Vacation Days

For my entire summer internship over here, we get three days off. My three days off were this week from Wednesday to Friday. Now, here's how I made the most of my time for R&R.

Wednesday, I went on a little trip with my friends Catherine, Veronica, her two friends who came to visit her named Katie and Curtis, and Derek. For out little trip out of town, we decided to go to Aix-en-Provence, a provincial, university town about half an hour outside of Marseille. The way it was described to me was "It's the city you thought you were coming to when you came to Marseille." It's much smaller, quainter, and safer than Marseille. So we were excited to take the bus out there and spend the day wandering around. And that's just what we did. When we got there, we walked around and started to look for a place to eat because it was about lunch time. We decided on a cute outdoor cafe by this pretty fountain in one of the town squares. To eat, I got the most delicious crepe I've just about ever had. Now, I'm going to warn you that just by reading this next part, you might actually die of a heart attack, so be prepared. Okay, so it was a crepe, filled with both vanilla and coconut ice cream, Nutella and bananas, pear slices in a homemade dark chocolate sauce, all topped off with copious amounts of powdered sugar and whipped cream. Whew, did you make it? Haha it was absolutely incredible (I did split it with Curtis, so I hopefully only consumed 1500 of the 3000 calories!), and we stayed there at the cafe for nearly 3 hours enjoying some sun, good conversation, and delicious food.

The legendary crepe

After lunch, we walked around a little more, wandering in an out of cute shops. Provence is famous for its lavender fields, so we went around smelling various lavender lotions, sprays, and products. It was just a lovely afternoon. However, by about 4, everyone wanted to go back to Marseille to watch a soccer game. I really want to like watching soccer, but I think it's just about the most boring sport to watch, so I decided to stay in Aix---ALL BY MYSELF! Gasp! Actually, it was totally safe and not a big deal at all. I just got lost in the city and stumbled upon lots of fun things. I found myself at the university at one point, got invited to play basketball with some people, and talked to this guy from Guinea Bissau. T'was lovely. After a couple hours later, I made my way back to the bus station and came back home. Since I'm with people 24/7, I loved having a couple of hours to myself and have a little peace and quiet.

And I loved it so much that the next day, I took a little adventure to the beach by myself again. Lots of people went out of town for the break, so this was a good time for me to catch up on some alone time. I looked up where the best beaches in Marseille were, and then I found a metro and a bus that would take me there. I've always been pretty independent, but one of my favorite things is venturing out on my own in a foreign city. It's kind of thrilling in a way because I know that I have to rely on myself to get where I need to go, not just follow a group. I got to the beach around noon and I didn't leave until after 6. I just listened to music, read a book, watched kids play in the water, listened to the waves, and played in the sand for hours. Blissful.

Such a beautiful coastline

Yes, she is topless. Welcome to France.

Ouch. Regretting my limited use of sunscreen.

Friday, even though it was technically a vacation day, I went up to the church in the morning to help with some preparations that needed to be done for camp and stuff. Did lots of random manual labor tasks, and then I helped a guy named Jaques with lunch. This week, we have about 60 people coming from Colorado, California, and a couple other states to help us up at the camp. Next week, I'll be gone all week to the Alps where the camp is, and I will be doing a bunch of various tasks to fix the place up and get it ready for camp. A small group came in yesterday, so we cooked a nice lunch at the church and welcomed them here. In the evening, Derek, on of the cemistes, decided to be baptized. He was sprinkled as a baby, but he wanted to be officially baptized in the church. He's a really great guy, and we were all so happy!

AHh I ate fancy, moldy French cheese

Two of my favorite girls

Derek coming out of the water

Later that night, the day of the summer solstice, we went to the huge fete de la musique that is held in Marseille every year. It's in honor of the beginning of summer, and all over town, people come out on the streets and play music. There is also a huge stage set up in the middle of Vieux Port that is televised and had big names play at it. Of course my knowledge of French pop is limited, but I actually knew a number of the songs, and it was so much fun being in a huge crowd with lots of cheering fans. I love that environment. Beautiful, relaxing weekend off.

