Nîmes and Conques

Hello all!

So last weekend I went to Nîmes for a frisbee tournament.  I'm playing in the lowest level of the competitive frisbee of France.  :)  There are 14 players on our team from Rodez and we play fives meaning that we almost have three complete lines.  Most of the other teams had 7 or 8 players which honestly is more than sufficient as the games were 25 minutes and then cap plus two.  If you know what I mean.  :P  So it was fun, I didn't play as well as I would have liked.  I think it takes me a while to get into a game and then by then it's finished.  My team is super nice and welcoming towards me though and I enjoyed being with them and talking strategy and everything like that.  We came in third out of 8 teams.  If you want to see the pictures from the weekend you can click on this link:

https://picasaweb.google.com/118102991518962560588/FrisbeeNimes?authkey=Gv1sRgCLeljdjLkOyiTw

I didn't really see the town of Nîmes at all since we spent all of our time at this gym.  The tournament totally could have been outside instead since it was warm.  We were warming up in t-shirts and shorts outside.

I had a cool experience of going to Mass  in Nîmes and realized again what tender love God has for us.  My plan was to walk to this Church that was half-way between the gym where we were playing and our hotel, google maps informed me that it would take half an hour and Mass was at 6:30pm.  We finish our game and I got ready to head out and the girl who drove the mini-bus insisted on driving me since I guess Nîmes isn't the safest city.  We get there at 5:55pm which I'm fine with as I'll have time to pray.  (I also don't know about google maps walking time, I think it would have taken longer than 30 minutes to walk.)  Turns out Mass was actually at 6pm and not 6:30pm (this diocese really needs to work on their website, it's hard to use and is wrong apparently)!  I was so happy that I got there on time especially as it was the feast of Christ the King and I would have been so upset if I got there late and almost missed the whole thing.  I just was so thankful that God looked out for me like that by having this girl drive me to Mass on time.  She also picked me up afterwards.  :)

This past week went well.  I'm really enjoying teaching the older kids English and can have quite a bit of fun with them.  As many of you know I love charades and basically my job is playing charades with kids where I always get to act.  :)

This Friday night I went to Conques with the kids preparing for Confirmation.  We left Friday night and got there to have supper.  After supper we prayed Compline with the two brothers there and then one of the brothers played the organ for us and let us go to the upper level of the Abbey (I think it's an abbey...) and walk around as he played.  It was all lit up and so beautiful.  (There's pictures on facebook.)  My soul was just so thankful for this experience and filled with beauty.  It showed me how beauty lifts our souls to God.  We worked on the Beatitudes with the kids and it was good.  I felt like I was starting to get to know the kids.  The next morning a brother explained the "tympan" of the Abbey to us.  It's amazing how much detail is in it.  We finished our discussion from the night before and then had Mass.  I drove up with Fr. Bernard and back with him too.  Since it was just us two in the car, on the way back he took me to two look-out points over Conques.  This priest has been so kind to me.  He's always so welcoming and makes sure to introduce me to everyone- highlighting that I'm Canadian.  :)  It was a good retreat for me too since I participated in the activities that the youth were doing.  Next weekend the high school students are going and I think I'll go back to Conques with them.  I'm interested to see how their retreat will be different and I really enjoyed being there.

Thanks for all the prayers and keep 'em coming.

God bless!

The Importance of learning to receive

Last year in Lethbridge, I was on the exec for the UCC and for the Ultimate club and so I did a lot of welcoming.  I made an effort to know everyone’s name and to remember something about them to ask for next time.  I wanted people to feel comfortable and loved.  So it’s different being in France now as that can’t be my role here.  I’ve met so many people and remember hardly anyone’s name, so I can’t be that welcoming person that I’m used to being.  Instead, I have to take the role of being welcomed, of receiving instead of giving, which I think can be humbling.

One of the things that I’ve been getting involved in is the youth group activities here with the junior high and high school students.  My attitude towards this has very much been: I have so much to give, I have been so blessed in my life with my faith and I want to share that.  What I’m realizing is that I need to change that attitude.  I need to stop having this focus of “giving.”  I’m finding that this is separating me from others.  I just want to talk and share my experience of Christ, to give to them what I’ve received, but this makes me closed to receiving what they have to offer me.  From these youth groups, I have received a very warm welcome and I am receiving/learning the ability to identify with high school and junior high kids.  In the mean time, I don’t think I’ve managed to “give” them anything.   I just need to humble myself to receive this welcome, this sharing of themselves with me.  And really, why would they be interested in learning about me, when I’m not interested in learning about them?

