Day 37, Cruel Ironies

Here are a few cruel ironies:

• I've made sandwiches for lunch for most of my life and then this morning my host mom made fun of me running late and not having enough time to make a sandwich and told me how to make a sandwich as though it were a new concept.  As if I didn't know.  As if I were a coddled American used to cafeteria food.  Thank you, Mom for teaching me how to make a sandwich years ago.
• I am a linguist but I still have a hard time pronouncing [u] versus [y].
• I just bought a white shirt, wore it a few times, and thought today, "Wow, this has stayed surprisingly white and clean."  That was promptly resolved when I got some tomato sauce on it during dinner.
• I ate pasta and gelatto for dinner--Italian-type food while in Paris, France.  And I ordered the Italian Amorino gelatto in French.
• I can feel safe and protected in the LDS church property even though it is sandwiched between a homeless center, bars, and gay joints.
• I talked to a new friend today about the raised showers here, thought of Ben's having wished me good luck with it and how I haven't gotten hurt yet, and then I went and fell coming out of the shower tonight.  Go figure.

Hmm, in my phonetics class this afternoon, we went over several trouble sounds and contrasts for French language learners.  When the Spaniard next to me couldn't hear the difference between the hissed [s] and the buzzed [z], I was excited to see what I've learned in action, in real life!  When the teacher couldn't get through to him, she asked if I wanted to try to explain it.  Mais oui!  I tried explaining that both sounds do in fact exist in Spanish, and he flat out rejected it.  "I speak Spanish, and there are only two sounds: [s] and [θ]...Maybe in Mexico it's different, but not in Spain."  I tried showing him otherwise by asking him to read "misma" because I know that regressive assimilation causes the speaker to voice the /s/ in anticipation of the voicing of the [m].  "[mis ma mizma]" is what he ended up saying, adamantly refusing my explanation.  I'm just some lowly L2 learned of Spanish in his eyes, I suppose.  Ah, there's so much native speakers don't know about their own language, myself included!  The man had just proved me right and didn't realize.   He was probably confusing orthography with phonology and phonetics, associating the written {z} with the sound [θ] and not understanding the phonetic symbol [z].  Haha, now I can tell Dr. Fails that I met a man like the student he told us about in class.  Real, firsthand experience!


Firsthand linguistics experience aside, I was altogether ready to be done with class for the day.  I did my time.  And when class went over time this afternoon, I skedaddled to meet up with my new Canadian friend Erin.  There wasn't institute today and there won't be for the rest of the time I'm here in Paris, so I had free time this evening, and so did Erin.  So, she invited me to her apartment, where we enjoyed a nice noodle, sauce, and mushroom dinner and chatted on and on.  She grew up largely without religion but believing in God because it's more optimistic than being an Atheist and she likes the idea of God, angels, a heaven, and seeing loved ones after death.  Well, I mention the LDS church (the Mormons) quite often because I have been so involved here and it has been my mainstay.  Plus, I kind of stick out when people find out I don't drink beer or coffee.  I'd wanted to talk to her about the Church, and I did a bit at lunch with her friends, but she actually asked me some questions tonight while we were together.  Although we don't see completely eye to eye on some topics, I think she appreciates that we are very family- and community-centered.  Also, we showed each other pictures on Facebook, and she commented more than once about how happy my friends and I looked and that we must have a lot of fun at our church activities, that a lot of people our age would have a bit of a hard time socially without alcohol to loosen them up a bit and give them the guts to make a move.  I don't know how well I explained my beliefs and I don't know if I pushed it a bit too much, but I am glad that she asked me and that we were even able to talk about it in the first place.  We'll have to see what happens.  She did mention that, hindsight being 20/20, she wishes that she'd gone to church more for the community feel or just to learn by going with friends a couple of times.  I told her she's free to come with me on Sunday!  "Oh, church in French!"  I don't know if that's a drawback or an asset in her view.


After dinner, she took me to a gelatto place she knew "nearby."  As we approached it, I realized I knew the place--it was the same Amorino place I went to last week with Bonnie, Betsy, and Kristal, only a couple of blocks away from the institute building!  I told Erin as much, and it was she who suggested I lead the way there so she could see where the church is.


I have said this over and over, and I will say it yet again: I am thankful for the Church, that it is world-wide, and that it is for EVERYONE!  Thank you, Mom and Dad, for raising me with it in our lives.  Thank you, ancestors, siblings, and leaders for helping me have the blessing in my life and for being an example to me and to my friend, and thank you, Heavenly Father, for restoring it on earth to a rather uneducated teenage farm-boy who translated a book (the Book of Mormon) written in a dead language, which has now been translated into tens of living languages to help make all of us imperfect mortals become perfect immortals.  

Yes indeed, life is full of ironies, some cruel and others cool, nay, awe-inspiring.  How so?  They are interesting, thought-provoking, and--best of all--REAL!

