Yikes! I didn't realize that I was two days behind! Sorry team! Although nothing big happened this week, it still managed to fly by! I have been writing my entries by the days we have been here but for today's post I am just going to label it as Wed, Thur, and Fri (today)!
The last few days have been relaxed and easy going...it was a normal work week for Cam and I worked on my stuff here at the hotel. (I feel like I'm letting you all down with this post! Nothing new or glamourous yet!) We are going to go to Carcassonne this weekend and hopefully the beach so the last few nights Cam and I have spent a some time shopping and researching for our trip this weekend.
I don't even have any new pictures from the last few days because we have just been taking care of business :) I will definitely be taking my camera this weekend though and possibly this afternoon! We have some stuff to take care of when Cam gets home from work today but then we might head out to check out Toulouse and take a few pictures around town.
This is a pretty short post today and I apologize! I have a few more things to take care of before Cam gets home in the next half hour so I better get my rear in gear! We hope you all are having a great week and a fantastic Friday!
Love,
J
Friday, August 31, 2012
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Thuderstormin' Tuesday
Best combination for sleeping weather? Cool, dark, and thunder/rain noises outside your window! I woke up to all three this morning which did not motivate me what so ever to get out of bed (it would have been the same feeling back home also...)...but after a little while the noises died down and the room got light so I did get myself out of bed and ready for the day...I am finishing up breakfast as I type this :) So I had some problems with the internet yesterday so Cam helped me out last night but I forgot to post what I written yesterday last night after the problem got fixed so it will look like I posted twice for today...oh well!
Monday
Yesterday was a really good day for both Cam and I--we both felt like it was pretty awesome that we were in France. We each had our moments throughout the day that we talked about after he got home from work...one of his was driving home from work and just taking a moment to look at all the buildings and houses and realizing how cool they were! Mine was being able to get all my chores done in the morning and sit with the window wide open in the afternoon with the sun shining through reading a book and enjoying it (it also was awesome because I've noticed about the same time everyday there is piano music playing--whether it's someone's lessons or not it's pretty neat so that was playing softly in the background while I read...) Cam didn't get home until a little after his normal time to get home so I was wondering where he was when he finally made it home he had a set of weights in his hand!!! He stopped on the way home from work to get them for me and I was super super excited :) So that meant we were gonna have our own version of Muscle Mania-France style (in a hotel with Cam wearing his work socks with tennis shoes ;) )...but first we went next door to the grocery store to get some stuff for dinner. We ended up with some chicken and made the broccoli and mushrooms we already had...for being out of a skillet it really wasn't that bad :) I also cut up some fruit and we had ourselves a legitimate homecooked meal! After dinner it was time to get strong...I have an awesome time in Muscle Mania at home (my weightlifting class with a bunch of awesome girls)..but I think I laughed more in the 30 minutes that we lifted last night than I had in a long time...let me paint the picture for you...I had work out clothes on complete with tennis shoes and everything. Cam comes strolling out from changing and he has no shirt on, a pair of blue basketball shorts, brown almost knee high work socks, and black tennis shoes...he also has the biggest smile on his face :) So we begin our work out and he is cracking jokes left and right...having himself a good ol time and I am trying really hard to at least get some reps in between laughing fits! I have him do some squats and lunges and he does about 3 sets of 10 lunges when he starts grabbing his leg hollering that he has a leg cramp and that his legs are too sore to continue--I'm rolling I'm laughing so hard!! (He is really fine--he was laughing too--I'm not a mean person! If he were truly hurt it would have been completely different!) So I say it's time to do some abs...we get on the floor to do some double crunches and he does 10 and stops...I told him to keep going and he asked for how long??? I told him in Muscle Mania we usually do at least a minute times a couple of sets...by this time I'm laughing so hard again I have to stop and that basically brought our work out session to an end because Cam got up and went and read truck forums for the rest of the evening because he was tired...this morning I woke up laughing because of how our session went--I asked him if he would be up for it again on Wed and Fri like my schedule at home, but he said he would see how things go...I emailed him this morning and he said he was sore :) Which isn't a bad thing but if I had to guess he will take tomorrow off ;)...
Tuesday
Looks like so far it will be a pretty nice and laid back day...I have some emails to respond to and maybe some more laundry to work on (ironing the clean stuff, etc.) and maybe venture out for a little while--we will see I think there's a chance for rain? I think tonight when Cam gets home we are going to go walk around and see if we can make it to a few stores before they close...we might also try to catch up with a few people back home. We hope you all have a great Tuesday!!
