One Year

Wow - it's in many ways so hard to believe we have been here a year! I feel like the first six months crawled - getting settled, figuring out the lay of the land, learning to communicate with the natives, and of course trying to keep from going stir-crazy in the cold. And the second six? A flash. With Thanksgiving looming tomorrow, we have so much to be thankful for. Fascinating travels, wonderful visits from family and friends, generally good health and, of course, la vie Francaise.

It's been another busy month, beginning with a meaningful and fun visit to Israel! It was my first time, but Jeff lived in Tel Aviv for a semester in college and was eager to get back and see it. We stayed in Jerusalem for three days - right near the Old City - and then in Tel Aviv for two days.

The Old City in Jerusalem is so amazing - people of nearly every faith walking centuries-old streets and passageways. Greek Orthodox, Catholics, Orthodox Jews, Muslims, Armenians, and of course tourists both faithful and adventurous. We saw a cool model of the Old City and the Second Temple up at the Israel Museum, wandered the markets of the Old City, went to the powerful Western Wall. We went to several cool neighborhoods, including the German Colony, where we had wonderful meals, Ben-Yehuda, where we contributed to the economy in many wonderful shops. Josie and I went into the Old City and visited St. Anne's, a church where pilgrims from every faith come to sing in its amazing acoustics.

In Tel Aviv we ate lots of falafel, played on the beach, saw some friends from Paris, and investigated the winding market stalls in Old Jaffa. Jeff found Tel Aviv to be built up and improved since his travels there - the beaches were lovely, with a strip of impressive hotels, and Old Jaffa restored to house numerous artisans and traders. It was just really a great trip - lots of photos in the new gallery.

What else is new? Josie continues to enjoy her music and art preschool. She can not only count to 20 in English and French, she knows the days of the week in both languages and her colors in English, a few in French. Her teachers report that she loves drawing, singing and dancing. We're very happy with the school.

Tomorrow's Thanksgiving will be very different from last year - we had no friends yet, and spent it together eating a chicken and some side dishes. This year we have two families coming, along with my friends Katherine and Sujata who are visiting from Washington and New York. We've divvied up the dishes, and we're all really looking forward to it. Thanks to Slingbox the kids will even be able to watch the parade!

Hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. A bientot!