You know how older buildings in European cities have a nice rustic look, complete with awesome ironwork balconies and giant windows? Yeah, I think I might've been a bit more fascinated with those than some other famous sites around here. And, oh yeah, turns out I have one now. Add a built-in seat and it'd be just about what I want in my dream house! :)
I have my own room, which actually belongs to the adult daughter of my host mom. According to my host mom, this building was built somewhere in the early 1900s. (Note the heinously orange book on the shelving. Yeah, it's La Celestina, that book I traipsed all over Paris with, remember?)
So, I remember learning about the house in my beginning French class, and I remember learning that there was a word for the toilet room (la salle de bains) and one for the shower (la douche), and the teacher and the book both claimed that they were separate. Here's proof. I guess they were right. Go figure. (And although you can't tell well in this photo, the shower sides come up high, almost as high as the bottom of the sink, and the shower floor is raised up. Yeah, that's caused me to stub my toe for being short and not lifting my foot higher and to land pretty hard coming out from underestimating how high I was...I almost need a stepping stool!
*Quick* synopsis of the day: I was only partially conscious for the first portion of class today, thanks to Benadryl, language strain on the brain while listening to the news to start class at 9am, and not getting enough sleep in the first place. Meh, the teacher didn't seem to notice. Thankfully, I was more awake by the time we got halfway through. In the afternoon, I had another workshop, "Parisian Culture and Civilization." Basically, we got to walk around on the islets on the Seine, learn a bit of history, and read poems about Paris. The teachers seem very open to new ideas and suggestions, which is nice, but it's also odd to me that they don't have a set curriculum. Meh, more potential fun and spontaneity. And let me just add that they weather was beautiful, picturesque for sitting on a dock in the middle of the Seine, reading Parisian sonnets and songs in the open air by a willow tree. (Ignore the cigarette smoke.)
For dinner, once I made it home, I had crepes with jambon and fromage (ham and cheese)--simple, but oh so tasty! These people don't fool around with food!
Once I finished, I went over to the metro to meet up with that one Japanese girl I met in the cafeteria on Monday who agreed to join me in going to institute! Finding each other was an endeavor, but we finally had success and made it to the church building. However, we didn't enter for institute right away because--wonder of wonders--one of my good friends from BYU who is serving here in Nogent was in the Church visitor's center with her companion! She's an excellent hugger, and I was reminded of that today! Somehow, she didn't get either of the two letters I snail-mailed to her, nor did she get my email, so she had no idea that I am a grad student now, much less that I am here on a scholarship! (Tsk, tsk on the new missionaries I'd told to tell her hi for me when we were on our way into Paris last week. I guess that made the surprise even better for her!) I hope to see her Sunday at a YSA event. As for my Japanese friend, I'm not sure how much she got out of institute, but the encounter with my missionary friend gave us the opportunity to have my new friend listen to a message recorded in Japanese. A nice French girl translated the institute class for her, two other sets of missionaries talked to her, and she met some of the YSA people. She said she might come to FHE on Monday. It was surprisingly easy to talk to her and share our beliefs with her, probably because of my not knowing her well (which sounds bad, but less is at stake for me, and we're just starting out like this from the get-go), her openness, my strength, and the Spirit, of course. It was a great feeling!
So much for a *quick* synopsis. Well, it was shorter than it could've been, that's for sure!
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