Tonight I enjoyed a delicious Italian sauce and pasta that Michelle was concocting as I walked in the door from school. I did make a trip to the store before we ate to "cherche le vin" and bread for tomorrow but all the extra walking made it so worth it!

I was so tired today. I slept on the RER both ways and my feet hurt from all the walking but it was nice to be back in class. There are a couple gals in my grammaire class who always invite me to go to coffee with them after class. The only bummer is that I am obliged to stay in my seat for another 2 hours of conversation. I am bummed cuz they seem so cool, one Ukranian and another eastern European. I hope that one day I can go to coffee with them. Today they took down my phone number though and said they plan to call me! I hope it works out to get together another time.

I think a lot about what my "ministry role" is here in France is for these two years and for after. I try to keep in mind what my gifting might be and what my dreams are. My parents mentioned that teams need a person committed to hospitality and this began to ring some bells for me. I keep praying that God will make it clear in time where I should be located and with which team. For now... I'll keep learning french and meeting people and getting braver to talk on the phone and invite people over.

Yesterday my folks and I wandered through the Champ de Mars at the foot of the Tour Eiffel and we found the gardens quite attractive and calm. The military was setting up a display in honor of tomorrow the 8th of May and as we found our way through the trees I discovered a little historic Paris that I've been searching for. It was an ancient carosel, hand powered by a crank and precise gears, colorful horses hanging in geometric organization. A little girl was being strapped to her "horsey" and had a little foot-long stick in her hand. The two men running the ride, started pushing the carosel around and as soon as it reached a "crankable" speed, took to the hand crank to perpetuate the ride. Then all the sudden, the little girl was squeeling with joy and as she came around and around I discovered that she had indeed snagged a couple silver rings on her stick. This was the real thing!!! I read about it in a book!!! The Parisian children do this!!! I looked harder at this contraption built in 1913 and saw that the little girl was collecting the rings from a stand on the far side. But it got more exciting as one of the men grabbed a magnetic stick and put a ring on it and moved to another side of the ride for the girl to catch.. she missed and missed and the man would run along side her to help her get it...

The whole scene reminded me of the movie "Man from Snowy River" when there is a contest and the men are riding horses as full speed and jousting the rings with swords. If I ever have a child here in Paris, I'll certainly take them to the carosel men to learn how to joust... and it takes precision... the rings are only about 2 inches in diameter!