Rainey Days

Those Rolling Stones must have been smoking something, because I don't see how time is on anyone's side. Especially here in France, where the cultural relationship with time is very different from ours in America. My colleague, in particular, is well-known for being an hour late to everything. In fact, when he says he will be at a meeting at 2:00 pm, we don't even expect him until 2:45 or later. I have started bringing a pocket sudoku book to kill time waiting for him at various meetings. How am I spending my time otherwise? We are still cleaning and moving into our new building, step by step, and I appreciate your patience with my spotty blogging of late. Its not very exciting to describe how I've washed the same window 4 or 5 times and its still streaky. I think next week I will have more exciting news to report.

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days. As I have mentioned, we have a new building for our offices. Its still not quite finished, but we are moving in next week. So this week, I drew the short straw and got cleaning duty. We are talking masssssssive cleaning. The building is wall-to-wall tile, and the tile-layers left cement (or whatever they use) everywhere! So a major part of my cleaning duties have been scraping the tile with a chisel to get up excess cement and paint from the equally careless painters. At one point, I even had to scrape the inside of the electric sockets (which are recessed into the walls in Europe) with a wet rag and chisel. Thankfully, we don't have electric in the building yet--I asked about ten times before I stuck my metal object and water soaked rag into the sockets. Don't try this at home! Next up on the schedule is washing all the windows (30 or so). We've already washed them to get off paint, cement, mud, and spider webs, but now we need to ...

I thoroughly enjoyed my mini-vacation in Nantes with my friends. It was relaxing to spend time with other Americans, and they were excellent tour guides to their region of France. We got to see islands, castles, cathedrals, and more. I am not sure which part was the best--it was all so great. I found this metal sign in a store window and it stopped me in my tracks. I collect crab stuff for my kitchen here in France. I suppose its my way of creating a little niche of "home" here in France. Most of my collection is from Baltimore or Ocean City, but I am always on the lookout for anything with crabs here in France, because, well, how cool would that be! But crabs just aren't as popular here, for obvious reasons, so I have only ever found a little postcard that I framed anyway. So when I saw this sign in a window, I got all excited. Unfortunately, since its in English, it was probably made in the US or maybe in England, but the important thing is that I bought it in France! ...

I am still in Nantes, visiting my good friends Matt and Cristina Price, missionaries with the Free Will Baptists here in France. Today they took me to a 13th century castle in Angers, a town about an hour from Nantes. The castle is huge, and certainly would have scared me off from invading back in the 12oo's! I enjoyed wandering the castle and the extensive grounds, but the best part was Europe's oldest tapestry. Yes, I know you are thinking that old tapestries can't be that exciting, and normally I would agree. But this one was commissioned in the 1300's and was originally 140 meters long! It contained 70 "scenes" of the Book of Revelation. Only 37 meters are missing today, and the rest is restored and on display with a guide who gives an explanation of each panel in very dramatic French. Knowing my Bible, I was able to interpret most of the panels for myself--angels blowing trumpets, seven churches, a multi-headed beast being slain, etc. But what w...

Greetings from Nantes! Nantes is four hours north of Bordeaux and was once the capital of Brittany, one of the prettiest regions of France. I have missionary friends who work here in Nantes as youth pastors, and since I had a bit of time off, I decided to come north and visit their beautiful city. We did a walking tour of Nantes today, which was focused on the WWII history of the city, including the Resistance and the liberation of the city, which happened 62 years ago today! Yes, the Americans liberated Nantes on August 12, 1944, and we saw a smal parade today of veterans--one carrying an American flag out of recognition and appreciation. The walking tour was certainly interesting, but as my friends and I ate lunch (at a Subway sandwich shop!) we prayed that God would truly liberate the French who are still bound spiritually. Thanks for being a part of that prayer!

