund for our combined low salary (whereas I probably would have paid taxes had I stayed single).

Then it was off to tackle my carte de sejour renewal. I had called the sous-prefecture in Cherbourg a couple months ago to ask if I could renew it there, if Mystery Guest was required to come with me, what documents were needed etc. He obviously hadn't delt much with carte de sejours so he was the nicest fonctionnaire ever and called the main prefecture for me! Then he called me back (I know! Gasp!) and sent me an letter containing a list of all the documents needed and a form to fill out and send to the main prefecture. I finally got the list together (needed special stamps to pay for it, new photos etc) and sent it off today. I figured since there was 70e worth of stamps on my application I would send it registrared mail, worth the extra 4e for a little piece of mind I guess...) If they except my meager list of documents (I swear there were only like 5 things to provide, non of them being proof of PACS or anything..) this will be by far the easiest carte de sejour ever!

After reading about Erica's experience, I think as soon as I get a job for next year I'll go ahead and apply for citizenship, that should be a fun paperwork treasure hunt...!

I also found out that I'll have to wait at least 3 months to pass the code again, oh well, more time to study...

Work went well today, I told those very badly behaved 8th graders that the crap they pulled was unacceptable and that all the work we would do today would be graded at the end. That snapped them into place (sort of, it was still amazingly noisy... couldn't hear myself explain something to one of the kids less than 1 foot away...) Tomorrow I finish up with 2 hours and my two favorite classes, the little tykes, they're so dang cute!

The O-man comes to Normandy!

My computer has been out of service as Mystery Guest transfers my data to my BIG new harddrive so I haven't gotten the chance to reply to comments, but I will!
Buuuut I couldn't wait to share the news that I got on the US Embassy list to get an invitation to attend the D-Day ceremony with OBAMA June 6th!!!!! Woooooot!!!
That, my friends, is the highlight of my week!! :-)

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oh le code... and other news..

So those of you who see me on Facebook know that I alas did not pass the written exam for my driver's license.. I'm totally annoyed at myself, I just don't test well at all and I think I got myself into this huge stressed out state before the exam. With each question I kept thinking, oh maybe this is a trick question, and wrestled with my gut instinct. I think that's what killed me because there were only really 2 or 3 questions that I didn't honestly have any idea about the answer and the rest I just was so stressed out that I couldn't see straight. Gotta love it when you're called up in front of an auditorium full of people and hear the guy say inadmissible... On my paper it was printed out that I got 33/40 and you can't have more than 5 mistakes or you fail.

I'm off to resend my dossier to try to get another appointment but it is just so disappointing, I'm really disappointed with myself and now I'm going to probably have to wait another couple months which means just that much longer that I'm stuck without wheels... especially when the guy at the auto-école said I wouldn't need many lessons before passing the driving part.. big sigh..

But there is some good news, I miiiiight be able to get a ticket with the Normandy Chapter of Democrats Abroad to go see Obama speak for the D-Day celebration on June 6th!! I don't want to get my hopes up but I'd LOOOOOVE to be able to go!

I also wrapped up another morning at the collège where I'm teaching this week. I've got 3 groups (6th, 7th and 8th graders for 15 hours this week). Yesterday started off really well with a hyper (but friendly) group of 7th graders (5èmes) but then it all went downhill with 2 unbearable classes of 8th graders... they just could NOT stop talking for the whole hour, I'm not one to waste my breath so let's just say we didn't get much done (but what can you in 1 week of subbing?) This morning however went really well, I had an adorable class of 6 graders who were just the sweetest and then a reasonably nice group of 8th graders (the only nice group according to the other teachers...) so I've got those annoying kids again this afternoon but I'm almost halfway through the week, just Thursday and Friday left :-) I'll be sure to keep you updated on the whole experience!

rollin' rollin'

Wow so much has happened recently that I'd like to write about (but then get distracted by MasterChef - Australia ... umm thanks Cara) and just haven't gotten to it.

