Day 22, A Fresh Start

So, Friday afternoon I and a classmate requested to be moved to another class because we were sick and tired of our teacher.  Although the lady in the office wasn't exactly accommodating, she took our names to possibly move us.  Imagine how I felt this morning when I arrived at school only to see that they had done nothing!  I almost gave in and just went to class like I have for these past two weeks, but I thought of my host mom who counseled me to fight, and I decided to speak with the woman in the office at that moment.  Unlike the one from last Friday, this one was extremely helpful!  She asked if I wanted to move up and remarked that she felt like I was a bit more advanced than the class I've been in, and when I mentioned my classmate, she knew who I was talking about and showed me to my new classroom, the same one my classmate had been changed to.  No sooner had she dropped me off there that my new teacher told me that we were going on a museum trip!  What's more, the trip was to the Musee Guimet, which is all about Asian culture and it's the one I pass on the way to and from school every day!   In fact, I'd considered going there for the Nuit des Musees, but I went to the Musee d'Orsay instead.  Apparently I chose well because this way, I got into both for FREE!!!  And not just that, but because I went with a class today, I was able to learn a lot more than I would've on my own thanks to all my prof knows about the Oriental religions and culture!  It shouldn't be surprising that my favorite was the special exhibit on Lucknow, which displayed a couple of Bollywood films, cool royal garb, and a record in French from the 17th century, which is the same time period as the document I'm using for my thesis!

Although I didn't know to bring my camera, my new teacher took some photos of his own.  (Both links below are for the same pics.)

• Photos on Facebook
• Photos on Flikr

This is us looking at the 1000-armed Buddhist god Avalokiteshvara. (Who counted?!)

 
During my lunch break between my morning class AKA museum visit and my afternoon workshop, I was finally able to access the internet with the Netbook my sister lent me, which is an accomplishment and it was quite convenient.   In class, we learned a bit about various historical figures who played major roles in France's development.  There were some like Charlemagne, Louis XIV, Marie Antoinette, and Napoleon, of course, but there were a number of others I hadn't any idea about beforehand.  I liked that I did know some already about Charlemagne thanks to my Philology professor and some about King Louis XIV because of my interest in the play Le Roi Soleil, and I really enjoyed learning the rest of little tidbits from my teacher because it helps me appreciate France more for understanding it a little better.  Plus, there are TONS of metro stops here named after famous people, and now I get it just that much better!  For example, I am quite familiar with the stop Etoile Charles de Gaulles, and I've thought from the beginning that that must've been named after a great warrior from the era when France was still Gaule--only to find out today that Charles de Gaulles was a figure in WWII!  Boy, was I off!

Being thus historically edified regarding the habits of ancient, long-gone Asian peoples and French leaders, I was very much ready to indulge a habit of my own to keep me alive: eating!  I didn't realize until coming here how tasty tomatoes are with just salt and pepper, and today I had a bit with cheese after using most of the tomato on a sandwich.  I wrapped up the meal with a "P'tit Dejeuner" cookie-cracker and a chocolate-covered gauffre.  Mmm, I didn't know until today how tasty those are when warmed up!

I hoped to be able to return to the Musee Guimet to take pictures of my own there before continuing on my way to the institute building for FHE, only to find that it had closed half an hour before.  Tant pis.  I had extra time, so I tried a new route to the church.  Yeah, not quite as worthwhile as I'd hoped.  But at least I made it to FHE!  There, we had yet another lesson about the Book of Mormon.  (It's the 3rd in a row, but I guess you can never say enough about such a wonderfully inspired and divine book!)  The lesson was followed by an activity where everyone stood in a circle with one person blindfolded in the middle who had to point to a person, pick an animal, and try guessing who the individual was based on their interpretation of the chosen animal.  As soon as I heard baleine and knew it meant "whale," I thought of "Finding Nemo," but I wasn't sure what sound to make rather than speak.  People started getting a bit impatient, so I just let out something, not knowing myself what to expect!  It turned out well, though, because everyone laughed, and I was overjoyed to hear at the end that my whale impression was a few people's favorite!

Afterwards, I visited with some of the BYU Study Abroad students and ended up talking with an elder here who is apparently about to finish the mission.  Yeah, he's so trunky.  When he started talking to me, it was to figure out where he'd seen me before.  Come to think of it, that's the second time in a week a guy has used that to start talking to me.  But he's a missionary, and if he were interested, I wouldn't want to wait around for him to get back from a mission.  Realizing he'd seen me at the baptism yesterday, he then asked how long I've been in Paris.

"Three weeks."