Just as birds fly south for the winter, the French migrate to more pleasant climates each August. Parisiens head for the beaches in the South of France, the sporty head off to hike in the Alps, the cosmopolitan come to Bordeaux to sample the wine, and on it goes like a nation-wide game of musical chairs. In fact, many families “home swap” for the month, advertising their homes in magazines and newspapers as early as February, when the savvy French traveler books his plans. Similar to other European countries, this phenomenon is concentrated to the month of August. The whole country shuts down. Restaurants and other small businesses post notices that they will be closed from the end of July until the first of September, reminding their clientele of their annual vacations. A very few places remain open to benefit from all the tourists, but choices are severely limited. Here in my neighborhood, it is strangely quiet. The outdoor market on Saturday was much smaller than usual, and I...

I took this picture of "downtown" Merignac over the weekend. I pass by this bus stop several times a day and it always impresses me with the French love of flowers and artistic beauty.

It has long been a point of contention with me that my neighbors in this building are unfriendly. Well, that is by American standards, I suppose. By French standards, they are absolutely normal, since the French guard their privacy as if German troops are invading. They say hello if they see me in the parking lot or lobby; at times one or two have held the door open for me, as I carried my groceries in, but nothing further. Never any “Welcome to the building” or “You’re invited to my party that will last all night, with music blasting loudly into your apartment as well.” By this point, I’m used to it, but I still wish I could have at least a passing acquaintance with them. The real problem is that in the past seven months, I have met some of the neighbors, but always after j’ai fait une bêtise (I’ve done something stupid)! I have met four neighbors (three of them men, as it happens—no, I am not doing it on purpose!). I met the first one when I needed a bottle opener shortly a...

If a picture is worth a thousand words . . . . well, you've already read my thousand on the Saturday market two weeks ago. This morning I took this photo, just to give you a visual aide.

“If evolution is real, why is it only in the last 30 years that we put wheels on luggage?” I read this quote about six months ago, but I don’t remember who said it (possibly Jon Stewart). If I had to define my position on the origins of the universe, I would say that I don’t believe in evolution either, but my proof would be the stupid drivers in my town, who can’t seem to realize that traffic patterns changed months ago. Downtown Bordeaux has a brand-new tram system that glides gracefully along gleaming tracks with a speed skater’s precision. Unfortunately, that same system is currently under construction in the outlying suburbs, like mine. It’s a major hassle, involving tearing up existing roads, laying the tram tracks, and then repaving the roads one lane at a time. Somewhere in there, they also redo existing pipes, electric lines, etc. Unfortunately, the worst road in town is a major access road, connecting with the town’s central highway, so traffic is still heavy, even thoug...

Assis entre deux chaises is a French expression literally meaning “sitting between two chairs” or the equivalent of our English term “fence-sitting.” There are a few other expressions in French that also convey that same sense of ambivilence, either not wanting or not capable of making a decision. I myself prefer the two chairs one; there is a certain picture in my mind when I say it. Sometimes I feel like I live my life between two chairs. I am always juggling the French culture and the American culture, trying to figure out where I belong. I am often drawn to the French; I appreciate certain aspects of their life. Then, later, I find myself half-insane with their habits. Take for example, this weekend when we were moving everything: the day started early on Saturday morning, when we were all to meet at the church to start loading the moving truck. When we arrived, the pastor of the church where we rented office space told us he had just fixed coffee for everyone. So, naturally, we a...

After quite a busy weekend, I am taking the day off to catch my breath a bit. Friday afternoon, my colleague Laurent and I drove down to Marseille to move our offices finally up to Bordeaux. It’s a six hour drive, and without air conditioning in the truck, we drove at night to avoid the heat. We arrived in Marseille at 2:00 AM, where I managed five hours of sleep before we had to start the packing up and moving. A few men from a local church came to help us load up, so we were able to finish in a matter of hours. The majority of the load was our Arabic Bible inventory, so the boxes were quite heavy. I was so worn out by the time we finished, and we still had a six hour drive back to Bordeaux, arriving again at 2:00 AM. Yesterday at our brand-new building, we unloaded everything, again with the help of a few guys from a church nearby. We just stocked everything in an empty room, since the electricity isn’t on in the building yet. It will probably be another month before we are ...