Last week we traveled up to Paris for for some language learning training. Due to our situation we are not getting traditional schooling to learn French but we were blessed to get some training on how to Use the BareFoot Method and learn a language on your own. We stayed with another family in our company, who lives south of Paris. Sara is a expert in this Method so she had a lot of knowledge to give! Some friends of ours, Jake & Suzanne got to join us as well, it was good to catch up with them and share in our language struggles. I know most of my blogs make it seem as we get to chase animals and explore villages and soak up this beautiful Island, but the bulk of our day and time is tedious language studding. After the few days of learning the new method, we were able to explore Paris because the Perkins let us stay in their home for the weekend. Paris. What? Living overseas, away from family and learning a new language can have its perks! We did all the main sites, The Eiffel Tower, The Louvre Museum, inside the Louvre Arce de Triomphe and Notre Dame. (you can clock on the names for shot video clips that we took) The Louvre was huge and beautiful, how did they build castles like this so long ago? And we visited Notre Dame, again a huge church and with so many details and carvings. I wish I could have seen the sculptures at work. The we waled down the ‘most famous street in the world’ The Champs-Elysées which has The Arc de Triomphe at the end of it. I think this was my favorite part, we got to go the top and see a panoramic view of the City at night. Now I know what they call it the “City of Lights”. Gorgeous! Sidenote – the man working the elevator had lived in Longview, Texas, of all places.
Here is everyone working away on Language.

And we celebrated Three Kings Day, or Epiphany. And you eat a delicious Kings Cake with a small toy hidden in side. The tradition is the youngest kids hides under the table and calls out who get what piece, the person who has the toy is King for the day and has to bring the cake to the next meal. (it is celebrated all January)

On the bus….sadie got to ride an airplane, train and bus. Paris has Great public transportation….if you speak French.

Jake & Suzanne

Sadie, did pretty well with all the layers of cloths to block out the chilly winds but she would not keep her gloves on. And after 5 minutes she would be crying because her hands hurt from the cold. So we put Matt’s pull over on her where she could keep her hands inside of it. I need to do a post on how picky Sadie can be when it comes to cloths. She has to pick out what she wears now and has a few favorite items that she wears all the time. (She is 2!?!)

We flew on one of the cheap European airlines so luggage was pretty limited. We rigged Matt’s Army bag (thanks Leif, Brad & Tera) to double as a backpack for Sadie.

I really enjoyed all the pretty bridges and buildings that line the water.

The Arc De Triomphe, my favorite part. I didn’t know too much about Paris nor the History be-hide the sites, so it was fun to read about them and learn when they built and why. I didnt realize how big the Arc is….Can you see all the people at the top?

And of course, the cliche picture with Mona Lisa…please excuse the hat hair.

The Champs-Elysées with all the Christmas Lights still up.

Exploring the outside of The Louvre.

Sadie was a bit of a wimp, like her mom when it came to the cold snow!

despite the gloomy weather I was able to enjoy some photography (I was in Paris…) I will try ad post those soon.

Sadie’s First Snow!

I sat Sadie down to watch a cartoon, while I prepared dinner and when I went to check on her this is what I saw. Maybe I should take her to the optometrist.

A few weeks ago at football practice, Matt met some guys from Egypt who just arrived in Corte to study at the University here. Their University in Egypt has an contact with the one here, some will be here only a few months and some for a few years. They saw the poster for ‘Football Americain’ and wanted to play. Thankfully they speak English very well! They came that weekend for dinner and cards, we taught them our favorite game (really the only game we know) and they taught us a few…FPO friends, you will now be able to find people playing ‘Nertz’ in Egypt. We cooked them a Tex-Mex meal with guacamole, which is about the only thing I know how to cook. (Chicken Enchiladas, I got the recipe from my friend Shannon) It was the first time they had guacamole and it is now one of their favorites. I just used a packet for seasoning but I really want a good recipe to give to them, does anyone have one? Please share!

We got to learn a lot about Egypt (I was asleep during that history lesson) and their culture and they brought some yummy Egyptian cookies as a gift. In Egypt you are born into your religion (its on your birth certificate), you do not get to choose (unless you want to switch to Muslim).

The other day Sadie got into the recycling I had set out, and starting reading the newspaper. Yeah, she reads..you dont remember? It was so funny to come around the corner and see this so I was real quite and just let her do her thing….she got in her little blue chair and just kept reading. Caption Please…

I know it has been a whole month now but I thought I would share since I finally uploaded all of our videos. Christmas was calm around here, we missed family a lot. We were able to skype with them all through he Holidays which helped. We are so lucky to have modern technology! We spent Christmas day with Annette, her father and 2 of her daughters and Christmas evening with Chanti and her husband. We got a wonderful care package from our family and Sadie loved her new purse, her cute Webkinz dog and Alphabet game! Thanks guys!
Here is what Christmas with the family looked like on our side of the world, there were playing Chinese Christmas…

Our supervisors gave us some candy canes from the states which helped us keep some traditions from home, and we handed some out to our friends and Sadie’s teachers, with The History of the Candy Cane Attached.

We spent New Years Eve at Annette’s, she had a dinner party with Guest from Italy and around Corsica. I went over earlier in the day to help prepare and while the pork was roasting, the large glass pan that it was in broke in-half….almost starting a fire in the oven! It wasn’t at the time, but now looking back we have a good laugh. Dinner turned out just fine and very delicious. The appetizers were another story for me, we had our choice or raw salmon, oysters and Pate (the liver of forced feed ducks or other animals). I went for the salmon.

Annette was a great host! And Sadie got to eat with her daughter, Amandine…she thought she was so cool. Amandine lived in the states until she was 7ish, so she speaks pretty good English. She is a really cute, funny girl and taught me how to play some French Cards games!

