Rehoboth

Jube and I went to Rehoboth Beach last weekend. We biked, body surfed, ate ice cream and frozen bananas, and in general enjoyed a 3-day weekend. Nice.

An arty Jube photo.

I wore this hat the whole time.

Body surfing!

Bye-bye, Rehoboth! We will miss you!

Guatemala

Last weekend, my mom and I went to Guatemala. I have to admit that I've never really been tempted to go to Central or South America - I've always dreamed of Europe and Asia. But when one of my old friends went to Peru and my good friend Catherine sent me information about an extremely reasonably priced package to Guatemala, I called my mom and we booked the trip.

I am so glad that I did! Guatemala exceeded all of my expectations (though I admit I wasn't expecting much). First of all, I left hot and muggy Washington, DC for the "land of eternal spring" - the weather was in the 70s the whole time. Wonderful. Second, the food was great and cheap! I ate tasty steak, black beans, fresh cheese, guacamole, smooth coffee, and more. Finally, I visited cities, villages, and Mayan ruins: the perfect combination. I was able to take my mind off of everything else that was stressing me out for an entire 4 days!

We started of in Guatemala City, but the next morning we were off to Antigua Guatemala.


Here, you can see a stone fountain used for laundry. It is free. There are several of them throughout the city in front of different churches. They attracted Mayan women, and then the missionaries took the chance to try to convert them. (It didn't work very well, although the fountains are still in use today.)

After Antigua, we went to Chichicastenango.


This is the cemetery. It was painted in bright, beautiful colors, and was on a hill across from the main town.


These children dressed up and did the dance of the conquista for us. They weren't especially good, but they were cute!


The day after Chichicastenango, we went to Copan in Honduras. Although Tikal is the largest and most impressive Mayan city in Guatemala, we didn't want to take a flight (and we didn't want to spend the money, either!). Instead, we took a 10-hour round-trip bus ride to Honduras. Copan was amazing!


We saw wild macaws and all sorts of other birds in the jungle. This was the hottest we'd been on the trip, since we weren't in the mountains any longer. It was truly awe inspiring to see such old, beautiful, and well-preserved ruins!


This is Gallo beer. We all fell head over heels for the light, crisp taste of "the best beer of Guatemala." We liked it so much, in fact, that our Copan driver called us "the Gallo girls" on the way home.

We had such a great time that we were already planning our next trip! Maybe Cancun and Tikal? Maybe Peru and Machu Picchu? Who knows?!

Roland Garros

About a month ago, Jube and I visited his family in France. We took the opportunity to do one of the things I've wanted to do since spending the last week of May with his father in 2003: attend Roland Garros in person!

We saw lots of doubles - women's, men's, and mixed. The most fun was watching men's doubles with a French team against a Spanish team. Unfortunately the French men were quite outclassed - one of the Spanish members was Nicolas Almagro, who ended up in the quarter final against Rafael Nadal, this year's (and most other years') winner.


We also watched a team with this Polish player, Agnieska Radwanska. She missed a shot and shouted at the sky at one point. Beau-papa, whose mother was Polish, told us that she was saying "oh la raquette!" Later we found out that he had absolutely no idea what she was saying.

I loved our short visit, and we all decided we wanted to go back again.

Pas Prudent!

When Jube and I were still living in Montpellier, we used our bikes to travel everywhere. We used the bus lanes instead of the sidewalks, and once an old lady yelled at us as we were crossing her path, "Pas prudent! Pas prudent!"* We now say this whenever someone tells us that we should be more careful, or that something we did was stupid... for example, one of my new colleagues told me that she had never used the public bus in her entire life. "You just couldn't use the bus in Hampton Roads," she said, "it was too dangerous!" Jube and I used the HR Public Transit system often before we bought our car, and I'm sure we would have looked at each other and hissed, "Pas prudent!" at this announcement.

Anyway, we had a pas prudent moment in July, when I'd picked him up at the airport and was driving him back to Norfolk. We took Route 17 to 95 to 64, and it took about an hour on each of these roads. As we were entering 95 from 17, we noticed a blond surfer-looking dude at the side of the road with a sign that said "Virginia Beach." We chuckled for a moment that he would never find a ride down there, and then we both said, "Why don't we give him a ride?"

