Parlez- vous Francais?

Learning French is quite the experience. Sometimes it is very hard not to burst out laughing! Today I found out that I was wearing "un slip" men's boxers or underwear along with "une chemise" a man's shirt and "pantalons" pants. Not to be forgotten, "une ceinture" - a belt. If I were to preside over a wedding or go to court I would wear "une costume" a suit with "une cravate" a tie. To cool off afterwards we could go swimming, but I would have to go home and get my "maillot de bain" and "serviette" Swim trunks and towel. I can never get the pronunciation correct because I am snickering under my breath. I did, because of your prayers, pass my first French Final. The next one is June 27th. Please continue to pray!

The other big experience has been going to the hospital for my Crohn's disease. I am pretty much symptom free as long as I do not eat very many frites. But I have to take Remicade at the hospital now, instead of in my living room with a nurse administering the IV as I did in Tennessee. So, as soon as we arrived in March, we had to call a gastroenterologist and set up an appointment for the next infusion of the Remicade. The doctor was very nice, once we found him. If you were a graphic artist and a salesman you could become very rich in Belgium. You follow the signs until you get close then they disappear. When you ask for directions the people at the reception desk wonder why they have so many people going to the wrong place. After all, they make it to their place every day. So I had the first treatment after blood work. Then in May I had an MRI and in June (this Monday) I will have a colonoscopy. The MRI was an experience! They put a 1/4" aquarium tube down my nose through my stomach and into my small intestine. They sprayed my nose with toothache spray to make it easier. They said just swallow, just swallow. The technician couldn't get it to go into the intestine so he had the doctor do it. When that was finished, the doctor walked with me down to the MRI. The infirmier (nurse) gave me pants and a shirt to wear. Size small. I looked very funny. Pants 9 inches too short so the fly wouldn't button, and a shirt I couldn't move in. As an accessory I had the aquarium tube hanging out my nose. They had pity on me and traded the shirt for a hospital gown. When I was in the MRI, after the first scan they put the tube to use. Two technicians took a quart and a half of contrast die in little brown jugs and filled huge syringes with it and then squirted it down the hose as quickly as they could. The doctor came out before I was finished changing and told me I was in very good shape. I hope you aren't reading this while you are eating dinner.