Suivez mes amis les MONGE et même partagez ce dont Dieu vous a donné. Sorry for all you who only understand English- but that sure shouldn't stop you from giving! This is an excellent cause for the Name of Jesus.

I am truly becoming française. I can not décider which langue de parler. Je talk english même avec un french accent. And en plus, I sleep with socks on my hands slathered in crème pour les protèger at night because le froid here is making them too dry. Anyone a une solution?

Go Mel! vote here

Feeling bored? Try out a few lindy clips. to get your heart pumpin'. Anybody in Paris wanna teach me how?

Take a stroll through my cross collection from Père Lachaise today.

Meet Basque. A worthy read for the curious.

Père Lachaise
Took a stroll through a cemetery today. I guess it blew my mind: so many people have lived and died, and all that is left if stone. Sepulchers with broken stained glass windows remember the years past, and rusted metal doors tell of the beauty that once was. Certain trees have lifted ancient stones and tipped crooked the crosses. Flowers are either fresh cut, wilting, or dead- only the plastic ones have somewhat survived.

I shuffled around wondering what people really believe about their lives and what they anticipate from the end. For as much Catholic tradition that is painted across this landscape, one might find it surprising that just outside the gate, death feeds an industry; I can pick my stone, choose my carving artist and pay for the flowers.

They tell me somewhere snuggled in among the history lies several famous people like Jim Morrison... I only saw Oscar Wilde's monument kissed in a myriad of lip shades.

Congratulations to my friends Dan and Kara in Portland who will marry on March 13th.. Sorry I won't be there. We can't all be everywhere at once, and besides, someone needs to go to Barcelona and film my brother skating. (Kurt- you wanna come?) It will be my mini vacation of the year. Remember last year- took 2 1/2 days to visit Nice! You can see the photos via the link on the side there.... ------->

Its been one year since I've been 'en France.' Yesterday I tacked up a string of Christmas lights on my wall. Everyone loves Christmas lights even if it's not Christmas. They are so useful. I had a brilliant idea of shaping them like a star but my star looks more like an amoeba than a star, and my roommate thinks it slightly resembles the street layout surrounding the Arche de Triomphe. My desk is cluttered with cords and books and papers, and my wardrobe won't close cuz of my favorite sweatshirts that hang on the doors. It was a busy day finishing one invitation for the Chelles Church, and planning for the technical side of Saturday's big youth event. One video down, one loop to build and a powerpoint show of publicity to create. Sorry if my email bounced back today; my bad- I have to start remembering to dump my online stack on a daily basis.

Zer gertatu da?

Now if only I knew how to pronounce it. Of course this question structure triggers a neutral sentence order response. Oh, I finally know what to call the cross hanging around my neck- thanks to some energetic french basques I met in Paris this weekend: it a Lau-Buru.

J'ai changé.

I said, "A change could do you good"!

I think a hair cut might be in order.

Where in the world have I been?



create your own visited country map
or write about it on the open travel guide

So maybe I haven't seen that many countries- I can't wait to see the others.