American like Normandy

Hey everybody!

2007-09-08T03:24:00.000-07:00

Haha. I have been underground since March or so. SO. I worked at an Italian restaurant for all of a month, their turnover wasn't what they wanted/needed it to be, so I got the axe. I now work for the same language school that I was working for a while ago.

Confirmation has been a slow process -- because of Virginie's job we don't have our nights free. So we have to track down Soeur Claudie for meetings every two weeks.

So I guess I have the wrong haircut to be identified as a believer around here. I should have opted for keeping the part in my hair. Some real hardcore people opt for a tuft of hair in the front of a shaven head. Dang. And I don't wear the right clothes. Or have the right shoes. I think the rest of us are sick of haircuts and Barber waxed cotton jackets (nothing against the jackets, of course). I think it's time for a revolution.

Christian hardcore

2007-03-25T02:03:00.000-07:00

So you may remember me as that guy with the whack music, where standing outside my dorm room freshman year you debated whether the hardcore blairing from my Sony boombox (gosh I miss that thing...it rocked!) was me or my roomie from Tanzania (a dear fellow, whom I shall not name for lack of permission).

This was the époque in my life where I was just easing myself into the cold swimming pool that was "praise and worship" music...not so much out of religious duty, or my tastes, but rather out of social conformity. I remember my senior year, Sam led an "alternative worship" in the chapel...where we sang Taizé songs harhar.

But hey, maybe all these guys that other people accuse of "consumerizing the Church" are just God marketing himself...

Here is some more alternative worship -- Ancient Faith Radio! Orthodox guys are cooler when they sing in Greek. I remember for BXVI's Inauguration Mass the Orthodox guys sang the Word in Greek and that was the coolest thing ever.

I harken back to December, where at Rupt we were going to sing the Apostle's Creed in Latin, and dumbly thinking it was going to sound like my ultra-cool Gregorian polyphonies, I was wrong. It sounded like a cross between bunch of old people singing (which it was) and a flock of geese (interpretation mine).

Challenge -- before you listen to another measure of music, sit in silence for about 10 minutes and meditate on something like "Changes ton regard, et crois à la Bonne Nouvelle." "Change your way of seeing things, and believe in the Good News." This goes especially for all you Christians...

Wrench in the Cogs

2007-03-24T04:00:00.000-07:00

Stuff in Colmar is going well, even in spite of the 34° F weather with the "rainy mix":) We have imported quantities of "sunshine" from the Côtes du Rhône, as well as Dordougne.

Here is an article to throw a wrench in your cogs...or maybe it doesn't do that for you at all. But for me it's a very real principle. Why am I not a French citizen yet? Because of this. The Preamble of the 1946 Constitution, although well-intentioned, distorts and dillutes real liberty with its near-communist principles. France is nice, but I'm over here to tell you -- there ain't quite anything like American Liberty.

Attached is a picture in memory of better weather around here...St. Martin's Church in Colmar; a shining example of high Gothic architecture. If you look at the northeast corner, you can see that it is just oozing with the Sacred Feminine, further evidence of the literal truth of Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. *

*for those of you that might not know me that well, or that believe that I've been caught up in some sort of European nihilism, the above remark regarding the Da Vinci Code is sarcastic in nature

Craziness

2007-03-04T05:11:00.000-08:00

Things have been crazy these past few months : we've moved 2ce since October! We are Aunt and Uncle! Congrats James and Claire! Welcome to the world, Julia! (she gets baptized on Easter!) We live in a city called Colmar now. Pretty old, steeped in history, with mazes of cute streets. Some friends came over last weekend and said I gave "the perfect tour" : well, Colmar speaks for itself. Come on over and visit! We have a guest room and a 3rd set of keys!

"Changes ton regard, et crois à la Bonne Nouvelle" he said as he put the ashes on my forehead. "Change your way of seeing things, and believe the Good News."

It's in the simple; it comes from the meek; Strength is made perfect in weakness; the Answer is in the Good News.

We are going to a Gallican church now -- 5 minutes on foot; rather nice. Le Collégiale de St. Martin, or, Marty's. Yes, I like having my piety look like the Alsatian pasta I tried to make last night -- messy. With a copy of "Let's Pray in Church" (Prions en Eglise), the latest Ben XVI bit, and a book written by some Southern Baptist guy, this little redneck is takin' Europe by storm. No longer content to dodge bullets in an unorthodox no man's land of orthodoxy, we are swimming the Tiber.