I've never hitchhiked or picked up a hitchhiker, but Jube has done both in France. So we pulled over and two blondies crammed themselves into the back of our little car. It turned out that they were Russians, in the US on summer J-1 (working holiday) visas, and had traveled all around the US by Greyhound. They were finally out of money and had resorted to hitchhiking.

They were very well mannered young men from Siberia, and my only problem with them was that they kept talking. I had been ready for a nap, but unfortunately I let slip that I knew quite a bit about immigration processes, and they kept asking me for information about their visas.

By the time we arrived in Norfolk, we didn't want to drive all the way to Virginia Beach, so we dropped them off downtown outside of the library. They gave us a nu-metal CD (I had unwisely told them that Jube liked heavy metal) and their gratitude.

Whenever I tell anyone about our hitchhiking adventure, they all say the same thing. "I can't believe you picked up hitchhikers! That's so dangerous!"

Jube and I catch each other's eye, and we both think the same thing. "Pas prudent!"



*Not careful!

Ouf!

I'm sure that everyone has been wondering what's happened to me in the past two weeks. No? No one? Well, I'll tell you anyway!

Jube and I bought tickets to come to France! We bought them about a week before we arrived and decided not to post about it on the blog so as not to alert Belle-maman. She was very surprised to see us, and very happy too! Of course, there were some hics to our trip... I guess it's impossible to fly trans-Atlantic without having something go wrong. So here's the story:

I am returning to the US about 10 days before Jube for various reasons. Weirdly, my plane ticket was much more expensive than his, so we decided to fly on different airlines to save some money. He flew with Iberia, switching in Madrid, and I flew British Airways, changing airports and planes in London. We normally fly British Air, because for some reason, the tickets to the south of France are usually cheaper. I know that a lot of people have had problems with them, but they've never lost my bags or anything, so I like them.

No problems, that is, until this time. My flight from Washington was nearly two hours late. I rushed as fast as I could to Gatwick, and arrived 20 minutes before my plane was supposed to take off for Marseille. The gate was closed, but I still had a tiny hope that I could make it... up until the moment that they told me to go to customer service instead of security. I was so upset and jet lagged that tears started rolling down my cheeks in the airport. While explaining my situation to the representative, I could hardly catch my breath through my sobs. It was the first time that I'd ever missed a connecting flight in the 7 years that I've been traveling to Europe.

The woman who helped me was very nice, and pretended to ignore my tears, although she did say, "Oh, you must be so tired!" She booked me on the next flight to Marseille - leaving the next day, at 6:00 am. I almost started crying again when she told me I'd have to spend the night in a hotel. Luckily I had Beau-papa's phone number, and I called him to let him know my troubles. Then, after I deposited my checked bag and collected my boarding pass, I headed off to the Premier Travel Inn, with strict directions to be at the airport by 5:15 the next morning.

After I finally checked in to my room (and thanking my lucky stars that I had £2 in coins leftover from my last layover in London to pay the shuttle bus driver), I took a bath and cried. I ate my free dinner at 6:30 and was in bed by 8:00 pm, my alarm set for 4:30 the next morning.

Of course, the alarm didn't go off. I woke up at 5:15 and checked the time, immediately cursing and pulling on the clothes I'd set out the night before. I couldn't believe that I might miss my flight again, and this time with no backup plan. I ran through security and to the gate, relaxing only when I found that there were people behind me just starting to amble in the direction of the plane. Finally, by 9:00 French time, I was in Beau-papa's Renault Scénic heading toward Montpellier.

Next installment: did we make the Radiohead concert? Or were my tickets counterfeit?

An Offer You Can't Refuse

The other day, I received these in the mail:


I bought them some time ago. Even then, I knew I shouldn't give in... I wasn't sure I could go to France in the summer, and they weren't the cheapest concert tickets I'd ever seen. But I knew they would sell out fast (they were gone by the next day), and how could I resist seeing this:



in this venue?


So if anyone wants to finance my ticket to France in the next 2 weeks, I can promise to provide you with a ticket to the show.

