Un Post

Well, this may be the last post. Of note in the last two days, yesterday the whole camp went to the nearby village of ----- (Charles Dickens does this, so I figure I should be able to). The dishes crew (Aaron, Jordan, and I) walked with the younger kids to keep them from walking in front of cars along the curvy hilly roads. The kids sang some marching songs, similar to American ones (e.g. "sound-off, 1-2-3-4"). It was fun.

In town, a bunch of the campers presented a musical, and some of the counselors sang. Oh, I meant to say that last week there was a talent show, and a few of the counselors (including me) sang some Acapella songs. Well, we sang them again at this Catholic church (not quite a cathedral... probably around 600 years old). In English. I sang a more-or-less freestyle bass line.

Oh, the Hendrixes came to camp yesterday. Arlin spoke this morning about the parable of the man who owns a vineyard and sends the servants and finally his son to check on the workers. It was good.

Oh, I meant to put this in last week, but I did end up meeting some of the campers and talking to them in French. There's one girl, Alexia, who says "bonjour" to the dishes crew every morning at breakfast. She's quite adorable.

This afternoon 4 of us went hiking up an un-trailed mountain nearby (pics). It was adventureous... never knowing what was next, or if it was "safe". There was poison ivy everywhere, so although I was careful... we'll see. I tend to get it rather terribly.

We head out from camp Tuesday. I'll be in Marseille for a couple days killing time until my plane leaves.

Pour les personnes qui parlent francias, ou pour quelq'un qui sait assez des roots latines a compredre, merci pour lire mon blog cet ete. Vous etes tres gentils et patients. Je pense que j'ai appris beaucoup des mots et grammar francais, mais il y a nombre titantique de choses que je ne sais pas mais saurai tot. Je peux lire beaucoup de la bible. Parler est encore le plus dificil. Au revoir. Je verrai le plupart de vous tot.

First, a few corrections/additions to the last entry:
blague = joke
Sugarload = Sugarloaf
&, we had to jump an electric fence to get to the mountain (well, we avoided paying a 2-euro fee... and the fence was only lightly charged...)

Today we went to the Chateau Moras a few hours away. Three large buses took all of us there and back. Vomitous kids from the mountainous switchbacks kept the trip there interesting. At the fortress, which was up on a hill above a city (I know, hard to believe, right?) we got to go around and learn some of the medieval crafts, such as practice swordfighting, calligraphy, and painting (for the younger kids). It was hot for a while, and then it rained, but it was a good trip. The walk up to the fortress was killer.

The other pictures didn't turn out well. Camp ends Tuesday. I get back a week from tomorrow (Friday).

Une blog blague

Since last week, a couple special events have happened. We DID see the tour de france. The whole camp trekked to the road where they were coming by (last photo). We had lunch there, picnic, and then watched the parada that rides in front... a kind of caravan with specially designed vehicles that advertize and throw out goodies (3rd pic from the bottom). I actually got an LCL cap, which is the same bank whose ATM ate my debit card. About an hour afterwards, the bikers came coasting down the mountain, and passed us in a climax of 5 seconds. Most of them were huddled in a group. In the top pic, you can see the biker back on the road. It was a fun trip, and supposedly, we saw Lance Armstrong, though we didn't know that we saw him (or did we really see him if we didn't know that we saw him? famous philosophy of mind question).

Tonight, Aaron (roomate, was in Marseille with me... he's from Freed-Hardaman, touring French churches) and I climbed a nearby mountain, Mont Gerbierdejoncs, which is supposed to be the source of the Loire, the longest river in France (other three nature pics). It was a great trip... a decent amount of hiking, but nothing ridiculously strenuous. I think most of my readers are familiar with Sugarload in AR, and it was about like that. At the top, we had a magnificent view, and we read, journaled, and marvelled until after sunset.

Otherwise, everything is going fairly well. Food is good. We're learning a lot of dishes words. Playing basketball most days. Camp is half over, and I am missing home while enjoying the end of time in France.

