I saw London, I saw France, I saw...

Well, I didn't see anyone's underpants, but I did see London & France last week! (Hopefully you know the old nursery rhyme or that comment seems quite inappropriate.)

The intent of my adventure to Europe was to visit Jonathan & Kari, fellow journeymen in Senegal, where they now live in Lyon, France. However, the cheapest itinerary also involved a long layover in London. My friend Amy lives outside London and took the train in to be my personal tour guide for the half-day. Here are some highlights of London:


Amy and I in front of Big Ben


Covent Garden, a quaint spot to shop, eat, and be merry


View of the London Eye from where we exited the "tube" (subway)...apparently, the London Eye is this ferris wheel-type thing where people actually get married. It's also the highest view in England.


Picadilly Circus, that intersection you always see in movies


Subway, my favorite fast food restaurant, is worldwide and I didn't know it! I really could live in London...


Westminster Abbey

And Lyon highlights:


Place Bellecour, in the center of Lyon


The temp hovered around 33-35 degrees most of the week, and we walked everywhere!


For the second year in a row, I was with Kari to make Christmas cookies


The Saone and Rhone rivers meet in Lyon...here is the Cote de Rhone (I think)


I am all about the food when I travel to new places. I had at least one French pastry every day I was there. I also had a crepe avec jambon et fromage (ham & cheese crepe) while there.


The wine shope we visited, Dit'Vin, was incredible. Nicolas, the owner, discussed the different types with us and even offered us Christmas wine!


When we weren't walking, we took the metro or buses. It was quite a complicated system!


Murals on the sides of buildings...Kari said this was "very Lyon"


Amazingly, my favorite street in Lyon is called "Rue de Boeuf"...that's Beef Street


When we stopped at the old Roman theater (although Lenny Kravitz had a concert there earlier this year), Kari and I couldn't resist "performing"

All in all, a fabulous trip!

Friends Holidays

At Thanksgiving, somehow I found myself in charge of the main entree, le jambon. The ham actually turned out great, especially considering I ventured out and altered the ham glaze recipe...if you're that curious, it's canned crushed pineapple, honey and brown sugar. Yum!


I also contributed to the festivities with wassail, that tasty holiday tea...recipe courtesy of Patty McIntire in Senegal (thanks, Patty!)




Chrissy, me, and Christine enjoy Turkey (or Ham) Day

Today, Amy invited us over for our Christmas celebration before things get crazy for the holidays. It was nice to have our main cook back in the kitchen! Ames made tortilla soup for the occasion.


And Josh was a good sport once again at putting up with all the women invading his house! He even tried on the top I gave Amy for Christmas...

Weather report

Well, God is preparing me for European temperatures next week...South Texas received an "Arctic cold front" last night so that the temp dove to 34 degrees with a 22 degree wind chill. That, mes amies, is more than 30 degrees below normal. Wow.

Next week at this time, I will be en route to Lyon, France to visit Jonathan and Kari! It will be almost a year to the day of my last time with them at their wedding in Marietta, Georgia. I am too excited!


Kari and I at her bachelorette party a year ago

Incredibly, the cheapest ticket to France involves a 9 hour layover in London, and my friend Amy, who lives in England, has graciously agreed to come in town and be my tour guide for a few hours. I am indeed blessed!

Of course between now and next Thursday, there are a million things to do and of course, a big Walmart run for all of J&K's special American requests! :)

Personality Type

I just took a variation on the Myers-Briggs personality test, and it was the same result as when I came back from Africa. I am an ISTJ...that's introverted, sensing, thinking, judging type.

Supposedly, that means I am "superdependable" and characterized by decisiveness with a distaste for and distrust of fanciness in speech, dress, and living. Their words are simple and down-to-earth, home environments are usually neat, orderly, and traditional, rather than up-to-date and luxurious. Price and durability are just as important as comfort or appearance.

I.E. BORING! Good grief...and fairly accurate which makes it even worse.

More to come on my Thanksgiving...I haven't had a chance to upload the pictures yet...

Retirement...

