So I now know why it is important to update your blog on a regular basis - if you wait too long you may forget what you wanted to put in it!  Its almost been two weeks since I wrote the last blog entry, so lets hope I do not forget anything of great interest in this one!

The weekend after we got back from Prague I began my french classes at Alliance Francaise, here in Strasbourg. I attend every morning from 9-12 five days a week for the month of October.  Now for the month of September I only needed to be up early for three days - Thursday and Friday when I volunteered at the preschool, and Sunday, when I went to church.  Then these classes began I was jolted into the lifestyle of most of the world where I had to wake up early every weekday morning!  You can imagine how unimpressed my body was with that notion!  But I must say that having the regular schedule has been good, and I have enjoyed getting up and having somewhere to go each morning.
My class is obviously the "beginners" class at the school and there are 9 students (we started with 5 but a few others joined over the last couple of weeks).  The other students are from Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Italy, Germany, Poland and Azjerbajan!  So we are quite the international mix - which is fun! Obviously I am the only native English speaker, but all the rest of the students know English, in addition to their native tongue...so I am very impressed with all the languages I hear around me everyday!
I must say I am finding the class difficult and am frustrated with the pace that I am learning at.  The teacher only speaks in French in the classroom and that is the only language we are supposed to speak too.  So there are a lot of things that the teacher says or instructs that I miss!  But I know it is a good environment for me to learn in, having to listen and speak in French....but it is hard!  And I definitely feel incapable and humbled every single day I leave class!  Dave tells me I am learning more than I realize, but I do feel a bit discouraged.  However, I do not spend the time needed on my homework or on my own trying to learn, so it is partly my fault!  I have found that the class has made me a lot busier than I realized it would!  I still have a good amount of free time but I do make a lot of plans throughout the week that fill up that free time and thus minimize my study time!

After my first week of french class I went into the weekend excited to sleep in on Saturday and relax for the majority of the weekend.  However, those plans did not really materialize as I had decided to make pumpkin pie that weekend to eat on Canadian Thanksgiving, the following Monday.  You cannot buy canned pumpkin in France, so I went to the market to buy two "pie pumpkins" to cook for my pie filling.  I thankfully found a really helpful recipe and article online about different methods to cook pumpkins - so I choose the method that was easiest for me given my limited kitchen supplies and appliances - I "steamed" it in the mircrowave.  I actually had fun cooking the pumpkin, scraping it out and getting it ready to mix with the spices, etc.  However I did have a lot of difficulty finding all the spices I needed - I was able to find cinammon and ginger easily but found it harder to locate all spice and ground cloves.  In the end I found whole cloves and resorted to grinding them down myself using a zip lock bag and glass cup!
I then proceeded to search for ready made pie dough.  I did not want to make pie crust from scratch...I felt like making the pumpkin filling from scratch was enough, I did not feel the need to further prove to myself that I could make pie crust.  Plus, it is hard to find ingrediants in foreign grocery stores - they do not have "Crisco" or "Tenderflake" to just whip off the shelf...finding a type of shortening/lard would have taken a lot more research and stamina than I was willing to give!
Finding the pie crust proved to be the most difficult thing about making the pies!  On the Saturday I went to 4 grocery stores in town looking for frozen, ready made pie crust that I could easily find at home in any local grocery store.  After coming up empty handed after visiting the fourth grocery store I went home frustrated and ready to give up.  I had the pie filling all ready to go, I just did not have the crust. 
I resorted to emailing my mom for her crust recipe and planned to spend Monday buying the crust ingredients and making to pie shells (everything is closed on Sundays here).  Thankfully I spoke about my dilemma to a friend at church the next day and she informed me that you can absolutely buy pie dough in French grocery stores, but they are refrigerated, not frozen!!!! So I was looking in the wrong place for the wrong thing - instead of having a frozen ready made shell, here you buy a refrigerated log of dough that you just unroll and stick in your pie plates!  I was so relieved to hear that I would not need to make my own crust!