New favorite french phrase: Tu sais francais comme une vache espagnol! which translates, You know French like a Spanish cow! very useful

(Lynda, sorry if I made any grammatical mistakes! My battery dies...)

Camp

I've been at camp since Sunday. We're in the mountains of central france. It's beautiful, cool, remote. I've been washing dishes. It's been amazing. That's the short of it. Kids are running around the few of us who have dared to reveal our laptops, now. The sun has set, but there's an afterglow of red orange yellow green fading into the lower mountains below us.

We've been busy, but content. Basketball. Devos. Lots of pots, pans, silverware, mops, hot water, and silly French regulations.

Tomorrow, the tour de France is passing nearby, and the whole camp is picnicing to see it. Yeah, awesome.

Great food; enough english to keep me sane; rest time for reading... Wittgenstein, Dickens, and current fantasy.

Pictures later. There's bound to be a great one of me with my hairnet, apron, and beardnet (the envy of the cleaning crew).

Bonjour, Barcelona

Top pics from Barcelona... the writing one is an English "translation" of the Spanish caption... doesn't make any sense to me... last two are the guys I've been living with in Marseille.

Headed to Barcelona Tuesday by train. Took most of the day, got into a hostel along "La Rambla." The hostel had hot water problems (which worked out well, as you'll infer later), was stuffy when I shut the window and loud when I left it open (had a nice balcony, though); however, I paid for a single private room and got a double... which was good, since the one mattress didn't shield me from the metal bar on the bed, so two worked well. Meagre breakfasts there.

I walked most everywhere in Barcelona, despite the great metro system (like Paris's). Probably 7-10 miles per day. I did low and high estimates. Mainly, I explored, mapless. No wi-fi at the hostel, so it was pretty much just discovering the city unaided. I spent plenty of time along the ample beaches, getting a nice sunburn the first day (this is where you make the inference). The Picasso museum was good for learning about his development as an arist, but not many famous works (I realized that I'd seen them all elsewhere before...).

La Sagrada Familia is the most impressive Cathedral I've seen. Immense. None of my pictures turned out well... it's just too big and packed with sculptural architecture. I went up a metro-funicular to the mountain overlooking the city, then successfully avoided (for the second time this trip) another funicular to the castle (above). Great view from up there. Real-used castle. Cannons.

It was a fun, unstructured trip by myself, but a bit lonely. I'm glad I'll be with people I know the rest of the time in France. The next two weeks are camp. Looks like money is going to work out fine. Not sure if I'll be posting at camp.

Oh, we played some of those group games (involving running around the room and chairs) with the youth from church tonight, which, if you think they're awkward in English, try playing them in French!

Spain

I'm headed to Barcelona, Spain, tomorrow for the rest of the week. I'll get back Saturday, and we leave for camp Sunday. Camp is two weeks, afterwhich I'll come back and stay with one of the missionaries until my flight leaves.

A little setback I've had that got resolved today. Saturday I was trying to get cash from the ATM, when it retained my card. I entered the wrong PIN too many times, thinking it was my old account. The bank didn't open until today, but one of the missionaries (Phillip) went with me, and after a few calls to my bank, we got the card and got it reactiveated, and I was able to get money.

A couple people let me borrow money in the interim, as I was out. Christians in France have been continually generous to me. It's been quite a testimony.

More after Spain, if I have internet. If not, this may be the last post for a while.

pictures

Several pics from Chateau D'If, famed prison of Dumas's The Count of Monte Cristo. A picture from the banquet... Canadian and Croatian friends from this week at CEM.

The week's been excellent. Very full. Morning till late night. We finally toured a bit today. The missionaries here are really living for this ... mission. I heard some amazing testimonies and interacted with needy people in real ways that taught me and helped them.

Well, not much of a post. Feel free to ask questions, as I know that things that are transparent for me maybe hidden for you. Church (& potluck :-D ) tomorrow.

le coupe

I've now played soccer with the French and the Mexicans this year... and the World Cup had it backwards... French should have made the second round. They play quite well.