"Oh, that's how much longer I have left here."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing," my eye, "nothing," whatever!  It didn't take long for me to lose interest, no matter how close he is to finishing.  He grew up "trilingual" with English, French, and Spanish, yes, but he's far too full of himself.  Imagine my surprise when I found out he's an Assistant to the Mission President (AP)!

(Note: To my guy friends who may read this, please don't think I'm shallow or weird.  If anything, blame my youth and my being a girl, okay?  You should feel privileged anyway for having an insider's view on what a girls thinks! :D )

Day 21, Happy Sabbath!

Church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
Baptism
Sleep


End of story.

Okay, so not really.  That's as abbreviated as my stories come, but I could fill it in with tons of details.  For example, all of church for me was in French (English was an option, but I went with French), and I was able to understand quite a bit more of the Relief Society (RS) lesson this time around because the lady spoke quite clearly and there wasn't a constant hum of translation because the lesson was offered separately in English.  The lesson was about talents, and the sister pointed out that two people can do the same work, using different talents.  She illustrated her point by using the story of Moses and Aaron, the latter contributing his speech skills and the former using his spiritual leadership skills, who together led the great nation of Israel.  I, for one, am competitive and often feel like people who are "better" than me are a threat, that somehow they will be noticed and liked more.  Really, though, we are here to help each other with the unique talents we each possess.  We can complement each other, and when we make good use of the talents we've been given rather than hide them to "protect" them, we show Heavenly Father that we are responsible and capable, when then leads to receiving more talents--and responsibilities!

Sunday School also helped me see that I can understand some French--the guy who taught has tried talking to me before, but I had a hard time understanding him.  This time was a bit more clear.  And then, in sacrament meeting, I also understood parts, but I had a super hard time because we were at the very back behind a couple of families of small children, I was tired, and I wasn't focusing very well.  I think I could've understood a lot more today than I did if I'd put forth a bit more effort rather than passively listening.  Perhaps another factor is my confidence level, which is an observation Amy made while we were at the museum yesterday.  Essentially, she thinks comprehension is positively correlated with confidence.  I still am quite inept with the language in comparison with my native language, but really, I haven't studied French for even a year yet!  And although I seem to stumble over my words even after having thought through a simple utterance various times, I do feel like I am getting more comfortable with the people here.  I admit to getting jealous of the fun adventures I read about and hear about from the BYU Study Abroad students, but we aren't with the same program and we aren't here to have the same experiences.  Sure, they get an elaborate picnic in front of the Eiffel Tower, free entrance anytime into the Museum of Orsay, and a trip to Versailles, but I get to go to a giant cemetery and get pictures with some of the greats, I have a picnic in a nice park out of downtown Paris with new friends I've met here, and I get to have an evening adventure with another new friend at the Museum of Orsay free for a special event!  They get to have elaborate fun, but I've visited and will visit the same places and I'm making my own network of friends outside of BYU, while also benefiting from having them to spend time with sometimes, too.

Speaking of new friends and networks, I met a Venezuelan-American girl named Michelle who is working as a nanny here and is looking into becoming baptized!  I went with her, another investigator, and two of the sister missionaries to the ward baptism this afternoon.  Four people were baptized!  I thought that hardly anyone got baptized in Europe, and apparently that is pretty true regarding the actual Europeans, but not so for the immigrants, particularly Africans and Chinese people!  (What's sad for me is to realize that having an eternal family isn't even a big plus for the Church in the sight of many Europeans because the family isn't a huge commitment for them; there are many unmarried couples who have children and divorce is common.  Every culture has something to offer, yes, and "fashion," cheese, and pastries are famously French, but I love that family is so important and central to Latinos.)  At any rate, Michelle seems super nice and fun, and her family is living in Madrid!  In fact, we'll both be in Madrid at the beginning of July, and she offered to show me around!  It was exciting, too, to see her reaction to the baptismal ceremony, especially since she told us she's mostly convinced about getting baptized and because she's never seen one before.  Today, she got to see 3 attempts and 4 successes!  She pointed out that she loved that the mood was light.  At first, after the first couple of individuals' baptisms, she saw one of the soon-to-be-baptized girls crying, which made her tear up, but then most of us ended up laughing a couple of times because between the baptizers being somewhat inexperienced, the missionaries being tall, the water being low, the girls wearing dresses with huge skirts, and the missionaries almost falling over a couple of times from trying to do the baptizing while kneeling, getting those new members immersed was no easy task!  I hope Michelle enjoyed herself this afternoon--I know she loved the food afterward-- and I hope that she does get baptized.

