Phewwwww ... it's been a busy month!

Fun Fact: The Great Christmas Tree is finally illuminated in Place Kleber, which is just around the corner from our apartment.  The following description of the Great Christmas Tree appears in the English version of Strasbourg's Christmas brochure: 

"Throughout December, the place Kleber and the facade of the Aubette offer a magnificent backdrop for the illumination of the Great Christmas Tree ... Its twinkling lights and deep blue balls illuminate the night and give it a fairy like glitter, as in a dream."

Ok. I can only assume that the person who did this English translation is having a huge chuckle to him/herself.

Later in the same brochure, the following weekly event for kids is announced: "The Christmas Tree looses its balls."

Ok.  If you don't believe me, the brochure is attached at the end of this posting.


Phewwwww ... it's been a busy month! 
We have literally been on the go non-stop for the last month.  Despite all the fun we've had in the last few weeks, I've really been looking forward to being at home and having a nice relaxing night to sip a glass of wine and update STRASblog. 

Jess and Garrett's Visit
Jess and Garrett came for almost a week and, as always, we had a blast hanging out together.  A couple days before they arrived we found out James passed his the surgery boards.  So now, officially, he is a fully qualified general surgeon.  Hurray!  To celebrate, we organized a bowling party with James' work colleagues and Jess and Garrett:

I'm not sure why they're celebrating because I'm pretty sure my team kicked their butts.

Despite my domination, James looks like a very serious bowler :)

After getting home very late from a good night of bowling, we rallied the next day and went for a drive down the Route de Vin (the "wine road").  We got kind of a late start so we only had time to visit one wine maker.  The wine was delicious and we were able to show J&G the beautiful countryside around Strasbourg so it was a successful day.  Jess and I also got to pose for a picture with the famous (and handsome), French Rally car driver, Sebastien Loeb:

Jess and Garrett also got to spend some good quality time with Conor.  They especially had fun giving him a bath and teaching him new ways to play with his bath toys:

The highlight of their visit, though, was the excellent Thanksgiving dinner we prepared.  While upsetting to our local boucher, I was able to procure us a fresh turkey (not that easy because in France turkey is strictly eaten for Christmas ... eating it in November is kind of like wearing white shoes in winter).  Jess and Garrett made a delicious stuffing and James made his speciality, brussels sprouts a la creme.  My apple tart was a disaster but we'd had enough wine by that point not to care too much. It was a blow to my ego since I do fancy myself to be quite a good dessert baker. 

Here's us being thankful:

After dinner we started watching YouTube videos.  Has anyone else out there heard of literal videos?  HILARIOUS!!  Please watch the literal video for Total Eclipse of the Heart.  I've watched it a few times now and it cracks me up each time.  My favorite line (and it was quite hard to pick a favorite) is right at the end ... mullet with headlights!  The link is below.

London
The same morning that Jess and Garrett left to go back to San Francisco, we left to go to London for the weekend to hang out with some of James' cousins.  Surprisingly, it was actually kind of a relaxing weekend.  We let ourselves sleep in each day and didn't try to do too too much. 

One evening we went to the after-Christening party of one of James' cousin's new baby.  James' cousin David Toft took some nice pictures of us at the pub:

One of the main reasons why we decided to go to London was to see James' aunt Brenda, his cousin Sinead and Sinead's two boys, Jack (4) and Paddy (3).  Sinead and Brenda brought the boys to London for some Christmas shopping and to go to "Winter Wonderland" (a.k.a. Freeze You Ass Off And Spend A Lot Of Money Land).  Basically, its a cheesy fair with rides that kids between the ages of 2 and 8 LOVE!  We supremely lucked out because Conor is too young to beg us to let him go down insanely expensive carnival rides.  Even though the fair was pretty miserable, we did get a cute picture of the new generation of cousins:

You may not recognize him but Conor is the one in the fur-lined stroller sleeping bag.  Doesn't that look comfy?