Palaces, Cyclists, and Lots and Lots of Food

Yet another busy week in the great lands of France!

Field trip!!! On Wednesday, instead of having regular Bible class, we went on a field trip to Avignon. And if you remember your history, when the popes had a big split with Rome, they moved their palace to Avignon. So we got to visit a huge, beautiful castle where nine generations of popes lived. We got those great little audio guide things for our tour, and I absolutely love having those on tours. I always learn a lot and end up getting a lot more out of the tour than I would have without it. They always find interesting facts to tell you, and since I'm kind of nerdy with my interest in history, I think it's great.

Also, there was a modern art exhibit that was temporarily set up there, and I really enjoyed it. However, everyone I was with said that it was terrible art, obscene, and stupid. Either the French don't like modern art, or I just like really bad art. Hmm, I hope it's not the latter.

Then, after a lovely picnic lunch in the park, we drove to an old monastery that was build in the Middle Ages. We got another cool tour around and got a cool look at what life was like for people back then. Being there felt like I was living the book Pillars of the Earth. If you haven't read it, read it. You'll fall in love with cathedrals. We even sang for a while in the cathedral (we had a little crowd gather to listen to our impromptu jam sesh) because the acoustics were just spectacular. Super, super fun day. Field trips never disappoint.

The palace at Avignon

This week, we also had the last LST party. Sob. It was a talent show, and all of our friends from countries all over the world performed their various tricks and talents. We had singing, dancing, poetry readings (in English and Persian), and magic tricks. My friend, Hilal, split an apple in half with his hands for his trick. He may, in fact, be the strongest person I know. So cool. It was hard to say goodbye to some of our friends, but this has just been the best experience ever, and I'm so blessed to have met them all.

All of our LST group

After the party, we left for the weekend to a city named Ardeche. Lots of us from the church went because there was a big event this weekend called the Ardeschoise. Now, I'm sure you've heard of the Tour de France, well, the Ardeschoise is basically a lesser known version of that. It's a huge 2,000 km bike race through the Alps with over 18,000 participants every year. It's a huge deal, and cities all around Ardeche decorate and have festivals all weekend in honor of the race. And we also got to be a part of the race. In the 90's, the church here bought an old ski resort in the mountains and converted it into a retreat center where we have camp every summer. And this center is located on the route for the Ardechoise bike race, so this weekend we housed and cooked for nearly 200 of the cyclists. It was such a fun experience getting to see these men and women from all over and getting to spend the weekend in the mountains. I was on kitchen duty this weekend, so I cooked and cooked and cleaned and cooked like a mad woman. We served a huge feast for them (apparently biking a couple hundred miles every day helps you work up an appetite), and it was such a good experience for me. I work in the kitchen with a lady named Patricia and her husband Fred, and although both speak a small amount of English, basically, I was forced to speak French the whole weekend. Because speaking is so difficult, it's hard to force myself to speak it when I know that I can get away with speaking English to my friends, but this weekend, I had no choice, and it was great! I'm also going to be woking in the kitchens during camps, so I know that I'll learn a lot those two weeks too. Also, working in the kitchen means I get lots of tasty treats--a nice reward for all our hard work and for being forced to wear hair nets, which are just not cute! ;)

Rockin' our kitchen accessories

Sooooo many baguettes!!! The French really love their bread. 

Then, when we got back after the weekend, I went with a couple friends to the beach where I FINALLY learned how to skip stones. Okay, I realize that this isn't a big deal, but I've been trying to learn for probably 10 years now, and I've never been able to do it. But I was taught the correct technique, and I did it! Multiple times!! Simple pleasures.

