Back in France

Happy New Year everyone!

I hope y'all had a very happy and over-indulgent holiday season. I can honestly say that I ate more chocolate, turkey, and pumpkin pie this holiday season than I have in years. I think being in France has really made me miss American food something awful. Its ironic, isn't it? American food is more diverse than French food. You can throw a little hot sauce on your turkey, and some home-made tortillas when in America. Hot sauce would kill the French. And they think the idea of pumpkin pie must have come down to the New World from Mars. Well, thanks Mom for making such a wonderful meal. And thanks Cammie for the pie. And Ben for the cranberry salsa, and Trevor for the tortillas. And Dad and Paula for the Hanukkah dinner. That is definitely something I won't find in France. I haven't met a single Jew here yet.

I spent New Year's with the rest of my favorite people up in the frozen North, which we call Quebec. A little -30 degree week will remind anyone to appreciate the French winters which hover around freezing at the coldest. For the greatly anticipated New Year's Eve, a bunch of us drove up from Montreal to St. Sauveur, where my friends Lily and Sylvan have a country cottage. Doug and Emily and I shared our own little cottage off the main cottage - one of four. We spent most of our time in the main house cooking and eating and sitting by the fire and playing games. For the countdown, we all headed outside. Lily, Sylvan, and other brave folk built a semi-igloo that stood at least six feet tall. They even built in benches along the inside walls of the igloo. At midnight, we lit a huge bonfire and celebrated New Year's in minus 30 degrees. My beer actually froze in my hand. Who on earth would attempt to drink a beer in such conditions? Trust me, it was a challenge. But I had to keep up with the hard-core Canadians, so I took the challenge. I'll post some pictures of the event in the next couple of days.

Now I'm back in Pertuis. Down a cell phone, but otherwise doing very well. It has been snowing here all day and the whole city and the rest of the region have shut down. The streets remain clogged with snow because there is no system for snow removal here. They haven't seen snow like this in decades. Its quite something.

That's all for now. Oh, I have a new baby brother. His name is Max and he was born on December 26th. That kid is never going to forgive his parents for that one.