Toussaint Travels: Nîmes, Avignon, Pont du Gard

Hello, one and all. 

So I just had a two-week vacation because that's what they do in France. Schools have a two-week vacation every seven weeks. It's pretty sweet. Anywho, if you read my blog last year, you would notice that I visited Beaune, Bordeaux and Edinburgh last Toussaint. This year I visited a lot of different places as well. My first trip was the first weekend of Toussaint (Sunday to Tuesday) with three other assistants, Charlotte, Becca, and Emilia! We took a Blablacar (basically a carpool that you pay for) to Nîmes, where we stayed in an Airbnb. From there we went to the Pont du Gard (a famous Roman aqueduct!) and Avignon (another famous city where the Papal Palace is). Here are some cool pictures! 

Roman amphitheater of Nîmes

Le Pont du Gard

Le Pont du Gard in all its glory

Friends :) 

Just casually hanging out

Beautiful day in the Gard

Streets of Avignon

Becca gets roasted chestnuts in Avignon!

Every French city must have a carousel.

Papal Palace of Avignon!

Le Pont d'Avignon

sur le Pont d'Avignon, on y danse, on y danse

Avignon is basically a castle city!

the Rhône (same river that runs through Lyon!)

Me being a nerd on the bridge

More castle-y stuff in Avignon

Standing on the castle wall

The bridge from the side

It's fall!

The words to the Pont d'Avignon song!

Poulet rôti and french fries, yum!

The sad moment when the salt shaker opened all over my chicken

Crême brûlée

Beautiful sunset as we took the bus back to Nîmes

Fountain in Nîmes

The boys in front of the amphitheater

The statue of the bull fighter (they used to do bull fights in the amphitheater)

Maison Carrée (Square House, a sort of tomb: more Roman ruins)

Les jardins des fontaines (The Fountain Gardens)

Roman ruins: old Roman baths!!

The swan taking a bath in the Roman baths

Roman ruins: Temple to Diana

Steven contemplating the temple

Old engravings

Passageways of the temple

On our way home in another Blablacar

We took the scenic route home!

Backside of some calanques

The Not-So-Happy Parts

Hello all.

So, basically all of my posts have been about travels or beautiful places or just a list of what I have been doing in different cities. So most of my posts have been happy. Now there's nothing wrong with happy posts. Being happy is wonderful, albeit fleeting. But I don't want you to get the wrong impression about moving to another country, living somewhere foreign, or even traveling in general. It isn't all fun and games. In fact, sometimes being in France, at least for me, can mean a lot of stress, fear, anxiety and, sometimes tears. Living in another culture is debilitating at first. It feels foreign, like when you normally know what drawer the knives go in but then you look to grab a knife and they aren't there, someone has moved them, and there's not a darn knife in the whole kitchen. You find them 10 days later. Apparently, someone has put them away in the closet in your bedroom (a little creepy, why are they there?! but you get the picture). There's a word for this type of culture shock in French: le dépaysement. Literally, the act of being away from (dé) your country (pays). Little French lesson for you.

But I have definitely had my fair share of dépaysement, even though I've lived here before and am supposed to understand this new place better. All of this means that I miss stuff from the most banal to the most important.

I miss my family. If you know me at all, you know I love my family and that we are very close. So being away from them is not my favorite thing. In fact, it's probably my least favorite thing. The thing I hate the most about it is that I start to feel so far away, in another world from them, even though we can talk so easily on FaceTime and What'sApp. The time zones are so different that the amount of time we can talk passes quickly and soon it's the next day. So I miss out on the day-to-day, I miss out on sitting down at the counter and talking about what happened, what we're having for dinner, etc. But, the funny thing is that even when my mom was here, my mind forgot this simple truth. Because I speak French and understand the culture much more than my mom does, obviously I was the tour guide when we were together. However, I found myself getting so stressed out by this ever-constant responsibility that I would refuse to ask someone something, especially when it had to do with something serious, like asking for a new room at the hotel. But, Mom was, obviously, going to struggle even more than I was. One night at dinner we were talking and she brought it to my attention that having someone else rely on you in that way was a lot like being a mom. When I was a little kid, my mom did everything for me. She asked the waiter for things for me, she went to the store for me, she spoke for me (not all the time, but in a lot more figurative ways). Here I was forced to be the "mom" to my mom in a way and lead us around/be in charge. It was scary (big kudos, gratitude, and love to my mom and all moms out there who do this on a daily basis). I was worried about making a fool of myself and so that was a constant struggle as we were getting settled. After this night, I tried to be better (and often failed, sorry Mom!) but now, at least, I don't feel overwhelming anxiety asking someone for directions. So there's a lesson in there somewhere. :)

Living and working in a new place (without a car, in a country that prefers paper documents to almost anything in the world) means a lot of walking, waiting in establishments, time "en route" as another assistant put it to work or friends, talking on the phone in French, and struggling to understand the never-ending bureaucracy of France. A lot of my life has felt like I am just in limbo waiting for something to happen or waiting for a document to come through.

