Favorite little things in France right now (5 months in)

Frozen pain au chocolat 

(they are the best warm from the toaster oven)

Christmas markets (I loved them)

Ancient buildings in Paris, every detail was thought 

through and it really is just breathtaking

Parc de Sceaux: We’ve actually only been once but 

it is an enormous public park nearby that is stunning

Just walking the streets of Paris

The pride the French take in the little things, the cheese 
you want to select, or the flowers you are looking at. 
They want to tell you all about it, and hopefully soon 
I will understand more of what they’re trying to tell me!

Every day that there is a clear blue sky or a little sun is a gift

The Eurasian Magpie birds we see everyday

Associatons: I love that everyone is in some sort 

of club, people seem eager to learn new skills or 

improve existing ones. 

Singing at church. I thought it would be a long time 
before we could engage in worship, but we are understanding 
and genuinely worshipping through most of the music 
which encourages us every week.

4 and half months & homesick

I kind of feel bad when people ask me how I’m doing or feeling lately because usually it is either really good, really bad, or I have no idea how I’m feeling and doing. And after a while I start to feel silly because one week I’m great and the next week I’m struggling again. And Ryan and I are usually going through different hills and valleys so we are supportive of one another but not always experiencing the same things in the same way. 

But this week has felt a little different. I have had more pangs of homesickness than ever, thinking about family and friends, our old stomping grounds, jobs, and what not. Admittedly, I have just started crying several times this week without warning and without external reason. Everything is going fine, nothing is particularly hard at the moment, but for some reason I am grieving leaving home right now. Seems like it should’ve happened sooner than this but maybe not, at first things are new and exciting. Ryan did note that we’ve been here for 4.5 months now, and it is longer than I have ever been out of the United States. Each day is a new record. And I think the weight of our commitment is sinking in. We feel sure that we are going to be here for a long time. Not just a year or two. So that reality is hitting home now I think. 

So I really am doing fine (in case you’ve asked or are worried), I am trying to allow myself to walk through the emotions that come and not avoid them or overanalyze them. But it is another week already, so maybe this week will be different too.

The First Step: Purifying the Soul

I got Ryan several books for Christmas, and we started reading one of them together called An introduction to the devout life by Saint Francis De Sales. It is an old classic and sometimes the writing is a little flowery, so much so, that sometimes I read whole chapters without knowing what in the world it is talking about, but it is getting easier to follow and the chapters are very short which is nice. 

Yesterday’s chapter was called “The First Step: Purifying the Soul.” Here are a few of my favorite quotes from this section that are encouraging to me as I attempt to change some habits in my life, and I hope they encourage you as well.

“Before the captive maiden can be engaged to the Israelite, she was obliged to shave her head and pare her nails (Deut 21:12), and so the soul which aspires to be the bride of Christ must put off the old man, and forsaking sin, be clothed with the new man, pairing away and shaving off any hindrances which come between it and the love of God.”

I like the idea of the maiden shaving her head and pairing her nails as an act of preparation. First she had to be clean, before she could even be presented. In the same way, the first step (or preparation) I take when I want to change something is reflection and repentence. First, I have to take the time to see the way I am living my life. Then I need to confess my shortcomings and errors to God and ask for his grace to move forward differently. 

“Such purifications are a miracle of grace. Ordinary purification and healing, whether of body or soul, are accomplished by little and little, progressing slowly and often hardly at all.”

This is my favorite part, because it really challenges the whole notion of instant gratification that so many people, myself included, can fall prey too. 

Then it goes on to say that we must be patient and courageous, not falling into either the trap of instant discouragement at slow progress (this is me), or the trap of believing you’ve already arrived. And I would add a third trap to be on the look out for, which is, believing the illusion that it is you who needs to (or even can) fix yourself. The key is to move closer to God (little by little), because he is the only one who can help. His love and his grace are what can renew and change us from the inside out. 

Just as it says above… “Such purifications are a miracle of grace,” they are not natural, but supernatural. So if you can, reflect on and thank God today for all the ways he has already changed you and ask that he would continue the work he has begun in you. 

Happy New Year everyone!

The first step of a new year

I am excited for a fresh start in 2014. Because I know that even though I am a follower of Jesus, I am a sinner every day. There is the saying (I don’t know from where, sorry… ), that whatever we feed in our lives will grow, not just our bellies, but every habit in our lives, whether good or bad. We are never staying exactly the same, we are always either shrinking or growing in every area of our lives. And for a while now I have been feeding a few of the wrong habits, like:

Food: One of the ways I am coping with culture shock is baking constantly (in my tiny toaster oven, which I know is funny to imagine but it’s true) and then eating way too much of what I bake, so starting today we are going to stop feeding ourselves as much bad and more of what is good again. I have realized that food is actually one of my biggest passions and joys in life, which is not bad, but I have to be careful that it doesn’t consume me or ever become an idol in my life. 

Exercise: With a smaller living space, no more gym to go to, and colder days, I have not been moving enough, so today I am starting to work on this too. Not to lose weight, but to be stronger and healthier (in all ways). I still don’t have a great strategy, so pray for that, because those first three barriers are still present.

Learning: I actually love to read and learn, but this is not a habit I feed nearly as much as I would like too. It’s probably because I’m always baking or cooking. So I want to learn to carve out more space in my life for learning and experiencing new things. 

Prayer life: This is the hardest one to freely admit but it is true and I know others can relate so I will share it. My prayer life has been really struggling lately, I know because as I look through my prayer journal, there are several weeks or sometimes whole months missing. I am not sure why, and I am tempted to blame culture shock, or spiritual warfare, or anything else, but the true blame rests with me. God is always present and it is just me he is waiting for to show up. So I am working on that too. 

