the morning after

Yesterday: Lance continued with his conference. Kristin went bargain hunting then had Angelina's Hot Chocolate with friends. We both then went out for Chinese food for dinner, Kristin drank a little wine and we discussed 5 year plans. Kristin now has a headache the next morning and admits to nothing.

Paris Day 3 - Whoa boy I'm tired!

Obee kaybee. This one is going to be short and sweet because I am about to fall asleep on this lovely hotel desk.

Woke up, had breakfast, went to Sacre Cleur with some other FAO wives, walked around Momarte, bought two meters of awesome Japanese fabric at a fabric store, rode the metro to God only knows where, ate soup/samon/chocolate moose at a sorta German decor restraunt for lunch, went to Printemps w/same FAO wives, got separated from same FAO wives, got lost in Printemps, found some good deals, found the exit, found the hotel, found Lance, walked to Champs de Elyees, had a Royal with Cheese for dinner at McDonalds, walked back to the hotel, started typing this entry.

I'm tired. Bonne Nuit!

Don't read this if you are in PETA!

Hey All,
Day two in Paris and we have settled into a routine. Lance goes to lectures all day and Kristin runs around Paris and eats cheese. Army, I forgive you for Anniston, Alabama!

Actually I sat in on the morning welcome briefs and lunch. All I will say is this is quite an impressive group of people he is joining. Nope, I'll say a little more. There wives are freakin awesome! Almost every spouse I've met has that little gleam in their eye which seems to say, "Sure I'm game for anything! Let's go!" And then they actually say it and then we hit the road.

Jayne and I went to see our friend Valerie at her apartment - amazingly, some FAOs are unfortunate enough to get Europe and live in Paris rather then Africa and live w/e there is malaria. We knew her from Monterey and Ft. Gorden so it was great to touch base again. It was also great to see the Paris-themed baby quilt I made for her son, Charles, up on the wall.The four of us (me pushing Charles)went to a few of Val's favorite grocery stores and marveled at all the fancy (and smancy, they have it all here) brands. Quick au revoirs at 5:00 and Jayne and I were metroing it back to the hotel.

By 6:00, all of us were in taxis and at 6:30 having a social at the Ambassador's residence. A word about the Ambassador's residence: "Wow." It reminded me so much of Versailles with huge mirrored walls and gold leaf decorated wall reliefs. It was quite impressive. We didn't get to explore the house very much as we were all doing the "And where are you from?" thing in what appeared to be a main reception hall.

Later, the smart ones among us went back to the hotel and went to bed. The rest of us (and don't cha know I dragged Lance along to this) went out to dinner at a nice little restaurant close to the Louvre. Not on the more affordable Latin quarter side though. We all had a laugh wondering at $35 champagne cocktails and making fun of each other's orders and generally having a great time. Lance had French Onion Soup and, as I knew what that tasted like and wanted something more adventurous, I had foie gras. Yeah, I know! But when am I ever going to be in Paris again and have this opportunity? It felt so wrong but tasted so good. Here's a picture: Honest to goodness, my thought just before eating my first bite was that I have eaten Spam and Veal so my food karma rating is pretty low to begin with. Might as well try something new! Glad I did but, like the unfortunate things we ate on a whim in Korea, I don't think I need to order it again.

So then we WALKED BACK TO THE HOTEL which I toughly encouraged and totally regretted because I was wearing lovely formal shoes. It was a riot though, the group us of tumbling down the empty-ish streets of Paris, telling war/shopping stories from the last 6 months. Again, a fun group of people.

And then we arrive at the hotel safely. And then we went to sleep quickly. That was day two.

We are back in PARIS!

Paris, France that is. Lance is here for a conference and I am here because its Paris. Does one really need any other reason? After a 10 hour red-eye flight out of Johannesburg we landed at 0600 this morning. Neither of us slept too great but as we gained an hour in the time zone change it won't be too much of a big deal.

I just noticed Lance has fallen asleep with his laptop on his lap. He snores a little. It's cute.

Our room didn't become available until 2pm so we spent the morning walking around the Notre Dame / Latin Quarter area. The dollar is 1.5 to the euro today so everything is soooo expensive! A good city to find bargans. I don't know if Lance has posted this from our last trip but the Latin Quarter is one of our favorite neighborhoods because you can get good food at reasonable rates. Mom, we had french onion soup and the first bite was in your honor. : )

So of course we went to Notre Dame. It remains one of my favorite places on Earth. Reading "Pillars of the Earth" by Kenneth Follett this summer only made seeing the cathedral more impressive. Love that church. We lit a candle or two - I said we should extinguish a few since the prayers we made last year (getting pregnant) haven't been answered to my satisfaction. Lance said something about eternal hell fire and damnation being a likely result so I changed my mind.

