How we Spend Christmas in Transit

Overseas, Christmases vary and differ for expats who normally float around trying to recreate Christmas in the tropics (at least that’s what it’s like in Africa). People stick cotton balls on windowsills, try very hard to find an evergreen tree and are particular about having bows on top of the presents. Aussi have an easier go at it as they have “barbis” (cookout) and visit the beach and miss much less then Americans or Europeans.

This year for my family, we expect to carry out our traditional Christmas. We’ve always had rather untraditional Christmases, part of the glorious life of overseas living…life on the edge! The main reason would be the fact we move notoriously nomadically and contentedly. This year, we’re in transit temporary life living in Zimbabwe out of a Land Cruiser worth of goods and without Christmas supplies. There’s no commercialism here, few lights, everyone else is traveling to nearby countries to go grocery shopping and see family. We’re staying, since we already traveled for Thanksgiving and have a little “Charlie Brown” Christmas tree 2 feet high, has one strand of lights and 15 ornaments. The boys are go happy to have it.

And like all traditional years, we’ll go to church in the morning, open presents with coffee and American candy at noon and have a pot roast (err, maybe without the roast this year) for a 4pm dinner with a Happy Birthday Jesus cake. It’s easy to celebrate Christmas in transit, as long as all the food comes in a Land Cruiser from other counties and the presents arrive through DHL. Christmas is about counting blessings and so for one day I try to forget the food, power, water, Zim dollar and internet shortages and the wretched fact my boyfriend lives two continents away. It's not all about what you don't have, and Christmas is a season to celebrate the ultimate gift...a child born in a manger over 2000 years ago.

C’est le noël de nous! God bless us, every one.

How to be Frustrated…and Live

Chez Nous

Now, I’ve been frustrated before. I’ve been outside the United States ten years, I’ve been in Africa seven, I know about frustration! But moving to a new country, that frustration was taken to a new level!

I wake up in the morning and it’s very hot, in fact, so hot I’m sweating like I ran a 8K (I’ve ran 8Ks, I know what I’m talking about). I get up to take a shower and discover there’s no water. Moving on for breakfast, I discover that naturally there’s no bread or cereal and my brothers ate all the leftover pizza. Deciding I can wait till lunch, I move on to school. Joy of joys there’s no power so naturally there’s no power for the wireless router and I can’t run the fan either. When the power finally does come back on, the router is dead and someone has to reconfigure the system. By then, I’m slightly upset, hot, dirty and wondering why I live in that country.

A modern individual without a God-shaped paradigm thinks he is the result of his environment and his situation in life defines him. That’s why Karl Marx developed communism and governments institute excessive social programs to improve what we think defines us. But I’ve learned two things here.

1) “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete…” James 1:2-5

2) “He gives and takes away but my heart will choose to say, blessed be Your name…”

Can we decide on internal joy? Can we decide that even when it does go well we can still be happy? That’s the only way you can survive…here….in the US….or anywhere.

How to Watch a Rugby Game

I’ve learned in college to always start with a definition; haft the time we define definition. Thus I will begin most effectively discussing rugby with a brilliant definition.

‘Rugby- A football game in which play is continuous without time-outs or substitutions, interference, and forward passing are not permitted, and kicking, dribbling, lateral passing, and tackling are featured [as well as pushing, shoving, clothes/hair pulling, biting, slapping, bone breaking, and no doubt swearing]’

Several weeks ago I went to Bible study and I was invited to stay afterward and watch rugby. So being the adventurous spectacle watching individual that I am, I stayed. It was after all the rugby world cup final in Stade de France Paris. I learned several things about rugby, all enlightening.

First off, the first 20 minutes are amusing, highly amusing. Rugby is slightly different from American football and at first it’s hilarious. After about 30 minutes, it looks like a bunch of sweaty men making human piles. After haft time you’re waiting to see a proper goal (there are only 3 or 4 ways to score points) but it doesn’t come so South Africa beats the English and you decide that has to be okay.

Second, watching fellow rugby watchers is the greatest fun one can have on a Saturday night. Everyone get so excited they get silly and then you just laugh because they are laughing. They start yelling words you don’t know in Afrikaans in their excitement and use a host of British based English expressions as they jump, scream and yell about how the game should be going. Not to mention the rugby fans on TV are something else!

Can I also say I kind of like it? In a strange sort of way, naturally. "If they don't play rough sports, they go to war..."

How I ended up in Zimbabwe

How I end up anywhere, is a great question. Most the time I haven’t a clue how I end up in any given situation. I’m like a trailing spouse…without a spouse…but not quite a trailing child. Having graduated high school this past summer (which I am well aware means little or nothing in most cultures), I was accepted to both my college choices. I have decided on Liberty University’s Distance Learning Program. Liberty is in Lynchburg Virginia, one of the largest private Christian liberal arts colleges in the United States. I’m an undergrad freshmen working towards a AA in General Studies which I’ll get without ever having to set foot in a Liberty classroom. School in bed online, pretty sweet deal. The degree will transfer into a four year degree at a residence university so only my first two years will be distance.