Finally, one of the most basic things that I have not-liked (this is a weird post) is traveling alone. Granted I haven't traveled alone yet, but I have moved from place to place alone. And when you have delays or canceled trains (which have happened to me multiple times) and you spend 12 hours at a time in trains and/or planes alone, with only books and a dead laptop (because of the lack of chargers) to keep you company, you get bored and lonely, fast. Plus, if something happens to you (like the train you're on is delayed by 3 hours and you aren't sure if you'll make it home), it's nice to have a buddy.

I miss school and Berkeley. I miss feeling like I had a direction or a purpose, something that I was working for. I miss discussing the rhetorical strategies of Toni Morrison, dancing around my apartment with Addie, studying in Milano, doing discipleship with Violet at FSM or wherever, going to bible study every week and knowing I could just breathe for a second with people who cared about me, being in a community of people my age, who were like-minded and were interested by school and/or by Jesus and what he had to say and what our lives mean or are worth. I miss having a full schedule. I am a person who thrives on busyness (which you may or may not be) so when I work 12 hours a week and then just have a lot of free time in which to do nothing, I go a little stir-crazy. Although of course, I am extremely lucky, this is everyone's dream, right? Or is it? I am starting to think that dreams are never what you actually think they will be.

It's not like, "Oh, she gets to see the world and she shouldn't complain about anything, her life is perfect." It isn't. My life is different. It's really cool and really unique at this moment in time, but it's also really hard in its own way. And I am really excited about it, most days. (Also, how many times can I say "really"?) But it's not special because I have the best Instagrams or Facebook photos, that's the last thing I want people to think. That because this blog has cool pictures that that means everything is peaches and cream for me. My time here is special though. I won't say it sucks when it doesn't. It's special because I'm meeting new people and still struggling to comprehend a different culture. Because I'm becoming more independent. Because I get to affect the lives of French students. (well that may be wishful thinking but you get the picture). In short, because I am learning and teaching. That's what I love to do. That's why I miss school. But that's also why this experience is challenging. Because learning (and teaching) is challenging. Learning is a growing process where you are forced to continually reshape your worldview and your mind. When you learn, all that reshaping breaks certain things and breaking always hurts. But good always either comes from broken things or the good that you experience after the bad is such a stark contrast that you appreciate the good all the more.

In any case, with all the unhappy parts, I've been finding really intense joy and peace in Jesus (when I'm not stressing out that is) which has been cool. For example, today I was worrying a lot for no reason about some papers I needed to send to the CAF office (basically financial aid office for housing). I couldn't get into my online account, where I was supposed to upload my documents. So the other option was to send it in by mail. I was headed to the beach with some other assistants, when people were running late, so I decided just to swing by the actual office to ask them because it would be closed over the weekend and I work Monday and Tuesday. I also happened to have brought my paperwork. Once I got there, the lady told me I could just slip my documents into a box that was right there. All at once, my problem was solved. When I was walking home from the beach later, I thought how sweet it was that God had worked it all out, even while I was stressing, and how every time I had stressed about something small God had solved it in some simple way. I just felt a really cool peace within, reminding me that I worry and am anxious for nothing because he has me and he is looking out for me. I've felt this way many times since I've been here. Even with all the traveling issues, God has always gotten me home to my apartment. I've never been stuck in a dangerous situation or alone for the night.

So underneath are the two verses that have really resonated with me these past few days. It's been a constant battle between stress and peace, but I can feel when Jesus' peace is truly in my heart. It feels different than worldly peace or idleness, it feels complete, a complete and joyful peace. I don't know it's hard to describe. But, if you've ever felt this way, try and explain it in the comments :)

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[a]?

²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:25-34

"Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful." John 14:27

Addie Comes to Town

Bonjour friends.

Because I’m the luckiest of ducks, within a week of my mom leaving, I got a visit from my best of friends, Addie! My very first travel buddy in Europe, my roommate of four years and just the most beautiful person you’ll ever meet. I miss her lots now that she’s back in the Golden State.

She came to visit the weekend of the 10^th because she was enjoying a visit to one of her favorite places, Scotland. She arrived on Thursday afternoon and I took the train to Marseille to pick her up. Then, we took the metro so she could see the Vieux Port! It’s such a magnificent view, I thought that we should see it because we were so close. After that, we stopped at Starbucks where I ate lunch and Addie had a frappuccino (riveting details, I know). Then we trained home together, enjoying a nice long talk and the views of the mountains and sea from the train. That night we just stayed in, made some pasta, and watched NCIS: LA in English (one of the few channels that I am able to turn back to English).