Days 33-36 A brief summary to be completed gradually

Sleep or blog--the toss-up of the last few days.  I end up being out with other YSA people and get home sometime between 11pm and 1am...and when I have school or church or something the next morning, it gets fatiguing to stay up until 2 or 3am every night to keep this baby updated.  Sadly, now that I've opted to slack a bit (even though I still ended up staying up late most nights), I am quite behind, and I've taken somewhere between 150-200 photos, too!


Day 33 (Friday): Class until 1pm!  Finally, after a month of being at this school, I found out that my teacher had recommended I move up a level!  The downside is that they changed teachers and Andre wouldn't be my teacher anymore.

I came home, ate lunch, and decided to take a nap.  For some reason, my body keeps waking me up after short 1-hr naps.  This time, I resisted and went back to sleep for a few more hours.  Yeah, I needed that 4-ish hour sieste.  :D

That night, we were supposed to go to the Louvre for the YSA activity to see a Rembrandt exhibit on Christ, but it fell through, so we had a different activity at the institute building.  And because Bonnie was leaving soon and the Louvre is free on Friday nights, we decided to give it a go anyway.  It wasn't far, and we found out that it was already closing, so we were disappointed, yes, but the beautiful sunset visible from the Louvre made it worthwhile all the same.  Besides, I was finally able to take a picture with the modernity of the museum juxtaposed with the oldness of the palace, just as I'd wanted to do when I came with my friends my first week here!  Okay, so it could've been done more artfully, but I did my best for being on an escalator!  In fact, I had just almost fallen over because I didn't notice the first flight of the escalator was ending, I was so caught up in taking a good picture!

I love the pyramid's shadow in line with the palace's entrance and the fountain.  Try finding the lamp and its shadow!

Beauty, eh?

Day 34 (Saturday): After much deliberation, Bonnie and I decided to follow through with our plan to go to Fontainebleau, south of Paris, even though three other friends bailed on us.  It being Saturday, I was able to buy a super cheap metro pass, un ticket jeune, and we were pleasantly surprised to find out upon our arrival that we could wander the chateau freely--at our pace and without paying!  I suspect it was because we came the weekedn of an art festival.  I have certainly been blessed to have been able to get into so many places for free or not at full price, thanks to friends, my school, and good timing!

Even though Kenny talked up Fontainebleau, it was no Versailles.  However, I enjoyed finding the Latin in the decor and looking for the symbolism in the art.  At one point, Bonnie asked how I knew so much about the chateau.  Well, combine a bit of Latin knowledge, un petit peu of French history, and an observing eye, and you can learn a lot.  I probably would've learned lots more if I'd been willing to pay the 1 euro for the audio guide, but there were signs in each room anyway!  Besides, I find it exhilarating to be able to decipher meaning.  Oh, and the chateau was filled with secret doors and hallways!  Bonnie said they were for the servants.  I wish my camera were better at taking pictures in dark areas without flash when flash is forbidden...

I spy with my little eye two sets of doors...

I spy...the musicians' cave in the chateau?!  

I spy a cool but ugly door to match a not-so-cool and ugly wall.

I spied "DEVM TIMETE REGEM HONORIFICATE," (something about fearing God and honoring the king), and then I spied a couple of emblems that led me to realize I was standing in front of the chateau's chapel  Can you figure it out?

Unfortunately, the downside of finding such treasures in the lush, green, remote countryside locales is that one must return to the city.  I came back just in time to head over to a baptism.  I would've only been a bit late, but  I didn't see the girl who was going to meet up with me, she hadn't called to say she was late, so I went and tried to find my way to this church building I'd never been to and that she'd given me brief directions to.  One problem: she told me to take a left at McDonald's and go under the bridge.  What I didn't realize is that she meant to take a left with McDonald's behind me!  That mistake led me to walk under a bridge, which area was bustling with a homeless and poor vendors' market.  Was it better to be with these people that scare me or just around the corner where there was almost nobody??  I was practically out of minutes, missed her two phone calls some 10 minutes later only two minutes after she'd called, and I used my last text to ask her to call me back.  After being approached by a few men, waiting ten minutes, praying, and almost crying while simultaneously telling myself to calm down because I could always use the metro to simply go home to escape the freaky area--after all this, she called me!  Thank you, Heavenly Father, for hearing my prayers and protecting me!  Meeting at the metro stop we'd originally planned on doing, she led me to the baptism.  I made it in time for the closing prayer, congratulating, and the food.  I could've joined some of the YSA women in a genuine French bridal shower (enterrement de la vie de jeune fille=burial of the young woman's life), but I was pooped and disillusioned with the city.  All I wanted was to go home and find refuge in my room, maybe call family or watch stuff online.  I fell asleep soon after coming home, sleeping off the afternoon's excursion to the suburbs and the evening's abrupt reality awakening and subsequent security of being with other LDS members.  It was a much-needed nine hours of sleep!

To be continued with Day 35 (Sunday) and Day 36 (Monday)...

Day 32, Heretofore Unknown Sides of Paris

Morning class: Yet another great day with my fabulous teacher, Andre.