But this isn’t about school, this is about how I ended up in Harare Zimbabwe. Part of the agreement with college was that I live at home. That in a nutshell is how I got from Paris to Harare. My dad works with an international humanitarian organization, and the post of country representative in Zimbabwe was vacant and needed instant replacement. Leaving his position in the regional Southern Africa office in Lusaka Zambia, he went over to help. As the trailing family, we followed behind with school books in bag and ready for stories.

And so we are here! I’m in college, my younger siblings homeschooled as ever, and we take group tennis lessons. It’s an interesting way to start one’s university education, but then again, when introducing myself in group discussion boards for classes, I’m always the most exotic.

How to Spend Saturday Chez-Moi

Delectable scones to be topped with butter jam and cream (whipped cream mind you)

Saturdays are popular world around. Americans have a very strong tendency to adore weekends, Saturday in particular.

Saturdays for a family of seven are quite an event. We start out by running around to different grocery stores and seeing what’s available and buying for the week. After that, other members of the family (i.e. myself) are awake and fully clothed and we all head out for breakfast. Breakfast as a Saturday morning tradition is always very important. We must go to a particular restaurant for scones and lemonade, perhaps pancakes and a cappuccino but always scones and lemonade. Quickly following is a visit to several art galleries, a few arts and craft and furnisher stores for fun. Recently we’ve become enraptured buying a set of living room furnisher and therefore must find cushions, pillows and then move on to a set of dinning room dishes. This might be even completed by a few more visits to other grocery stores in search if nonexistent bread.

Afternoons are generally up for grabs. If you’re a real adult (over 40) you take a nap while the fan blows to keep the flies away and the room cool. If you’re a real kid (under 13 and under) you watch an Abbot and Castillo movie on the computer. If you’re a real teen (16), you’ll catch up on Facebook and make sure you still have more friends then all your friends. If you’re…whatever I am…you’ll busy yourself reading international news, writing long emails and listening to the fan drown out Carrie Underwood, Edith Piaf, and Chris Tomlin. Sometimes a family tennis match and pizza dinner is in order.

In the evening, my sister and I head out to Bible study where we are the only ones on the group who don’t speak Afrikaans. It’s still a very cultural event because we get to hear fellow youth talk about cricket and rugby which aren’t exactly in the sphere of our knowledge.

Naturally there’s the promise to update your blog Saturday evening and then it doesn’t happen. Such a shame….

How to Survive your First University Classes (Online and Overseas)

My high tech classroom/office/bedroom

If there’s one thing I learned about college is that it has an aptitude to consume your thoughts. When you aren’t spending time reading, writing papers, taking exams and listening to/watching lectures, you think about all the above and how you could perform better. Maybe other students don’t but when it’s your first class, freshman year and you’re rattled by moving to a country lacking commodities, you strive for excellence more then customary!

I decided with my unusual life, (homeschooling myself, growing up overseas, a year of exclusively language, interning with NGOs), I had to have an unusual college experience. What’s more, if you’re studying development, Africa would be a great place to live. So, it ended up being Liberty University’s online distance learning program, designed mostly for adults seeking another degree but I get the joy of being the geeky freshy of the bunch.

The day after returning to Africa, I sign into my LU portal and discover the joys of learning. A week later, I move to a strange and unusual country, pin-up my posters and decide that’s where I’ll call home. The initial reaction is shock (maybe horror and the inclination to run bawling back to…well you can’t really run back anywhere so that settles that). But with a little work and the realization that your strange online professors are actually rather nice, you can move forward. It’s not bad at all! You can manipulate your time and finish assignments when convenient and have time left over to help your 6 year old brother do math facts and make apple fritters.

So, today, having taken my final exams for my first university classes, attained respectable grades and being ushered into a week long season known as “semester break,” it’s rather easy to be pleased and decide that the online concept is rather brilliant!

How to Survive Brothers who don't want a haircut

The tools of Torture

Strap them to a chair and say "this is how it's going to be." That would be the my-way-or-the-high-way approach.

In our family, a haircut has significance. In the normal spectrum of life, certain things must occur to insure that the passage of time has not negatively affected one's appearance. This for little brothers means a haircut.

After 6 months in Kenya in 2001, my brother received some "interesting" (disastrous) haircuts. Once we took them to another barber shop to correct the haircut another barber had incurred. African hair is different from Caucasian hair, this the heart of the problem. After 6 months we bought our own kit of torture and commenced to inflict haircuts to family members. Originally, the process was fairly painless but as Christian, Caleb and Ezra grow older, they start to have opinions about what they want to look like and the simple take-a-little-off rule is nullified.

