You shouldn't eat me because...

It's finally Thanksgiving!! I have been talking about Thanksgiving in my classes for almost 2 weeks now. In one of the activities, I had the students imagine that they were turkeys and they had to tell me why I should eat their neighbor and not them for Thanksgiving. Some classes did not seem to have fun with the activity, but others were fantastic! Here are some of the highlights.

"You shouldn't eat me because I'm not really a turkey. I'm a duck in a turkey costume."

"You should eat my neighbor because he does not work out and cannot run fast and is easy to catch."

"You shouldn't eat me because I am too beautiful."

"You shouldn't eat me because you already ate my parents and that's not fair."

"You should eat my neighbor because he is easy to pluck."

"You should eat my neighbor because she is already suicidal and will go quietly."

"You shouldn't eat me because I am sick."

"You should eat my neighbor because he is juicy and delicious."

"You shouldn't eat me because I have a large family to take care of and pets that need me."

Happy Thanksgiving!!

From France with love

Do you speak English?

It is hard to believe that just a week ago I was on my way back from Paris. I went to a great blues concert Saturday night, which was a good way to end vacation. It's amazing to how quickly I fell back into a routine here in Roussillon.  And now that classes have started again, vacation feels like forever ago. But in that time, I have mused some more over my first visit to the city of lights. I really had a great time and saw a lot things, but the thing that really stuck with me was my experiences, both first-hand and as an observer, that dealt with language. And being the organized person that I am, I have come up with 3 specific examples (or maybe that's just a habit left over from grad school).

The first, and by far funniest examples, happened in the hostel where I stayed. It's France, so I never wanted to assume that anyone spoke English, even though many do. I don't want to be that American that just assumes everyone speaks English, so I always started conversations in French and then shifted when necessary. But Paris is also the center of international tourism. The day I went to the Place de la Concorde, I was the only white person surrounded by several, older, Asian tourists. But how do you start a conversation with someone, when you have no idea what languages they speak? I'm not the only one who struggled with that idea. The funniest time I witnessed this was at the hostel. One morning at breakfast, a woman went to sit down across from another woman and they exchanged pleasantries in French, simply saying "bonjour" to each other. About a minute went by and one of the women leaned over and said hesitantly "Do you speak English?" and the other responded,  with a sigh and laugh of relief, "Yes, I'm Australian." At this, they started a nice conversation that continued well after I left the room. I suppose if I was more of an extrovert, I would never have those awkward silences, but I do and the experiences are still funny.

The 2nd example is the opposite of the first. At the tourist sites (Eiffel Tour, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame) rather than finding out what languages people speak, no one cares. Asking someone to take your picture is like a smile, the same in every language. All you do is point and hand your camera to someone with a smile and they do it willingly. I took multiple pictures for people and had them take pictures of me. Sometimes they just happen to speak English, others French, and others I have no idea. But the amount of cooperation and understanding between tourists, no matter what nationality, was really intriguing to watch.

The last example was the church I attended Sunday. I went to Hillsong Paris, which for those that don't know, Hillsong is a megachurch in Australia that has started to expand internationally. They write a lot of popular worship songs. So beyond the fact that Reuben Morgan helped lead worship, the coolest part of the service was the fact that it was entirely bilingual. Everything was in both French and English. They alternated which language was used to lead the worship songs, although both languages were also on the screen and sung around me. There was an interpreter for everything spoken, translating every couple of sentences. Logistically  it was really well done, and I'm sure sometimes a nightmare. But how does a church function when some of its members can't communicate with others? I'm not sure how many people are in the church, but there are 2 services and the theater holds over 800. It obviously works, or else the church wouldn't be growing. I would enjoy talking to some of their staff to see how they make it work outside of the weekly service.

On a side note...I love worshiping in French. I don't know if it's just because I think about the words more, but it's amazing. And while I don't love everything Hillsong does, my experience at Hillsong Paris demonstrates to me that they understand that the Kingdom has no national borders. Hearing scripture, a sermon, and worship in French reiterates to me that Christianity is not an American thing, but a global thing that encompasses different languages, cultures, and styles of worship and connects people across oceans and mountains, from every corner of the earth. And that my friends, is an encouraging and awe inspiring idea.

From Roussillon with love. 

Paris...

Paris...

