Switzerland 09

Schilthorn

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Christmas 09

Paris 09

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So it's about 5.30 am here in France and I've been touring around Paris for the last two days with my sister Jessica. I have had a jam packed couple of days of everything you can imagine, all the sites, all the food, all the drink. Needless to say I'm a bit proud of myself and my ability to communicate for two, as I've kindof gotten accustomed to having my better speaking French friends around and I usually let them do all the work, this time it was my turn, and I have to say I surprised myself. So jess and I are off to Switzerland this morning (yes I know you feel really bad for us) but being the genius I am, I booked at 6.30 am flight out of Paris to an airport that doesn't have mass transport that early in the morning, so Jess and I have been chilling in the Orly airport for the last 9 hours...our home for the evening. Finally on the other side of the boarding zone I have found a comfy lounge with carpet and reclining chairs, unlike the tile floors and wooden stools of yesteryear that they had on the previous side of security. We're heading off to Geneva for two days and then up to Interlaken for another four nights. It's been an amazing and beautiful trip so far in Paris, the snow has really added to our experience, the highlight of which was touring Versailles in the snow storm...absolutely breathtaking.

So anyway, the title of this blog (Reconnaissant) means thankful...as I've been sitting here these nine hours in the airport I've had lots of time to chill, surf the net, talk to old friends, browse through pictures and what I've come to realize is just how lucky I am, and I wanted to take a moment to send out my thoughts of thanks to you (all of you who follow me) and to the universe slash divine creator in general. Sometimes, even in Europe, it's easy to get down on ourselves, the holidays (when not traveling home) can become fairly lonely, but I have been so blessed by such happy memories and happy people in my life that I can't really do much accept sit here with a smile on my face as I reflect back through all I've done, everyone I've been and who I'm becoming. The beautiful part about having someone like Jess around is that someone who has been in your life for that long (going on 11 years now) serves as the best thing for us, a mirror, because they carry with them all their reflections of our experiences that we've had together. Sometimes when you're trying on new skin and a new place, it's nice to look back on all that you've been, and being with jess just these last two days has been so wonderful. Laughter, love and friendship really are the best gifts; and this holiday season I am most thankful for those. I am thankful for my wonderful family, both genetic, old friends, and new found souls in Europe. I am thankful for all the love in my life, and I am thankful to each and every one of you for how you contribute, or have contributed to me in the past...even just reading my blog gives me a little lift when I know your'e there. So in the spirit of the season I send to all of you, the very best of what you have given to me, my love, my thoughts, my prayers; sometimes feeling at home has nothing to do with where we are, but who we're with. For all of you that I've ever been able to find a home in, thank you, I love you.

Happy Happy Holidays and Much Much Love to All,

Sarah

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Ahhhh, I've been such a terrible blogger lately, I know I KNOW, I've fallen off the face of the NorthWestern Hemisphere. But I am back, and here to report that I am so close to the finish line I can taste it. This last month in France has been the most fantastic ever. I don't even know where to begin. Last I left off I was about to head to Germany for the weekend, which I did indeed do. I went and stayed with my lovely friends Gus and his husband Justin. I was welcomed to Germany with open arms, lots of beer and my favorite food on the planet, SAUSAGES!! I went to Gus's opera on friday night, it was so wonderful to see such a dear friend doing it and living his dream in Germany! Proof that you to, can do it. I spent the majority of the weekend consuming as much food as possible. I got to go hang out in the super uber cool mansion owned by the music school in Müchen and got to sing opera for the first time in ages; it was seriously liker regaining part of my soul! I bid farewell to my friends (bags packed full of authentic german Haribo gummy bears...those of you who really know me, understand the importance of this)!

I've spent the last two weekends solid (for a change since I've been bopping all over lately) in Tours with my new friends:) All the christmas festivities have begun here, complete with a Marché de Nöel (stands, mulled wine, crafts and roasted chestnuts oh my!). I've mostly been trucking along at school. This week begins exams finally! I am officially done teaching as of the end of this afternoon. I have taken slight joy in making exams for my pain in the ass classes very hard. You should've seen the distraught faces of my students in law this morning...I hate to admit it, but part of me really enjoyed zinging them for being such brats all semester, ha! Actually yesterday at fac (that means uni) all of the other professors and I compared our exams and laughed about how only like five of our students would actually be abel to answer the questions...seriously, when I said half of the first years flunk out, I wasn't kidding.

Well since being paid this month, my girly side has taken over, and my bank account has sufficiently been depleted these last two weeks as I am finally splurging on some French fashion (well I don't know if it's exactly fashion, but by the time I get back I'm definitely going to look like a transplant, complete with skinny tapered jeans...that's right ladies, I even bought tights!) :) I am looking forward to this being my last week of classes and in celebration I decided to buy myself some new nice treats. I also am impatiently awaiting the arrival of my "sister" in 10 days! Jessica lands in France and we are straight off for Christmas in Switzerland! (Sidenote: I'm having the hardest time typing right now since I have finally made the habit of typing on a French keyboard...also I find myself speaking in franglais more and more often since the majority of my friends that I spend my time with now don't speak any English). It leads to me feeling a lot like a mute clown at the end of the day when I have to resort to hand gestures to be able to explain myself because I can't find words in either language to express myself.

When I get back to France I am excited because I get two Christmases this year, I got invited to spend Christmas with my Russian friends (since they're Greek Orthodox) who celebrate Christmas on the 7th of January. Score! I was originally so worried about being sad and lonely here at the holidays, but all of the new friends I have made have really afforded me a new family. Last weekend i went to my first "raclette" (like a fondue, but not quite and too complicated to explain on a blog, so fondue will have to suffice) for my friend Ben's birthday. Little did I know it would be me and 9 Frenchies for the entire evening...I did okay at the beginning, but after so many bottles of wine and what they apparently call «eau de vie» (literally water of life) a drink I will never endure ever again because it tastes like shit and burns like fire so badly that even chugging another glass of white wine and choking down cold cheese while all the frenchies laugh at you doesn't help. Needless to say by the end of the evening the frenchies were in full force banter and i was just sitting at the end of the table trying to decipher anything comprehensible out of what they were saying. I had a blast:) The next day of course we had our "French Thanksgiving" with myself and a mélange (mix) of french and anglophone friends. It was seriously the most food I think I have ever eaten in a two day period of time. Shani and I went running the following week and did 5 miles instead of the usual 4...:)

