Iron & Wine Fun Fact

Updated Fun Fact: My last Fun Fact was a little boring.  Ausfahrt does mean exit in German, which is a fact.  And, it is a funny sounding word which makes it fun.  But, tonight James and I came across an even better Fun Fact.  So, this post is an adendum to last night's post.

The Fun Fact is that Iron & Wine recently released a new album.  I'm a relatively big Iron & Wine fan.  I saw them play in a tiny little bar in Oxford, Mississippi before they hit it big with Such Great Heights (via Postal Service).  Then, James and I saw them open for Flight of the Conchords at Red Rocks outside Denver.  That was an odd mix of acts.  James' favorite song by them is Trapeze Swinger.

The following review of their new album quite possibly could be the best album review ever:

Thanks Michael Core for the good laugh.

Ausfahrt and Baby farts

Conor in his Bruce Springsteen onesie from Uncle Jordan

Fun Fact: Ausfahrt means "exit" in German. 

La Vie Quotidienne: Life has been refreshingly routine since Christmas.  We haven't travelled anywhere (until this weekend) and have enjoyed a few lazy weeks at home.  Conor is finally back on something resembling a schedule and is starting to sleep a bit better (i.e. longer and less wake-ups in the middle of the night ... except that as I am writing this blog he just inexplicably woke up for close to an hour).  Most mornings he is wide awake by 6:30 am and wants to play.  The French are not morning people and the six o'clock hour is a tough time to be awake in this country.  It stays dark until about 8 am and the morning news doesn't start until pretty late - and most of you know I'm addicted to the morning news.  My point is that between 6 am and 9 am French time is a pretty good time to get ahold of me - especially through Skype (hint hint).

We've started a few regular activities - first, weekly French lessons! Every Tuesday night an instructor comes to our house for a two hour lesson.  James' co-fellow at IRCAD, Vivian, is in our "petit cours" and we are having a great time.  After our lesson we make dinner, drink wine and hang out a bit - a nice little Tuesday night. 

Second, Conor and I have been regularly attending two playgroups.  On Wednesday mornings, Strasbourg's English Speaking Community (ESC) hosts a playgroup and on Friday mornings, the Americans in Alsace Association (AIA) has their own (some would say competing) playgroup.  At the AIA playgroup last week I met another mom who teaches violin so I'm going to re-start taking lessons.  (Some of you may remember that I have big plans to learn the violin so I can someday play in an Irish pub.  I took one lesson in San Francisco and learned Row Row Row Your Boat).

Third, I've been going to yoga twice a week.  I really look forward to these classes.  The studio is beautiful and is less than five minutes from our house.  I'm happy to report that I can now, for the first time ever, sit in the full lotus position.  It is quite painful to sit this way. 

Fourth, having the flu seems to be a regular activity.  We celebrated James' birthday a few Saturdays ago and, since it was his birthday, I took the morning shift with Conor the following Sunday morning.  At first I thought I just had a bit of a hangover but by mid-morning I had the chills, bodyaches, sore throat - basically the full blown flu for the second time this winter!  This one was a doozy and I was pretty much in bed for three days feeling terrible.  James thought he escaped the worst of it because he had a night with flu-like symptoms about a week before.  But - no such luck - he came down with the same flu this past week. 

Here's a picture we took on our walk home the other night:

Baden Baden:
After a few quiet weekends at home, we decided to head to Baden Baden yesterday for one night.  Baden Baden is in Germany but less than an hour from Strasbourg.  Bill Clinton somewhat famously said that "Baden Baden is so nice they named it twice."  It is a nice town but VERY sleepy and full of retired Germans and Russians.  Baden means "baths" in German and, as its name suggets, the town's claim to faim is its thermal springs. 

James and I spent a very relaxing morning at Friedrichsbad (http://www.carasana.de/home/en/roemisch.html) - the 130 year old Roman baths with Irish hot baths in the center of Baden Baden.  Sundays are "mixed" so male and female, young-ish and old cruise around naked from bath to bath.  It was great but I was thankful to be relatively sure I wouldn't happen to run into anyone I knew.  I can't think of anything much awkwarder than unexpectedly having to steam naked next to a co-worker or, worse yet, a boss. 

