Se coucher and Coucher and Accoucher, oh my!

Okay, I know I said I would be better about updating, and here I am missing another day. Oops. This just isn't one of those 9-5 internships at all. I mean, yesterday began at 6 a.m. and tonight I'm just getting home around 11 p.m. We really have such full, wonderful days.

Yesterday, I went with Florian and Benjamin (they're early birds) to a mountain around Marseille. They picked me up at 6 in the morning, and just a few minutes later, we were standing on top of one of the highest points in Marseille. We hiked up the mountain and watched the sunrise from up there. A little physical activity, talking with friends, and drinking good French espresso is a great way to start a morning. And this was where I made one of my biggest language faux pas to date. I tried to tell Benjamin what time I went to bed the night before, but I accidentally mistranslated the verb, and I ended up telling him what time I had sex. In my defense, the words look nearly the exact same, but when he started laughing at me, I knew that I had done something wrong. Haha oh well. Learning a language is all about putting yourself out there, making those embarrassing mistakes, and doing better the next time. And I'm really blessed to have good friends over here who can laugh at me in the nicest way possible and help me keep improving.

Mountainside view

After we climbed back down the mountain, we headed to the devo at church. Every day (Monday to Friday), we all get together to sing, read the Bible, and pray together at 8:30 before class starts. Again, such a nice, relaxing, thoughtful way to start the mornings. I had French class after that, and then in the afternoons we do homework help for kids in the neighborhood.

And one of the coolest, most culturally aware programs that the church has is its soccer ministry. Basically, churches from all around town sponsor teams in a league that plays in various tournaments around town. Since soccer is such a huge deal around here, lots of people want to be on these teams, and it's a good way to do outreach with people in a "Hey, we're not all crazy, religious fanatics; we're normal people who like soccer too. And we also happen to like Jesus" kind of way. All kinds of organized religion are really looked down upon here in France (especially Marseille), so this is a really effective way for the church to be involved in the community and remain approachable for people. I'm significantly worse than most players on these teams because they've been playing since they were about 3, so I didn't play much, but it was still fun to watch some serious soccer being played. Man, there is some solid talent out there.

The soccer (called foot here) match

And then today. Today began with the devo, and then since I didn't have French class today, I stayed at the church for CEM class. I still have a hard time following at points because the whole class is in French, but I'm already catching more of the lesson now than I was a week ago. One of the hardest parts is learning all of the obscure church vocabulary. I know it's probably hard to believe, but they never taught us how to say resurrection, apostles, or sacraments in French classes in high school, so I'm having to to quickly learn a lot of biblical jargon. The classes are good, and it's really great for me to be exposed to a lot of language because it forces me to keep training my ears.

This afternoon, a group of us went to this cute little old lady's house for a Bible study. She doesn't get out much, so she really enjoys having people over (and we got spoiled with homemade goodies, coffee, and chocolates). Mmm! Another older woman came with us, and we all sang together for a little while and then talked about Acts 6. They were a little harder to understand when they spoke, but I could tell that they really loved having us there with them.

Then tonight was the LST party where we invite all the people they read with to come visit and hang out. I did a lot of the cooking and preparation for this party because they were pretty busy all day, and we had a great turn out. There was lots of food and good conversation, and after we ate, we had a big dance party where we taught all our French friends how to line dance and do a couple other American dances. Such a fun time, and we're really becoming close with a few of the people who have started coming regularly to everything. And now, with a full belly and full heart, I bid you all goodnight.

These people bring me so much joy

Playing Catch Up

Ahhh, I'm way behind on updating. Man, now that we've really gotten into the schedule here, we are SO busy. I'm out of the house by 6 a.m. lots of mornings, and I'm not home until around midnight. I love that we have plenty to do here, but by the time I get home, it's late and I go straight to sleep. So, I'm sorry for getting behind on my posts, and I will try to be more consistent from now on.

Now, I'll give a recap of the last few days.

