Final stretch

We're basically finished working. Next week we'll just be saying our so-longs. But we ain't home yet. Starting next Saturday, we're going on one last two-week travel extravaganza. Some friends are meeting us along the way. First, we're hitting up Seville with Rob and his new shorty (alright, Caitlin and I are on the third season of The Wire and I've picked up some good vocabulary). Then it's off to Lisbon where we meet up with a couple of the other assistants. I'm going to the Offf festival (www.offf.ws) and Caitlin's hittin' the playa (that might not be correct in Portugese). After that, back to Paris for a week with Mandy, Gabe, Crystal, and Sam.

I think we are already ready to come home, so after a couple more weeks of this crazy life, we'll certainly be anxious to throw in the towel, hang up our guns, and settle down a bit...but now we have to go find real jobs, and since our crappy health care system doesn't cover everybody, we've gotta deal with that too. C'est la vie.

I almost forgot, it will be my birthday while we are in Spain, so we're having ourselves a good old-fashioned Mexican Cinco de Mayo in Spain. Same language at least. Surely we can find ourselves some tequila somewhere.

Here's an illustration I did and I'm working on animating it.

Stop Motion Lovers' Quarrel

First of all, congratulations to Mikey and Danielle. It's like baby-world right now. We cannot wait to meet your offspring. Feel free to post some pictures.

Kade made this using pictures from the photobooth feature on our computer. Enjoy.


Lovers' Quarrel from Kade Schemahorn on Vimeo.

Public Domain Video: Homos About

I found a bunch of communist plot style public domain footage that was pretty explicitly anti-homosexual. It was fun to edit it all together to create a Gay Panic PSA.
HOMOS ABOUT from Kade Schemahorn on Vimeo.

Babies and Breeding

We here at Les fous, would like to extend our heartiest congratulations to Greg and Suzy who will be the proud parents of a baby come September 22, along with our sincerest hope that they will not be arrested in the process of their home delivery. Also we would like to point out that their baby looks like this:






It no longer has a tail and it is starting to look like a cute little human. Awwww.

Not a lot else going on in fair Denain. We have 3 more weeks of teaching until holiday, and then one week after. We have just bought tickets to spend a few days in Seville with Rob and Stephanie before going to Lisbon with some other assistant friends before meeting up with Crystal, Sam, Mandy, and Gabe in Paris before coming home! We also recently learned that another good friend, Chris, will be spending a month in Europe starting in just a couple of weeks and we're hoping to meet up with him in the South of France while we're there with my mom. We have been really lucky that so many people have been able to come. It really helps curb the homesickness.

Let's see, what else is up.

Just as Spain's windy season ends, ours has begun.
I (Caitlin) have applied for a job in Portland, hope to hear more tomorrow.
There is an epidemic of chickenpox circulating among the faculty's children.
Kade and I have built a blanket fort in our living room, and I'm typing from there now.
Now that the writer's strike is over, we are enjoying the Daily Show once again via the internet.
Kade's family will be visiting the first week in April.
We're counting the days until we can see you all again.

So stay classy, whether you're in Missouri, Portland, Spain
, or Japan.

The Good Natured One's Birthday

Richard's birthday vid
Uploaded by CitizenKade

Punk rock and language wars

Alright, I hereby implore all you music fans and/or linguistics nuts out there to comment on the following video. Well, not so much on the video, but more on the fact that the bands in the video (two of which are comprised, in part, by my students) sing in English. Why is it that English has become the standard for pop music even among those who can't understand it?

At the Rock Show - Haspres
Uploaded by CitizenKade

It's official...

...we will be returning to the States. We bought plane tickets for the flight home on May 17th.

On a more interesting note: after having gone through the 3/4 liter bottle of top-notch olive oil from our visit to the Italian coast, our stores were in desperate need of replenishment. Luckily, and for no apparent reason, we have a small Italian grocer in our little town here in the North of France, so we went to check out their selection. There were about three to choose from, one I recognized from the States, a bucolic scene printed on the label, quaint and earthy Italians trying to get me to believe they had freshly pressed the bottle's extra-virgin contents. We picked up another bottle (less forcefully marketed and thus more authentic seeming) when the shopkeeper asked us if there was anything he could help us with. I said, "No, we're just looking for some olive oil," hoping he would then comment on the quality of our selection. He one-upped me and told us that if we brought an empty bottle, he had some artisanal stuff made in the South of Italy by his cousin. We gladly put the bastardized oil back on the shelf and returned toute de suite. It was only seven euros to fill our 3/4 liter bottle and it tastes great. I know you're all jealous now. Don't you wish you had a local Italian grocer with sweet hook-ups?

This Saturday we begin yet another (not the last) two-week vacation during our sojourn abroad. We will be off to southern Spain for a week to visit Suzy and Greg where, hopefully, it will be significantly warmer and drier than dreary Denain.

Carrot pants

I was chopping carrots when I found one that looked like some pants (see fig. 1).

Figure 1:



So, I put 'em on Venus (see fig. 2).