I have sat here now for almost 20 minutes thinking of what to write. I'm still digesting Paris and what it means to be here, so a more comprehensive explanation of my trip will come later. But I wanted to write a post while I was still in Paris so I could truly sign off with "From Paris with love."

Here are some quick highlights:
~a fantastic cache-cache experience with new friends, where God told me to simply embrace the joie de vivre that I have been experiencing all weekend. (Learn more about cache-cache here http://cachecache-experience.com/)
~seeing the hidden art galleries, and "off the beaten trail" roads in Marais during cache-cache
~seeing the sunset over the city and behind the Eiffel Tower (see my facebook page)
~watching the Eiffel Tower twinkle on my first night here
~walking along the Seine
~mastering the use of the Paris Metro
~worshiping this morning at Hillsong Paris church. The bilingual experience was very cool and Reueben Morgan happened to be visiting this week and helped lead worship. I have never attended a church with such expectation in it's service. I could, and might, write a whole blog about this service, because it touched me spiritually, but also the logistical stuff was just cool too.
~visiting the Sacre-Coeur at night. There were beautiful views overlooking the city outside and then I listened to the end of mass and prayed inside.

Overall, I'm amazing at the sheer size and grandeur of everything. I haven't really gotten the chance to visit the inside of places (some will happen tomorrow) and I'm not doing museums this trip since I get an educational pass from my school's secretary and get in for free. But everything is so big!!! I've seen pictures of Notre-Dame and the Louvre for years and I knew they were big, but I am still just continually overwhelmed by the grandeur and size of these old buildings. And the size of the city in general. What looks like a 5 minute walk on the map is probably closer to 10 or 15.

I have another day and half here and it will be loaded with stuff, including seeing the inside of Notre-Dame and finally doing close-ups of the Arc de Triomphe and Eiffel Tour. I must "profiter de" Paris.

From Paris with love :)

My Introspective Realization

As I'm sitting here, eating my dinner of fried rice, I realized something. Okay, I didn't just realize it, but I wanted a way to share that I'm eating a lot of Chinese food, mainly fried rice and homemade of course. I love the irony in my life. :)

But I really did realize something this week. I miss touching people. I know that sounds really bad, so let me say it in a more sophisticated way. I really miss physical interaction with other people, or really anything living for matter (aka my dogs). I'm used to kissing my husband good morning or cuddling at night before we go to sleep, but it's even more than that. I'm used to hugging my family and friends almost whenever I see them. There was an abundance of hugging before I left. I'm used to cuddling with my dogs or petting them while I watch tv. I had all kinds of physical interaction on a daily basis.

And now I don't. The French don't hug, and I don't really know anyone here well enough to hug them anyway. While my good girlfriends would cuddle with me, probably without me even having to ask, I'm not going to ask my roommates to do that. First of all, that would just be kind of weird, even for me. But second, that kind of interaction just would not take place here. So for the last 5 weeks, the most physical interaction that I have had was an old man trying to kiss me Tuesday (see the previous post). I've exchanged the bises with a handful of people and shaken a lot of hands, but that's it.

I'm sure there are several factors as to why I am realizing this now. The first is probably that I am on vacation and don't really have anything to do but be introspective. The second is that one of my roommate's boyfriend is here. It's not like there is too much PDA; they are very respectful of me being here. But they do hold hands or cuddle while we all three watch a movie, and it has made me realize how much I miss having a physical interaction with something living. I don't know how many dogs I saw Tuesday in Valence and I wanted to cuddle with and pet every single one. Maybe soon I can corner one of the stray cats that lives around the school and pet it too my heart's content and then the problem will be solved, but that's probably not the best idea.

In other random news, last Friday I had another dinner with some teachers. A few of us went a little early to Vienne to walk around and have some drinks before dinner. I had a great, sweet German white wine. And then my dinner included snails, which I apparently love! So that was fun. This weekend should also be the remedy for whatever ails me since I'm going to Paris for a few a days! I leave tomorrow morning and will be back Tuesday. A former professor from Anderson emailed me a neat spiritual experience that is taking place this weekend so I decided to go. So even though I am going by myself, I will be with people Saturday and Sunday and then will have 2 days to walk around and see things before I come back. I'm a little nervous but really excited!

From Roussillon (and soon Paris, eek!!) with love