Love,
J
Monday
Yesterday was a really good day for both Cam and I--we both felt like it was pretty awesome that we were in France. We each had our moments throughout the day that we talked about after he got home from work...one of his was driving home from work and just taking a moment to look at all the buildings and houses and realizing how cool they were! Mine was being able to get all my chores done in the morning and sit with the window wide open in the afternoon with the sun shining through reading a book and enjoying it (it also was awesome because I've noticed about the same time everyday there is piano music playing--whether it's someone's lessons or not it's pretty neat so that was playing softly in the background while I read...) Cam didn't get home until a little after his normal time to get home so I was wondering where he was when he finally made it home he had a set of weights in his hand!!! He stopped on the way home from work to get them for me and I was super super excited :) So that meant we were gonna have our own version of Muscle Mania-France style (in a hotel with Cam wearing his work socks with tennis shoes ;) )...but first we went next door to the grocery store to get some stuff for dinner. We ended up with some chicken and made the broccoli and mushrooms we already had...for being out of a skillet it really wasn't that bad :) I also cut up some fruit and we had ourselves a legitimate homecooked meal! After dinner it was time to get strong...I have an awesome time in Muscle Mania at home (my weightlifting class with a bunch of awesome girls)..but I think I laughed more in the 30 minutes that we lifted last night than I had in a long time...let me paint the picture for you...I had work out clothes on complete with tennis shoes and everything. Cam comes strolling out from changing and he has no shirt on, a pair of blue basketball shorts, brown almost knee high work socks, and black tennis shoes...he also has the biggest smile on his face :) So we begin our work out and he is cracking jokes left and right...having himself a good ol time and I am trying really hard to at least get some reps in between laughing fits! I have him do some squats and lunges and he does about 3 sets of 10 lunges when he starts grabbing his leg hollering that he has a leg cramp and that his legs are too sore to continue--I'm rolling I'm laughing so hard!! (He is really fine--he was laughing too--I'm not a mean person! If he were truly hurt it would have been completely different!) So I say it's time to do some abs...we get on the floor to do some double crunches and he does 10 and stops...I told him to keep going and he asked for how long??? I told him in Muscle Mania we usually do at least a minute times a couple of sets...by this time I'm laughing so hard again I have to stop and that basically brought our work out session to an end because Cam got up and went and read truck forums for the rest of the evening because he was tired...this morning I woke up laughing because of how our session went--I asked him if he would be up for it again on Wed and Fri like my schedule at home, but he said he would see how things go...I emailed him this morning and he said he was sore :) Which isn't a bad thing but if I had to guess he will take tomorrow off ;)...
Tuesday
Looks like so far it will be a pretty nice and laid back day...I have some emails to respond to and maybe some more laundry to work on (ironing the clean stuff, etc.) and maybe venture out for a little while--we will see I think there's a chance for rain? I think tonight when Cam gets home we are going to go walk around and see if we can make it to a few stores before they close...we might also try to catch up with a few people back home. We hope you all have a great Tuesday!!
Love,
J
New Week
Good Morning!
We have made it into our second week here! It's been a few days since I posted mostly because Cam and I were hanging out and checking some stuff out this past weekend. While we didn't go anywhere we still had a great weekend :)
Friday
I know I posted last that we were planning on taking a tour of Airbus... well so was everyone else apparently because they were booked solid through the weekend. So instead we headed out to the mall right by where Cam works. It was one of the craziest rides of my life because of the traffic and boy was I thankful to make it there! Cam assured me though that it usually wasn't that bad--must have been because it was a Friday afternoon! Anyways it was a pretty good sized mall and we enjoyed just walking around and checking things out. We also checked out a huge grocery store within the mall that was at least the size of a Sam's Club, but not with bulk items if that makes any sense. By the time we got home from that we spent some time Facetiming with Kerry, Melinda, and Connor which was awesome...I think we ended up spending about two hours on line with them! We all just kept talking and catchin up on things going on here and back home...after we logged off it was almost 10:00 or 10:30 I think so we just called it a night!
Saturday
We finally slept in which was a little slice of heaven for me!! By the time we woke up it was essentially lunch time. After grabbing some food we headed out to check out a little more of Toulouse and some of the shops. We also stopped at the Office de Tourism to find out about things to do around here. We got sprinkled on a little bit as we were heading back to the hotel to grab our shopping bags for the grocery store...we checked the weather and it looked like we had a gap so we headed to the bigger of the two grocery stores. We loaded up on some essentials and headed back home. We didn't get rained on either-bonus! By that time it was time for dinner (according to us anyways-it was only like 5 pm but we were hungry!!). We made our first meal here at the hotel and it was good! We had some 4 cheese ravioli with fruit as a side! YUM! After dinner we also had a little dessert--I will post a picture of it because it was like a trip down memory lane for me--it's vanilla ice cream with thin layers of chocolate and it's awesome. We used to eat it every once and a while when we were growing up so it was fun to introduce Cam to it! I also found some yogurt that I had as a kid so I have been chomping down on that too--I took a picture of that too to show my brother--I bet he remembers it also! After dessert we were ready to chill so we watched a little bit of Rick Steves France which is a DVD of a tour guide who shows you all the good stuff to check out.
Sunday
It already seems so long ago! Just kidding! :) We slept in again which was awesome, but it also took away half our day then. We decided since most things are closed on Sundays (even the grocery stores) we would hang out at the hotel for a little while. We did some research on-line for a few hours then decided it was time to stretch our legs so we went for a nice long walk down to the park. The park was crazy busy with tons of people out strolling around, lots of kids playing, and a lot of people laying in the grass just sleeping or reading. It was interesting to see how the locals spend some of their time--according to what we saw--hanging out at the park on a beautiful Sunday afternoon is the way to go! By the time we got back from our walk it was time for dinner. After dinner we talked to my Dad for a little while and then looked up fun house ideas/gardening ideas on Pinterest for a little while then it was bed time because Cam had to work today...even though we have slept good the last few nights it has been taking us a while to actually fall asleep because our minds are just racing...so finally we fell asleep and here we are this morning :) So although we didn't actually leave Toulouse this weekend we had a pretty good first weekend by ourselves...we also spent some time researching places to go to and things to do so I think we might try a day trip this weekend? Maybe the Airbus tour on Friday and then a day trip Saturday? We will see :) I have some more pictures to share and I will explain them below kinda like I have been doing so far...
Here's Cam making some breakfast one morning...
Getting ready to eat our first "hotel" cooked meal!
TOMMY! Do you remember this ice cream??? Even Cam liked it!
It's so good!
