Back in the States...

I have now been home for just over a week. It took a while to get back into the swing of things. I have mostly just been cleaning out my room. It has been five years since I lived at home, so I had to make room for all of my stuff. It has been nice to be home though, and it is really nice to be back in some summer weather!!

I had a great time in England. We did a lot of stuff. We saw Brighton, Oxford, Stonehenge, the countryside, and pretty much all of London. It rained a lot while we were there, and even when it wasn’t raining it was still grey and cloudy.

I have so much work to do with all my pictures. In the end I came back from Europe with over 6,000 pictures! It will take a while to get them all taken care of.

In the meantime here are some of my pictures from England. Enjoy!


Brighton Beach



Sarah and me on the Brighton Pier.



Buckingham Palace



A guard at the palace



Big Ben



Houses of Parliament from the London Eye



London and the River Thames from the top of St. Paul’s Cathedral.



The Tower of London



London Bridge



Globe Theater



This is the inside of the Globe. This is where we saw “The Merchant of Venice”



Being a true tourist



Bodiam Castle



The countryside around Bodiam



Christ Church College in Oxford



Sarah’s college at Oxford, Lady Margaret Hall



Flooding in the college gardens



The famous punts of Oxford.



I am enjoying the many gardens in Oxford.



Oxford at Twilight



The oldest pub in Oxford, The Bear, circa 1242



Stonehenge



Sarah and me trying not to get blown away at Stonehenge.

Au revoir Belfort!

I am finally completely packed and ready to go. It was hard to find a place for everything in my three pieces of luggage, but somehow I did it.

The Eurockennes concert was pretty fun the last two days. It was really set up nicely. We took a train from Belfort, and it dropped us off about ¾ of a mile from the venue, which was on a lake so there were great views. All the bands were really good as well. The funniest thing about the weekend were the toilets. Public toilets at an event like that are never fun, but it is even worse when all you have is the hole in the ground. Sarah and I had to take turns holding each other’s stuff because it can get pretty tricky. I knew that those kinds of toilets were still used in France, but I was lucky enough not to have to use them until this last weekend.

I leave early tomorrow morning to go meet my family. I am not sure if I will have interest access for the next few weeks, but if I do I will write an update about my travels. If not I will write a full recap when I get back at the end of July.

That's all folks!

Well, I have just finished my last day of classes. It is so hard for me to believe it! It definitely does not seem like I have been teaching these kids for the last 9 months! It seems like just yesterday I was trying to learn all their names.

Overall it has been a really great experience, and I have enjoyed teaching. Of course there are always some kids who always make it difficult, but for the most part I have had some really good ones. Although if I decide to continue teaching I think I would like to work with older kids. I could go without all the tattling, “He is looking at me…he said a bad word…he farted.” I am not sure how much better it would be with high school kids, but it is really bad with the 8-11 year olds

I am very excited about my next month of travels, so right now I am not too sad about leavinng. In a couple weeks though I am sure I will be missing the kids.

The next two days Sarah and I are going to Eurockéennes, which is the three-day concert in Belfort. Today I already saw a lot of people with backpacks, sleeping bags and tents heading out to the venue. There is quite a large selection of music. Tomorrow there is Amy Winehouse, Wu-tang Clan (apparently they are still together) and even Marilyn Manson. Among many other bands I don’t know from all over the world. On Saturday the Hives, Queens of the Stone Age, and the Editors are the big bands.

Then I leave at 4:45 am on Monday morning to go and meet my family in Paris. I haven’t seen them since the beginning of January, so it will be nice to see them. I am also excited to show them where I have been living since September. We are spending a few days in Paris then renting an RV, and going to Belgium, Luxemburg, Germany and Switzerland. (At least as much as we can do in a week.) Then we will pass through Belfort on the way back to Paris.

After my family leaves on July 12 I am then going to England for two weeks to visit Sarah. She is going to show me all the sights in London and Oxford. Then I will be flying back to the United States on July 27.

It will be another busy month, but I think it is a great way to end my time in Europe!

