Last night was the Thanksgiving meal to which about 100 people showed up. I joined the super gang of people who tackled the kitchen to help pull off the event that Michelle had planned so carefully starting several weeks ago. I was tired, very tired after it all. We served the usual: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans and corn. I got an extra workout in translation.. sometimes I don't even know what is coming out of my mouth as I try to describe how, when, etc.. At one point in time, I felt like a orchestra conductor as the servers moved the food from the kitchen to the buffet tables. It reminded me vaguely of working at the Old Spaghetti Factory on a Saturday night.

So now the fun and games are over for about a week. I am off to memorize my french grammar and vocab. Pray for me.

Today I dive into the last two weeks of classes at the Sorbonne. Saturday the 6th is my written exam and then I'll take an oral the following week before I board a plane for the States.

Yesterday I fought a gnarly headache all day long. It squeezed my brain from my rising to my going down. Thank God I managed to play for two services without too much difficulty. 3 people were baptized yesterday here in France that I saw. How encouraging to hear the testimonies of two young women wanting to follow the Lord with their lives.

More thoughts on the emerging church are bouncing around in my head today. One specifically from Jamie Hoskins is found in his "bechurch" blog title: "Thoughts on the emerging church, the struggle of birthing it... and other stuff".

I'm realizing how difficult this re-naissance is and praying for France.

I've been thinking about the emerging church stuff quite a bit and read Andrew Jones' blog where he writes:

Translate that to church: Our parents defined church by what they DID when they got together. But what if emerging church was defined by what people gave up to be together, by the activities that they sacrificed in order to "assemble" and the assembly itself was an act of worship, valuable because these people stopped the machinery of makingmoney/havingfun/cleaninghouse/etc to BE TOGETHER with God and each other. Not what you do, but what you don't do. The Catholics might do this better than the Protestants - with their discipline of silence, abstenance from foods and things, fastings, etc.

Its good fuel for thought.

Ok. This afternoon I will try the new Beaujolais. Every fall it hits the resto's and today I have a very good reason to go and taste it. What I mean is, this afternoon I will present for about 10 minutes in my class on the subject of lavender. I've done a little research and prepared a quick look at lavender. I'm nervous but have been stressed for about a week now that I really don't have anymore energy to get wigged out...so I tell myself, "Self, go up there, talk to your friends, and then go out and taste the Beaujolais to celebrate."

God bless Jayme for posting shots of both Seattle and Portland, my two beloved Northwest cities in her latest post.

Its Friday already and I'm staring down the barrel of a matrix-like automatic weapon. I'm just hoping I can revert to ceiling mode when it gets rough this weekend. I'm going to see the "frenchmen" to try and speak their language. Let's just hope I have enough energy to survive Monday where I'm expected to entertain my prof and classmates for 10 minutes with the topic of lavender.

When it's chilly out and I have more homework than I think I can finish before it's deadline, I put on jazz, and amuse myself reminding myself of my favorite pasttimes here in Paris. One of my favorite things to watch is people who rush for the RER or Metro making their entry as the buzzer announces the closing of the doors. For each one it is a personal race, and effort to win against the doors- they smile to themselves until they realize that everyone is staring at them and they will quickly apply the 'naked train face' to which everyone is socially obligated.

I also enjoy watching a few adults move large amounts of children. The best scene yet I may have mentioned long ago: 2 adults moved about 20-25 3yr olds in the Paris Metro. It was splendid watching them- like herding chickens.

Today I was reminded that I move in a large city every day. The bus', cars and motorcycles; women with crazy uncomfortable shoes and the smoke!... Paris is a big city, bigger than any city I have every lived in. Thank goodness for jazz...

today was a day off. I sent Sky off on the highway. We prayed that he would be picked up right away and I have faith that that's what happened. I spent the rest of the day creating a powerpoint show of how to create a blog. Its been a learning experience for me as well as tiring. I will be presenting in french on Saturday for about 30 minutes. So I wrote out as best as possible in french my commentary. Now at least I have a working draft. Tomorrow I head back to class.