No, not my retirement...my current supervisor, Linn, and his wife, Betty, are retiring at the end of December. Tony Celelli is going to be our new President and my new boss, effective s-o-o-n. And so yesterday, we had a par-tay...out with the old, in with the new! Well, we weren't quite that brash about it, but we did have a fun time celebrating the last 10 years of Linn's work and celebrating Tony's future with us. So, without further, adieu, one last photo of the staff as they were...


L-R: Jay, me, Anson, Betty, Linn, Deanne, Tony

Please take note of the new 'do. First time I've had bangs since high school...wowsers.

top 10...dedicated to the Astros

10. Roy Oswalt did an incredible job!
9. Biggio and Bagwell aren't done yet!
8. Doing it in St. Louis was actually great b/c we got to shut up the whole stadium like they did in Houston.
7. It wasn't some sorry 1-run game...they nailed it!
6. They don't look like high schoolers trying to be cool with beards since they actually won...it actually IS cool.
5. The end of the order was better than the top and middle. Kudos to Ausmus, Everett and pitching spot.
4. The drama of that guy getting a single with 2 outs in the 9th...AGAIN.
3. The Astros, all 40-ish of them, were much louder than thousands of St. Louis-ans. YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
2. 45 years (and 2 days) in the making...It truly was a team effort with good offense and defense--no errors and lots of hits!
1. My 84 year old granny is the happiest person on Earth after watching the Astros faithfully for 18 years!

I ni che!

I remembered that I promised a picture of me with my friend from Mali, Lori Price, who I was reunited with last month in Temple, Texas (or rather Academy, TX, population: Lori.)



PS: The subject means hello in Bambara, the main trade language in Mali.

the cooks and the cook-nots

Well thank God that He puts people in my life at all times who I like to call the cooks and the cook-nots. The cooks are there so I don't starve, and the cook-nots are there so I don't feel bad about not being a cook. (Yes, it's all about me.)

In Cote d'Ivoire, the cook was Robin and the cook-not was me. In Senegal, the cook was Kari and the cook-nots were Kate and myself (left to our own devices, Kate and I ate peanut butter on baguette and blew up our friends with the gas oven!).

Nowadays, Amy is our ever-cheerful cook and Christine, Chrissy and I are the cook-nots. (Let me add an aside here: Although I'm not a cook, I am a great dishwasher and that's where I make myself a worthy roommate and friend.) So Amy invited us over to have brunch on Saturday. Yum!


Josh waves out the smoke from cooking a little too "well."


Christine, me, and Amy doing "brunch"


Chrissy and I are tired from "helping."


And finally, breakfast a la Amy was served!

Skills only found in China...or West Africa

La Fete de Noel en France

That means "Christmas in France" and as of yesterday, that's the plan!! God has worked out an amazing opportunity for me to visit Kari & Jonathan in Lyon, France Dec 15-22...can you tell I'm excited??

So if you'd like to contribute to the "Peggy needs warm clothes so she doesn't freeze her tookus off" Fund, just let me know!

AND bonus: I have a long layover in LONDON...how awesome is God to me?? If any of J&K's friends are reading, I'm happy to take les cadeaux to them, but mind the limited baggage space s'il vous plait.

post-Rita

No pictures this time, but figured some might be wondering how everything shook out with Hurricane Rita...or the lack thereof!

I was headed to Dallas last weekend for my class anyway, but when Rita decided to head our way, I left on Wednesday afternoon instead of Friday morning. I picked up my dear 84 year old grandmother and her blessed 3 felines (who I'm allergic to, as most know) and we headed north. When I left, Rita was a strengthening 4 headed for Corpus with a predicted turn north that would take her mid-way between CC and Houston by her landfall.