The first trick for a haircut is to get them in the chair. This means pleading, bribing, promising, threatening if they don't sit down, be prepared to spend a lot of time on that. Secondly, the speech:

"I know you don't want to but I'm going to do it so sit still or you'll be here all day! Oh gosh don't cry, it's not worth it!"

When you're done, they're happy it's over, you're happy it's over and you grab one of them to sweep all the hair into the bushes. It's a task worth doing.

How to reenter Your Own Culture

The reason I'd write about reentry is because...I don't understand it. I should because I've been doing it going on 10 years but I still have no idea how to handle it! It hits you differently each time because each time you leave, you experience something different overseas and that affects how you view your own culture. It was different reentering from France then it was a year ago reentering from Ethiopia.

This time it was a little more challenging for several reasons, mainly because after a year putting a huge effort into speaking French, understanding the French culture and trying very much to be French and blend into the French culture, to suddenly step off a plane and hear everyone yelling in loud American English was odd, shocking, bizarre and confusing. Wait a minute! I don't have to struggle to express myself! I can just speak what comes to mind without worrying where the adjective and pronouns fit into my sentences!
All that goes to say, in my African expat communities, we know we can't fit in. It's just not possible and as a result, we build our little third cultures and create our own entities. In Europe you look like them, live a developed lifestyle like them and after learning the language, appear to be them. No one knows the difference riding the metro to work!

There are several different things I do reentering my American home that make it feel normal again.

1) Sleep a lot when you get back. Jet-leg will keep you in an over-emotional, irrational, hyper-sensitive state where you think the world is crashing upon you, no one cares about you and overseas living has ruined you for life. Just get on the right time zone before questioning your existence.

2) Take several long walks. Talk to yourself, philosophize to yourself, pray out loud, write books out loud, sort out what you enjoyed most about your overseas experience. It helps.

3) Make two lists. One about the things you have to be grateful for. Seriously, you are so blessed to just be alive to be able to return home for good or for a a short period of time. The second is a list of things you like about living overseas, things you've learned, and things you've enjoyed. If it's the end of an overseas experience like France for me, it helps bring closure and a sense of joy and delight about the time spent there.

4) Don't judge. Even though people move on, culture shifts, places look different, don't judge it instantly as negative. Just decide it's different and work out later if it's positive or negative.

5) Never never never give in. Just hang in there. Mr. Churchill said it and did it. So can we.

How to Visit the Netherlands

I'm terribly afraid the most exciting things in my life revolve around travel. The more the better! I had the most fun (and fantastic/awesome/completely fabulous) trip to Netherlands the first weekend of this month (but being absorbed in learning indirect speech, passive voice, and heaps of more qualifiers I only now get the time to write about it).

First of all, you have to have someone to stay with. One of the students from two terms ago invited us to visit her at her home in The Hague. Can't turn down a trip to a place I haven't been now can I? After that, I had to figure out train tickets. What a frustrating experience when the website is in French and yes, I know French but have hardly the courage to read the fine print and wonder what I'm buying. Two weeks of attempting to understand (and finally getting the website in English) I bought them and after arriving the the mail, and hoping off to Gare de Nord in Paris, we were off on a high speed trans-city European train. How awesome!

When we arrived in the Netherlands, Corieke met us and took us to her house. She lives right outside The Hague and kindly let us sleep on her pull-out sofa for our stay. We met her lovely family, shared meals with them, and generally, tried to be polite house-guests and speak whichever language was desired at the moment, French or English (can't do Dutch, sorry there).

Saturday, we went to the beach. I've never seen the ocean from Europe! It was an overcast day but we were tired so we laid down on our towels and actually fell asleep. We woke up an hour later, very sunburned and almost binded from the light. It was relaxing and we talked about our college decisions and how fun it was to learn French in Paris for a year. That evening we went to a concert sponsored by a youth organization Corieke is a leader with. It was in a ancient cathedral in Gouda (same place the cheese comes from) and the wonderful stain-glass windows and the 200 voice choir was one the most amazing sights I've seen in Europe.

Sunday, we biked an hour to the French church in The Hague. It was a beautiful church with perhaps 20 people and very formal. 2 little old ladies behind us were convinced we didn't speak French and we whispering the page numbers for the Bible reading and hymn numbers for the songs. We were highly amused. The paster was Dutch (trained in France and spoke very elegant French) and wanted to convince us to return the following Sunday which we had to politely decline, informing him we lived in Paris and Corieke attends a Dutch church. The evening, Corieke took us to Rotterdam to visit her brother and his family. They live near an old field of windmills and we walked down an old stone path admiring what Holland is most famous for, it's beautiful windmills.