So today I was pleasantly surprised to find a friend from Multnomah wandering around the Paris area. I didn't find him- he called me. I had just informed my roommates that a sudden visit from a friend was about to take place and he knocked on the door. Sky gets a nice warm place to sleep tonight and we ate chinese for dinner. He's catching up on email and eating and such as he's been backpacking around Europe. He's tracking his adventures at his blog spot. His next destination is Barcelona as long as he can convince the French motorists that he's a nice guy just wanting a ride as far south as they are willing to take him.

Ok for all of you who are trying to learn french along with me... you can follow me over to a new blog that consists of a conversation between the OIKOS living and working in France. I am able to post photos there as well as take my language learning skills for a spin. Check it out and meet other cool people like Lorenzo, Matt Glock and follow the links and comments of Andrew Jones and other OIKOS fans from all around the globe.

I'm sitting here with my toothbrush hanging from my lips as I write. It's gotten late again and I take off early tomorrow morning as well for church at Lagny. I'll venture on the RER and bus to get there. Hopefully it will work out.

Me and the Lagny group went to see the Matrix today. I hoped there would have been a more philosophical conversation afterwards but everyone was still enamered by the plot, trying to figure it all out. I listened to about 7 people talk at once. I don't know if they can all hear eachother when they do that but for me it was like looking at the matrix on the screen...too much activity at one time. I guess conversation is an art that I will have to keep observing for a while. One day I hope I can be one of the 7, sneaking in my perspective at just the right moment.

My friends from Portland, Kathy of the Varis family, posted a sweet memory picture of my beloved Oregon coast. I remember how the dark falls early during these months in Portland. But they were also the best- showing up for skatechurch as the sun went down and watching the guys tear it up in the warehouse. Or heading off to the Viscount for a Tuesday night DJ swing session...

I've heard it said, "When in Rome, do as the Romans." So when in Paris, I do as the Parisiens. I take the train every day, sit in smoky cafes, drink coffee, and speak the language that they speak: french. Today is Friday, and I am tired. We did a round of vocab today in class and I didn't get any of it. I wrote it all down, but this is no guarantee that I will remember this new plethera of words for tomorrow's conversation over the Matrix or for any other chat I may have. I walked away more tired and frustrated than enthused by "all I had learned". I may go to bed early tonight, hanging up my smoky clothes to air out... like the rest of the Parisiens.

I went and saw the Matrix this morning. I needed a jumpstart for a Saturday viewing in French. Anyhow, its late and I want to rock and roll tomorrow morning to catch a few shots of the wood at Vincennes before the rains hit and turn all the leaves to brown mush on the sidewalks. I wish I had enough time to go all the way to Versailles but it will have to wait til later, I guess.

He must be heard!!...même si c'est en français

Lorenzo Monge is a super cool guy working with youth here in France. He's a musician, and camp speaker as well as snowboarder and surfer. I hope to get to know his family better over the next year. We'll be worshiping together at the Chelle church which is launching bit by bit.

Sunday was one of those lazy-day's...time to catch up, etc.. I jumped out of bed one minute before we were supposed to be on our way and made it- dressed! Church went well too. The afternoon I lazed around (because we had a little break from our homework) and upgraded my liz-toppy to the new and absolutely fantastic OS X 10.3 Panther. Ahhh, a clean and rearranged room, best computer on the planet and no homework are a great combo.

Monday...well, monday Monsieur Fesquet loaded on the homework which somehow I finished yesterday evening. Its tuesday and I'm dreaming about what digital camera I want to buy at Christmas time and shopping online for a blog upgrade that suits my personality and budget.

Well, I know some of you are just dying to know how the Friday Night the 31st Party went. It was great! We all worked overtime to make it come together and it did. We had marvelous food prepared by Audrey and Michelle, and a crazy decor that I work on all week. Around 25 people showed to dance the night away. It was quite a mix of people from my language class, Paris, and friends from out east. Check out Michelle's blog for a few photos. Becca won the M&M guessing game and took the whole lot of 637 home with her. Vanessa and Nico showed off their dance skills and I got a lesson in breakdancing. Now I just have to practice.

We are definatly going to wait awile to pull another one of those all nighters...yeah, I was up til 6am saying goodbye. But we all learned a little something about partying: 1. Watch out- the price climbs fast; 2. Set a time limit- say 3am; 3. The Limbo will always go over well.