*4 heads of fabulous lettuce at the local market on avenue d'italie
*a really great bottle of wine, at least that's what my friends say
*a starbucks chocolate viennois (a hot chocolate with whip cream and choc. syrup on top)...yep, there are about 10 of them here in Paris and I definitely have been to a few
*the latest trendy haircut at the Jean Louise David school for hair stylists...don't be fooled, its not a mullet (or is it?)
*2 pashmina scarves at the market...its a steal! and everyone wears them here
*either 2 butter and sugar crepes or 1 really loaded banana and nutella crepe (my personal favorite!)
*a big slab of mimolette cheese (possibly my favorite cheese, probably because its like cheddar)
*a cool french cd at a little store near centre pompidou
*8 liters of box milk...its not so bad and really convenient
....So, as you can see, I know where to find the good buys here in Paris...you can get by here with a lot less when you know where to shop.
Saturday, January 29, 2005
Thursday, January 27, 2005
On a different side this time...
...Whew. We made it through our first volunteer team since I've been here. What an amazing experience. I've always been on the other side of things. I've always been the one that is part of a group going abroad. Now, this time...I was on the receiving end...what a difference. The group came from Southeastern Seminary in North Carolina and spent 10 days here with us in Paris. I am thrilled at how fast they jumped into helping us with everything here. We had them meeting students from Day 2 and they made a lot of new contacts for us as well. It was so interesting to listen to what their expectations were when they got here, and see how they changed over the week. I think they all left Paris with a new perspective on the "heartset" (the spiritual place) of the students here. The group got a big dose of teaching on building friendships and being here to sow seeds and trust the Lord with the rest. But I believe they got a lot out of the 10 days they were here.
As far as me...I got a lot out of it too. The seminary students were so great at encouraging me...even when they didn't know they were doing it. I was challenged to make my message to students even clearer and to continue to make sure that prayer is the first and foremost thing I am doing. The biggest lesson I learned, though, was TRUST. Only a few days had passed and I was already a little anxious about having put so much trust in people that I barely knew. I had to trust them with students, my new friends, that I had put so much love, time, and effort into forming bonds with. I found myself doubting their abilities to understand how to interact with the students, afterall, I couldn't tell them every bit of background that has been going on for four months in just a few minutes. So...could I really trust them? Then...it hit me. Oh, what a beautiful illustration of how the Lord trusts us. God has allowed me to be a part of the task of helping students to come one step closer to Him. Am I worthy of that trust? I don't know all of the background on all of these students from the past 18-22 years. I don't know exactly how to interact with all of them. But He entrusts me with the task anyways. Wow. I am floored. Now I see how hard that can be from this side of things.
As far as me...I got a lot out of it too. The seminary students were so great at encouraging me...even when they didn't know they were doing it. I was challenged to make my message to students even clearer and to continue to make sure that prayer is the first and foremost thing I am doing. The biggest lesson I learned, though, was TRUST. Only a few days had passed and I was already a little anxious about having put so much trust in people that I barely knew. I had to trust them with students, my new friends, that I had put so much love, time, and effort into forming bonds with. I found myself doubting their abilities to understand how to interact with the students, afterall, I couldn't tell them every bit of background that has been going on for four months in just a few minutes. So...could I really trust them? Then...it hit me. Oh, what a beautiful illustration of how the Lord trusts us. God has allowed me to be a part of the task of helping students to come one step closer to Him. Am I worthy of that trust? I don't know all of the background on all of these students from the past 18-22 years. I don't know exactly how to interact with all of them. But He entrusts me with the task anyways. Wow. I am floored. Now I see how hard that can be from this side of things.
Sunday, January 02, 2005
A New Year in Paris...
...It's 2005!!! Happy New Year Everyone! Bonne Annee Tout le Monde!!
I can hardly believe that a new year has already begun. I think that time keeps going by faster and faster the older you get. Is that true? Looking back on the year I am amazed. In 2004, I graduated from UGA with a BA in Marketing, watched one of my best friends get married (Brynn), said "i'll miss you" to way to many people as they all moved to different places to begin new jobs and had "i'll miss you" said to me more times than I could count as I packed up two huge suitcases and moved to Paris...I began learning a new language, became part of a new Christian family (my teammates and roommates), learned what it really means to create opportunities for reaching people in any place and at any time, and had my very first train ride and first White Christmas! Whew! What a year.