Workshop: A trip to the Parisian underworld.  Seriously.  Did you know it's Catholic?  ;)  The cool part is that my friend Bonnie had asked me just that morning if I wanted to go, but I thought I wouldn't have time after my workshop.  Conveniently enough, the lady in charge of the workshop was totally chill with Bonnie coming and even paid for her on my school's bill!

Institute: A visit with the marvellous Soeur Woyak who was in the LDS Visitor's Center with her companion replaced institute for me.  I only missed the scripture mastery test that I wouldn't've taken anyway.

After-institute party: A night out to an "American" diner.  Yeah, the menu wasn't consistently English or French.  There were dishes from the States, yes, but also from Britain, Italy, and France.  Sadly, my friend, Agenor, was unable to experience a true-blue American hot dog.  Instead he had a longer, blander wiener served on a French brioche bun.  At least I happily enjoyed my Nutella milkshake.  :D

We had already walked a ways, and I'd kept asking, "Where are the skeletons that people say are down here?"  Yep, found 'em!

Apparently someone carved this depiction of a part of Paris from memory.

 Trapped?!  ;)  (All the water and humidity down there unstraightened my hair...)

The Catholics got creative.  Hard to believe this is what's left of, like, 30 people.  Rest in peace.

On that religious note...behold, my friend, Soeur Woyak and her comp just outside the LDS Visitor's Center!

I couldn't resist taking a pic to capture the cool lamp in the foreground of such a dynamic cloud cover!

Fact: The Eiffel Tower sparkles at night on the hour every hour!  This was taken not far from my place, over the buildings.

Day 31, A Good Day

Morning class and no afternoon atelier!!

Grocery shopping, chilling at the institute building, helping a girl (I hope she wasn't just fooling me), video Skyping my mommy (her first time actually seeing me since I arrived a month ago--it's already been a month!), partying with Bonnie before she returns to the States, eating falafel with kebab meat at a discounted price.

Yeah, I'd say it was a good day.

Another one for the collection.  This is by a theater called "The Semi-colon".

The store owner recognized us.  Why not get a pic?   He generously took 3! 

Day 30, Il faut que tu respire

Class this morning was fabulous--for once!  We listened to two songs and, in my opinion, my teacher did a wonderful job of activating background knowledge to lead up to the songs and he integrated them well into the the grammar principles and topic for the day.  Although I am harta with beginning language books and courses being politically motivated, the video "Il faut que tu respire" put an interesting and unanticipated spin on the topic of ecology.  We watched it first without sound and looked at the details in it without seeing the ending.  He asked some questions and then we watched again with the lyrics--even if you don't understand the words, the vid is interesting by itself, and the words make it even more impactful.  A good message from it is in the chorus, translated to mean something like, "You must breathe"--breathe in life's freshness, sweetness, and goodness while we have it.  Enjoy the simple joys of nature given to us from God!

 

Desafortunadamente, my afternoon workshop was not nearly so good.  For one, it was on the nasal vowels in French, and it was more or less the same lesson I had in phonetics with another teacher three weeks ago.  Secondly, I haven't been getting enough sleep, it was hot & dark, and it was simply boring as I simply sat there and listened to others struggle with the pronunciation or struggled with them as we repeated stuff as a class.

Thankfully, I had a get-together with some friends to look forward to!  The sad part is that the get-together was intended for getting veritable French fondue with Bonnie before she goes back to the States next Monday.  :(  It was the cost of a few days' worth of lunch, but it was tasty and it was a great experience, and the conversation was pretty "amusing," as Bonnie put it.

On the way back to the LDS institute building, I simply had to get a picture of Notre Dame at night!  I just wish that my friends would frame the historical monuments a bit better when I ask for pictures...  At any rate, it was beautiful!

Day 29, Crossing Bridges

Life is full of bridges.  According to Wiki, Paris has 37 all by itself, and that's only one city!  And according to my workshop teacher from today, bridges represent industry, commerce, knowledge in arts and sciences, strength, and riches & abundance.  To prove it, he had just shown us the four statues guarding the bridge immediately south of the Louvre.  One had a vase pouring out water (representing the Seine), another had a castle crown (representing the city of Paris itself, shown below), another had harvesting tools (representing industry), and the other had a lyre and a box of jewels (representing art and riches).

Just like the many bridges I saw today, bridges come in all forms and styles.  Sometimes, we think we know what to expect on the other side because we can see some of it, but we are always amazed to find what is really there once we cross and have a better view on where we came from, how far we've come, and where we're going next.  But sometimes we have to wait until we do get to the other side to even see the potential routes to progress further, on to our goals.  Gah, as much as I want to plan my life out, it really is impossible and some details must wait to be determined until I have a better view of what is going on in my life!

As we go, there are adventures to be found, as well as secret paths and beauty!

For example, this door is part of the Pont Alexandre III and even though today was my third time crossing it in as many days, I just noticed it today!

Leaving the secret door, I found these lovelies on the way to the next stop point in the workshop.