I hope all the preparations for the holidays are going well in the states, I miss all of you so much. I am always around and I always love hearing from everyone, because as in any location, life can sometimes be lonely and get the best of you. But lately it seems I am getting the best of it:)

Much much love,

Sarah:)

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Just got back from a fantastic weekend with some of the greatest human beings I have ever had the privilege of knowing. Sorry I haven't blogged in awhile, it's been a pretty intense couple of weeks here. I seem to be in a constant state of motion these days with all of my travel. Such an exciting adventure this experience continues to be, the people you meet the things you find yourself doing and then in fact imagine yourself doing afterwards. I've been working really hard lately on just living in the moment, trying to exist for one day at a time instead of always a week or months in advance, I think I'm actually getting better at it last night; as I found myself trying to explain this concept to a friend who is about to leave france and is worried about everything that is going to happen and can't seem to get satisfied with the fact that they're about to embark on their own adventure. Not that I can't relate to that at all, it's just I find the best way to keep my sanity these days (especially as the end of the semester rapidly approaches and I find myself constantly in a state of panic because I think I've forgotten to do yet another thing).

I spent a lot of time this weekend laughing my ass off, which really was wonderful, as laughter really is the best medicine. I've come to the conclusion that it really does take a certain kind of person to get motivated enough to throw themselves into this mess head first and I happened to find some really good friends along the way who share that same kind of energy. My green tortoise adventure (the bus trip Graham and I took across the country two summers ago) landed me with the happy opportunity to meet and stay in touch with some very fantastic friends and this weekend 12 of the original gang made it over to cheery England to have a lovely relaxing weekend filled with laughter and waaaay too much beer. I always find myself intimidated by a new public transport system in a new city, and somehow still seem to feel a bit inadequate even though I speak English, my English seems kind of like a less classy version of British English. Something perhaps linguists get the best laugh out of is the intercultural differences and language barriers...I found more than my share of them this weekend within my fellow English speaking group of friends. It was so cool to be hanging out with people that I only knew for such a brief period of time in my life, but somehow still seem to know me better than some people that have been around for ages. Maybe it has something to do with the fact of sharing a small bus space together that eliminates all forms of "politesse" as the French call it, because even with people that to some may seems strangers I was able to let myself go and just have a great time.

The end of the weekend was met with tears by all as it's always so difficult to take yourself away from a family atmosphere that was so easily created and only shared by a few special people. 2 americans, 1 belgian, 1 irish lasse, and lots of british friends all crammed into cars and teeny tiny apartments and trekked all over the great United Kingdom just for the sake of smiles and creating new memories. I am still shocked at how easily I am attached not only to those people but the wonderful ones I have had the chance of meeting over here in europe as well. I can't believe how much I find myself changed after just a few short months, but this is definitely an experience I wouldn't change for anything in the world. It feels like I've almost found my place, like where I've been desperately searching for during these last few years. THere's something so special about realizing that you are in fact living the dream; and I can't believe the sadness that overwhelms me when I realize that we're already halfway through November and I find myself realizing that not soon, but eventually someday I'll have to say goodbye. Life is at the moment shall we say, very real, but I am really finding it the best place to be. Unguarded, daunted and exhilarated by everything that I am being offered and the new opportunities I am forging for myself. I've never felt so self sufficient before, and it's strange to start measuring my worth by who I can create out of myself instead of how much I can or can't do. This probably all sounds pretty fruity, but it's like even across all the cultural gaps and barriers no matter who I meet in this walk, we can all at some level manage to speak the same language. (How poetic:) If there's anything that I've learned so far it's that you really should invest in everyone and everything you come across, instead of always being focused on what is coming next. I've had the best experiences and moments of my life so far once I've finally figured that out. I wish there was some way to articulate everything that I'm feeling right now, because be it happiness or sadness, it just feels so damn good to be alive with all that (good or bad) thriving and pulsating through me.

So if you're reading this, thanks for sticking with me this far, and thanks for being a part of my life and enriching it in all the ways that you do. Right now I'm just going to sit right here and be, because god damn it feels good.

I miss you, I love you,

Sarah

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Go Team Porto!

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God, even where to start about this weekend, I don't think I can even remember half of it, and I don't think I've ever laughed so hard or had so much fun in my entire life. So all of the lecturers, plus one German lectrice and Jamie's Boyfriend David decided that since we had the whole week off, well let's look for flights, where can we fly direct from Tours, Porto...anyone been to Porto, anyone speak a word of Portuguese, no ok good, let's go to the home of Port wine and get Crazy for halloween...and did we. We are possibly the biggest bunch of misfits everywhere we go, but usually a bit less conspicuous in France since we all speak French, Portuguese, nothing like French at all, sounds a bit like spanish but with a Russian accent, so aside from all of our fine capabilities to point and grunt, we spent most of the weekend muttering words in Spanish with a Russian accent, which got us more dirty looks than anything. Two americans, one canadian, one frenchie, two scotts, one irish lovie and our token german all headed off last Friday to the land of no one knows where anything is or how to speak the language. We arrived with directions from the airport courtesy of Jamie (who arrived a day earlier and had already discovered the difficulties of the Portuguese language as he had to resort to sparkling hand gestures to order a water with carbonation the night previous). Jamie had arranged for an apartment for 6 for three evenings in Porto (which was great since we were 8)...we were all a bit worried that it was really an apartment for four being marketed as for six, but were happily surprised to find a lovely spacious apartment, just big enough to squeeze 8 (lots of snuggling this weekend), fabulous views of the ocean and a bus stop conveniently located right out our front door. Friday evening we all headed out onto the town for a proper dinner and sight seeing around the city center (complete with the fanciest mcdonald's I have ever seen...which also is akwardly adorned with giant statues of eagles and entitled IMPERIAL mcdonalds, more giving it the feel of a mcdonalds of the third reich era...)