I think it’s also a reminder that really I have nothing to give.  I think my attitude that I have so much to give and share can be prideful.  I’ve been reading this book about Mother Teresa and she talks a lot about emptying oneself:  “God cannot fill what is full. – He can fill only emptiness- deep poverty- and your “Yes” is the beginning of being or becoming empty.  It is not how much we really “have” to give- but how empty we are- so that we can receive fully in our life and let Him live His life in us.” (Mother Teresa, Come be My Light).  I think it’s a challenge to realize that I am nothing and I have nothing to give since I have been given so much in this life.  However, I think when I am able to realize that I have nothing to give, when I do humble myself enough to become empty, God will be able to actually work through me to give Himself to those whom I meet.

Today, I went to the homeless shelter here in town to start volunteering.  (I don’t know if it’s really a homeless shelter, they give out drinks and food and have programs for the homeless or people in difficulty.)  I was welcomed very warmly and given a little orientation.  Here, I realized again, it’s not what I have to give.  I have nothing to offer these people.  I don’t know what it’s like to be in need and I really don’t know how to help them or what their needs are.  I have a hard time speaking/understanding French so really they have to have patience with me while we try to have a little conversation.  So while I was there, I gave out some coffees and said hello, but I think that the homeless people welcomed me more than I welcomed them.  I think I will receive a lot from this experience too as I am trying to learn to not be afraid of the “other”.  Already being there I’m learning about our common humanity.   

A note about commenting- yeah you need a gmail account and to be honest I have a hard time figuring out how to do a new post all the time too, so I may change my blog to a different site, we'll see. 

So, until next time, pray for me.

Buen Camino

So this will probably be a long post since it will cover my last two weeks of holidays doing part of the Camino Frances, from Leon to Santiago de Compostella.  I'll divide it up day by day so that if you do want  to undertake the task of reading about my journey you can break it up. :)

October 28

                I arrived in Leon and went directly to the Cathedral for Mass.  Mass is held in this little back chapel, to get into the main cathedral part you have to pay and who knows maybe no one prays in there and they don’t have Mass there.  I wasn’t too impressed with that, it makes me feel like they’re making God’s house into a tourist attraction. 

                After Mass I went and got my pilgrim passport and it all went so smoothly, I found the place right away and then I started my Camino.  There’s arrows everywhere and it’s kind of fun following them around a big city, like a treasure hunt.  It’s nice in general following these arrows you don’t have to worry about navigating or knowing where you are so you can always just reflect. 

                So I set off and got to this town (La Virgen Del Camino, I believe) and decided that I’m feeling pretty good so I’ll keep going.  I meet up with this Australian man and so we continue on together.  This guy was crazy- his pack was huge and weighed 20 kg!  I met him again at the end in Santiago and he had kept all the weight.  We ended up taking the wrong way together.  Yes it’s hard to get lost however in some places you can take two different ways, we took the way that goes along the highway instead of through more prairie like scenery.  So eventually I realized this and turned back and then met this Australian guy again, in the end he decided to continue on and I decided to go back to La Virgen (I won’t mention just how many extra kilometres I walked).  I got back to La Virgen with all these lovely ideas of hostels being open and welcoming with community meals, etc, etc.  I go to the first hostel, it’s closed.  The second one is also closed.  I ask (or try to since I speak no Spanish) and everyone says that the albergues are closed for the season.  I don’t know what to do.  I go back to these monks I had talked to before for help.  They called down a brother who spoke some English who helped me.  I was feeling extremely discouraged at this point, almost on the brink of tears thinking what am I doing travelling by myself without a plan in a country where I don’t know the language.  Anyways he tells me I could take a bus back to Leon since I know a hostel is open there and even offers to give me money for the bus.  I ask about hotels and he walks me (that’s right walks me) to the cheap one.  I was a little concerned but it was clean, smelled like smoke though. 

So what did I learn from all this?  Gratitude.  See the whole time I was wandering around I kept blaming God (because of course it’s His fault...) for not providing for me.  Then later that evening and the next day I realized that God had provided for me.  I was the one who wasn’t prepared for hostels being closed because it was the end of the season.  God provided an English speaking monk for me and a cheap hotel.  I had so much to be thankful for.  Furthermore, although the hotel room smelled like smoke, I don’t have allergies related to smoke, so yet another thing to be thankful for. 

Anyways so when I got into my hotel room I decided that I was going to plan out this trip right now and call ahead to these hostels to see if they’re open.  I sit down to start planning and realize that I don’t speak Spanish so I can’t call ahead and plan all this, what a blessing that turned out to be. 

October 29

                I walked a lot this day.  In general I would start walking around 7:40am and then finish between 4:30-6pm each day, of course taking a break for lunch and such. 

