continuer

Things have been going well, it was a full week of work. I've been spending my mornings at L'Etape, which is such a rewarding experience. It mostly includes supervising the breakfast, making sure there's enough stuff (bread, coffee, milk, etc), and discussing with the people that come. While the average is about 30 people, one day we had a total of 45 people throughout the morning! I'm starting to make some good friends, and learning so much from these wise and experienced people.

With some friends, Eliza and Makou, at L'Etape.

Some other tasks I've been helping with include accompanying a lady to the embassy of Cameroon, and accompanying another guy to a medical visit. I'm there to help make sure 1) they don't forget to go and 2) everything goes smoothly once we're there. One of my coworkers said they were "ravi" that I was there and able to help, so it seems like I'm doing some good!

Here's a funny little anecdote that I think you guys will enjoy. One day while walking to the metro after work, I passed by a young dude who looked super Jewish, and I said bonjour as I typically do to people I make eye contact with. A couple seconds later he ran back up to me and asked, "Hey, are you Jewish?" I laughed and said, heck yeah, I'm a Jewish Christian! He was pretty excited and said he could tell from my face. I felt pretty proud. Anyway, we talked a little, and he asked if I ever had put on phylacteries before. I said no, and he offered to do it for me, so I said why not. I'll let wikipedia show you the rest:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tefillin_worn_by_a_man_at_the_Western_Wall_in_Jerusalem.jpg

That's what I looked like. So once I had it all on, right there in the middle of the sidewalk, I repeated a prayer in Hebrew. It took about 5 minutes in all, and after I asked the meaning. He said it was an act of consecrating your heart and your mind to God. So cool!!


As it was a beautiful day today, I took a little walk and explored the neighborhood. So dang beautiful.

There's a field with some horses about 2 minutes away from my house here.

The Mairie (town hall) of Conches

I really liked this little road for some reason.

Next week I'll be at Chamarande, a vacation home owned by Les Petits Frères where the patrons are taken on daytrips. It gives them a chance to get out of the city, have a little pause, a good meal, and relax. I'll be staying there all week, taking care of meals and helping them to enjoy their stay. I'll be without internet from monday night to next saturday! Love you guys.

souvenirs

One thing really quick... in case you were wondering where the name of my blog comes from, it's the name of one of my favorite French albums, "La Dernière Année" from Gérald DePalmas.

So I've had a four-day weekend, thanks to how much the French love their holidays. Definitelly not complaining...turns out I needed a lot of extra sleep. when I was a missionary, on the other hand, all that meant was crappy bus schedules!

Thursday I met up with Emma (a friend from high school, who's studying at the Sorbonne) and some of her friends, and we did the downtown thing. I saw the Eiffel Tower for the first time, woohooo.

We went to the museum of modern art...Jeff, I'll send you the rest of the art pics I took. I liked this one because of the background :)

Yesterday there was a dance up at the church in Lille, where I was a missionary back in the summer of '06 for a total of 6 months. It was SO incredible going back there...I can't describe how surreal it was just being there, let alone getting to see people again who I cared about so much. It was awesome.
That definitelly would've NOT been appropriate behavior in the metro 3 years ago...haha.
Good friends, Manu and Anne-Louise. They're getting married soon! Too cute, eh.
Weird flower things that I always liked, by the train station in Lille

commencement

You know what's been the most nostalgic thing of all so far? The taste of shelf milk (the kind you don't keep in the fridge before you open it) and muesli (a granola mixture) in the morning. Weird. Anyway, things have been going wonderfully.

Turns out in my little suburban home I'm kinda far away from where I work in the 11th arrondissement of Paris; I wake up at 7, get ready, catch a bus at about 730, take the RER (metro lines that are a little newer and cover a lot of the outskirts), switch over to a regular metro, and walk a few blocks to get to the "fraternité". the main building where I work, by 9. I can't get over how amazing all the people that I work with are. They've been so kind to me, and care so much about the people that we work to help.

So basically, the goal of Les Petits Frères is to help people between ages 50-75, who for one reason or another, don't have anyone to turn to. Could be because they lost their job, could be because they lost their family or had a falling out...whatever the case may be, there are some people who need a jump start. Their motto is "des fleurs avant le pain", "flowers before bread". It's one thing giving someone a meal so they can survive, it's a whole other thing to give them what is necessary to live-- friends to talk to, things to do and to make them feel like they're worth something in this world. That can be hard to remember if you're aged and alone.

I spent a few hours on monday at a building called "L'Etape" [lay-TAHP], which is opened in the morning for the patrons. They can come there to take a shower, do laundry, read, play games, go on the internet, tend to some plants, have a light breakfast. I got to talk to some really interesting people...with age comes wisdom and awesome experiences! I was quick to become friends with a lot of them. I told one guy, Alain, that I had lived in Amiens, and he was all excited to show me a book he had with a picture of the tomb of Jules Verne there. He brought it by the fraternité the next day and gave it to me to keep! Too funny.

So, what have I been doing? So far, fairly miscellanious tasks, since my main contact person Eve-Marie has been gone a few days and I've yet to lay out a solid program. Most notably I spent a lot of time moving one of the patrons from one hotel to another. Turns out being able to drive (and willing) is a rare commodity at Les Petits Frères, so they plan on working me there! Oh man, driving in Paris is nuts though. If I didn't have the experience I do having driven in the big European cities of Lille and Bruxelles, I'd be screwed for sure. But I've got a handle on it.

So as myself and Elodie, another intern, were helping this dude Patrice move, we came to find that there was quite the cockroach problem in the old hotel... I lifted a book and instantly about 3247 exploded from underneath onto my hand. Man, no one should have to live in such conditions. Hotel is a loose term... it was more like a hole. Well, after several hours of loading the car and trying to manuver the one-way streets with our mismarked map, we finally unloaded in front of the next hotel. As the manager was showing us up the stairs, he notice a cockroach that happened to have made it out with us on the bag I was carrying, and he immediately took them and threw them outside, saying he wanted nothing to do with us anymore. Poor Patrice, who's already depressive, was crushed, and lamented that "life is nothing but misery". I tried to cheer him up, and called it an adventure...plus, he didn't want to stay there anyway, TV's were forbidden. I took him back to the frat and with one of the workers, Christophe, figured out a plan for him.

Boom. I've got a couple days off thanks to the abundance of French national holidays...more sweet pictures to come!

arrivé

All I can say is...WOW. I can't believe I'm here! From the time I got off the plane and heard everyone around me speaking french, it's felt like a dream. The street signs, the architectural style, the greenery...it's like I never left.

So everything went pretty smoothly as far as travel goes, I got my stuff and took a couple metros to the place where I said I would meet my host family, the family Crucy. They're all so cool...the dad is hilarious, the mom is motherly, and there are two sons at home, Chester (22) and Amaury (20). We've become instant buddies (they think I look like Art Garfunkel).

Despite my lack of sleep for about 36 hours, last night I went out with the guys to Disney Village, which is maybe about 7 minutes from where I'm staying (a suburb called Conches sur Gondoire...check it out on Google Earth). We met up with a few girls, two German exchange students and one French girl, and had fun walking around and eating at an American 50's style diner. Frenchies trying to do American food...hilarious. I came 10000 kilometers for dinner, and I could've just walked two blocks to the Malt Shoppe!

Life is good. I've had a great time interacting with people and just soaking it all in again. I start my internship with Les Petits Frères des Pauvres tomorrow, so I'll let you guys know how that goes!