Skiing in Tignes
Moments after getting home from London (ok ... a few days), we left for Tignes.  Tignes is a ski village in the French Alps that is pretty close to the Italian border.  I know this because the next big city, according to the freeway signs, was Milan. 

James' wonderful co-worker, Vivian from the Netherlands, organized a fabulous long weekend for everyone in Tignes.  James and I took turns watching Conor and skied half days.  This worked out pretty well but I'm looking forward to a couple ski seasons from now when Conor is old enough to be dropped off at ski school :)

Here's some pics of the trip:


Conor with Parag

Conor just being cute

Me with Vivian and Luc

And that's it.  We're finally back home and have some time to relax!

Conor Update: I think he might be starting to wave hello and goodbye.  At the very least he sort of makes a waving motion if you wave to him. 

Attachments:

http://www.noel.strasbourg.eu/PDF/2010/ProgramEN_WEB.pdf

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0d3I4T6R9E

Barthelona

Fun Fact: Christmas in Strasbourg is a really big deal ... and has been for quite sometime.  In fact, Strasbourg's Christmas Market (the Christkindelsmarik) has been around since 1570.  For the past week, workers have been decorating the big Christmas tree in the main square.  I'm a little confused because there has been constant activity around the tree for several days but it still only has lights.  Perhaps it is more delicate work then I imagine.

In case you're tempted, James and I are encouraging visitors between December 9-16.  If you're on the fence, here's a link to some additional info about the Christmas festivities:

http://noel.tourisme-alsace.com/en/strasbourg-christmas/

Barcelona
Last week, James was in the United States for a week to take his oral surgery boards (which he passed!!) so Conor and I headed off to Barcelona to visit Jordan.  Getting us, and all of our stuff, onto the plane was by far the most stressful part of the whole weekend.  We flew out of Basel, Switzerland where, for some reason, the long term parking lot is a good two city blocks from the terminal AND there is no shuttle.  So, to reach the terminal, I pushed Conor in his stroller, carried a massive carry-on, pulled our luggage and draped the car seat over my head like a messanger bag ... in the rain.  Once we arrived, however, everything worked out great and we had an incredibly enjoyable weekend. 

Since our days at UCLA, when we were both students, Jordan and I have shared a love of fine dining.  Our habit began when we started meeting every Friday for lunch at my sorority (to save money) but soon ditched the free meal in favor of more interesting yet pricier meals at various LA restaurants.  This love has endured regardless of whether or not we can afford it ... which usually we cannot.  We ate out four times in the five days Conor and I were visiting.  Our best meal was, of course, the cheapest.  Jordan's friends, Karen and Alexis, had been wanting to try a restaurant around the corner from their new apartment for weeks.  The 3-course "menu del dia" was less than 20 Euros and everything was delicious.  It helped that Conor was super well behaved while we waited for a table and then conked out for a nap when the food arrived. 

Our lowest foodie moment was the first night.  Admittedly, both Jordan and I drank a bit too much wine while we caught up pre-dinner.  Then, the wine drinking continued throughout the meal.  I refuse to discuss actual quantity but let's just say that we did not appreciate the excellent (and expensive) food as much as we would have had we both been a bit more sober.  After the meal, we dropped Jordan's friend, Sam, off at a bar and we contemplated what to do next.  We did not go get another drink.  We did not go for a stroll.  However, the next thing I know, we're getting pizza.  We went directly from the restaurant, where we'd had a full meal (including apps and dessert), to the pizza place on Jordan's street.  Ugh.  I woke up with a stomach full of mediocre pizza.

I'm happy to report that Jordan and Conor really bonded.  Even though Jordan is not a "baby-person" (he will be the first to admit this), he and Conor really hit it off.  Here's some pics of them bonding:

Conor Update: After weeks of rocking back and forth on all fours, Conor finally put one hand in front of the other and started crawling. Officially, his first crawl happened in Jordan's bathtub but he's now crawling on any and all surfaces. He's not super graceful, yet, but he's definitely moving forward. 