                I started learning patience today, just a little since I struggled with this throughout the Camino.  It’s hard you walk all day and sometimes you just want to be done with it.  It’s like this battle between wanting to walk because you have nothing else to do and would be bored if you didn’t and this desire to move onto the next thing.  I think this can be applied to our lives.  Sometimes we fear being still and not having anything to do because we could be bored or lonely.  We fill our lives up so much and are constantly going from one thing to the next sometimes without really living, without really being present.  What we need to ask ourselves is where are we going?  And why are we in such a rush to get there?  Like on the camino all you do is walk, and you don’t really get anywhere.  Sure, you get closer to Santiago but really if you just wanted to go to Santiago you wouldn’t walk there, you could fly, take a bus, etc.   Where you get (often) is some random little town that basically is made up of one of two albergues.  So why in such a rush to get there?  I find that I’m impatient with life too always looking to the next thing and what I need to realize is that life is all about the journey, not about the next place we’re getting too, because then when I’m there I’ll be thinking about the next thing still.  I think that’s what this time in France is for too, to learn to be, to not worry about the future, to have patience with the present, and just live because I don’t know what the next thing will be.

                I met a German girl at the hostel I stayed at and we made supper together.  It was a parish hostel with one space heater for two dorm rooms and a commons area, it was cold.  You also kind of wonder how often they change the sheets between pilgrims, some places give you sheets and some give you disposable ones, but still if you do the camino you need to bring your own sleeping bag.

October 30

                Today I felt like I had bruised the top of my foot, I had been tying my shoes tightly to avoid blisters, maybe too tightly. 

                In the morning I walked by this heart made of stones with a ten euro bill inside.  Then up at the top of this hill is a man who offers you free food and drinks.  I found out later from other pilgrims that this guy had put the 10 euro bill there.  It was there for at least an evening and morning before anyone took it, so many people passed it by because we realized that somebody else could use it more than us.  I don’t think you’d see that on a city street.  It was an interesting idea anyways...

                I walked through Astorga and was surprised how the noise of the city shocked me.  Most of the churches that I passed on pilgrimage were closed.  In Astorga I walked in at the end of Mass and was just really grateful to spend a few moments with Christ.  On my way leaving Astorga I started to cry, I couldn’t help it (I cried a lot on this pilgrimage, it was just really tough physically, emotionally, spiritually, mentally) I just really missed Christ and being with Him and receiving Him.  Here in Rodez I am able to attend daily Mass and the churches and chapels are open for me to go in and pray and then there’s adoration on Saturdays and Sundays.  So I’m learning to be grateful for the Eucharist (more on this later...)

                Today again I had to learn patience.  I also reflected on how I try to grasp at things.  So for instance, I was trying so hard to enjoy the present, so really just live and enjoy the scenery, but I was grasping at the present.  I wanted to keep this present forever, to remember this scenery by taking pictures (so really I was already thinking about the future and wanting to remember this present), and really I can’t do hold onto the present, everything passes.  (Reminds me of Ecclesiastes: for everything there is a season and a time under heaven; and of course: all is vanity and a chasing after wind).  Really trying to grasp at the present is like chasing after the wind, because it’s impossible, the more we try to grasp the more we fail at experiencing the present.  We have to just receive. 

                At the end of the day before entering the town where I was staying, I just sat and gazed out over the mountains and had a little talk with God.

October 31

                Today I walked through the mountains, it was beautiful!  I would stop and look around but then it was chilly so I’d have to move on.  The mist on the mountains made it a very mystical experience (hehe).  Anyways that night the hostel I stayed at was much fuller and I met a bunch of other pilgrims and ate with them.  It’s interesting the inclusive community like feeling amongst pilgrims.  The conversation alternated between English and French so I was glad I could speak both.  That night this guy from Hungary offered me vitamins since he could tell I was getting a cold.  I really saw Christ working through him to take care of me. 

November 1

                Today was the day that I walked way too much, I think 36 km or something and my body wasn’t used to walking that much yet.  My feet didn’t like me very much.  Part of the walking this much is due to my stubbornness.  See I took the wrong way and I could’ve ended up in the same place but I decided to turn back and find the correct camino path.  I think I realized sometimes it’s worth turning back and it’s a good thing to do (even in life) and sometimes you just need to keep going- this was a time I should’ve just kept going. 

                I walked through vineyards today.  It rained on and off and I felt like I didn’t take any breaks and couldn’t be still.  I felt homeless in a way just wandering and having to keep going.  I reflected on the verse, “Foxes have holes and birds have nests but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head” (sorry these verses aren’t cited or word for word... I guess I could look them up).  I think it opened me to feel a bit how Jesus felt and also how a missionary would feel.  Like St. James for instance being so far from home trying to proclaim the Gospel to people who he probably had a hard time communicating with.  I also thought about St. Francis Xavier and his missionary work. 