The next day I went into only 1 grocery store, found the refrigerated crust and went home to put the crust in my pie plates!  The pies were now ready to be cooked!  Easy!  As we do not have an oven at our apartment, that evening after work I went over to the apartment of some friends from ISU to bake the pies there - just in time to eat them for Thanksgiving dinner!  It was a lot of drama for two little pies, but in the end they turned out very well and brought a piece of home to us on Thanksgiving!  We stayed for dinner with our friends, had an amazing lasagne that one of our hosts, Joao, made and then had pie for dessert!  It was a perfect meal and a perfect evening!

As I was in pumpkin pie making mode, Dave had a very intensive ISU weekend.  Starting on the Friday the students participated in a rocket making competition - making their own team rockets and launching them to see how they performed.   They would not only have to perform well in terms of launch and flight, but inside each rocket was also an egg with a parashute to see how safe the rocket was!

The students were not the only ones who designed and launched rockets....the TA's at ISU also had a chance to show off their skills - interestingly though, when it came to launch the TA's rocket fired towards the crowd instead of up and away!  Thankfully there were no injuries, just a couple near misses!  Yikes!

On the Saturday the class had a field trip planned up into the Vosges mountains about a half hour outside of Strasbourg.  The purpose of the trip was to compare satellite images of the Vosges to what was actually on the ground....unfortunately it was a very foggy and misty day so this made the assignment a bit difficult!  But the class at least had the opportunity to do some hiking in the Vosges and see some old ruins....

Upon coming up to the ruins the professor that brought the students out told the Canadians not to climb the walls, as apparently that is what Canadian students would always do in the past....so what happens?  Yep, the Canadians climb the wall and Dave's pulls out his handy dandy Cdn flag that he carries around in his backpack!

Unfortunately the assignment from this trip was not confined to the one day - the groups who worked together had to compile a report for the professor - so on Sunday Dave was back to work on ISU stuff!  We did not see much of each other that weekend!

Thankfully for me, I had a few things planned on Sunday to keep myself busy while Dave was working.  After church I went to my first choir practice!  Yes, I joined the church Christams choir!  I met the choir director a few weeks ago at a women's coffee and we got to talking about singing.  She is a professional voice coach and has a French gospel choir that meets once a week.  She asked me at that time if I was interested in joining....I told her I am not a good singer at all, but that I love to sing!  She told me anyone can learn to sing and I was welcome to join her choir.  Unfortunately they met to practice on a night where I already had a committment.  However, a couple weeks later she made an announcement in church that she wanted to put a choir together for Christmas - so we talked and I joined!!!!
At my first practice I found out I am a soprano!  I did not know this, so that was an exciting discovery and made me feel pretty important! Hahaha!  So far I am really loving the choir and the singing and am so excited for when we learn all the songs and for when all the harmonies come together!  I never would have thought I would join a choir here in France, but life is full of little surprises and I am enjoying them! 
My sister always giggles when we are talking and I mention choir - she thinks it is hilarious!  And I do not blame her as she spent years hearing me butcher songs from the Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and other Disney movies!

On that Sunday evening after choir practice I met up with Teresia (and her baby Max) and Zahira, two girlfriends of other ISU students - we were at a wine tasting in the city square and then went to one of their houses for coffee.  It was lovely to sit and talk with other women who were having to share their significant other with ISU!  It is not an easy program to be in if you are in a relationship or have a family as it demands so much of your time - and it was good to talk to other people who are in the same boat!  We had a very nice evening together and I even got to hold baby Max for a little while!

The following week was not terribly exciting for Dave or I.  I continued with my French classes, looked after the litte girls and did house work (I even did some hand washing as our washing machine broke down for a few days).  I did meet up with some friends for coffee, drinks and lunch throughout the week which was a real life saver as Dave was so busy. His first module exam is tomorrow so he pretty much spent the week at ISU studying or at his desk studying.  If I were to chronicle his life in pictures over the last week you would see him in the same position, hunched over his notes, in the same place, with a red bull nearby.  He has been working incredibly hard and will be so glad when this exam is over - as will I!  So I am very thankful to the friends I have made here that keep me company while Dave is so busy!