Monday we took the train to Amsterdam. Corieke and Rose had never been to the Anne Frank House so we stopped by there first and see the museum. After lunch in a cafe across from the Anne Frank House, we took a water bike down through the canals. It was so much fun watching the beautiful old Amsterdam houses pass by as we floated down the canals, taking turns at the paddles. We walked down Amsterdam's expensive shopping streets on our way back to Centeral Station and getting the train back to Corieke's. We picked up our bags and then went to The Hague Central Station where we kissed Corieke goodbye and headed on the red high speed train back to Paris.

It was a great trip, it was a highlight of life in France. I had no intention of returning to Paris but my giant study bible is kept in my dresser in France so I had no choice. Oh it was so fun though!!

How to Survive the TCF

I whined about it, wondered if I was crazy for taking it, worried about failing it and almost cried when I got mocks back. But in reality, I survived it, notwithstanding the fact I found it unbelievably miserable.

There are two large French language exams, the DELF and the TCF. Both are published by the same company (like the SAT/ACT) and follow the same system for levels A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2. The DELF is valid for life but you choose your level and pass/fail it. The TCF is valid for 2 years but is more to know your level; maybe you'll be A2+ or B1, surprise! I took the TCF back in December (scored an A2) but took it again today to see if maybe my French improved to an extent that perhaps I could pass for a higher level. Either way, I wanted to experience the joys of high level exams and the panic that you might die and reseed back into the earth from which you came.

The TCF has 5 sections of torture.

1) Comprehension Orale is listening to a tape and identifying what's going on; did he call his wife or boss an idiot? Are the speakers approving or disapproving of the recycling habits of modern Parisians? The questions for the entire exam always start out easy and get progressively harder as the levels advance.

2) Following Comp Orale is Structure de la Langue (i.e. grammar). It's mostly high level grammar fill in the blanks with the correct conjugations of irregular verbs.

3) Comprehension Ecrite. Comp Ecrite is just like the SAT, reading passages and answered A, B, C, D, this passage expresses black, this article has a blank option, this sign would be found black. The C1 questions would be college level papers with text so small you need a magnified glass to read it and evidently, a huge vocab to understand what it's about!

4) After all this is Expression Ecrite, to assess your writing abilities. There are 6 assignments on typically like writing appropriate responses to business letters, articles for make-believe newspapers, arguments for causes, letters to friends for 95 minutes.

5) Following all this comes the Expression Orale, talking into a mic while the director of your school posses the questions. Oh joy. I think that might be the most stressful part of the entire deal.

Anyway, oh joy it's over. Oh no I have to wait 3 weeks for the results and yahoo I can take it again in August if I hate my results. I thought of a Carrie Underwood song when the whole thing was over though, every tear that had to fall from my eyes, every day I wondered how I'd get though the night, every change life has thrown me...some pages turned, some bridges burned but they're were lessons learned...

How Not to get Lost in Paris

The State of "Lost"

Now there is always the concern that you will reach the hopeless, helpless, painful state known as "being lost." Many people take great care not to reach this condition and arm themselves with such tools as maps, GPS systems, cell phones, credit cards, pain killers but still, it befalls the prepared and the unprepared alike. However, the unprepared raise their likelihood of "being lost" being simply the unprepared.

I have on 2 different occasions gotten really lost in Paris. Once, looking for the US embassy. (Why is there a USA flag flying over something other then the embassy? Becoming French are we?) The other time, looking for a cinema. Both times I dragged my friends around the block several times before discovering, I really hate Google Maps, I hate street signs, and I will never, ever on pain of death admit I'm "lost."

I have learned a great lesson regarding the "lost" state. Find a metro. It's really that simple actually. It's like a car is always waiting for you, where ever you go. You simply scurry down the big black hole into the underground and look at the metro map. "I need to take this metro to Nation then the RER A to Chatelet and then I can take the 10 line to Concorde and I'm a block away from the restaurant." (Never mind that happen's to be the most expensive district in Paris, you're there.)

Kind of cheating but it sure works...awesome! And I never have to ever really admit I'm lost! (evil laugh)

How to Love The Palace of Versailles

How can you not adore wholeheartedly the Palace of Versailles? It's absolutely impossible. The place is incredible, and excessive, and huge and so totally worth a go!

I am a Versailles freak. I admit it! I love the place! 9 months in Paris, never seen the Arch a la Defence, been to a handful of museums, never been inside Gallery Lafayette but I've made it to Versailles...4...5...times...I think...

My recent visit (last Saturday and the most recent) reminded me exactly what I adore about the palace. There is a must do list to visit as there is for everything in life.

1) Stare at the Palace. You have to stare at it...for a long time...every time you go. It's huge. I'm from a country which just celebrated it's 400th anniversary. Versailles is over 330 years old. It's old, it's beautiful, it's a historical monument, it's Versailles!