Christmas (the 24th and the 25th)

The next day, after waking up late, we headed to Montpellier for some last-minute Christmas shopping. We had already gotten gifts for everyone, but we wanted to add an iTunes gift card to le Parisien's bounty and pick up some wrapping paper. And of course, I wanted to visit my favorite town, get a crepe from my favorite crepe stand, and take some pictures.

Les Trois Graces, looking as beautiful as ever.
L'Opera.

After we got home, Belle-Maman made us put on nice clothes for Christmas Eve dinner. Although Jube grumbled a bit, we dressed up and waited around for his relatives to arrive. They are always late, and everyone teased Belle-Maman for having told them to arrive between 8:30 and 9:00 - we knew they wouldn't get there before 9:15.

We had a wonderful Christmas feast, which included homemade foie gras (gorgeous and tasty); oysters (ick); little "oriental" (middle-eastern) meaty appetizers with salad; and fish wrapped in crispy ham with an orange cream sauce. Everything was wonderful except for the oysters, but everyone else seemed to enjoy them!

After dinner we opened up our presents. Le Pacha was initially quite disappointed... For some reason, he was convinced that "le Papa Noel americain" was going to bring him an iPod, when in reality the American Santa Claus brought him a polar fleece from Old Navy. He was further disillusioned when he unwrapped the package my mother had sent from the US to find an Xbox 360 - a box that turned out to be filled with food and candles. Happily, le Parisien had given him a brand new cell phone that triples as a camera and an mp3 player, so he ended up with at least a little bit of the electronics of his dreams.

The next day we woke up late again. As I stumbled downstairs, I noticed that the table was set with the nice china and silverware. That was when I remembered that Memee was coming for Christmas lunch, and we would have more gifts to open. I quickly dressed and was presentable in time for the aperitif - Beau-Papa's delectable pate en croute:
(How delicately he cuts it!)

For this meal, we had turkey with chestnuts and the Belle-Famille's favorite mushrooms, cepes.
As our first course, we had more of Belle-Maman's foie gras - you can see the only remains, the yellow fat, on our plates.

We ended the meal with a homemade buche de noel.
After lunch, le Parisien decided to take us to Montpellier's new aquarium, le Mare Nostrum. We checked online to make sure it was open, and then headed out. When we arrived, we discovered that there had been an error on the website, and it was actually closed. Many families stood around the door, complaining about the misinformation. We headed back to Gallargues, a bit disappointed but with the knowledge that leftovers awaited us at the house...

London (are we there yet?)

Jube and I are still in France, but I finally have time to start writing about our trip! It has been full of activities, so that Sunday morning is the only time I have had to sit down in front of the computer to catch up.

On Saturday evening we caught our flight to Marseille. As I'm sure you remember, we had a long layover in London which required us to switch airports and amuse ourselves for 8 hours or so. To pass the time, we decided to spend the day at the Tower of London.



As you can see, the London fog really gave us the impression that we had gone back in time. It was impossible to see any modern buildings while touring the Tower of London. While the weather wasn't the best for my recovering cold or photos of the city, we had a good time taking the tube and touring a bit of the city.

The fog didn't lift all day; the closest we came to seeing the sun was when we emerged from the left luggage counter at King's Cross Station. We did not capture photographic evidence of this amazing moment.

Funnily enough, it seemed to us that most of the tourists we encountered were French. They must have taken advantage of the beginning of the school holiday to spend a long weekend in London. Every time we heard another French-speaking group of vacationers we were reminded of our final destination.

After all of that, it was time for us to take the train to Gatwick. British Air has a new option of printing out your boarding pass in advance; all you have to do is drop off your checked luggage and you can go on in. We used this option in Washington, which was great! We used the "preferred passenger" check-in line and were out in at least half the time of the normal people. However, we ran into two problems at Gatwick: everyone there seemed to have printed out their tickets in advance; and I threw away our boarding passes before getting to the check-in station.

Luckily I knew which trash can they were in, so I ran downstairs and pulled them out (in front of a couple of disgusted passengers). The line for the checked baggage was a quite a bit longer than in Washington, but we made it through. At least half of the flights leaving from Gatwick that day had been cancelled due to the fog. Luckily our plane was only delayed by an hour, which we used to try to stay awake.