One major new event is that I've started taking an intensive French course at the language school in town. The way this class is set up is that it's one-on-one, and I go in and speak with a French woman named Pascal for 6 hours a week. She refuses to speak to me in anything but French, so it's a huge challenge for me every time I go in. My biggest struggle with French is with speaking (reading and listening are easier), so in this setting, I'm really pushed to get out of my comfort zone and hold entire conversations in French. And for every hour I'm in class, she gives me that many hours of homework to do for the next time I see her. It really is an intensive class, but I'm since I'm trying to learn so much in such a little amount of time, I'm really glad that I have this opportunity.

This class takes place in the mornings, and then I'm spending the afternoons every day with the other interns doing work with the church. Every day we do something different. This week, we went to a nursing home where we visit with some of the patients who never get visitors. I met with a woman named Madame Touzeau (I think it sounds like the name of a psychic or something), and we just let her talk and talk to us and we listened. I always feel so bad for people who have no one to talk to because when someone finally listens to them, they go on and on since this is their only chance to be heard. Actually, I have a bit of a hard time going to nursing homes sometimes because it reminds me of how much I don't ever want to get old and be alone--even though that's an inevitable fate for many of us. When we went downstairs after talking to Madame Touzeau, we helped the staff serve crepes to the other patients for an afternoon snack. While everyone was eating, all of us interns sang to karaoke and danced to songs in front of everyone. This is something I would never do back home, but being here, I'm so much more bold for some reason. Maybe I've just decided that I don't have anything to lose, and I might as well come out of my shell. Either way, I've enjoyed not being shy and becoming a little more outgoing in public settings.

Madame Touzeau

Another thing we do in the afternoons is go visit people in the hospital. This week we went to see a woman named Rania, who had been in the hospital for a few days (for some injury I didn't understand), and we visited with her for over an hour probably. She is probably about 40, and it was her birthday when we went, so we sang to her and talked about French weddings. When you're young and healthy like I still am, it's easy to forget how blessed I am, but going to nursing homes and hospitals really reminds me how seriously good I have it.

I'm also teaching an English learning class for 3-6 year olds at an elementary school in town. We sing songs to learn colors, numbers, shapes, body parts, and all kinds of stuff. They are WAY cute, and I'm really having a blast with that class. It turns out that, their English level is about the same as my French (unfortunately I'm 21, not 5). I teach this same age group at Minter on Wednesday nights, and I've missed doing that back home, so this is working out as a good kid fix.

And now I'll tell you about the fun thing we got to do this week. On Saturday, the one day a week that we have off, we went on a little trip. This trip cost less that three euros and took me to the most beautiful water I've ever seen in my life. I'm not exaggerating at all when I say that this place was so stunning that I actually got a little choked up at one point just looking around me, which is saying a lot for someone who rarely cries. We were in the town of Cassis, which is just a few minutes outside of Marseille. I have never been anywhere in my life that looked so perfect, that looked so much like a computer screen stock background image. We took some really incredible pictures, explored the cliffs, ate lunch, and walked along the beach. It's hard to put into words and accurately describe how content I felt that day. I'm about to have a hippie moment here, but while I was in Cassis, it just felt like everything was right with the world, like harmony existed for all creation, like this is the way the Earth should be, and that there was so much love in the universe. I don't know, but I just had a strong sense of peace and joy being there. It's in those moments that I feel the most spiritual, connected to something bigger than me, and alive.

This picture accurately portrays how I felt being there

This water is SOOO BLUE!

Lovin' that ocean breeze

My wonderful friends

Cemistes, Coffee, and Cats

Before I get too much further in the blog, I should explain that they have a program at the church called Christians in Mission (CEM) for college age students to live in Marseille for a year. This program is service-oriented and encourages the students to be active in the community here and take Bible classes at the church. The CEM students host a variety of programs in the neighborhood for kids, adults, teens, and the elderly, which include soccer, singing, homework help, devotionals, and English lessons. The cemistes, as they're called, are really great people, and you can tell that they truly care about the people they're working with.

