Living and Learning

Hi again. Not much to say in the way of introduction that I haven’t said before. If you want to know what I did today (11/20/12), it was mostly lesson planning, as I do on most Tuesdays, and figuring out what I would bring to the Thanksgiving potluck sponsored by the Fulbright Alumni Association that I’m attending on Thursday night. [No, Thanksgiving does not exist here. Think back to elementary school when you talked about “Pilgrims and Indians.” Do you notice a certain socio-historical context that’s specific to the United States ;) Yes, some other countries have their own versions of the holiday, but France is not one of them. So I’ve got my standard 12-hour work week ahead of me. But, hey, I’m not complaining. I could have a real job…]

Sorry I couldn’t write more, but tomorrow I’ve got to be at work out in the suburbs at 8 am, which means waking up crazy early. Enjoy.

Peace and love, Morgann 

P.S. As I told you in the last post, it's much faster for me NOT to integrate the photos alongside (to the right and left of) the text. Sorry if that annoys you, but I'm trying to expedite this process as much as possible.

Sunday, November 4 – Loquacious old men + Small world after all + Trip planning to that B-city

Intersection where Baptist church is located; blue sign points to it

Pan right from above photo to look at church building, which is shared by multiple congregations

The front door

The sign next to the front door indicating that the "worship service" (it's not a cult) is held at 10:30 on Sundays; the other text is for the other congregations in the building

The blue sign as seen on my way out; the church is part of the Federation of French Baptist Churches, so they get a road sign like many of the Catholic churches

·         Slept in a little, so no sammie (“sandwich”) packed for inter-church walk, but not needed due to hearty buffet provided at Baptist church every 1^st Sunday after service, apparently: “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19, New International Version). This was the first 1^st Sunday on which I was able to stay after service and experience this potluck event, which I was allowed to participate in even though I had shown up empty-handed. They were forgiving :)
·         Lesson at Church 1: Don’t be afraid to ask God the right questions (from John 14:1-6 when Thomas asks the way to what Jesus calls “my Father’s house”). During the meal, the father of the girl I’m tutoring – they’re of Haitian origin by the way – asked me if the hurricane in the U.S. had affected my family and then brought up the U.S. election that would occur that week. Two older, Eastern European men in the congregation then tried to talk to me on a theoretical level about American politicians, but I got kind of lost in the French. And you know how older people can be even in your native tongue ;) (I mentioned the ethnic origins of these congregants because I think I already told you that this church prides itself on being located in France but not having any (?) members who are actually from France.)

Saw some tourist boats (bâteaux-mouches) on my inter-church walk

Also the lines at the Musée d'Orsay were outta control cuz the museums are free on the 1st Sunday of each month

·         As I speed-walked to Church 2 after having been detained for a little too long by these loquacious old men (can I get bonus vocab points for that?) and after having paused for photo opps, I heard someone come alongside me and greet me in French. It was one of the American girls I’d roomed with at the retreat in Houlgate who was also headed to the contemporary service at the American Church in Paris! Instant pew buddy :) As we walked in, she asked about my plans for the 2^nd week of my 2-week vacation, and I tried to tell her the name of the place I was leaning toward visiting at that point. However, I ended up uttering the name of another city in France that starts with a “b” – Bourgogne – which is nowhere near where I was thinking of going – Bordeaux. Whoops…I guess that goes to show you how little of a grasp I really have on French geography, in spite of introduction that I had to the subject in my Business French class in Spring 2012.
·         Felt at peace singing out-of-my-comfort-zone, contemporary (guitar, band) worship songs at Church 2: “There is no one else for me / None but Jesus / Crucified to set me free / Now I live to bring Him praise” (“None but Jesus,” Brooke Fraser [Hillsong]). Message on Mark 12:28-34 (scribe’s question to Jesus about greatest commandment) ended up being about inclusivity in the church. From my notes: “Don’t be so arrogant to think that you know God/how to love your neighbor; Jesus always positioned Himself as a Rabbi in diverse crowds to listen to diff. viewpoints then present His ideas. 41,000 denoms. … Jesus said “build my church” (sing.) = more inclusive vision of Christian comm.”
·         Signed up for Thanksgiving round 2 during coffee time, where I met new young people from Korea, Tanzania, England, and Martinique. The girls from Korea and Tanzania were freaking out because they had attended school together in Namibia (?!) and were now reconnecting in France. The latter guy had a relative in Atlanta so he had lived near Morehouse for a while! Don’t you just love how small the world is?
·         Stopped just shy of my residence hall on the metro in order to take a picture of the theater where I’d seen Sister Act a while back since I realized I didn’t have a photo of the exterior and wanted one (already included that photo in the post titled “All Work and No Play? I Think Not!”). Decided to take some more photos while I was in the area before walking the rest of the way back to my stomping grounds.

Trinity Church in the 9th arrondissement

Random sidewalk café

Ad for a movie about Kirikou on the back of a bus; we watched one of these movies in my FREN 3010H class at UGA!

The street that the theater was on

Street alongside the church with bank in the foreground

Sale! 50% off!

Then I saw wedding dresses and was curious to know how much they cost in chic Paris

First I saw the necklace price of 95 euros. (Had to look up "sautoir" but it's also a type of necklace.)

There's a gown price up top

This one's a little better

I think this is the actual gown that corresponds to the price directly above it. But I didn't want to stick around too long taking photos in this window (the shop was closed btw cuz it was Sunday) for fear that passers-by would think I was a desperate wanna-be bride. I really was just curious since I've watched my fair share of TLC wedding shows.

·         Organized a list of the 22 regions of metropolitan France by population and their capitals so I could get an idea of where all I wanted to go during my time here and saved my pics from the ACP retreat from my camera to my computer before dinner just cuz I realized I was running a big risk walking around with those hundreds of irreplaceable photos on my memory card with no backup.
·         Not feeling so hot during dinner (still getting over my cold at this point) but nodded politely as a kitchenmate told me about places where I could buy American food in Paris, including candy corn. (She’s spent time in the States, so she knows what’s up because she got hooked on certain items like M&M’s over there and has to be able to buy them in France.)
·         Sat downstairs in the common room where the good Internet signal is and planned a trip to Bordeaux for a couple of hours: train ticket, place to stay for 2 nights, walking tour of the city. Had a gospel music playlist from YouTube cranked up to keep me in the zone. Surprised I didn’t start singing along.
·         Blogged + brief Mallory chat on Skype, which actually worked in my room, until I was too hungry to type anymore on the blog or the chat and needed a midnight cereal snack. (Sorry, Mallory. She was distracted by her homework anyway.) Finished my blog entry, but felt like my right hand was going to fall off. And it was like 3 am by the time I posted the entry and went to bed. How did my brain override all logical indicators that it was time to go to bed and decide that blogging was more important? I don’t know. But you live and you learn, I guess.