We finally arrived in Marseille at midnight. My left ear was completely clogged and I was ready for bed, so when we walked out of customs to find le Parisien and Jube's Marseillais cousin with cameras flashing in our faces, I was less than thrilled. Jube was very happy to see everyone, and was in a much better mood. We finally fell asleep at around 2am French time, with Jube assuring everyone that he would be up and about by 9am. We woke around noon the next day...

Over the river and through the woods...

We're off! It's more like "over the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel and North on 17," but we're going to my parents' house for Thanksgiving. The past few weeks have been pretty intense, so a little holiday will be great.

Have a wonderful week!

12 Hours in London

This Christmas Jube and I will be heading back to France to visit with la belle-famille. It took us the better part of a month to find an acceptably-priced plane ticket. Unfortunately it leaves us with a 12 hour layover in London and some of the worst ever arrival and departure times. And we have to switch airports during the layover. Added to that - we're flying into Marseille instead of Montpellier, so Beau-Papa will have to drive about an hour and a half to the airport to pick us up. I wonder if it was worth saving $400...

The only good thing about having such a long layover is that it will give Jube and me the chance to visit London together. I've been there twice before, and he has been there once, so we'll be able to take touristy pictures in front of the Houses of Parliament, ride the London Eye, have tea at the Orangery and be able to say, "We visited London!" Of course, the $400 we saved on our tickets will probably all be spent during our time in England.

I've been having a good time planning our "trip." I learned the importance of planning these things out during our trip to Vienna in 2005. We were visiting one of my friends who was teaching in Austria, and that was about all the planning I'd done. We managed to do lots of fun stuff - touring the Hapsburg palace, the cathedral catacombs, checking out Schonbrunn, and even watching the Lipizzaner stallions practice. We also had a huge fight that almost ruined our trip when my friend and I lost Jube; we didn't eat at any nice restaurants because neither of us had any idea where to find one; and we didn't even visit the art gallery that I discovered later was full of Klimt.

Our 12 hours in London will be really great with all the planning I've put into them. Now we just have to hope that we won't be too jetlagged to enjoy them...

Weekend Away

So last week my boss asked me what I was doing for my mom for Mother's Day. I'd had some vague ideas like cards or sweet phone calls, but then I thought back on all of the hints she'd been giving me for the last few weeks...

"You know your brother moved out, so now we have a guest room for any time you want to visit."

or....

"I really wish I could see your new car. It seems like such a good deal!"

or....

"I love spending time with you, but I don't have any time off until June!"

So I figured, why not give her a little surprise and visit her this weekend? I called my dad to make sure that he wasn't planning on visiting, and...

"Well, you know that we're having a brunch with Grandmommy on Sunday, so it would be great if you could come!"

That did it. I called my stepfather and he set everything up, and we almost gave my mother a heart attack when she walked into the restaurant to find Jube and me sitting there waiting for her.

She's a great mom, and we've had a fun couple of days. Now I'm off to say goodnight--I'll post again tomorrow!

Oops! I Did It Again!

I forgot to post the "day of"! But we had an excuse: we left Norfolk yesterday to surprise my mom at her house for Mother's Day. She was pretty surprised, too! She reads my blog so I didn't want to mention our plans.

Now we're in Northern Virginia, and we're going to do some shopping. I'll post more than a mini when I get back (we're all pretending that this was posted on Friday, right? Right).

Oh and yesterday Jube and I took my brother the Rooster to see Hot Fuzz. It was quite enjoyable, but also part of the reason I forgot to post--I haven't been out to a "late" movie in a few years and was really tired when I got home!

Memories...

I just realized that it's been about a week since I last posted. Unfortunately there is nothing going on around here that might possibly be interesting! I figured I might post one of my memories from before the beginning of time (i.e. before I began my blog).

