Hello once again.  Sorry for the long delay.  We have had a busy few weeks.
 
The week of March 10th started off quietly enough.  Andrew had school, Dave had work, and Amy started some French lessons.  Only one hour a week, but it has increased her confidence immensely.  She is now initiating conversations with people.  It has been a lot of fun. 
 
One thing we did notice on the way to and from school was VERY long lines at the gas stations.  It looked like pictures you see from the gas shortages in the 70's.  I finally asked Andrew's tutor if there was anything we should know about the lines.  She explained that there was going to be a strike at the gas stations.  Since we are now living in a Socialist Republic in an election year, this is something we are going to need to get used to.  Various groups strike to get attention of the law makers who are trying to get elected.  This includes gas station attendants, police officers, doctors, nurses, you name it.  Salaries are regulated by the government so everyone tries to show how important they are by not doing their jobs.  It should be interesting.
 
We have started doing some entertaining for the people who are coming over from Grand Rapids each week.  We have either had them over for dinner or dined out with them.  It has been a nice change in our routine.
 
We took it easy the rest of that week and weekend.  That Saturday was spent shopping and cleaning.  Sunday we went to Market and rode bikes around town.  We were all very tired and needed to rest up for the next week. Mike and Cathy Acuna were coming to visit.  YEA!
 
The Acunas arrived on Monday the 18th.  That day was spent resting and eating duck.  Yum.  Tuesday we met Dave for lunch before heading to downtown Toulouse for some sightseeing.  We saw the capital (a big beautiful building with a large square in front of it) and then saw a Cathar cathedral.  These cathedrals are very different than the Catholic cathedrals we have been seeing.  The Cathars believed that the Catholics were too worldly, so their cathedrals are much less ornate.  However, it was just as impressive and beautiful.
 
After we picked Andrew up from "school" Wednesday, we headed off to Auch.  We toured the cathedral Saint-Marie.  Mike and Cathy were very impressed with the church and especially the choir stalls.  After a stop to take a picture of d'Artagnan, we wandered around the city for a while, checking out the quaint shops and cafe's. 
 
Thursday we got kind of a late start, so we arrived at the cathedral de Saint-Cecile in Albi (the birthplace of Toulouse-Lautrec) just as it was closing for lunch.  This didn't stop us though.  We went off in search of the Lautrec's birthplace.  Although we never quite found it, we did find some very impressive back streets with some really old houses.  Cathy is currently a student of architecture, so she was especially interested.  We picnicked on the banks of the Tarn before heading back to the cathedral.  WOW!!  Every inch of the inside of the cathedral is painted.  All of the walls and the ceilings.  It was the most amazing cathedral yet.  Dave will be very sorry he missed it (he has had to work all week).  We will definitely be heading back so he can check it out.
 
Thursday night we had a baby sitter so we headed out to dinner.  We ate at a "real" French restaurant.  The evening was a great success even though conducted in French.  Everyone enjoyed their meals (especially the desserts) and knew what they were ordering (almost).
 
We were up and out early on Friday.  We dropped Dave off on our way out of town and headed for Carcassonne.  We spent the whole day visiting the castle and its museums, admiring the cathedral, and walking the streets of town admiring the shops.  We also had some local cuisine at lunch.  It was a very long and tiring day, but we all had a great time.
 
Saturday was the last day that the Acunas would be visiting with us and the first day that Dave would be able to come along on our adventures.  We decided to check out the castle of Foix because most of the week had been spent visiting cathedrals.  The castle was very impressive and we made it up to the top of the turret once again.  It is a long way up!!  We stopped at some of the rooms on the way up, and this time Amy was able to read some of the poems that were written about the Catholic crusades against the Cathars.  Apparently they were pretty brutal.  The Catholics destroyed almost all of the Cathar cathedrals and castles.  The castle of Foix is one of the only Cathar castles that is not in ruins.
 
Saturday night we splurged for another baby sitter.  This time we went for a more casual place.  There is a little Asian restaurant that we pass on our bike rides that we decided to check out.  It was wonderful, very good food and a relaxed atmosphere.  Most restaurants that we have found here are either very relaxed (McDonalds or take out only pizza) or really stuffy.  This one was just what we were looking for.  The best part was the staff was willing to help translate the menu, which was in Vietnamese translated into French.  They even went into the back to bring us cartons or cans of the things we didn't recognize so we could see pictures.  It was a lot of fun!!
 
Sunday was a very hard day.  We took Mike and Cathy to the airport to say goodbye.  None of us wanted to see them leave, we had such a wonderful visit.  Andrew however, had the hardest time.  He had made good friends and had playmates for a week.  Suddenly he realized he was homesick.  It started with "I want to go with them" and degraded to tears and "I want to go home right now, buy a ticket."  It was very hard.  I think that having people around to talk to and play with reminded him of what he was missing at home.  We made it home and have worked extra hard on talking to family and have started writing lots of letters.  He seems to be doing much better now.  This is helped along by a planned visit at the end of April by Grandma and Grandpa Furman.  He has already started planning what he wants to show them.
 
So, as you can see we are all doing well here.  Dave and I have decided that we are here for too short of a time.  We are doing our best to make the most of every available moment.  We do miss all of you.  We think about you often.   Keep in touch, we love hearing from you.
 
Amy