One thing we have happily discovered about porto, aside from our fabby apartment and yummy food, is that everything is DIRT CHEAP, alcohol and food cost almost half the price that they do in France...amazing, my trip budget doubled in about 30 seconds! We arrived back to the apartment after a loooong night out on the town (sufficed to say there are fabulous pictures of the misfits doing any and everything in Porto...complete with me ordering a disney princess purse with plastic jewels and a child sized ice cream in it for dessert, that's right, it's on top of my desk right now, my first Porto memory...it is also commemorated in film as well..see the following slide show). The next day we awoke (well jess and I did) at a reasonable hour (as jess and I consider reasonable 8-9am, however when traveling with a large group it is best to set the time of departure about an hour earlier than when you actually want to leave) and headed up to the grocery store to scrounge for breakfast and dinner for the evening. Trying to grocery shop in a country where you don't speak the language, is no fun. It is best that when you travel to a foreign country you should at LEAST learn to say, hello, thank you, no thank you, how much, metro, bus stop and goodbye...it's rather rude not to. After we stocked up on goodies we headed back to the apt and jess and I decided we were going to head off on our own for the day to meander around while everyone else got ready. We ended up finding the giant 12th century gothic cathedral (which we were supposed to wait for everyone else to go in) so we went looking for food instead (which was no bueno since jess is a vegetarian). "Do you have anything with out meat?" "yes we have this fish sandwich." "no she's a vegetarian." "yes I know here try this it's tuna." Jess ate a lot of potato chips and french fries this weekend poor thing. Finally after everyone else plus Siohban's friend Chris (who came up from Lisbane...somewhere south? Suffice it to say he spoke Portuguese so we were all very happy, and also considered him our porto aficionado...even though he didn't live in Porto, he was at least better than Jamie muttering spanish words with funny accents). We did the cathedral and then crossed over the giant bridge down to the actual ports and set about my favorite activity of the day...tasting the port.

Now port, is, well I'm not really sure what it is, but it's good...it's also about 24% alcohol and only 2.50 euro a glass...this equals for a very fun night, very early on. We stopped at the first port shop we came to because it was completely decked out from head to toe in halloween garb (as this was halloween night) and we were off. Two and a half hours later we all took off in separate directions to head home, to the store....etc etc, everyone apparently with the same idea to pick up the most important thing for dinner on the way home...vino verde. Very soon after we all arrived back at the apartment somehow between the nine of is we had collectively come home with 10 bottles of wine and two six packs of beer....there after I struggled valiantly to make a concoction out of the dodgy bits we had collected at the super market earlier...I must say I managed fairly well. After a large consumption of drink and food we started to entertain ourselves for the evening (as one must not leave to club in Porto until at LEAST 11.30...or you're a looser, and the only ones there to boot...which we were even though we left late got lost, and had to take taxies because it was pouring down rain). We played lots of very creative games (thanks to Jamie), it was a bit like summer camp, accept grown up drunk summer camp....I was the tied champion of the cereal box game (where one must bend down and pick up the cereal box with your teeth, no hands, can't bend your knees and after every turn a bit more of the cardboard is ripped off to make the box shorter). Thank you figure skating for my semi-flexibility...I win.

Finally (as I said it takes time to haul 9 people around anywhere) we were off to the club, which club or where it was we didi not know, but at this point I was just following and hoping for a bathroom, which I found at a Portuguese club modeled after key west....complete with sharks, leis and blue drinks that cost 7 euro each and taste like suntan lotion smells...however do not be deceived, these are DANGEROUS, there, you have been warned. Blue drinks at sketchy portugal club with male bartenders with pierced belly buttons, line dances that everyone knows and dancing half naked girls on platforms....equals a lot of fun:) At 4.30 am we finally LEFT the club to cab it home and all sleep until 1pm the next day....oh halloween, you are one of my favorite holidays, especially anywhere in Europe with crazy europeans. Sunday was a really lazy day, and rainy day...from the house to the bus I was soaked in 1 minute flat and spent the next half hour under the hand dryers at the local mall (as there was nothing much else to do since everything everywhere in europe no matter what country is closed on a sunday). After a long day we headed back home to dinner and more fun camp games, assembled ourselves for dinner and bid farewell to fair porto, definitely the biggest surprise I've had since arriving. Heading for a nap now since it's about 2pm and I've had about 8 hours of sleep in the last 48.

I love you, I miss you,

Sarah

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Belgium 09

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Wow, so I just had a whirlwind of a weekend but such a great one...I managed to spend 100 euros in three days, clearly I was in the capitol of beer, chocolate, fries and all things yummy. This week is my first week of vacation from school (even though it's not technically vacation because I still have to teach my law classes and medicine classes because those campuses are on a different holiday schedule than me...blah). Anyways, I hoped onto a train Friday morning and headed up to waaaaay northern France to first visit with my friend Mel who Graham and I met on the green tortoise trip last year. Mel lives in a teeeeeny town called Bergues (which is just northwest of Lille) and I stopped by for an evening of fun and festivities as it was the beginning of their fall break as well (let me tell you, French elementary teachers going on vacation know how to throw one hell of a party). Mel and I ended up at her school around 7.30 for drinks, this is French custom, or apérétifs as they are called here, cocktail hour lasted good and long up to close to 9.30 when dinner was served and I was thoroughly blitzed...I am not responsible for the fact that it's rude to turn down good booze and they kept pouring it for me...besides alcohol helps when speaking french, which I was doing ALL night, I think if I'd been living in a small town like Bergues from the beginning of my stay I'd be pretty freaking fluent by now, though conversely and alcoholic, as like in Denton, when there's not much to do, you drink.

I spent the night schmoozing and bastardizing french, also teaching the locals how to hoe-down and properly do the YMCA...music, like most things in France, is about 20 years behind the times in getting across the ocean. One thing never to do, is tell a French person that their music sucks, then they will launch into a story about how it's all about the words even though that doesn't change the fact that sad sappy electronic back up can never be excused by any manner of poetry, not even if you're singing freaking Shakespeare to it. I finished the evening eating and drinking drove away watching the school headmaster take part in the ultimate French tradition of sharing a cigarette with his two mistresses at the same time...clutch.

The next day I headed off to Antwerp, a city in Belgium, to stay with my friend Klara who I met through Graham in Texas over a year ago (I love that people that I haven't seen in years I can just casually drop in on and visit with...Europe sure is great). Klara and I spent the day wandering around in the mist of Antwerp (very much like northern UK weather). The first thing I partook of in Belgium was WAFEL....oh my god the Ooey Gooey sticky caramelized sugary goodness topped with home made whip, strawberries and my own personal touch, chocolate. Talk about a foodgasm, I wanted to cry it was so good. After my sugar coma subsided Klara and I set off through the city exploring (as she has only just arrived in Antwerp about 2 months ago as well). I saw castles, looked at some hoes (and some of them I wanted to pay to close their curtains...talk about some ugly old women you never want to see in lingerie). Klara and I strode over to her favorite local jazz bar and started partaking of the local BEER which was AMAZING. Let me say, that I have never understood the need of having all the individual glasses for all the different kinds of beer, until now. People who take enough time to care that a specialized glass is developed so that at the point of conception their beer is like liquid mana in your mouth, should be awarded prizes of all kinds. I will never ever bastardize my beer again by drinking it in a less than worthy glass. Way too many beers later we schlepped ourselves over to the pizza parlor to partake of something to soak up all the hops:) It was a very good food and beer filled night indeed.

