Vague de Chaleur

Le 23 mai 2009
One of my absolute favorite days in France. I woke up at 4:30 because I had to take a shower and get ready so that I could leave the house and be at "Gare du Nord" by 7:00. (an hour on the metro, 30 minutes walk to the metro, eating breakfast, + personal preparation) En tout cas, all of this was done so that I could go with my friends Fred and Emily to St. Quentin, a city in the very far North of France. We had to take a train from "Gare du Nord" for an hour and a half north, its really far away! We were going with Fred, because the professor required that he go with at least 2 others, to visit an old mission companion of his. Sounds boring huh? Well it wasn't.

His mission friend- Sam, and his mom picked us up at the train station and drove the 5 minute drive to their house. We were walking along this road and I had no idea that I was walking by a house because it was just square and looked the exact same as everything else on the street- oh but it is in no way the same as all the rest. So there is the rez de chausee (with the kitchen, family room, dining room, front room, parlor, laundry +), le premier etage (with all of the separate bedrooms (they have 5 kids), et un deuxieme etage (with a movie room and a large wood floored room that reminded me of a dance studio). But thats not it, they also had a sous-sol and a sous-terrain, basement and 2nd basement? I know how sous-terrain translates literally but I don't know the word for it in English. Anyways the sous-terrain in their house is lots of old dark wet muddy hallways that were used in world war II to get to and from the other houses surrounding theirs. It was absolutely incredible with multiple exits, stairs, ladders, and shrinking walkways (kind of like Willie Wonka). My camera as we all probably heard me say a thousand times in El Salvador (when it mysteriously stopped working) has no flash, so all the pictures that we took are not on my camera and I'll have to post them later. It was really incredible though!
Here are those pictures!
This is the ladder that started breaking as I was climbing it.. wooden ladders from world war II- bad idea. :P



Another reason why I loved the trip to St Quentin is because I got to speak in French A LOT, with natives, and they understood me! Every now and then one of the kids in the family would yell something across the room to me, and I'd be responding in French before I even thought about what I'd say. It is such a wonderful feeling to have French come somewhat naturally. :) During this trip I ate dinner with their family, played frisbee in the yard, played wee with two of the brothers and Fred, and visited the old Cathedral of St. Quentin (where they have his bones and hand on display. they also have his head but it is Not on display thankfully)
I took the train back to Paris and met up with all the study abroad girls that live in the Banlieue at La Defense, from there we went to the church building for the "bbq" aka potluck. There was nothing barbeque about it. Every single guy who walked in the room, went around the room and gave bisoux to each girl. I have never touched so many cheeks in my life! We played a game called singstar! Its basically rockband but only with a microphone. Its a competition against one other person to see who gets the most right notes. I got to sing a Dido song. One of the guys on my team gave me his shades to wear and my whole team cheered for me as I beat the other guy by over 7000 points. :)

We found out too late that the last bus that goes back to the station leaves at 8:20. So we decided to walk, only we had no idea where we were going. Jamie and I seem to have a pretty good sense of direction though so we started leading the girls, and one random YSA boy who had to go the same way. I found a map, found a "vous etes ici" sign and hurried off in the direction that I knew was correct. The group was following me, but decided to turn back and look at the map themselves. 4 girls followed me and we took the shorter way to the train station, beating the others there by a half hour or more. woot woot!
Le 24 mai 2009
So I taught my Sunday school lesson today! Crazy... It went pretty well but I must admit that I didn't get much time to teach it. Emily and I split it up in lots of different parts. I did the first part, than she did the second, then.... I said my testimony and closed (the majority of my lesson was supposed to be after hers). Anyways, it went pretty well! There was a guy in the class (who introduced himself to me before it started) who was just visiting. He came from Reins and just wanted to go to another ward? I still don't really understand why he came, but the whole time he was there he followed me around at church and asked me questions. We talked in French and English (he recently returned from a mission in England) and some people teased me about my tall skinny French boyfriend by the end of church. Oddly enough he gave me his contact information before leaving to go back home. Maybe if Rolf and I work out I CAN live in France forever? haha :)

Le 25 mai 2009
FHE Monday. First we went to the Louvre with our class and then we toured the flea markets. It was a little late in the day so most of them were already closed, but they were really interesting nonetheless. This day we had a "vague de chaleur" or heat wave. It was absolutely horrifically hot. We were all sweating as we toured the flea/antique marchets and ended up standing in the offshoots of a water fountain. It was so nice and humid. mmmmhmm. I miss Texas.
Flea Market Phone Booth (even hotter in there)

I decided to buy the batmo-ped haha :)

The fountain that refreshed us.

So for our activity for FHE we walked outside and took pictures as a big group in front of the eiffel tower. Some of the people in our study abroad group don't like games.. is that sad or what? Anyways I don't have the main group pic but I have one with Jamie! We've taken pictures by it, every one of the five times that we've been. haha
Yes I made this face on purpose. I'm starting to take the Eiffel Tower for granted.


Le 26 mai 2009
Maybe you've noticed from my accounts of early mornings and late nights, but I haven't been sleeping much! It doesn't help that twice in the last week I've had excruciating Charley horses (one was my night in Ghent and the other was last night). I've always been told that they come from lack of hydration, potassium, or too much stress- none of which seem to be relevant for me. I've become accustomed to getting them right before auditions so I know that the stress theory proves true, but I'm not stressed right now. Why is this do you think? Anyways, they are excruciatingly painful- does someone else in the family have these as often as I do? Gen do you remember when we were playing water basketball and my leg kept getting a cramp in it? I didn't know whether to laugh or cry... they are so weird! When it happened in Ghent I started awake and screamed at the first shoot of pain through my leg, my poor roommate thought I was having a heart attack or something. :(

Today I did 2 and a half promenades (its getting close to the end so I have to make sure that I do at least 14)! The promenades were named Place de La Concorde, Tour de Montparnasse (the 1/2 walk) and Time Travel Tricks and Treats around Saint Sulpice. Treats was my favorite part for sure! I got to taste 2 macaroons: Rose and Jasmine (Jasmine is better I think), plus I add a little apple tart from the best bread shop in France. It was SO good. Love French food... The macaroons! They look fancy huh? thats the bag they came in!
Thats right, the Frenchies love Obama!
Da Vinci Code, the Saint Sulpice gnomon. Do you guys remember this? It points to the rose line? Anyways... the church has actually put up signs saying "Go ahead and take a picture of the gnomon like all the other tourists (they told me to so I did), but please, don't go knocking around for hollow tiles hiding clues to the Holy Grail. It's hidden under the Louvre pyramid anyways remember?
The next walk of the day, I visited the 2 palais' all the embassy's, Concorde, and the tuilerie garden(s)? This is me in front of the American Embassy, which you are not allowed to take pictures in front of. It is the only embassy that is guarded by more than two guards- instead it has over 15 emergency protection vehicles parked in front of it, plus there are fences and guards everywhere that have fenced off BOTH sides of the road surrounding this building. The guards seem to do more "give me your camera so I can delete that picture" saying than actual protecting. Luckily I got away with a pic.
A couple in the Tuilerie Gardens, I just couldn't resist. Jamie called me a creeper...

I need to sleep..... We're leaving for Normandy tomorrow (written mai 27th) so I don't have time to put up pictures but I'll add them when I get back. Love you all! Lindy

PS did anyone watch the soccer game tonight? Manchester United v. Barcelona? Amazing! Barcelona totally deserved to win, so i'm glad they did! :)