So this past Saturday, a member of the bishopric asked me to speak in sacrament meeting the following day - with less than 24 hours notice to prepare. Just a little introduction to who I am.... and to bear my testimony. Cake. I even decided to do it in French. I typed it up and all went according to plan. I was feeling pretty satisfied with my deliverance too because I heard a couple chuckles at my intended humorous parts. But then after church, someone came up and asked about my husband. That caught me off guard. He said that I had mentioned being married in my talk. He then went on to ask why I was in France, which I'd also covered in my talk, so I figured he just hadn't been listening very well. Those bishoprics tend to nod off every now and again. With their schedules, I don't blame them. When the second person approached me to mention my baby, I got worried. Turns out I had a little pronoun problem and instead of saying "He" ("Il" in French) - in reference to my eldest brother - I said "We" ("On" in French). So now half of the ward thinks I ditched my husband and my baby to come have fun in France. That will win me some friends I'm sure.
Paris en Automne
I can't put it into words how beautiful it has been around Paris of late. Walking along the Seine, visiting Versailles. Thanks to my friends with cars here, I've been riding through canopies of golden-leaved trees. GORGEOUS!
I experienced the same nature high when I decided to go shake off my cold that's about gone by running at my favorite park. Lo and behold, amidst the rainbow leaves there is a photography exhibit displayed temporarily with cool sights from around the world taken within the last 150 years. Loved these:
Social Habitate in Ivry-sur-Seine (Near Paris)
Cambodian Temple
Pagoda in ChinaNot Sainte Chapelle, but Saint-Eustache
I've made 3 attempts now to go to Sainte-Chapelle church, but each time the line looks like an hour long. No thanks. So this past Thursday before institute I wandered around and happened upon this little eglise. I was sort of mesmerized for two reasons - the beautiful surrounding trees on the outside, and the height of the ceiling on the inside. Saint-Eustache is located just behind Forum les Halles (a shopping district).
Forum Les Halles
L'Eglise Sainte Eustache
Check out those flying buttresses!
The oldest pipe organ in France, but really, what was so impressive was the height of the ceiling. Can you sense it? Man, it was inspiring. So light! It makes you want to do nothing else but look up. Way to go architects.I'm going to just say now that the evening was fantastic. Aside from the church, I discovered this cool store called Kiliwatch, akin to Urban Outfitters, but it's all used stuff. I guess that's not very different. Sometimes I wonder the same thing at Urban Outfitters :-) I tried to take a picture of a female manequin wearing a boy scout shirt with a plaid skirt and cowboy boots, but was forbidden by the sales clerk. I did find this rad belt though, next to about 50 t-shirts with various Disney characters on it.
THEN, I stopped at a brasserie for a quick dinner and just happened to pick one with a jazz artist playing his sax and a huge porch with heat lamps and lots of people watching. Food wasn't so great, but 10 points for atmosphere. I met an American woman and her nephew (my age) who were sitting next to me and laughing when the waiter asked 3 times what I meant when I ordered "Ratatouille." Hint: the French don't pronounce it the same way Americans do.
And then of course institute was very good: thought provoking lesson (what I understood), and even better because of the friends I'm getting to know. Pictures coming soon.
On the way home, I finished the 'C' section in my little pocket dictionary. I've been making an effort to bump up my vocabulary while riding the train. Some highlights so far:
Bologna: gros saucisson m. (Couldn't say it better! Very gross indeed.)
Chopsticks: les baguettes ( Hehe.)
The Creeps, as in "He gives me the creeps": Il me donne la chair de poule (chicken skin!)
4 comments:
That's awesome.
I was telling my coworker about your 8 month old married life speech that you gave. He said that he was friends with this girl who was in South America somewhere and had to give a similar speech to her church. Her spanish wasn't too sharp and I guess she had confused the words pregnant and embarrased. She tried to say that she was embarrased and it was the bishops fault but it didn't come out right.
Sounds like you are having a good time.
Definitely you need to go to St. Chappelle. If you like stained glass, that's *the* place. Wait a few weeks and the tourist season will die down and you won't have to wait in a long line.
lol lol! love the fun you're having w/out your baby and hubby!
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