Klara and I headed off to Ghent the next day, where her boyfriend lives in the coolest oldest fashioned house I have ever seen...literally the heating is through little stoves that you burn wood in...it's awesome. The back yard is full of home grown lettuce and three wee chickens for egg producing and garbage eating...spectacular. However, before taking the train out to Tobais's house we wandered around Ghent all day. Seeing the old castles, eating Belgian chocolate, drinking more beer (see my decorative arrangement of glasses below) and touring the general city and admiring the architecture, seeing strange restaurants that hang meat from the ceilings...overall just having an awesome day:) When we got to Tobais's house later a homemade dinner, complete with home made Belgian fries was in the works...Belgian fries are better than anything you have ever had, especially when you smother them in home made apple sauce and follow them with 24% port and chocolate pastry of some sort...then when you wake up the next morning and actually have DRIP COFFEE FROM A DRIP COFFEE MACHINE IN A CUP THE SIZE OF YOUR HEAD, you will think you have died and gone to heaven in Belgium.

All in all it was an absolutely amazing vacation and break away from Tours, I was definitely not ready to come back and I am sad to be here right now instead of hanging out with my friends. It's so nice to see your people and get a little taste of home whenever you are far away. I'm finding that I am finally hitting my stride here in Tours, my days are really occupied and I have the pleasure of meeting new people all the time. I am hitting that happy medium and all in all really enjoying myself. Heading off to Portugal this weekend with all of the English lecturers, and apparently there is a big Halloween celebration there to be had. I am most excited to partake and spend some time with my new found friends here. Life is good today:)

I love you, I miss you

Sarah:)

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It has finally turned FREEZING in France, of course not freezing by most normal people's standards, by freezing to me since I've lived in the sweltering sauna of Texas for the last three falls in a row. This week has been very eventful, teaching is getting easier and easier, and I'm slowly figuring out which classes I like the best, and how best to teach the ones I loathe...busy work is my friend:) I spend a lot of time in the classes outside of the English department speaking in French, as my students have no idea what I am saying most of the time. My law classes switch from classroom to computer lab every week, so it gives me a chance to have a lot of one on one time with my students. This is good because it forces us both into using languages were not necessarily comfortable with; it's very risky speaking French with your students, because your french will never be as good as theirs, therefore you run the risk of undermining yourself with the class. It's a very fine line to walk, but I think I am managing ok for the most part.

I have been sick this whole week which let me tell you, really sucks in a freezing cold apartment. We have heat, but we're trying desperately not to turn it on since it will cost a fortune...it's that old school radiator heating that is run by gas and either leaves you sweltering hot, or just not quite close to warm. Yet another lovely charming addition to my apartment stay here in France. Not to mention that last week when we turned it on for the first time our electricity went out at 10pm and we had to wait for our landlady to show up with her man/boyfriend/friend, we're not really sure what he is, but he always seems to show up when something (and it's always something) in the apartment goes wrong. How a skinny french man in slacks is going to be able to help us any more than we can help ourselves I'll never be sure. Anyway, being sick in a cold apartment sucks, since the only pleasure you can get each day is a nice warm shower, only to be abruptly ruined by the drafty hall and freezing cold bedroom you have to change in. This morning I just crawled back into bed with my clothes and let my body heat warm them up before I put them on.

Last night was the first French trivia night I have ever been to, and it was so.much.fun. It's held at the pale (the Irish pub that I love) and hosted by the Irish owner Warren (who happens to be a Floyd and Dead Head). Trivia goes all night and you are arranged into teams that have to guess questions on who the celebrity is in the child photo, what country that flag comes from, name that tune, guess that album cover, and my all time favorite, anagrams of french people (I sucked ass at that one, but I suck at anagrams even in english). So I spent the evening in the basement of the Pale shouting out answers to Trivia questions all in French with my team (team Maple....such a stupid name, but I didn't pick it). At the end of the night we walked home in search of a Mcdonalds, which was alas closed, but I got some great action photos of me and my friend Marcia doing ballet in the streets of Tours...:) I also got to add my name to the "List" at the Pale. The list is for serious beer drinkers only, after you have recorded drinking 100 pints at the Pale, you get your own drinking mug with your name on it, and 50 cents off each beer. I am aiming to have this accomplished by February:) At least I have goals:)

This week I got a little lonely one day when I had nothing to do, it's amazing how fast your mood can change. I can go from being top of the world in the morning, to pathetic looser in the evening with no friends and nothing to do. So I headed out for a long walk around the town (I've been doing a lot of this lately) and I found myself at a local music shop just inquiring how much a used guitar would be (since I'm so desperate to make any kind of music at this point) and the next thing I knew I was outside looking into the trunk of some French guy's car and buying a Fender acoustic that he just had laying there. So this week I've spent some time learning all the CM scales all up and down the fretboard, needless to say I suck and i won't be posting any music videos soon, but it's so nice to have some way for my creativity to manifest itself. It feels good :)

I also met a group of Russians this week. I was at my usual Monday night hang (Café des Langues) and it had moved inside because it was SO cold. But 150 plus people in the upstairs of a café is no bueno, I was left standing on a stairway chatting with my friend Antonia looking for a new group of people. Some guys looked over at us (as guys are always staring at Antonia...she's a blonde German) and started chatting us up. I headed outside with them to find a table and spent the latter part of the evening chatting with them. Turns out that one of them is French and met the others because he was their French teacher at Uni. Then he ended up being their student in Russian at Uni. IT was all terribly terribly interesting, especially when the Russians didn't understand something I said in English and instead of asking their French Friend in French, they asked him in Russian. It gives you a bit of an uneasy feeling, because sometimes you know they're just talking about you. Oh well, I managed to pick up a weekly private student out of the evening, so that's a couple extra euros for me each month:)

This next weekend is fall break, FINALLY, and I am heading off to Belgium to see some friends, heading back to France to teach my two Law classes (since the law school is on a different holiday system than the English school...very strange) then I'm heading off to Portugal with the other lecteurs for a very fun filled Halloween weekend of what I can only hope will be a great release of madness:)

So that's all for now, I love you, I miss you

Sarah:)

Siobhan and Sarah at Amanda's birthday party (Minus Amanda:)

Sarah and Marcia do ballet....