We are staying at the Radisson hotel right next to the Opera House. This is great because they have a ceiling by Chagall which we didn't see last time and now we have another opportunity. Tonight there is a meet and great with the other attendees then some nutty people will be staying up to watch the Superbowl. Yours truly plans to be asleep at that time but Lance is thinking about it. I think he's nuts but he loves his football and if there was a quilting exquivalent on I would stay up all night if need be.

So other non-Paris news real quick:
We will be traveling A LOT in the next 6ish months. Nothing is in stone yet and much will be worked out this week.
We still have the kitten but have more than likely found a wonderful home for her. They are kitten-sitting for us this week. Of course, we have completely fallen in love with her and trained her to our ways of petness. I.E. she sleeps between us on the bed, comes for food when I ring a bell, does this neat stretching thing that really has to be seen to believed. It will be a tough break but the couple who will probably adopt her would be a good fit.
I've been doing some quilt teaching (!!!!) which was all kinds of wonderful and challenging. Next class with be a Cathedral Window block if anyone is a quilter out there. It is one of my favorites but whoa boy! Very doable though so I am optimistic.

Okay. Gotta go take a shower and maybe a nap if there is time. Signing out from Paris.

Paris, France that is!

Back from the Kalahari

This is basically just to let our parents know we have returned from our New Year's camping trip in the Kalahari and did not get eaten by lions. Heck, we only came close once. : ) Happy New Year everyone!

Some posts from our paris trip last year are up.

For Paris posts follow the below link or click view my complete profile along the right hand side of the blog page. Then click "ready!set!go! Paris".

http://00readysetgoparis00.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2008-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2009-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=3

Two days posted,eight more days to come.

Yeah, yeah. But what about the FABRIC?

So today I got to do my big time, fill the suitcase, no plan, no worries, modest budget fabric shopping. And oh my goodness. The fabric here is amazing. And so so so so so cheap! And it's COTTON! Excuse me while I go do the happy dance and scare some locals.

You see, in beautiful Botswana, Shweeshwee is the only game in town if you want something that is 100% cotton. Everything else is poly mix and is more suited for suits or window treatments than quilts. So you can imagine my thrill at seeing things like this.Prices vary depending on if you buy it from some guy on the street (always a guy, usually with friends who sing backup on "oh no rich tourist, your offer is too low" or a shop in the heart of a tourist area... or in a place a little more geared towards the locals. On average it worked out to be 2 or 3 dollars a meter. Not bad.

All over Mozambique, women wear them as wrap skirts or "capulanas" over their slacks or skirts. They also work well as babies slings across the back or to hold whatever else needs to be carried. They also work well as towels at the beach and ground covers everywhere else.
Capulanas can be bought but more customarily given as gifts to commemorate a special event or relationship. When a woman gets married she takes with her a bunch of capulanas that tell her story. I was told that the fabric patterns are regional and different patterns are appropriate for formal or day to day wear. Thighs are covered as they are offensive and it is believed that only prostitutes show their knees. (So glad I did not do the touristy thing and wear shorts!) Married women wear headscarves and bundle an additional capulana to make carrying things on the head more stable.

Men use to wear capulanas as well but have switched to western style clothing. According to one article I read, they may still wear capulanas in post-battle cleansing rituals which are taken off and burned on the spot or allowed to drift down river releasing them of whatever impurity of past actions they want to be rid of. (Note: Google is awesome.)

Blurry photos of beautiful fabrics and the stores that sell them.Fabric is printed with the usual flora and fauna but also can have photos of politicians or social issues. Note the AIDS fabric hung in the upper right corner.


So I bought some. Actually I bought some, cut the pieces in half then sold the non-kept half to a Gaborone quilt store.
Much of this fabric will probably be turned into grocery bags like this one I made for a friend for Christmas. And yes, that is lined, top stitched and has a flat bottom thank you very much. Okay, admittedly that pear concerns me greatly. The stuff of nightmares. Who knows?!? Maybe that is what some artist in India's idea of a pear leaf looks like. (Rumor has it that is where the capulanas fabric is printed.) Regardless, easy and useful Christmas gift made from cheep materials that doesn't look like crap... fantastic!