                Today again I felt like it was really hard to connect with God which was frustrating because I have all day to pray.  I found I missed Him but couldn’t seem to focus on prayer. 

                This night I stayed at an albergue with no heat, but I was just so grateful I didn’t have to walk any further.  Makes you realize all the things you can do without and also grateful for all the things you usually have.

                I also started to realize how this pilgrimage was opening me up to other people.  I mean you’re sleeping, etc. in close proximity with complete strangers.  We’re all dirty and smelly.  I guess I feel like I so often have fear towards unknown people or avoid people because they seem “dirty” but then when you’re that person you kind of realize how we’re all human.

November 2

                Today it also rained off and on (like most days) but I found that I became detached to the weather.  At first I was praying that it wouldn’t rain on my pilgrimage but then I realized it has to rain on someone’s pilgrimage since people are doing this all year.  Rain makes things green.  Also, rain or shine I was going to walk. 

                Today I had an easier time reflecting, how we’re all just passing in this world, people come into our lives and leave, we aren’t of this world.  Like people on the Camino you meet them and then maybe you’ll see them again, maybe you won’t and that’s ok.

 I also started missing my own space.  Even though I was alone all day it’s not like I had my own space to be, if that makes sense.  I thought about how many people live in crowded conditions throughout the world, in really bad conditions and just how blessed I am. 

                All the churches I went to today were open which was a nice change. 

                Also this was the night I had an amazing supper.  In general I paid 9 euros or less for soup or salad, main course, dessert, and wine.  This night, at this hostel, for 7 euros, we had: soup, salad, pasta dish, and dessert.  It was really good.

November 3

                Today was the day that it rained hard the whole day.  I walked 30 km but it was a lot of up and down.  I stopped once for a sandwich and then I think I walked 5.5 hours straight because if I stopped I’d get cold since I was wet.  I was able to have a really good meditation today though, I think because I couldn’t see anything around me, there were no distractions.  I wasn’t trying to take in the scenery and remember it.  It was foggy.  I compared it to the storms in our own lives how we often can’t see past them to the bigger picture and just need to take one step at a time following the yellow arrows (or in life- God’s will).  I also was able to praise God despite the rain from the very beginning of the morning which was such a gift since usually I would be complaining to God.   

                The landscape reminded me of Ireland (well what I think Ireland is like since I’ve never been there)- green hills with fog and rain. 

                I also thought about how we constrain ourselves so much with time.  Life is so different on the Camino, most people don’t have a time limit, they just go with however long it takes.  Some people just walk and when they feel tired look for a place to sleep.  The German girl I met was interesting she pointed out that some people do plan or want to do more kilometres, but then there’s injuries (or in her case her bike needed repairs) and so you just have to adjust.

November 4

                Today was Sunday and it was a day of rest.  I only walked 19 km because I wanted to stay in this town since they had evening Mass, this was the first time since Leon that I was able to attend Mass.  Attending Mass here was awesome.  Walking towards the church I found myself begging God for it to be open and for there to be Mass (it said there would be, but in other places it had said that too and there wasn’t ) actually throughout the week I had been praying that God would provide me with a place to attend Mass on Sunday. 

                I think at this Mass I began to realize why the Eucharist is translated “Thanksgiving”.  It’s just such a gift and all I could do was thank God.  I felt God say that now I have received Him and so even though I’m not able to spend time with Him in Adoration or in the Tabernacle, I am now His tabernacle, which is pretty amazing.  This means that the Church is His tabernacle- a good reminder of how to treat others.

November 5

                 I think my last line above is funny because of what happened this morning.  I stopped by this little shop to buy a pastry since I didn’t have enough food with me for breakfast.  This guy starts chatting with me which is fine, but I wanted to get a move on and he kept asking me questions which in my opinion were “rude” like what I do, that’s ok, but how much money I make, how much is my rent, I could be making more in Spain, what’s your e-mail, do you have a camera, I’ll take your picture in my store.  I found I got really upset at all this.  Finally I was just like I have to go.  It took me a while to forgive him (yes I had to forgive him since I had taken offense) and to get back to my peaceful contemplation. 

                My prayer today was hard too (it was hard a lot of the time actually) I was so distracted and you’d think that with all day to let my mind wander I could focus for half an hour, but I think it can help me learn humility and patience with myself.  Humility to recognize that I can’t even pray by myself, I need God to pray through me.  I also tried to listen to God and then I realized maybe I’m just trying too hard and just need to be and if He speaks He speaks.