The next day (Friday) was much more interesting. It was a beautiful sunny day and we had a lazy breakfast before embarking on our mission: to climb to the top of Mount Faron via the téléphérique, which I had awkwardly been calling the téléphonique. Granted, an easy mistake. A télépherique is basically a cable car that is only attached to cables on the top and it carries you above the ground, rather high, via just these cables, to your destination. As some of you may know, Addie is not too keen on heights, but she was down to do this (because there was a wildcat zoo on top of the hill!) and I was very happy she wanted to go up. We both were rather glad we did it because the view was superb. It was a bit scary but mostly exhilarating to be so high up, zipping through the trees.

Once we got to the top, we went looking for the wild cat zoo and ran into Emma and a bunch of other assistants who had left about an hour earlier to climb the mountain on foot. After a quick chat, we walked on some confusing but beautiful paths until we hit the zoo. We bought a téléphérique/zoo pass for 14 euros so it wasn’t too bad. Once in there, we saw a ton of animals: lions, tigers, bears (just kidding there were no bears), jaguars, panthers, mountain lions, other cats, baboons, lemurs, and even raccoons. We thought that seeing raccoons in a zoo was bizarre but raccoons aren’t native to Europe, which we didn’t know. At home, you could see a raccoon on the street but in France you would never so I guess they want to see them in the zoos. Both Addie and I had mixed feelings about the zoo. The cages were not very spacious and didn’t seem to be well-maintained. At the baboon cage, a man and his family were throwing pieces of bread into the cage non-stop. In the U.S. that would be taboo and we were uncomfortable so I told him it wasn’t a good idea. He just brusquely said, “They sell this in the gift shop.” Unconvinced, I went to the front on our way out and asked if that was allowed, sure it wasn’t. He said “Oh, les croquants?” meaning bits of food, I said “yes” and he said “Oh yes they sell them at the gift shop.” So apparently, zoo rules aren’t universal. It really bothered us because it just seemed so rude, especially the way people in the zoo in general were yelling at the animals. A lady even brought in a small dog. To the wildcat zoo. You heard me right. That sounds like the worst idea ever, notwithstanding the stereotypical hatred between cats and dogs. But the dog started barking and the cats got all worked up, pacing and starting to look really hungry, especially the tiger. Rule #1 of zoos is don’t bring in animals, I mean seriously. Now I don’t know if she brought it in sneakily or if they just don’t care, but it was strange and just seemed to exemplify the attitude everyone had at the zoo. Others were yelling, shaking the cage, etc. Although I didn’t realize it, I think zoos in the U.S. or maybe people are (normally) a lot more serious about respecting the animals.

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After leaving the zoo, we ran back into the other assistants just as they were leaving to take the car back down. We decided to sit and drink an aperitif of wine and we also got little snacks (peanuts and toast with tapenade). Then we walked around a little more, looking at the insane view of Toulon and the war memorial.

Finally, we took the téléphérique back down the mountain. I hope to spend more time up there, it’s like a little park away from the world.

That night we walked down to the port for dinner. We ate at a little Italian port where we could watch the sunset on the boats. I had pasta arrabiatta and it was really spicy but good, and Addie had a pizza aux 4 fromages (Roquefort, mozzarella, gruyere, and parmesean) and it was really good too. I would definitely go back. It was a nice relaxing evening until we were visited by a random guy from South Africa. He heard we spoke English, he was more than tipsy, and he thought he would sit right down with us, kebab and beer in hand. It was funny at first and I wasn’t too bothered. His friend, whose name was Marius (I have no idea what the other guy’s name was), kept trying to get him to leave, telling him he was being rude, to no avail. Finally, Addie and I got annoyed when he got a call and started talking about us to his friend “Archie.” They apparently worked on a yacht and had to get back but the ferry was closed. After like 15 minutes, Marius was able to peel his friend away as the people around us looked on but said nothing. They spoke in some other language other than English to each other, which I thought was interesting. Then I looked it up and it turns out S. Africa has tons of official languages. So that’s cool!

We walked back to my place and finished the night with a watching of Hocus Pocus as well as the Halloween episode of Boy Meets World (our tradition J ). Emma had never seen Hocus Pocus so she watched with us! It’s good to share Halloween cheer!

The next day was Sunday. Addie had a cold and it had gotten much worse so we ended up relaxing all of Sunday. I can’t remember most of what we did. We went shopping and made dinner: autumnal soup and bread. Then we watched Halloweentown at night and another episode of Boy Meets World because we couldn’t get the Buffy Halloween episode to work.

The next day was Monday and I had to work. We ended up just relaxing as well and early Tuesday morning she was off. It was rough to say goodbye to my best friend. But here is a pretty picture of Mount Faron.