So it is Saturday morning August 30th of 2003 and I treated myself to a 'graisse matinée' until 8h30 because I successfully finished my first month of school at the Sorbonne's langue et civilization program. You would think that by now I would be competely straightened out concerning that powerful little instrument in my mouth and of course entirely civilized now, but alas, I am not. Sometimes the fact that 'the more you know, the less you know' really takes on reality.

Two days ago I had one of those very strange experiences where I was sitting in a little chinese joint on the fringe of the 5th and 6th. I looked out the window and watched the traffic for a minute and was thinking through a fog of grammer and drowsiness. I suddenly realized that those funny looking trucks and little cars and crazy motorcyclists who drive up on the sidewalk as a short-cut were becoming familiar. So I did a quick brain search for what american cars and drivers are like. I remembered but then I was hit with that crazy question that pops up every once in a while, "How in the world did I get here, and what in the world am I doing here?"

The answers are simple: I followed the God I love and my dreams, and I am greatly profiting from my time here. Although I am far from 'rica' where all my family lives and a large part of my closest friends abide, I am equally stoked to be in a city as amazing as Paris. Everyday I see people from what seems like hundreds of nationalities. Last night I ate in the Indian quarter. As Sev and I walked up the sidewalk the city turned into a neon light show and Sarees where being sold in every other store; the markets were transformed on shows hosted by hindi speaking shop-owners. The married women wore little red dots on their foreheads and gold jewelry was abundant.

An hour earlier, I was one of two white people in a métro full of different african-origin people. I live in one of the most multicultural cities in the world.

Today I'm giving myself a break. I slept in and I'm going to talk about ministries in the area with a fellow believer for lunch (in french). I live far from what was most familiar. I now live in a world that is going to stretch me and push me to my extremes-- and its only going to make me a stronger and better person. So today if it is hard, I'm giving myself a break.