2) Go inside. Why visit if you're not going to stick your head in and see the ridiculously pompous status in which ancient royalty used to lodge themselves. The Hall of Mirrors, Marie Antoinette's former chamber, the mini-Cathedral and the theater, all merit a visit.

3) Walk the gardens. In summer the fountains play. Because it's presently summer, they charge you to go in the cultivated/most pretty sections but you can still spend several hours walking around. The fountains play to hopelessly tacky music but walk through the rows of perfectly shaped bushes, trees, flowers, everything perfect and spotless.

4) Marie Antoinette's Hamlet. France's most famous queen had her own personal hamlet to escape the palace and court etiquette. Towards the end of her reign when heavily influenced by Rousseau, she wanted to get closer to nature and her natural state. Now, we have the leftovers from it...and they're quite pretty.

5) Lunch at the Canal. Every time I've been there, I ate something along the canal, watching the huge fish. You can look up the hill to the palace and see just about everything that's going on. Not to mention, it's cheaper (and more fun).

6) Take lots of pictures. The landscape makes for great backgrounds. I seriously saw 3 different couples getting their wedding pictures done in the gardens the last time I was there. It works great for pictures.

That's just a start. A good journalist might turn this into a three part series but I'm just a French student!

How to Survive a Rainy Day

When it rains and you're living overseas, it's very easy to become depressed and feel the entire world is crashing down on you. In fact, that's sort of how I feel this ugly rainy afternoon. Why does it have to rain today?Why do I live in France? Why wasn't I born a martian? My computer doesn't love me!

1) Do your homework. It's very difficult to feel sad when wrapped in homework. It's virtually impossible, in fact. Between your online dictionary, your notes on the subjonctif and the conditionnel, it's easy to remind yourself that you live for a purpose, to do your homework.

2) Have a nice lunch. It's ridiculous how a cup of coffee with a French baguette makes everything so much more tolerable. (Unless of course the coffee is instant in which case, this proposal is rendered completely void.) A piece of chocolate (dark chocolate to match the mood) with the coffee makes even more sense and serves to easily remind you, that comfort foods exists in all forms in all countries.

3) Read a good book. No one should read a self-help book on overcoming depression on a rainy afternoon. Something uplifting with a notebook and pen and scented candle works though. Even crack the window to allow the depressingly cool rainy air into your lungs as you read. This naturally serves to remind you the beauty of literature can overcome rainy weather.

4) Be grateful you don't have to work outside. Someone had to point this out to me and I was delighted to find it works! I started I-tunes and opened my window just a bit and realized how glad I was not to be wet. You stay dry, doesn't require much thinking! Guess it works!

Et voila, that's it. How amazingly better I feel now. But then again, as much as rainy weather can be depressing, the joy of the Lord is our strength. The coffee does help though.

Why I Learn French

How many times have I asked myself, why am I learning French? I know yes, I want to live in Africa- my Africa -and that includes western francophone Africa. Yes I want to have have two languages and would ultimately like to speak 3 or 4. But why I am spending my gap year on French when I could have seriously began college like my other friends.

But then, in the silence of the night, in the peace of the falling rain, in the joy of solitude and prayer, we always learn something. We learn languages to edify others. What greater honor then to share with someone in his own language the love of Christ that has changed my life. Language is emotional. It speaks to the heart of man, paints magnificent masterpieces of literature, it builds up and tears down, it brings war, and peace, creates ideals and philosophies and gives us a way to comunicate with others.

Never mind globalization, growing markets, and globalization. We speak to edify others. To show with words, not just deeds, what we believe and why we believe it; to express the joy of a life in Christ.

And when I remember that...French is worth it. Starting college a year late is worth it. It's worth sticking it out.

How to Enjoy April

April is a month in between March and May. It's a month which sometimes introduces spring and other times prolongs the misery of winter. The month of April proved to be close to angelic; fine weather and lots of sun.

The beginning of April started out with what...April Fools Day. Well, no jokes befell me or my friends. The day after April 2, proved to be my sister's birthday, also the day which I took my end of term school exams. April 3, was my sister's birthday party (a grand affair during went against all my principles and wore a pink shirt which a friend had to lend to me). April 4, we were in a Easter concert for which I played the guitar and participated in 3 different songs. April 5, end of school term meaning I quickly broke out the English music and gleefully shoved my schoolbooks on my bookcase with ever intention of forgetting everything. April 6, paperwork came though and I finally got my visa to stay in France. Not a bad 9 month wait (they lost my file) and now I'm perfectly legal. April 7, cleaned my room, did my laundry and mopped my floor and watching other students play cricket.

