Bonjour from France! Today I am feeling MUCH better! And I spent BEAUCOUP de euros! But let's start at the beginning:

Cathie had to leave early today, so Joel, Seb's father took us all to the tram. We had to make two changes, and the amount of people packed into these cars was unbelievable. Something else, too, parents- there were VERY young children going to school alone on these trams. There is no bus system here. But there is a tremendous feeling of safety here. No one bothers things and people are a lot friendlier and helpful than westerners think.

We began the day attending classes with the French students. Except Ms. Peoples convinced me we should "play hookie" and go visit a local coffee shop. I confess, it didn't take much convincing. Peeps and I love our French students and the French teachers very much, but we are in FRANCE! We should do as the French do, oui? So off we went in search of our morning caffiene. And of course the requisite pastry! One simply cannot have coffee without an eclair or the little chocolate bread! Here, everyone carries around the long loaves of baguettes or eats their pastries or sandwiches right on the street while walking or biking everywhere. We barely made it back to the school in time to make it to la toilette! (which appear to be in short supply here! Very few shops have them.) Then off we went to the sports classes with our kids. Here this school takes every Wednesday as a half day. They attend classes for an hour or two, then everyone does some sort of sport. Ping Pong, Rock climbing (walls in a second gym) and volley ball were available to our students. The French students are unbelievably physically fit. I watched some of them hang vertically from a climbing wall close to the ceiling parallel to the floor! Yes, folks, there were gym mats all over the floor. The teacher for Ping Pong had a small emergency with her daughter and had to leave, so all our kids either went to volley ball or rock climbing. Seb and I went to the climbing walls. Here are a few pictures of our kids doing things they would never be able to do at home. In the States, this would be deemed too dangerous, as someone might fall and be injured, then the parents would sue the school system. Here, the refreshing attitude is simply use your common sense. And so voilà! Watch them go!

On the left is Fletcher; This is Maree! Go Grey!

In this gym, there were also parallel bars, uneven bars (the real ones!!!), a high bar, and ropes.

I am super proud that all our kids tried everything asked of them. They accomplished far more than I think they thought they could. And the teacher spoke no english! Some of the French students translated, and I also helped some. A super day in school for them!

After this, Sebastien took me to an incredible restaurant for lunch. "Porcu" is a butchery and restaurant specializing in what the locals refer to as simply "pig". The French here eat quite a lot of pig in nearly every concievable way but raw. Fortunately, they also had many other delicacies on the menu, and I ordered poisson avec pomme de terre, et le sauce tartare. Fish with potatoes and tartar sauce. But you can forget about ordinary Fish and potatoes. Like every meal I've had here, it was a grand production. I was able to order in French and converse with the very kind server. And at Sebastien's suggestion, we finished the meal with crèmè broullé. This was perhaps my fastest meal, as Sebastien had made reservations. We spent just over an hour, gazing out very large windows at our table over a beautiful plaza. Conversation with Seb is quite fun- a HUGE mixture of French and English from us both. And dispite the age differences, we talk almost non-stop. And when we parted outside, I surprised him tremendously with the traditional French greeting/parting- la bis- the French custom of a quick kiss on each cheek. He blushed hugely, but was quite obviously pleased! He still regards me as his Maman Americaine!

Sebastien Amhrein at Porcu's

Quite a handsome young man-

inside and out.

Now for the really incredible part of my day- Sebastien left me at the restaurant, and Cathie could not meet me until 15 heures (3:00) so I had nearly a full three hours to shop alone in Strasburg!

I was scared to death, and spent the first 30 minutes just making sure I could find my way back to the restaurant where we were to meet. I asked directions only once-and that was to find the well-hidden restrooms! And speaking of restrooms, it's also quite common to have the men's and women's restrooms in the same space. At St.Etienne's, when we had dinner with the headmaster, the teacher restroom was completely the same space- the stalls were marked for the men and women!! Talk about something to get used to! (Funny thing, too- only one stall for the men- at least four for the women!)

I've probably said it a dozen times by now, but everything here has a touch of the artistic about it. Truly a city after my own heart! On the tram this morning to school, the announcements of next stops were done with children's voices and soothing music. (Tames the savage beast? Talk about crowds!) Even the school's release bells for the next class are music only- almost Harry Potter-ish. It is amazingly calming. We should try it! And below are two chairs I spotted today. Yes, these are chairs! The left one is covered in feathers and was in clock-maker's shop. Hint to Eddie- I found a fabulous little clock for Doris! The one on the right is a chair from Porcus. It is all inlaid wood in the shape of une pappillon- a butterfly. The smallest details are valued tremendouly here, and nothing goes without someone's personal touch.

AT 3, Cathie met me at the restaurant, and away we went for hours more of shopping. And all this walking and shopping and translating on less than three hours of sleep. My day is so full, and the keyboarding so slow, that my blogging takes a very long time. But that in itself isn't the main problem. Even though I am improving rapidly from my terrible sickness, I have the WORST residual cough, and keep the entire house awake at night. I went to bed last night around midnight, but couldn't fall asleep until after 3 AM. I get up at 5:30 every morning to avoid conflicts with the bathroom (whole other stories in themsleves!!!) Poor Cathie came in my room at 2:30 to try to help me stop coughing, and today she phoned her physician for a cough remedy sure to put me to sleep tonight. I admit, I'm grateful, and look forward to a full night's sleep. I'm sure the rest of the house does too! It's now about 9:40, and I really want to get to bed. This will be the earliest I have made it since arriving! So bonne nuit for now!

I love and miss you all.

Blessings and peace from France!

Bonnie