So today began at 8:30 at the church where CEM has a devo every morning. I am not fully a part of the CEM program, but while I'm here, I'm participating in all of the various activities they do. One of those activities includes the Bible class in the mornings. Monday through Friday they have classes from 9-12 taught by various people in the church (mostly the three missionary men). This morning we looked at the early church as described in Acts, and then we talked about boldness and not being afraid to use our gifts even if we think we might fail. Esther translated again for me, but I hope that I will soon be conversational enough with French to be more active in the class discussions.

Later this afternoon, I went to the mailbox to mail a birthday card for a certain sister of mine who will be turning 20 soon (I hope it gets there in time!). And it turns out that the mailbox is right next to my boulongerie, so I went in and bought another baguette as well as a pain au chocolat (delicious!!). Although I'm able to go with people sometimes, I now feel comfortable running errands in the afternoon by myself if everyone is out. However, our neighborhood is not the safest, and we aren't allowed to go out anywhere by ourselves at night, but if you know me at all, I'm not brave enough to go anywhere alone at night anyway, so this isn't a burdensome rule for me to follow. If we are ever out late, we always have a guy walk or drive us home to be safe. But in the daytime, it's very much okay to go out alone because the streets are always bustling with people.

Quite soon after arriving back to the apartment, Florian, one of the CEM students, came by to see if I wanted to get a coffee. He is trying to learn English, and I am obviously trying to learn English, so it works out well for us to practice with each other. He is from the border of France and Switzerland near the city of Geneva, and he is great to learn with because he speaks slowly and clearly enough for me to keep up with. We drove to a nice outdoor cafe and talked for nearly two hours over our coffee. I'm starting to feel more confident with speaking because he pretends not to understand me sometimes when I talk in English, which forces me to speak in French so much more.

My great teacher

The beautiful spot where we talked

After coffee, he dropped me off at the missionaries house for the youth devo. But I soon learned that a youth devo here is not like it is back home. I was surprised by the heaviness and less applicable-ness of the topic that we talked about. Craig, the teacher, started talking about marriage and why people commit adultery. He was saying that when a couple gets married, neither has the intention of being unfaithful with another person, but at some point, one of the parties starts to believe the lies of this world and accepts sin. I don't think I've ever talked about that topic in detail in a youth group setting, so it was interesting to hear. He also connected being faithful to a spouse with being faithful to Christ, and that is something even the unmarried people in the room could relate to.

Best part of the night though, the missionaries have cats! And since I'm such a cat person, it was awesome to get a kitty fix and pet a cat during the devo.

Crossing the Street

When I go home to write my blogs every night, as I try to remember what I did all day, I think "Wow, did that ALL happen today?" We have the busiest days here, and it's crazy how much we are able to pack into a few hours. 

Today, for example, began at 6 a.m. on the beach. Florian, Benjamin, Katrina, and I all woke up early this morning to go running on the beach. I was pretty impressed that we all actually got up and drove there so early, but we did. And this was one of the best mornings I've had in such a long time. Just as the sun was rising over the horizon, we arrived on the beach. Running in the sand on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea on a cool summer morning is absolutely blissful. We ran at a pretty comfortable pace, but running in the sand is so much harder because your feet are sinking with every step, and that creates a lot of resistance on your legs. By the end of our run, I was definitely huffing and puffing pretty hard. However, there just so happened to be a very convenient place to cool off nearby--the ocean. Of course, we weren't wearing swimsuits or anything, so we just took off our shoes, and waded into the cold water. At the time, the water felt SO cold, but once we were in for a little bit, our bodies felt very refreshed. Sandy, wet, and happy, we drove home. 

The beautiful beach

My running buddy, Katrina

The before shot

The after shot

After I got a shower and cleaned up, I took a little stroll to the grocery store. We wanted to invite the LST interns over for dinner tonight, and I was in charge of making dessert. I got the ingredients to make an apple pie, and after I left the store, I headed to the boulongerie (bakery). I bought a fresh baguette to eat for breakfast, and I put Nutella and cheese on it when I got back home with it. After breakfast, I started making the pie because this was the only time I had free before tonight. I peeled apples for nearly an hour, but soon the pie was finished cooking. It smelled delicious, but I wouldn't get to try it until much later in the evening. 