In May, 2005, I had just finished my 7 months of French assistantship and was ready for some vacation! Jube was nearing the end of his stage (as a student teacher), and we knew we would be moving to the Nice academy in a few months. I really wanted to go to Roland Garros, which was being held the last week of May and the first week of June. Le Parisien's girlfriend at the time was a posh commerciale at Todd's, and she could have gotten us tickets. However, my brother and his girlfriend had already bought their tickets to visit us on exactly the same dates! I decided to put my dream on hold for another year. [They broke up a week later.]

My brother, JW, and his girlfriend arrived late on the day they were supposed to get there, causing us some logistical problems. See, we only had one car, and Jube had to work in Clapiers (a town near Montpellier). He raced to the airport during his lunch break, gave JW a twenty-Euro bill, and wrote our address on a piece of paper. The two jetlagged first-time out-of-the-country travelers managed to find a taxi. Unfortunately the taxi had some problems finding our apartment. Granted, it was on a very small street, but seriously! He left JW at the end of the street (a street of about 10 meters) because he couldn't find our number (number 2!!). Sweet little brother tried to give him a tip, but their taxi driver must have felt bad and didn't take the naive American's money. They finally made it to our apartment, safe and sound.

I think they had a good time--we even took a trip to Barcelona!--but one incident will always stick out to me about their visit. Jube and I used bikes to get around Montpellier, and we decided to rent a couple of bikes for the Lovebirds. We decided to bike to the Zoo one day. Jube told us it wasn't far, but we shouldn't have trusted him: as a child he was in the mountain biking club of Mende, and his parents still take Sunday bike rides from La Grande Motte to Palavas. It wasn't impossible to get to the Zoo, but we were out of breath when we arrived--and the poor little Miss (JW's girlfriend) had fallen twice, once in front of a bus when she tried to dismount!

By the time we reached the Zoo, la Miss was ready to relax--but first she had to find a bathroom. Luckily there was a public toilet right next to the Zoo entrance. To our surprise, she reappeared nearly as soon as she had entered. "There are no toilets there," she told us, seriously. Upon further investigation, we discovered that there actually were toilets--des toilettes turques*. La pauvre! I think she must have used them, but I'm not sure... she might have held it during the whole visit.

We made it home safely, with no traffic accidents, but I think she was happy to see our bathroom!




*Basically a hole in the ground with some hand supports (if you're lucky). I know I shouldn't be mean--once, a couple of years earlier in Saint Jean du Gard, I had refused to use some of those very same toilets... but it was because I had a UTI!

Spring Break: The Good, the Bad, and... well you know the rest...!

That is a night shot from our hotel window in Brussels. Lorene and I had a great view!

So. The Good: I visited Brussels, where I was happy to see that my French was still up to snuff. I went to my favorite stores (like Zara, Camaieu, H&M, and Promod) but managed not to spend too much. I made everyone at home happy by sending nice postcards--even to work! Am I too much of a suck-up?


Here you can see a really old passageway connecting two houses in Bruges. I liked it!

The Bad: I got sick and almost "baptized" the Tube while switching trains. I managed to keep control of myself because the only thing I had to puke in was a little ziplock baggie that was already kind of gross (it had peanut-butter leftovers in it). As I was desperately searching for a trash can, I remembered that there aren't any for fear of terrorists putting bombs in them! Not only that, there are no corners in the Tube--everything is... well... tube shaped! I didn't relish crouching in full sight of everyone while retching into my disgusting baggie. I managed to hold it until the hotel...

Plus I didn't get to try mussels in Brussels. Now that is really too bad!


Here is a picture I took of a wall in the cathedral in Bruges. I like how the thanks are in French and Flemish.

The Ugly: I missed Jube's birthday while I was abroad! Of course I called and sent a postcard and bought him lots of beer and chocolate, but it couldn't really make up for my absence. And finally, I have a picture of the Ugly in Brussels:


Yum! Doesn't that make you want some Coke? Well, it's funny anyway!

My Trip

Howdy folks! It's been a rough ten days in Europe, but I think I'm finally back on US time. I did a lot of things that I hadn't done before, like visit Cambridge, Oxford, Brussels, and Bruges, and a lot of things that I had done before, like take tea in Kensington Palace and drink a demi in a brasserie. I had more good moments than bad, so let me tell you about some of them.