Soooo, the found Jesus's tomb, and Mary and their son...ummm, I tend to take ZZ Top's version, and believe the he's done left Chicago, and gone down to New Orleans. You might not see him in person but he'll see you just the same. You don't have to worry 'cause takin' care of business is his name.

Breathing

2006-10-08T12:42:00.000-07:00

I recently got a request for bottled Haute Soane Air, so I guess I'll take more orders and send a bulk shipment soon.

Speaking of breathing, here's a piece of advice for all you "foodies" out there : make sure you open your bottle of Bordeaux (2002-present) 30 minutes to 8 hours (1980-2002) beforehand. It's one way to not be bothered with the blasted décanteur.

I tried mountain biking again this weekend. Once something I took for granted back in Va with Zo, I believe I have almost forgotten the pleasure of biking. I wasn't reminded of this pleasure this weekend, as I had a couple of helpings of country-style chicken served in chesnut gravy with pan-fried potatoes for lunch, washed down with the customary 2.5 glasses of Cotes de Somethingorother. Nothing came back up, but it definitely weighed me down.

PS, they're thinking about cutting Iraq into 3 : a piece for the Kurds, one for the Shiites, and another for the Sunnis. Not a bad idea, especially since Sykes and Picot are dead. Why didn't we think of this before???? We're just cleaning up the diplomatic mess that a bunch of idiots after WWI thought that they were cleaning up...or are we?

George Soros : the Antichrist

2006-10-07T06:02:00.000-07:00

Ok so maybe that will make a nice google.com hit. I being in the humdrumness of work, Virginie is along and well with her BTS (the degree she's working on). We will have the foxes over at the apartment for the next week, then Chris Haynes comes over next weekend. Got some fresh air this morning by going into the garden and clearing away the brush from around the strawberry plants. Nothing like a lot of dirt and fresh air! Yup, we're in Rupt again, and drinking in all that pure Haute-Soane air.

LONG LIVE JETER HALL!!!!

2006-09-16T01:08:00.000-07:00

Quick, plug in a firing solution for tubes one and two! Colette's birthday is the 20th, it's National Patrimony Weekend, so all the castles and museums are open for free. But it's usually best to see them some other weekend, when it's less crowded. We went to Anglican church a few weekends ago and liked it a lot! We think we'll stay there. Harhar if you're Roman, you can follow the liturgy from A to Z. We are spoiled with a super organ, a super organist, and a really cool spartan Roman church.

If you've heard about Ben XVI's lecture about faith and reason at Regensburg that has caused so much controversy, you can read the thing for yourself. If you see the pictures of the illiterati protesting in those mahometan parts of God's green earth, Bennie's comments become justified. Il Babba's words are not "those of Hitler and Mussolini," nor do I think he "misunderstood Islam" when he reflected upon the transcendance of the Muslim God. The fiasco is best summarized on the drudgereport.com page in the headline "Benedict XVI fails to master media machine."

The presidential race is well, not heating up. I have the joy of working with a lawyer who studied political science, and says that Ségolène Royale will never be president. Good news, because Ségolène is a 1.)woman, 2.) a socialist and 3.)a representative of this post-1968 France, who has a "Civil Pact of Solidarity" with her "partner," (a man) another big wig in the Socialist Party.

Nicolas Sarkozy, the "only hope" for French politics, is good, but disappointing. But the edge that he has over Chirac, de Villepin, and Royale is that he has good experience with the Interior Department, which is more taking care of crooks and rebels in the interior than it is National Park Service.

Big stuff going on in America : I read this article on cnn.com and was shocked that students should be deprived of hardy living, forced to drink martinis and imported beer instead of well, Jack Daniels and Bud Light. Well no, seriously, a moving company for coming into the dorm? Where is the satisfaction of having hauled your refrigerator into your dorm room? Heck, I didn't even have a tv in college (ok, by choice), but plasma screens?!?!? I think it's about time that we should get our priorities back on line.

Sure, I live with a pre-September 20, 2004 vision of America, where there were still some glimmers of spartan hope, where I was proud to drive a 15-year-old Jeep with a tape player and no AC. Do any of those kids know how to camp? Canoe? Load, shoot and clean a gun? Kill or grow your own food? Tie all the right knots? Open a book? How can you expect God to bless America when it's populated by over- (or under-)educated yuppies?