Aix-en-Provence

Fun Fact:  The name Conor is pretty unusual in France.  According to the internet, there have only been 9 babies named Conor in France since 1900, 3 of which were in 2004.  Also, in French, the name Conor doesn't exactly roll off the tongue.  The pronunciation goes something like this: Kaaa-NOR (with a lot of emphasis on the NOR).  After hearing Conor's name, several French people have said, "oh, like Sarah Conner or John Connor dans Terminator."  Well ... yes.  So, now when I want to explain Conor's name and give French people a point of reference, I always mention the Terminator characters and everyone gets it right away. 

Aix-En-Provence
Most of you know that Amy Dickinson Carmen and I lived in Aix-en-Provence after graduating from UCLA.  I hadn't been back since we left in early September 2001, which is unforgivable since it was an amazing year and we made some really good friends with whom I should have been in better touch over the years.  But, 2000/2001 was before Facebook and the era of social networking which makes staying in contact with everyone under the sun basically effortless.  Even communicating over email was different "way back then."  Back then, we actually went to an internet cafe to "do email."  How unbelievably inconvenient that seems in retrospect.

James is still studying for his exam (wish him luck ... it is next Monday (11/15)) so I decided to take Conor to Aix to visit our friend Anne.  I hadn't seen Anne for several years but it was like nothing had changed.  She is hilarious and quite sassy, which explains why we get along so well.  Here's a picture of us going out to a birthday party on Friday night:

Anne is on the left, her husband Luc is on the right, and the other guy is their friend Matthieu. 

By the way, Luc has some very cool music (3 songs) on itunes.  The artist's name is M8AL.  Check out the song michael Knight. 



Anyway, going out is just not the same with a 6 month old even when you get a babysitter (as we did).  I behaved myself and had only a few drinks but we didn't get home until 2am.  Of course, Conor decided to get up at 6am on the dot. 

Since we had several hours until normal people woke up, I decided to take him on a walk around Aix and show him where Amy and I lived back in the good old days (pre-screaming babies at 6am).



First, we explored the Saturday market:

Then, we made our way to my and Amy's old apartment which was right in front of this church:

After our big outing in the morning, Conor was pooped the rest of the day:

I was also completely pooped but I didn't have a stroller in which I could take a nap.

Have I mentioned yet how adorable Anne and Luc's daughter is?  She is adorable:

Anyway, aside from only sleeping a few hours on Friday night, it was a great weekend and I'm very excited to go back with James! 

Conor Update:  The pinkeye is back.  Ugh.  Back to the pediatrician tomorrow. 

St. Pierre Le Jeune

Fun Fact:  Did you know that Alsace is one of the few regions in Europe that has a strong tradition of both wine and beer production.  The wine grapes in these parts are Reisling, Gewurtzraminer, Muscat, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Sylvaner and Pinot Noir (the only red).  Fischer is the most famous local beer.  We've been enjoying all of the above quite a bit :)  In fact, I usually enjoy a glass while blogging.

St. Pierre Le Jeune
Before we got here, I thought our apartment was going to have a great view overlooking Strasbourg's famous Cathedral.  I thought this because one of the pictures we got of our apartment showed a great view of the famous Cathedral.  No such view actually exists from our apartment and I think the picture may have been taken from the street.  I'm not complaining.  I love our apartment for many reasons but our view is nothing special - its of a courtyard.  We do, however, have a great view from our bathroom window:

Since day one I've been intrigued about this view.  What's behind this beautiful stained glass window that has the misfortune of facing our toilet?

I think you all know I'm pretty type-A.  I usually have a long agenda of "TTDs" (Things To Do) written out, by hand, in my daily planner.  One day last week I woke up with a long list of tasks I wanted to accomplish but it was so beautiful out!  So, I decided to be a tourist and investigate what was behind the bathroom's stained glass window. Turns out, an amazing church - St. Pierre Le Jeune (Saint Pierre The Young):

The oldest part of the church, the Burial Crypt, was built in the 7th century:

The gold person is part of this art exhibit:  http://www.protestantismeetimages.com/A-ciel-ouvert-4-installations-de.html

Conor Update: Conor's pinkeye and the related ear infection that came on a day later are both better.  The orange eye medication we have to apply four times a day made for some fun photo ops:

We didn't do anything for Halloween but Grandma Deb sent Conor a monkey costume so we played dress up at home:

Finally, I'd like some feedback.  Is six months too early to surf the web?