Michelle ended up leaving with some sister missionaries, and I left with a couple of the friends from yesterday's picnic and the little girl, Emily.  I spent part of my metro ride back with Emily and her mother, and we talked about Spanish, how I ended up studying French, and marriage.  I found out this afternoon that Emily's mom has already been married and divorced twice and it was while she was getting divorced the second time that she was pregnant with Emily and investigating the LDS Church.  Knowing this, I was nervous about talking near her about marriage and how much I want it, but she seems quite open to finding a better, new husband who is LDS this time.  I told her that I admire her for not being bitter, and it's the truth.  She participates in YSA stuff and today she and our accompanying friend were talking about going to the activities to catch a man!  It was so nice to talk to her and see her excitement to one day remarry, despite what she's already been through.

Sadly, our conversation was cut a little short by a phone call from my parents and little sister, but we were about to part ways anyway at that point.  So we said goodbyes and I talked with family!  Later, back at my apartment, I was also able to finally talk to Cassi about some of the works I saw this weekend!  And after that, I've had plenty of time to eat dinner, watch a couple of April general conference talks in French, look up museum info, watch some Mormon Messages in English, Spanish, and French, and do some blog-stalking and blog-writing.  :)  In the missionary spirit, here's a Mormon Message video for youth about missionary work:

Spanish version

English version

Invite people to activities and to church meetings.  I mean, really, who DOESN'T like good feelings, fun, friends, and food?!  (I just might dub those "The 4F's We All Want in Life"...)

Day 20, Night of the Museums

Well, so I honestly stay up far too late doing my blog, talking to fam, and getting ready for bed, and last night was my record: 4 am!  This morning, I woke up to my alarm and then proceeded to sleep another half hour, which seems to be a pattern here using a cellphone alarm which is exceedingly far too conveniently close to my bed.  Thankfully, the sleeping in was only a half hour and even though I was late to meet up with some other ladies to picnic in a park, there were others even later than me.  Yeah, "Mormon Standard Time" isn't just a States thing, which is fortunate for me in cases such as today.  Because of each person coming at different times, we ended up finally getting to the park an hour after our original meet-up time, but it was all good and we had plenty to eat.  Better yet, the weather forecast was sunny with some rain, and there were definitely clouds up there in the sky, occasionally stripping us of the sun's warmth, but those would give way to sunlight to warm us once again.  The day was peaceful, and it was nice to not be pressed for time and just enjoy being there.

Most of the girls are in the YSA, but the Japanese girl with us is the one who came with me to institute a week and a half ago, Ayumi.  And the little girl next to her is three and is an adorable little English-French bilingual!

After spending a few hours there, we finally made our way back to the metro station to go our separate ways.  I ended up going to my computer for a bit, napping, eating dinner, and arranging a rendezvous with another American girl here, Amy.  She also goes to BYU, she studies French, and she's doing an internship here.  The inspiration for our rendezvous?  A little annual something here called "Nuit des Musees," "Night of the Museums."  I knew it was going on, and I wanted to participate, and then I received a message from Amy saying that the Musee d'Orsay was participating, which meant I could go see it for FREE!  I came the first week I was here, but I waited outside for my friends.  This time, I got to go and enter without having to pay!  (Totally worth it, PS, especially since I met two Spanish nuns in the metro on my way over, who were delighted to speak to me in Spanish!  Hehe, they recommended that I go to the Bon Marche.  I wonder how loaded those two were...)


I couldn't take pictures on the inside of the museum, but we snagged a couple before going in.  Here's one:

 At first, we just kept seeing one nude after another, but it was cool to look at what they were holding, how the title related, and what it could mean.  There was a series of three women who were more covered, and they were called "Vigilance," "History," "Meditation," and the fourth is "Fantasy," but it's in Japan.  One giant one we saw was"Romains en Decadence," which seemed to be a huge depiction of a party of carnal Romans, but it was interesting to look at the expressions and poses of the statues above them and to notice that only two of the figures were facing forward.  We decided the explanation of those two had to be that the man was the painter and the woman was the one he loved, but she was with another man and was unreachable for him!

Soon, we found the impressionists and the art turned to everyday beauty.  I saw some works that I remember learning about all the way back in first grade from Mrs. Tammen, and I saw original works by Renoir, Millet, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Monet, Manet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Pissarro, and Cross.  I couldn't believe I was seeing the real "Moulin de la Galette" by Renoir and "Femme à l'ombrelle tournée vers la droite" by Monet.  I did happy fingers, I was so excited--a habit picked up from my friend Ashlee.   Two other favorites were "Portrait of Mademoiselle Carter" by Lucien Levy-Dhurmer because the face was so life-like and "Jeune Fille" by Emile Levy because the dress's sheen and depth was so vivid!  Seeing those two paintings in particular, Amy and I felt like the museum might indeed come to life, like in "Night at the Museum"!  If you don't believe me, here's a glimpse:

 

Religiously, the one I liked best (perhaps one of the only ones I saw) was "Compassion!" I can't remember the artist's name, but it was a sweet depiction of Christ dead on the cross, being helped by a man holding a smaller cross on his shoulder while beginning to support Christ.