My friend, Kate, informed me later Wednesday night that Rita was now a 5, but had made that northern turn...so north in fact, that by Thursday, she was no longer a threat to Corpus at all, as everyone came to find out. So all is well for Corpus Christians who had a good scare thanks to Katrina, but never even got rain. :)

Very productive trip as I was able to stay with a friend from West Africa, Lori (pictures forthcoming), friend from home, Ashley, get 75% of the work done for my class in 2 days, and visit the main campus of Howard Payne University (I work at the Corpus extension). All in all, a good but tiring 5 days!

texas state aquarium

On Labor Day, a few of us went to the Texas State Aquarium, located right here in Corpus Christi, for a few hours. Our friend, Rachel, has been working there this summer, mostly with the dolphins but she gets to do other cool stuff too. Here are some of the sights from the Aquarium...

the sea otters, my favorite


How cute is this little guy?


Kaitlyn and the baby alligator


downtown Corpus Christi and the piers (I lived just behind these tall buildings last year)




the dolphin show

Last night, this BEAST was outside my front door. As Christine left my apartment, we saw "IT" and Christine attempted to stomp at "IT" to scare "IT" away. Instead, it faced my front door head-on as a threat to come inside! So, being the complete wimp that I am, I went out the back door and around to Sallie's apartment. I have learned that Sallie is good about getting rid of the "IT"s that we find out here (she killed off a worm-like snake in May by beating it beyond any recognition as a living thing with a shovel). Sallie came over and took care of "IT" with a gentle touch...


Sallie and "IT" (yes, it's a small frog)

praying for Katrina victims

The only two people I know personally who lived in New Orleans were girls in West Africa with me. Julie and Tiffany both evacuated before the hurricane, but were told they would only be gone for 3-4 days so they took nothing with them. Now, with unsure futures, I am filled with compassion for them and the millions whose lives have been turned upside down by Katrina.

As I try to wrap my mind around the images, videos, and written records I've seen on TV and the Internet this week, I wonder how to pray, and what to ask God for. At this moment, I feel I can only worship and adore, because asking seems like too big a task. I wonder how Romans 8:28 will come to pass, but believe that it will.

In September 2002, I moved to a tiny village in central Ivory Coast. Two weeks later, our supervisors planned a team retreat in Mali for 5 days. Robin and I packed for our short trip, planning to return and continue life in Babadougou within a week. The people of our village were already very dear friends to us. We didn't know we would never be back. The day before our scheduled return to Ivory Coast, a civil war caused by government rebels tore the country in half. The city with the most violence and warfare was less than an hour from our little village.

3 years later, I have found that life does go on...even though for awhile it seems to stand still. The orchestration of the events since September 2002 have been obviously touched by God's loving hand, and all I can do is worship...though terror had reigned for a short time, the victory is His. I have seen Romans 8:28 brought to fruition by the events in my personal life, and believe it will come to fruition in time for those who have been victimized by Katrina.

Elihu said to Job in chapter 33, verse 14, 29-30: "God always answers, one way or another, even when people don't recognize his presence. This is the way God works. Over and over again. He pulls our souls back from certain destruction so we'll see the light--and live in the light!"

Getting out of Corpus...

So remember when I posted from the condo and asked why summer has to end? Well, unfortunately, it did end, but fortunately, good things awaited anyway!

I went to Dallas this past weekend for my weekend class I do once a month. It was really great to see the diversity in our class--I was a minority! Of course, I'm often a minority in Corpus to Hispanics, but this time the majority was was African-American women. It was fun to spend time with them and already learn from their perspectives.

After class on Saturday, I went to Fort Worth to spend some time with Jenn, another former journeyman in Senegal. Her birthday was on the 21st, so I wanted to celebrate with her. We ate at our favorite little French restaurant, La Madeleine, and walked around downtown Fort Worth--one of the best downtowns still put to great use!


Jenn and me kissing the bull in downtown Fort Worth

Then, on the way back home, I passed through Austin and got to go to the baby shower of my friend, Tara...Tara and her hostesses, Misty and Liz, were really good friends of mine back in high school. It's always fun to be around these girls again! Here are some shower pics...


Mom-to-be, Tara


Liz and another friend's baby

I've discovered that I'm actually transitioning out of the "All of my friends are getting married" phase and into the "All of my friends are having babies" phase!

Inside the Zoo...

