Friday, April 25, 2008
To market, to market....
Here are some pictures of the huge open market we went to before Versailles. It was so colorful!!
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Versailles
Hello dear friends,
I know it has been forever since I last wrote. It has been extremely busy. As most of you know, my sister arrived last week. We had a blast exploring the city and just wandering around. She's since moved into a little room in a house in the suburbs (she's staying until June), but she stayed with me for a couple of days and got beter acquainted with the city.
Last Sunday she went with me on my orientation trip to Versailles. We didn't get to see the actual chateau (the teacher claimed he wanted to give us incentive to retun), but the gardens were absolutely beautiful. We also got to see the summer home of the royal family and the little farm Marie Antoinette made for herself when she got bored. It was very picturesque.
We also explored the latin quarter, marais, and parc buttes chaumont--some of my favorite places.
I've been in Florence this week--which I will write about soon, but for now, here are some more pictures! A bientot!
Saturday, April 12, 2008
April Showers, and also a boat....
Hello everyone,
Here are some more pictures from various tours and sitings. For class we took a Luxembourg walk, so there are a lot of images from the gardens. I also got to go with my friends from church on "Bateaux Mouches" (which I guess means flying boat)--the boat tour of the city on the Seine, so that was really cool.
Emily arrived yesterday, which is really exciting. I'm sure we'll have lots of adventures to tell you about. Talk to you soon.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
"Time is the reef upon which all our frail mystic ships are wrecked"
Somehow, it is already April.
The things that have passed between these weeks cannot be spoken--the sort of things that are written forever on our hearts while we do yet understand them.
The week I had in Ohio was the hardest of my life--and also the greatest honor. Thank you all so much for your care for me and my family, as well as your prayers and letters. They have meant so much.
I miss my grandpa already, although I must admit it seems as if it were all a dream--especially being here, away from everything familiar and especially away from him. But I know the grief will hit in waves--waves which I am unprepared for but will hopefully be filtered through the reef of God's gracious truth of redemption. Praise God that Papa is before his throne right now.
Somehow even through this, Time ambles on in her steady trek. Unabashed by her callousness, she drags us on along with her. And now it is April.
It's snowing here in Paris. A fact I can hardly come to grips with, as it was 65 degrees not two days ago. But such is the fickle wind of this fair city. It is actually somehow comforting, as I sit with the my cup of English Breakfast Tea (not very patriotic to the French, I know) and listen to the clicking of the keys under my fingertips. There's a calmness that comes in this night's fluttering veil.
But these moments are few and far between I'm afraid--Time does always carry her sachel: brimming with meetings, papers, jobs and work. It has been a maelstrom of activity since my return. Catching up on work missed has been a chore, but nothing compared to the final projects and presentations which came running at my heels soon after my return. Mainly, a research paper which (surprise!) demands a first draft by this week still lacks form--and research--as of tonight. There are also two presentation for this week which I have not yet prepared. It's going to be a long night.
There are also the blessed yet ill-timed jobs I have recently received--One is an all day, once a week job for a French/American family outside of the city. Their six year old son is bilingual, but they want him to improve his English--I am to think of fun activities for us to do together on Wednesdays (parks, museums, the zoo, etc) and then take him to the American library for story-time in English, to impove his vocabulary.
The second is a babysitting job for an English woman--this one will be much less time, and mainly consists of picking up her adorable 4 year old from school, taking him home, and playing with him for a bit until his mother gets home from work. Both these jobs, as I said, are a true blessing, but also have the uncanny ability to wittle away drastically at my time.
So, that is an update on my life--at least for now. I know I have been terribly negligent of this for awhile now, but it seems to be more difficult as time passes.
Hope to write soon.
The things that have passed between these weeks cannot be spoken--the sort of things that are written forever on our hearts while we do yet understand them.
The week I had in Ohio was the hardest of my life--and also the greatest honor. Thank you all so much for your care for me and my family, as well as your prayers and letters. They have meant so much.
I miss my grandpa already, although I must admit it seems as if it were all a dream--especially being here, away from everything familiar and especially away from him. But I know the grief will hit in waves--waves which I am unprepared for but will hopefully be filtered through the reef of God's gracious truth of redemption. Praise God that Papa is before his throne right now.
Somehow even through this, Time ambles on in her steady trek. Unabashed by her callousness, she drags us on along with her. And now it is April.
It's snowing here in Paris. A fact I can hardly come to grips with, as it was 65 degrees not two days ago. But such is the fickle wind of this fair city. It is actually somehow comforting, as I sit with the my cup of English Breakfast Tea (not very patriotic to the French, I know) and listen to the clicking of the keys under my fingertips. There's a calmness that comes in this night's fluttering veil.
But these moments are few and far between I'm afraid--Time does always carry her sachel: brimming with meetings, papers, jobs and work. It has been a maelstrom of activity since my return. Catching up on work missed has been a chore, but nothing compared to the final projects and presentations which came running at my heels soon after my return. Mainly, a research paper which (surprise!) demands a first draft by this week still lacks form--and research--as of tonight. There are also two presentation for this week which I have not yet prepared. It's going to be a long night.
There are also the blessed yet ill-timed jobs I have recently received--One is an all day, once a week job for a French/American family outside of the city. Their six year old son is bilingual, but they want him to improve his English--I am to think of fun activities for us to do together on Wednesdays (parks, museums, the zoo, etc) and then take him to the American library for story-time in English, to impove his vocabulary.
The second is a babysitting job for an English woman--this one will be much less time, and mainly consists of picking up her adorable 4 year old from school, taking him home, and playing with him for a bit until his mother gets home from work. Both these jobs, as I said, are a true blessing, but also have the uncanny ability to wittle away drastically at my time.
So, that is an update on my life--at least for now. I know I have been terribly negligent of this for awhile now, but it seems to be more difficult as time passes.
Hope to write soon.
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