                Now for a funny incident, I’m a city girl.  So today I was walking along this skinny path and all of a sudden there’s 5 big cows coming towards me on the same path, now you all probably know just how much I love animals.  I was scared they would step on my feet and that would hurt, I didn’t know what to do so I tried to just get off the path as much as possible and wait for them to pass, it seemed like a long time :P  Yeah I passed through many small little farming communities with cows, sheep and chickens everywhere.

November 6

                This day was interesting because of the people I met.  I walked with this girl from San Francisco, she got a BA and is a producer for a video games company... yeah so next time someone asks me what am I going to do with my BA I can say well I have many options, such as... :P

                Also at the hostel I stayed there was this Korean travelling school staying there too.  Yeah, so one of the girls wanted to interview me, which in the end resulted in me asking her more questions.  So basically it’s a school of 22 students ages 12-17 with 4 teachers and they travel for 10 months.  Part of their travelling is doing some of the Camino... how cool is that?  And you just think that you learn so much travelling. 

                In the dining room that night this Belgium guy also played the guitar and sang some songs- it was really cool to see how music unites with everyone singing along.

November 7

                Today I got to the town I was going to stay at and there was no restaurant or place to buy food so I just continued onto the next town which turned out to be a blessing since I was able to attend Mass (In Italian).  On the way to Mass it was raining but there was this beautiful sunset on my right hand side which created a full rainbow on my left hand side, so amazing.

                I found today I was way too much in my head so to get out I listened to some Matt Maher and chilled under a tree listening to some music for awhile.

November 8

                The last day of walking!  I arrived in Santiago early afternoon and found an albergue to stay in and then headed to the Cathedral.  I found the Adoration chapel quickly and entered and prayed and cried, just thanking God over and over.  I felt like I had finally come home. 

                I also was able to go to Confession today, so I was asking around for a priest who knew English or French so the one priest tells me to go to this guy.  So what he meant by he knows French is that he had an examination of conscience in French and Spanish and I pointed to my sins and then he absolved me.  It was interesting...

                After Mass in the evening it was pouring rain out and I wasn’t quite sure which way to my hostel, but I found this lovely couple who guided me onto the road I needed to be on.  Once again people are just great.

November 9

                What I realized today is that it doesn’t matter how beautiful a church is.  Beautiful churches can help us enter into prayer.  However, what matters most is that Christ is present, if He isn’t there it doesn’t matter how beautiful the building is because Christ is more beautiful than anything.  I thought of the verse (I actually looked this one up), “he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.” (Isaiah 53. 2) and how that is like the Eucharist, the host really isn’t anything to look at and yet after the consecration and it becomes the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ, it’s just so beautiful.  I also was thinking about how Christ comes to us so humbly in the form of bread (yet how necessary bread is for our sustenance) and I wonder if we still have a hard time accepting such a humble God.  In this Cathedral the altar is all gold and the statue of St. James is all gold and then at the top (I think) it’s St. James again with a sword on a horse.  I wonder if we still want God to be this warrior king coming and forcefully changing the world into what we think it should be.  God seems to work more subtly (sometimes not) and He brings the world to salvation.

                I attended the pilgrim Mass (first pew J) and they used the giant incenser before the final blessing which was pretty cool.  Eight men control it and it swings all the way up and down while the organ booms, it was awesome.  You can probably youtube videos of it.  I didn’t try and take any pictures. 

                It was cool meeting up in Santiago with all these pilgrims I had met along the way.  That night I had supper with the German girl and she said something interesting, “Tourists come and see the Cathedral, take their pictures and they’re done.  Pilgrims come and get wide eyed and then they sit down in the square for an hour and just look.”  Maybe that’s because pilgrims have learned “to be.”  We had supper together and then went and looked at the cathedral all lit up at night.  We just sat there without speaking.

                One last thing, I think John Paul II visited St. James’ tomb on November 9, 1982.  I visited St. James’ tomb on November 9^th 20 years later.  I felt pretty connected with the saints.    

                And that was my pilgrimage.  It was tough, but I’m so glad I did it.  I would say you need at least 2 weeks to do the Camino because it takes a while to get into it.