 Supposedly, an Italian story inspired the new practice of writing your and your love's names on a lock and attaching it to one of the many bridges here to represent strength and fortitude despite the passage of time.  It's a bit cursi perhaps, but it's romantic.  :D

"HORA FUGIT STAT JVS"--something about time fleeing.  Fitting for my situation, I thought.  Besides, it's Latin.  Do I really need an excuse?

I saw this vine and had to take a picture because it's the same exact vine we had for years at home!

Once the workshop was over, I explored a bit in an effort to find the church building for FHE, finding the delicate vine shown above on my way. 

After FHE, a few friends and I decided to hang out and grab some comestibles.  The cupid is a mark for this brand of gelatto, "Amorino."  I asked my friends what Amorino was and how it was different from other types of glace, to which Bonnie responded (thinking I was talking about the name "Amorino"), "I dunno.  You're the Latin-speaking person.  You tell me what it means!"  

"Well, to me it looks like 'little love' in Italian."

"That would make sense.  There is a little cupid, after all."

I love Latinate languages and seeing the patterns!  Why hadn't it clicked sooner?  Thank you, Bonnie, for pushing me to put my knowledge to use!

Day 28, Un domingo contento

THIS PAGE HAS BEEN ADDED TO AND IMPROVED!

I slept in.  At least church here ends with sacrament, so I knew I wouldn't miss that.  The important part is that I made it, right?

Because today was ward conference for the ward, I stuck around for the ward buffet that they do every time ward conference comes around!  I felt kind of guilty for taking their food when I'm not really officially part of the ward, but I brought juice to share!  And the food was delicious!  I wandered from one group of people to another, finally ending up with Francisco and Alejandro, two Venezuelan friends I've made in the ward.  They invited me to join them and some native French speakers on a walk.  (Take as guess as to whom I spoke with more.  :D  A summary of our conversation: Spanish, French, Spanish, English, French, Spanish!)  It started out as a walk to the Tuileries, a garden where a palace was destroyed, which adjoins the Louvre.  After reposing there a bit, we decided to keep going.  Yeah, here's a list of major places we walked by/on/through: the Louvre, Tuileries, Place de la Concorde, Champs-Elysees, Grand and Petit Palais, Pont Alexandre III, Les Invalides, la Tour Eiffel.

 Funny story, though--as I got ready for church, I decided not to wear a slip because I wasn't concerned about my skirt being see-through.  Also, I realized I'd stepped out of the apartment building without glasses or contacts.  Meh, whatevs.  I soon realized my skirt and shorts didn't combine well and my skirt kept going up.  Meh, I won't be walking much and I'll take the same route as always, so I'll be okay for a few hours without a slip and glasses.  Go figure I ended up going on a walk all over Paris after church, right?!?  That was a "I should've listened to that voice in my head" moment...

The day was beautiful and the walk was quite enjoyed!

Day 27, Saturday with Friends

I was going to go back to Versailles, this time to go see the chateau because I found out that one of my friends here has a disabled pass that she could use to get me in free with her.  Unfortunately, our plans were derailed when we found out the train to Versailles was closed off in many parts of the city, meaning we would've had to take other connecting metros to get there.  Instead, we decided to avoid that potentially chaotic mess in favor of taking the Batobus on the Seine.  Because we each already have a Navigo pass to use the Paris public transportation, we got a discount for the Batobus.  Although I had to sacrifice sleep to not sleep in after having gone to bed late, it was definitely worth it to be out and about on a pleasant Saturday morning in Paris.  Even just while taking the metro over to the stop by the Eiffel Tower, where I met up with Bonnie, Kristal, and Emily, I sat and suddenly felt excited, "I LIVE here!"  And then to be able to take a boat ride from the Eiffel Tower to the Museum of Orsay, Notre Dame, the Plants Garden, Hotel de Ville, and past the Louvre and the Alexander II Bridge--absolutely  wonderful! 

Sunshine and the Eiffel Tower on a clear morning in Paris!

 

Yeah, apparently it's possible to get wet on a boat.  Fancy that.

 

 

A unique view of Notre Dame!

The Pont Alexandre III behind me!  I like that the centerpiece on the bridge almost looks like a tiara.  Which would be even cooler if it weren't made up of naked women statues...

We got off at the Jardin des Plantes to see the plants and the menagerie.  That wasn't so exciting, but I did find out that that menagerie is the second-oldest one in the world!  Also, I learned that menageries are an older form of a zoo because kings would receive exotic animals as gifts and needed to store them somewhere.  Huh, I'd known that menagerie was a word in English, thanks to "Aladdin", but I didn't know what exactly it meant until Bonnie taught me.  Fascinating!

Next, we found a bus to take us to the Pantheon.  While waiting, I found another cool, fancy lamp!

At the Pantheon, Kristal got herself, her daughter, and me in all for free, and Bonnie got in free for being a student, so it was a total ganga going there!  And this time there was no obnoxious crane outside of it like there was the first time I came and only saw the outside.  Among the highlights for me was a mural with old French captions about Chralemagne getting crowned, Christ with an angel with a Latin caption, and seeing the tombs of people like Marie Curie, Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Voltaire, and the guy who invented Braille.

