Je suis arrivée!

:)  Well, here I am! You have before you my first official blog post from France. Thank you, everyone, for your encouraging notes, letters, and prayers! I feel so loved, and I hope you know that you are loved as well.

My little desk is situated next to the window in my room, which takes up most of the wall, so I can sit here as long as I want, watching tiny European cars whizzing down the street and French people ambling purposefully down the sidewalk - some singing, some with little ones in tow. It’s a charming downtown neighborhood (as much as anything can be charming when the sky is so gray), and it’s still difficult for me to believe that I’m actually living in it after having dreamed, imagined, and planned for so long.

I'm not suffering from culture shock as much as I thought I would. I suppose the time I spent in Québec last summer helped me learn how to acclimate quickly.  There are still many odd culture quirks that I notice, and I'm sure I will continue to notice, but I don't feel as though I'm drowning this time. Believe me, it’s not a feeling I miss. I was rather exhausted by the end of my travels, though, since I was only able to sleep for a total of about 3 hours on the plane.  Both flights went smoothly, with no major turbulence or problems at the airports. My luggage was even waiting for me as soon as I walked into the terminal. I must say, though, that I was a bit like a kid in a candy store on that plane. I've never been in a plane so big that I couldn’t see the front from my seat.  They even had TV screens on the wall that showed a map and a tiny plane icon that moved across the globe to show where we were, and how fast we were going, and how far we still had to go, and how cold it was outside the plane.  Kendra and I were so excited about the plane food, which was so-so, but we were quite enthralled with the rolls that came in sealed plastic.  :P  I felt really odd being one of the few passengers who wasn't asleep, because whenever I walked back to the lavatory, everyone was sprawled out on the seats like they knew what they were doing.  I also had to go to the bathroom after the captain had turned the seatbelt light on again (I think he was a little trigger-happy), so the 'return to your seat' sign was lit up in the lavatory, and it started making that annoyingly nice "ding" to let me know as much.  Unfortunately, it's kind of hard to return to your seat when you're still using the toilet.  I was sure that at any moment the flight attendant was going to knock on the door and kick me out or something. :P  Anyway, the movies weren’t anything special, so I just wrote in my journal, looked at the stars, and watched the sunrise when we got closer to Paris.  Seeing the breaking of the dawn from the plane was one of the most breath-takingly beautiful things I've ever seen.  The colors were so rich! When the sky started to show signs of light, I was listening to Chris Rice on my iPod. ( I find it funny how many moments in my life have an analogous Chris Rice song.) Anyway, his song "Sleepyhead Sun" came on. Look it up -- you'll see why it was really special to me.  My personal opinion is that Abba was just giving me a token of his affection. :) He knew I’d been struggling with the fact that I was feeling as though I had lost lot of the awe and wonder in life.

We did eventually arrive in Paris, although it took forever for the plane to park and for us to get off the plane and be bussed to the terminal.  They didn't make a fuss over the passport screening at all, so Kendra and were quickly off to find an ATM and the train station (which was conveniently placed at the opposite end of the airport).  :P  I finally found a place to buy a calling card so I could notify my hostess that I had arrived and which train I would be taking. Unfortunately, she didn't answer either of her phone numbers.  Kendra's hostess did, though, so we waited until the marquis displayed the platform for our train (they aren’t displayed until 20 minutes before departure) and discovered that it was below us, and the only way down was an escalator. Now, you probably haven’t seen my suitcases, but you can probably imagine that the two of them are rather bulky and a bit heavy (but NOT over the airline’s 50lb weight limit, I might add). With that in mind, you can probably also understand my great trepidation at taking those by hand down an escalator. I thought I was surely going to plunge to my death, and death by escalator was not what I had in mind after having come so far with no problems.  Anyway, I managed to perform some amazing feats of balance and strength to keep myself from tumbling down the stairs, and we hopped on the train ... well, I say "hopped" but it was more like a wrestling match with those suitcases.  TGV doors are narrow. A couple of guys helped me with mine, but no one offered to help me stack them in the baggage area, which was about as large as telephone booth. No one bothered to let us know that there were more storage areas throughout the train. Oh well.  After I found a seat, I pretty much just collapsed...and it was all I could do to try to keep my eyes open for the train ride.  I nodded off about 8 times and had to summon all the willpower I could to stay awake.  (Kendra wasn't there for me to talk to because her ticket put her in a different car.)  I enjoyed talking to the train ticket checker guy, though - a really sweet older gentleman.  He told me I had a lovely accent and that I didn't need to change a thing.  (So, evidently my accent is cute - that's great, but I'd really like to be able to say the right words with it.  lol)  That will come with time, though, and I'm actually understanding a good deal more than I thought I would. I’m not even feeling guilty for not being perfectly fluent (I did that last time, too). It's not nearly as difficult to speak as it used to be, so I think I'll start making some good progress fairly quickly.

