Bad Bad, Good Good

I'm really not dwelling on this, but I can't believe a punk child harassing me on an isolated street of Jerusalem with 40 other tourists, on a 30 yard stretch, managed to get my wallet out of my zipped bag hanging at my waist.  #$*! little pickpocket.  He managed to do it in less than 30 seconds.  He also managed to get around the other two bags I was carrying.  And I now want to kick every child trying hock anything at me.  Preferably where it would hurt most.  But I'm not thinking about it.  Maybe he hasn't had anything to eat in the last week?  Maybe he'll give my cute little brooch to his mother and she'll think it's the most beautiful thing in the world.  Maybe.

On the up and very providential side, my main card was not in the wallet and probably the biggest inconvenience is the loss of my drivers license.  And Indy and I have gotten to see some amazing sites.  In the past few days, I've seen a 100,000 year old skeleton, Schindler's grave, Bethlehem, Gethsemane, the Garden Tomb, and eaten at a dang good gelato shop in West Jerusalem.  And, we've had access to washing machines, dryers, and good water pressure.  No more whining for me.

Thank you, YouTube

Not that I necessarily agree that this is how it should have ended, but it did almost make me wet my pants:

Paris: Volume III, Versailles

Other than Sundays, we received one day off during our month of intense musical immersion in Paris: Bastille Day, July 14th.  It was the only day we had to make a trip out of the city, so we headed for Versailles and Chartres.  Gorgeous day, beautiful grounds:

But the best part was Marie Antoinette's village, the Hameau de la reine.  The queen and her attendants would "escape" out there and dress like shepherdesses to pretend they were simple country folk.  Seriously, if I had had a private country village like this prior to the French Revolution, I would have thought all peasants were extraordinarily happy too:

Seriously, who wouldn't be happy living there?  Especially if you weren't really doing any work except milking really nice, hand-picked cows with porcelain buckets painted to look like wood? 

We ended our day with a trip to see the cathedral at Chartres - well worth the visit although I recall being slightly beyond exhausted when we finally reached "home" again.

And don't let me forget the most important part, my allotted pastry of the day:

Au revoir.

What the Old English?!?

You can read wikipedia in Anglo-Saxon?!?

I'd like to know:

A) Who put the time required into translating tens of thousands of wikipedia articles into Anglo Saxon?  (As far as dead languages go, Latin is a little more understandable, but only a little.)

B) What the few scholars who do happen to read Anglo Saxon are doing using wikipedia as a reference instead of their own 1000 year old resources.  Is it just good practice?

New Goal

Walter, we have some work to do when I get back:



Why is it that the weirdest/best youtube videos are always from Japan?

We Interrupt this Program to Bring You an Important Update...

In a fit of over-generosity, I agreed to teach my mother's class of 10-11-year-olds at church today whilst she is off playing grandma.  Actually I believe she has banished the term Grandma in favor of Noni.  At any rate, not only did I agree to do this but I attempted to make it fun.  It must have been inspiration because almost as soon as I started trying to come up with something, I immediately realized that the facts and important points of the story about Ruth and Naomi could best be taught in the form of Jeopardy.  Therefore, I went to church armed with what I deemed a plethora of "answers" regarding the aforementioned story.

I need to pause this story for a moment to mention that I have only stayed for more than the first meeting of our church services a handful of times this summer, due to the fact that I generally hoped to be able to Skype or in some other manner communicate with Indy whilst he is out seeking treasures in Egypt.  I also would like to mention that I have not heard from said husband in approximately 4 days because he was on the adventure of his life out camping with the Bedouins the past few days.  (For some reason they just can't get good cell coverage or internet out there...)

So we were well on our way to a fairly successful game of team Jeopardy (boys against girls, naturally) and you will now understand my surprise and the irony that in the throws of our game, my phone began to buzz and I recognized the international cell number Indy has.  It's a really good thing I had managed to talk Megara into coming to class with me and being my official timer.  That meant I could say, "Here, take the game!" and run out into the hallway instead of, "Kids, don't kill each other or burn anything down, I'll be back!"  Which definitely would have happened.

After running out into the hallway and finally hearing Indy's voice for the first time in a week, I asked how he liked his trip.  After using every adjective from incredible to amazing, he gave me a brief summation of his activities, including, but not limited to:

• Sand dune surfing (I don't yet understand how this works)
• Playing in an oasis
• And bug-hunting until 3 a.m.

Yes, bug-hunting.  I'm still waiting to hear more on what that entails myself.  And what are considered to be the more desirable qualities of bug quarry.  Juiciness?  Crunchiness?  Color?  I'll let you know when I find out.

Paris: Volume II, Montfort-l'Amaury

Our first weekend in Paris, our pack of musicians climbed aboard a bus and headed outside of Paris to the charming village of Montfort-l'Amaury. There we climbed the hill to a charming castle and view and I have pictures to prove it.

We most definitely climbed on the ruins:

And it was definitely worth the climb:

Then we spent a good chunk of time listening to Nicole's reasons that the castle was not from the time period that our program director told us it was.  (Nicole then later confirmed that her own reasoning was, in fact, correct.)  But we also gallivanted around the outer castle wall and took cheesy pictures:

Then we wandered around the town and Nicole and I found this fantastic automobile that might have come home with us if it would have fit in our luggage or if it weren't for the grand theft auto thing...

She would have made a great model on the Price Is Right, wouldn't she?  Do you want the fabulous red motorcar or would you like to see what is behind door #2?

Then we went to Ravel's house where we got our own private tours.  Ravel was extremely short, as you can tell from the bed:

He had a ton of children's toys, dress prints from the 19th century, a cool piano, and loverly gardens:

And suddenly I wanted a little house in the French countryside.

But this was before we visited Versailles and Marie Antoinette's village... stay tuned!