Suel's in Paris

Hello Everyone,

We wish you very Happy Holidays from the UK! We are just writing to tell you how our Christmas was and hopefully hear back from some of you about yours. Also, we are happy to inform you that we have started a blog site! When we last emailed we sent pics and adding those pics took us a long time…especially with about 150 of you to email! So, we started this site in order to post more pics for you to look at without having to email them. Don’t worry, you will still receive pics in our emails from time to time, but if you are really interested in our travel pictures, check us out at http://suelfam.blogspot.com. The messages that will appear on the blog will be the same as our emails, so don’t feel like you have to read it again. Now, on to Christmas…

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to travel home for Christmas. Instead of sulking at our flat for the holiday, we decided to go to Paris! We left early Christmas morning and came home the following Wednesday. So, we had 3 days and 3 nights in the beautiful city of Paris! The weather was really cold, and we walked the entire city several times in the cold, but it was worth it! The city is totally lit up at night, and great. It snowed all day Tuesday, and was beautiful. We ate a French picnic lunch every day from the fresh markets. We went to basically every monument there, with our museum pass. It was great…the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triumph, Moulin Rouge, Notre Dame, Musee d’Orsay, Saint Chappelle, Rodin Museum, you name it! It was a great, albeit strange, Christmas!

Tonight is New Year’s Eve. Jason got off work early, just came home at 4pm. We are going to a party tonight then will hang out with our friends Claire and Jez. Should be fun. We hope you are all doing well, and have a great new year! Thanks for keeping in touch, we always look forward to emails!

God bless,
Sarah and Jason

Ahhh...Paris: the City of Love!

Champs Elyses...the big Avenue

Outside the Moulin Rouge

A gargoyle on top of the Notre Dame...367 steps high. Every gargoyle was different...there were lots of them!

Outside the Pyramid of the Louvre Museum

Saint Chapelle's beautiful stained glass.

Dinner in our tiny hotel room.

You think about that! Sarah in front of her favorite sculptor (Rodin's) "The Thinker."

Notre Dame welcomes us!

The Pompideau building...this building has all of the plumbing and air vents outside the building instead of inside. A real architectural innovation.

Happy Christmas from Hereford!

Happy Christmas everyone!

(We don't say "merry" here, it's "happy"!)

We are well and finally settled into our new home in Hereford! The Christmas lights are up in High Town, along with the Carousel that goes round with carols singing for the past month now. It's really lovely
here in the town.

I (Sarah) am really enjoying my work, my clients are so great...elderly and confused with dementia or anxiety or depression. I love seeing them through the week, and working on their problems. I take them to town or go for a walk or clean their wardrobes or freezers...organize them better and get them to figure out their daily lives a little better. I got my first Christmas present today, from my favorite client...pansies for my window box! I told him about it and that I didn't know what to put in my window box at home in the winter, and he bought them for me! Along with a gift card to a bookstore and a nice card for me and Jason.

Jason is still waiting tables at the Left Bank, the posh restaurant here in town. He is doing lots of Christmas parties there and still working late hours. He is quitting after Christmas, though, as he got offered 2 other jobs: one as a Youth Worker, working with troubled teens in Ross (a neighboring town, about 10 miles south) 3 nights a week. They want him to incorporate drama into their evening sessions. And they are paying him loads of money for 3 nights! And during the days, he'll lifeguard at the Leisure Center. He will get to choose his own hours and he'll get paid more than waiting tables. So he's excited to start this new schedule.

We are settled into our new flat now, with everything we need. Our plans for Christmas this year, since we're on our
own and can't come home, is to take our 3 days off and go to Paris! We will leave Christmas morning and be back on Wednesday. We found a good deal for flights and 3 nights in a hotel. We'll be staying right near Montmarte, where the Moulin Rouge is! This way, we can use our Christmas money from our families on a great trip and we won't be so sad about not being in Arkansas!

We'll write more, but we do wish you each the best Christmas! Please keep in touch, and take care!

Love always,
Sarah and Jason Suel