Life in Europe

Most of the time I absolutely LOVE living in Europe. Most of the time I feel at home here. Most of the time I enjoy the different pace of life and unique way of thinking.

Most of the time.

There are also those times where I think I am living on another planet and I want to scream the question, "WHY??? Why do you do that??"

We had a lovely trip to the small country of Andorra during Claire's Spring Break. The snow was beautiful and the weather was perfect for skiing. In fact, Daniel had planned to go skiing during our time there. Tiffany had even thought of putting Claire in the ski school and trying to ski, too! Katie and Courtney (our friends and teammates who went with us) brought snow boots and ski jackets..

.

BUT, ski season closed the day before we got there. It didn't matter that the snow was still powder-y perfect. In Andorra, ski season opens every year around the 1st of December (even though there usually is no snow) and it closes mid-April (even if the snow is abundant). No capitalism here!!!

We did, however, find a ski resort still open across the border in France (where the snow was melting). But, ski season was not supposed to end until the next week.

I also cannot understand WHY people choose to have a dog in a big city like Marseille and then they don't pick up after the dog's, ummm, "business". I think that every dog owner that leaves it's dog's poop on the ground should be forced to step in the mess and then walk through their own house! Get rid of the dog or get rid of the poop! Come on, people.

AND, I would really like to "key" all of the cars that completely block the sidewalk so I am forced to walk my child out into the busy street. (I have NOT done that... I just imagine how good it could feel...)

I also got pretty angry when some big girls at the playground picked Claire up and moved her so that they could act stupid and play like little kids. I did chew them out--- But, hey, at least I did it in French!

So... that is a small record of my culture stress right now. Don't worry. I won't try to change the economic mindset of any small countries, I won't force people to step in poop, I won't scratch any cars, and I won't gripe out any more children-- unless they touch my Claire!

And, it's not bad here. I still love it. Andorra really was BEAUTIFUL, and we did get to sled while there. And, I am VERY thankful that God has chosen to place us in Europe!

Baseball in Marseille

Yesterday, Daniel officially played his first game with the Marseille baseball team. He hasn't played baseball or softball in quite a while, but here are some stats from yesterday's game...

Daniel hit 3 triples...

He was walked twice by the pitcher (after the triples)...

He was playing 3rd base--- twice in a row the ball was hit to him and he threw the runner out at 1st!

And, his batting average was between .600 and .700! Really, it was!

His team won both of the games in the "double header". The first game was 7 innings. The second game was 5 innings.

Go Meds!