First, Cambridge is a beautiful college. Here I saw undergraduates punting along the river Cam and lots of Gothic architecture:





I enjoyed a rainy day at Camden Lock in London...



And a sunny day in Brussels...



But the nicest town we visited was Bruges.







I had some great food while abroad too. The highlights include:

Fish and Chips from a pub in England
Indian Food near Leicester Square
French fries in a cornet with mayonnaise in Brussels
A tasty savory crepe from La Maison des Crepes
A wonderful 3 course meal in Bruges, including fresh tomato soup and pineapple chicken
Lots of beer (including one called "Forbidden Fruit" with naked people on the bottle)
One very tasty Belgian waffle

Signing In to Sign Off

Hi guys. It's been awhile, hasn't it? It's because I've been swamped with work. Papers, classes, volunteering, and job... it all adds up. And today I'm off to Europe for class!

I should be excited, I know, but I think that Jube's and my years of long-distance relationship have ruined traveling for me. Although I know that I will only be gone for 10 days, I'm still leaving... I must be psychologically scarred, because I've been tense and on the verge of tears all day long. Jube thinks I'm crazy, because

1. It is spring break and I'm headed to Europe!!

2. We will only be apart for 10 days.

3. He's already sick of being married and is ready for me to leave (all right, I made that last one up, he would never say that).

I did file my taxes, though, and I'll be expecting my refund on my return.

Trippin'

[I actually started writing this on January 1, but everyone knows how time flies...]

Phew! We had quite a busy New Year's Weekend! Jube and I flew into Columbus last Friday afternoon, and immediately went out to dinner with old Friends. Brooke very kindly hosted us at her house, where we were able to meet her fiance and play a very strange card game. BB drove up from Springfield and Jube's old buddy came over to eat dinner with us. We went out to a couple of bars on Columbus's High Street and went to bed late.

The next morning we woke up around 9 to get dressed in our wedding finery. Catherine and her husband Chuck picked us up and we drove down to Batesville, Indiana for our friend's wedding. We had an interesting time finding the church... Catherine's MapQuest itinerary told us to turn left on a small country road. The road was only paved for the first 100 feet or so, when it turned into a gravel path that dead-ended in a cornfield. We turned around and stopped at the only house on the road to ask for directions.

"We're actually looking for a wedding," we explained.

"Oh, you're looking for the church! Everyone makes that mistake."

We found the small church at the end of a winding rural road. Now, the bride's father and her father-in-law are both Lutheran pastors, and they both officiated at the wedding, so we enjoyed two sermons. The bride was quite moved by her vows; she repeated them quite low and very emotionally. She wiped her eyes and made it through the rest of the ceremony without fainting, as Jube thought she might.

The hotel was in Cincinnati, so we drove back after the hors d'oeuvres reception to check in. It was quite luxurious (and expensive!), but we shared with Catherine and Chuck so it wasn't too bad. The reception was held in Newport, Kentucky, making it the first tri-state wedding any of us had ever attended. We ate in an Irish pub in a private room. The food was very good--and copious!--so we were very full by the time we were finished.

Back at the hotel, we enjoyed the last two open hours of the swimming pool. Catherine and Chuck had remembered their bathing suits, but Jube and I hadn't, so I bought some cheap pajama sets for us to wear. Jube was unhappy with his shorts, which were black with pink stars on the left corner. I know it sounds pretty girly, but they were the most masculine I could find! (Mine had pink hearts across the derriere.)

Of course no outing can be complete without a tiny hitch, and ours came when Jube forgot our (my!) digital camera on the shuttle between the hotel and the reception. I freaked out and yelled at him, but we were able to get it back in about 10 minutes, since the shuttle was on a loop. No Frenchmen were harmed during the reception.

Sunday: We woke up late and left the hotel late. Jube and I had a flight that left Columbus at 7:30pm, so we made a quick lunch stop in Yellow Springs, visiting BB and some other friends at Ha Ha Pizza. Then we drove to the airport and checked in quickly. Everything looked to be going well--the flight was on time, all the passengers were waiting at the gate... when five minutes before boarding a flight attendant announced that they "had just been informed that we were missing a pilot." What?? How can you suddenly discover that the pilot isn't there? He explained that a pilot had called in sick, and we were waiting for another pilot who was flying a charter plane in from Atlanta, etc etc... We finally boarded the plane at 9:15pm and took off at 9:40. We didn't get back to my dad's house until 11:00, where we ate dinner really quickly and then rang in the new year by banging pots and pans as usual.