When we decided we were done and left the museum, I insisted on taking pictures of a particular building I'd seen before entering a couple of hours earlier.  In the night, It was beautiful!  The picture I'm including is neat in its own right, but doesn't quite do it justice.  We also went on a nearby bridge, giving us an even better view of the building I'd just photographed, as well as Notre Dame, The Eiffel Tower, and other monuments in the city--amazing!

Days 18 & 19, Dead People and a Creeper

Thursday, Day 18: So, yesterday had a pretty typical morning in class, and then I had my "Parisian Culture and Civilization" workshop in the afternoon.  (During the lunch break, I helped a girl use the foreign keyboard and ended up finding out that she's LDS, like me, and that we're in the same workshop together on Thursdays!)  Knowing that the formatrice for the workshop prefers to be outdoors, I knew to expect an excursion.  When I first signed up for these workshops, I thought they would get me into famous museums and historic sites and perhaps provide authentic cuisine, too.  Although we have certainly been to famous spots and have had opportunities to partake of Parisian comestibles, it's not what I expected.  And yet, I'm happy that I've gotten to learn about the history more.  Sure, the BYU Study Abroad students go on walks and get to taste test French chocolates and macarons, but I get to have similar yet unique adventures of my own.  This time around was to the cemetery Pere-Lachaise, named after the priest who was King Louis XIV's confessor.  Hehe, I think my parents shouldn't be surpised that I can't seem to stay away from cemeteries for very long; I kind of have a thing for them.  I loved seeing how it's different and seeing the ornate structures found therein!  Better yet, soon after we arrived at the cemetery, we encountered an old man who frequents the cemetery and ended up becoming our free, impromptu guide and living encyclopedia.  He even showed us spots we wouldn't thought of looking for!  We were blessed for sure.

 This first picture is from just before we met the old man.  Apparently, girls like to kiss Oscar Wilde even now that he's dead.  One Spanish girl even had written, "Dame amor ya por favor"!  I don't know if I would've exactly read it, but a new Colombian friend of mine was there and she pointed it out.  Also, just diagonal from my right hand is a note, "Te amo, Oscar".  Yeah, I don't know him and don't love him, and I didn't really give him a kiss.

 

Having studied Spanish for years, I once learned about Goya's piece "Los fusilamientos," and I was sure excited to see a version in the cemetery!  It was located near the communist soldiers' graves.  I loved that, being under the tree, the light shone through just where Goya had originally painted the lightest figure of the painting as a focal point, leaving the rest in shadow.

I am definitely used to seeing American tombstones that are pretty simple and standard, with the more elaborate modern ones having engraved designs.  Here, though, many of the cavaux (family tombs) resembled miniature churches, some complete with stained glass!  This one was particularly beautiful and well-preserved, with Christ at the top, of course.  :D

I didn't take a picture of the statue figure the group was focusing on near the stained glass, but it sure had an interesting story.  You see, there are infertile women who believe that if they rub the zipper of Victor Noir's pants, they will be cured.  Thanks to oxidation and the obvious lack thereof on some parts of the figure, you can tell women have kissed him and rubbed his feet, too.  Yeah, I didn't want a picture of that.

Next stop: La Fontaine and Moliere!

It's hard to read, even in person, but this is the tombstone for Victor Hugo!  I know that I recently wrote about noticing more details of my surroundings, and just tonight I realized that the Place Victor Hugo is just up the street from me.  We learned from our kind, elderly impromptu tour guide that Victor Hugo is the only person who's had a street named after him while he was still living; the others were post-mortem.  Hah, and little did I know that I live right near where he used to!

 

Chopin!  I like classical music just fine, but growing up, his name bugged me because the ending didn't sound like how it's written.  Well, not in English at least, but it turns out that it does make sense in French.

Champellion lays here.  I didn't know it, but modern linguists have him to thank for many of our advances in the field--he was the man who solved the Rosetta Stone!!!  I would've done an injustice by NOT taking a picture to pay homage.

As soon as I noticed the stained glass tombs, I grew an attachment, a fondness for them and looked for them everywhere we went, and this was by no means a small cemetery!  I found this one towards the end of the workshop, and I thought it'd be cool to take a picture of the stained glass through a design in the door.  I actually didn't realize until I downloaded the pictures that there must've been glass on the door, adding yet more detail and depth/dimension to it.  I LOVE how it turned out!  Stone/metal (strong), glass (colorful and light), and reflection of a "mini-chapel," all of which can represent Christ!