Preparations

I figured that I'd write a post before I head out tonight to begin the Camino de Santiago de Compostela.  I will be starting in Leon, Spain and going all the way to Santiago, about 312 km I believe.  I'm pretty excited for this, I just finished packing my bag and I still think it's too heavy and full, but I'm not sure what else I can leave behind.  Maybe on the way I'll be able to get rid of things :P  My goal is to not take anything for "just in case."  It's also sort of interesting since my attitude towards this "trip" is very different.  Usually when I travel for two weeks I would bring a lot thinking, I'm going for two weeks that's quite a while so I might need this and this, or this might come in handy.  However, this time my attitude is, "I'm only going for two weeks, I can do without this, and this, etc. and if I do happen to need something I'll get it on the way."  This "trip" (trip in quotation marks as it is really a pilgrimage) is also different because of how little preparation I did for it.  Really I feel completely clueless about what I'm about to embark on and at the same time I really don't know how to prepare myself more.  Usually when you're going somewhere you know where you're going to sleep, where you're going to be when, etc.  For this I have a guide book that I'll read on the way there and along the way that has some maps (it claims all the ones that I need) and I don't know where I'll stop when because I'll just have to see how I'm feeling day by day and if I want to keep walking or not.  I think this will be a great growing experience in terms of flexibility.  It's also very different because it's the first time I've traveled alone.  So, I hope it all works out and that it doesn't rain too much.

This past week of work went well.  The more I work the more I feel like I'm getting better at this whole teaching English thing, although I'm still having a hard time adjusting between different classes and remembering the level of the students in each class.  I've definitely rediscovered my love for children.  It's just great how they come up to you and tell you random things about their lives and ask you about yourself and to top it off they're adorable.  I think that after the break I am going to start some volunteering or something, because I really don't work very much and feel like having a little less free time would actually help me spend my time better.  (I have already gotten involved in youth group activities.)

I'm sure I mentioned in previous posts that I joined ultimate frisbee here, but what I haven't mentioned is that I decided to play "competitively" here.  (It's like the least good rank of the competitive part.  Great sentence eh?)  So it's two weekends, but I think it'll be good and hopefully help me get to know some people better.

Also this past Wednesday my roommates and I had to go to Toulouse for our medical appointments so that we can legally reside in France for the duration of our visas.  So basically all it involves is getting an x-ray of your lungs to make sure that you don't have TB (although really you'd think you would have to do this beforehand since we'd all been in France a month already).  We got to keep our x-rays so I shall hang mine up on my wall if I find something to hang it with.  A plus for me is that I got the doctor to write me a medical certificate so I can play frisbee (yeah, you have to go to the doctor here to be able to play sports competitively and get a note saying that you can), he was just being super nice since that really isn't what he's supposed to do there.  It's good for me since it saved me the hassle of going to a doctor, paying for it, submitting the payment to get part of it reimbursed.  This medical thing was quite fun too since there was a bunch of assistant(e)s from all over with the same appointment time so while we waited we got to chat.  It's kind of cool how there's so much switching between languages it seems like everyone speaks English, French, and Spanish.  Then I did get to see a bit of Toulouse, but I am glad that I'll get to go back since I didn't feel like I got to really see very much or spend time in any place.

 Lastly, a note on cheese: the French seem to be very much about bread, cheese, and wine.  So I've been trying different kinds of cheeses, and last week at market I bought some which I thought was mild-ish tasting (have to start small).  I brought it home and decided that it tastes like mold :).  Yeah, I think I still need to get used to the gastronomy here.

Well thanks to everyone reading this!  God bless you all and please do keep me in your prayers as I start this pilgrimage.

Teaching English

Well as my roommate pointed out to me today, only 6 more months :P

I guess I'll start with school.  It's been going well... it's challenging.  So we had our formation day this past Tuesday, a week and a half after we had started and I think there were pros and cons to having it then.  Pros: we got to tell the lady in charge all the problems we're having so she can try and fix them.  Cons: we didn't know what we were doing for the week and a half before (and as it turns out for me, I was doing a lot wrong).  (For example showing up at a school with nothing prepared and the teacher saying here's the class, 45 minutes lesson go.)  It was a really helpful day and I feel like I'm starting to get the hang of this whole teaching English thing.  Starting that is...  In general, I really enjoy the kids, but it's so hard to know the level of the students.  Some look completely bored out of their minds and some have no idea what's going on.  I think part of this might be that there's almost always two grades in the same class.  So today for example the first school I went to was great.  The first teacher plans everything and then I take everything she does and use it in other classes :)  My second class at that school I really like, they're older and it's a small group so you can get them talking more without chaos erupting, I have to plan for that class, but the principal gives me materials and offers to help prepare things.  Then I have a bunch of young kids and I use what the first teacher did.  I'm finding I have to improvise a lot since sometimes it takes the whole 45 minutes to do what I planned on doing in 10 and sometimes what I thought would take longer doesn't and I have to come up with something else.  I think I have a lot of growing to do in giving directions too...