I will post part two to this tomorrow, because I don’t want it to be so long I bore you all to tears. But have a happy new year and come back tomorrow to read part two. 

Merry Christmas

We went to Strasbourg this past weekend, which is the “Capital of Christmas” (self-proclaimed, I’m assuming). The city gets all decked out for Christmas with lights, garland, and all sorts of decorations. It also hosts markets the entire month of December that sell spiced cookies, mulled wine, books, toys, German food, and almost anything you could think of really. We had a great time wandering the narrow cobblestone streets and taking it all in. Here are some pictures if you’re curious.

Strasbourg was a part of Germany until after World War I.
Now it’s French, but many buildings have a German feel.

Decorations, people, and the Cathedral in the background. 

A more imposing view of the Cathedral. 

Erin would take a picture of every single bakery if I let her.

A stand in one of the markets.

Another stand.

The streets at night. 

More streets at night.

Us (just to prove we were there). 

Thankful hearts and stomachs

Happy Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving is not celebrated in France, however we've been blessed to have had two Thanksgivings so far (and we'll probably have a modest one just the two of us today). We celebrated with our colleagues a few weeks ago and yesterday with our fellow classmates who are also learning French. I just wanted to share a few photos from yesterday and also a hymn we sang at our team Thanksgiving I really enjoyed the lyrics to. 

May you have a special day as you reflect on all the ways God has provided and blessed your life and of course enjoy all the good eats. 

Getting set-up 

Lovely ladies making the final preparations 

I had fun explaining what some things were to people from other countries.
This photo captures our friend eying the sweet potato casserole
(which was the weirdest but most delicious thing to them). 

Ryan almost ready for seconds

The grand finale, yes please...

Come, Ye Thankful People, Come

Come, ye thankful people, come, 

raise the song of harvest home; 

all is safely gathered in, 

ere the winter storms begin. 

God our Maker doth provide 

for our wants to be supplied; 

come to God's own temple, come, 

raise the song of harvest home. 

All the world is God's own field, 

fruit as praise to God we yield; 

wheat and tares together sown 

are to joy or sorrow grown; 

first the blade and then the ear, 

then the full corn shall appear; 

Lord of harvest, grant that we 

wholesome grain and pure may be. 

For the Lord our God shall come,

and shall take the harvest home; 

from the field shall in that day 

all offenses purge away, 

giving angels charge at last 

in the fire the tares to cast; 

but the fruitful ears to store 

in the garner evermore. 

Even so, Lord, quickly come,

bring thy final harvest home; 

gather thou thy people in, 

free from sorrow, free from sin, 

there, forever purified, 

in thy presence to abide; 

come, with all thine angels, come, 

raise the glorious harvest home.

Cultural Differences: Part II

To get started with some cultural differences, I’ve decided to list 10 this time but to elaborate a little with each one. Remember these are just some little things we’ve noticed here in France that are not wrong… but different. 

1. Cars park on the sidewalk. This one can make the narrow sidewalks feel non-existent sometimes. But, I’m sure if they could find a real parking spot, they would park there. 

2. Motorcycles don’t appear to follow any driving laws, they drive on sidewalks, through red lights, and in between lanes. 

3. Trains are a little different than the good old Green line T in Boston. I think they are safe, but you do feel completely cut off from the conductor, so if there was a problem, I’m not sure what you’re supposed to do.

4. Graffiti is everywhere. Some of it is real art and adds something to the environment, but there are ugly tags too on just about every train, building, and bus stop. And almost every train window has scratches all throughout so you can’t entirely see out the window.

5. Dogs and grown men relieve themselves on the street (usually facing a building thank goodness). I will admit that in the city sometimes it can be tricky finding a bathroom if you don’t live or work there. And for dogs, I pity that they have next to no grass, especially in Paris, so I understand that part but don’t really understand why their human owners don’t pick it up.

6. Beaucracy (expect long lines and lots of paperwork). We still have some important things to finish, like getting our VISA’s validated. We had to start the process over and re-mail in the information because I didn’t complete one tiny field on accident. Hoping this will be resolved soon because they are other things we can’t begin until this is taken care of.

7. Most stores & restaurants are closed on Sundays. Not the end of the world, and in some ways it’s kind of cool that they hold onto that tradition even though they don’t go to church, but we do need to make sure we have food for Sunday’s then, which isn’t quite second nature for me yet.

8. Less personal space seems to be needed. This was really apparent standing in the Eiffel Tower line the other week. We had a French family in front of us and a German family behind us. We had a constant stream of people trying to pass through in front of us because we were leaving an American-sized gap between us the people in front of us (which was the only gap in the whole line), but without fail the family behind us was literally touching us or within what felt like a centimeter the entire time. And elevators, can be so tight that I literally don’t think I breathe while I am in them with other people. Normally, I just opt for the stairs.  

9. Strikes and riots are the norm, but normally it is planned and posted the day of or before which is helpful. Our teammates asked us if we were free to hangout Thursday (which we're not, bummer) because their son won’t be having school that day because the teachers are striking. So everyone knows in advance and it’s just one day, I don’t really understand what this accomplishes but it must accomplish something...?

10. Men's fashion options are broader. There are not as many things here that only women wear. For instance, men wear capris in summer, they carry purses, they wear scarves (not just for the cold), some even have fur hoods on their winter coats. I think the only fashionable distinction that is really noticeable are high heels. 

That is all for today, but we will try to be continual observers and share what we notice, hopefully not in a negative fashion but in a fun and interesting way.