I love MacDonalds

And More ballet...:)

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Well here it is finally, a little more than a month into my stay, here comes all the things that piss me off about France.

Thank God I had the good sense to bring drugs with me to France; my face feels like it's about to explode from the pressure inside. I suppose it's a good thing since I have the next two days off. Other than feeling sick though life is pretty good right now:) I am finally set at school, no more classes to be added, no more surprise changes of rooms or time, and I have finally taught all of my classes at least once (that only took three weeks). My students for the most part are lazy as hell, but I've got a couple of good eggs in each class so that helps me out. I'm teaching an american culture class as well for students that are interested or are already enrolled to travel abroad, so I think I really enjoy that class the most, although it does take the most preparation. I spent the last week in that class explaining the differences in the university systems in the states versus the system that they're a part of here in France...I really do enjoy shocking the hell out of them, it's a lot of fun to make them realize how easy they've got it. The university I teach at here is about the equivalent of a step below community college, the kids don't even have to pass every class each semester to go on to the next level of any given class; grades are averaged from all the classes each semester and then you have a total semester average (you either pass the semester or don't). They've got it pretty easy here, but a degree from the university isn't exactly looked on as a grand accomplishment in the business world when searching for a job.

I've done a lot of exploring this week since I was given law classes on a campus about 45 minutes from our apartment. I've learned how the bus system works and have been bopping around town. I finally found the GIANT grocery store (basically the equivalent of Sam's Club) and have since gone on two BIG shops. It's nice to have found a place that doesn't charge and arm and a leg for chicken breasts. I've learned that in France, commodities that are most expensive in the states (cheese, snacks, wine, gourmet chocolate) are most inexpensive, however that things I took for granted (chicken breasts at 2.99/lb) are ass expensive here. You have to make the mile and half hike (or take the bus, or mooch a ride off your roommate's boyfriend) to the large grocery store, and you can buy 6 chicken breasts (note: this does not mean whole breast, it means half of one) for around $13. This is a good deal. However, gourmet chocolate that would run $3-4 a bar in the states, you can buy a pack of 6 for $4. It's really going to be difficult for me to try and not get fat.

The last couple days have been quite an adventure. Last night was my friend Amanda's birthday (she's the youngest of the lecteurs, just turning 23) and bless her heart, her mother came in to see her, but also surprised her by brining her 80-something gran with her (and her wheelchair). For those of you that can't understand why this would be a problem, I invite you to recall what I said to you about train stations and apartment buildings here in Europe, and how there are most times NO elevators. Since Amanda's gran coming was a surprise, her mother of course didn't know that the elevator in Amanda's apartment (where she lives on teh 4th floor) is out of service for the next month (most things seem to go out of service and never get fixed here, so I'm still skeptical). So last night and this morning Zach and I trekked over to Amanda's apartment to help haul her up and down the 8 flights of stairs while she sat in her wheelchair princess style. Did I mention we had to do it at 7.30 this morning? After Zach and I had been out celebrating Amanda's birthday without her because she had to go home with her Gran and Mum last night instead of coming out to the surprise party we had planned for her. Lovely. We still had a great time at the party sans (without) Amanda, although we had to talk only in whispers because our friends neighbors threatened to call the police the last time we had too many people out...

Speaking of which, I'm going to have to learn how to call the police here so I can report my jack-ass of a neighbor upstairs who thinks it's appropriate to have a party in his house at 5.30 in the morning, complete with music and skanky girls clacking around in high heels above my ceiling. A complaining foreigner with no command of the language doesn't do much good, even if you go to his door in full pj's, hair a mess, wearing flamingo socks with earplugs in hand to show you just how loud he is. Grrrrr. Apparently when you do call the police here (because there is a noise policy that is enforced) it's a 160 euro fine on the spot. Next time I'm waking up Siobhan's (roommate) boyfriend Flo (who is French) and am sending him upstairs...as she and I have both learned that when little foreign girls complain nothing gets done, but if you send an actual Frenchie, you'd be surprised at how accommodating the French are willing to be. Freaking Frogs.

So other than lack of elevators, unmotivated students, school schedules that change and you can find solutions to, loud neighbors and the fact that I still DON'T HAVE A BANK DEBIT CARD AND CAN'T USE MY MONEY, everything here is lovely:) I'm heading to Belgium in two weeks to visit friends from mine and Graham's green tortoise adventure last summer, and I'm going to Portugal with all the lecteurs the week after that. I'm starting to find that three weeks is about my limit, and then I need to go out of town and get a breath of fresh air to start again:) I'd love to hear from you if anyone has the time for an email or a letter

103 rue george SAND

37000 Tours, France

I love you, I miss you

Sarah:)

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Wow, so it's been a super full week, my first full week of teaching, made lots of new friends. Slowly but surely gaining assurance in France and confidence. I don't even know where to start, I've met so many great people, and had such a great time meeting up with all of them; not to mention learning the do's and don'ts of who and who not to give your number to and what that really means in France. (Needless to say I've hit on way too many French people without realizing it).

Classes this week went smoothly, until Thursday. My students in my Wednesday evening class came up to me and asked (since they are in my Friday evening class as well) if I could possibly move the time (since it's at 5.30pm), I was unaware the schedules could move at will, but here apparently they can. So very politely I went to kiss some secretarial ass to see if my class could be moved per the request of the STUDENTS (this is most important since we're still trying not to anger the secretaries). Sure enough they said it could, and that they would email me the changes (since I still don't have online access to my schedule and I can't check it). Sure enough I came in Thursday morning, after having checked my email five times the night and morning before, and my class had been moved, to Thursday morning at 8am (meaning I had missed it completely) since I arrived at university at 11am to teach my 12pm class. Oh france, how I love thee. So now I'm a week behind in one of my phonetics classes and I've had two law, yes as in the US political system and British parliamentary system (which I know nothing about), added to my schedule this week...I need to go study.

This weekend was lovely, although Friday night I learned an excellent lesson, 50cl pints of beer are bigger than 16oz pints in the US, you can not drink as much as you think you can, especially when you make friends with Irish laborers at the local Irish pub. Needless to say I don't remember much about that evening accept for the fact that my friend Jamie told me that he knew I was in trouble when I looked over at them from the bar at quarter to two smiling and cheers'ing them with a full 50cl pint of Paulaner in my hands...that was a rough morning on Saturday, I think my liver was confused by the presence of hops in my system, since it was just getting used to all the distilled fruit:) I've spent the rest of the weekend eating and wandering around with some of my new frenchie friends, chatting about life, love and the ever-important question of what are we going to eat.

