I'm back!

O.K. I will get better at posting! I promise, think of it as a Thanksgiving resolution (even though I don't celebrate Thanksgiving here!) The reason I haven't been able to post is because I just got back from Paris yesterday morning. The week prior to that I was workign night shift! That meant one week of 12 hour shifts from 9 pm- 9 am! It was pretty uneventful because the guys are in bed around 12 and not up until around 8, so I spent a lot of time cleaning, watching some television, reading, and brushing up on my French. Probably the highlights of that week were when I fire alarm went off and when one of our residents came back so drunk that he forgot to use the bathroom and opted to use his pants! He is a bit of a hassle but our residents struggle with everything from drug addiction to severe mental problems, as is his case!

Hands down the best part of the past week was going to Paris! I was able to stay at the Mennonite Centre just outside of Paris and at the same time able to avoid all of the riots! I can't begin to tell you everything I did, but I'll try. The first weekend of every month all the meuseums and monuments (the monuments that cost money) are free, so I did it all! Eiffel Tower, the Arc, Notre Dame, the Louvre, Musee Rodin, Musee Picasso, Musee D'Orsay, Royal Palis, Petit Palis, Sacre Couer, Markets, Latin Quarter, Bastille, Pierre-Laizze Cemetery, The Catacombs....and some other stuff.

What was the best? Well I can honestly say I was blown away by the Eiffel Tower and the Notre Dame. These building are absolutely stunning! I also enjoyed the little things like watching 700 people on rollerblades (think of a giant parade) skate throughout the city, the spontaneous jazz concerts on the bridges, the warm weather, and the view from the Arc! Paris is awesome and I defintely encourage anyone to go there! Better yet I did all of that for under....15 Euros! However, the worst part of the week was when I threw away my Metro ticket, which I didn't know you had to hold onto, and the police stopped me to check that I had it! Unfortunately I didn't have it, and I didn't have 25 Euro's on me to pay the ticket. What is even worse is I didn't have my passport (whoops!) and the lady started threatening me that I would have to go to prison! By that time I was getting a little mad because here she was telling a foreigner he "should of known better," when they have thousands of youth rioting around the streets! I think they could have spent their time a little better! However, lucky for me they did take credit card! So the cost of that stupid ticket was double what I spent in one week in Paris. Oh well, live and learn.

This is my day off, I worked yesterday and I am hitting the grind again tommorrow. On Saturday the U.S. is going to beat Scotland here in Glasgow! So I'm heading to watch the match with some people from work and other volunteers. Pray that the U.S. wins or else I'll end up hearing about it until next August! Blessings!

Mike