Anyways I'll skip the second school I was at today to move onto the third.  Basically my lesson was on the four seasons, which I had already introduced to them last week.  So after 45 minutes of trying in different ways to get them to know the seasons, they didn't.  In fact I'm not convinced anyone in the class did, except for maybe the Portuguese student who's just learning French too hehe oh dear.  It's tough too because I'm only supposed to speak in English and not to translate what I'm saying.  So I try... and very rarely succeed.  I mean when no one's listening to you or paying attention, it's much easier to speak the language they understand.

So to sum up, it's good, I like all the spare time I have, that's for sure, and really basically I get to play games with kids for my job 12 hours a week.

In other news, I went to the laundromat.  Yes, I'm sure that all of you reading this are very interested in my laundry situation :P  IT'S RIDICULOUSLY EXPENSIVE!  It was interesting since, believe it or not, I've never had to do laundry in a laundromat.  Luckily there was a guy there who I asked for help.  So I thought that I would dry my clothes since I thought if I'm spending all this money washing these clothes I want them to dry and not smell.  Well I don't know how long you had to put them in for, but in the end I carried my just-as-wet clothes home and hung them to dry, but the drying situation is going better this time since I hung them in the hallway.

To finish up, I will be doing the Camino from Leon to Santiago de Compostella starting next Sunday for "les vacances de Toussaint" (I have two weeks off).  I'm pretty excited for it.  So if you're reading this, say a prayer for me during that time.

Our Lady

I thought I'd share a bit about how Our Lady has, as always, been taking care of me.  So, the cathedral here is called Notre Dame de l'Assomption which translates Our Lady of the Assumption.  I was born on the feast day of Our Lady of the Assumption and have been blessed with a strong devotion to her since I was little.  So when I found out the name of the cathedral, I was filled with joy and just remembered once again how Our Mother continually cares for us and watches over us.

Then, when I was visiting the Franciscan sisters on Wednesday (there's so many religious communities here, it's great) one of the sisters showed me the chapel.  When we were in the chapel she turned to me and asked if I'd like to consecrate my stay in Rodez to Our Lady and so I agreed and we prayed together.  It was really simple just a Hail Mary with a bit about me being in France, but I felt so blessed.  It was such a special moment.  Once again Mary showed up in my life this time through a sister.

Simon says...

Well I think I was rather confused about what my responsibilities as an assistante are.  So today I went to this school and the first teacher had it all organized what we were going to do that day, which was great and then I just did it.  This teacher has also been great since she actually let me observe her class the first time I was there.  We made name tags and I went around and got kids to introduce themselves to me in English then we had a puppet named Simon and we played Simon says.  It was great, these kids were young, like 6 and 7 I think so I taught them a few things in English and stuck with those.

The next class I went into the teacher had nothing prepared so I did exactly the same thing as with the previous class, except made Simon says slightly harder and again the same thing in the next class.  This afternoon at a different school, do you know what I did?  That's right made name tags and played Simon says.  It's a great game appropriate for any age group and some of these kids are really good I just couldn't seem to stump them.  This next school I'm going to I'm thinking the teacher will have something for me, or I hope.  Playing Simon says with 4 different classes gets tiring.  In future, I guess I'll prepare something.  Not sure what level these kids are at or what the objectives I'm supposed to teach are, but I really don't mind just making up lessons of what I think I should teach.

I've also been teaching my students the song- I'm a Little Teapot... so at this point about 70 French children are being introduced to this gem of Canadian culture :P  I have no idea if it's even Canadian or where it's from, but it's proved to be a good filler when I'm not sure what else to do.

Other than that I've decided to bite the bullet (is that the right expression) and go to a laundromat to wash my clothes.  It's ridiculously expensive (3.60 euros a load, that doesn't include drying) so I decided to hand wash some clothes.  So I did and then hung them to dry in my room, turns out my room has very poor ventilation.  Four days later the clothes were finally dry, but everything smells like dirty socks, including my room.  Well it was a good learning experience.

My Saturday Adventure and Others

Saturday I had the excellent idea of exploring outside of Rodez a bit.  From a viewpoint in Rodez I had seen the fortified church of Ste. Radegonde and decided to walk there.  So I packed a lunch and set out.  First I found this beautiful park in Rodez along a river.  It made me so happy since one thing I was worried about was being in this town with no open nature area.  Then I set out to this town.  For future adventures, I will google directions before I set out because as it turned out I got lost.  Not very lost, I just went the wrong way for about 20 minutes, but when you're walking that seems like a long time.  In the end, I found Ste. Radegonde and checked out this little church.  I guess the fortified part has 40 rooms and they had provisions so that if the town was attacked everyone could take shelter in the Church, so it was pretty cool.  Plus I learned about Ste. Radegonde whom I had never heard about before.  At the beginning of this walk I was planning on checking out some other places, but I ended up being tired and just going straight home.

