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.