An American in Provence

Megan's award for Most Bizarre Game Show of the Year goes to this new French gem: Le Mur Infernal.
Before reading any further, you MUST click on this link, and watch the small video towards the bottom.
http://www.tele7.fr/tv/tout-sur-la-tv/le-mur-infernal-sur-tmc



Okay, done watching? Honestly, who gets paid to make up this stuff, because I want that job!
Okay boss, here's my idea- there are two teams of three people each. You stand them on a platform above water, and you move them rapidly towards a wall, which has cutout shapes of humans. They have to match their body to the shape in the wall as they pass through. If they break the wall or fall off into the water, they lose the round. Then, to make it more complicated, you have them do it in two, threes, backwards, jumping, etc.
Sure to be a hit!

Please see my first post about the kitchen: http://megankay4.blogspot.com/2006/11/la-cuisine.html

While my parents were here, one of the main things that we focused on was fixing up our kitchen. The first order of the day was removing the big ugly metal and glass hood over the stove area. No idea why it was there, but it seems that older kitchens from apartments built in the 50's have these. It doesn't actually serve any purpose, as there is no vent or opening at the top. Well, it does get greasy I suppose. Anyway, Alain and dad spent a good day or two removing this thing. First they had to remove the glass, which they had to break to get out (shards of glass flying everywhere). Then, the metal frame was not screwed to the wall but actually coming out of the wall, so they had to cut it out of the wall. Then the wall had to be patched up.


We then spent the afternoon painting the walls and ceiling white. The next day, mom and I assembled the cabinets and the guys put them up. We got the left side finished on Sunday, but still had to do the area over the sink, which mom and dad finished up on Monday. We still need to redo the electricity (add more plugs and lights), and place the new sink, dishwasher, and countertop (which needs to be cut to the correct dimensions) in place.

On our final bonus day of flying, we woke up at 6 and caught the shuttle to the Amsterdam airport. Trying to get through security with my two bottles of Korean liquor, I started to get hassled and finally had to go check them. As I didn't have my luggage, I had to just put them in a bag and hope for the best. Our flight back to Marseille was uneventful, and we finally arrived around 11 am. My father-in-law came to pick me up as Alain was at a karate competition. As soon as I got my luggage, I could smell the broken bottle of sake. Argh. We went to the car, he opened the trunk and put my luggage in, closed the door and said "Where are my keys?" In the trunk of course. We called MIL, who called SIL who came and brought the extra set of keys. While waiting, we asked the office in charge of the parking lots if they could open the car with a hanger. They tried but were unable to, so we waited for about 45 minutes for the extra set of keys. We then drove back to their house had lunch, then Alain finished his karate competition (he was just refereeing). Alain and I left to return to Marseille. Got home, I went to take a shower. About halfway through, the water turned icy cold. Turns out the hot water heater decided to go on vacation. We tried and tried but could not get the pilot light to turn on. So, no hot water and no radiators until Tuesday, when the repair guy was able to come and fix it. Welcome home! On top of it all, my digestive system continued to be in an uproar until Wednesday, when I threw up at work, came home early, threw up again, went to bed at 6:30 pm and missed Thursday of work. Not eager to go back to Asia any time soon but I am glad that I went at least once.