Sunday, we had a family from church over for lunch and I made creme brulee for dessert. Actually, it was basically just creme because it didn't brulee very well since I didn't have a fancy fire torch thing. But it was still yummy! And then that evening, I invited over a couple of my friends to eat a (mostly) authentic Tex-Mex meal. I spent all afternoon making homemade tortillas, guacamole, pico de gallo, beans, rice, and other assorted goodies. We had sooo much food, and it all turned out great! Tacos are a total comfort food for me, so it felt like home to get some spicy Mexican flavor.

The family we had over to our apartment for lunch

And this whole week is a week of tests. For the cemistes, they are taking their exams for the CEM program, and all the French students are taking their Baccalaureate exams for graduating school. It's a huge deal here, so they have been busy studying in preparation. I had my last day of French class today, and tomorrow begins our first day of vacation. We have three days off all summer and they are this Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Tomorrow, we are going to Aix-en-Provence, and then we'll see what the rest of the week holds for us. And this is going to be a great rest from the hustle and bustle of life we've been overwhelmed with lately.

I've almost been here a month!! What?!

Aye aye aye!! It has been way too long since I've posted, but I was sort of sick this week. I haven't been feeling 100%, but I'm finally better now, so here's my update from the last week. 

Yet another busy, fun, exhausting, challenging, lovely week. Like always, I went to Bible classes, devos, and French classes every day, but we had a couple extra events this week that were very cool.

On Thursday, we had another LST party, and this one was 80's themed. We taught everyone how to do a variety of "American" dances like the "Cupid Shuffle," "Cha Cha Slide," "Macarena," "The Harlem Shake," and Michael Jackson's "Thriller." I think everyone had a really great time, and it's cool that something like dancing completely breaks the language barrier. When everyone is dancing together, it doesn't matter that we all come from different backgrounds and speak different languages--in that moment, we are united. Dancing is such a cool thing we've found to do because it really allows everyone to participate in something together.

LST friends!

Cooking crepes

Dancing to Thriller!!

This week, we also went back to the nursing home. I spent time with a woman named Madame Ransbotyn who could only say "Oui." I kid you not, in the multiple hours that I was there, she only said that one word over and over, but she was sweet and loved petting my skin. I know it's a small thing for us, but for people who don't have any visitors and much human contact, just getting to talk to and touch someone is actually a huge deal. And the language barrier isn't a problem at all with them. I can talk and talk away while I push them around outside in their wheelchair, and they're having a great time even if I'm saying complete nonsense. Good times at the nursing home.

My lovely friend

Another person we go visit every week is a woman named Odette. She has lived at the hospital here in town for two years now, and CEM students take turns visiting her nearly every day. We go and sing songs, talk, or read the Bible with her, and it's great to keep her in good spirits. She's probably in her 90's, and I just can't even imagine what it would be like to live in a hospital, so I'm happy for her that she's plugged in with our group and gets consistent visitors.

Praying with Odette

And now this part is for my dad specifically because he loves track and field, but last night, I went to watch my friend Benjamin run in a track meet. He is part of a club here in Marseille that competes with people from nearby provinces, and he's quite fast. He runs the 100M dash, so we got to watch him compete against people from all over. I love being at track meets and in that environment, so I was more than happy to go and cheer him on yesterday. After the race, I met his team mates, and we all got dinner together afterwards. And by dinner, I mean that we drove out to the Marseille airport to go eat at the Burger King there. I wish I was kidding, but here, Burger King is a huge treat and treated like a delicacy. They told me that there is only one Burger King in all of France (lots of McDonalds, however), and it just so happens to be in the Marseille airport. We all got our American fix.
(In the video, Benjamin is the one in blue)

This week our neighbors from Algeria invited us over for a huge feast. They are probably the most generous and hospitable people I have ever met, and they are always inviting us over and cooking us incredible food. They live in the church compound and are very involved in the church. Khaled and Djigika had so much food prepared: grilled fish, shrimp, paella, chicken, homemade bread, soup, olives, grilled veggies, wine, mousse, and fresh cherries. They are such a sweet family (they have three kids aged 11, 9, and 6, and Djigika is pregnant with their 4th), and we have been so blessed by their hospitality. Even though I wasn't feeling great this week, my great support system here has taken care of me and made sure that I was doing okay.