Labor Day Weekend

I made it safely to my parents' house in Northern Virginia, after taking 6 hours to drive the normal 3 in the pouring rain. But I arrived safely and, while watching Are We There Yet?, manage to eat fondue with my mother and stepfather. Then my mother launched into Planning-the-Wedding mode, and we went to all kinds of stores, looking for invitations, shoes, wraps, jackets, and other things. The best part of Planning the Wedding has been the restaurant where we will eat. We talked to the chef last night and got to eat there, too. Nice!

Oh wait. We haven't heard about the visa yet! This Planning the Wedding session has all been on blind faith! Isn't that fun? I hope that we'll find out soon. Jube is packing and will be moving back to Montpellier this week, and I'll be buckling down on the books. Who knew that they would be so boring? As an English major, I mainly got to read really fun books, and when I wrote my thesis they were all books I chose to read! Now, reading things like "Internationalisation and Globalisation: Study Abroad in the Post-Modern Era," I realize how lucky I was (although that article wasn't too bad). But I have high hopes for the future--when I get to choose what I research! And when Jube gets his visa! I'll let you know whenever I do . . .

What? A New Post?

I know, I know, how can I imagine that anyone is still reading this? Since I last posted, a lot has happened. I spent a month working at a summer program in Nice, which I will avoid writing about except to say that I went to the hospital twice, spent the night there once--and wasn't sick a day. Kids are crazy. I also began to realize that bureaucracy is bureaucracy everywhere you look. If I thought I had problems working in France, then Jube is having a crisis trying to work in the US! Our visa troubles aren't finished yet, and I don't want to bore anyone with the details. So you're not getting any.

I arrived in Washington, D.C. last Thursday night at 8:30. I cried at the airport, I cried in line... I tried not to cry on the plane, but I was so emotional that V for Vendetta really jerked those tears. How embarrassing! The pilot announced that the weather was 36 degrees (C) as we touched down--I thought France was hot, but the south can't compare with the tropical heat of a Washington Metro Area summer. On Friday we drove down to Norfolk, Virginia, home of Old Dominion University and my new apartment, which I discovered. It has air conditioning. Then my mom took off for her vacation, leaving me at home to watch the dogs. And I got sick. Is it the air conditioning? Was it the close quarters on the plane? Or did I just catch the bug going around here? Whatever the reason, I ran a low fever for 3 days and still have a deep wet chest cough as my companion while I call all kinds of different places to try to find a job.

So I'm safe, I'm in the US, I'm still sick... and hopefully soon I'll have a more interesting post for you.

Um, Like

Three weeks ago, when I was in the US, I attended the recruiting weekend of a large Virginia university. Since I attended Wittenberg University, a small, liberal arts institution in Springfield, Ohio, I was unprepared for the size of the student union. I knew in which rooms the weekend program would take place--but how to find them in such a huge building?

My mom and I headed to the information desk. (Yes, my mother came with me. A lot of the other prospective students thought this was a little weird--a mother at a GRADUATE recruiting weekend?--but I wasn't going to drive to an unknown city alone and forgo the chance to spend the time with my mommy!) "Excuse me, can you tell me where the spring recruiting weekend is?" I asked.

"Umm... I haven't heard anything about that," the girl said. She looked like she was about 16 years old. "Nikki, can you help these people?"

Nikki turned to us. "What's up?" she asked. She was dressed in sweats with the university's logo and chomping on some chewing gum.

"We're looking for the spring recruiting weekend," I said.

"Umm, does that have, like, something to do with graduation?" she asked.

"No," I said, "It's for graduate school."

"Ohh, yeah, that's it. Down the hall and to your right," she told us, pointing with her pencil.

As soon as we were out of sight, we burst into laughter. Moving back might be a shock...