It feels so good to finally feel like I'm making headway in my life here. Tomorrow I will have been gone exactly 1 month and it's hard to believe because so much has happened, but it feels like it's also just been the blink of an eye as well. This whole experience has already been such a journey into self exploration. I had such a great epiphany yesterday while walking around a 500 year old cathedral staring at the architecture that not 8 months ago I had to give a presentation on in French class; it's that seeing all these wonderful things, these old buildings and new culture, that's not what changes us, it's the experience and journey of getting there. For instance, to go see said old chateau, you have to buy a ticket online in french, go to the station, validate your card, get the train, meet people, talk in French, get to the city, ask directions, find food, get lost, etc etc, you get the idea. But it's the fact that what is changing me is what it takes for me to be able to do that. When you loose your language, let alone your culture, it's so hard to not feel like you're drowning and to not freak out because you really don't have any control. Every thing that you do every day is a little victory, because every little thing is new and different, and you've never done it before because it's in a different language. You grow, you learn, and you force yourself to just get on with it. It's a very strange thing to be at a point in your life where you can actually sense the change, as if it was something tangible that you can wrap yourself up in. You find ways to take care of yourself that you didn't realize ever before, everything becomes very real, as you find yourself on the path of who you were to who you are becoming.

That being said I'm finally finding new ways to cope, since some days are really hard, lately I've been listening to a lot of (gasp) country music, I find it very amusing and very difficult not to laugh while traversing the streets with dixie chicks blaring in my ears, it feels very wrong, but in a good way that's hilarious if only everyone else knew:) Everyday is so fun because there's always something new to find. Today I found an antique car show of old, OLD cars in the old district. It was being run by a bunch of french people from Bretagne (farthest western point, full of celtic culture and it's down indiscernible dialect). There's just something so fun about sitting in a Citroên 1923 car (this is the french equivalent of the model-T) trying to understand strange dialect while autumn leaves pumps over the sound system (although sung terribly in French) and sausages cook under the tent next door. Sometimes the different way of life here really can just take your breath away.

Last weekend I took a day trip to Amboise (where Davinci) lived the last years of his life and died. Such a really cool place, old chateaus, one of which was actually Davinci's where they have manifested all of his inventions and displayed them throughout the immense gardens. I found myself standing over his grave Sunday morning and traversing his footsteps on Sunday evening. Standing on a spot where history has actually taken place seems to always have some kind of awesome power over me. I've attached some of the photos on the bottom (sorry for the quality, I forgot my camera and had to buy a dinky disposable one and then have the film developed onto a CD...another fun adventure with vocabulary I didn't know). It seems that everyday when I leave the house, depending on my activity planned for the day, I spend a good 10 minutes with my online dictionary learning new words. I also find it very hard now to switch between the two languages (I keep trying to write things in french on this blog:).

I love you, I miss you,

Sarah

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Le sigh......but le good sigh:) I want to start off by thanking ALL of you for your messages your calls, your emails and your wall postings on FB, you guys are awesome and that really REALLY helped me get through this last week, it's been a real winner..meh. But the last 24 hours of my life have been the best time I've spent so far in France...I have made friends...that's right, I have more than the other six lecturers in my cell phone, damn that feels good. For the last couple of weeks I've been meaning to get down to one of the largest cafés here in Tours called Le Palais (the palace, I find this very amusing because it is anything BUT). where they host a weekly evening event called café des langues (café of languages). It's hosted by some kind of organization, I'm not exactly sure, but basically it's a place where people of all ages can come down and involve themselves in language exchanges.

So last night I wandered warily down to the palace (tee hee) and was really exhausted and not expecting to stay long (as I had to leave to go to my friend Amanda's apartment to shower because we have had NO hot water for THREE days in my apartment, not that I'm bitter at all about having to run down three blocks from someone else's house at night with my hair dripping wet, in my PJ's, dirty clothes in one hand, all of my toiletries in the other...but that's another story). Anyway:) I made it down to the cafe, asked the bartrice (lady bartender) if that was in fact the place and she directed me outside...this was very helpful as outside consists of about 50 tables with people eating and no signs what so ever to direct you to where the supposed langue section of the café is. So I sat down and nervously looked around, and there were two other nervous looking people there too who promptly asked me (one in a german/french accent and the other in an italian/french accent) if I was there for the café. I sat down to join them ordered myself a pichet (what I thought was a small caraf of wine but turned out to be 50cl of wine....this is a lot people, not to mention it cost me 10 euros and I could've bought three bottles of wine at the store for that, oh well) and we proceeded to run down our statistics; this is a conversation I have gotten really good at, so I sound really good at french when I ask and respond to the obligatory questions about who I am, where I'm from and what I do. I swear if one more person tells me how beautiful Texas is though, I will punch them.

Slowly but surely of the course of the next few hours more and more people arrived and I found myself looking around at the 100+ attendees of the café at one point, seeing a table of french, italian and americans all trying to speak german, another mixed table speaking Italian, three people at our table working on chinese, and even behind me a table of sign language; I found myself overcome with emotion for the most beautiful display of human communication that had broken down all walls and barriers of cultural stereotypes and been replaced by an ernest want and desire to both learn a language, but also to connect with other human beings on your level. It was really quite remarkable. I spent the majority of the evening chatting with Elsa and Julie (two frenchies who'd spent a year in Ireland and both speak with Irish accents in English, this is most amusing), Alessandro and some German girl whose name I don't remember, who were basically like the european version of Peace Corps or habitat for humanity, and Benjamin and Matthieu, two other frenchies that are medical students in their second year here. I had an amazing time trading back and forth from English to French all night and I learned all kinds of new fun vocab...like last night J'étais pas soûl, j'étati seulement pompette (which means, last night I wasn't totally bombed, just a little tipsy...sorry mom and dad:). I got everyone's numbers and am definitely planning on meeting up with Elsa and Julie this week:) I have friends YAY, I finally exist on my own in France, that feels good.