~I had some technical problems with the internet yesterday so I wrote this post yesterday, but it finally let me upload this morning...sorry for the delay!~
J
We have made it into our second week here! It's been a few days since I posted mostly because Cam and I were hanging out and checking some stuff out this past weekend. While we didn't go anywhere we still had a great weekend :)
Friday
I know I posted last that we were planning on taking a tour of Airbus... well so was everyone else apparently because they were booked solid through the weekend. So instead we headed out to the mall right by where Cam works. It was one of the craziest rides of my life because of the traffic and boy was I thankful to make it there! Cam assured me though that it usually wasn't that bad--must have been because it was a Friday afternoon! Anyways it was a pretty good sized mall and we enjoyed just walking around and checking things out. We also checked out a huge grocery store within the mall that was at least the size of a Sam's Club, but not with bulk items if that makes any sense. By the time we got home from that we spent some time Facetiming with Kerry, Melinda, and Connor which was awesome...I think we ended up spending about two hours on line with them! We all just kept talking and catchin up on things going on here and back home...after we logged off it was almost 10:00 or 10:30 I think so we just called it a night!
Saturday
We finally slept in which was a little slice of heaven for me!! By the time we woke up it was essentially lunch time. After grabbing some food we headed out to check out a little more of Toulouse and some of the shops. We also stopped at the Office de Tourism to find out about things to do around here. We got sprinkled on a little bit as we were heading back to the hotel to grab our shopping bags for the grocery store...we checked the weather and it looked like we had a gap so we headed to the bigger of the two grocery stores. We loaded up on some essentials and headed back home. We didn't get rained on either-bonus! By that time it was time for dinner (according to us anyways-it was only like 5 pm but we were hungry!!). We made our first meal here at the hotel and it was good! We had some 4 cheese ravioli with fruit as a side! YUM! After dinner we also had a little dessert--I will post a picture of it because it was like a trip down memory lane for me--it's vanilla ice cream with thin layers of chocolate and it's awesome. We used to eat it every once and a while when we were growing up so it was fun to introduce Cam to it! I also found some yogurt that I had as a kid so I have been chomping down on that too--I took a picture of that too to show my brother--I bet he remembers it also! After dessert we were ready to chill so we watched a little bit of Rick Steves France which is a DVD of a tour guide who shows you all the good stuff to check out.
Sunday
It already seems so long ago! Just kidding! :) We slept in again which was awesome, but it also took away half our day then. We decided since most things are closed on Sundays (even the grocery stores) we would hang out at the hotel for a little while. We did some research on-line for a few hours then decided it was time to stretch our legs so we went for a nice long walk down to the park. The park was crazy busy with tons of people out strolling around, lots of kids playing, and a lot of people laying in the grass just sleeping or reading. It was interesting to see how the locals spend some of their time--according to what we saw--hanging out at the park on a beautiful Sunday afternoon is the way to go! By the time we got back from our walk it was time for dinner. After dinner we talked to my Dad for a little while and then looked up fun house ideas/gardening ideas on Pinterest for a little while then it was bed time because Cam had to work today...even though we have slept good the last few nights it has been taking us a while to actually fall asleep because our minds are just racing...so finally we fell asleep and here we are this morning :) So although we didn't actually leave Toulouse this weekend we had a pretty good first weekend by ourselves...we also spent some time researching places to go to and things to do so I think we might try a day trip this weekend? Maybe the Airbus tour on Friday and then a day trip Saturday? We will see :) I have some more pictures to share and I will explain them below kinda like I have been doing so far...
Best yogurt ever! I remember eating this as a kid!
It's so good!
~I had some technical problems with the internet yesterday so I wrote this post yesterday, but it finally let me upload this morning...sorry for the delay!~
J
Friday, August 24, 2012
1 down, 11 to go...(weeks that is!)
FRIDAY!
So I might have to play a little catch up later since I'm writing pretty early today--I think we are hoping to go on the Airbus tour this afternoon as well as go to the big grocery store down by where Cam works...if we do that then I will definetely have to write about that tomorrow :) We are also trying to plan something fun to do this weekend--something that gets us out of the city according to Cam! Until then though we are here at the hotel in the city...Cam is at work right now and he went in a little later because he took Sara and Rob to the airport this morning so he will have to work until about 2 I think he said and then he will come home and get me so we can go check out Airbus (I would take the train, but he said it would take me an hour and a half to ride it there or he can come get me and spend 20ish minutes in the car...car wins. I got up pretty early (for me!) to say good bye and thanks to Sara and Rob this morning--I don't know if they could have been smiling any bigger :) So far this morning it has been cool and cloudy--I have both the windows open right now to try and help dry those clothes I washed yesterday--about half are dry and the other half are still fairly damp. Housekeeping is supposed to be coming by this morning so I am also hanging around for a little bit to see how that goes (usually Sara left the room for that but I don't really have anywhere to go so I'm just going to hang out this first week then starting next week I might go somewhere while they clean...we will see!) So I figured while I had a few extra minutes I could catch up! I am really starting to cherish these first few hours each morning where I can read my emails from home (I usually wake up and check that first thing! :) Brings a big smile to my face!) and sometimes working on the blog and also a little Facebook time just to keep up with what's going on at home! Although I will say my Facebook time has significantly decreased since my phone doesn't work here! :) Oh well....I uploaded a few more pictures to share--we had a good time at dinner last night--it wasn't quite what I was expecting so I ate a salad--Cam had some of what he called darn good salmon and scalloped potatoes (they were sliced super thin--yum!)...then we ordered some dessert because it was Sara and Rob's last night--it came out as something completely different than I thought but Cam took a few bites and said it was pretty good! After dinner we headed back here so they could finish working on stuff--Cam and I watched a little bit of Despicable Me before we fell asleep. That brings us back to this morning :) I think with that I will load some pictures!