Here's a shout-out to Charlemagne for creating the conceptual distinction between the various Romance languages/dialects and causing it to be documented via phonetic writing.

"ANGELVM GALLIAE CVSTODEM CHRISTVS PATRIE FATA DOCET"

Yeah, I actually am not entirely sure about what this means, but it still caught my eye.

By the time we finished in the Pantheon, it was lunch time and Kristal and Bonnie were sweet enough to indulge my gyro craving by taking time to go get some.  It turns out I was right about it existing near the Notre Dame Cathedral, but I had gone the wrong direction along the Seine.  This time, though, we had success!  Even better, we got to enjoy it on the Batobus on our way to the metro to go to a YSA LDS film festival in Nogent.

All in all, I am quite happy with my weekend--it was busy and full, but relaxed and exciting to my taste.

Day 26, Versailles=My Heaven in Paris

I bet you could never, ever, ever guess where I went today.  Go for it; take a guess.  Wait, how did you know I went to school and Versailles today?  Probably because you are amazingly intelligent and can fit together some of the pieces of my life's puzzle.  ;)

So, yup, school was school and we talked once more about justice.  At this point, I don't even remember much of the particulars except that we listened to a little exercise and had to describe the commissaire's and the suspect's reactions.  We finished with making up our own TV guion for a feuilleton.  Ours was about a guy robbing a bank and escaping on a Segway.  I wanted ours to be creative, but my idea about having a teddy bear stuffed with gold being stolen was deemed too complex for us to do.  Lamesauce.  They're right that it's easier to do your typical bank robbery, and they weren't trying to be mean, but I just didn't want it to be boring.  Hence the escape on the Segway!

Next, I went over to Saint-Michel over near Notre Dame, determined to hunt down that delectably amazing gyro place Melanie, Brittany, Stephanie, and I went to our first week here.  I knew it was in that general area, and I thought I'd be able to recognize the street when I saw it, but walking around for half an hour or an hour ended up taking me over near the Pantheon and various other food shops, as well as a nice little park!

 

Finally, I decided to simply go for a formule that included a panini, a crepe sucree (a crepe with sugar), and a boisson (drink) for 5 euros because it was already getting into the afternoon and I wanted to have enough time to make use of the 13.65 euro ticket I'd bought to go to Versailles and Torcy.

Food in hand, I found the train and made my way to Versailles.  Even though I went with Stephanie my first week here, I was surprised at how slow the train was, but perhaps it was better that way because it allowed me to soak in the gradual change from the metropolis into the more typical European banlieu, complete with creeping vines on cottages and rolling hills.  To add to it, two guys hopped on the train and commenced forthwith an accordion duet.  Of course, they asked for money afterward, but because I gave them some of my loose change, one of them played just for me!

Once at the station in Versailles, I easily found my way to the Palace, hoping that my friends avaient raison in telling me that the gardens were free.  To my delight, they were right!  Looking back, I wish I'd known that the first time I came so I could've enjoyed that crazy Friday a bit more.  I even had gone right up to the entrance to the gardens when I was looking for my friends, but I thought it was just an exit and that I wasn't allowed in!  At any rate, I was free to enter as I pleased, and despite deciding to not enter the chateau, I thoroughly enjoyed myself!  I knew from one of the BYU students that some of them were going to be there and that they'd come in a couple groups another time, only to find each other in the vastness of the gardens, so I have to admit that part of me hoped to find them.  I'd also hoped to go with a friend, but she was busy.  Oh, well, I was free to wander at will.  I know that Versailles is famous for its size and grandeur, but I was still surprised when I saw the sheer size of the gardens--and even while up on the hill where the chateau is, you can't see it all!

I wanted to get away from the tourists from the beginning, but I couldn't stray far from the central walkway that leads to the lake.  On my way, I took pictures of some of the statues.  One I liked especially is of a man holding a child because it is an image of tenderness and gentleness while maintaining the man's virility and strength.  (Note: I was only partially successful in censoring the man's "virility," if you will.)

I continued to wander closer to the lake, when suddenly I heard my name!  What the--?!  Lo and behold, it was John, one of the BYU students with one of the French YSA members!  They were on their way out, back to Paris, after having spent a good few hours there at Versailles, and after asking if I was by myself, told me where I could find some of the others.  Yep, for all the vastness of this heavenly little microcosm, it was proved yet again how small this world really is.

I considered not going over, but in the end I went for it.  I ended up sitting with them for an hour, hour and a half, enjoying the beautifully semi-overcast, semi-sunny gentle breeze weather while sitting on the grass.  I even indulged myself in some ice cream.  :)  Sadly, I didn't feel very much a part of the group, which makes sense because I'm not and they've had loads more time to get to know each other, but they didn't even really seem to try very hard to include me in their conversations.  And one girl I did talk to when we got ice cream together either ignored me or totally spaced me out as she got lost in her own thoughts.  All in all, it was nice relaxation time but it was good when it ended.