The Lion of Belfort...again

Since Monday Sarah has had another friend visiting. Yesterday the weather was gorgeous, so we decided we would take in the “sights” of Belfort (which means we went to see the lion). They have a little tourist train that runs from the Old Town up to the lion and castle. I guess it is good that I did it once, but next time I think I will walk because the train is so slow it probably takes about the same time just to go by foot! The train is really cute though. They made the headlights into eyes and painted on a little smile and eyelashes.

We actually went out onto the observation deck to see the lion this time, so I was able to get some close up shots. It is really quite amazing when you see it up close like that. After we saw the lion we went to a café and had a drink like true Frenchies. It was a good day!

Although the weather was great yesterday, today it is so rainy and cool. I guess it seems appropriate that today is the first day of summer. I hope the weather is much more summer like for everyone else!

The cute little tourist train


Here we are riding up to see the lion.


Alex and Sarah


Here they are again in front of the tank up at the castle.


The Lion of Belfort


Proof that we were in fact there!

French Healthcare

Today I was finally able to experience first hand the French medical system. Last week I caught a cold, and like always I now have a sinus infection. In April I received my health insurance card. (Yeah, it took 7 months to receive it!) It has this little microchip in it, so the doctor took it and put it into the machine and all my info came up. Then he put all the new info into the computer and onto the card. I then took my prescriptions and went down to the pharmacy. They put the card into their computer and got all of my information. I was completely finished within 35 minutes…pretty incredible. I was really surprised everything went so smoothly compared to some of the other things I have done in France!

I liked the idea of having all this information on one card, so you don't have to fill in paperwork every time you go to see a different doctor. They could just pull up all your medical history on their computer, but I guess at the same time it would be scary if the card got lost or stolen.

I am alone this week because Sarah went on a weeklong language camp with a school. It is good that I have this time because I only have two and a half weeks left, and I have to pack up my entire room. I can’t believe how much stuff I have collected in the last 9 months. Today I bought a new suitcase, so I will be able to get my stuff back. I mailed one box, but it is really expensive (50 euros) and it took over a month to get there, so I think this will be easier. My family will be able to take a couple of my suitcases back with them when they come to visit.

Well, I guess I better get busy…

YAY DUCKS!

Last night was a joyous occasion in the Downing household because the Anaheim Ducks won the Stanley Cup!

We have been Ducks’ fans since the team started, so it was really exciting to see them do well this year. It is definitely a change for me to have a team I support have a good season.

I was actually able to watch some of the game because my brother set up the video camera so we could have a video chat on our computers. He just pointed the camera at the TV, and it was like I was sitting in the living room at home with everyone else. The time difference was the hardest part. I had to get up at 3:30 am, but it was so worth it to just witness it even if I was halfway around the world!

The French Meal Experience

Today Sarah and I were invited to lunch at the house of one of the other English teachers. She had prepared a five-course meal for us! She said she prepared food that was typically French, and I really enjoyed everything. By the end though I was so full it was hard to move!

We started with an “amuse-bouche”, then we had the starter and then the entrée, which was a tartiflette. It is a common food in Alsace, which is the region just to the north of Belfort. I really like them. They are made with potatoes, a creamy cheese and meat, usually sausage, which are all mixed and baked together. Then of course we had the mandatory French cheese selection. I was informed that in France there are over 800 different kinds of cheese. I knew there was a lot, but I had no idea it was that many. Then to end we had a special French cake. It was a rum cake with cream and strawberries.

It was a lot of fun to eat with her and her family. (Although I stayed strong and ate the American way at the table full of Europeans! I find it much easier to put my knife down after I have cut something!) I was also proud of how far my French has come. It is moments like that when I can really see a difference. I am much more confident to participate in a conversation now than I was when I first arrived here.

After lunch we went shopping which is always an experience in France. It seems that the fashion right now is the 1960s American look with psychedelic colors and designs. I am not a fan of it, but then again it could be back in fashion in US right now. I haven’t been there in six months, so I am really not sure!