More of Paris...

The rest of the weekend in Paris was better than I could explain in words...but I'll do the best that I can. On Friday night I talked Matt into fighting his jet-lag and hanging out so we went to the Latin District where all the young people hang out and we sat at one of hundreds of really cute restaraunts and ate some absolutely delicious pizza for dinner. Then we decided to head back to the hostel because there was a live band playing downstairs and they were having a party so we figured there would be a lot of people hanging out there. Turned out that the band was a little bit obnoxious and there were only about ten hippies dancing downstairs so we grabbed a drink upstairs at the bar and we sat outside by the canal for a bit before we met a couple other Americans and one Australian guy. We hung out at the hostel with them all night just getting to know eachother, laughing, talking...it was fun. Matt also made friends with a French guy there so they talked for quite a bit and every once in awhile I would practice the very little french that I know! On Saturday we ate breakfast at the hostel and then walked around all day looking around the city until dinner time when we met up with the French guys that Matt had met in San Fran. They brought some friends so there were seven french people and the three of us (me, Matt, and Katie who is also from Bellingham and teaching English in France) and we ate dinner at this Mongolian restaraunt. After dinner two of our new French friends, Kevin and Boris, wanted to take us out so we all went dancing. I had forgotten how rough, yet extremely fun, the European lifestyle is for people my age. You don't sleep!! A lot of the clubs don't even open until after mid-night! We were out until 4:30 am, it was great! The craziest part was that when we left, there were still people waiting to get in to the bar and there were so many people and cars on the street that you would think it was still the middle of the day! The Europeans love American music too and I thought it was pretty funny that they knew more of the words to the songs than I did! Sunday morning Matt and I woke up early and made our way to the Eiffel Tower (a must see when you visit Paris...I made him go with me!) I decided not to go with him to Le Mans because the Paris trip had already taken a huge toll on my bank account, so I helped him to the train station with all of his luggage and I headed back up here to Bruchmulbach! It was such an amazing trip and I will do anything to make it back to Paris soon...I could never spend too much time in that city!! Tomorrow is my first day watching Anthony and I will have him for 96 hours straight because Joe and Jess are both working 12 hour night shifts and having to sleep during the day! I'm really excited, we have a lot of fun activities planned :)

Apparently I Bring Trouble!

Regardless of where I go...trouble seems to follow me! When I was in Mexico last year, Morelia experienced its first ever public terrorist attack only five minutes from my apartment! Currently here in Germany I am not at all worried or afraid in this situation but it is something that I am aware of and I will be taking all the necessary precautions to make sure I am safe here. The following is a brief description of what's going on in Germany right now:


There is a general threat from terrorism in Germany. Such attacks could be indiscriminate, including in public places frequented by expatriates and foreign travellers.. Although the German security authorities have averted serious terrorist attacks, they assess that the threat from terrorism remains high and urge individuals to maintain a high level of vigilance.

The German government has taken measures to enhance security throughout the country in the run up to the national elections taking place on 27 September 2009. On 18 September a video was released claiming to be from Al Qaeda warning the German people against re-electing the current government and not removing its troops from Afghanistan.

Paris=My Happy Place

Right now I am sitting at a small table right on the Paris canal in France and I can't think of any other place in the world I would rather be today. In fact, (sorry to all of you who don't want to read this) but Paris has been added to the top of my list of places I will live in my lifetime! I remember the happy feeling I had last time I visited here three years ago, and the second I got off the train today and stepped out of the station into the beautiful city, that overwhelming joyful feeling all came back to me. First of all, I took the ICE train from my village to get here which is a newer train that goes 200mph. The trip only took me three hours and I got to see a lot of the german/french countryside along the way. I was glad I reserved the window seat! I got here about 10:00 this morning and easily managed to navigate my way to the hostel where we are staying. I traveled here alone, but I met up this evening with my friend Matt from Bellingham. He didn't get here until about 4:30 so I walked all over town today, sat out alongside the canal and did some good people watching, and took a little nap before he got here. The place we are staying at is called St. Christopher's Inn and it takes first place for the coolest hostel I have ever stayed at. It's huge so there are tons of young people hanging out here, the location is absolutely breathtaking and it has this cute French cafe/bar where I am sitting now. It's great! Matt just flew in from the US so he is taking a nap so he can be ready to go out tonight. He has some friends from San Fran that live here so either tonight or tomorrow night I think they are taking us out. Matt spent a year studying here in France and has spent a lot of time in Paris so tomorrow he is going to show me some places that I didn't get to see last time I was here. Then on Sunday we are headed to this city about 20 minutes from here called Le Mans where he is going to be teaching English this year and I am going to help him get moved in to his new apt. So far soooo amazing in Paris!

This last wed. I went to Oktoberfest with a friend of the family I am working for and we had a good time there. We were only at the festival for one day and then on thurs. we stopped at and toured one of the largest concentration camps in Germany. It was so sad, but very interesting and educational. This camp was originally small, and in 1937/38 they reconstructed the site to hold 6,000 prisoners, but they ended up holding over 30,000 there. Seeing this place in person was really an eye-opener to how absolutely terrible the life was for these people, not only for the awful living areas but for all the torture they were put through in these camps.

Life in Europe continues to be filled with blessings and I am really loving my time here. Miss you all and think of you daily :)

This is at the Bad Durkheim wine festival!

The beginning...

So I made it here safely after a total of almost 13 hours of travelling! Jessica, Joe and Anthony met me at the airport and it took us about an hour and a half to get back to the village where they live. It's been really overcast here but everything is still so beautiful! There are rolling hills of vinyards everywhere! The highway here is crazy, as Abby had already informed me before I left to come here, but not so much because of how fast people drive, mostly because the lanes are soo narrow! Sometimes, atleast as a passenger, it doesn't look like you are going to be able to fit past the car in the other lane when you are passing them! We went to the Bad Dirkheim wine festival last night which is the biggest wine fest in the world so that was fun! Anthony went on all the rides, and we all went on the ferris wheel! I absolutely love the little village where we live and we all went for a walk the other day and it was so fun to look at all the houses because they are all so different from eachother and full of character! The Amores have a cat and HUUGE dog too, it's an Alaskan Malemute...or however you spell that, and he is the biggest teddy bear of a dog you'll ever meet! I usually don't like big dogs all that much, but I loove Champ, he's so cute! It took no time at all for Anthony to warm up to me, he is actuallly cuddled up by me right now as I am writing this! He's a very happy and energetic two and a half year old so I have been having fun with him! I have been trying to start learning German...I forgot what it's like to be a beginner with a language! I sound soo ridiculous..but it's fun! We went on base the day after I got here too and it's nothing at all like what I imagined! It really is like it's own little American town. We ate at the mall and did our grocery shopping there and everything, and then I got to go back with Jessica yesterday and see where she works. She works in an office that overlooks one of the five flight lines on base. The airforce planes are huge and her job seems really interesting! Jess and I went to the gym that they have there too, so that was nice to be able to get in a good workout considering I haven't been to the gym in ...probably 4 months! haha So things here are going really well and I love it so far, we are taking Anthony to go see Elmo on Sunday, which is also Jessicas birthday so maybe I will have more to write after the weekend!

This is a message from Anthony: /vv''v'hnhnhhghghhhhjew3e333443443 :)