Hmm, it's amazing how much time I've been able to take just sitting and enjoying or merely walking around and wandering!  As I began to wander again, I began to think about what my favorite experiences here have been: going to the Jardin du Luxembourg, sitting by the Seine, going to religious centers, walking down the Champs-Elysees, and discovering the gardens at Versailles.  Even though I have always answered that I prefer the country over the city and that wherever I move to later in life needs to have mountains and/or water, my thoughts proved that to me once and for all.  Before coming to Paris, I hadn't even been to a huge city to justly make that judgment, but now I can do so and with conviction!  Really, I shouldn't be surprised that I like nature, but it was certainly a pleasant surprise and has helped me understand better why my first couple weeks here were such an emotional struggle.  You see, I didn't know people, I couldn't speak the language very well, my morning classes were dreadful, I'm a small-town girl being thrown into the heart of metropolitan Europe, and I already know that it takes me about two weeks to adjust every time I experience a big change in my environment.  Finally it makes sense!  And now that I know people and have friends, I am doing better with French, I've changed my morning teacher, I've found spots of nature, and it's been a couple of weeks, it makes sense that I am happier.  Who couldn't be?!

To end a day so full of walking and wandering, I tore myself away from the gardens--I have plenty more to explore there another time--I returned to the train station just in time to make it back into Paris, meet up with a few friends, and head over together to a YSA dance at the other side of Paris.  Heh, it was strikingly similar to a typical US LDS dance...except that some of the music was bad and they didn't know because they didn't understand the words or innuendo in English, and those that didn't know didn't care.  And they tended to group like songs together, which meant some rap/pop, some swing, some line dancing, some latino salsa/bachata, and some slow songs!  Yeah, I talked for most of the time.  Go figure, right?  :D

Here are a few more pics to finish up this post, along with some accompanying thoughts.

Sometimes we feel like there's always a gate blocking our pathway, such as this one near Marie Antoinette's estate.  But sometimes we ourselves are the ones to blame for those gates.  If you think about it, the royalty limited themselves in a way and put up walls!   But...

...Just remember that there are gate doors to be found and opportunities to be had!

I love that this grandfatherly figure is spending time with his grandson, doing something as simple as watching sheep.  Come to think of it, it's a simple act, but it shows the child that time together is valuable, and it's something parents/grandparents have done with children for CENTURIES!

 I have a recent fascination with hidden doors.  Guess why.

And a fascination with swirly, fancy lamps has crept up, too.

Day 25, Oh, You Know, Just Life

Yeah, so I just went to class today and just had a workshop in the afternoon, after which I just had a sandwich for dinner and went to YSA Institute.  No biggie.  Ah, ah, ah, but wait--not only is every day unique and special, therefore deserving of a word more spectacular than "just" because "just" means "nothing much," but it's even more different because of where I am right now!  Hah, this reminds me of a conversation I had with Kenny Tuesday night when he suggested walking down the Champs-Elysees at night when it's lit up since he hadn't done it yet.

"Yeah, okay, 'cause that's not really something you get to do every day."

"Well, normally, no, but since we're here in Paris, we could if we wanted to."  Ah, touche!

So, I went to class today and it was more about justice and law, but it's about DSK who's imprisoned in my country and the lesson was given from a French point of view.  And apparently the Anglo-Saxon world prefers tabloid-like announcements more than the French, who prefer to "only" report "news".

And in the afternoon, I attended my last workshop of the week, but it took us over to Hotel de Ville, the Place des Vosges, and the apartment where Victor Hugo, his wife, and his mistress all lived.  The park in the courtyard is lovely!

As for "just" having a simple meal with one more sandwich, it was one made with French products, eaten in the little kitchen in my apartment that lies in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.  Okay, so even that is pretty cool, right?

And institute?  Well, Marriage Prep is much like I'd expect it to be in the States, except in French and except that I can understand better now the concerns that the General Authorities have about young people not marrying or couples falling apart because I can see how drastically different the views of the LDS church are in comparison with society here.  I mean, for me, marriage and family are of the utmost importance, but to many of the people here, the difference between being married and not is a piece of paper.  I know it's that way in the States for many as well, and I wonder what motivates people in life?  I wonder what does keep motivating people to get married when society today allots them many of the same privileges either way.  Hmm.  Well, more power to those who support marriage, strong families, healthy & well-developed children, and fidelity!

In other news, here are some photos of cool stuff I saw.  I know my teachers have told me that the architecture is covered with intricate designs, but I had no clue until I came!  And I saw so many faces on the doors and ceiling at the Place des Vosges that it makes me think of the door knob and knocker that come to life as Marley and Marley in "A Muppet's Christmas Carol."

 Behold, the ceiling.  It gradually lowered, making the hallway shorter, like in "Alice in Wonderland."

 Yep, this is on a door.

I love finding symbolism in art, and I love that there are religious crosses over this doorway.  I wonder if anyone else took time to notice?

Proof I was there!  Notice the windows' glass and decor.

 

My favorite part of going to the Place des Vosges?  Watch, listen closely, and I'll tell you!

 

Next stop: Chez Victor Hugo!