On our way out, we saw Rossini's tomb.  I particularly like the flowers in the door. 

Overall, the cemetery was beautiful and peaceful.  I'm glad we went.  And I was even more happy to notice that the main entrance (by which we exited) was engraved with Latin!


Later on, after stopping by my host home with enough time to stuff my face, I went to institute to the marriage prep class, which is apparently open for anyone married or wanting to be married.  Besides, the other class was on Christ's parables, and I went to that one on Tuesday.  ;)

Going back to the metro sometime later, I was actually by myself, unlike other times that I've hung around after church YSA activities.  On the way, a guy turned to me and asked if he knew me because I looked super familiar.  To be frank, I wasn't sure because I've met a lot of people and he is African and I wasn't sure if I'd seen him but hadn't met him or didn't remember his name, and he did look somewhat familiar at first.  Nevertheless, I knew within moments that I sure wasn't the girl he'd seen at the World Cup, no matter how much alike he claimed us to be.  He seemed nice and didn't give me the heebie-jeebies, and we were both going to the metro, so we continued talking.  I kept thinking to be careful about what info I gave, so I kept my answers pretty general, saying that I was from WA without giving a city.  At the end, he asked what line I was taking, answering that he was going on such-and-such.  My answer?  "Une autre," which simply means, "Another one."  He asked if I was busy and if I'd be interested in getting some wine with him, to which I promptly responded that I was somewhat in a hurry and that I don't drink wine or beer, so thank you, but no.  He actually was quite persistent in basically saying he wanted to spend more time with me, and he seemed sincere, but I consistently said no and watched as he walked in the direction of his train before going to mine.

I'm just glad I was in a public place with other people around!  I realized I should've used the vous form rather than the tu form to maintain distance and not seem overly friendly, but there's no changing that and it was something in the first place that we were able to communicate.  And although I feel a bit un-Christlike for not inviting him to church, I'm glad that I did not disclose the location of my safe-haven in this place.  Today, my daddy emailed me, concerned about me going on single dates with guys here, and I'm thankful to have been able to tell him I'm okay.  What's amazing is that I didn't tell him until tonight about this guy, and he'd emailed me earlier this afternoon, so I don't know if he even knew about my status on FB.  Talk about feeling spiritual guidance for your children!

Friday, Day 19: As for today, I had class but no atelier so I was home free at 1pm!  I took a nap and went into town, stopping by the institute building to see about meeting up with BYU kids.  Finding that they weren't there, I sent some emails and then made my way over to the Hotel de Ville where there's a free exhibit on the impressionist masterpieces from the Musee d'Orsay.  I'm sure my older sister, Cassi, would've eaten it up, and I'm proud to say I've now seen some real Van Gogh, complete with his signature, as well as Boldini, Gauguin, Manet, and Degas.  Sadly, I wasn't permitted to use my camera.  Or my phone, so I even missed a call from home!

My exhibit visit was followed by a hunt for a nice sac to use in place of my backpack, after which I returned to the church building for a Friday night YSA activity about skin care.  I was disappointed that it was more of a demonstration/explanation than a pampering, but at least I had some good exposure to French.  And the dinner Sister Jones cooked up of funeral potatoes, salad, and drinks was DELICIOUS!  As usual, we hung out a bit, this time deciding to buy some ice cream and watch a movie, "500 Days of Summer."  It was kind of cute, but unfulfilling and dirty and...meh.  One little gem I gained from it, combined with an observation from "Midnight in Paris" was that Spanish and French both have a swear word that I'm sure is etymologically related.  Oh, and we watched it in English with French subtitles, which subtitles became Portuguese a couple of times!  But even for linguistic purposes, I don't think it was worth it.  But I am glad that I'm spending time with French-speaking members here.

Day 17, Minuit à Paris

What a splendid day!  As a new friend pointed out, and as my family has tried to remind me, I am having a unique experience and should be having the time of my life here!  The weather was glorious today and perfectly wonderful for my ascent to the top of the Arc de Triomphe!  Yep, I went there my first week here, but we didn't actually go to the top.  I think the reduced fare (6 euros) I was given is too much for even a regular fare considering that all it covered was us walking up 9 flights of a spiral staircase, but it was a marvelous view of Paris from the top!  I could see the Sacre-Coeur in what was once a nearby village that became the part of the city known as Montmartre, I could see the Eiffel Tower and the law district of town, and I could see all the way down the Champs-Elysees.

