march

hello family and friends!

i can NOT believe how fast life is moving these days. i feel like i have been living in this new place for at least a few months. but at the same time, i can't imagine that the last four weeks have passed. time does that....

well, the first weekend in our new place sadie and i relaxed in nogent le rotrou. we went to the local market, washed our laundry, and went for a bike ride. the next week i went to orleans to record my voice for the high schools to use next year for an oral comprehension exercise program they will implement. i had to go for the ENTIRE day because there is only one bus that leaves at 6am and one bus that comes home at 6pm. i spent a beautiful morning walking along the loire river and walking through the city parks. but when it started to rain i went to the mall and saw a movie. it is the most popular movie in france since the titanic. yes, it was big here, too! it is about a man who moves from southern france to northern france for his job. it is a hysterical exaggeration of the accents and cultures of these two parts of france. since i have lived in both parts, i had a good laugh!

a flower bed in a city park.





spring has sprung!


you can see the Loire River behind me.

the next weekend, sadie and i were supposed to go to a black pudding festival in the neighboring town, but our ride fell through. so instead we accepted an invitation from our brazilian friend to spend the night on a peniche in paris - you pay to get on the boat and you are given dinner and drinks all night. we left at 5am to walk to the train station. needless to say, we spent sunday recovering!

me, lucas, peach, sadie on the peniche

lucas


sadie


sadie, me and lucas. at the end of the night.

the following weekend we took a roadtrip with rosslyn and nicolas. we went to amboise to visit clos luce (where leornardo de vinci spent his later years) and the castle (which was hosting a wine festival!). then we drove to tours where we met up with maria, the spanish assistant at our high school. she gave us dinner, drinks, took us out to one of her favorite bars, and let us crash at her place. she is spanish and knows how to have a good time, so i'll say we spent another full day recovering....

clos luce facade



rosslyn and nicolas



holly and me in front of the tank de vinci invented

this weekend, holly and i went to london! we spent friday discovering the city and then went out to richmond to meet up with barb and terry. they took us out for fish and chips at a local pub! saturday, i went for a long run through richmond park and then along the thames river. then our friend sam (who we met in february in chamonix) came down to spend the day with us. barb generously offered us three tickets to kew gardens, so we walked through the gardens for a few hours before it started to rain. we seeked shelter in a sushi restaurant and fulfilled a craving i have had since i left madison in may!! then we walked in the pouring rain to the chiswick bridge on the thames to watch the annual boat race! since 1829, these two prominent universities have sent their best rowers to compete in this race. oxford won this year. then we walked about 80 miles to a restaurant where sam wanted to eat. i admit, it was worth it -- i had the best vegetarian burger of my life! and a good chocolate shake and "chips." a real english meal!! we went out for drinks and took a cab home. this morning, i went for another run through richmond park before we went out for a real english breakfast. then we tube-d and train-ed and metro-d home.

tuesday holly and i will leave for egypt. when we get back we will only have 7 days of teaching left. and then......