The last couple of weeks have been really good weeks with the little girls I look after.  Since my arm has been feeling better and I am not restricted by wearing a sling we are able to do more things together.  A couple of weeks ago we went for a walk along the river, picking the fall leaves that were changing colour, and played in a park.  I had so much fun holding hands with them and running down the river path - they were laughing and playing and it was so much fun!  This past week I decided to bake with them - I had left over pumpkin from the pies so I asked their mom if we could try making spiced pumpkin cookies.  She was very encouraging and bought all the ingrediants we needed and I brought over the pumpkin.  I was not sure if the girls would be really into it but was pleasantly surprised to find that they were very keen to do everything - they measured out the ingrediants, mixed everything together, blended the mixture and spooned the dough onto the pan!  When the cookies started to bake and the smell of cinnamon and nutmeg filled the house they were excited for them to be done so they could try them....and after the first taste test the girls were sold on pumpkin cookies!  People here do not really eat pumpkin, so the girls had never had anything with pumpkin in it before - so I was happy when they liked the cookies!  It was a really fun afternoon and they were very excited to share the cookies with their parents and neighbours!  In fact I just got an email from the girl's mom asking if we could make the cookies again this coming week as the girls would like to make some to take to school before they go on their school break for the last week of October.

This weekend was a rainy, cool weekend in Strasbourg, so I stayed close to home.  Right now I still have not finished my French homework for the weekend, so that is what lies ahead of me for the next hour!  I will sit with Dave as he studies and try not to bug him to help me too much - I am so tempted to get him to do it for me, but thankfully he is too busy to even fill out my exercise book, so I am forced to muddle through on my own!

Well that is our life in a nutshell over the last couple of weeks - lots of routine stuff but it is still amazing to us that we live our daily lives in France amongst cathedral spires, tolling bells and cobblestone alleyways.  It is truly beautiful here and everytime we leave the house and go for a walk we discover new things!  We miss everyone at home and wish everybody could come and visit!  Keep it in mind as you make travel plans over the next year!

Love Heather & Dave

Wow - what a week it has been!  In the space of 24 hours this past week I was in the Czech Repbublic, France, Germany and back into France - 3 countries in such a short time frame.  That is a first for me!

Let me start off with a highight from the weekend before we went to Prague.  It was a very special day at our church last as we had a potluck lunch and then a baptism service!  Now in case my Pastor, Mark, is reading this I want to be clear that every Sunday at Trinity is awesome!  But last Sunday was particularly great due to the potluck and baptism service.  As all of you who know me well are aware of - I love to eat - so potlucks are one of my favorite things in the WORLD!  And church potlucks are particularly fantastic because people go all out.  And baptism services are always so special - like usual I shed some tears and rejoiced with the people who have had their lives changed.  So here are some pics to document this special day:

In the late afternoon on Sunday I went back home, grabbed my suitcase and headed to the airport to catch my flight to Prague!  When I got to the airport and found my departure gate I recognized a few of my fellow passengers as Dave's ISU professors.  It worked out that three of them were staying at the same hotel as the students (and me) so I was able to share a taxi with them to the hotel upon arrival!  I had planned on taking the much cheaper route to the hotel - by bus and then subway, but it was dark and rainy by the time we arrived in Prague and it would have taken me about an hour to get there - so this was a much better option.  And in the end they paid for the taxi for me.  So a faster and cheaper method of getting to the hotel and I had the bonus of interesting conversation on the way there!

Dave was waiting for me at the hotel when I arrived and we spent the night in as it was already quite late.  Some of the other students had gone out exploring the city - some taking in a ghost tour and some finding an absinth bar!  Never a dull moment with that crew, let me tell you! 

