FIMU Music Festival

The music festival was a lot of fun this past weekend. There were people from all over the world playing all kinds of music. There were about 10 different stages or venues, and on Saturday and Sunday some of the concerts went until 1 am. There were even a couple of bands from the US. One was a jazz group and the other was a blue grass group. The newspaper said about 65,000 people came out to the festival, which is really good considering in rained on Sunday and a little on Monday as well.

By far my favorite act was the University of Namibia choir. They were so good that I went back and saw them a second time. Their act was an hour-long story about the spread of Christianity in their country that they sang in their native language with traditional Namibian dances and costumes. The amazing thing was they did it all a cappella. The only beats they had came from clapping and stomping their feet. They were in the cathedral in the center of town, so the acoustics were amazing as well. When they first started singing they were so good I had goose bumps.

Here are a couple pictures I took. They are not very good, but the second time I went I was in the back and the place was packed. I guess word got out about how good they were!

The University of Namibia Choir during their opening piece.



Doing some traditional Namibian dances.

Dijon

On Wednesday Sarah and I went to Dijon in the Burgundy region of France. It is a beautiful city. We went on a walking tour that went by 22 sights. I really enjoyed the Duke’s palace where they had a tower that we climbed to get a better view of the city. I also liked the Notre Dame cathedral. It has a little chouette, or owl, in the wall, and it is believed that if you rub it with your left hand you and your family will have good luck, so you’re welcome family!

Dijon is of course known for its mustard, so I decided that I would have to try some. I bought some gingerbread mustard. I know it sounds gross, but Dijon is also known for its gingerbread. I knew I probably wouldn’t ever find it again, so I decided to give it a try. In the end it was quite funky tasting. It was really spicy, strong mustard with an aftertaste of gingerbread. I am glad I tried it, but I don’t think I would buy it again.

All in all we had a good day in Dijon. The train ride back was a little long though. It was an old train so there wasn’t any air conditioning. We had to ride 2 and a half hours with only a little air blowing in from the cracked windows. I was pretty sweaty by the time I got home. Good thing it wasn’t too crowded or I am sure it would have really smelled.

It has been really hot here all week, in the high 80s to lower 90s. I can’t wait for it to cool off because our bedrooms are at the top of the apartment building, so it gets really warm and stays like that all the time. It will be nice not to sweat when I sleep.

This weekend it the FIMU, Festival International de Musique Université, in Belfort. They have concerts going on from Friday night until Monday night. I guess it is a really huge thing and people come from all over to see the acts. Tonight we went to a concert where all they had was drums. The group was from Ecuador, and it was really amazing. I am excited to see what other acts they will have this weekend.


The duke’s palace



Duke's palace square



Notre Dame Cathedral



The Chouette, he has been rubbed a lot!



Sarah is hoping for some good luck.



This is where we ate lunch.



The famous rooftop design of Burgundy.



The view from the top of the tower. It was 316 steps to the top.



Gargoyle

Rainbow!

We just had a huge thunderstorm pass through. It rained for about 20 minutes, and then we had this beautiful scene. It was one of the brightest rainbows I have seen in a long time.

Summer Plans

I can’t believe I only have six weeks left teaching left. I don’t know where the last eight months have gone!

This week I finished planning the rest of my time in Europe. My last day of teaching is June 29. Then my family is coming out to visit me. They arrive July 2. We are going to spend a couple of days in Paris then we are going to rent an RV and travel around for another week.

They leave on July 12, and then I am heading up to England to visit Sarah for two weeks. We are going to visit London, Oxford, Stonehenge and Brighton among other places. We are also planning to see a play at the Globe Theater and a West End musical. It will be fun to see England with my own personal tour guide!

I will be back in the US on July 27, which is pretty exciting because I haven’t been there since January 5. I brought my plane ticket a couple of days ago. I can’t believe how expensive it was. I looked everywhere to see what was the cheapest. I guess it is not a good idea to buy a one-way ticket in the peak of tourist season because the cheapest ticket I could find was still $850. That was the price on STA Travel, which has a special price for people under 26. Otherwise the cheapest I found was about $1200. At least the flight I booked is nonstop. That just makes life easier.

Well, I am off to plan the rest of my lessons for the week. I am working on countries with the older kids and doing food with the little guys. It will be the first full week I have worked since the beginning of April because there have been so many days off! I hope I can handle it!