I realize I have truly been missing out on enjoying Paris and that I should be aprovechando esta oportunidad, and I'm sure there's so much I'm missing simply because French history and culture is something quite unknown to me--way too many small peeks into history thanks to cultural references and nuances are lost on me.  But I have to say that today was one  day well-enjoyed.  :D

Just to debrief on the day: Today being Wednesday, it was "Theater" day in school, which basically just meant that we actually got be to actively involved with making and creating the language, playing with it.  Heh, fancy that--communicating orally with a language.  Anyways, it was bunches of fun, and we got to learn that les singes and les anges, and la paix, un pays, and le pet are very close phonetically and grammatically, but they are very different.  We discovered this when a poor guy tried to talk about everyone being dead and all the countries being controlled by angels, but in fact ended up talking about monkeys controlling all the farts in the world.  Ah, isn't language learning swell?!

As well as enjoying class and not falling asleep today, I also finished early because I didn't have a workshop today.  I made it back to my metro stop just in time to buy some drops (pain au chocolat et lait) and pain avec les raisins secs for 2 euros!  I later leisurely walked around trying to find this grocery store that supposedly is a bit farther away but has better prices than the Carrefour that I went to last week.  I found it and love the prices!  Basically, the most expensive items I bought were a tortilla española and some jambon (ham).  Woot woot!  I even splurged and bought some gauffres avec chocolat (chocolate-topped Belgian waffles).  It's no wonder these people love their crepes and waffles!  But the question is, how do they stay so skinny  when they eat baguettes, brioche, crepes, gauffres, and creamy milk???  Perhaps one day I can be more like them in that respect.  Until then, I will simply continue to eat up the culture--literally.

 While at the store, Leader Price, I waited for a woman and her child so I could get by, and because we went to the same ares of the store, I waited a couple of times.  Then, as I walked home, we crossed paths again!  The little girl hadn't quite obeyed the woman at first, but we smiled when we made eye contact.  I realized that, although the French reserve smiles largely for intimate, friend-related interactions while Americans will at least force a small smile at strangers, children have no fear and sometimes are the ones who instigate smile exchanges.  I love it!  Something else I loved was that when I encountered the two while walking back, I saw a poor, hunched over, frail woman slowly make here way across the sidewalk to her apartment, literally inching forward by just barely getting one foot in front of the other.  I thought to help, but apparently the woman and the young girl saw as well, and I was grateful to see that people here are compassionate, too, even to the point that this woman offered help.  This gives me hope for the world.  Sadly, I'm not sure that I would've had the guts to talk to the elderly woman.  I didn't even strike up a conversation with the woman and child.  Lame, je sais...

Well, after I put my stuff away and finished stuffing my face for lunch, I went over to the church building to see about hanging out with the Study Abroad students.  Success!  They invited me to go to the Arc de Triomphe, followed by seeing Minuit à Paris (Midnight in Paris) with them.  I thought of not going up to the top of the Arc, but I'm glad to have taken the opportunity and joined the group.  I made more friends, enjoyed the fresh air without cigarettes and with a slight breeze and sunshine, and enjoyed the vista.  Funny note of something I saw while in line to pay:

Basically, the Spanish translation was off by one letter, changing the meaning from what the English and French say to instead mean "I stop your comfort and security..."

Sadly, my camera died soon after I took a couple of pics from the top, but I asked a friend to take a pic of me with the Eiffel Tower in the background, so that should be up on FB soon.  

On our way down the stairs, I had a bit of a discussion about history, and I made a comment about how it's weird to realize that Joseph Smith was born around the time of Napolean.  Little did I know but that there were LDS Utahns behind me, who spoke up after hearing my comment!  Turns out they just arrived today from Salt Lake, so maybe that was to help them feel more welcome/confident in being here.  It made us excited!

Next, we walked down the Champs Elysees and hunted down some food, which was followed by much conversing as we waited to enter the theater for the movie.  Apparently the movies in the cinemas all cost 3,5 euros this week, and today is the premiere of the movie "Midnight in Paris," kicking off the Cannes Film Festival.  I was worried about how clean it'd be--I hadn't even heard about it before today, much less knew about what to expect--but I was pleasantly surprised to find that there weren't any bad scenes.  Plenty of innuendo, but the many art and cultural references helped make it humorous for me.  They even mentioned srrealism and the movie makes a small use of this in the end, reminding me of La continuidad de los parques!  One of my new friends, Paul, pointed out on his blog that the French view film as more of an art than we do, noting that they even had carpeting under the screen and people clapped at the end.  Yeah, it was definitely a step up from the cine back home and the Movies 8 in Provo!  