As soon as I took the pie out of the oven, I went to meet our group at the church. We walked over to the university here in town for English speaking class. A few people go every week to talk to people in a certain class who are there to improve their English. It's mostly professors at the university or researchers who take the class, and everyone's language skills are pretty advanced. Our job as native English speakers is just to have conversations with them, which allows them to get practice speaking and ask questions. Today, I found out about an opportunity to take French classes at the language school that is run by other missionaries in town, so I'm looking into that as an option to help me improve my French, a skill I'm very much in need of for the stuf I'm doing at the church. 

After the school, I needed to go back to the store where I could get a copy of our apartment key made, since it was closed that first time. When I was walking there, I had a pretty strange, profound experience. I was in a hurry to get to the shop before it closed, so when I saw a woman begging on the side of the street, I crossed to the other side because I didn't have time to stop and give her anything. And then I realized, I just crossed to the other side of the street--exactly what the bad priest and Levite do in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. When I realized that, I was so ashamed, and I decided that on my way back, when I passed her again, I would give her some money. After I got my key and was walking back, I got a few euro coins out to give her. When I got up close to her, I saw that she was dressed from head to toe in black with just her eyes showing through a small slit in her head covering. I think she was an old, widowed Muslim woman. When I put the coins in her hand, she said with so much enthusiasm, "Merici, mademoiselle! Merci! Merci! Merci!" I smiled and walked away, but then as I was walking back home, I kept thinking about the story, and I thought, "The Good Samaritan doesn't just do a minimal amount to help the person in need. In the story, he goes above and beyond to make sure that the other person is taken care of. And, Katie, you've read Half the Sky, so you know better than that. Women all over the world have it so hard (way harder than you do), and you're not doing your part to make that better. Right now, you're just the Satisfactory Samaritan." So I turned around and walked half a block back to where the woman was sitting, and basically emptied my wallet for her. She looked so surprised to see me back there, and when I was giving her the money, she took my hand in hers, kissed it and said to thankfully, "Ma belle, ma belle! Merci, mademoiselle! Merci!" Although the amount I gave her hardly dents my funds in the long run, I could tell that it meant a lot to her. 

This was such a new experience for me. I don't usually have such mental anguish and conflict, but I guess all those Sunday school lessons about the Good Samaritan finally got to me in a deep way. I'm still far from being a really good Samaritan and humanitarian, but I just couldn't live with being the kind of person who literally crossed the street to avoid helping someone. 

When I got back to the church, we had another rehearsal for the musical, followed by a devo. We sang a few songs in French, read a passage from the Bible, and prayed. Then all the LST interns came over to our apartment for dinner, which turned out great. We made stromboli, and the pie was delicious, if I do say so myself. It really did turn out great though, and with creme brulee ice cream on top of the warm pie, we all very much indulged ourselves. 

Ports, Ruins, and Cafes

Well, I didn't end up going to bed when I thought I would. Right as I was about to get ready for bed, I got a text from a few friends who said, "We're on our way to come get you. Come downstairs in 2 minutes." I had no idea what we were going to do, but I walked downstairs to find out. Turns out, Florian, who has a car, wanted to drive us down to the Vieux Port. Driving here is absolutely nuts. It doesn't seem like there are any real rules on the road here, but everyone still seems to understand and know how it works. At least Florian is a good driver, and he took us to the downtown area about 20 minutes away where all the water is. I had hoped that the place where I lived would be closer to the beach, but our neighborhood is about 15 minutes by car from the coast, so I was excited to finally see the water. And it was so worth it. I loved seeing all the boats in the water, the city lights, walking around with everyone, and getting to joke around. I hope we get to go back to that area of town more often because our neighborhood isn't very nice, and that part of the city is what Marseille looks like when you Google Image the city. Very beautiful.

The next morning, at 8 we left to go on our field trip. We drove outside of Marseille for about an hour in the beautiful French countryside to arrive at some ancient Roman ruins. Our first stop was a huge bridge that was built before Jesus was even alive. It is apparently the only one of its kind still standing in the world. Um wow! Our tour guide was a woman from the church named Prisca, but since she just spoke in French for all the other students, Esther translated for me again. She grew up bilingual, so she is just incredible at giving me great translations and making sure I'm not too confused. She's a gem.