Marseille

Saturday, left Lyon for Marseille. Nearly missed the train (they changed the gate after I had already gotten to the original gate). One of the teens from the Lyon church and I went together. Good trip.

I'm staying in a skyrise in northern (?) Marseille, near the church, with 5 other guys, two of whom are interns, the others just here for the CEM week like me. All are college-aged, most know English, and some are from C/C colleges, so we have friends and places/groups in common. So, we've basically all become fast friends. One of the guys knows as much French as I do, so we've been getting through the language barrier together.

This week is bascially a mission-focused week for training and applying young Christians... so teens and college students. We have lessons with the missionaries, lots of meals together and fellowship/relationship time, and some excellent applied mission work projects. This morning, my group went and fed some homeless people in downtown Marseille.

It's a mix of guys and girls, and a mix of nationalities... some locals, some from USA, some from other francophone countries.

Tonight a few of us had a French dinner (implies several courses) with the Youngs, missionaries from Penn/New Jersey area, Katie and Craig. They had us go around and tell our "life story" (french meals are long enough for this.) When it came their turn, Katie told a powerful story of how they had been called to the mission field after taking a world tour with Stanley Shipp. She talked about how in Calcutta they were blown away by the American materialism, but that it wasn't until they got to France that they saw such consummate spiritual absence.

The rest of the week is likely to be quite full. Camp at the end of next week.

Last Days in Lyon

Today was the last day of French classes. We all "graduated," but at different levels. I passed the A2 level, which was better than some, not as far as others. I'm pleased.

Lunched with Duncan, Walid, and Sola (Brit, Lybian, and South Korean, respectively) at a Korean restaurant. We talked politics, linguistics (it's hard not to), culture, and education in French. Duncan and I thought it was notable how our class bonded, even though we hadn't known each other that long (yes, I should add sociology to the above list...). It's broadening to say that I have met and befriended people from such diverse countries, cultures, and religions.

Speaking of which, I got a new housemate this week, Cagaty, a Turk who knows English and is studying French. We went to the Parc Tete D'or last night and walked around. There was an elaborate theatre production going on there, but we couldn't understand the French poetry.

In anticipation of one of Dad's probable questions... my favorite thing to do in Lyon was sitting out at the cafes, reading and sipping expresso. French culture seems to me quite compatable with my own. The people tend to be a bit proud, and some students think them cold, but they love to socialize and not take life too seriously.

I head to the seaport of Marseille tomorrow for CEM, a week of intensive Bible study and application. Yes, that's about as much as I know too. It should be a blast.

Photos to come... once I steal them from friends' facebook albums.

Trip's half over!

Five Moments in Lyon

The French teenage girl band plays a cover song of the American group Blink 182 at the Music Festival.

A honking car speeds by, horn blaring, Portuguese flag streaming from the window, screaming of the 7-0 soccer win.

An aged woman from church regales me with stories I can't understand, catching words like "Morocco" and was that "giant squid"?

The older ladies at the outdoors cafe gather in groups and gossip, just like the pidgeons that surround their feet.

The man dances with his arm up in salut, his brown skin swaying and sliding in perfect rhythm to the music on the cobbled square.

Vienne

Top two pictures: At the Gallo-Roman Museum in Vienna, France. The very top picture is of a house heating system that the Romans developed in the first century BC.
Arlin & Pamela (and Scott Williams) in the next picture. A chateau we ate at (my dessert), the others.

The language learning is going well. I don't speak terribly clearly, but I can now use four or five tenses in conversation. Comprehension: I understood most of an exchange between the Hendrixes and the host at the chateau today. My main problem is vocabulary. Once I can pick out more words, I think I'll have not too much trouble following everyday conversations. It is somewhat comforting to know that the Hendrixes still have trouble with the language on occasion. As to writing, I'm improving. Reading, I can understand the gist of most things. We're up to 8 or so tenses (depends on what you include) in class.

One more week of class, then to Marseille. I'll be at the CEM (Chrétiens En Mission) for a week and working at the two-week camp (doing dishes and perhaps other work which doesn't require stellar French skillz). If you've been counting, yes, that means there's one more week. They have confidently told me, "We have a place for you to stay." (Is it still a quote if I've translated it?)