Even though I'm not eating meat these days, I had to admit that this looked pretty delicious. 

Weekend Update with Katie Cukrowski

Here's my update from the weekend:

Since I'm still not very confident speaking to people in French yet, I have a hard time talking to new people. However, Friday afternoon I learned how to get around that. We went back to the nursing home, but this time we went to the Alzheimer's unit, and this was perfect. I decided that even if I made a huge fool of myself speaking, it was totally okay because they weren't going to remember it anyway. This was my time to just go for it, and I did. I talked to a woman named Michelle for over an hour, and it was so great. She was so happy just to have someone sit with her, hold her hand, and ask her questions. Even though she could hardly remember anything (even her age and where she was sometimes), I still loved getting to ask her about her life and her day. I'm definitely going back there again.

Later that night, we had the dress rehearsal for the church musical. I mostly just helped with costumes and did backstage assistance with costume changes and stuff. After the practice, we went to what was called an FOI meeting, and it's where churches of all dominations from all over town get together and pray for unity amongst the churches both in Marseille and the larger world. The ABSOLUTE coolest part of the night was when a man read the Lord's Prayer in Aramaic (he's one of the only few who still speaks the language). I just closed my eyes while he read (and sang parts) and pretended like it was Jesus reading to me because that's the language he would have spoken. His words were really impactful for me.

That night, I went with a couple of my friends for a drive, and we drove to Notre-Dame de la Garde, which is a huge basilica on the top of a mountain in the middle of the city. It's a really cool building, and the view from up there is just spectacular. We looked at the city lights and talked for hours. I'm so blessed to have such amazing friends here!

Saturday morning, I spent hours and hours doing preparation work for the musical that night. We worked long and hard cooking, setting up, and getting all the last minute details in order. For lunch, Florian and Benjamin cooked for me at their apartment, and we hung out with the other cemistes and listened to music. I love having French friends because they cook SO well. Florian's aunt owns a boulongerie, so he grew up making pastries and French breads his whole life. He's going to teach me how to cook later this week, and I'll let you know how it turns out.

At 8:30, the musical began. The kids in the play were absolutely adorable in their costumes, singing and dancing. I think people really enjoyed it, and I was surprised by the turn out (we had over 100 people come!).

Kids singing in the musical

And back to great French food, after the play, there was a reception in the church. Man, back home, a reception means a couple of plates of cookies or something, but we had a feast! Homemade tarts, quiches, pastries, chocolates, and breads. The abundance of beautiful foods was overwhelming, and we were stuffed by the end of the night. It's hard to say no when people keep offering you yummy desserts. Offering tasty treats is also a good way to get people from the neighborhood to come to the play. Since any organized religion is looked down on in France, the best thing that the church can do here is just show that they're normal, nice people and help their image in that way.

AMAZING apple tart

Tarts with the new intern, Catherine

Sunday, we had the preacher's family (wife and three kids) to our house for lunch. Man, those kids were really crazy, but we ate a good meal. Bethany, Joelle, and I made salad, Irish soda bread, shepherd's pie, and crepes for dessert. We ate very, very well. And immediately after the family let, we went to have another picnic. We played soccer and frisbee again with our group of interns.

Joelle's amazing crepes

In the evening, the cemistes sometimes have meals together. For this meal, we went out on the balcony at Esther's apartment, and had a good meal surrounded by good friends. And afterward, we had out own version of French-American idol/Karaoke. It was absolutely hilarious, and I wish I had the video of me singing, so I could post it on here. I'll see if I can't get it from someone. Anyway, it was a fun evening with my intern friends.