Also this morning, after being woken by what sounded like a heard of wild buffalo in my apartment, but was really my new roommate Camille (who is as tiny and cute as she sounds) how someone that tiny can make so much noise is beyond me, my package from my mommy finally arrived!! It's been in transit for three weeks and has been held hostage at the post office for at least a week, until I sent an email stating exactly what was in it...ridiculous. I have my ice skates so I am definitely hitting the ice tonight, after waiting around all day for the repair man to FINALLY come and look at our water box and fix the fact that we all scream bloody murder when we take a shower because it's so freaking cold. Also in the box was one of the coolest things anyone has ever given me. My mom made me a beautiful thought box and inside are 365 inspiration sayings or quotes all loving written and decorated on separate leaflets of beautiful paper, one saying for each day, when life is trying. This is really one of the coolest things I've ever gotten, thanks mommy, I love it:)

Well that's all for now, life is good today, but I'm going to crawl back into bed since all I get to do today is wait for the repair man to come:) I get paid for this, it's amazing. Although I still don't have access to my money in my bank account so it's not that amazing, yet:)

I miss you, I love you,

Sarah:)

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So today was the first day of classes, needless to say I was a little bit nervous never having taught any of these subjects before, but thanks to singing I find myself well versed in the International Phonetic Alphabet, which is the majority of what I am teaching (only slightly altered to fit the British pronunciation of everything, or the "regular pronunctiaon" RP as they call it here). I arrived to school at about 7.45 thinking I had correctly noted where and when my classes were. 15 minutes after class was scheduled to begin there were still no students, so I hustled down to the secretaries offices where I jabbered out something in broken french and she printed off the NEW version of my schedule and to my surprise my class had already begun 30 minutes earlier and in a different room. I hauled ass up to the other side of the building and stumbled through my first lesson, it was dismal to say the least, but probably not as bad as I think. I ended up running over and letting the next class in late and then this afternoon had to teach another class that i didn't even know I had yet since it was added to my schedule which I can't access yet because I don't have an account at the university since I'm still waiting for my paperwork to be processed and for my name to be imputed into the system (for the time being I am John Langosa...I inherited his schedule from last year).

Needless to say I am tired and frustrated, I seem to have spent the majority of the last two days in English so my french sucks. I came home today to find out that the package my loverly mother sent me is being held at customs until I send a statement saying exactly what is in said package and that I do not intend to sell it...oh the french, you really piss me off today. So for the time being my ice skates are being held hostage somewhere in France. Also I still have no access to my bank account here because even though I have received two notices from my bank with my account number and online access number, and my super secret code, I sitll have to wait for another piece of paper to arrive so that I can sign it and send it back via mail so they can in fact verify where I live....seriously, you have got to be kidding me...so I have no access to my French money.

I'm finding myself very wary today, and I guess it's a type of wariness that only other travelers or people who have moved far away and left everything behind can understand. It's just this sense of homesickness, but I don't know what for. I guess since I'm settling into my more permanent routine now it really feels, well, permanent. The gravity of how long I'm really going to be away and how hard that's actually going to be now that the newness has worn off is intense. It's strange though, because I don't miss texas, I don't want to live there again, and I just don't quite fit here yet, and it's exhausting to feel so outside, and with so few friends. I guess I'm homesick for the feeling of belonging, it's funny because on the doorstep of a grand life change you find yourself very wide eyed about your life and all the experiences you are going to have, and while those do come and they do happen there is still everyday life in between, and that my friends, can be exhausting. France is france, and it's lovely here, but it's still just everyday life only in a different place, one where I don't belong yet. Its hard traveling and seeing all these wonderful things but then turning around to realize you're alone and no one else is there with you. It's difficult to find yourself on the path from who you used to be to who you are becoming, It tends to be a rather lonely place I'm finding today.

So I've opened a bottle of wine and am considering some pasta and "friends" to maybe cheer me up. Any inspiration is most appreciated, as I find myself quite blue today and a bit sub-par. C'est la vie, as they say here and really everywhere, but yes, it is life, hopefully tomorrow will be better.

I love you, and I really miss you,

Sarah

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Hi all, here's a video of my trip in Lipari, enjoy!

I love you, I miss you

Sarah

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So I'm nearing the end of my Italian journey and I can't believe how much I've managed to do and how many new things I've managed to try in the last week. Having been in Europe for almost two weeks now (wow that's hard to believe, it feels like a month) I've been thinking hard about what this year should mean to me and really what is it that I want to accomplish, who do I want to become because of this experience. I think I've really narrowed it down to the fact that I really want to figure out exactly what makes me, well me. The more experience I have and the more people I come across the better acquainted I seem to get with myself, deciding what I really do like versus what I really don't like, how I really feel versus how I think I feel or should feel because other people think like that. I really want to make the effort to stop caring and just do what feels good, to take self responsibility and stop being a P.C version of myself in front of people, and Europe really seems like a great place to do that, especially since I've been allotted this fresh start.

Things I have learned so far in Italy:

I do, and always will I think, hate fresh tomatoes, and they serve it on everything here, even when you ask not to have it

Always ask for EXPLICIT directions when trying to explore an Island that you don't know (otherwise you end up roaming around on the edge of a cliff looking for the ancient ruins that are hiding behind an abandoned building way up higher on the mountain. You get sunburned, run out of water and end up having to hitch hike home with a crazy Italian who doesn't speak a word of English, nor does he have any front teeth. Then you realize when you get home that you were in exactly the right place and you made the hike successfully only to have missed what you were hiking to see in the first place completely...not that I'm speaking from experience).

Italian wine is the best wine ever, it's smooth and easy going, France has good wine too, but it just seems a little more, shall we say, uptight? :)

Pizza in Italy, is the best thing ever, the cheese they use here is different from anything I've ever tasted (buffalo milk cheese), it kicks all manner of Chicago, New York and California Pizza's Asses

Italians and all Europeans for that matter, have no clue how to drive, do not use turn signals, pass on the right, left no matter what size of curve you are going around and be it blind or not.

It is good to have a local native on the island to buy you crap, there is a "tourist" price for everything, and a "islander" price. This price difference is usually enough to buy you a decent bottle of wine later.

Driving a vespa, is much harder than it looks, don't let anyone tell you otherwise, or you will die. They are heavier than they look and at the slightest bump in the road or pothole they tip and swerve...I have new respect for hell's angels riders.

When you hike up to the ancient city of Lipari, there is an ancient amphitheater that still has a stage in it...you must go out and sing on it, it is absolutely mandatory and the best feeling ever (even if it takes you 15 minutes to work up the balls to do it in front of all the other tourists)

It is necessary to learn at least a few words in the local language before arriving, because otherwise you stand around like a bumbling idiot pointing and grunting at what you want. That being said, if you speak French, you can usually pick up on about 20% of the conversation if you listen for key cognate words.

It is impossible to say goodbye to your in-laws, or stop in and have a quick visit with them; this always takes at LEAST 20-30 minutes.