First and coming up very quickly is my written driver's test. I have to take it Monday morning and the stress levels are mounting! I've been taking practice tests all day, reading those booklets (does anyone else find it surprising that I can't seem to find a government driver's book anywhere online? Dude, how much money do those auto-ecoles make!?!) and I still can't seem to get anywhere close to less than 5 answers wrong (out of 40) and that test is a b*^($# - if you'll excuse my French - they don't tell you how you're doing as you go! Plus there can be more than one right answer, or just one, and you don't know... pfff!

Annnnyway venting here. So I'm plugging away at that, fingers crossed. The good news is that I did my first hour of driving today and I was really nervous to get behind the wheel (yes, I've got 3,000km under my belt from the last 2 weeks but I haven't done much driving in Franceland, muchless with a stick!) but the guy was about my age and really nice. He had me drive around in V-town and in the countryside (on those little roads where you wonder how 2 cars can get by...) and I only stalled once! Hooray! He actually said he thought I did pretty good with a stick and that I could probably take about 5 lessons and be in good enough shape to pass the test (at 35e an hour that's good news!) and if dates and stuff work out I might have my licence around the beginning of July!* It was nerve racking having someone sitting next to you analyzing how you're driving but I don't think he touched his pedals so I'm happy about that.

The other good news is that the Rectorat has officially hired me as a subsitute teacher! I'm on the list to teach English in junior high or high school level so I'm on their list baby! I start next week for 1 week teaching 15 hours in a junior high in V-town! Yeah for the 10 minute walk commute, boo for all the days off preventing me from contacting the school to see if the teacher left anything for me to do ... so I'm just going to prepare the classes as if nothing is prepared and hope it all works out, especially since I don't know junior high levels that well. It should be a good experience and a week should be just the right amount of time :-)

There was also some other things from our trip that I would like to write about but I'd like it to formulate better in my head before writing it down, we'll see if I get to that ;-)



*This is of course depending on me passing the test Monday and continuing to do well during my driving lessons...

Road Trip recap

Wow so where did I leave off?? We finally made it back up to my hometown on the Olympic Peninsula after long hours in the car and just vegged for the next couple days. The weather was beautiful and on Saturday we went out for a spin on Pax (Mom & KC's beautiful wooden boat). I always love seeing town from the water, you could imagine how it would have looked 100 years ago... not much has changed actually!

I tried to make a little photo collage to help me sort through the 4G of pictures that I took...! To give you an idea - I'll have to get some of them blown up eventually. But right now jetlag is kicking my butt so the noodles in my brain aren't working too well! The trip back was really long, we left at 6am to take 2 ferries and drive over to the airport where we had a direct flight to Amsterdam and then a quick connection to Paris which all went well. Then we were picked up and got our car from a friend's house where it was all safe for the time we were gone. Driving the 3 hours home was hard! We stopped a couple times in rest stops to sleep, all in all from door to door it was almost exactly 24 hours - Mystery Guest didn't sleep on the plane and I had only slept maybe a total of 2 hours with little naps. Managed to stay up until 9 last night and slept most of the night. Poor guy had to go to work today (not a happy camper) and I'm trying to organize the mounds of paperwork I have for job interviews (yea!), passing the code (boo!) and other fun stuff that is all coming up very quickly!

So I'll leave you with that little tidbit for now. I'm so glad I got to go home and I'm really glad that I was able to share such a wonderful adventure with Mystery Guest... now it's time to work off all those American calories...!

Oregon

We drove up to the Rogue River where we camped in a yurt!! It was
something that I've always wanted to do! Especially given the fact
that our poor air mattresses deflated on us the night before.. I tell
you, yurts are the way to go! We didn't have enough time to go rafting
but we did enjoy the hot weather (about 26C) and walks along the
riverbank trails!

The next day we drive through farmland dotted with red barns to Crater
Lake- another place I'd always wanted to see! The weather was
fantastic but COLD! The still had 6feet of snow so the main lodge was
open but none of the rim drives, still unbelieveable though!