My roomies at the ruins

Beautiful French countryside

Ancient Roman mausoleum 

The bridge older than Jesus

My amazing translator

After we left the bridge, we arrived at the ruins of an ancient Gaulish city that was taken over by the Romans before it was eventually destroyed. Only a few decades ago, someone uncovered a huge mausoleum, then a gate, and then finally the ruins of an entire huge city. We got to walk around through all the old houses, temples, kitchens, baths, you name it. Something I've noticed about French historical sites and museums since I've been here, you can touch everything. If this same sit had been in America, most of it would be roped off and you would have to look from a distance, but we were walking and climbing all over, and in the museum we went to afterwards, everyone was touching the exhibits and statues. I've never seen that done before, but I guess there is just a lot of trust that people will respect the artifacts and not be intentionally damaging. We don't seem to have that same trust in the U.S. Anyway, the site was very cool. Learned a lot, my friend Florian and I crashed in the car on the way back home. Long day walking around.

Since Florian and I were so tired, we decided to go "take a coffee" as he would say. We needed a little pick me up before the evening activities began, so he, Benjamin, and I all drove downtown to a park  where the good coffee is. This park is called Longchamps, and it is one of the most beautiful parks I've ever been in. It was packed with people outside enjoying the great weather. In this park there is also a HUGE water castle (a mansion that is surrounded by giant fountains). Again, beautiful. The downtown and beach area is just eye candy. Everything just looks like a painting.

When we got to the cafe, I had my very first cup of real French coffee. I'm not usually a huge coffee drinker, but, man, if I could drink this stuff all the time, you could make a convert out of me. The way it's made, it's the perfect balance of sweet and bitter. Two thumbs up.

After we were nicely caffeinated, we went back to the church where we had rehearsal for the musical that the church is putting on. It's a musical comedy based on the story of Esther, and all the kids and many of the adults in the congregation participate in it. I was expecting for this to be like the LTC skits we put on at church, but this is a really high quality production that they put on, and everyone from the neighborhood is invited to come. Since I just got here, and they've been rehearsing for a while, I joined up with the chorus of about 8 other people. It's all in French, of course, so I'm trying to do my best with pronunciation, and it's a lot of fun. Performing the show for lots of people will be one of those pretty unforgettable experiences.

Great day. Long day. Sleepy girl.

Here Comes the Sun

To be perfectly honest, I had been feeling a little homesick ever since I left Abilene. I think it's probably because I have never taken a trip somewhere all by myself before, and it was overwhelming to think that I wouldn't get to be around the people I love for such a long time. However, the sun finally came out today, and I think it just melted those feelings of longing away. Today was blissful.

The morning began at 10 o'clock (3:00 a.m. Texas time), with church. I was feeling a little apprehensive about an entire two hour service in French, but it was actually pretty do-able. Especially at the beginning (the man who taught class was a clear speaker), I was able to catch on pretty well to what was being said. One of the missionary's daughters did a little translating for us during the lesson, and that was really helpful for making sure we were on the right track and keeping up. However, over an hour later when it was time for the sermon, my brain was so tired from translating, paying such close attention to all the words, and the speaker spoke much too quickly that I wasn't able to understand much on my own. Soon I should be able to make it through the entire service, but translating is more mentally exhausting than I was prepared for.

After church, there was a woman's devo thing that I was told I needed to go to. I usually dread women's group types of things, so then when they told me that it was three hours long, I really wasn't looking forward to it. When I got there, however, I found out that the three hours included a lunch that they served us and making me food is always a good way to soften me up. After we ate, the missionary's daughter, Esther, gave a short talk and broke us unto small discussion groups. I was in the English-speaking group with two of the other girl interns and, Katie, the missionary's wife. And the discussion that I thought might be lame ended up being a really awesome heart-to-heart between all four of us about what we want to do with our lives, our fears, our aspirations, and our dreams. We ended up getting pretty emotional and making some deep insights, thus breaking my stereotype that women's group things are lame. I'm really glad I went even though I hadn't wanted to at the beginning.

