I was invited last minute to go with a Boise Contingent to Burning Man, in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada. The event is more than just a massive art festival party, it’s a community. As we arrived the Greeters called out “Welcome Home”! Putting people out in the desert where they are accepted as themselves really brings out the best in people. It was a week of random acts of kindness. I loved the community feel: I don’t think I’ve ever felt safer. The city is built out of nothing every year, and the planning and logistics that go into it is mind-boggling. I am so very impressed by how well organized the whole event was. The city was well planned and laid out, and the public services like porta-potties and street cleaning were ... read more

If you want to read in English skip down to the bottom of the blog. It’s not a translation, but I did break out of the French eventually. Et oui, je suis rentrée encore une fois aux States. La première semaine il faut dire que j’étais très dépaysée, mais pas comme avant. Chaque fois que je pars de la France est un peu plus facile, probablement parce que je suis de plus en plus rassurée que je vais revenir. En plus, cette fois-ci je pense à mon voyage au Maroc en septembre et comment je vais vivre tout pres de la France (en comparison avec les States). J’ai promis a plusieurs personnes que dès que je peux prendre du congé de mon travail au Maroc que je vais rentrer prendre mes vacances en France. Je veux ... read more

The account Mom wrote in her journal of today’s hike was so good I’m going to copy it down here with her permission and only slight editing. “This was the day to see the Vercors. Standard breakfast, then by 10:30 we were packed in the car and only stopped by the big grocery store for some picnic stuff. After scenic drives to Combe Laval and the Grand Goulet we stopped for a picnic at a biathalon training area. There was cheese, sausage, bread and wine for lunch with a melon at the end. Wonderful dark chocolate was melting in the sun. After a leisurely Gerard read the paper while the rest of us had a small rest on an old quilt in the shade. Eventually Gerard & Maryse suggested a coffee might be good, so on ... read more

Though I technically lived in the department of the Drome at the Montalon’s house, my school and most of my friends were in Ardèche. Ardèche reminds me of Idaho and feels like home. It’s one of the poorer departments economically, with less infrastructure like roads and trains, and tends to be a forgotten little corner of France. Considering how often people think Idaho is in the Midwest (that’s Iowa), I understand the misunderstood and forgotten feeling. Actually, I kind of like it. While the Drome is more geographically diverse and beautiful in some respects, everybody knows it’s more diverse and beautiful. The Drome is well known to French and foreign tourists: it has Valence, it has the Vercors (Pre-Alps), it has the east bank of the Rhone and all its vineyards, and it reaches down to ... read more

When we arrived in Cornas it was just as I had remembered. It’s a cute little town in the shadow of the château Crussols, close to the city of Valence, but on the west side of the Rhone River in Ardèche. The hills above are covered with vineyards of St. Joseph, and there are several caves (wineries) in town. Cornas wine is famous for being very hearty with lots of tannins and they say that if you leave a bottle to age long enough you’ll have to eat it with a spoon. I remembered exactly how to get to Michèle’s house, through the narrow little streets of Cornas. When we pulled into the drive I felt like I did when I got off the plane in Boise after the Cambodia trip. After all the strangeness of ... read more