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.

I finally went home....

The Great Hall 

 Probably the most magical day of my life. Why? Well, technically I went to the Harry Potter Studio Tour in London, but as far as I’m concerned, I went to Hogwarts! We were at the Warner Brothers Studio where all the props, costumes, and sets for all 8 Harry Potter movies are kept. Stacy and I were the biggest Harry Potter fans by far, and I literally cried when I stepped into the great hall. It was so overwhelming to actually be in the place that I’ve seen and read about for the last thirteen years. Maybe tears were not the right reaction, but I have no shame. My word, we saw so many amazing things—Hermione’s Yule Ball dress, Hagrid’s hut, Diagon Alley, the Chamber of Secrets, the Griffindor Common Room, the Weasley’s Burrow, Dumbledore’s Office, Dobby, Buckbeak, Death Eater costumes, the Knight Bus, and so much more. I even stood on number 4 Privet Drive and drank a butterbeer!! I also rode a broomstick in front of a green screen, so that it looked like I was flying over Hogwarts! Absolutely amazing. We learned so many tricks of the trade for movies and how much work goes into a production. For example in movie 5, it took a team of 31 people an entire year to create the two minute sequence with the inferi. It’s completely nuts how much work goes into every piece of the thing. But in the last room, we saw the Hogwarts Castle. It was so weird how I walked into the room, and it felt like I was home. Hogwarts is home. I am now going to upload an obscene number of pictures (still a small fraction of how many I took) so that you can see the sets for yourself! I could probably talk about this for hours, so if you want to know more--just ask! 

Can you tell that I'm excited?

The Yule Ball costumes

I saw myself in the Mirror of Erised....I wonder
what that means?

Harry and Ron's room

The Gryffindor Common Room

I'm flying!!

Chamber of Secrets entrance

Butterbeer--Don't worry; it's non-alcoholic,
study abroad office

The Weasley's

In the Weasley's car

At #4 Privet Drive

In Diagon Alley

I'm home!!

Emma Watson's and Daniel Radcliffe's hands

I want to go to Hogwarts!!!

Mayday

Mayday is a celebration to welcome in the beginning of summer that has been going on since the 1200's, and I got to attend it in 2012. Unfortunately, the festivities begin at 6 a.m., so I got up at 4:30 in order to make it downtown by the time it started. There were thousands of people in city center outside of this church. Most (or at least many) people were drunk because the clubs celebrate Mayday all night before the 6 o'clock service. However, once the service started, everyone sang along with the boys' choir. These were songs to welcome in summer and thank the Earth. Mayday was definitely a pagan celebration before the church adopted it. Some people came in costume, and other people were Morris dancers who dance for Mayday every year. Once the service was over, I went back home, showered, slept, and went to volunteer for the last time at Christ Church. Many goodbye hugs and kisses were exchanged when I left, and it was harder than I thought to leave. Those women are so sweet, and I won't forget their kindness for a long while. After I left volunteering, I went home.

The women I work with

On the Harry Potter steps

But right down the street from our houses was a Mayday celebration happening. I went over to take a video of the Morris dancers, and while I was standing out there, a little old man came over to talk to me. He told me a little bit about the dancing, and then pulled me into a pub to talk to me more. The pub was packed full of Morris dancers who were drinking to their heart's content, but as soon as I walked in, they thought I was the coolest thing since The Beatles. They wanted to know everything about Texas and how I liked living in England and all the travels I'd done. In return, they told me all about being dancers, English culture, and I heard many of their life stories. The best thing was when they sang old folk songs about legendary English heroes over their pints of ale. It was a random thing, but I ended up staying there for almost three hours. I just loved seeing real people celebrating this event that they've been a part of for 50 or 60 years. This was probably one of the most cultural experiences I've had all semester because of how real everyone was. I will absolutely never forget my Mayday time--I felt like I was on set for a movie. It felt like a pub from Waking Ned Divine. If you've never seen that movie, please do. As far as I'm concerned, I was in it. 

In my Mayday hat