Newsletter Post (and Praise!)

Thank you so very much for your prayers. We truly felt them. Here it the update on the apartment. On Monday we were told that the owners needed more information about us and our company. On Tuesday the realtor said it was looking better in our favor. On Wednesday night we received a phone call from the realtor saying that the owners had agreed to rent to us. Then on Thursday (when we were to start our Final exams) the realtor said we needed to come down and sign the contract as soon as possible. So we left on Thursday afternoon for Marseille. We were then told we could sign the contracts on Friday morning. (Are you tired yet?) So, on Friday morning we signed the contract and came home that afternoon. THEN Saturday morning we took our “fourth” exam having missed the first three on Thursday and Friday. Now, we are getting ready to take 5 exams tomorrow, so we’ll have to cut post short.

Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland

We live in a winter wonderland!

These pics were taken about 5-10 minutes from our apartment.

It is so beautiful here! We are so blessed.

Culture Shock

I am not currently in culture shock, however I was shocked by something I learned in class yesterday.

In America, I have heard the expression, "The Good is the enemy of the Best." I took this to mean that we should not be satisfied when something is just "good".

Yesterday I learned that the French have a similar expression. "The Best is the enemy of the Good." This means that if something is good, we should leave it alone. You can completely destroy something good if you mess with it just in order to make it better.

Wow! That explains a lot about the differences in our 2 cultures.

Please do not take this post as a judgment of any kind. It's just an observation!

Writers' Strike

To All my TV Watching and Downloading Friends...


What some writers said about the WGA strike on http://unitedhollywood.blogspot. com/...

"So how do we get our point across, to people who don’t understand why we’re doing this? The best way I have found, is to say: everything on the internet? We get zero. They get everything. They get millions and millions and eventually billions and billions, and we get zero. And the “they,” here, is basically six of the biggest baddest companies in the world, run by men who annually receive salaries and compensation well north of 50 million dollars."

And from Creative Screenwriting e-zine...

I'll give you an example [of why they are striking]-- the series Heroes," said Bernard Lechowick. "The writers and creators of Heroes earn nothing in reruns," he said. "Nothing. Because there are no reruns on television. They're all online, and in the past year tens of millions of people viewed the show in reruns online, and each of those tens of millions of viewings had paid advertisement on it. And the writers earned nothing from that. Not a penny."

"DVDs seem to bethe new residuals," says television writer David Graziano. "Things aren't airing on TV anymore. They're either on the internet or they're being released on DVD." But with the contract agreement reached in 1988 setting rates at a mere four cents per DVD..."


So, these are just some of the things we need to keep in mind when Heroes runs its season finale December 3rd. And, in 4-6 weeks there will be no new episodes (this season) from Desperate Housewives, the Office, or most other shows that are not reality TV based. The writers (in my opinion) have good reasons for striking.

youtube video from the staff of The Office

http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=b6hqP0c0_gw

A 3-bedroom in Marseille?

Check out this apartment! Lord willing (and the owner waits for us to get all the money and paperwork finalized) this will be our home in Marseille! Thank you for your prayers.

Please keep praying!

Mentanna found it a week ago. Here are some pics:

Here's the link:

http://www.seloger.com/192686/30803267/detail.htm

Question

Suddenly, I have a lot to blog about! Here's the first thing. This is more of a question than a blog, but I would really appreciate your responses. I could write pages on the background of this question and why it is driving me crazy, but I will try to limit the story to a few lines.

I believe in the power of prayer. (For my friends who follow other teachings or no teachings, please hang in there with me, this question is for you, too.) Recently, I prayed and prayed for what I THOUGHT was the best solution to a big problem, but God had other plans. He said, "No." But yet, I still have faith and I still have hope.

Paul encourages us in the New Testament to “always be prepared to give a reason for the hope that you have in you.” Why do I have this hope? I KNOW I DO have this incredible hope, a peace that is beyond my understanding, and a faith that I can rely on. But, WHY do I have this hope? If sometimes the answer is, “No,” why do I continue to “know” that everything will be okay?

So, here is the question. Actually, here are the questions (plural):

Christians: Why do you have the “hope” in you?
Friends of Other Faiths: Why might the “hope” seem crazy to you?

Thanks.

Hello Again!

We are now determined (once again) to update our blog regularly (once again).

Here's our problem:

When we have a lot to say, there is no time to post!

When we have time to post, there is not much to say!

But, we know that we love reading other people's blogs and newsletters (even if it takes us a while to comment), so we are going to try (once again) to let you know how things are going over here. (We're still in France in case you haven't heard from us in a REALLY long time!)