Flower Market

In Belfort this weekend there is a Flower market. It has flowers, crafts and food for sell. Also since it is Belfort’s 700th birthday they also had a flower design contest. Most of the towns in the Territory of Belfort came up with a design then they put them up all over town. They all looked so pretty.

Flower Market


Some of the entries for the design contest






This one was my favorite. I really loved the lion.



There was also a wine tasting exposition, so Sarah and I decided to learn about wine. It was pretty interesting. We learned quite a bit about how to tell how old a wine is and how to “properly” taste a wine.

Last night I was also able to experience for the first time the Eurovision song contest. All the countries in Europe write and then perform their songs then everyone votes for their favorite song. In other words it is like an even cheesier "American Idol" in a whole lot more languages. It was quite enjoyable to laugh at all the really bad songs, outfits and dances. My favorite had to be Ukraine, who was the heavy favorite to win. Here is a link to check it out for yourself. I am sure you will laugh.



Although Ukraine was favored to win, it was Serbia who got the glory. I guess each year there are problems with the voting because all the countries vote politically, and it has nothing to do with how good the song is. Sarah was pretty upset because the United Kingdom only got 12 points and ended up 23 of 24 countries. I guess there is always next year.

A new president and hair style

Not much has been going on here. I have today off because it is a holiday. It is actually the anniversary of the end of WWII in Europe. It is also raining today, so I haven’t been up to too much. Maybe tomorrow the weather will be nicer, so I can do something.

The presidential elections were held in France on Sunday, and yesterday in my schools all anyone could talk about was the new president. Nicolas Sarkozy won the election, but from what I have gathered this area was much more in support of Segolene Royal, the Socialist candidate. French people are more open about their politics, and they love to talk about them, even the kids. I don't know how many kids asked me who I voted for. I had to explain to them that I can’t vote in France. Then they all had to tell me who they wanted to win. I don't remember being that interested in politics when I was 9 or 10 years old!

Also on Sunday we went to see “Spider-Man 3.” I thought it was pretty good. It was really happy because I found that I could understand it easily. There were even parts where I wouldn’t even realize they were speaking French! It is exciting to see how I have progressed in the last 7 months! I have seen other movies in French here, but I think this was the easiest to understand yet.

Yesterday I went to get my hair done. I really needed a trim because I hadn’t had it cut since the beginning of January, but I was a little nervous about getting it cut in France. I have seen some disturbing hair styles since I have been here.

Sarah and I decided to just go get it done, so we made appointments at Atmosp’Hair. (It still makes me smile every time I say it.) The French love to put English words in wherever they can. In the end I think my hair looks all right. It is a little shorter and choppier than I would have liked, but it could have been worse. I could have come out with the ever-popular European mullet!!

Also I have updated my Web site with the pictures from Barcelona, Rome and Venice so check it out when you have the time.

Back to work...

Well, all my visitors have gone home now, and it is time for me to go back to teaching. I can’t believe how fast three weeks went, but I have had a really good time!

Lat week I visited some new towns in the Franche-Compté region with my grandparents. I really enjoyed it. There are some really beautiful places in this region. It was also nice to see trees and hills again after going to such big cities.

On Wednesday I showed them around Belfort. Then on Thursday we went to Colmar. It was nice to go there again. It was beautiful at Christmas time, but I think I prefer it in spring when all the flowers are blooming. On Friday we went to a little town called Ornans. It is a really tiny town, but the scenery is gorgeous. It is also the birthpace to the painter Gustave Courbet, so we visited the museum dedicated to him. Then on Saturday we went to Dole, which was another nice little town. It is the birthplace of Louis Pasteur, so there is a museum about him in the city. Unfortunately it was closed until May, so we missed it by a couple of days.

The last couple of days I have just been enjoying the beautiful weather and running errands.

In France there are a lot of holidays in May, so I actually only have one full week of teaching for the entire month. I think June will be a hard month for me because I will have to teach the whole month without a day off!!!

Here are a few pictures from the last few places I visited. Hopefully I will be able to get all my pictures up on my Web site soon.

Colorful houses in Colmar



The Petite Venice part of Colmar



The Loue River in Ornans



Cathedral



This bridge is found in a lot of Courbet’s paintings.



Country road



The small town of Ornans



Dole


Notre Dame Cathedral in Dole



The inside