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Published: October 1st 2011
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After three weeks of French, French, French I was at last invited for an English day out by an English mum I met at the school. Her name is Aida and she's lived here for ten years with her husband and four children. She lives in a small town called Soultz which is only a 15 minute bike ride from here, so on Wednesday morning I climbed onto my dirty, second-hand Decathlon (the French JJB) bike and braved the French roads to get to her house.
When I got there she took me round the town market with her two youngest children, Zac (11) and Kenza (9). It's a very quaint little town but not quite as big as the one I'm living in. I love visitng French markets because they're just so typical of what I expect French life to be like - people come with their straw baskets and bicycles to stock up their baguette and cheese supplies (and that's not being stereotypical).
After visiting the market we had to drive over to Mulhouse which is a big city about thirty minutes drive from here, to pick up her son, Liam (15) from college. On the way
we had a good chat (I've realized that Aida likes talking but that's a good thing because I certainly miss English conversation) and she told me a lot of personal things about her childhood and how she and her husband became Christians (both of them come from Muslim backgrounds).
When we got back home I was in for a real treat - Aida made egg and bacon buagettes!! My family don't eat meat (financial reasons) and they also make their own bread so I don't get to eat French buagette. It was the nicest thing ever!! I didn't realize how much I'd missed egg and bacon until I put it in my mouth.
Whilst we were having lunch Aida's sister (whose name I forget) came round to drop off her four children - as you can imagine the house became very loud and chaotic and Aida can be very strict with her kids so I began to miss my French family (even if the kids do cry a lot).
Later in the afternoon we decided to go for a bike ride - I still haven't quite got the hang of cycling on the roads but with a
little more practice I'm sure I'll be great. We went to a small park and whilst the kids were playing me and Aida sat and shared some more - we both have difficult relationships with our Dads so we enjoyed sharing about that - it's amazing the kind of people God brings together.
I finally got home that night at 8pm - it had been a great day out and after the difficult moments I've had I appreciate the good moments even more. It can sometimes be frustrating to think it's taken three weeks for me to meet people like Aida and I sometimes wonder why God didn't reveal her to me sooner but then I think maybe God wanted me to be dependent on him during those first three weeks - he is a jealous God after all.
Yesterday I got volunteered to do a big forest walk with the school - something they do every year to mark the end of summer. It was good for me because it meant I got to speak to different people who I wouldn't usually speak to and also to meet new people. I got talking to a student teacher
called Miriam (she's German but she speaks great English and French)- most of the time we spoke in French. Unfortunately this is her last week here, otherwise we might have been able to hang out together beacuse she doesn't know many people either - again this is very frustrating but I know that perhaps things have happened like this because God wants them to.
The walk was good fun even though it was very tiring but that could be my last time to enter a French forest - in the afternoon we stopped in a small clearing for a drink and snack. In the middle of the clearing was a tree trunk and I noticed what appeared to be big bees buzzing around it. Despite my phobia of buzzing insects I paid no attention and rested like everyone else. I did get a bit worried though when I noticed the concerned look of one the teachers when he saw the buzzing creatures and his attempt to keep the kids away from them. It wasn't until later when we were luckily far away from them that Aida told me that they were hornets (frelons in French) and one of the
kids from my English class had been stung by one - which can prove deadly. One had tried to sting Aida too but she'd managed to get it off her. That really freaked me out and when I went to bed last night I had to leave the light on to try and get rid of thoughts full of hornets. To add to my fear of the forest Laetita told me this morning that I should check for ticks because they apparently get a lot in the forests round here - great - any ideas I had of taking my mum and sister for a walk in the forest when they get here have evaporated.
Last night in church we had the Tabernacle - a night of worship to celebrate the beginning of the Jewish new year. I always knew Eglise Josue was a bit strange (or perhaps I should say different to avoid sounding judgmental) but last night that was confirmed. Towards the end of the night people got flags and began waving them fiercely (Ok that I could understand) but then two women started hitting their tambourines and walking as if they were African tribeswomen. Then a
huge group of people grabbed these long wooden poles (Moses-style) and started moving in a circle hitting the poles as they went. I began to forget I was at a worship meeting - it felt more like I was at the theatre and I wondered how the people at the front could concentrate on worshipping God like that. Then one of the young guys picked up a sword (the sword of truth perhaps?) and started waving it above his head. In the end I decided to leave because I was so tired and because I wasn't sure what to make of the strange spectacle taking place before me.
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