April 8, jumped on a plane with my sister for Zambia, a mere 20 hour trip door to door with no time change at all. April 9, arrived in Zambia to spent Easter with my family there missing the church service but making some little boys very happy with presents. April 10, took off for Livingstone to see Victoria Falls. Completely and totally awesome trip and I've never seen anything as awesome as that in my life! April 12, we packed up the Land Cruiser and headed over to Zimbabwe to see their view of the Falls and a few CRS projects as well. April 14, arrived back in Lusaka Zambia and spent the following week resting around our house there. Swimming, pizza parties, church, visiting my folks friends, going to the movies, watching movies at home (but living without Internet) ...that's what it means to take a holiday!

April 22, departure from Lusaka for South Africa. Stayed in Jo'berg long enough to drink a coffee (I think that means I've been to 23 countries but I can't rightly remember). April 23, arrived back in Paris, missing the first 3 classes but slipped right back into schedule without jet-leg or extreme fatigue.

And the last week of April was spent on homework, a few card games, sorting out plane tickets and trying very hard to be a good student and model TCK. But who cares, I'll just go ahead and be noisy!

How to Ride the Metro

I find the metro one of the most exciting places in all of Paris. It's always smelly, normally decently clean (as opposed to filthy) but it's still such an adventure. One travels down into the "under-life" (as opposed to the "above" life), through a maze of tunnels and pops up at his destination as if it was magic.

There are a few simple things that are wise to remember when taking the Paris metro to avoid being spotted as a tourist. Rule Number 1, don't speak loudly. I used to talk extremely loudly in the train, until I realized I was the only one doing it and other passangers were smothering me in looks of disgust.

Rule Number 2, you need a ticket or you can't get through the turnstiles. If your going into the suburbs like where I live you need a slightly different ticket which costs more because of the further distance. If you want to stay inside the greater Paris area, fork over around $1.6 in euros which is relatively decent.

Rule Number 3 is an unspoken rule; you mustn't speak to anyone. You must stare at the floor, read a book, listen to your i pod, anything but look or speak to other people (unless it's your boyfriend with whom you are liberally allowed to make-out). Your also supposed to give up your seat to the elderly but I've only seen that happen once or twice.

Another lesson I learned was push the button on the door when you want to get off the train. Otherwise, the door does not open and you'll go on down the line and end up who knows where. Don't be a tourist, push the button!

How a Normal Week Looks

Life at Ecole Les Cedres, is not one of mystery and intrigue. It is the life of an individual casting off his native tongue and accepting with open arms the French language with all the rules, complexities and precise phonetics. The individual is consumed, engrossed, devoted to it (and often to socialization over English movies, card games, and pot-lucks).

And while a day consists of 6 hours of classes and another 2 hours of homework, there's still a fair amount of free time. French primary schools have 4-day weeks, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. As a result, I have a 4-day school week as well so parents with kids don't have to worry about baby-sitters.

Tuesday night is most often an evening of craziness since Wednesday can be entirely devoted to recuperation. Last Tueday night, some of us girls engrossed ourselves in a excursion to the local cinema (oops! theater) to see La Môme (directly translated,"the female kid"). It's a French bio-epic about Edith Piaf, the most famous French musician of all time from the 1930s-1950s. It was an extremely French film, some of the art being lost on us but we still liked it. And of course, we found the most amusing part of the film when the Americans spoke French with heavy American accents tipping us into fits of laughter.

Friday, it was my turn to give an exposé. An exposé is when you speak confidently in front of your class on a particular subject in French for 30 minutes. It might be the most stressful part of the school experience. My subject was the history of embroidery in the United States and it went pretty well. In the end, you're just so glad it's over you don't care how you did!

Friday night, my sister and I went with another student to an English music/church service in Paris. We normally go to a French church on Sundays but decided we really wanted to check out Hillsong. Hillsong is a church denomination out of Australia (with the great music) so everyone talks like an Aussi. It was like one really cool rock concert, the English was great, and we're trying to justify returning.

Sunday, we went into Paris for church, covering our noses in the metro and pretending to be French. We've found a French speaking Baptist church we've loyally frequented since October. When I first started going, I understood close to nothing. Now, I regularly understand perhaps 70% of what I hear. "Context clues" makes up another 5% so all in all I fair well but it takes a lot of concentration. After the service, we eat lunch some of our other church friends before heading out for a Sunday afternoon walk or even just back to school.

Tomorrow, well tomorrow I'll hand in my homework, take a pop quiz and continue to willingly drown myself in French.

Une Meilleur Moment en Espagne

This is a short paper I had to write for class about my favorite moment of my Spanish vacation. It's about waiting for a bus that never arrived, an event I found hugely amusant. This is also a small sample of what my French looks like after starting from scratch 8 months ago, this is about it.

Pour mes vacances, je suis allée en Espagne avec ma sœur Rose pour rendre une visite à mes grands parents. Ils sont à Malaga sur l’océan. Lundi, le troisième jour de mes vacances, mes grands parents ont décidé de visiter une vieille petite ville, dans les montagnes. Cette ville a la meilleure vue sur l’océan mais il faut prendre un bus pendant 30 minutes. La rue est très étroite et c’est impossible pour deux voiture d’y passer en même temps.

