Boulet one day, boulet forever!

Well, as I told you previously, I went to Barcelona for a job interview the 21th of December, and stayed at Julien's the night before... Well, I managed to drop my dinner* on my pants, the only I had for the interview the following day... Not so good to have melted cheese on your pants**... Somehow, Frenchie was laughing a bit, as you might imagine.

* Btw very tasty
** I didn't drop anything on Frenchie's flour!

Xmas time at my parents

Before my traveling, I went a bit back to my family for Xmas. I am not getting fit not doing much and eating all the food my mum is cooking... Knowing that I should run the Tararuas race (http://www.tararua-race.org.nz/) with Dion mid-March, and knowing I won't train more next month (and eat ever more food!), Dion might start to worry about my fitness for the race! :D

Visit Frenchiiiiiiiiiiie in Barcelona

I went to Barcelona the 20/21 of December for a job interview (and I got the job, yipeee! :)). I took the occasion to visit Frenchie, and stayed at his... i.e. in his van, which is house during his circus/clown school! Reasonably comfy, actually!

My sisters & bro-in-laws' birthdays

An autumn weekend in Alsace, October 2010

Here are many picture from a week spent at my sister's place. The weather was average, but there were still enough sunny spells to enjoy the nice autumn light!

Kiwi-week in Crana (Ticino) with Dion&Nicola

Aim: a kiwi-meeting to welcome Dion&Nicola in Europe!

The settings: Crana, in Ticino (the Italian part of Switzerland). This is a very lovely place in a very scenic location, I wouldn't mind live there!

Who: Dion&Nicola, Donn&Jen, Amelie&Xavier, Caroline, Bruno, Oliver, myself, some friendly goats...

Results:
- some (tons of) mushrooms have been found. I think we found something like 50 sorts of mushrooms, including the great ceps, edgehogs, thrumpets of plenty, and even some chanterelles!
- some walking was done, especially when Donn&Jen's minibus was blocked (for deserved reasons) by some buses, so we had to go back by foot to the chalet... Assinos!
- some (tons of) mushrooms have been eaten, cooked in a great variety of recipes including boiled mushrooms, mushrooms sauces, or used dipped in a cheese fondue!
- some other ingredients have been eaten, including 6kgs of flour, a couple a kgs of butter, and some Brownies...
- some people stepped in poo...
- some climbing was done
- (...) and much more!

Heaps of fun in other words!

PS: you can see many more pics on Jen's blog, Donn's blog, and hopefully soon on Dion's blog.

My hometown will save the world!

On the 10-10-10 (10 being the number of my native region!) was the inauguration of the new social hall in my hometown. It attracted some famous people such as the current economy minister Mr Baroin, and made the news (http://www.lest-eclair.fr/index.php/cms/13/article/467070/La_salle_socioculturelle_un_bijou_environnemental). Not too bad for a 200 inhabitant village! But this required some commitment from the council in order to find the necessary funds, and in particular from the Maire (Patrick Baillot, my uncle) who spent a few white nights on the project...

Basically, the hall has been built following the most stringent environmental norms, which is very rare even for much larger&richer cities. It has an excellent insulation, is underground for the north and west aspect to protect from the cold winds, has large openings on the south and east aspect for taking advantage of the sun, uses geothermal power ("named geothermie" in France), and has the most efficient heat-pumps... And these later are barely needed, as people's corporal heat is sufficient to maintain a comfortable temperature... If the hall is full of people, an air circulation is actually required to cool down the atmosphere, even during the coldest days of winter!