Internet at last.

A mere 7 days after signing the papers, I have internet. I had to have a new friend hook it up for me, but I got it. He's another guy who's wife works for Cat, but he kept his job as an online IT guy for a company back in the U.S. A good friend to have. So, look for new up to date posts after reading these from the last few days. Also, be sure to check the website for some new pics once I get them downloaded.

FYI: From here on out, Dana's posts will be made in red.

July 27, 2008
Dana’s first blog entry!
Well, I decided to give it a shot at writing a blog. I am sure it will not be as detailed or witty as Matt’s messages, but I will give it my best.
As I sit here and write this it is Sunday night around 10:30pm. It seems strange to have been here for over a week now, but on the other hand it is starting to feel comfortable….the house any way. I still have a long way to go with the language part. Thank goodness for Matt. He is absolutely amazing. He is picking it up quickly and today was successful on getting us some terrific meat from the butcher store and cheese from the cheese store. I did okay myself today too, but all I had to do was buy the other groceries we needed at the store. So I just had to look at pictures and could ignore the French words and when it was time to pay, I simply just pulled out our new debit card and paid without knowing the amount the checkout lady told me. Scary, huh!! But it turned out just fine b/c we had a simple, but delicious meal of roasted chicken and sautéed zucchini and tomatoes. We then topped it off with some delicious dark chocolate and vanilla ice cream. Man oh man, have I missed Matt’s cooking.
As you may have read in Matt’s previous post, we put in a big day yesterday with our first hike at Chamrousse, so we decided to take it easy today and after our trip into town we stayed around home all afternoon. Our main objective was to gather up some of the rental furniture / items and stick them by the backdoor in anticipation of our sea container arriving tomorrow morning at 8:00am. We are hesitant to get too excited though as we think there might be a slight delay since the rental furniture is still here and sometimes changes are not communicated well (if at all!). But nevertheless, we should get our own stuff this week, which will just be an unbelievable feeling.
The best part about today though was calling home. Matt called home and talked with his parents and I just got off of the phone with mine. It was good to hear how everyone is doing and just to hear familiar voices. The kids enjoy talking to them as well. Lane had to be sure and put in his request today for mom’s cheese quesadillas and some banana bread and Audrey had to check up on Drew-Drew. The call was definitely needed for me today too as I kind of had a meltdown this afternoon after looking at pictures mom put together in an album for us. It is great how technology, such as cell phones (and hopefully soon our vonage phone and computer once we get internet) will help keep us close to home while we are physically so far away. I also have to give a big thanks to Aimee also as she helped my mood today with some peanut butter on toast…actually not just some peanut butter, but a lot of peanut butter. I should probably use it sparingly, but oh well!
So these are my thoughts for the day. I will be sure to turn the writing privileges back over to Matt as he is more interesting, but I will drop a line or two from time to time.
To all of you reading this…know we are thinking about you, missing you and keeping you al l in our prayers!