John Out.

9/11 -- Five years later

2006-09-11T00:04:00.000-07:00

Kyrie eleison; Christi eleison; Kyrie eleison.

Lord have mercy; Christ have mercy; Lord have mercy.

Interesting sunday !!

2006-08-27T11:07:00.000-07:00

News from the front !

To be Christian in France it's very hard! Is not easy to find a good community. Again this morning we went to the Lutheran church....It was very weird. The people are so old. The average age is around 70 years. There were just two kids (pastor's kids). We spoke with a lady who worked for Christian non-profit and she just said young people don't go to the church, even if they have the both parents who are christian they don't go. It's so sad.
The problem is from France maybe?? You know this famous right that we call Laicité/ Secular state à la française. Do you know this wonderful concept ? If you are lucky when you are walking in the street or when you are taking a coffee from the ATM for hot drinks you can have wonderful discussions with people who believe that they found their salvation in the Déclaration des droits de l'homme/The declaration of the human rights. One day I spoke with one of my bosses about the Bible. She just replied that we don't know who wrote it. So how can we believe in a book without an author???? Just after she said you know with the Declaration of human rights we know who wrote it. So we can believe in it!! And trust it ........All this heritage......There are lot of churches in France without Christians. I have the hope that one day France will get up from this nightmare. But when I see people like my parents who are involved in a Church in a little city just in the middle of nowhere.....when I listened my mother who says we are the church of tomorrow.....

As you can imagine to be an international couple is not easy every-day! But to be an interconfessional couple is just INTERESTING. To deal with the backgrounds of the other one. When we decided to make our life together. The first question wasn't where do we want to live ? But it was which church ??? ............................The best answer was the anglican church. Which balances our two backgrounds. Which is very important for our future family....
The answer isn't to be from this blue churh or from this red church. But to be Christian in this world and to have respect for all the Christian congregations. If we make this effort maybe the church will get up. As you know I am from the Catholic Church and I love it and I go to a protestant church. We'll raise our kids with respect for both. Because we have family who are from different churches.

Virginie out!!

The Frog of War

2006-08-25T07:09:00.000-07:00

Ok, read that how you like. I'm sure you've heard all that stuff about how this cease-fire is just a pause so Hezb0llah can lick its wounds, and I agree pretty much with all that. France has fortunately decided to kick in 2k soldats for the Unifil force...for as paltry as that seems I think we can be thankful it's not fewer. 20 years ago under the socialists, we couldn't even throw that many around.

On to more important things. My buddy Sam is starting school at Duke Divinity, and I think that's outright cool! Work will be picking back up for me in September, which is cool too. Virginie will be piling on her courseload starting October.

Tomorrow, we are going somewhere near Saverne for a hike. It's a nice little area stoked with history and scenery.

Last weekend we went to Paris...the sis-in-law had the idea so Virginie and I drove down to Rupt on Friday afternoon, then we all piled in with Ray and Colette and headed over to Paris. While the wimmins on Saturday spent 10 hours in the "Big Stores" (Grands Magasins), me and Ray bought cool army surplus at a famous fleamarket (les puces de St. Ouen) and then spent the late afternoon on a 5km stomp through Paris.

Tonight, though, a LOTR marathon -- we're going to watch the first two. Fun stuff.

John out.

A propos des livres !

2006-08-10T07:24:00.000-07:00

Pour répondre à Sam voilà moi ce que je dirais :

Un livre qui a changé ma vie : Pourquoi donc être Chrétien de Thimotty Radcliffe / Le retour de fils prodigue de Nouwen.

Un livre que j'ai lu plus d'une fois : Ma vie avec les chimpanzés de Jane Goudall

Un livre pour une ile deserte : The inner voice de Nouwen

Un live qui m'a fait rigoller : Astérix et Obélix c'est plutot une BD!

Un livre que j'aurais aimé écrire : Des souris et des hommes de Steinbeck

Un livre qui m'a fait pleurer : Léon Morin prêtre de Béatrix Beck

Un livre que j'ai lu recement : Léon Morin prêtre de Béatrix Beck

Bonne lecture !