Figure 2:


They're more like capri pants, really. This is the kind of stuff I've got time to do here in France.

Le Jardin de Luxembourg

Le Jardin de Luxembourg - Paris
Video sent by CitizenKade

Just a small portrait of the Luxembourg garden in Paris, one of the most classically French looking places I've seen. I took this footage back in the fall.

Another vacation over and more to come

We had an amazing winter vacation. Caitlin's parents, brother, and soon-to-be sister-in-law all faced an onslaught of jet lag and spent a week with us looking at the Eiffel Tower out the windows of the rented penthouse we stayed in. I almost feel guilty...almost.

It was the fourth time I had actually been to the city, but the first time I really got to know it. You always hear about the magic of Paris, but I don't think you can really experience it until you stop standing in lines for tickets to the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower. Don't get me wrong, you've got to do all that too. But Paris is certainly more than the Mona Lisa.

Emma (Truman friend for those not in the know) was in Europe too, for almost a month. She stayed with us for a few days and traveled around to various European destinations, mostly destinations where friends and free beds awaited. If you happen to know Emma, I'll let her tell you about her traveling fun, but I can't leave out Amsterdam in this post.

We stayed three days in Amsterdam, marveling at the almost universal fluency of the Dutch population (at least within the city) in the English language. Amsterdam is probably one of the most livable cities I have ever had the pleasure of visiting. Absolutely beautiful for one thing. The canals and beautiful architecture you could stare at all day. Second of all, the whole city is reclaimed property, reclaimed from the ocean, so it's totally flat. Everybody and their mum's got an upright commuter-style bicycle to get around on. Not a fence, pole, or railing in the city that hasn't got a mess of bikes chained to it.
Oh, and the pancakes! Apparently, the Dutch love their pankakken. Sweet, savory, you name it, they'll serve it to you on a flapjack.
We also saw a concert at the local Concertgebouw (the concert hall off the museumplein [the lawn/park surrounded by some of the city's greatest attractions]).

Suzy and Greg also accompanied us on that trip (some more Truman friends) but they are already in Europe working as language assistants in Spain so it wasn't as much of a haul for them. They came back and stayed at our apartment for a week here in Denain, left today for Brussels, and now Caitlin and I are back to it being the two of us again for a while.

Hope everyone had a great holiday season and we miss everybody back home. Until next time.

Our Sapin de Nöel

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree...

Christmas time and Valenciennes Art

Hello everybody!

So, we went to London Saturday before last. We got up at 4:30 and got back at 3:00, both AM. We spent a total of six hours in London, but it was worth it. We got to eat a proper English breakfast on the ferry across the channel and Thai food at a restaurant around the corner from the British museum. Dinner was on the ferry too, but the storm at sea and us circling in wait did not settle well with me (Kade). I spent forty-five minutes breathing heavily and avoiding vomiting. Still worth it. The British Museum has one of the most impressive collections I think I have ever seen. Massive. And Caitlin got to see her childhood curiosity, the bog man, AKA Lindow Man. But six hours simply isn't enough and we'll have to return one day.

This last Saturday, we went to a Christmas dinner party at the home of one of Caitlin's colleagues. My French is definitely coming along, because I at least knew the subjects of conversations pretty consistently and was actually able to comment every so often. We filled up on snack food, nuts and little cheese hors d'oeuvres, and then had to stuff ourselves with the traditional but quite good meal they had prepared. An entrée (appetizer) came out, and we had suspected the worst after having badmouthed the French in the past for eating such things as foie gras, so we were relatively prepared to act enthused. Our strength wavered only slightly when it was revealed that this particular goose liver dish was layered with lingue de boeuf, cow tongue. Mmmm...just like mom used to do. You spread it on spice bread, and it was really rather good. Anything that fatty usually is. From then out, it was just potatoes gratiné and some stewed beef in red wine. A traditional buche de Nöel for dessert. Their two kids at the table were bored out of their minds.

Finally, I just finished a new video project, this one a little more creative than the previous posts. The video is a little washed out because of the YouTube processing, but c'est la vie.

Iraqi bloggers

I was flipping through the BBC news website and stumbled across a roundup of Iraqi bloggers, from within the country and also refugees. Whatever your opinions of the war and subsequent occupation, this shows the chaos and hopelessness that so many people currently feel. It is obviously too complicated to comment on here, so here are the links:

Newer roundup: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/7069943.stm
Last roundup: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/6940384.stm

There are links to each person's respective blogs as well as an excerpt. And this is only a sampling from those writing in English, the educated elite of Iraq: dentists, university students, kids from rich families. Imagine the desperate cries of those in even less fortunate situations.

Lighter aside: Caitlin and I are off to visit our first Christmas market of the season in Valenciennes today.

Christmas lights/Muslim Turkeys/French cysts

It's officially Christmas time here in Denain, both on the streets and here in our flat. After a successful expat Thanksgiving, complete with American, German, and English assistants, imported canned pumpkin, and a turkey so freshly butchered (according to Halaal tradition of course) that it still had feathers; the Sapp/Schemahorn Christmas tree is erected in the living room, bringing life to our cave-like apartment.

