been busy traveling!

Well, I am finally posting something on my blog again... I think it's better to put something than nothing, so here's something. :)  Here is a summary of what I've been up to in the last two months:

**End of June:  traveled to Bamako by bus myself to fly to France.

**Then:  flew to France!  I love Mali, but after 14 months in country I was pretty excited to go somewhere where it's not so hot, I can sort of blend in, and they have plenty of cheese and chocolate (and almost any other food goodie you could want, though peanut butter is a bit hard to come by!)

**first weekend of July:  stayed with friends who were in Mali for a long time but are in France now, it was very good to see them and to go hiking around in some fresh green nature next to a lake.

**July: did a summer French language course and met some awesome people there.

** end of July after French school:  flew by myself to Poland for a few days of cheap backpacker type tourist fun

**first part of August:  I met my mom in London.  We spent a few days there and then a few days in Paris before flying together to Mali.
We were in Bamako for a few days and home for a few days and had a good time in spite of JP and I both getting really sick for a few days each.  Thankfully my mom didn't catch our sickness!

**Now:  trying to get my brain and life organized.  We are planning a trip to Togo next week and I need to be ready for English school registration when we get back.

So that's the quick version.
The photo is of me at the Palace of Versailles just outside of Paris.  It feels almost scandalous for me to wear a knee-exposing skirt after always making sure my knees are well covered in Mali.  I actually wore this skirt so much that I'm pretty tired of it now because after I left French school I didn't get my suitcase back for 13 days (thanks KLM!) so I didn't have many clothes to wear!