So these are from the past few days-not all in the same day :)
Who doesn't love some salt and vinegar chips??? A little piece of home for me! And this pic goes along with the next one....
THEY HAVE SUBWAY! YAHOOOOOO!!!! And it's about the same price so I've eaten lunch there twice this past week!!
Cam just reading the newspaper before dinner....it was in French. :)
Here's the Capitole Building that's in the center of the town...we ate dinner in the center a few nights ago....I took this picture from our dinner table....
The whole crew at "Meet the Meat"...
This is the dessert menu from last night...just wanted to show what stuff here looks like...you look for keys words! I know the word for chicken and ham and cheese so far--those are usually my go to words!! :)
We hope you all have had a great week! Melinda said it's been a lot nicer there (not in the hundreds!!) so we hope you all have a great weekend as well! We love you and miss you all!
J
So I might have to play a little catch up later since I'm writing pretty early today--I think we are hoping to go on the Airbus tour this afternoon as well as go to the big grocery store down by where Cam works...if we do that then I will definetely have to write about that tomorrow :) We are also trying to plan something fun to do this weekend--something that gets us out of the city according to Cam! Until then though we are here at the hotel in the city...Cam is at work right now and he went in a little later because he took Sara and Rob to the airport this morning so he will have to work until about 2 I think he said and then he will come home and get me so we can go check out Airbus (I would take the train, but he said it would take me an hour and a half to ride it there or he can come get me and spend 20ish minutes in the car...car wins. I got up pretty early (for me!) to say good bye and thanks to Sara and Rob this morning--I don't know if they could have been smiling any bigger :) So far this morning it has been cool and cloudy--I have both the windows open right now to try and help dry those clothes I washed yesterday--about half are dry and the other half are still fairly damp. Housekeeping is supposed to be coming by this morning so I am also hanging around for a little bit to see how that goes (usually Sara left the room for that but I don't really have anywhere to go so I'm just going to hang out this first week then starting next week I might go somewhere while they clean...we will see!) So I figured while I had a few extra minutes I could catch up! I am really starting to cherish these first few hours each morning where I can read my emails from home (I usually wake up and check that first thing! :) Brings a big smile to my face!) and sometimes working on the blog and also a little Facebook time just to keep up with what's going on at home! Although I will say my Facebook time has significantly decreased since my phone doesn't work here! :) Oh well....I uploaded a few more pictures to share--we had a good time at dinner last night--it wasn't quite what I was expecting so I ate a salad--Cam had some of what he called darn good salmon and scalloped potatoes (they were sliced super thin--yum!)...then we ordered some dessert because it was Sara and Rob's last night--it came out as something completely different than I thought but Cam took a few bites and said it was pretty good! After dinner we headed back here so they could finish working on stuff--Cam and I watched a little bit of Despicable Me before we fell asleep. That brings us back to this morning :) I think with that I will load some pictures!
So these are from the past few days-not all in the same day :)
Don't mind our full bellies--we had just eaten pizza and pasta! Should have taken the pic BEFORE dinner! Oh well!
So I have been carrying my little camera bag as my wallet/purse while I have been here and it turns out Sara has one almost just like it in black so that night we had the boys hold them while we took a pic together...we thought they rocked 'em!
You can also look behind the boys and see all the different restaurants--there are like 7 or 8 on that strip right next to each other--the only thing that separates them are umbrellas and different chairs/tables...we ate at the one right over Rob's left shoulder...
This was at dinner last night at the "Meet the Meat"...
We hope you all have had a great week! Melinda said it's been a lot nicer there (not in the hundreds!!) so we hope you all have a great weekend as well! We love you and miss you all!
J
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Thursday...
It's Thursday already? Oh my gosh! We are coming up on being here a week already! Most days have flown by so far (they all have their moments though of being a little pokey)...I guess I'm not going to promise a new post everyday because I've already missed two days these week; it seems like we have been getting back to our hotel really late the late few nights so by the time I get here I'm reading to chill and watch a movie or something.
Wednesday
So we started a countdown the other day and we are still excited about being here, but we just thought it would be fun to have one going :) It is also going to help keep on us track as far as managing our time here and making sure we get to do what we want. As of Wednesday we have 79 days left and only 11 weekends. Cam went to work as usual yesterday and I spent the day getting stuff figured out here in our room--I also went out with Sara again and we ate lunch in the Capitol area where they happened to be having a market. We checked out the market as well as some more shops (she was trying to get last minute gifts for everyone). I spent the rest of the afternoon here catching up on emails and organizing. When Cam got home we went out by ourselves for the first time and went to the ATM and then walked around for a little while. We ended up eating dinner at the same place we went that first day we were here and it was pretty tasty. After dinner we met up with two of Cam and Rob's co-workers to celebrate Rob and Sara's last 12 weeks here. We went to an English Pub called George and The Dragon where it was loud, smelly, and very hot (no AC!). We all had a pretty good time though and they had a quiz time where we answered questions about random facts and the best part was that the announcer asked in both English and French-- Rob and Sara told us that most English pubs around here have people who speak English--we were originally named Team Airbus, but that got switched to "Flying Circus". Believe it or not we actually got 3rd place! Well I say we, but really it was a team effort and Cam and I didn't contribute very much--wasn't our era so we didn't know many of the answers (I said quiz me on Luke Bryan and we would have won hands down ;) ) By the time we got home last night it was after midnight! It actually rained last night too--woke up this morning to thunder and lightening! Sweet!