When the devo thing was over, we each went back to our respective apartments to change for an outing to the park. All of the interns and a couple of kids from the church showed up to the park, and we played an incredibly fun game of ultimate frisbee. Of course I wasn't as good as some of the guys, but I actually scored a couple of times--something I didn't know I would ever do. It felt so good to run around, stretch my legs, soak up some sun, and bond with the group. It's also nice that when playing a sport, it isn't absolutely necessary to have a whole lot of language in common to be able to communicate. I'm feeling really good about how my relationships are forming with the group at this point.

More bread and cheese for dinner tonight, and I'm hitting the hay soon because we have an all-day field trip tomorrow starting early in the morning.

Ultimate frisbee madness

Our exhausted group after the game

Our lovely group

Two of the LST interns. They're great!

"Man does not live on bread alone....but if it's a warm baguette with some brie, you'll make it a while."

The living room in my apartment

The little park downstairs (we live five stories up!)

View of Marseille from my bedroom

The big window that looks out at other apartment buildings

Crepes!! 

The wine stash at church

Another lovely day in Marseille! This morning, I woke up early and had breakfast with my roommate, Bethany. After eating some fruit and drinking a few cups of espresso, we walked over to the church.

Unfortunately, ever since I got here, it has been raining (rather hard and consistently), so we aren't able to do a lot of exploring. But that's okay for today because today was the big spring cleaning that they do a couple of times a year at the church. The church here is very poor, and they can't afford to hire anyone to clean, so they rely on volunteers and interns throughout the year. Thus, I was on my hands and knees scrubbing with sponges and rags for much the morning and afternoon. We also sorted various supplies and cleaned out cabinets. Actually, I knew I was in France for sure when I had to organize the wine shelf AT A CHURCH! Haha that's a fairly significant culture difference between here and back home. Overall, the morning was a good bonding experience for me to get to know the members of the church and missionary families.

After we finished, it was raining so hard that Bethany and I stayed for lunch with the LST interns who live in the apartment over the church. We ate leftovers from the soirée des îles from the night before, and the interns and I talked about college for a couple hours. We compared life at Pepperdine with ACU and our college experiences in general. The four LST interns (David, Hannah, Veronica, and Katrina) are super interesting, and there is much laughter when we all hang out together.

Later this afternoon, Bethany took me to get a copy of our apartment keys made, but it was closed, so we went to an ATM, and I got to go grocery shopping for the first time here. We have a cute little store right by our apartment, and it has a pretty good selection of juices, cheeses, chocolates, fruits, and sweets. For dinner when we got back, I ate a nice, hot baguette and some delicious brie cheese. I think that's one of my favorite meals. Ever. Few things in the world are better than good breads and cheeses. And now as soon as I say that, after dinner when we went back to the LST apartment, we ate crepes. Two French guys our age from the church came and taught us how to make crepes, and we put nutella, whipped cream, homemade brownies, and ice cream on them (the crepes, not the boys. Dangling modifiers can be confusing). And boy, were those some delicious crepes. I have a feeling that I'll be eating pretty well over here, and that's okay with me.

Tomorrow morning is church, so I'm really hoping that I'm not too lost in the service, and that I am able to understand a decent portion of what I'm hearing. Cheers!

Say What???

What an adventure these first few days have been!! This is my first trip to ever take by myself, and nearly every single travelers woe that could happen, did. To begin, when I got to Dallas to check in for my flight, the attendant informed me that my connecting flight had been cancelled. Uh oh! She spent the next half hour trying to book me on any last minute flights that would get me to Marseille, and finally we found a route that went through Frankfurt, Paris, and then to Marseille. Whew, crisis averted!

I ended up having quite a few hours to kill in the airport, but I had a nice time reading, writing, and wandering around. I actually met a woman who was on her way to Washington D.C. to be in a documentary about missing and exploited children because her son was kidnapped a few years ago and returned. It sounded like a really cool project, and it was nice to chat with someone for a while.

