Exploring the Jura!

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Yesterday we wanted to go and do some hiking in the Jura mountains. We have a Lonely Planet book that describes some hikes that you can do in the Jura mountains. So we decided to try one of the hikes that was fairly close by. We made our way into France and were headed to the small town of Confort. Looking in the Lonely Planet book, I then thought that we should head to a second small town called Menthières to make the hike a bit shorter because of the kids. Once again, we got a little bit lost - in France - and ended up driving up a logging road. We decided to park the car, walk along the logging road and see where we ended up.

It turns out that we walked right onto a ski hill. The ski hill is called Menthières and it has 9 runs that total 7.5 km. At least we found a ski hill to go to. Some of the best information, is that this ski hill only costs around 15 euros.

The other little kink in our hiking plans was the weather. As you will see in the pictures, it was quite foggy. Not only was it foggy, it was chilly and windy. Not only was it foggy, chilly and windy, it started to rain. As you can imagine, our hike was cut short. We then walked back to our car, ate some left over pizza in the car and made our way to Thoiry where we bought some groceries. Actually, on our way back from our hike, I found a barber shop that was offering mens cuts for 13 euros. This barber shop is located in the town of Bellegarde and I joked with Avery that I would have to come here for my hair cuts. The town is about 30 minutes from our place.

I was saying that I need to get my haircut in Bellegarde, because I tried cutting my own hair with my clippers at Denis'. The voltage between Canada and Switzerland is different, which was a problem for the clippers. I put some oil on the clippers, as I usually do, to lube up the blades. I then plugged it in to an adapter and trimmed my side burns for 1 minute. After 1 minute, the clippers were smoking hot, literally. Because of the oil, the clippers were smoking. I will try once again to cut my own hair using a different adapter that alters the amount of voltage.

It seems like everyday has some excitement over here. Today we will go to church, then go and have a picnic lunch in a park that is by the church. Tomorrow is my first day with the students. I am both excited and nervous.

Jarod

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Photos

Logging Road.
Isabelle posing on logs.

Ski Hill.
We came upon this ski hill that was fogged over.

Hiking.
More hiking at the ski hill. If you see a little blue dot in the background, that is Myles. He was determined to hike all by himself. He wanted to be part of the action.

Comments

[Debbie Bocian]

Good Luck as you start a new class!
Jarod, you will be great! Denis showed me a photo of his class. I am sure these sweet kids will follow you around like little chicks. Make sure you show them your hockey goalie talents. That will impress them. Hi to your lovely family.

[Amy]

you can do it
Jarod, my prayers are with you as you begin with your students tomorrow! We have our first STAFF day tomorrow at Muriel Martin and I am also both nervous and excited to begin. What lucky students, to have you this year - hope all goes well. :)