This is from my friend Gloria, who lives in a village in Senegal, West Africa:

Inside the zoo

I was going visiting in my village the other day, and some kids called
me and pointed over behind the house where I was going. I found out
that they were pointing out some tubaabs (white people) to me. I
laughed to myself to see a strange group of tourists a little ways off
ambling through our village, following their African guide. They nodded
and listened intently as he was (apparently) explaining how these
natives live and farm. One energetic young man (shirtless and in
shorts) ran ahead of the group to snap photos of our other neighbor's
lush corn garden. I guess he thought it was hot here. I was chilly. I
was embarassed when my "mother" called out to them and yelled for them
to take photos of her little baby. Of course all they knew was that she
was yelling and holding her baby up to them and that a dressed up tubaab
was standing with her. They waved to us. It was amusing to hear my
peoples' little comments about the tubaabs. "They have so much time and
money on their hands." "They want to know everything."
"They are so clever." I felt like I was hearing the inside comments that
animals at the zoo make about the strange people that come to stare at
them.

dressers, showers, and condos

Since I've only NOT been in school for 3 of the last 50 weeks (that's 2 weeks shy of a year, mathemeticians), I have been absolutely clueless about what to do with all this wonderful time on my hands. Soooo....the danger of free time is, I found a new hobby--painting!! Not artwork, not walls, but furniture!


behold, the dresser

With summer comes...family reunions! So all the ladies related to Lacey (in case you've forgotten, refer to my July 31st entry) finally came together for a baby shower. A really cute idea I hadn't thought of...everyone was to bring a favorite children's story as a gift.



I thought I was being a genius (and dang cute, too) when I thought to give Lauren & Lacey Pat the Bunny , one of my all-time favorites...turns out I thought along the same lines as 2 others and they now have a copy of Pat the Bunny for each room of the house!


Sallie made it back in town and we celebrated at Jason's Deli...yum!Yes, Sallie (L) and Katy (R) are posed!

However, Chrissy, our little traveler, left Corpus after only about 36 hours since her return from the Phillippines, and went to a wedding over the weekend in Oklahoma...we missed her so much that we tried to make "Espina bread", this amazing bread Chrissy's Lola (grandmother) made all the time when she lived here. It's ahh-mazing!


Jennifer, Christine & Amy working out their sadness over Chrissy's absence

Twice a year, Amy's family gets this condo out on the Island (yes, Padre Island--all you "beach lovin' but don't live on the coast" people can eat your heart out!) and she graciously invites us to hang out over the weekend. Great food and lots of sun (which my white self deserately needs) made for a good time, plus my brilliant med-school friend Ashley happened to be down for the weekend!


Why does summer ever have to end? (sigh)

Back to the top 10...

So, if I were to try to make up for lost time on the Top 10 you'd be scrolling for the next millenium...instead I'll just give a current top 10. :)

1. Sallie & Chrissy are back in CC! (from Huntsville, TX and the Phillippines)
2. Wisdom & discernment (too many decisions coming up)
3. Honesty (again, I reference Philip Yancey as my new favorite author)
4. Pictures (how would I remember what Jonathan & Kari look like w/o them?)
5. Love (I've been surrounded by too many wonderful people lately)
6. Creativity (lately in the form of my new hobby of painting)
7. Jump ropes (to get exercise without dying of heat exhaustion)
8. Medical care (although it's expensive, it's manageable and available which I'm grateful for)
9. Food (go to cnn.com and the africa page if you want to read about some food crises around the world)
10. A/C (it's 108 heat index with like a bazillion % humidity in South Tejas today)

Sunday gang

Every Sunday morning, I meet with a group of women at My Favorite Muffin, this great little cafe in Corpus. Right now, we're going through Richard Foster's Celebration of Discipline, which is excellent for those of you who haven't read it.

This is just a few of us (L to R--me, Katy (our fearless facilitator), Christine, and Tracy) who get together and share life...thanks to these lovely ladies for providing me with a safe place to live and grow.

We'll be welcoming home this week Chrissy E from the Phillippines and Sallie from Huntsville, TX to rejoin us, and Chrissy L also makes it most of the time. Can't wait to have us all together again!