Apres une bonne journée dans cette petite ville, nous avons décidé de revenir à notre appartement à Malaga. Nous sommes allées à l’arrêt de bus pour l’attendre le bus. Le bus n’était pas là donc nous avons attendu avec tout le monde. Au bout de 20 minutes, un bus est arrivé mais ce n’était pas pour Malaga. Ma grand-mère n’était pas contente mais il n’y avait pas d’autre choix. 20 minutes plus tard, un deuxième bus est arrivé mais ce n’était pas non plus pour notre destination. Rose a décidé d’aller aux magasins à côté de la arrêt du bus et elle a trouvé quelque chose à acheter. 20 minutes plus tard, un troisième bus est arrivé ce n’était toujours pas notre bus. Environ 50 personnes attendaient le bus pour Malaga et tout le monde était très fâché. Nous avons fait une queue et nous avons parlé au sujet des problèmes avec le système de bus. Ma grand-mère était très fâchée quand une femme française a essayé de couper la queue.

1 heure plus tard, notre bus est arrivé et tout le monde l’a acclamé. Nous y sommes entrés mais il y avait un petit problème. Les portes n’étaient pas fermer mais le conducteur conduisait le bus. Je pensais que c’était encore une aventure et c’était très amusant.

How to Cheat Your Way into Africa

There is really only one way to get to Africa. You pick a country, book your plane tickets and just go. However, you can cheat. You can take a ferry over from Spain to Tangiers Morocco; go in a day, return in a day. How about that!

Something I absolutely had to do when I was in Spain was take that trip to Tangiers. I spent 7 years in Africa. My worldview and values were shaped in Africa. I’m hope to one day work in Africa. I love Africa and I’m always looking for ways to see more and experience more.

In order to make the tour bus, you have to wake at 4:30 am to catch the 5:30 am bus. You drive for 2 hours picking up other passengers until to reach Spain’s largest harbor and the ferry. The ferry is a fabulous 1 hour and 20 minutes through the straight busy with ships coming and going from all over the world.

As the ferry arrives at Tangiers, it looks like you never left Spain. There are the huge shipping cranes, the ships and white Arab modeled homes covering the hills. How on earth could this be Africa? Here’s what I found.

Tangiers (with a one million population) is a historically important city. It rose to influence in the 6^th century and passed through Arabic, French, Spanish, Portuguese and American hands. Now, it’s Morocco single most important port and one of the most influential in Northern Africa. It’s divided into “quarters,” American, French, German ect. with schools, embassies and residences, left over from the colonial days but very much in use now. The old city is inside the ancient walls, the new city has grown up outside the walls keeping the same architecture.

Tangiers streets are small and narrow, many are impossible to drive though. It’s busy, seemingly crammed but very clean and organized; very clean and organized. Mosques chant out prayers, the Berbers mix with the Muslims, the world seems more peaceful then it actually is.

If you've never been to a developing country, Tangiers might be a bit of a shock. Africa is shocking which personally, thrilles me. For others, it will take a bit to grow on you but don't you ever give up! Tangiers is a great introduction to Northern Africa. I found it a great trip, great day, and great city. I’d move there tomorrow and maybe one day, I will. One never really knows does one?

How to (Really) Enjoy Spain

When your globetrotting grandparents invite you to visit them at their winter retreat in Spain, what do you do? Duh! You go!

Malaga, on the coast in Southern Spain, has a lot going for it. It’s warm, it’s sunny, and there’s the magnificent Mediterranean Sea. It’s a popular winter retreat for elderly Brits seeking sunshine and warmer weather. I heard a lot of English and when Rose and I walked along the beach, we were perhaps the only people under 60. Malaga has precious little connection to their history and traditional architecture but sports an air unique to Spain and hills I’ve never seen replicated before.

In order to really enjoy Spain, there are several things you simply have to do.

You must walk the beach. There’s no way you can visit the Mediterranean Sea and not walk along the beach. It’s not a glamour beach, not like the Bahamas but its quite beautiful. And come on! When are you going to the Mediterranean Sea again! I did, I put my toes in.

You Must Visit Mijas. Mijas is a little village up in the hills with an incredible view of the ocean. It’s more then an incredible view! The bus ride going up is something else on a one-lane switchback road with a huge bus, wondering if any moment you’ll meet the rocks far below on no pleasant terms. You’ll like it better when you reach the top. There are cute little shops with a million different souvenirs and lots of nice little restaurants with varieties of menus. Two years ago, my grandparents happened to meet David Beckham and family there so you just never know who you’ll run into in Mijas!