July 28, 2008
We woke up this morning not knowing if the largest portion of all our worldly possessions would show up today or tomorrow. The movers wanted to bring it all today (Monday) but phoned on Friday to let us know that it was not in their contract to move out all of the rental furniture, which we know is not moving out until Tuesday. (Got all that?). Anyway, whilst the man from Allied Movers and Dana were discussing this dilemma, Dana lost cell service (happens a lot here in the mountains). We wanted to call back to make certain the arrangements, but Dana didn’t catch his name or phone number. He may have given it, but at our stage of acquisition of the French language, names and number do not necessarily standout from the rest of the syllables coming at you like a foreign version of the old micro machines commercials guy. So, we waited for him to call back and confirm, and we waited, and we waited. Finally on Sunday afternoon it was obvious that he was not going to call and we would just have to wait and see what happened.
Back to this morning. I got up and drove into the village for some bread for the day and a few croissants for breakfast. (Yes, we have already started buying bread daily, and yes it is soooo worth it) On the way back I noticed a very large truck parked at the bottom of the hill. So I decided to hop out and see if it was “our” truck. I’m not saying I expected this truck driver to speak English, but I’ve dealt with several truckers and I've sure never met one spoke French either. He didn't. Another truck driver first for me were the humorous presence of his Capri pants. Sure he had a lot in common with American truck drivers: cigarette in one hand, clipboard on the other, surly attitude about the size and slope of the road he needed to take. Somehow I don’t think these would have been enough for him to avoid being ridiculed if he were to walk into the local "Flying J”. I’d like to tell you we had a meaningful conversation about the plan of attack, but only gained two pieces of information from our 5 minute “conversation”: 1) It was “our” truck with our stuff. 2) He didn’t like me.
Turns out he was only the driver and that the movers were on their way with a smaller “shuttle” truck. Apparently not an uncommon practice in a country whose roads are older than our Constitution. Luckily, the movers were extremely nice and very good (although one did arrive wearing what could only be described as a purse. A man’s purse for sure, but a purse nonetheless. ) Fast forward several hours of work followed by one nice dinner in town and here I sit typing away on my good old couch. The place is still a mess and we’ve got some work left to do, but at least it feels a little more like home.
Speaking of work, I also push mowed the lawn today. Ok, I started it two days ago and had to give up and finish today. The reason I gave up was foot wear. I needed to wait on a pair of shoes that would make it possible for me to mow. You’re thinking I meant to say “make it safer for me to mow”, right? Probably waiting on a pair of steel toed boots. Nope. Golf shoes. Why did I wear my golf shoes to mow, because I don’t own a pair of those mountain boots with the huge metal teeth? Otherwise, I’d have worn them. Look, I’m in decent shape. Not where I want to be, but I can work with the best of ‘em when I want to. Well, my lawn kicked my butt. This lawn exists on no less than 4 different tiers with long stretches of very sloped path connecting some of these tiers. I’m not kidding, it was borderline dangerous. I was in constant threat of either slipping into the back of the mower, having it roll back on me, flipping it sideways, or having a cardiac arrest from the workout. Not to mention the danger it presented to the neighbors living directly below me. I’m not sure when I’ll mow again, but I’m guessing as long as I can still see Lane’s red hair above the dandelions, that’ll be good enough.

July 29, 2008 Morning
I need to vent. Saw a commercial this morning for a show. “Bob L’eponge” . I’ll give you one guess what this translates to. I don’t yet know how you would say “square pants” in French, but it can’t be that hard. My question is why they didn’t even try. Honestly, would this cartoon character, one of my personal favorites, have been half as successful if the fine folks at Nickelodeon had not included his surname in the title? Just saying Spongebob isn’t nearly as funny as saying Spongebob Squarepants. Plus it’s more educational that way. Kids can use it to learn shapes and articles of clothing (ok, a bit of a stretch).
I sure hope this is not a sign of the type of humor I can expect from the French. I am a bit worried though, I’d always heard how they love Jerry Lewis. Plus I’ve seen some pretty goofy stuff on TV so far. Most of the stuff intended to be funny looks like it has it’s wardrobe and props supplied by the local grade school. On the other hand, I gather that they like old reruns of “Friends”. The other day my tutor surmised that my name was popular in the U.S. because two of the three stars of “Friends” were named the same. How can you argue with that?

NOTICE: Topic Change

Doors. For some reason the French are obsessed with them. Our home is roughly 1800 square feet. Go ahead and guess how many doors we have. Exterior and interior together.




Ready.




Get this.



There are 19 doors in our home. 6 exterior and 13 interior. Even crazier is that almost all of those lock and unlock with a key, inside and outside. To lock up at night I have to walk around the house with my key ring. Wake up in the middle of the night to a burning house? Better know where your keys are. OK a slight exaggeration, there are a few egress doors that don’t require a key and they are on the bedroom end of the home. So, it’s not that serious. That is unless you come to visit and stay in the guest room. If you visit and stay be sure to ask for a key, as I could lock you in that side of the house if I so choose. You’re only escape being out a window to the deck.
Other oddities in our home: No soap dish in the showers, no towel racks by the sinks, no toilet paper holders on the wall, no clothes dryer, and then there is the toilet being in its own little room (a french thing). Of course, none of these are serious, but they do take some adjusting. In the middle of the night it’s rough to have to stop and think about which door to open when nature calls. However......maybe I'm going about it all wrong. After all, there is an exterior door in the master bed room.