A bientot!

La Vie En Rose (really in "pink")

I'll start this posting with a Conor Update:

First, the bad news.  I dropped Conor off at "La Creche" (a.k.a. daycare) this morning and toute etait bien (all was well).  Around lunchtime, I got a call that something was wrong.  I couldn't totally understand but it sounded like something was wrong with his eye.  Something that sounded a lot like "conjunctivitis."  Isn't that pinkeye, I wondered.  Indeed it is.  The poor guy has a case of pinkeye in his right eye.  We have to apply eye drops and this orange ointment which he hates.

Additionally, all day at work people were telling James how tired he looked.  He thought it was strange because we had an incredibly mellow Sunday and both of us got a great night's sleep.  After looking in the mirror, he thinks he also has pinkeye in both eyes! I'm sure my pinkeye isn't far behind. 

Second, the good news.  While we were at the pediatrician's getting all the pinkeye medications, the pediatrician discovered that two teeth broke through.  I'm a little concerned because they do not appear to be coming in straight.  Maybe I shouldn't be surprised considering Conor's British heritage and my own long history of dental issues.  I'm also concerned about what this will soon mean for breastfeeding and biting!  So ... maybe this isn't such good news (for me at least). 

In other news, while Conor was apparently in the throes of teething, the three of us spent Friday night and Saturday in Zurich.  Our friend Parag came along as well.  Here's a pic of Parag:

Zurich
We only spent about 24 hours in Zurich so I don't have much insight into the city, its people, or Switzerland in general.  We decided to go because James and the other IRCAD (where James works) fellows had a meeting on Friday at Karl Storz - an endoscope company located in BFE Germany.  Zurich is less than 2 hours from Karl Storz so, we figured, why not check it out.

We had to get up pretty early on Friday to make it to Karl Storz and James had offered to give some of the other fellows a ride.  Much to our (my) horror, our car had been utterly violated during the night by a flock of pigeons:

This picture barely does the carnage justice.  Bird shit was everywhere - on the door handles, in the windows, everywhere!  And, I'm positive it wasn't there the night before.  Furthermore, I've since walked by other cars parked in the same spot and none have been shit on like this.  Could it be some sort of bird conspiracy?  Just something to think about ...

Anyway, back to Zurich.  Like I said, only being in a city for 24 hours is not enough to really form any opinions.  Its definitely a very beautiful city.  The lake is framed in the background by huge, snow-covered mountains (I assume these were the Alps but I'm too lazy to confirm this with what would probably be a 20-second google search).  Here are a couple pics:

Conor looked especially cute during our walk in his fur lined jacket:

In addition to cruising around the lake, we tasted some excellent cookies at a famous chocolate shop.  We did not taste any chocolates because the cookies looked too good to pass up.  We also ate some delicious Lebanese and Italian food.  I guess that bring up one of my issues with Switzerland ... is there Swiss cuisine other than chocolate and fondue?  Also, Switzerland is very expensive.  From the exorbitant prices, designer boutiques and multiple Bentley's we saw around town, its obvious the Swiss have money.  But, do they have any personality? Any culture.  Again, 24 hours was too short a time to tell. 

Paris

Last weekend I (yup ... "I" in the singular) went to Paris to hang out with Lauren and Ben for their last weekend in France.  James is studying like a madman for his surgery boards in November and was nice enough to offer to watch Conor for the weekend so he could hang back and study while I took off for a little adventure. 

The TGV (which was luckily running even though another strike was supposedly happening) from Strasbourg to Paris takes only about 2 hours and is quite a nice way to travel.  No security so you can bring your shampoo.  Reasonably priced wine and beer available.  No stops.