The beginning would be considered slow by most Americans, I think, but I was happy to sit, watch, and listen because it opens with scenes from all over Paris, including many places I've seen in person!  I don't approve of all the affairs that go on between engaged or married people, but the overall message was something I've come to realize and I could relate with the protagonist because I am also a romantic.  The basic moral of the story is that we may idealize another time period as much as we'd like, but we need to be content with our own present and time period we have been sent to (by God), or else we'll never be satisfied.

Most of the movie is in English, with a bit of French and a lesser bit of Spanish.  And even though I know I'm in Paris, there are moments in which I forget, and being with other American peers watching a movie mostly in English made it a bit stunning to realize as I headed out the door and heard French behind me that, oh yeah, French is a real language used in everyday life, and I am right here in the heart of it!  As we walked to the metro, I could just hear the movie's theme music playing, including us in the magical film realm.  It made reality more enchanting.  The best part?  My life isn't a fictional movie, but it's the real deal, and it's mine to live and experience!

Day 16, Mysterious lands and hidden doors

So, now that I've been in my host apartment for over a week, I'm starting to notice more details.  I noticed right away that there are little cabinets with windows over the doors, and I have noticed that some of the floor boards might give way soon, and most recently I realized that there are hidden doors!  One is right behind the wardrobe in my room, and I being short did not notice it until I saw its reflection in the mirror over the fireplace that I face when I'm on my computer, such as now.  That night (I think), I noticed a square shape cut into the tile on the face of the shower tub.  And then, yesterday morning, I saw that there's another hidden spot below the window in the kitchen, which I face every morning as I eat breakfast!  I can't help but think of "Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" or "Fog Magic" or "The Forgotten Door"  or even that "Hidden Driveway" that I searched for every time I drove by on my way to my aunt's home, and I wonder what mysterious wonders are just beyond my sight.

 
No, it can't just be a door to the next bedroom; it leads to another world!  No, the square on the shower isn't just a repair; it's a panel to push to take a hidden tunnel.  And no, don't be silly about the hidden cupboard under the kitchen window being a drink pantry; it is probably magic with a city bustling inside, kind of like "Indian in the Cupboard"!  Golly, for all I know, I just very well might find my very own version of Platform 9 3/4--who's to say those only go to Harry Potter World?!?

It's a pity that I had to leave such excitement to go to school and listen to the French news drone on for half an hour, later followed by reading about internet crime and practice with future tenses.  At least the after course was about phonetics, though I struggled to stay awake in both courses today.  I seriously need to get more sleep.  That way, I'll be better prepared to learn the strange ways of this strange land and meet the strange people that speak this strange language, whether by stepping through that door behind my wardrobe at night in my dreams or by stepping out my front door in the day in my life.  Either way.  :)

At least there are people here in this land whom I have already met who can communicate with me, in my own tongue or the tongue of this new land filled with history (nueva ciudad vieja??).  When we met up tonight, we discussed the words of a wise, perfect being, words which he shared with another group of people in their own land, in their own language.  And yet, strangely enough, they did not understand.  They heard him physically, this being named Jesus Christ, but they misunderstood his message.  Consequently, they did not believe in this omniscient, omnipotent man-god, regardless of having seen him with their own eyes!  Somehow, it was the blind who saw him as he was, the deaf who heard and felt his words, the lame who followed in his path, and the socially disowned who found acceptance in him.

One of the parables discussed tonight was about the wheat and the tares (found in Matt. 13).  Sometimes He was asked, and people still ask today, if God loves us, why is there so much bad in the world?  Why do we need the tares mixed with the wheat?  Well, just think of us as an evergreen I once saw in Washington State.  Imagine it: huge, full, thriving, lush, and green--the epitome of magnificence and the symbol of a wonderful state, or so one supposed upon seeing it.  It was strong even, because it had endured many strong, harsh storm winds coming from the west.  But one day, a strong wind came, knocking it over almost effortlessly.  Why?  The wind had come from the east, catching the tree in its weakest point.

We are like the majestic evergreen, strengthened because of the opposition rushing in our face, striving to reach our potential.  But we must also be better than the great evergreen and be strong in a variety of ways.  We find such strength by facing the opposition.  Where is lacks is where we slack.  Like the wheat apparently can't exist without the tares, we cannot exist without opposition.  It is up to us to decide and act for ourselves as to how we will respond when such trials come, but choosing to act proactively is choosing to be strong.  God gave us agency.  He can't make us strong, but he can give us opportunities disguised as trials to provide us with the option to fight, learn, and grow, or to simply give up and fall.  Thankfully, though, he is there when we stand up to the howling winds because he wants us to make it through.  Like he doesn't want to lose even one of the pieces of wheat, he doesn't want to lose even one of us.  What's more, we have each other to provide trials and opportunities and support.  (I realized tonight, once again, that there's a need for me to struggle with learning French!)  Whether we be strangers or in a mysterious land or friends and family at home, there's a purpose for everything we experience, which we can discover as we choose to strengthen ourselves and one another in him.