To important news... France lost last night (Arlin is quite an enthusiastic fan), America tied today, and England will, with luck, lose or tie tonight.

Musée et Amusé

Yes, the potential for wordplayFrench is enormous. I'm thinking of writing a poem with "saint" and "sans" which sound nearly the same.

Saturday, the Brit and I arranged a group to go to the Contemporary Art Museum. We had a number of Japanese and Taiwanese girls go with us. It was great in an intercultural way talking to them (an opportunity less common in Oklahoma...). The museum itself was one large exhibition by a single artist (Ben someone...). In French and English, a lot of the art was meta-art (art mocking/examining/critiquing itself), and a lot of it appropriated other genres. For example, some of it used the genre of confessional art (e.g. Sylvia Plath) but in a wry way... so the artist painted "I am conceited. I want others to like my art. I want to use my art to get girls" etc. on boards, but it seemed to point to the meaninglessness of art since it was so sarcastic. He also had some funny performance-art that he had done, as in one picture of him sitting outside a traditional fine arts gallery with a sign that said "free painting signings." He would sign his own name over whatever art (not his) you bought in the gallery, for a fee. In general, it was dadaistic and fairly trite, but some of it was funny (e.g. another sign which said "You paid to see this gallery even though you could have created all this yourself").

Afterwards, we ate at the cafe there and went to the zoo nearby at the Parc Tete D'or (see previous blogs). Overall, a pleasant and worthwhile outing.

Since then, I've been watching "le fut" World Cup. Highlites: America tied England, and Germany won their game 4-0.

Going to Switzerland Thursday with the Hendrixes and their young friends the Williams (Lipscomb folk).

The Good, The Bad

The title of this post is in honor to a famous French rapper (MC Solaar) who wrote a song of the same title.
Not as many pictures this time. This one is of a few people from the class, Australian, Brit, and Mexican. I will try to get some pictures of the flat next time.

France: Good:
-- Pastries
-- Architecture (not sure what it's called. Reminds me of Prague)
-- Fresh food/markets
-- Weather

France: Bad:
-- Showers
-- Smoking

School and Friends

The first picture is a few of us at a cafe near Place Bellecour after class. Yes, we're all students, and we'd all just had some expressos (and way too much future tense).

The other pictures are in Vieux Lyon (Old Lyon), the middle one with the Williams' friends and the other of the Rose Tower (apparently it's famous for being in lots of movies).

In good Shank tradition, I thought I should mention the weather. It's been somewhat drizzley the last few days. There may have been thunder, even, on Sunday.

For the Americans reading this... the World Cup (s-o-c-c-e-r) begins this weekend. Yes, I'll be cheering for France.

The French class is getting a bit more demanding, but is still good. We've learned 3 tenses in the past couple days. Une tete bien pleine.

Mont Blanc

Today I went with my host family to Mont Blanc, the tallest mountain in (Wikipedia says Western-) Europe. It lies on the France-Italian border, and apparently both the French and the Italians claim it as their own. A famously impressive tunnel goes under it and connects the two countries.

We went to Chamonix, a resort town at the base of the Alps. There, we ate an amazing meal . . . various meats sizzled before us on a small bunsun burner type grill on our table. Good red wine, and ice cream afterwards. We sat on the deck of a restaurant that looked straight at Mont Blanc's white pate. It was leisure in the French style of a stout meal. Next, we hiked for an hour or two up a trail. Halfway stood a little cafe/florist perched onto the edge of a spectacular view of the mountain ranges.

On our way back to Lyon, we stopped at Annecy, a smallish town but tourist hotspot, and in spite of the tourism, it was quite picturesque. Somewhat like Venice, situated on a lake with wide boardwalks. We got real gelato there and walked around. There was a prison on one of the rivers that goes through the town and a couple ancient but quaint abbeys.

Anyway, it was a nice surprise, since I was planning on just hunting about Lyon for some excitement. Mais, je suis fatigue.