I'm like a child on their first day of school! (Provided they are actually excited about it and not terrified.) While all of my lovely Redeemerites are on their reading break, I'm in my first full week of classes. It is honestly SO good to be back in school and learning things and having something more concrete to do with my days! I started out in one class last week and found it was very easy so I switched to a more advanced level and got placed in a grammar class that runs 8 am to 10:30 am Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri. The hour sucks and it's still dark when we leave the residence to walk to the metro, but it made the rest of my schedule work out so that is wonderful and definitely a blessing from God!
The prof is incredible! He explains things so well and gives clear examples and doesn't rip on us if we get a question wrong and I've actually been able to answer a few questions in class which I like never really do anymore, so life is good! It is always nice to have a goal to work towards and school definitely gives those goals.
In other news, I've been learning for the past few months about trust and how little trust I actually have in like anyone. I realized that I also unfortunately do not have as much trust in God as I would like/should. Can I really just leave things in His hands (those capable hands who created and sustain the universe, who formed my being and holds me together every moment of every day,) and trust that He will take care of it? We're so quick to pray, "Your will be done" and then go out and take control again. It more often than not just turns out in a tug-of-war and God always wins. I've seen His blessings EVERYWHERE recently! He provided me with two jobs in Hamilton for the summer doing things in the religion department at Redeemer and I have options for housing and God's working things out in that area for me and I know that even though it's taking longer than I was hoping to have my laptop looked at, there are people here in Paris who can potentially fix it (or at least save my info) without it costing a whole lot. It's all in HIS timing and though the only way to learn to be patient is to be tested in patience and be forced to wait, it is so beneficial of a lesson to learn!
"Jesus is the calm in the midst of the storm." There's a painting at my house in Courtice with that quote on it and it's been popping up in my mind a lot recently. He really is the rock. No matter where I am in the world, He's the same God. The same God who worked so many miracles to bring His people out of slavery in Egypt, the same God who walked this earth, the same God who rose Jesus from the grave and who reigns over all - He is the same God that we worship and live for everyday and with Him going before me, walking beside me and following up behind me, it doesn't matter what's going on in life, cuz He's faithful.
So yea, I'm blessed :)
Tuesday, 19 February 2013
Thursday, 14 February 2013
Salt water
I am so sorry that it has been so long since I last wrote a post on here, and for those who have me on Facebook, I'm sorry that there are no pictures of my travels to Barcelona and Nice yet. My laptop has not been turning on properly anf when it does, the internet at my residence hasn't been working for the past two-three days so it's all around a lose-lose situation. Tears are salty. I've only shed a few since being here in Europe and most have them have been due to laughing so hard. Today was different. I'm just fed up with things not working and I have no clue why I'm studying French and what God wants me to do with all of this. Did He even call me to be in French? I kinda just went full speed into it without consulting Him at all. Well, I'm here now and I'm experiencing some incredible things and I have finally been seeing God shine His light through me.
Without writing you a book and keeping you starring at this screen for ages, let's keep this short. My trip with the other Redeemer girls to Barcelona and Nice was actually incredible!! The plane ride over just added to the excitement of spending some time away from Paris. Paris is cold and cloudy and rainy. We had gone skating at an outdoor rink just a day or two before leaving for Barcelona and in the span of the hour and a bit that we were out there, there was rain, sun, rain and then cloud. Paris sounds romantic, but to live there is another story.
So we hop on the plane to to head to Spain and we fly over mountains and catch the first few glimpses of the Mediterranean Sea (something that I've always wanted to see). It was gorgeous! I've always wanted to see the water that's super light blue (like you'd see in the Carribean) and I did not expect to see it in Barcelona, but it was there nonetheless. There was sun and one of my souvenirs was to buy sunglasses. We were there for less than 2 hours before we were down on the beach. It was the 3rd day of February and people were in shorts and tshirts playing beach volleyball and sitting in the soft and sparkly sand. Heavenly! It was in a moment of sitting in the sun in those few days, with my eyes closed cuz it was so bright and feeling the sun beat down on my pale skin that I heard God say, "Remember this moment." God knew I'd need a moment like that to hold on to while I'm here in Paris.
The Mediterranean Sea was cold but felt oh so wonderful to be in! Cheryl even went swimming in it! (For like 7 seconds..but that was longer than the rest of us even dared.) It was incredible to think that that same body of water was what brought Paul on all three of his missionary journeys and what he was ship-wrecked in. Jesus was probably along the Mediterranean at one point as well. And one of my favourite thoughts while standing in the crashing waves was that Africa was on the other side :) I honestly can't wait to go there!
It would take far too long to tell you all about what we did in Barcelona and Nice and Cannes (where we took like a gazillion pictures with the light blue water and took a ferry ride to Ile de Sainte-Margurrite where the man in the iron mask was kept in prison-true story I found out) qnd Eze and Monaco (which is the second most expensive place in the world to live). We ate seafood that came from the Mediterranean and ate fruit that had sat in sugar for like 3 days or something and heard stories of old town Nice where a 15 year old girl was tortured and killed for her faith in God and where Napoleon tried to reform everything and where bricks were painted onto the walls of houses and where you could see the French Alps. We fed fish as we ate lunch along the marina and we saw incredible sea creatures in an aquarium museum. We tanned at tad (my roommate commented on that when I returned) and we enjoyed doing nothing and seeing all the beauty of southern France that God has made. We took a 6 hour train ride back to Paris and now our classes have just begun. Hard to believe what we've seen in 3 weeks and how much more awaits in these next 4 months. Let's hope the salt water stays in the ocean and only runs down our faces when we are laughing so hard that we can barely breathe. And let's hope I can remember that moment in the sun, free from care, that God graciously gave to me.
