I'm baaack

yeah that's me with short short hair in the teacher's lounge at school. I FINALLY figured out how to connect my computer to the internet at school, which means I can flood you with photos more often. in the background there is a newspaper article of some of my teachers who were on strike in December. Way to be proactive, teachers.



me and my new do, in my pjs, not really rockin' it out on the bass at Max's parent's house in Annecy oohh yeah Max is the one who plays the bass.

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OK, folks I’m back. Get ready.

As it WAS freakishly warm here, on Saturday we thought it would be fun to get a little fresh air with a nice bike ride around the deceivingly small-looking lake in Annecy. Max, Delphine and I packed some smoked meat and cheese sandwiches and headed out on our journey. The first half of the trip combined magnificent mountain views with several steady, annoying uphill climbs. My legs protested loudly. Later, we saw a group of paragliders shooting themselves off the mountain in bursts of color, making me insanely jealous of their dangeling legs. The second half of the trip, after our sandwiches, was on a flat, bike-only path that was much more agreeable. Four hours and 25 miles later, we arrived back at Max’s house, where I had to take some aspirin and beat the life back into my shriveled legs.

Needless to say, we spent the whole day Sunday at Max’s parents house, in pajamas, laying on the couch, eating, sleeping, and playing music on a crusty keyboard, and coddling our whining legs.



the paragliders



me and max after our ride
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Back it up.

Christmas 2006.

A few days before Christmas I ate dinner with Max and his parents at Max’s aunt’s house in Annecy. We had escargot bathed in a basil sauce, which I loved so much that I don’t remember much of anything else we ate. In France, it’s traditional during Christmas to have a cake in the shape of a Yule log, and the one we had for dessert was delicious. I thoroughly enjoyed my dinner with their family, as it gave me a home to claim during the holiday.

Christmas Eve day, Kerri and I went to Annecy to stay with Tessa Lynch. We made ourselves a nice dinner and sang every Christmas song in the paperback, sing-a-long Christmas song books that came with the Yule Log Christmas Pack my mom sent me. What’s that, you say to yourself, a Yule Log Christmas Pack? That’s right. A Yule Log Christmas Pack, complete with a DVD of 90-minutes of a burning Yule log, with or without Christmas music in the background, and 4 song books. I don’t want to give away the plot of the movie, but I’m afraid the action, and characters for that matter, were quite lacking. What we do get, however, is a captivating, head-on shot of a fireplace, fully decorated in its tacky Christmas glory. Sometimes the camera zooms in on the fire alone, sometimes it pans the dollied mantel and the dusty nutcracker, zooming back out again to the whole fireplace. We were addicted.



me, Kerri, and Tessa in Tessa's kitchen

After tiring our voices with Christmas cheer, I ran into town to catch part of a Christmas Eve mass. I had the urge to be briefly surrounded by a large group of people, as is usually the norm on Christmas Eve. When I arrived, I stood in the back with the other 50 late people and looked over the congregation of a few hundred people catching their yearly dose of religion. I stayed just long enough to hear a gag-inducing, sweet Christmas story about a poor boy, his mother, and a pair of shiny shoes that made all the adults roll their eyes at each other while glancing at their watches. I listed to one Christmas carol afterward and went back to Tessa’s.

That night I got to see my extended family (dad’s side) through the web cam with Skype. Everyone was at my Granny’s house in Greenville eating weenies, forgotten cookies, dates, and olives. Did someone remember to spike the eggnog this year? It was really great to see and say hello to everyone. Honestly, I think Christmas Eve was more difficult away from family than Christmas day. I missed participating in the anticipation that excites and energizes everyone on Christmas Eve. Late Christmas Eve near midnight, we took a walk to the park beside the lake in Annecy and happened to come across a temporary petting zoo which, to our surprise, housed 6 tiny reindeer. We tried to pet them, but they were too clever and avoided our outstretched hands. We then walked to the lake’s edge and shot some fireworks. It seemed like the appropriate thing to do.

Christmas day I slept until 10 or so, the latest I have ever slept in my life on Christmas day. We made french toast and watched 4 movies during the day. It was an extremely lazy day. I also watched my family celebrate Christmas through Skype, which was fun.

The following day I left for Barcelona, Spain on a 13 hour train ride. I met up with Lisa Cantrell, a friend from Furman, and we traveled for 10 days or so together. More adventures next time...