 Who knows; there just might be a mysterious door in every one of us, full of hidden treasures that goes unnoticed at first glance.  Who has the key?  Take a wild guess.  ;)

Day 15, It faut pratiquer

Aujourd'hui, I met a few more students.  The way this school works, you can change levels or professors whenever, and a new group of students come each week.  Last week, about half the class was Swiss/German or Swedish.  This week, native English speakers are dominant.  Even though I feel like some of the activities are ridiculous, or at least when it comes to what the formatrice expects of us, and that it seems like she isn't very good at catching when we don't follow her instructions because we don't understand, I do think that my comprehension is improving.  And today's atelier, "workshop" if you will, was culture and civilization and, unlike last week, we went outside!  Last week was more indoors talking about stereotypes, but today was taught by someone else, the same woman who did my atelier on Friday, and we went walking around in artistic Montmartre, which used to be a banlieu (suburb) of Paris.  It is well known for the Sacre-Coeur cathedral, but we didn't actually go inside.  Even though it was a lot of walking, it was fun to just chat with another girl in French and see a more countryside-ish part of Paris that not as many tourists seem to know about.

I returned to my host apartment with just enough time to eat some crepes au jambon et fromage (crepes with ham and cheese) and then head on over to Chatelet les Halles for Home Evening (HE) with the YSA.  We had a lesson about the Book of Mormon and how we know it's true and how we can constantly learn new lessons from its pages.  I immediately thought of the scripture I read on Saturday and annotated here.  :)

For the activity, we played the knot game where everyone just reaches in and grabs to others' hands, and then the entire group has to untangle itself together.  We played to rounds and were successful the first time and almost successful the second time.  (Apparently avoir le vent en poupe is a common phrase for talking about having success, which phrase I learned today because poupe sounds uncannily like something in English that's not so tasteful as success!)

If you're wondering what happened with my new young Japanese friend, she didn't come to church yesterday, nor did she come to the activity today, but she is planning on coming to Institute and she even asked if she could bring a friend she'd invited!!  Um, YES, s'il te plait!

Sadly, the boost of confidence I felt for most of the day from having spoken and understood a lot of French had to end sooner or later, I suppose.  My time came after the HE activity when I went with some of the jeunes adultes to hang out--I couldn't understand almost anything they said, I didn't talk much and when I did it was terrible because I lost my confidence, and I felt apart.  Part of that was me for not buying the pizzas with them and for not talking much, but...yeah.  I told a couple of the guys there of my frustration, and they were sympathetic, in a guy way, I suppose: I tried speaking to me in his broken English (which made me feel dumb, but I think he was trying to accommodate me), and the other told me that he didn't think the others thought I was stupid, contrary to my expressed fear.  Yeah, did I ever mention my dread of being considered dumb, bete, stupid, inept, incompetent?  I should just face the possibility and deal with it.  I think Satan was trying yet again to discourage me.

At least I know some Spanish.  :)  I helped a colombiana new to ACCORD today, I wrote some FB-ness in Spanish, and I spoke to a YSA girl from Chihuahua, Jessica.  Also, an older guy called "Juliette" out to me as we walked by each other.  That's not quite the marriage proposal that some of the BYU study abroad students have gotten, but it still made me feel good.  Speaking of marriage proposals, I saw one today in chalk in front of the Sacre-Coeur!  It said, "Isabelle, veux-tu m'epouser?"  So cute!  I guess that sort of proposal isn't unique to BYU.  :D

With positives such as the aforementioned, I should have been okay, but instead I wanted to cry and call home.  You'd think, too, that I could take my own advice: "It's okay, it takes time, don't worry, talk to natives, just spit it out and speak 'cause that's how you learn... It's all about the people." Go figure that just after I talked to a new sister missionary here I would feel frustrated and lose perspective.  Thankfully, my host mom came in to check on me soon after I entered chez moi, and she insisted that I work at home in French and review with a textbook a previous exchange student had left.  I think I'll do just that; there are some things I've had questions about.  Heavenly Father knew that, and he is here for me.

Song of the Day:  Nearer, My God, To Thee (Más cerca, Dios, de ti/Mon Dieu, plus près de toi; I know that my God is near me, and as one of the verses point out, all that I have received was given in mercy, including this trip to France.)