Rainey Days

Ho, Ho, Ho! I began my morning with a delightful email from Janice Beam, highlighting the (mis)adventures of her family throughout 2006! I love the annual Beam family newsletter and this year it served as my first Christmas gift. Thanks, Janice and congratulations on the car! I also opened gifts that Christy brought me from Saint Petersburg, Russia where she is a missionary. Shown here are Russian nesting dolls in "traditional" garb, as well as a teapot from a famous porcelain factory in Saint Petersburg, with its distinctive pattern. Since I was away in Paris, I missed the poor mailman who came to deliver four boxes! I will get them tomorrow morning when the post office opens again. I guess I'll open the rest of my gifts then. Christy had received a few boxes from her family (sent to my address well ahead of schedule), so she got some goodies. She graciously shared a white fudge oreo from her sister. We had a sumptuous Christmas dinner: meatloaf and mashed potatoes with...

I am exhausted! I've spent the last five days walking all over Paris, up the hill of Montmartre and down the marble staircases of the Louvre. I've walked the gardens of Louis XIV at Versailles and I've walked the dirty hallways of the labrynthian Paris metro. Christy has thoroughly enjoyed her whirlwind tour of Paris, and she was able to get her Russian visa renewed for one year (the real purpose of her trip). The two of us have very similar interests or vacation styles--whatever it is that means we are in sync with our ideas of what to see or do next. With Christy twisting my arm only slightly, we got Starbucks Caramel macchiatos three days in a row at one of the few Starbucks in France. Yesterday we came to the home of Henry and Karen Linderman, AG missionaries in the Paris area. We are spending a few days with them. Karen is the ultimate hostess, fixing great homestyle meals for us, and we've even gotten to help decorate her tree (since she was late getting it ...

I am headed off in a few hours to Paris to meet my friend Christy. I thought I would give you a picture of my Christmas decorations to look at for a few days, while I am away (and unable to post). I'll be back in Bordeaux on Christmas Eve night, so I hope all of you have a wonderful week of parties, last-minute shopping, and rich holiday foods!

Some of you may be familiar with the reputation that the French have for calling labor strikes without warning. I lived in France long enough to be very familiar with the strikes, but tonight was the first time in my missionary career here that I was personally affected. I had to take my car to the garage to be fixed (after the accident last week). I will be in Paris this coming week with a missionary friend who needs a translator/tour guide, so the mechanic offered to fix the car while I'm gone. Admittedly, this is a lot more convenient than any other possibility would be. So I drove over after work today to leave the car before they closed for the weekend. I handed over the keys, signed some forms, and headed to a nearby bus stop, intending to take the bus home. I'd cleaned out the car and dropped all my stuff at my apartment after work, and researched which bus I'd take, as well as the connections I need to make at other bus stops. I had a book with me, to read on ...

I go to a small group Bible study/prayer meeting on Thursday nights; it was one of the first things I got connected with here in Bordeaux, and from day one, I have loved the group. They welcomed me with open arms, and they have been a major support for me. But I have to admit, they are an odd group. I always think they would make a great cast for a sit-com. The couple that hosts it are Katherine and Jean-Claude. Katherine is a French teacher in a junior high school, so she is very conscientious of explaining any odd words we come across in our Bible study and she is very encouraging to me about my French aptitude. Her husband, Jean-Claude, is very nice, and always lights up when he sees me at church. He loves to make jokes and punctuates every sentence with a chuckle. Unfortunately, he doesn't speak very clearly, so I hardly ever understand what he said. I laugh along anyway, to be polite, but I feel like an idiot. Once his wife caught me at it: she said, "Jean-Claude, when yo...

Since arriving in France over two years ago, I've had so many new experiences, some positive and some negative. This morning on the way to work, I got rear-ended in traffic, so it was an experience on the negative side. A city bus pulled out in front of a line of cars, causing everyone to slam on their brakes. I braked so hard to avoid the car in front of me that my shoulder bag was airborne for a few seconds before slamming into the floorboard of my car. A half a second later, the car behind me slammed into me. Fortunately we weren't going that fast, so the whiplash wasn't too bad. I was mostly upset about the damage to my car, as we pulled over to the side. The other driver was a young man, 22 years old, driving an old, ratty compact car. Right away I saw its hood smashed in. I was almost afraid to look at the back of my Rav 4. It's little over a year old! But, the back bumper was hanging half off, with the license plate badly mangled. Further scrutiny rev...