So, Claire is only 3, but she started school. They start official preschool between 2 1/2 and 4 here. It is not mandatory, but it seems as if "all the kids are doing it". She loves it! Her teacher says she is speaking French, and she is doing well. (Except she rarely takes naps.)

So, here are a few pictures from her first day of school!

(And, no... her parents did not cry!)

From Claire's Camera

As requested here are some pictures by Claire

Claire By Claire

Mommyand Daddy by Claire

The Phone by Claire

Ode to a Peaceful waterfront by Claire

Daniel's B-day

Chateau Chillon

Well another year has gone by and it is Daniel’s b-day again. Well this year, since there was no one in Albertville, we went to Geneva. We visited Chateau Chillon which is on the other side of the lake from Geneva. This is a really cool Chateau. We also went to the Nestle Chocolate factory. This was probably the highlight of the trip. During the tour there is a room were you can sample all the different types of chocolate they make. We also had Burger King and Domino’s pizza. Isn’t it funny that we go to a different country and eat American food? Here are some pictures of our trip.

Daniel on the Pot

The Great hall of Chocolate

It's Summer... Anybody out there??

I wanted to say something profound or thought-provoking or even interesting, but I cannot think of anything to say. You see, we are "on vacation" from language school which means that we find other ways outside of school to study and speak French. Therefore, our minds are tired. I cannot think in French or English sometimes! Did you know that simply watching a 45 minute TV show (in French) can be one of the most exhausting language exercises???

That being said, I just wanted to say SOMETHING, ANYTHING. It is summer and there is not much going on here, so I really wanted to reach out and communicate with SOMEONE! Please communicate with us.

Let's see what we have done that is worthy of showing a picture... I don't suppose you want to see a picture of our tutor, Bernard? Would you like to see a link to the new Grammar books we want to purchase? What about a clip from the tv show Numb3rs in French?? No? Really?

I have a picture of our overly ambitious attempt to climb a mountain... with Claire. Or you can see a picture of Claire playing at a beach on a lake. How about Claire watching the Tour de France? It came through Albertville (before the leader got stripped of the yellow jersey for doping).


I'll post some pics anyway. We hope all is going well for everyone out there. Here's a question... Why does France close during the summer?

The Tour de France (yellow jersey guy after the riders in pink)

Claire at the Lake Beach

A Picture of Claire Taking a Picture

The Wise Man Built His House Upon the Rock

Do you remember the kids’ song about the wise man who built his house upon the rock? Well, they sing that song in France, too, but they add a verse. It translates something like this, “Friend, have your house built upon the rock… The wind will come and the rain will fall, but the house will resist.” Well, here is Claire’s version. (She sings this in French.) “Friend, build your house upon the fool… Friend, build your house upon the fool…”

Ramblings

Anniversary

Today is our 10-year anniversary!! Yeah! And, to celebrate the decade we have been married, we started our final exams for this trimester. Yeah! It was so romantic... We sat next to each other and took a test. Can you believe it has been 10 years??!!


Claire Stuff

I was singing a song to Claire the other day, and I could not think of all of the words. So, I sang,
"Doo, Doo, Doo, Do, DO." Claire said, "Can you sing, 'I don't know the rest of the words?'"

Claire said, "How you doin'?"

Claire asked for dessert. I told her we had to eat dinner first. She said, "But we ate just yesterday."


Other Stuff

It snowed here in the mountains in June! BUT, now it is getting hot. Weather is such an interesting thing in any language.





Let us know how you are! We're off to study!!

Cannes

Ahh, springtime in France!

I (Tiffany) just wanted to upload a few pics from the Cannes Film Festival (in Cannes, France). I was able to go with Mentanna to this year's festival. The short film we produced in Austin was shown in the Short Film Corner portion of the festival.

The few days we spent there were wonderful and overwhelming. That is a place for real film people! We were able to attend a premiere of a new film starring Juliette Binoche. We also saw Jude Law and Norah Jones walk the red carpet.

I'm sure I will post more on this subject later. Enjoy the pics, and please leave a comment!

Daniel and Claire were able to be there one day. If you look closely, you can see them on the merry-go-round!

Survey

I am taking a poll. Everyone keeps asking us what people in America think about the French elections. That's a little hard to answer since we are here. So, I am asking you! Please comment!

Do you think about the French elections at all?

Have the elections been on the news? in the papers?

Had you ever heard of Sarkozy BEFORE Sunday, May 6th?

Did you ever hear of Royal, the lady running against Sarkozy?