Thursday
According to my calculations it is now down to 78 days before we leave--I get excited thinking about it because Rob and Sara leave tomorrow and they are more than ready to go and seeing how excited they are makes me excited for when our time comes! They wouldn't have traded the trip for anything,but they are ready to use a washer/dryer again and to be able to snuggle with their pets they left behind :) That being said though I am not ready to go home quite yet because we still have lots to do and see--I know 78 days sounds like a lot but when you look at a calendar its not as many as you think! I have also been having lots of fun emailing and Facetiming/Skyping everyone--it's nice to know what's going on back home! Anyways--enough of the countdown! Back to today--this morning I spent a chunk of my time handwashing a week's worth of laundry. Jealous yet? You should be. I tore a chunk of skin off my right thumb (of course my right--the one I use everything for!) before I was even half way through wringing out the clothes so my left arm got to work out today :) It was an interesting experience using the tub and filling it with scalding hot water and laundry soap--I have a tremendous appreciation for my washer and dryer at home (and Melinda's washer/dryer where you can do three loads and be done basically!) I will be washing everything from our trip the first day we get back whether or not we wore it here (although by then we will have probably worn almost everything)...I tried to follow how Sara said she washed her clothes but it didn't work out very well so I will be experimenting in the weeks to come--I will also be doing smaller loads so maybe that will make it more fun :) After spending most of the morning doing that (and other chores like the dishwasher) I finally made it to lunch with Sara and we went to Subway. It's actually pretty similar to back home which is nice...we then walked around for a little while but it was starting to get hot and humid and we are going to a nice dinner tonight so we decided to head back in order to save the outfits we already have on. We are going to Meet the Meat which is one of the nicer restaurants here they said--they have only been once before but they wanted to save it for their last night in France. The restaurant has all sorts of meat including duck--I think I will stick with chicken although I've had my fair share of ham the last few days...Depending on how Cam and I like it tonight we might take Kerry and Melinda back when they come out to see us :) So until Cam gets home which is only about 2 1/2 hours I will be messing with laundry (if it's dry already) and emailing people back. We hope you are all having a great week! Love and Miss you All!
J
Wednesday
So we started a countdown the other day and we are still excited about being here, but we just thought it would be fun to have one going :) It is also going to help keep on us track as far as managing our time here and making sure we get to do what we want. As of Wednesday we have 79 days left and only 11 weekends. Cam went to work as usual yesterday and I spent the day getting stuff figured out here in our room--I also went out with Sara again and we ate lunch in the Capitol area where they happened to be having a market. We checked out the market as well as some more shops (she was trying to get last minute gifts for everyone). I spent the rest of the afternoon here catching up on emails and organizing. When Cam got home we went out by ourselves for the first time and went to the ATM and then walked around for a little while. We ended up eating dinner at the same place we went that first day we were here and it was pretty tasty. After dinner we met up with two of Cam and Rob's co-workers to celebrate Rob and Sara's last 12 weeks here. We went to an English Pub called George and The Dragon where it was loud, smelly, and very hot (no AC!). We all had a pretty good time though and they had a quiz time where we answered questions about random facts and the best part was that the announcer asked in both English and French-- Rob and Sara told us that most English pubs around here have people who speak English--we were originally named Team Airbus, but that got switched to "Flying Circus". Believe it or not we actually got 3rd place! Well I say we, but really it was a team effort and Cam and I didn't contribute very much--wasn't our era so we didn't know many of the answers (I said quiz me on Luke Bryan and we would have won hands down ;) ) By the time we got home last night it was after midnight! It actually rained last night too--woke up this morning to thunder and lightening! Sweet!
Thursday
According to my calculations it is now down to 78 days before we leave--I get excited thinking about it because Rob and Sara leave tomorrow and they are more than ready to go and seeing how excited they are makes me excited for when our time comes! They wouldn't have traded the trip for anything,but they are ready to use a washer/dryer again and to be able to snuggle with their pets they left behind :) That being said though I am not ready to go home quite yet because we still have lots to do and see--I know 78 days sounds like a lot but when you look at a calendar its not as many as you think! I have also been having lots of fun emailing and Facetiming/Skyping everyone--it's nice to know what's going on back home! Anyways--enough of the countdown! Back to today--this morning I spent a chunk of my time handwashing a week's worth of laundry. Jealous yet? You should be. I tore a chunk of skin off my right thumb (of course my right--the one I use everything for!) before I was even half way through wringing out the clothes so my left arm got to work out today :) It was an interesting experience using the tub and filling it with scalding hot water and laundry soap--I have a tremendous appreciation for my washer and dryer at home (and Melinda's washer/dryer where you can do three loads and be done basically!) I will be washing everything from our trip the first day we get back whether or not we wore it here (although by then we will have probably worn almost everything)...I tried to follow how Sara said she washed her clothes but it didn't work out very well so I will be experimenting in the weeks to come--I will also be doing smaller loads so maybe that will make it more fun :) After spending most of the morning doing that (and other chores like the dishwasher) I finally made it to lunch with Sara and we went to Subway. It's actually pretty similar to back home which is nice...we then walked around for a little while but it was starting to get hot and humid and we are going to a nice dinner tonight so we decided to head back in order to save the outfits we already have on. We are going to Meet the Meat which is one of the nicer restaurants here they said--they have only been once before but they wanted to save it for their last night in France. The restaurant has all sorts of meat including duck--I think I will stick with chicken although I've had my fair share of ham the last few days...Depending on how Cam and I like it tonight we might take Kerry and Melinda back when they come out to see us :) So until Cam gets home which is only about 2 1/2 hours I will be messing with laundry (if it's dry already) and emailing people back. We hope you are all having a great week! Love and Miss you All!