So...to top it all off, I spent New Year's Eve in Paris. What could be better than ringing in the New Year with my new friends, standing on a bridge over the Seine River, watching the spectacular fireworks shooting into the dark night sky over the Louvre, hearing honks coming from tons of cars on the street, shouting "Bonne Annee" to anyone and everyone, and giving bisous (kisses on the cheeks) to my friends all around me. It was fabulous. And now I'm ready to really begin a new year.
For the new year...2005...I pray that this year would be another year of amazing experiences. I pray for many opportunities to meet new people, for continued learning of French, for the opportunity to see people come to know God in a personal way, for more discipline in my realtionship with the Lord, and for more and more opportunities to learn to become more like Jesus and grow in unity with God. Amen.
I can hardly believe that a new year has already begun. I think that time keeps going by faster and faster the older you get. Is that true? Looking back on the year I am amazed. In 2004, I graduated from UGA with a BA in Marketing, watched one of my best friends get married (Brynn), said "i'll miss you" to way to many people as they all moved to different places to begin new jobs and had "i'll miss you" said to me more times than I could count as I packed up two huge suitcases and moved to Paris...I began learning a new language, became part of a new Christian family (my teammates and roommates), learned what it really means to create opportunities for reaching people in any place and at any time, and had my very first train ride and first White Christmas! Whew! What a year.
So...to top it all off, I spent New Year's Eve in Paris. What could be better than ringing in the New Year with my new friends, standing on a bridge over the Seine River, watching the spectacular fireworks shooting into the dark night sky over the Louvre, hearing honks coming from tons of cars on the street, shouting "Bonne Annee" to anyone and everyone, and giving bisous (kisses on the cheeks) to my friends all around me. It was fabulous. And now I'm ready to really begin a new year.
For the new year...2005...I pray that this year would be another year of amazing experiences. I pray for many opportunities to meet new people, for continued learning of French, for the opportunity to see people come to know God in a personal way, for more discipline in my realtionship with the Lord, and for more and more opportunities to learn to become more like Jesus and grow in unity with God. Amen.
Saturday, January 01, 2005
Holiday blessings near perfection...
...I didn't know how my first Christmas away from family and a home I've always known would go...but the Lord did a great job of blessing me during a time that could have been disheartening. It began with my first train ride ever...and in FIRST class...thanks to special student passes. It was so fun to travel with two of my roommates, even if carrying around a ton of luggage around Paris and on and off trains isn't so fun. We stopped through Dijon on our way to St. Amour...and yes, I was a typical tourist and bought mustard! I couldn't resist. Once we arrived in St. Amour, we were greeted with friendly faces at the train station and carried away in our own personal carriage (a fabulous minivan) up to the chateau of our dreams!! I'm not kidding or exaggerating. As we drove up the winding road, our mouths gradually (and not so gracefully) dropped open at the beautiful sight of real grass, tons of trees, beautiful fields, rolling hills, and a beautiful ancient castle a top of a magnificent hill. Was I dreaming? I actually had to pinch myself at least once. Especially as we got the insiders tour of the chateau and were shown ancient furniture, paintings, and amazing stone fireplaces.
The 5 days in St. Amour were spent with families...lots of children all around...baking...Christmas music, a whole table of sweets!!...and so much more. We lead the music at the Christmas Eve service in the freezing cold Chapel that is adjacent to the chateau and played Santa by helping stuff stockings and wrap presents until 2 in the morning. They gave us presents on Christmas, we watched tons of movies, and even saw snow fall on Christmas day...it was my very first White Christmas...I took TONS o pictures...I think it was about 350 over the five days!!! Amazing. Couldn't have asked for more and I was actually quite sad to leave.
But the blessings kept coming.