I hadn't been to Paris for about a decade but even a ten year long absence didn't make me want to re-visit the main Paris attractions. Luckily, Lauren and Ben were also interested in just hanging out so we had a great day wandering around the Marais.  For lunch, we had some delicious oysters and crepes and shared two bottles of cider.  Exactly my kind of meal.

You may remember from a past post that I compared French strikes to Fourth of July parades.  Maybe the Strasbourgeoisie are better behaved than Parisians because we came across the following post-manifestation carnage while strolling around:

It actually was kind of artistic in its own way. 
For dinner, we ate at Derriere http://derriere-resto.com/restaurant/paris/derriere/, which is equal parts restaurant and fraternity house.  None of us could concentrate on ordering drinks because our cocktail waitress was basically topless (think see through lace t-shirt with chunky cardigan covering everything but her chest).  Our table was directly behind the ping pong table.  The food was average and expensive but we had a great time nonetheless and stayed out until a respectable 2:30 a.m.

CONOR UPDATE:  Its getting cold!  Which means I get to start dressing the man in all the adorable winter clothes I've bought for him (at the used baby clothing store where I'm a frequent shopper).  Here's an example:

You can't tell from this picture but the red thing is actually a full body "costume" which I have to zip him into.  I've had to learn to zip from upside down and around since there is no such thing as sitting still anymore for Mr. Man. 

Finally, for those of you (Garrett) who were outraged that you could not link to Rob Mac Myer's myspace page to listen to his American Country-Folk music a la francais, here is the link again:

http://www.myspace.com/robmacmyer

Upcoming Posts:
The Most Amazing Daycare Ever
All Your Questions Answered About What James Is Doing Over Here
All Your Questions Answered About What Jenn Is Doing Over Here (just kidding ... blogging, obviously)
The Famers' Market I Can See From Our Window (Almost)

Coontry Mewsique (that's French for Country Music)

We had a big night last night.  We stayed out past midnight to watch Robert Myer (a native Alsacian) play classic American Country music.  The song clips on his myspace page (http://www.myspace.com/robmacmyer)%20don't do him justice as his voice is amazing.  He sounds a lot like Eddie Vedder.  He played a great rendition of John Denver's "Contry Roads"- a song which always makes me feel very patriotic. 

However, the comical highlight was when he played Keep on the Sunny Side.  You might know this song as it was covered in O Brother Where Art Thou.  Every - I mean each and every - French person in the bar knew every word.  It was quite a bizarre sing along where I knew the chorus but then listened to the French people for the rest of the lyrics (pasted below).  All in all a very enjoyable night. 

James had fun and was reminded his Alabama roots.  The music also reminded him of the following funny little ditty which I'll share with you.  Here goes:  "But where I come from, rain is a good thing.  Rain makes corn and corn makes whiskey.  And whiskey makes my baby, a little friskey."

For those of you wondering where Conor was for our big Wednesday night out (i.e. his grandparents), we left him with our new babysitter, Ariel.  She is an American foreign exchange student in Strasbourg for the year.  She's from Colorado Springs.  She's very nice and lives two doors down from us so its very convenient.  I feel like I was the one doing the babysitting not so long ago so the whole role reversal thing is a bit strange.  I wonder if she thinks we're cool young parents (obviously the case) or that we're old and unrelatable.   I probably try too hard so its probably the latter :)

Conor Update:  Conor is a rolling over machine these days.  There's no stopping him.  Today I had to change his dirty diaper (a very dirty one if you know what I mean) from behind as he tried to jump off the changing table.  At one point I had him by one leg as he was simultaneously doing his best to dip the other in poop and lunge in the other direction.  

I don't have any new pictures to post so here's one from a few weeks ago:

for those of you still reading, I was just about to post when I came accross this rediculous piece of journalism in sfgate: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/cityinsider/detail?entry_id=74547&tsp=1.   Should our politicians really be worried about the "ins and outs of urban living" for BIRDS!!  I'm officially starting the "lights on San Francisco" campaign against birds. 