What do you think of the outcome of the elections? (Sarkozy won with 53% of the vote.)



Thanks for your input!

Illustration

We were sitting in church on Sunday, and the pastor was giving his message in French. AND, guess what!? We understood it!!

I had never heard this illustration before…

There was a man who was very sick. The doctor gave him 6 more months to live. One of his friends came to talk to him; his friend told him about this wonderful medicine that would cure his disease. This friend said that 10 years earlier, he had actually suffered from the same disease. He took this medicine, and it worked!! The man did not want to listen to his friend. He knew that the end was coming, and he had come to accept that fact.

A little while later, another friend came to the man. He said that 5 years earlier, he had suffered from the same fatal disease. The man’s friend told him about the wonderful medication that had saved his life. However, the man did not want to listen to his friend.

One of the man’s friends went out and bought the medicine. His friend went to the man’s house and set the medicine on the table in front of the man. His friend told him to take the medicine. He said that the man simply had to take the medicine and he would be cured! The man got very angry. He picked up the medicine and threw it against the wall.

The man is no longer going to die because of his disease. He is going to die because he refused to take the medicine.

Festival of ONE Ballon

If you read our last update, you know that we recently went to a balloon festival, and there was ONE balloon. We thought our school director said (in French) that the balloons would be there from the morning until the evening. He actually said that the balloons would be there IN the morning and IN the evening. Oh, well! We went up in a balloon (only about 50 meters, but it was fun)!

Throw Pillows

Some of our friends mentioned the fact that we have not updated our blog in a while. Well, obviously this is true. Honestly, there is just not a lot to say about language school. We are really enjoying school, we are learning a lot, and we are able to communicate in French much better now. (I have even started using pronouns!)

This past month has been fun. For the first time ever we picked out a sofa (okay, it’s a futon) and a chair. We were able to pick out our own throw pillows. That was very exciting for us. You would think that at our age we would have picked out many home items, but this was a first for us!

It is funny how happy little things make us. My throw pillows make me happy.

Where we Are... Where we are Going...

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

We just wanted to share some pictures with you.

We are studying French in Albertville. They had the Olympics here in 1992.

Here is a picture of the little vineyard across the street from our apartment. There are too many clouds in these pictures to see much of the mountains, but they are there and they are tall!

This was taken out our front window:

This was taken out our back window:

This is near the "Old Port" in Marseille. If you look closely you can see the Chateau d'If (or Chateau beef as Claire calls it). Lord willing, we will be in Marseille by next year!

Here are some pretty boats at the "Old Port" in Marseille:

Grandparents are Grandparents...

It is incredible how no matter where you are grandparents are the same. We have several “experienced” people living in our apartment building. The other day we met one of them for the first time, and Claire just looked at her and said “Bonjour” and the lady just melted. The old French lady could not resist touching Claire’s cheek and saying how sweet Claire was. This opened up a long conversation between Tiffany and our neighbor. (Daniel was there but his part was not that long). Our neighbor could not stop smiling at Claire who was fidgeting and ready to go. On another day we met our neighbor that lives across the hall and he is about 84 years old. When Claire said “Bonjour” to him he melted as well. As we were leaving Claire asked if that was someone else’s “Papa” (Claire’s Great-Granddad.) We said yes he was.
This little story is to, one, talk about Claire but to also remind us that we are all the same no matter where we go. Grandparents are Grandparents all over the world. And a 2-year- old’s smile can always melt the heart of any Grandparent no matter what the nationality.

Getting Here...

Okay... so this story is from a few weeks ago, but it contains a big praise!

Well we have made it to France. God has already been good to us during our travels. We went to the airport about four hours early to check-in our 11 bags of luggage. Yes that is what I said 11 bags. It may seem like a lot but try to imagine your whole life for a year in 11 bags. They fill up very quickly! The board only pays for 4 extra bags and we had five. We had resigned ourselves to pay for the extra bag even though we were not happy about it. Well, we got to the airport (four hours early) and checked in. Even though our bags were a bit over the weight limit the lady let them though. Then after all the bags had been weighed and tagged she said, You have five extra bags but I will only charge you for four of them. Man was that a relief, Daniel tried to hold his excitement in and just say thank you, it was difficult.

Our precious Claire enjoyed the plane ride so much she did not sleep for the whole nine hour flight. Actually, you know how kids since when you are almost to your destination so they choose that moment to fall asleep. That is what Claire did. We were about 2 and 1/2 hours from Germany and she decided to fall asleep. They turned the lights on at 2 hours and began to serve breakfast. OH the joys of toddlerdom.