Hot air

2006-08-09T12:09:00.000-07:00

Dear all,

Stuff is good. Here is a photo of us trying to sell orange juice and drying laundry to our neighbors. Work is going well for both of us; Virginie has decided to no longer take care of kids and move over to working with handicapped and old folks. We will go to Frank's County this week, where Ray and Colette live.

I am so arch-conservative, that I don't have writer's block, I have pre-eminent writer's block. I think of super things to write when I'm in the car, then, even before I get to the computer, I forget. Arch-conservative...like Bismarck with his pre-eminent war...and pre-eminent social security.

Bismarck gets a bad name in American history classes for being that guy who started all those wars, among them the Franco-Prussian War(1870), the precursor to WWI. What he also did was start social security for Germany, which included, at the time, Alsace-Lorraine.

Fast-forward to 2006. When France talks about its social security woes, they don't mention Alsace, because it makes everyone else look bad. Alsace is the only region in France (maybe the only one in the world) whose social security is in the black and making money! There is generally less fraud and people lie less about being sick to avoid going to work, as opposed to the rest of France where it's rather commonplace.

Caveat -- Social security puts huge restraints on 1.)businesses and 2.)paychecks, two market-type things that make America great. So no, I'm not advocating what America should do, I'm just saying how cool Alsace is compared with the rest of Europe.

Speaking of the rest of Europe, what's up with these Lebanese soldiers that might be sent to the Lebanon-Israeli border?!?!? If the UN had done its job, maybe Hezbollah wouldn't be dancing around in the vacuum that is Southern Lebanon. If Chirac wants his immediate ceasefire, all he has to do is send the troops that he doesn't have to go and not disarm Hezbollah. Unifil...hmmm, sounds like a gas station, and when I say "gas," I mean "hot air." UN peace is bought at the price of chains and slavery. The Israelis know what the price of peace is and are willing to pay it. May the best man win.

John out

A blessed weekend !

2006-08-06T08:09:00.000-07:00

Our weekend is just wonderful :
Part I :
Yesterday, we went to Mont Sainte Odile it was wonderful. We began to walk at 3.00pm!! John was the leader and was very good. He began very well. Me at the beginning I said that it would be cool If we could stop to smoke. Euh wait a minute we don't smoke.
Not very warm when we arrived on the top the Anyway It was very beautiful. The weather was perfect. temperature wasn't very high around 15°C!We recharged our batteries. Just to smell good air, to see beautiful colours...Good way to make a meditation.....
Part II :
James (John's brother) called us yesterday. And it was very good to have news from the Walpoles in Texas. In few months they will be three and this is just amazing.
Part III :
This morning, we get up at 9.05 am ! We took very quick showers and ran to the Catholic Church which began at 9.30 am. We didn't eat breakfast!
We felt very down.Lots of old people. But the sermon was very good. So we ran back to the flat to have a cup of coffee and piece of cake. And we decided to go to a Protestant Church down the street. We enjoyed our time there. People came to meet us. The priest was very good and his sermon was perfect. We think that we found our new church. We thank God :)
Part IV :
This afternoon, we received The Watkins Clan ! It was super nice to see them. They are like family to us. We love them....
Part V :
Tonight we receive our neighbours for a BBQ !!! Hope that the weather will be at the party!

Have a blessed weekend as we do :)

Virginie and John

Sainte Odile

2006-08-04T03:16:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we are hiking up Mount Sainte Odile. Saints are real important around here as you know. I'm not all about praying to/at/for them, but there is something important about them and their stories...

Odile was born into a noble family in the 7th century. She was born blind. Angry that Odile was both a girl and blind, her father was furious.
Before he could kill her, she was sent to a convent in Burgundy. At the age of 12, her blindness miraculously dissappeared at her baptism (?!). Her brother soon came back to bring her home to Alsace. They got home, and Odile's dad was so angry to see her that he killed her brother. Odile ummm, revived him (?!) and left home again, to go into hiding in Germany. Her father pursued her, but was deterred by divine avalanches and such (!?).

Her father, some years later fell ill. Odile came back home, finally, to nurse him in his final days (!!!!!!?????!!!!!?????). His heart being healed by her witness of Love, he founded a convent (and died), of which Odile became abbess (the big woman in charge) until her death. Well, quasi-death, because the nuns prayed so hard that she came back to life. (?!?!?) But she said "You don't know what you're missing," took communion, and then died again.