Then we hit I-5 and made it up to Salem to stay the night with a dear
friend and her family.

Yesterday we left and drove over to Silver Falls- spectacular! Then a
yummy brunch at Ihop for Mystery Guest to try an American
institution! ;-) and finally we drove through nasty weather (our
first!) to the coast where we spent several hours (and euros!) at the
outlet mall before making a toasty fire at the cabin where we stayed
last night... More tales to come but just a brief post to get you all
caught up ;-)

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The giants

We're driving along hwy 101 on our way up the west coast, last night went camping in the beautiful Humboldt State park and now I'm waiting for my breakfast at a roadside diner... Ahhh vacation!!!

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Road trippin'

Wow did I sleep hard last night!! basically since we left las vegas we've done nothing but drive! I knew it would be long hours in the car but let's put it this way, we've already listened to my & mystery guest's iPhone music collections - several times! Great fun though, singing along at the top of your lungs on a wide open road!!! (LA traffic? Not so fun...) Yesterday morning we drove down to Orange County to visit my grandparents, it was a quick visit but very good to see them and they were so happy to finally meet MG! They took us out to a delish Mexican restaurant (maragaritas!!) and the time we had with them was so nice :-) Then we hit the road I5 allllllll the way up to the bay area where my dad lives, with only two short breaks but nice to wake up this morning and not have to jump in the car! We have until Sunday here to visit with them before the real adventure begins - driving back up to the Olympic penninsula! We plan on camping along the way and taking in some natural beauty (the redwoods, crater lake, the Oregon coast etc..) I can't wait! Talk about a vacation to clear your mind :-) oh, don't worry I already have over 400 pictures to upload when we get home!! Lol



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Southwest

I'm sitting in an AC motel in southern California, it's been a busy 24 hours! We saw Red Rock Canyon, Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon & the desert around Area 51!
Sleeping now... Tired...!!

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americana

Well we're over our jetlag and getting ready for our road trip! The last few days have been great, we had superb weather yesterday, watched the hummingbirds feed while we ate breakfast, hot tubs at night and introduced my Mom and KC to geocaching! We found 2 out of 3 of them (one of them I think went missing because it really wasn't there!) I've already taken over 200 pictures on my big camera and several on my iPhone (check facebook if you want to see those, the rest I'll wait until we get back to France to upload)

We also had some fantastic food (besides the corn on the cob Mom made open faced sandwiches with goat cheese, grilled eggplant/tomatoes topped with basil! I love summer food!) Today was a little grey so we started getting ready for our trip and headed downtown for some pizza. I also grabbed Mystery Guest a root beer to try - his first! Most Europeans don't like it at all, he said it wasn't bad but he's not a big soda drinker to begin with so when he said he liked it just as much as coke I think that's pretty amazing!

But we haven't just been eating! It's been nice to see my family and get ready for our trip knowing that we'll come back here before flying out. So tomorrow isn't goodbye but see you in bit! :-)

I'm so curious to see what Vegas is like, I'm sure it will be like what I'm expecting but at the same time be totally different. The Grand Canyon I'm sure will be fabulous and I'll get to see my grandparents, all in all it should be great! Posting will be sporadic but I'll try to upload iPhone pictures from wifi hotspots as we go... :-) I hope everyone in Franceland enjoyed a nice long weekend and is gearing up for another one! Love the month of May :-)

I'm home!

Yea!! Arrived home yesterday afternoon, it was of course a loonnng trip to Seattle but it went very smoothly. On Friday morning we got dropped off at the airport with lots of time to spare, checked in and boarded our DIRECT flight to Seattle! 10 hours (and lots of movies later - LOL was actually really good!) we arrived! Normally my mom would come to pick us up but the main bridge with allows access to my home town is out for 6 weeks - so we took a very bumpy 10-person plane to the next town over and she picked us up. It was a beautiful day, the first nice day they've really had, so we got some great views from the plane! More to come but I'll let you drool over dinner from last night...!!!

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