Without writing you a book and keeping you starring at this screen for ages, let's keep this short. My trip with the other Redeemer girls to Barcelona and Nice was actually incredible!! The plane ride over just added to the excitement of spending some time away from Paris. Paris is cold and cloudy and rainy. We had gone skating at an outdoor rink just a day or two before leaving for Barcelona and in the span of the hour and a bit that we were out there, there was rain, sun, rain and then cloud. Paris sounds romantic, but to live there is another story.
So we hop on the plane to to head to Spain and we fly over mountains and catch the first few glimpses of the Mediterranean Sea (something that I've always wanted to see). It was gorgeous! I've always wanted to see the water that's super light blue (like you'd see in the Carribean) and I did not expect to see it in Barcelona, but it was there nonetheless. There was sun and one of my souvenirs was to buy sunglasses. We were there for less than 2 hours before we were down on the beach. It was the 3rd day of February and people were in shorts and tshirts playing beach volleyball and sitting in the soft and sparkly sand. Heavenly! It was in a moment of sitting in the sun in those few days, with my eyes closed cuz it was so bright and feeling the sun beat down on my pale skin that I heard God say, "Remember this moment." God knew I'd need a moment like that to hold on to while I'm here in Paris.
The Mediterranean Sea was cold but felt oh so wonderful to be in! Cheryl even went swimming in it! (For like 7 seconds..but that was longer than the rest of us even dared.) It was incredible to think that that same body of water was what brought Paul on all three of his missionary journeys and what he was ship-wrecked in. Jesus was probably along the Mediterranean at one point as well. And one of my favourite thoughts while standing in the crashing waves was that Africa was on the other side :) I honestly can't wait to go there!
It would take far too long to tell you all about what we did in Barcelona and Nice and Cannes (where we took like a gazillion pictures with the light blue water and took a ferry ride to Ile de Sainte-Margurrite where the man in the iron mask was kept in prison-true story I found out) qnd Eze and Monaco (which is the second most expensive place in the world to live). We ate seafood that came from the Mediterranean and ate fruit that had sat in sugar for like 3 days or something and heard stories of old town Nice where a 15 year old girl was tortured and killed for her faith in God and where Napoleon tried to reform everything and where bricks were painted onto the walls of houses and where you could see the French Alps. We fed fish as we ate lunch along the marina and we saw incredible sea creatures in an aquarium museum. We tanned at tad (my roommate commented on that when I returned) and we enjoyed doing nothing and seeing all the beauty of southern France that God has made. We took a 6 hour train ride back to Paris and now our classes have just begun. Hard to believe what we've seen in 3 weeks and how much more awaits in these next 4 months. Let's hope the salt water stays in the ocean and only runs down our faces when we are laughing so hard that we can barely breathe. And let's hope I can remember that moment in the sun, free from care, that God graciously gave to me.
Friday, 1 February 2013
Those French boys
Basically everyone I talked to about going to France mentioned French boys to me, whether it was to warn me about them or to encourage me to come back with one. Cheryl Hartemink (the other Cheryl on this trip with me) said that if one of us was to hook up with a French guy, it'd be me. Really?
We went to the Musée d'Orsay for a bit this morning (getting in for free because we are students!) and art isn't everyone's cup of tea so we left around noon to get some food. We found a little café that had decently priced, good food so we went in and sat down. This tall, black guy at another table kept looking at me and I avoided eye contact and did nothing to say I saw his winks and stares.
We ate. He got up to leave. Rachel fought to get the escargot out of their shells (they don't take them out of their shells before they give them to you like they do in Canada). We paid and got up to leave. The waiter came over to me just as I was about to head out the door. He handed me a little green slip of paper, saying that the guy who'd been staring at me had told him to give it to me. It says, "Salut. Jean Philippe. (his phone number). Tu es très belle."
Well folks, what does one do when one receives a note like that? She just laughs and passes it around to all her friends and takes pictures of it and wonders at those French boys.
We went to the Musée d'Orsay for a bit this morning (getting in for free because we are students!) and art isn't everyone's cup of tea so we left around noon to get some food. We found a little café that had decently priced, good food so we went in and sat down. This tall, black guy at another table kept looking at me and I avoided eye contact and did nothing to say I saw his winks and stares.
We ate. He got up to leave. Rachel fought to get the escargot out of their shells (they don't take them out of their shells before they give them to you like they do in Canada). We paid and got up to leave. The waiter came over to me just as I was about to head out the door. He handed me a little green slip of paper, saying that the guy who'd been staring at me had told him to give it to me. It says, "Salut. Jean Philippe. (his phone number). Tu es très belle."
Well folks, what does one do when one receives a note like that? She just laughs and passes it around to all her friends and takes pictures of it and wonders at those French boys.
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