Keep On The Sunny Side

There's a dark and a troubled side of life

There's a bright and a sunny side, too

Tho' we meet with the darkness and strife

The sunny side we also may view

[chorus]

Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side,

Keep on the sunny side of life

It will help us every day, it will brighten all the way

If we'll keep on the sunny side of life

The storm and its fury broke today,

Crushing hopes that we cherish so dear;

Clouds and storms will, in time, pass away,

The sun again will shine bright and clear.

Let us greet with the song of hope each day

Tho' the moment be cloudy or fair

Let us trust in our Saviour always

Who keepeth everyone in His care^[3]

Maybe You've heard that French people like to go on strike ...

In the past month there has been a strike about once a week over Sarkozy's proposed reforms of the retirement systems.  These strikes are actually quite festive (think Fourth of July parade) and totally peaceful.  However, they cause massive disruptions to the public transportation system and general functioning of the government.  At a birthday party last night, someone confessed that these strikes have no hope of changing anything and that Sarkozy's reforms are sure to get pushed through. 

My favorite is the picture of the strikers passing the Hermes store.

STRASblog #1

Fun Fact: Did you know that in the 1800's, Alsactions slept in a semi upright position?  It's true.  They slept sitting up in these short little cubby-like beds with a ton of pillows bunched up behind them. 

According to Karen Roeper, who learned this fact with me during her visit to Strasbourg:  "They didn't even know they were uncomfortable."

We've been here over a month now and we're comfortably settled into our apartment.  After weeks of waiting (and a few tears at the internet store), we FINALLY got internet, telephone and cable set up at home.  The silver lining to this laborious process was that in the month we were here sans wireless at home, Conor and I spent a lot of time walking around and I think we've been on every little rue in this whole town.  With all that exploring, I can now navigate Strasbourg pretty well - especially the shops and my favorite used baby clothing store :)

We've had two great visits from friends in the US so far.  First, Jamey Carman's mom, Karen, spent a few days with us last week.  We had a blast.  I picked her up at the airport in our new car.  Literally, it was our brand new car because I took the tram to the dealership, picked up the car and then went directly to the airport to get Karen.  Here's a picture of us in front of Strasbourg's amazing cathederal:

Ben and Lauren (the Munsons or the Thurmonds ... depending on who you ask) also visited us this past weekend.  We showed them around Strasbourg for a couple of days, but then decided to get out of town and go on our first road trip.  We headed southeast down the A35 to Bourgogne, one of France's most famous wine regions where they are known for their Pinot Noirs.  On Friday night, we had eaten at a great restaurant in Strasbourg and really enjoyed our Bourgognian wine.  So, we entered the town the wine was from into Mappy (our new sassy GPS) and off we went.  We ended up locating the winery, which was really the wine maker's house, and ended up finding the wine we had liked so much at dinner.  Now we have several bottles to enjoy in the comfort of our apartment.

After winetasting we headed to La Chouette Qui Chante, the B&B we found at the last minute.  It was adorable and run by the nicest British couple.  Here's a link to their site in case you're planning a weekend in Bourgogne:

http://www.b-break.co.uk/3.html

Here's a picture of the house (converted barn) we stayed in:

On Sunday, we explored a medieval village and, of course, treated ourselves to a nice big lunch.  I had the Boeuf Bourguignon because when in Bourgogne ...

Here are some more pics of our day:

Now we're back at home and waiting for our next round of visitors.  Hopefully that will be Garrett and Jess who've promised to come visit us for Thanksgiving!

CONOR UPDATE: Conor did great on our roadtrip and, in general, is loving France.  He started going to a Creche parentale, which is like a daycare but way better.  I'll write more about this on a separate post.  Suffice it to say that he's cuter than ever and very close to starting to crawl.  Here are some recent pics:

For those of you who are still reading, I'd like to eat at this place upon re-entry into the Bay Area: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/10/10/FDJ11FH656.DTL

A La Prochaine (until next time),

Jenn