9/4/10, Saturday

Slept until noon today. Wow did that feel good. Unpacked and took a look around our new digs. Can you say “tiny kitchen”. For those of you who know what my kitchen is like in Ludington, divide by 10. Now I know why the French are so thin! They have no place to put food. This is going to be good for me. I can do this. The place is very clean, and nicely decorated. I will put pictures out on Monday when Eric goes to work and I have more time.



Went for a run to get a look around the village. Learned that Holtzheim means Happy Culture in English. I think we can be happy here. I can’t think of how to describe my surroundings. It is so different than anything I’ve ever seen before. Very quaint, old, but well maintained. Space seems to be at a minimum within the village, so everything is very close. Houses are sitting on the road if you can imagine. The roads are very tight and are used for two way traffic, bikes, and pedestrians within the village. Outside of the village there are very nice paved paths for bikes and pedestrians. Because space is so minimal, it is taken care of beautifully. The assortment of bright colored flowers is astonishing everywhere you go. This area is spotted with villages that are separated by fields of all kinds. Lots of corn. Will get pictures out soon.


Had our first outing to the supermarket. Lots of cheese and yogurt of every kind! Anyone in the market could tell we were Americans. We had the biggest cart in the store piled with the most food. It was actually a little embarrassing, but we needed food. Where are my monster size bags of chips and my diet Pepsi? Oh yea Deborah, you are not in Costco anymore. I can do this. This will be good for me. Wow this packaging is small and Wow this grocery bill is steep! Okay now I really know why the French are so thin. We are definitely going to need more practice at this grocery shopping thing.

We quickly returned to our “little flat” and hurried off to dinner at Eric’s new manager’s house. Finding the house was not easy, but somehow when we were just about to stop and ask for help, we saw the road and arrived. Very nice large home in a village not far from ours. We had a wonderful meal and wonderful company. Remi and Adeline were very welcoming and we enjoyed our evening immensely. They spoke English very well and gave us many tips for our time here. Back to our flat around midnight.