Conor Update: Conor is starting to turn his nose up at the delicious pureed vegetables I make him but will gobble up the sweet fruit puree I feed him each afternoon.  I think he's developping quite a sweet tooth.  In an effort to make his vegetables more appetizing, I tried adding a bit of fromage blanc (like sour cream but not sour) to make it creamier.  Then, because I had a huge tub of fromage blanc, I added it to his fruit puree and evening porridge.  I think I OD'd him on fromage blanc because for the next few days he had the worst gas!

When I picked him up from daycare the following afternoon, one of the ladies told me that Conor was standing up at one of the playpens and tooted really loud.  Then, he got all surprised and started looking around to see where the noise had come from :)


Here's Conor devouring an orange and some fromage blanc




Come visit me!



2G or not 2G

Fun Fact: "2G" or not to "2G" ... that was the problem faced by both my mom and James' mom when they got to Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport.  And, the answer was a resounding "non" (said in the most dismissive French accent possible and accompanied by a shoulder shrug). 

Terminal 2 at Charles de Gaulle is divided into SEVEN!!!!! parts (i.e. Terminals 2A through 2G).  Terminals 2A through 2F are connected via ground level or below ground passageways.  Terminal 2G, however, is located 1.6 miles away from terminals 2A-2F and is only accessible by bus.  However, there are no signs, advertisements, English-speaking airport employees, helpful French people, guide-dogs, or any other conceivable means of alerting travelers to the fact that if they want to catch their plane from Terminal 2G, they need to, in fact, exit the airport, wait on the street for a bus and ride almost 2 miles to a separate terminal that for no good reason is grouped together with Terminals 2A-2F.

Rather, if you ask a CGD employee directions to Terminal 2G (as BOTH of our mothers did on their way to Strasbourg for the holidays) you will, first, be looked at with a blank, uncomprehending stare.  Second, after repeating your question, you will be told in perfect English to "go upstairs."  Once you go upstairs, you will wind up on the street.  After going up and down the stairs several times with your heavy suitcase, you will FINALLY encounter another American who, having just experienced the same thing, will explain that you need to take the "navette" (the French word for bus) to Terminal 2G. 

But ... why bother?  You've already missed your flight.

Winter Wonderland

Even though it takes me fifteen minutes to get Conor wrapped up in all his winter gear ...

Even though Conor hates wearing his winter gear and immediately pulls off his hat ...

Even though Conor has gotten a few colds because he pulls off his hat ...

Even though my new Ugg boots are getting worn out at an alarming rate by sloshing through the snow ...

Even though I have to scrape a layer of snow and ice off the car every time I want to go anywhere ...

Even though I don't have a proper snow/ice scraper and have to use a spatula ...

It's all worth it because it is beautiful here in winter!

Grandma Time

My mom and James' mom both came to Strasbourg a few days before Christmas to see Conor.  Sure they were excited to see their own children but their number one priority, by far, was to hang out with the Man. 

The only downside to the Grandmas visit was that the day after they arrived, both came down with the stomach flu.  It was going around Conor's daycare and I got it the day before.  It was a nasty bug and anyone who came into contact with it got it.  Luckily, it only lasted 24 hours so we were still able to tour Strasbourg. 

After a few days in Strasbourg, we all headed to Clonakilty, Ireland for the week to meet up with James' sister Anji, her husband John, Jim (James' dad) and all of the Wall's extensive extended family in Ireland.

There were a lot of highlights during the trip, among which were:  we had a fabulous traditional Irish Christmas at James' cousin Sinead's house; Conor got to know his two wild cousins Jack and Paddy:

We re-celebrated Anji and John's wedding with all of the relatives who weren't able to make it to the actual wedding in June; We got to hang out in some of our favorite pubs:

Anne's sister Mary made us a delicious Italian meal followed by singing and dancing:

And, finally, we had a great time staying and hanging out with James' Uncle Ken and Aunt Joan and their daughters.  The best was that Conor and little Isabelle got to hang out and Conor got to play with all of her cool toys:

Conor Update: It's not weird (yet) but Conor loves to give me big, huge open mouth kisses:

But, the real Conor update is that he's an eating, crawling, almost walking machine these days.  He spent about one day content with being on all fours and now he's intent on standing up and trying to make his way around the living room by going from couch to table to chair.  He ignores all his toys and is only happy if I let him charge toward the sharpest object in the room.  Good times.