J
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
New World...
Okay okay...so I know I said I would try my best to write everyday and I made it a day. BUT! I had a super busy day yesterday and felt like it was more important to experience everything and then write about it so here goes Day 3 and 4...
Day 3
Monday:
Like I said up above, yesterday was crazy! It seems like it went by super fast! It was Cam's first day at work and it went really well he said...they do things at a different pace here and he was surprised at how much coffe they drink here! He said even though it was almost 100 degrees yesterday (we brought the wind and heat from back home!), he said the majority of his co-workers enjoyed a hot coffee at the end of their lunch break yesterday. He was also surprised at how cheap his lunch was--they don't really do left overs here so he has to eat lunch at work and he was able to get a decent meal for about 4 Euros which is pretty good! I am going to add a picture of his first day work but the picture isn't stellar because the lighting wasn't very good but you can get an idea :)
This is in one of the parks we walked through on Sunday (our first full day here...)
View from our new room into the alley--the buildings here are awesome!
In front of our hotel before dinner last night...
Day 3
Monday:
Like I said up above, yesterday was crazy! It seems like it went by super fast! It was Cam's first day at work and it went really well he said...they do things at a different pace here and he was surprised at how much coffe they drink here! He said even though it was almost 100 degrees yesterday (we brought the wind and heat from back home!), he said the majority of his co-workers enjoyed a hot coffee at the end of their lunch break yesterday. He was also surprised at how cheap his lunch was--they don't really do left overs here so he has to eat lunch at work and he was able to get a decent meal for about 4 Euros which is pretty good! I am going to add a picture of his first day work but the picture isn't stellar because the lighting wasn't very good but you can get an idea :)
I also had a crazy busy day yesterday--I ran errands like crazy and we got moved into our new room so I spent a few hours trying to get some stuff put away...I ended up going to both of the grocery stores, the mall, around the shopping strip, and then out to dinner! We ended up eating at a sushi place last night which was quite interesting (see pictures below!) but it wasn't awful! It wasn't like Kanai back home, but it worked :)
Day 4
Tuesday:
Today has been a little slower pace because we had a pretty late night last night and neither of us got much sleep. Cam still had to get up and go to work on like 3 1/2 hours of sleep, but he's a trooper and doesn't complain too much. We are planning on going shopping with Rob and Sara before dinner tonight so hopefully we are wiped out and can get some sleep tonight...
I have some pictures I will attach and elaborate a little more on once I get to them but I didn't go into detail with my post so far so I will summarize some first impressions:
1. We have it really good at home. Over here they don't even put a sink in the same room as the toilet so you have to go to the shower room or kitchen to wash your hands after you use the restroom (Ummm gross).
2. French is a tricky language, especially when they speak it as fast as I speak English. Which as most of you know is like lighting fast!
3. People walk everywhere here which is really cool. The only downside is that they do it in sandals nd thats wears a girls feet out after awhile! I might try to get some nice leather sandals before too long that are comfortable because the two pairs of flips flops I brought don't last all day (they hurt)...
4. They have some AMAZING bread here. And German chocolate so I don't think I will starve....I am trying to make sure Cam gets enough calories though because their food schedule is way different here--lunch isn't until 12:30 (Cam is used to 11:30) and they don't even start serving dinner here until 7 pm. And if you walk in at 8 pm you are still one of the first ones in the restaurant.
5. It will take some getting used to but I think Cam and I will have a good time--we are still trying to get some sleep.
Here are a few pictures from our first few days and they aren't in any special order...
This is in one of the parks we walked through on Sunday (our first full day here...)
Eating sushi in France!
These pictures aren't stellar quality because they are with my small point and shoot, but I will bring the big one along one of these days! My small one fits into my small wallet that I carry so that's why I have been using the small one so much :)
Hope you have a great day!
J
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Day 2 Continued...
So I'm doing good so far with my bloggin adventure! This is my second post in one day! We are just waiting to go to dinner (because they don't serve dinner until 7 pm here!) and I thought since I had a few minutes I would write about our afternoon! We ended up going to lunch in the town center because the sandwich shop Rob and Sara like to go to was closed and we were saving Subway for another time--we still had a sandwich though and I thought it was pretty good! The bread here is awesome and I just had a ham and cheese sandwich while Cam had ham, cheese, and tomato. After we finished lunch we checked out Toulouse a little bit with Rob and Sara as our tourguides...we went through the shopping area and down to the river. From the river we made a big loop up through the center of the town again where we stopped for ice cream because it was almost 100 degress outside! The ice cream was super delicious--I had vanilla with chocolate chip and we went there because Rob and Sara said they do something cool with their ice cream and sure enough--they made a flower out of the ice cream! Vanilla was the middle scoop so that was the center and then they made the other flavor to look like petals coming off the middle scoop! I meant to take a picture but my ice cream was melting so fast that I didn't want to waste any of it ;) So I guess I HAVE to go back and eat some more ice cream so I can take a picture to show you guys! :) After we cooled off with ice cream (Cam didn't eat any though--he just had water) we went through another part of town that led to the parks. The parks were awesome because guess what? It's so humid here and it rains enough here that stuff was actually green! It was a welcome sight for Cam and I because back home everything is fried. We spent a while walking through the gardens and parks and eventually made it back home to the hotel where we have been chilling the last couple of hours--we also tried to catch up with some family (although I didn't get to talk to everyone-I will try again either later or tomorrow!),checked our emails, and made sure everything was ready for Cam for work in the morning...it is SO weird not having my phone to check and text everyone on--it will probably just be off most of the trip because I have no service here what so ever. So the best way to get ahold of us is either by email, FaceTime, or Skype. We still don't have the wireless set up here---we bummed some wireless off of Rob and Sara earlier but we will get that done soon also! Tonight at dinner I will ask Rob and Sara what our address is so I can let you all know...we hope you all have a great evening!