I've also been in all my schools now.  I think this experience is re-confirming to me that I should not be a teacher :P  I am enjoying myself here though.  In fact, I already think that I will miss being here when I leave.  I'm just really enjoying being able to attend daily Mass and having so much time to pray and reflect.  Also when I run into someone I can talk to them for however long because I just have that much time.  Like today I went to the Carmel and ended up talking to the lady who receives people there for an hour and it was great.  So I think I'm learning to just be and enjoy.

In other news, the weather here has been fabulous.  Today it was 20 and sunny.  I heard that it's been cold and snowy in some places there.

Until next time!

My First Week in France

Well where to start.  I guess one of the first amusing things that happened to me was having to read at Church last Saturday.  I was sitting in a pew praying my Rosary and a man comes up and asks if I want to do collection, I explain that it's my first time here so no.  Later on he comes up to me again and asks me to read.  Since I've done much more reading in Church before I felt more comfortable and agreed to do it.  I guess Father had a bit of a start when he heard me read hehe apparently I don't quite have a French accent :P.  It was great though.  I wasn't expecting to get involved in the parish the second day of being in France, so I felt like it was a great blessing.  That also seemed to open the door to meeting other people so that after Mass I met Father and some of the other parishioners more involved in the ministries.  One of the ladies I met that night showed me around Rodez on Sunday and took me out to her country home.

The Church here seems great.  There's so many beautiful churches and although for the most part the priests are older there's seven of them here in Rodez and two of them are younger.  I've had the opportunity to attend daily Mass everyday since being here, since there's 3 different times to go and I've heard that the Franciscan sisters have yet another time.  I'm currently working on getting involved in a Catholic community.  I've met some of the younger group 15-17 year olds, but I have a lead on an older group.

Where I live (one of the lycees) is really conveniently located really close to Old Rodez and easy to walk pretty much everywhere I've needed/wanted to go so far.  The Lycée in France has students aged 15-22 (although generally just 15-17) and many students live here during the week and go home during the weekend.  So I guess this Lycee is a technical school...  I share an apartment with three other girls.  Two of them are also doing the same program as me.

I started my "job" yesterday.  I will be working in four different elementary schools all within walking distance, the furthest schools are probably a 15-20 minute walk.  I think I will learn a lot about teaching a second language.  I'm not used to being around kids who don't know English.

I'm really enjoying life here.  The weather has been beautiful.  I am currently sitting in the kitchen with the windows wide open and the sun streaming in (I heard Calgary already got some snow).  The nights are cold though and I guess they'll only turn on the heat once it gets cold for a while.  One of my roommates and I went to get extra blankets from the "lingerie."  The ladies there laughed at us for already thinking it was cold. Now with four wool blankets I'm quite comfortable at night though.  

Well that is enough from me for today.

The Trip and How Nothing Went as Planned

My trip began by leaving my home at 7am on Wednesday morning.  Mom dropped me off at the airport in Edmonton and I flew to Calgary where I had a nine hour lay over, yeah it was long, but it was good since I got to have lunch with Allie and hang out with Adam.  Then the adventure began, the flight from Calgary to London was delayed three hours in Calgary.  We were all boarded and then they saw that a panel was missing from the plane so they had to call London to see if they could fly without it, long story short they couldn't so it took more time attaching a different panel on.  

Finally got to London and had a four hour lay over there where I was trying to contact the lady in France to tell her I had been delayed and couldn't get a hold of her.  In future it's a good idea to look up how to call foreign numbers before you get to the place and don't have internet access...

I got to Toulouse at eleven at night and tried sleeping in the airport since I figured I might as well since it was only 8 hours until my train was leaving.  A guy cleaning floors came and asked me if I was staying all night and showed me better place to sleep, which I thought was very kind.  You know a couple years back I would've felt very uncomfortable doing this, but now I was totally fine.

At like 4 in the morning I was done with trying to sleep (turns out that although luggage full of clothes looks like it would make a fine bed, it really doesn't) so I decided to figure out how the shuttle to the train station worked.  It said that it only started at 7:30am which was frustrating since I thought it started at 5 and at this point I had barely slept two nights in a row and was done with travelling.  So I decided to call a taxi, while trying to do this I talked to a lady who offered to drive me, which was very kind.  However, on our way out we ended up passing the shuttle and I was the only one on it.  The bus driver was very kind and we chatted all the way to the station.

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I caught the 6:18 train and the lady let me use my ticket from the day before with no extra charge, also very nice.  When I finally got to Rodez it was 8:30 am on Friday.  So in total I think I was travelling for 41-42 hours.

But it all worked out and I feel more confident in my travelling abilities :)