On the plane to Frankfurt, I sat next to a little girl and her dad, and we watched the new Oz movie during the flight. I think it was about 10 hours later when we landed in Germany. That airport was the absolute hardest to navigate through. I don't know if I was just being dumb or if the gates were poorly marked, but I went through security at least three times passing in and out of the terminals. I finally arrived at my gate just as they started boarding. Close call. While trying to find my terminal, I met a guy from Baylor who was also flying to Paris to live with monks for a few weeks, and our seats just happened to be next to each other on the plane. We had a nice conversation. He was a little awkward but interesting.

When I arrived in Paris, while I was waiting in line to board the plane, a very cute French guy came up to me and started talking to me in French. I apologized and told him that I didn't know what he was saying, and he responded in perfect English. He told me that he had been going to school in Indiana for the last year and a half playing for their tennis team and was now on his way home to Marseille. We talked for the next two hours, and he told me where all the good beaches were, places to visit in Marseille, and taught me a few French phrases. His name was Michael, and I really enjoyed talking with him about America, his family, and all the advice he had. When we landed, I tried to look for the people who were supposed to pick me up, and NO ONE WAS THERE. I only had one phone number for the family, and it wasn't working. Thankfully, Michael saw me wandering around and looking helpless, and he and his family took me under their wing. They took the phone number I had and called the family from their phones until someone picked up. Soon after, Emily, the missionary's daughter, came. I told them that my flight had been cancelled, but somehow the message didn't get to her. I don't know what I would have done without Michael, so I'm incredibly grateful to have met such a nice guy on the plane who was able to get me connected to my ride.

Soon after finding Emily and her friend, Maylis, we discovered that my suitcase was missing. Well, bummer. We reported it to the office there, and they said they would send it to us as soon as they found it. From there, we drove to the church. Marseille is a really beautiful place; on one side of the city, there are these huge mountains, and on the other side is the Mediterranean Sea. I'll post pictures as soon as I'm able to, but right now I can't with my limited wifi usage. At the church, I met about a jillion people, and they all spoke the fastest French I have ever heard. I was barely able to catch a few words out of entire conversations. Overwhelmed accurately describes how I felt at that moment. Also exhausted. I hadn't slept much in days by that time, so I was ready for some serious sleep.

They showed me back to my apartment where I met my two roommates, Joelle and Bethany. Joelle is from Paris and speaks mostly French, and Bethany is from New Jersey, and she is studying here for the year. Our apartment is small and many of the facilities are finicky or broken, but I love it. When I went to France with my family years ago, we stayed at this sweet old lady's house, and my apartment smells just like her kitchen did. And as soon as I got there I crashed and slept for the NEXT 19 HOURS!! I haven't slept that long in years, but I guess my body was letting me know that I hadn't slept enough lately and had some catching up to do. When I woke up the next afternoon, I helped Joelle with some cooking for the big party that was happening at the church that evening. They were hosting an island party for people in the neighborhood to come to with food, games, and conversation. I helped set up all afternoon by hanging decorations, preparing food, and just meeting everyone. I got to meet the LST students from Pepperdine, and I really liked spending time with them in their apartment. At the table to eat, I sat with one the LST girls and two men who are in Marseille working on their Phd's. Ali, from Iran, was great at speaking very slowly to me and teaching me a bunch of French phrases. Hilal, from Lebanon, was very interesting to talk to. He is the youngest of 9 boys and two girls, and he showed me how to write my name in Arabic. I talked to the two of them for at least two hours, and it was probably the most comfortable I've felt since I got there, which was a nice change from feeling so out of my element. They invited us to go to a park with them to play frisbee on Monday, so I'm also looking forward to that. I feel drastically unprepared in terms of language right now, but I'm going to work really hard to keep learning all I can. Ali told me that I should be speaking well in a month if I keep it up like I am (he also told me a have a very good accent, which was very encouraging!). So ask me this time in June if I'm speaking yet, and I'll hopefully respond in French. Good news: my suitcase arrived tonight, so I'm about to change out of the clothes I've been wearing since Wednesday and get some good sleep. The last two days really have been crazy, but I'm enjoying all of the adventure. I'll keep posting as I'm able to.