 The Chinese room, specially designed by Victor Hugo for his mistress.  It turns out that his initials are hidden everywhere in the designs.  (Thank you museum keeper who volunteered the info!)

Before leaving, I had to go into the park that was the courtyard.  The streetlamp caught my eye! I love the lines and color here.

One more thing to love: music in the metro!

Day 24, Problems to Solve Versus People to Love

After a lovely four hours at school spent discussing justice, particularly how it relates to the recent DSK candidate scandal, I simply had to tear myself away to eat walk and eat lunch with a friend in a park on such a beautiful day as today!

Seriously, though, class was kind of boring, but I did make some linguistic connections.  I think what helped me not get irritated and overly bored was that the teacher is more chill than the one Id had before this week, and he was much more patient.  I learned a lot of vocabulary, and it is interesting to me to see where the overlaps between French and English or French and Spanish are.  If only I could have an etymological dictionary with me all the time in class!  For example, I just learned on this etymological dictionary that, for one, "interpellate" is actually an English word, which corresponds with "interpeller" in French, and it has a sense of interrupting, which is what happens when someone is interpelle--they are taken from their everyday life and taken in for questioning as a suspect.  inter (between) + pellare (call).  SWEET!  Well, not sweet when that happens to someone, but sweet that I can see another linguistic relationship.  Maybe it doesn't quite make sense the way I'm explaining it, but it just clicks in my mind.  It's interesting to think about all the quotidian words we use and associate meaning with without making root connections.  It's just a pity I'm not able to constantly amuse myself like this in school.  Nevertheless, flashes of inspiration have helped.  Another example I just remembered was that in class itself, the teacher asked what the verb is that the adjective for "coupable" ("guilty") is.  Using what I know of it being "culpar" in Spanish and that it wouldn't be "couper" ("cut") the {u} in the French word was once an {l}, I took a stab at it and guessed "culper."  I was only missing a prefix: in- to make it inculper!  Language patterns and systemic change are magical.  :D

Anyway, class done for for the day, I went with Ayumi to a Monoprix we found yesterday that has a ridiculously inexpensive lunch deal.  I was so pleased with myself for being able to ask a worked where the drinks were and for being able to select my lunch items and even ask to change my sandwich and correct the cashier when she almost charged me too much.   I mustered up the guts to even add that I didn't want to cause problems, and both the woman grabbing my sandwich for me and the one being my cashier were patient and kind, adding that it was no problem and that the price mistake was cashier's own fault.  (Note: When a menu offers a Normand with camembert, beurre, salade, and noix, just expect huge chunks of foreign cheese, butter, some wimpy pieces of lettuce, and a few walnuts.  And if you decide to change to the Forestiersaucisson, beurre and something else you don't recognize, you can expect a baguette with salami-like meat, butter, and pickles.)  To add to the experience, Ayumi and I went over to a little park adjacent to the busy street.  It was dirty and many benches were covered in pigeon poop, but we found a pleasant clean spot in the sunshine between the two fountains in the park.  I didn't have my camera on me to prove it, but Ayumi took a pic.  Not that I have it to post here...

Ayumi needed to return to school for a workshop, but today was one of my free afternoons, so I went grocery shopping and thought to go to the French Open for tennis.  It turns out that I missed the rendezvous time to go with some of the BYU students, though, so I ended up spending some time watching the Jonas Brothers.  And I ate dinner and took a much-needed nap.  I wish I had a blankie to keep warm, but a bed and a jacket work quite well, too.

So, you reach the end of this post and might think, "School, food, and your apartment???  Boring."  Sure, but in a way it's nice to relax.  And I got to talk to a bunch of people here and back in the States.  :)

Oh, I did re-discover a gem on the Mormon Messages site!

 

"Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved."  I've considered my scholarship to study in Paris as a means to my end of becoming a better, smarter, savvier linguist and to get to Spain, but I realized that in doing so, I've turned the people here into a means to my ends as well.  I've spent too much time worrying about my problems and deficiencies in comparison with others' strengths rather than taking more time to love them. That's not what I'm here for.  No, we are here at this time in each others' lives to help one another and be loving support.  I can be a friend and missionary here as well as a student and tourist.  I want to make a difference?  I need to love people in the way they need love, and the Spirit is key to helping me do so.  For example, I became jealous of and irritated with a girl I met yesterday during lunch because she is 22 and is already quadrilingual and better than me at French.  But she's been here for eight months!  When I finally took a moment to get over myself and listen a bit better, I asked if she ever gets homesick.  To that, she quickly responded, "Yes," adding that her family was just in town recently.  Here I was, jealous and irritated, and she was just trying to be friendly and fighting homesickness while going to school and trying to find a job!  I'm ashamed of myself for being harsh with her at first, and I am grateful for what the Spirit taught me.  To further help myself improve, I plan to read the Book of Mormon/Livre de Mormon on the metro more and take more time to listen to people well.  "Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved."

Day 23, Linguistics, Walking, Talking, and Living

You need not read any further if you want only a brief summary of my day.  But for more details, by all means, keep going!

