Not to forget...

I wanted to say, "Thank You" to family and friends at home who've sent emails, cards, & mysterious packages labeled "don't open until Christmas" and who've otherwise been thinking of me. A sincere "Thank You" as well to friends in Saint Brieuc for welcoming me into their homes this Christmas.

Et à vous tous qui allez peut-être lire ce petit message, MERCI du fond de mon cœur pour votre accueil dans vos familles ce Noël. Que le Seigneur vous bénisse sans fin pendant cette nouvelle année.

A Breton Christmas

On Christmas Day I was again welcomed by friends into their home. It really gave me new perspective on things to spend this family holiday with another family other than my own. I've probably said "wow" about a million times but seeing the 4 foot tall Christmas tree was another occasion to say it. What I mean is that when presents (or literally the tree) decrease, family and other good things can increase.

Otherwise, this day like the 24th, was filled with lots of eating, games, and a little bit of singing. On the corner of the coffee table is the renowned "Yule Log" or bûche. By the way, Etienne is talking to his brother who is spending the holidays in Canada with his wife.

Among the things I learned this Christmas was the importance of Christmas Eve to French families. Vincent's, Etienne's and many others' families exchange gifts and enjoy a big family meal on the evening of the 24th instead of on Christmas Day. There's a New Year's Eve quality to this in that many people are staying up late and celebrating in a way that I'm not used to seeing. It was a lot of fun playing games interspersed throughout our 4-ish hours of eating with Vincent, his brother, and parents.

Another noteworthy event was when I cut my finger with a table knife. You might be interested to know that my two thoughts were "Oh, no, we're going to have to go to the hospital" and "Oh, no, we haven't eaten the main course yet!" Thankfully, there was no hospital and my appetite returned within a few minutes.

In a creatively conceived Asian-French bakery & tea room, Rebecca tells Hamilton about a very odd relationship she has with a co-worker where she lives in eastern France. I met Rebecca in Chicago in August when we were both getting our VISA's and hadn't seen her since. She and Hamilton are both teaching English as well. Rebecca's famliy lives about 30-45 minutes from mine in KY and she took them a little something for me. Thanks, Rebecca. :)

This is Agnes and I in the same locale as below. I stayed with her family and the monk when I arrived in September. Remember?? Further info: a former Parisienne said that the lights at the Galleries Lafayette are a must see when it comes to Paris at Christmas. (Tuck that away for your own adventures.)

The lost art of window shopping - At a big shopping center in Paris there are a row of windows decked out with automated toys able to enchant kids for hours and mannequins eating dinner at the North Pole, etc. Side note: There are guys cooking and selling chesnuts on the sidewalk in busy areas like this one. Hmm.

Someone being effectively unoriginal at the Louvre.

I very nerdily made a list of things I wanted to do in Paris. This comes from many family vacations spent in hotel rooms (a.k.a. Grandma's living room - ha ha) saying, "Well, what do you wanna do?..." So included on this list was "flâner in Paris!" This is franglais for "spend time doing nothing." Kind of ironic (I'll let you make the connection), but anyway, We "flan-ayed" in the Louvre for about 3 and 1/2 hours which is where I took this picture by the way.

As soon as Hamilton and I came out of the metro I saw what I'd been waiting for: lights on the Champs Elysees! Hamilton is from South Carolina so together we acted like a couple of hillbillies for a minute and then got on with our lives.

"The Most Wonderful Time" - a little later in France

A friend's manger scene: Mary, Joseph, Jesus, and some Bretons.

Hot Gallette on a cold Saturday morning. Wir essen und Das ist gute!

Perhaps the first example of something that appears to be cheaper in France: Christmas trees!

Saint Brieuc at Christmastime Part Deux!!

Some more of the "Champs Elysees" à la Briochine (St. Brieuc)

In front of an old theatre in the Place de la Poste

Santa and his sea-worthy vessel

Mairie / Town hall

Cheese Palace a.k.a. Fromagerie

Saint Brieuc at Christmastime!

Locking up the Christmas Tree

I enjoyed some great moments that I won't soon forget with friends on Saturday night. From four different countries, families, and experiences, some friends and I had round two of Pasta Carbonara. This one was admittedly better than my Thanksgiving version of the same dish. From L to R are Johannes (Germany), Karin (Switzerland), and Vincent (France).

As we're already on the fast track to Christmas we discussed some things that our families usually do during this time. Turns out that among the four of us, I'm the only one who opens gifts on the 25th. I was interested to hear what Johannes shared about Christmas in Germany starting with Kriskind. Please forgive my spelling, German-speaking populas. This angel/child (this is slightly creepy for me) brings gifts instead of Santa Claus.

Equally interesting for me was the "secret room" (cf. Beauty and the Beast's forbidden "West Wing"). The secret or simply locked room contains the necessarily real Christmas tree, decorated with candles and with gifts underneath. I don't want to forget the bell indicating that it's time for kids to come and open gifts on Christmas Eve or the two trips to church with some Frankfurters in between :). Hmm. Sounds great, Johannes.

Merry Christmas!

Weekends are for friends & Meals from Madagascar

Last night ended a great Saturday. I finally made it to the market in Saint Brieuc, learned how to make rice with milk & raspberries (why not?!), ate a traditional Malgache (from Madagascar) meal, failed to understand several jokes in French, and of course, made time for a little walk on the beach. From left to right are Johannes, my roommate Nicolas, Karin, Rija, Vincent (we’re at his house), & Hassina.
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Hier soir était la fin d’un samedi formidable. Enfin j’ai pu aller au marché Briochin. En plus, j’ai appris comment faire le riz au lait avec des framboises surgelées (pourquoi pas?!), j’ai mangé un plat traditionnel Malgache, je n'ai pas compris plusieurs blagues en français (malheureusement), et bien sûr, j’ai eu du temps pour me balader à la plage. De gauche à droite il y a Johannes, mon coloc Nicolas, Karin, Rja, Vincent (on est chez lui), & Hassina.

I got to spend Thanksgiving weekend with about 30 Christian college-age students from around Brittany & Normandy. They’re all part of a GBU (Groupe Universitaire Biblique) which is like Intervarsity or Campus for Christ. With two groups being 4 and 6 (Brest & Lorient) and none being the 60 WGM at Asbury is accustomed to, it was a wonderful opportunity to hang out with a large group of young adults and participate in all kinds of activities. More than that it was an opportunity to hear things like, “the university is letting us use a room for our group” or “we had 10 people one time!” and other things that really humbled me.

Personally, I was really encouraged by one student, Matthias. He's from Argentina and has been in France for 6 months. His confidence in communicating in a less than perfect fashion was really heartening for me.
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J’ai pu passé le WE de Thanksgiving avec environ 30 étudiants chrétiens de Bretagne et de Normandie. Ils font tous parti d’un GBU (Groupe Universitaire Biblique). Deux groupes sont peu nombreux ayant 4 et 6 participants – loin du 60 qui fréquentent un tel groupe à mon université aux Etats-Unis. C’était, donc, une super occasion de passer de bons moments avec un grand groupe des jeunes en faisant des activités diverses. Plus que ça, j'ai entendu des choses comme « l'université nous a permis d’utiliser une salle à la fac ! » ou bien « une fois on a eu une dizaine de personnes! » ou d'autres choses qui m’a humilié.

Personnellement, j’étais vachement encouragé par Matthias un étudiant argentin. Ça fait seulement 6 mois qu’il est à Rennes. Sa confiance en soi et son manque de peur quand il s'exprime même si ce n’est pas parfaitement, étaient pour moi des « coups d’encouragement » si je peux dire.