J&C
J&C
...and we are in France!
Bonjour!
I am writing this to you from Toulouse, France! I tried to let everyone know we made it safe and sound, but also wanted to keep (as best I can) a daily journal while we are here and it's technically already the second day we've been here so I better get going!
Arrival-Day One
So our journey started on Friday, August 17th in Wichita, Kansas. We got checked in with no problems and after a quick TSA check of one of our bags (my shampoo and conditioner which are liter sizes) we were on our way! Our first flight left ICT a little after 11:30 am to Minneapolis. Our first flight went really well--it was short and smooth which is the perfect flight combo! It was the first time either of us landed in Minneapolis and their airport was pretty nice--looked like they were renovating some of it but they rest was nice! We ended up spending more time there than we thought because our flight got delayed to Amsterdam. The plane we were originally going to be on wasn't due to arrive at the airport until 5 pm which was way past our departure time so they found another plane at the Minneapolis airport. The only problem was that the plane they found needed some maintenance. It took them a little while to get the problem fixed and we ended up leaving late which had us a little concerned because we didn't have a very long lay-over in Amsterdam and we knew we needed to go through customs there. The flight itself was very good (super long though), but pretty good. We each had our own little TV's built into the chair in front of us and I watched three different movies (Cam watched two and read some magazines!) The only complaint I had was that there were some small children in the same row as us and a few chairs down and it seemed like everytime I fell somewhat asleep they started screaming. So neither Cam nor I got very much sleep on that flight but we did nap a little and eat some awesome airplane food ;). We arrived in Amsterdam with only about 45 minutes before we were supposed to be boarding our last flight which made us pretty nervous. We rushed through the airport trying to find our way--everything was in a different language ;) so we finally found where we go through customs and spent a few extra minutes there because we forgot to pull all the elecrtonics out of every carry on bag we had so both our bags had to be rescreened. By the time we got our passports stamped we were hauling across the airport to find out gate and made it with just enough time for each of us to use the restroom and then it was time to board! Our last flight from Amsterdam to Toulouse was about an hour and a half long and it went pretty smooth as well. When we got to the airport in Toulouse, one of Cam's coworkers from Wichita was there to meet us--Rob and his wife are here doing the same thing that we will be doing--they got the first three month session so they kind of know the ins and outs! The only hiccup we had with our long day of travels was that our luggage was no where to be found. It took us a few times to find the luggage center but we finally did and she took down our information and said that since our flight was late our luggage did not make our Amsterdam to Toulouse flight. We were very excited to hear though that it would arrive on the next flight from Amsterdam which was later that afternoon. After dealing with the luggage issue we had to wait in line for a very long time for our rental car but we finally got it and we were on our way to the hotel. We are staying at an extended stay hotel which in located in the center of Toulouse. We got checked into our room and left pretty quickly to go grab something to eat. Rob and Sara took us to one of their favorites places they have found and we got our grub on! After that we came back to the hotel where we took a little nap because Cam and I could barely keep our eyes open! After our nap we decided to go to the store with Rob and Sara because basically everything is closed here on Sundays so we at least wanted to grab some breakfast food. The grocery store was interesting because it reminded me of when I lived in Germany--the prices are very reasonable but they have a lot of fresh products and products that don't have very many preservatives so people here don't stock up if you will--they go to the grocery store more often. It was also interesting because you have to pay for each bag you use (like the Dillon's plastic sacks we have at home) so Cam and I spent the thirty cents to get a bag and carried the rest of the stuff in our arms! We are very lucky to have someone here to help us figure all of these small things out! By the time we returned from the grocery store we decided to stay in for the rest of the night and it was a good decision because we went to bed about 5:15 pm and slept all the way through until just a few hours ago! So technically it is already our second day here!
Second Day
So that brings us up to right now--my computer says it's 5:13 am Kansas time which is still crazy to think about because it's 12:13 pm here! By the time some of you read this we will be sleeping tonight (hopefully! Cam has to go to work tomorrow!)...we don't have much on the agenda for the day--Rob and Sara are going to take us to either Subway or a Panini shop for lunch then we are going to explore a little bit this afternoon! We also asked to switch rooms because we have two twin beds upstairs and were hoping for one large bed. So we checked on that just a few minutes ago and they said tomorrow morning so I guess I'm taking care of that while Cam's at work! Oh boy! Sara is super awesome and said I am more than welcome to tag along with her this week to try and get my feet on the ground--Cam and Rob will be sticking together at work :) So I plan on sticking close to her as I figure things out (bigger grocery trip, post office, etc.). So far the weather has been good--yesterday was the most wind that Rob and Sara had seen since they have been here and we informed them that we like to bring the wind with us where we go ;) We miss everyone and are still feeling a little overwhelmed by everything but we have been assured by Sara and Rob that that was how they felt when they first arrived and they said here in a few weeks things will be better so we are looking forward to these next few weeks as we try to acclimate! I will be trying to update daily--I have been emailing everyone with specific stories, but will be posting our everyday adventures on here so everyone can read them! :) The only other thing on our immediate to do list is to try and get wifi hooked up so we can start skyping and Facetiming you guys! As soon as that's up and operational you all will be wishing we hadn't set it up because I will be skyping/Facetiming like crazy! :) We miss you guys and love you all lots! Time to head downstairs to meet up for lunch! If I get time to post tonight I will try, but no promises!