So, my morning class was "Theater,"  in which we discussed food a lot.  It sounded like my new teacher bought pastries for the class last week!  Too bad I missed that.  :(  Oh, well.  I ended up talking more than once about the Zuppa Toscana recipe my good friend Liz gave me.  I've only made it once, but I'd eaten it with Liz once before and it is a new favorite!  In my afternoon class, we learned about the phonemes /y/ and /u/ and /i/.  I can hear the difference between the first two, but there are times when I confuse the two.  From the correction I've received from teachers here, I think I overgeneralize the use of [y], which is ironic because [y] is actually harder and less natural for me than [u].  Maybe I should stop thinking so hard about what I'm saying and it will start to come more easily and correctly.

Even though I've changed classes, I still found myself watching the clock to get done with class.  I really need to find a way to enjoy my classes rather than just endure them.  Being here has made me doubt the verity of my linguistic side, but I think I might be coming back to myself and I might be onto a way for me to enjoy class.  For example, at one point the teacher talked about "C'est bon" versus "C'est bien," and she used the second with a verb, and I thought, "Of course!  Adverbs modify verbs, (therefore "bien" must go with a verb in this phrase) and adjectives modify nouns (so "bon" must go with nouns) when deciding when to use which of the two phrases in question.  In the same class some time later, I had some etymological thoughts and questions go through my head as I wrote new vocabulary down.  And again, in my phonetics workshop, I was able to talk about the difference between [s] and [z] not being phonemically contrastive in Spanish (not in those words...) and I was able to explain to the class that the circumflex symbol in French often replaces an {s} in older French.  Encore deux fois, I also was able to talk about historical Romance linguistics with a couple of guys I know from the YSA activities here.

Part of my little identity crisis sparked by being here is my realization that there are plenty of people here who speak multiple languages, so what's the big deal about me knowing Spanish, English, and a bit of French?  And my linguistic conversations this evening with those two YSA guys revealed the gaps in my knowledge, showing that I only really know so general principles and many specific examples.  As I walked down the Champs-Elysees and back into the heart of Paris from L'Arc de Triomphe, talking with one of the guys, Kenny, he made an observation on what I was saying.  Basically, I love the feeling of helping people and understanding them, and language is a key to entering their world, understanding them, and knowing how they work and how to work with them.  At the core of my passions is a desire to want to make a difference.  Really, even wants to know they have a purpose and are useful, and for me, language is a strong point and I like being recognized for what I do.  But recognition isn't what helps people, and it's not like recognition really lasts for very long.  It merely feeds pride.  And there will always be someone better.

Yep, my pride has convinced me that since I'm not the best linguist and that being a polyglot doesn't come automatically, perhaps I don't really belong in linguistics.  Shoot, I found out today that a Spanish phrase I've known and used that I thought was equivalent in French is grammatically correct but means something else semantically.  So do I really know anything?  I obviously am not fluent in French, my Spanish is filled with mistaken habits and sizable gaps, and my sense of English has become corrupted by learning other languages, so I shouldn't be an authority on languages at all, right?!

Although much of my self-crticisms have some truth in them, they are a corruption of the truth.  Okay, so I shouldn't hope to win a prize for "Best Spanish Speaker of the World," but I learn Spanish because it is a driving force for me, it energizes me, and it helps me help other people.  French is helping expand my linguistic base and it is widening my potential circle of influence.  And Spanish and French have both helped me understand grammar better, thus actually improving my French.

I am truly grateful for the linguistic moments sprinkled throughout my day, the chat I had with Kenny tonight, and the ever-optimistic and spiritual blog posts from another new friend of mine, Paul.  Even though Paris isn't the glorious wonderland I'd imagined it to be, the culture isn't quite as my US Latino-biased mindset has led me to believe and there is indeed good to be found here.  Happiness is indeed a choice and God has given me this opportunity to be here.  I need to be humble and forget about trying to be the best person and decide to be the best me.  I need to choose to be content and at peace here, or else I will only pine away my time here, causing me to lament later my wasted opportunity of being in France.  I know I am here for a reason and I know Romance linguistics is what I love.  I don't know what I'll actually end up doing with it, but that is in God's hands.  Tonight, I saw a friend's status purportedly quoting Gandalf: "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."  And that time, my dear friends, is a precious gift given to us and we are free to use it as we please, be it for good or evil.  Alma 34:34-37  Really, it's up to us.  Don't put life off for tomorrow, hoping everything will magically change on its own.  Personally, I want to live life fully rather than fill it with semi-empty yesterdays like I have done already.  What about you?

Some of my favorite moments from the walk tonight were seeing the moon and looking out over the Seine.  Those are simple things here that I treasure.  It was also quite a treat to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle finally!  Kenny took this picture for me when we reached the end of the Champs-Elysees.  Obviously, the picture doesn't do the moon justice!  Also, the 3000 year old Egyptian obelisk is just off to the left of the screen!  Yep, that's how I decided to spend some of my precious God-given time tonight.  What will you do with it?