During an intense lightning storm, it is best to travel to the tippy top point of the the island and watch the lightning illuminate the expansive view in front of you, highlighting all six of the islands in the distance for you to see. This will truly be the most majestic thing you have seen to date.

Do NOT let your relative or anyone for that matter talk you into the mud baths on the island of Vulcano (volcano island), they smell like shit from far away and like your wading in a pool of hot rotten eggs when you're in them. Also, do not go bathe in the sea after said experience, because it smells just as bad (since the sulfur that heats the mud, also heats the water).

Gelato is way better than ice cream, just way better and Limone is the greatest flavor ever

Homemade tomato sauce is incredible, the amount of tomatoes needed to be picked for this event and the production it takes to produce it, almost makes it not worth it.

My cousin Nattie, is the only European I know who can make a proper cup of coffee, thank god for personal espresso machines in the house...however a real Italian espresso, tastes like dirt and like you're chewing a coffee bean.

That's all for now, island life has certainly been an eye opener, and southern italian culture for that matter is a time era that exists in it's own frame of reference; very old world very black and white. I have enjoyed my visit here but I am very anxious to get back to France and back to my friends. I start teaching next Wednesday so I am so excited to have something to do! Mom has shipped over my ice skates from the states and I'm enrolling in ice skating classes in French (we'll see how that goes, theres a whole load of vocabulary I don't know yet). I'm already planning my next trips and working on my "bucket list" of things to do before I leave Europe. Pictures are below.

I love you, I miss you

Sarah♥

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Wow, so what an eventful trip already...for those of you who don't know I trekked it down to Italy this week for my last week of vacation before the school semester starts. Lipari, one of the Aeolian islands off the coast of Sicily was formed over 17,000 years ago during the last volcanic age. It is one of the six islands formed during said age, and also happens to be where my cousin Natalina lives with her family. So one train ride from tours to Paris, (where the entire Roissy airport was evacuated because someone left their freaking suitcase on the airport shuttle), an airplane ride down to Palermo, Sicily (where the entire plane applauded after we landed....think new york taxi cab driver, only in the air with more passengers), bus down to the city center of Palermo (since our flight was late due to airport evacuation) where I spoke not a freaking word of Italian (luckily there was an Italian woman on the bus who spoke French) up to the Hostel that Natalina had booked for me (where also luckily the owner spoke some french as well). Onto the Ferry boat the next morning and then four hours later arriving at Lipari....WOW.

The journey was pretty taxing but absolutely worth every minute. I have met SO many fun people already and I'm only three days into my journey. On the plane I sat next to two teenage french boys and chatted with them the whole journey, I am always so happy when the french people mistake me for an english (as in from england) french speaker, this is actually a compliment, it means my accent isn't absolutely atrocious. The bus ride from the Palermo airport was scary, Natalina had to call me and spell out every letter of the stop i needed to get off at, the street name and number of my hostel so I'd have something to point at....I furiously was searching my italian aria repertoire for words that could help me on my journey, I failed miserably. After a couple of grunts and points a lovely woman on the bus began speaking to me in French (thank god) and I was so relieved when she told me where to get off and exactly where my hostel was located. I spent the night in Palermo and made my way to a pizza place on the corner for a gelato and a slice.

I woke up the next morning at 5.30 to make my way to the port to buy my ticket for the ferry, since the ticket office opened at 6am, however this was most unhelpful since the gate to the port didn't open until 6.30 am! Oh Italy, how I love you. I ran into a wonderful German couple that was traveling to Stromboli (another island close to Lipari) and I spent the rest of the morning with them chatting and wound up with an invitation to come and stay in Berlin for the Krist Kindle Mart (Christ Child Market-german tradition leading up to the Christmas holiday)....Excellent! I love making new friends on this trip, it makes traveling alone a little less scary and a lot more fun. Four hours later (and very seasick) I arrived at Lipari where Natalina and Maya (her daughter) picked me up and we headed up into the hills of the Island to make some fresh lunch (after stopping at the local fruit and vegetable seller) and have a shower (apparently this is tradition in Italia, cleanliness is next to godliness....or so Nattie says the Italians think). Nattie lives and works with Pepe (short for Giuseppe) at their local boat and scuba shop, Pepe speaks hardly any english so it's been so fun having a multi lingual house. Maya being only two, understands english, but responds in Italian... so fun and cute.

Nattie and I took off down for a tour of the Island on her scooter (my first time on any type of two wheeled device), needless to say two curvaceous women on a scooter in dresses got lots of looks and whistles, great for my self confidence. We settled down on the beach for a swim (beaches here are made of rock too) and then went to go have a Gelato before picking up some local wine and heading back to the house. I ended up with two gelatos (determined to try every flavor before I leave, my favorite so far is Limone).

This morning the weather was total shit, but the wind looked like it was blowing in my favor, so I decided to head down the mountain path to the ancient roman baths to have a peak around. THe clouds were blowing away and it looked like I was in the clear. 45 minutes later it got very dark very quickly, I looked up in the sky and almost crapped myself since I was halfway down the mountain, the wind had instantaneously shifted, black clouds were rolling in, and I was on the edge of a volcanic cliff in a torrential hurricane like downpour. I huddled myself under a nearby olive tree and tried to wait it out, but 15 freaked out minutes later, unable to even hear myself think from the wind and thunderous claps of lightning I decided to haul ass back up, and I do mean UP, the mountain. I panted and heaved, sweated and wrapped my pagmina around my day pack, fearful of the rain ruining my camera, ipod and phone (which I was to call Nattie with incase of just such an emergency). I slipped and fell, rocks were literally falling off the edges of the very tall cliffs surrounding my previously descended path and I tried to fight back visions of myself laying on the path with a broken leg as I slipped up the mud (since the entire path had turned into a mud waterfall). I made it back up to where the road leaves to Natties house and oh my god, she was there in her car waiting for me, hoping I had the good sense to haul it back up the mountain.

So now, at least I have a good story to tell ten years from now while I sit around a circle with a beer talking about the stupidest thing I ever did....hike down a volcanic cliff in hurricane forecast....brilliant Sarah, just brilliant.

I'm here for another five days and there will be more updates to follow, but I just had to post this one because it's been such an adventure already. Pictures below.

I love you, I miss you,

Sarah

The greatest Kitchen EVER (note hand made brick pizza oven in the back behind Nattie)

View from the top of Lipari

Bella Italia

On the Cliff edge just before the storm broke loose

Italian market...unbelievable

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