Anyway, Kendra's hostess met her at the train station, but mine didn't.  Mme. Thomas was very hospitable and called Mme. Ramakers with her phone, and then she stayed with us both until Mme. Ramakers came for me.  Turns out she got the dates mixed up and thought I was coming two days later.  It wasn't a problem though, and she took me home and introduced me to her two dogs: Trobinette the Jack Russell terrier and Chaussette the Bichon-Maltese.  I've really hit it off with Trobinette.  :)  Jacqueline, my hostess, is 70 and doesn't have any other family.  Her husband and son have both passed away, and from what I can tell, it is still extremely difficult for her to talk about it.  She didn't even say the word "dead" when she mentioned her son; she wrote it down.  I think her son died when he was about my age, because I haven't seen any pictures of him when he was older than late teens/early twenties.  She was born in Angers, and has lived here all of her life. She is also devoutly Catholic, so her baptism, communion, and marriage have all taken place at L’Eglise de St-Serge.  As she started talking about everything she does in the church and the community, I realized that she is probably one of the most involved Catholics I've ever met. Jacqueline takes care of decorating the church and preparing for services and taking communion to the elderly shut-ins on Sundays after mass.  She's very nice and a bit like a grandmother, if a bit more disciplined of a woman than I'm accustomed to meeting.  For example, she has a list of rules posted to my room walls, which intimidated me at first.  It goes something like this, if paraphrased:

- An evaluation of your room will be done when you arrive and when you leave.
- You will vacuum and clean your room once a week.
- You can take your shower in the evening and for a maximum of 10 minutes
- You must warn one day in advance if you’re going to be gone.
- You cannot do laundry in the room or the house. There are laundries nearby.
- No university boyfriends in the house.
- No smoking.
- If requested, dinner price is 6 euros and at 8pm, and breakfast costs 2 euros.
- Do not leave any hair in the sink.
- I wish you a pleasant stay.

A lot of it is common courtesy, but there were a few things that caught me off guard.  I wasn't expecting the extra dinner charges or the need to go to a laundry-mat, but those are just things to adjust to.  It could be an adventure.  In any case, it will be interesting to try the lifestyle of another culture.  That's a main reason for me being here. :)  One exciting benefit that I wasn’t expecting is that I do have access to my own kitchen, with a fridge, range, oven, sink, and a little table with a couple of chairs.  The shower is right next to the kitchen, and it's tiny, but at least it warms up quickly.  That part of the house is not heated, and right now it's rather cold, of course.  So...going to the bathroom is rather......chilly, shall we say.  :P  Maybe I'll have time to post some pictures, or maybe a video, of my living arrangements later.  I'd like to liven it up a bit over the course of my stay, but for the most party, it’s perfectly agreeable.  The coverlet on the bed is SO soft and warm.  I didn't think it would be warm enough with one blanket, but gosh, it's toasty.  And I have an armoire to myself...which I've always wanted in my room.  :)  

Now, as for Jacqueline...I'm kind of in that awkward stage, still.  I'm not sure how to read her yet, and of course, with the language barrier crumbling but still high in some places, it's difficult. After observing and thinking for a couple of days, I've come to the conclusion that she's probably really lonely, so I hope that I can be a little bit of sunshine in her life. Eventually, I hope I can be more than just a girl who rents out her extra room downstairs.  For now, I'm trying my best to be a good guest and follow all the etiquette rules I can think of, but I'm still so afraid of tripping up and making her think I'm some kind of ungrateful, impolite American.  She's been very accomodating so far, letting me use her phone and feeding me my first meals here: dinner, breakfast and lunch.  She also took me to the supermarket last night, so I was able to purchase some groceries. I’m glad I’ve had practice with making up an impromptu menu!  I’m also glad that the supermarket is kind of like Kroger and Wal-Mart all in one, but on steroids. I've never seen three whole aisles of yogurt, or plastic bottles of unrefrigerated milk. I was able to find a good ol' hair straightener, too, which I needed desperately. I hate to sound like the kind of girl who can’t live without her beauty appliances, but I honestly tried to make do with a blow dryer the night I arrived and it looked frightful when I woke up in the morning.  :P Fortunately, the French women here don't seem to put a lot of effort into their hair.  Clothes, yes -- hair and makeup, not so much.  At least from what I've seen so far.

By the way, the food here is, indeed, amazing. I was invited to eat a casual but typical French lunch upstairs with Jacqueline and her friend, which consisted of an apératif, bread, chicken and pasta, cheeses and more bread, and then a dessert of raspberry filled custard-like pastries that her friend brought with some frozen nougat. I’ve never seen frozen nougat before, but this one was like a block of nutty, creamy ice cream with a stripe of raspberry sorbet in the middle. The whole thing was beautiful, with nuts and fruits arranged on top as a garnish. People don’t pull that kind of thing out in America unless you’re at a fancy restaurant, and this was just a basic lunch shared with a friend in a tiny kitchen. Crazy!

Well, I think I’m going to get out of my pajamas and start checking off other things on my list. I’m glad I arrived a little early so I could settle in before diving headlong into university life. Kendra and I don't have reliable communication set up yet, so I’m hoping that we can find a way to meet up and explore a bit today. We should be able to take care of buying SIM cards for our phones and getting bus passes soon. Classes don't start until next week.  Orientation is this Thursday. I have to make some kind of trip to some kind of government office before too long so they can verify that I'm here or something.  It sounds really official.  The paper says something about me being summoned for a medical examination too (which of course, is going to cost ME money).  :P  Anyway, I'll let you know how it goes.  Should be an entertaining story.  ;)

À bientot!

Ps. Take a look at my actual blog page here: http://www.matchlessgrace.blogspot.com. The layout looks really pretty now, if I do say so myself. ;)