Bogus-seeming miracles aside, we can learn from Sainte Odile's story. In the face of a world that tells us that people are expendable, we can take a stand and say otherwise. God's grace redeems us (in French, racheter, "buy back"), and equips us to return into the depths to love those that hate and misunderstand us. If you're not all about divine avalanches and reviving people from death, DO be all about going into the depths armed with God's love. DO pray for God's strengthening love daily. And no, don't do it because you could become in charge of a convent. Do it because that's what God asks us to do.

Ratatouille !!

2006-08-02T09:40:00.000-07:00

Today I went to the supermarket. I was very surprise how Alsacian as German people love organic food. You can find everything. It's quite expensive... 4 tomatoes cost around 3 euros!!! I wanted to buy coffee. I found organic coffee and I found Max Havelaar coffee.With this label a part of your money goes the little producer. I like the idea...I bought it:)

In the flat you can smell Ratatouille. Tomatoes,zucchinies, green and yellow peppers, eggplants, olive oil and the french touch just a glass of white wine. Cook for 2.30 hours. Serve ratatouille and chicken it's succulent.

Friends, family , who are living in US if you need some french receipes very easy. Just tell me I need to write in English.

A Bientôt,
VA

Hot?

2006-08-02T05:03:00.000-07:00

Ok, don't know where all that heat went! It is now about 68 F here, certainly a huge summer surprise in one of the hottest regions in France.

Last night we ate at the Fischer Brewery restaurant. Simple stuff, Alsatian "pizza" called flamenkuch, or, "flame-cooked." Onions, sour cream, canadian bacon, and cheese on a very thin crust. If there is "thin and crispy" crust, this would be "thin and flimsy." I will try to have the recipe perfected for our visit next summer -- it's worth the trouble!

Secret revelation from a participant today -- "my dream is to work in America and to have a little house by the beach in California." Hmmm...reminds me of the guy in Red October "I would like to live in Montana, and have a Recreational Vehicle." For as much as people might criticize the US ...'Murka's got a good thing goin'!

Work soon. And yes, on the whole it's more than 35 hours a week.

John out.

The final move!

2006-07-31T07:02:00.000-07:00

Nous sommes revenus de Rupt sur Saône la maison de mes parents. Nous avons fini le déménagement de la maison de St Arnoult.
Hier nous sommes allés à la fête de Rupt. C'était super sympa!

We came back from Rupt last night! We are so happy. Because the moving of my parents' home is OVER! We went to eat with my parents and all the village. We ate pork near the castle. The weather was very good:)

After a year

2006-07-28T00:29:00.000-07:00

Between a first year of marriage, working in Paris, and a major move (from Paris to Strasbourg), I have now overcome blogophobia. I even want to call this thing something like "Old Europe". I'd love to stick up more commentary about stuff going on right now, but who has time? Ok so there are a lot of stupid things I could write about, pretending to be intelligent; I'll talk about what I know.

It's hot here. Our studio gets to about 32 degrees Celsius, and never goes below 29. On Tuesday, we drove to the Falls of Nideck, took a nice hike in the cool 27 degree weather, and were amazed as the mercury fell to a chilling 25 degrees (celsius)!

Virginie is excited about starting her studies à nouveau. She is going to study towards the equivalent of a bachelors in social work. She is feeling very motivated; it will be great to see her engage her studies!

We're going to the in-law's again this weekend. This makes the 7th weekend out of 8, but it's ok. Between farmer friends bending over backwards to make sure you can make it to dinner and the big move from Saint Arnoult, the calendar fills up pretty quickly.

Old furniture weighs a ton. They didn't have particle board back then, and I guess that they thought that pine was for wimps. I almost had a heart attack trying to lift one old piece with Raymond the other weekend. Being the good ex-Scout that I am, I remembered "lift with your legs, and not with your back." So I managed to lift my half, and we moved it to the living room. Consequently, my rear hurt more than anything after moving that booger.

It's an old cabinet from an ancien regime post office. Ancien regime = 18th century!!!!!! Amazing how many of those post offices are still left over -- most of them are restaurants. I go to one of those restaurants once a week to teach a wine steward. Virginia Pilot headline : "Local boy embroiled in internationally renowned French wine steward competition."

I need to take the dog out. We're watching the younger fox terrier for Raymond and Colette while they're zooming to and fro moving the last few things from St. Arnoult.

John Out.