J
I am writing this to you from Toulouse, France! I tried to let everyone know we made it safe and sound, but also wanted to keep (as best I can) a daily journal while we are here and it's technically already the second day we've been here so I better get going!
Arrival-Day One
So our journey started on Friday, August 17th in Wichita, Kansas. We got checked in with no problems and after a quick TSA check of one of our bags (my shampoo and conditioner which are liter sizes) we were on our way! Our first flight left ICT a little after 11:30 am to Minneapolis. Our first flight went really well--it was short and smooth which is the perfect flight combo! It was the first time either of us landed in Minneapolis and their airport was pretty nice--looked like they were renovating some of it but they rest was nice! We ended up spending more time there than we thought because our flight got delayed to Amsterdam. The plane we were originally going to be on wasn't due to arrive at the airport until 5 pm which was way past our departure time so they found another plane at the Minneapolis airport. The only problem was that the plane they found needed some maintenance. It took them a little while to get the problem fixed and we ended up leaving late which had us a little concerned because we didn't have a very long lay-over in Amsterdam and we knew we needed to go through customs there. The flight itself was very good (super long though), but pretty good. We each had our own little TV's built into the chair in front of us and I watched three different movies (Cam watched two and read some magazines!) The only complaint I had was that there were some small children in the same row as us and a few chairs down and it seemed like everytime I fell somewhat asleep they started screaming. So neither Cam nor I got very much sleep on that flight but we did nap a little and eat some awesome airplane food ;). We arrived in Amsterdam with only about 45 minutes before we were supposed to be boarding our last flight which made us pretty nervous. We rushed through the airport trying to find our way--everything was in a different language ;) so we finally found where we go through customs and spent a few extra minutes there because we forgot to pull all the elecrtonics out of every carry on bag we had so both our bags had to be rescreened. By the time we got our passports stamped we were hauling across the airport to find out gate and made it with just enough time for each of us to use the restroom and then it was time to board! Our last flight from Amsterdam to Toulouse was about an hour and a half long and it went pretty smooth as well. When we got to the airport in Toulouse, one of Cam's coworkers from Wichita was there to meet us--Rob and his wife are here doing the same thing that we will be doing--they got the first three month session so they kind of know the ins and outs! The only hiccup we had with our long day of travels was that our luggage was no where to be found. It took us a few times to find the luggage center but we finally did and she took down our information and said that since our flight was late our luggage did not make our Amsterdam to Toulouse flight. We were very excited to hear though that it would arrive on the next flight from Amsterdam which was later that afternoon. After dealing with the luggage issue we had to wait in line for a very long time for our rental car but we finally got it and we were on our way to the hotel. We are staying at an extended stay hotel which in located in the center of Toulouse. We got checked into our room and left pretty quickly to go grab something to eat. Rob and Sara took us to one of their favorites places they have found and we got our grub on! After that we came back to the hotel where we took a little nap because Cam and I could barely keep our eyes open! After our nap we decided to go to the store with Rob and Sara because basically everything is closed here on Sundays so we at least wanted to grab some breakfast food. The grocery store was interesting because it reminded me of when I lived in Germany--the prices are very reasonable but they have a lot of fresh products and products that don't have very many preservatives so people here don't stock up if you will--they go to the grocery store more often. It was also interesting because you have to pay for each bag you use (like the Dillon's plastic sacks we have at home) so Cam and I spent the thirty cents to get a bag and carried the rest of the stuff in our arms! We are very lucky to have someone here to help us figure all of these small things out! By the time we returned from the grocery store we decided to stay in for the rest of the night and it was a good decision because we went to bed about 5:15 pm and slept all the way through until just a few hours ago! So technically it is already our second day here!
Second Day
So that brings us up to right now--my computer says it's 5:13 am Kansas time which is still crazy to think about because it's 12:13 pm here! By the time some of you read this we will be sleeping tonight (hopefully! Cam has to go to work tomorrow!)...we don't have much on the agenda for the day--Rob and Sara are going to take us to either Subway or a Panini shop for lunch then we are going to explore a little bit this afternoon! We also asked to switch rooms because we have two twin beds upstairs and were hoping for one large bed. So we checked on that just a few minutes ago and they said tomorrow morning so I guess I'm taking care of that while Cam's at work! Oh boy! Sara is super awesome and said I am more than welcome to tag along with her this week to try and get my feet on the ground--Cam and Rob will be sticking together at work :) So I plan on sticking close to her as I figure things out (bigger grocery trip, post office, etc.). So far the weather has been good--yesterday was the most wind that Rob and Sara had seen since they have been here and we informed them that we like to bring the wind with us where we go ;) We miss everyone and are still feeling a little overwhelmed by everything but we have been assured by Sara and Rob that that was how they felt when they first arrived and they said here in a few weeks things will be better so we are looking forward to these next few weeks as we try to acclimate! I will be trying to update daily--I have been emailing everyone with specific stories, but will be posting our everyday adventures on here so everyone can read them! :) The only other thing on our immediate to do list is to try and get wifi hooked up so we can start skyping and Facetiming you guys! As soon as that's up and operational you all will be wishing we hadn't set it up because I will be skyping/Facetiming like crazy! :) We miss you guys and love you all lots! Time to head downstairs to meet up for lunch! If I get time to post tonight I will try, but no promises!
J
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