The next morning Dave was up early and on his way to the IAC conference for the day.  I slept in, had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel and then went to downtown Prague to start exploring.  I spent the day walking around the historic/touristy parts of the city - seeing Old Town Square, walking over Charles Bridge, going up to Prague Castle and wandering through Lesser Town.  I usually like to spend my first day in a new city doing this - just walking around seeing what there is and then deciding what I want to do for my remaining time there.  The day was perfect except for the weather - the whole time we were in Prague it was cold and rainy.  But it did not stop me!  I just put lots of layers on and took my umbrella!
Dave also had a pretty good day - there was an opening ceremony at the conference that showcased Czech culture with dance, music, etc.  But the highlight of his day definitely came when he saw that Bill Nye the Science guy at the conference!!!!  I got a text in the middle of the day from him excitedly wanting to share this information!  It was very cute and nerdy...but it turns out he is in good company as all the ISU students I talked to at the end of the day were equally thrilled to have seen him!  And I must admit I was really jealous I had not seen him - he is so cute!  A couple of the girls even sat next to him at the conference and talked to him!  (Thank you Diana for sharing your pic and also to Michele and Karina for agreeing to make an appearance in the blog!)

After Dave was done at the conference and I was done exploring we met up at the hotel in the evening.  Dave was tired from a full day of activities and just cumulative exhaustion so he went to bed so he would be able to get up early the next morning.  I ended up going out with a group of ISU students to a local Czech pub for some drinks - thanks guys for inviting me out with you!  After being alone all day wandering the city I was ready for some socializing! 

On Tuesday I went on a tour of the old Jewish Ghetto in Prague.  This was a walking tour that lasted about three hours.  We visited multiple syagogues and memorials and the Old Jewish Cemetary.  The guide offerred a really good insight to the history of the area and the history of Czech Jews.  I must say it was not a tour you left feeling warm and fuzzy about - the history was obviously sad and tragic, but I think it is something that is so important to learn about and remember.  One of the things that struck me the most was children`s artwork displayed in one of the synagogues that was collected from a concentration camp about 60km outside of Prague.  There was such sadness, hope, darkness and colour in the artwork and really testified to both the horrific reality these children went through and also to the hope and strength that the human spirit has.

The next day I continued my education on the dark parts of Prague`s history by visiting the Communist Museum.  This is another period of history that fascinates me and that I wanted to learn more about.  Thankfully the museum was really well put together and I came away with a newfound realization of what the Czech population lived through during the Communist regime.  In some ways it is hard for me to believe that the fall of the iron curtain occurred only 20 years ago - it seems like such a distant part of history now.  But then I think: if I had been born in Prague, my first 7-8 years would have been lived under the Communist regime and I would have had my first school years learning the doctrines of Communism.....what a different experience to the one I had!  Really it was not so long ago....

And of course one day Dave and I managed to squeeze in some time together to see the sights of Prague.  Dave took a few hours off one afternoon from the conference and we did the typical Prague sights!  It was fun to be out traveling with him and to take advantage of some of the photo "opps" that we came across.  And I was glad that Dave did not end up leaving Prague only seeing the inside of a hotel and conference centre - although since he got to see Bill Nye, the conference centre not too shabby in his mind!

On our last day in Prague Dave left on the bus around 10 am and I flew out around 5 pm.  I enjoyed my time in that beautiful city but I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was looking forward to going back to Strasbourg, back to our home.  Its been two months since we moved here and it is starting to feel like home.  Of course it is not the same as Canada and to be perfect Strasbourg would have my family and friends in it - but for now, for this year and for this time I feel that it is home after all - thanks to the many great people that we have met here.

Back in Strasbourg for the weekend, we went to the second ISU hosted movie night - meaning it takes place at ISU but is put on by the students who take responsibility for it.  There was chips, chocolate bars, popcorn and pizza - needless to say I had a good night even without the movie!  It was fun to just sit back and eat and relax!

On Sunday Dave and I took advantage of the fact that the museums in France are free on the first Sunday of the month.  We climbed all the way up to the top of the Strasbourg Cathedral (also something that is free on this day).  The climb entailed lots of lots of stairs!!!!  But it was worth all the sweat and wheezing, the view was amazing and it was really cool to see the city from that height.  We then went to the Alsatian archeaology museum and saw some interesting remains that were dug up in the area - Dave is always fascinated by skeletons so he was happy!  It was a nice Sunday afternoon and good to have Dave all to myself for a few hours as he is usually studying during the day on the weekends.

It has taken me longer than usual to get this blog up due to some technical difficulties, so while I have lots to write about regarding what has been happening during the last few days (this week) it will have to wait until the next blog entry!
Love Dave & Heather