You Must get your Hair Cut. I got a do for only €11 and after spending €35 in Paris, well…I was pretty happy considering I got pretty much what I wanted! Having cash left over, I went and got a pair of Spanish designer sunglasses, enormously pleased with myself.

That’s just a few of the must-dos at Malaga. The southern Spanish coast is highly commercialized so there is lots of shopping and restaurants. The coast is covered high-rise hotels and apartments for the thousands that come down every year. There’s little coast, mostly high-rises which surprised me I must admit. You shouldn’t be disappointed however, it’s impossible not to like.

How to Carry a French Baguette

Rose in front of Massy's finest Boulangerie

If you are interested in purchasing a French baguette (also know as a stick of bread), you should visit a boulangerie. Often a patisserie will carry a good baguette, but these shops specialize in pastries and other delectable confectionery. You can often get a baguette in a large grocery store but that's like...well...they're often very hard and since a baguette by definition is already hard...you get the picture.

After entering a boulangerie, you must first admire the gorgeous pastries, fresh breads and expensive chocolates. You may even have to wait in line with the locals also getting their meal-y bread. (I can't say daily bread because a baguette must be purchased each meal. They don't keep from morning to evening without becoming rocks.) You will lay the equivalent of $1 in change on the counter and trying your humble French meekly ask, "Une baguette, s'il vous plait."

If the woman in the shop likes you, she will give you your one baguette. If she sizes you up and judges you a tourist (as is often my story) she will correct your pronunciation. "UNE BAG-e-T! C'est une BAG-e-T!" She might even correct your article. "It's not UN baguette! It's UNE baguette. It's feminine you foreigner!" You will stand stupidly while everyone in the shop listens to your little grammar lesson then hurry outside with your purchase.

Then comes the difficult part. How does one carry a one's purchased French baguette? Under one's armpit like in kids picture books? In one's hand like a teenager? Cramming it into one's shopping trolley? Shove it into one's purse? On one's head Africa style?

I've clenched a baguette so tight it broke in haft. I've swung it around and broke it on a wall. I've eaten it on the street and strewn crumbs all over public property. But it's impossible not to enjoy it, once you decide how you want to transport it.

How to Take a Dictee

Okay, question 1 you must always ask before taking a dictee is, what is it?

Your French teacher will give a dictee as a tool to gage your French level. She'll read a passage, in French, and you will try to write down exactly what she reads, word for word. Grammar and everything must be perfect. She might read (the French equivalent of), Julie and Pascal decide to go shopping in Paris. They leave at 6 in the morning and plan to return at midnight. In the metro Julie gets pick pocketed and loses her credit cards. They contact the police but nothing can be done. Julie is very sad.

The grammar, spelling, conjugation and context are each worth 5 points and 1 point is taken off for each error. The best you can get is 20. If you get over haft, your pretty clever. If you get over 3/4s your really clever. Children expect a little present if they get 15/20. If you get a 20...well you just can't get a 20!

The French grading system is harsh, considered by some to be repressive. It's extremely difficult to be a straight A student and exams are often pass/fail. However, the education system is better then the United States and students are required to studying 1 if not 2 languages in addition to French. That's one thing we Americans lack.

Les Cedres follows the French system of grading and scoring. We have a final exam at the end of term which determines a huge part of our score. We're also graded on our fluency and grammar. Fluency and grammar seem like the same thing but there's a difference. You can spit out complete monologues and no one has an idea what you just said. On the other hand, your grammar can be impeccable but it takes you 2 full minutes to ask where the peanut butter is. Language isn't easy, but when you finally get the peanut butter, you realize the effort is rewarding.

How to Start a Blog (Encore)

Okay, there isn't a real formula for starting a blog (encore). This is my second first blog entry. I've tried blogging last fall but with exams and Christmas holidays, I thought I might as well just delete the thing and save myself one less thing to do. Well, I've had a change of heart and might as well start this over again. The best way to start a blog (encore) is to have a motivation and a vision. Once you know what you want to say and how to say it, you should be fine.

I'm living in France studying French with my younger sister Rose. Actually, the school, Ecole Les Cedres is in the Paris suburbs which is completely awesome for soaking in the amazing feeling Paris gives the gaping tourists like us. I've been here since September 2006 when I started French as a beginner, beginner beginner who only knows how to say "hello" and "thank you." I hope to be decently respectable at this language by June and believe it or not, 6 months of intensive study is excellent.

I am one of 36 students at Ecole Les Cedres. The school is designed for missionaries hoping to serve God here in France or in francophone Africa. There are a few other students like myself who are learning the language for the sake of learning the language. In the future I would like work in development in francophone or anglophone Africa. After spending over 9 years living overseas and you find yourself wondering, why would I leave this?

So, that's one way to write your second first blog entry. Only if you're more clever then I, you shouldn't have to write a second first blog entry!