I have to admit that this has been a quite difficult week. I really missed my family over the holiday, our assistants dinner was fun- but I want to spend Thanksgiving with the people I love most; thus I have not been in the best of moods (especially where French kids are concerned), so the illumination of our city streets has been a godsend. We purchased a 9euro tree at our local discount store, "Incroyable," and outfitted it with assorted glittering ornaments. Everything is covered with spangles here for Christmas, including the matching sparkly gold knife, fork, and spoon that apparently no French tree is without. They are everywhere in every color.

Local Frenchies have not let us down in the least. There are chaser lights in all colors, "Joyeux Fêtes!" luminaries, and the traditional Santa Clauses perched atop roofs and hanging from windows. Whereas American Christmas lights tend toward a few traditional colors: red, green, clear; the French mix it up with a splash of orange, or a little fuschia for zest. Our evening jaunt to the bakery is now a stroll through a regular winter wonderland. The freezing temperatures help.

As a side note: Kade is growing a cyst currently the size of a marble, but we're hoping it will grow to robin's egg size before Christmas. After watching youtube's offerings on home cyst removal, we've decided to wait for socialized health care to kick in. How big can it get in a month?

Small Town French Carnival

This morning, I literally watched as the circus came into town. It was a caravan of trailers, trucks, and campers, one vehicle carrying a gigantic rolled up tarp and some armature riddled with light bulbs, the all-important "big top" I presume. They effectively shut down midday traffic by coming into our small town. Anyway, here's a little video of our trip to a local town carnival a couple of weeks ago.

Union.... UNION!!

We're in strike-mode here in France at the moment. Kade and I had to attend an assistants meeting in Lille yesterday, which is normally about an hours train ride away. No big deal, 4 euros each way, they usually leave once per hour. Since Wednesday however, we have had a transit strike (a "grève") in France, meaning for every 10 scheduled trains only one actually departs; and it's not even a train- they bring in buses to leave from the train station- so what's normally a short and comfortable ride on a charming French train becomes an extended period stuck on an overcrowded bus while they play imported Ludacris songs on the radio and everyone gets carsick from the traffic. Ok, not everyone. Just me.

Legally transit strikes are not allowed to completely shut down the country, at least 1 in 10 regional trains have to run, and 90 out of 770 high-speed trains have to run; but in Paris I think the subways are down, the inter-Paris train is down, and traffic is too bad as a result to go anywhere by car. While Parisians seem to be up-river sans paddle, we are OK here in our little town. We go everywhere by tramway normally, so aside from yesterday's jaunt to Lille, we are unaffected (although some students can't make it to class- I'm beside myself with distress over it). The scroll at the tramway stop warns that they might start striking Monday, but it is the French way not to worry about it until it happens.

The transit workers are in a huff because the President wants to change their retirement age from 50 to 60. To us this seems obvious, why would they get to retire at 50? But the last time a president threatened to do this in 1995, the entire country was stuck for 3 weeks without any public transportation, Frenchies love their retirement, although from what I can tell, they would prefer to go ahead and retire at 30 and spend their days smoking in pubs- but the smoking ban takes effect in January-can we expect more strikes? One can only hope.

As for me, I'm waiting for the teacher's strike.

Italian Holiday: The Final Installment

Italian Holiday: Part III

So, it was a complete success...the vacation that is. Here are some sample pics. The video will be up soon.

Italian Holiday: Part II

We are in Italy...right now. Woohoo!


Happy Halloween, everybody.

Italian Holiday

We hate to brag, but after three grueling weeks in the teaching profession, we are officially on holiday for the next fortnight. I know, try not to be jealous.
Tomorrow we are off to Paris, and Monday we will fly to Milano. We are going to spend five days in the Cinque Terre, hiking, lounging, beach-combing, and above all....gorging on delicious fresh pasta and pesto (which is a regional specialty- you learn something new every day).
Like Suzy and Greg however, we are still awaiting our paychecks from our respective, benevolent European countries. It will be an exercise in self-restraint. But how much Italian shopping could we do when we are only each taking a backpack. We will be sponging out our clothing in tiny hotel sinks for the next week.
One spot we plan to visit is Lucca, an ancient Italian city which is still surrounded by huge ramparts. I (Caitlin) have my heart pretty much set on renting a tandem bike and riding on top of them, but Kade is skeptical I think about sharing a bike.
Note: we are flying on Vueling airlines, which I think is relatively new and definitely cheap. Check it out if you are flying in European territories. And unlike those heathens at ryanair.com and easyjet, the price they show is inclusive of taxes. So they don't show a 10 euro fare and then add 80 euros in taxes.
Just our tip of the day.
So if you need us in the next week, we will be checking email occasionally, but will mostly be out of the loop. If anything groundbreaking occurs, send carrier pigeon.