Short video from dinner:

One of Annette’s friends is puppeteer and he was the Entertainment for the night. I didnt know what to expect, but he is very talented! I will have to admit the ‘witch’ was quite scary, her name was aubergine, Eggplant in English.

Robert (pronounced with out the T) did a great job getting everybody involved and entertained.

And the night ended with everyone going around, saying Bonne Annee with 2 cheek kisses to Everyone! I had to sneak and get a short video…

Meet our amazingly, generous friend, Annette, who owns a awesome Bed & Breakfast just north of Corte. She has had us in her home more times then I can count now and has introduced to so many people. We even got to spend New Years Eve at her dinner party. She has a very unique home, it was built by a doctor that would travel and work here in the summers back when they didn’t have any hospitals around these villages. So, he had patients in his house and preformed surgeries where she now lives! It was built for these purposes so it is not our typical Corsica home.
A few weeks ago we were able to drive about an hour away to her ‘home town’ village, where she grew up and where her mother’s house is. San Nicolao, which is on the east coast of Corsica. They have a huge family garden and it was cool to get to know her more as she showed us around. We were able to help her get fruits and vegetables for her B&B. I just got an Email from Annette saying that her dad, 84, was recently visiting friends in Rome and had a fall. I do not have all the detail but she was really worried. Please pray for him and her as she takes care of him. He is in really good shape for his age and it has been fun getting know him as well, he is a retired Greek/Latin Professor and still writes articles.
Annette…isn’t she fun.

The fruit was delicious and fresh.

This is a Cedrat Fruit. Here they use it to make Cedratine, which is a common aperitif. I read that the The Cedrat liqueur made in Corsica is quite rare outside of Corsica. Interesting. It is huge and very strange looking.

This is her family house, her mother inherited it. She said it was built in 1400th century and was built around a tower (which is now the stairs in the middle part of the house)




I found this kind-of funny…the mayor put up old pictures of the village around town. Half the town likes it, said Annette, and the other half hates its.

This is the view from town, the beach and a beautiful chapel. Right around the corner are very tall cascades, an old bridge and a cool tunnel. The Corsican’s just have so much physical beauty here.

{song lyrics, if you do not know what song please call 1-800-updateme}

Grandma KayKay, Tina, Harrison, Annabelle, Pasley, Keith, Bailey, A. Lisa, U. Monty, Amy, Cameron, Brad, Tera, Emilee, PawPaw, Grandma, Piper, Megan, Seth, A. Melody, U. Mark, Sarah, Emily, Andy, Maw-Maw, U. Stephen, Uncle Leif Summers, Alex…I MISS YOU…and this is my song to you!

Sadie loves to randomly bust out in song…this is one of those times and Matt caught it on video! We have no idea what she is singer about. Look at us smart people in the background with our Macs…this is when we were in Paris with another family with our company. We were learning a method for language learning without schooling.

I know if you are like me you are overwhelmed with all the suffering that is going on in the world today and do not know where to start. In His Word, its says to start with Him. God. Ask for his direction, Pray. Pray for his eyes. And if you do not have a personal relationship with the Lord or do not feel like it is for you. Start anyways. Start there. He loves You. Yes, You and wants you as one of his children, I believe that through helping others you will be captured by his goodness. So Start.
Through Prayer, I know the Lord will guide you with actions. You can start simple with your neighbor, ask if you can bring dinner over because you know they have a busy schedule. research online and find a great orphanage to sponsor a child through monthly until perhaps God brings one into your home. Compassion and Danita’s Children (Haiti) and both Great and genuine. Ask you co-worker over for dessert and main storm reaching out to the needy. God WILL lead, I promise. I am in this with you.
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Our neighbor, Madame Giani has been a blessing to us. She has been so generous in helping us get settled and meet people. You can see her in This Post, on the very last video with snow (at the end). She has introduced us to a friend of hers, who then got us in contact with a few other Americans on the Island and that lead to more Corsican Friends. I know God was apart of picking this specific apartment for us so that we can get to know her. She doesn’t speak English but our supervisors were able to translate for us when we first moved in. Her and her husband are retired from the military. She said they moved every three years and spent time in Germany so she understands what it is like to be in a new town and not know the language. We have coffee together often, with a dictionary and my broken french, I am so thankful she is patient with our language learning. Matt’s Mom even got to meet her on skype one day! I have also enjoyed exchanging food tastings with her, she brings over fresh vegetables from their garden in a near by village, soups and this traditional French meat below, sanglier, which is wild boar. I mainly have just given her different cookies and desserts…and chilie one time when she was sick. And I made an pumpkin pie for her family, which was a big hit. Here’s a shoot out to those who sent us easy canned Libby’s pumkin filling! She said she has only had pumpkin soup..so this was very new.


We have seen some Wild Boar skins out on the fences, I am not sure if it has a purpose or if it is just equivalent to our hanging deer heads in our living rooms.

She also got us in contact with an Indian family here in Corte, who speaks English. We have had dinner and lunch with them a few times and celebrated Kings Day with dessert! And it was I that found the toy in the cake…so you may now call me Queen Kelly the 1st. We have enjoyed getting to know this family as well, he is a retired Biology professor from the University here. And I am really fond of him, becuase he said that my French is coming along faster then Matt’s. Not true, but is fun to pretend.

******UPDATE! THANKS TO YOU. YOU RAISE $120 FOR KIDS IN HAITI! AMAZING!*********
I am a sucker for cool things and I have seen several people Donate Birthday $$ to special causes..isnt that so cool! So, I created one for Sadie’s 2nd birthday on Facebook! If you are led, please donate $2 to the Organization, “Feed Hungry Children in Haiti”. Click Here. or go to this link:

http://apps.facebook.com/causes/birthdays/257446

Thanks for your h