We made our way on the trains again over to Evian...yep, the place where the water is from. I have now showered in true Evian water! We arrived pretty early for the retreat, so we decided to walk around town a bit. We ate at a cute little restaurant, shopped a bit, and walked around on the streets as it was snowing (yep it snowed again!!!). The retreat was great. The Lord taught me a lot and began showing me parts of me that need to be smoothed over. I felt great intimacy with Him there among the huge Alps Mountain range covered in snow. What an amazing Creator we have!!! So imaginative. I had a great time meeting a lot of new people and hanging out with friends I know from Paris that came along. I also had a chance to improve my understanding of French...since the whole retreat was in French (but luckily I had some really nice personal translators!). One of the highlights of the retreat was on Thursday afternoon. We had the opportunity to spend the afternoon skiing in the Alps! It was so incredible. I still can't believe that we walked fifteen minutes in the snow from our retreat center, rented equipment, and before I knew it I was at the top of a mountain overlooking Lake Geneve, seeing the land of Switzerland and more beautiful mountain tops with snow covered trees than I've ever seen in my life!!...and all for the low price of 21 euros!!! Blessings. Blessings. And more blessings. So...yep...lots of pics (pictures) of those few days as well. I'll try to get some up on my blog asap.
So...now I am back in Paris and getting ready to go out with some friends for New Year's. We are going to hang out at some friends' apartment and then head over to the gardens at the Louvre and watch the spectacular fireworks. They're supposed to be really good to impress everyone because Paris is trying to become the olympic city for 2012. I hope so!! I'm sure I'll have lots of pics of that too!
This holiday season has truly been a time of rest from the Lord. I didn't even realize how badly I needed it until I left the smog city full of darkness and relaxed in the hand of the Lord on top of fresh air, snow covered mountains. Isn't it amazing how perfectly the Lord knows and fulfills our needs. What an amazing, personal, and loving God we have! And we have a relationship with Him because He sent His Son to be born and to be sacrificed. Blessings.
The 5 days in St. Amour were spent with families...lots of children all around...baking...Christmas music, a whole table of sweets!!...and so much more. We lead the music at the Christmas Eve service in the freezing cold Chapel that is adjacent to the chateau and played Santa by helping stuff stockings and wrap presents until 2 in the morning. They gave us presents on Christmas, we watched tons of movies, and even saw snow fall on Christmas day...it was my very first White Christmas...I took TONS o pictures...I think it was about 350 over the five days!!! Amazing. Couldn't have asked for more and I was actually quite sad to leave.
But the blessings kept coming.
We made our way on the trains again over to Evian...yep, the place where the water is from. I have now showered in true Evian water! We arrived pretty early for the retreat, so we decided to walk around town a bit. We ate at a cute little restaurant, shopped a bit, and walked around on the streets as it was snowing (yep it snowed again!!!). The retreat was great. The Lord taught me a lot and began showing me parts of me that need to be smoothed over. I felt great intimacy with Him there among the huge Alps Mountain range covered in snow. What an amazing Creator we have!!! So imaginative. I had a great time meeting a lot of new people and hanging out with friends I know from Paris that came along. I also had a chance to improve my understanding of French...since the whole retreat was in French (but luckily I had some really nice personal translators!). One of the highlights of the retreat was on Thursday afternoon. We had the opportunity to spend the afternoon skiing in the Alps! It was so incredible. I still can't believe that we walked fifteen minutes in the snow from our retreat center, rented equipment, and before I knew it I was at the top of a mountain overlooking Lake Geneve, seeing the land of Switzerland and more beautiful mountain tops with snow covered trees than I've ever seen in my life!!...and all for the low price of 21 euros!!! Blessings. Blessings. And more blessings. So...yep...lots of pics (pictures) of those few days as well. I'll try to get some up on my blog asap.
So...now I am back in Paris and getting ready to go out with some friends for New Year's. We are going to hang out at some friends' apartment and then head over to the gardens at the Louvre and watch the spectacular fireworks. They're supposed to be really good to impress everyone because Paris is trying to become the olympic city for 2012. I hope so!! I'm sure I'll have lots of pics of that too!
This holiday season has truly been a time of rest from the Lord. I didn't even realize how badly I needed it until I left the smog city full of darkness and relaxed in the hand of the Lord on top of fresh air, snow covered mountains. Isn't it amazing how perfectly the Lord knows and fulfills our needs. What an amazing, personal, and loving God we have! And we have a relationship with Him because He sent His Son to be born and to be sacrificed. Blessings.
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