Très très en retard, je suis désolée !

This was a blog I meant to post about two months ago. Sorry about the ridiculous delay!

So, life in Paris continues, extraordinarily. I am now in the process of the learning how to play the guitar, I take part in theatre lessons, hip hop dance classes, run by a French girl group who won a national competition proceeding to then be jetted off to Japan to compete in an international hip hop dance competition, yes... that’s how French Bible colleges role! To add to the list, I have singing lessons, theology, bibliology, eglisiology, sport, Music production, yes you read that correctly, and film, as in learning how to direct and produce one! I now am able to mix a record efficiently...well...I say efficiently, we had two days of intense lessons, I don’t know how far that can take me, but as far as I’m concerned I’m already the next Timberland! We have lecturers who come from all over France, I can honestly that I have been so blessed, crazy times are being lived.

I know you are all anxious to hear about other French linguistic errors, and I can happily say that nothing of any significance has occurred, yet, sorry to let you all down ;P! As far as life here is concerned, the time we do get outside of lessons is either spent sleeping, or during the weekend, the girls house usually joins the guys house and we spend the day/evening in Paris. One marked event was when we were by the Eiffel Tower. It was around 10 o’clock. All of a sudden we hear a Christian song being played on a guitar. After a couple of minutes of discussion as to whether we should join the group (you need t realise that finding other Christians in France is a rare occurrence, we’re like a rare ethnic minority, and so when you find others you need to find out where they’re from, their name, in short, their life story). So we decide to sing along with them. After a few insults mixed with cheers from the listening crowd, my friends decide to make me sing Amazing Grace, So thrilled with the adrenaline of singing under the Eiffel tower I launch myself into my rendition of the hymn. All of a sudden a crowd of tourists surround us, and start taking photos, encouraged by the reaction, we start singing Oh happy day, sister Act 2 style. At this point we have around 50-100 people surrounding us, taking photos, and cheering, needless to say it was an incredible night!

les premiers jours!

And so it begins...I set foot in Paris almost two weeks ago and yes, albeit many trials I am still well and able to keep you all up to date on my Parisian escapade. My advice for anyone who is planning to embrace another language in a different country is to NEVER feel comfortable with your grasp of the language in question. My brain has been pummelled from the inside out, soaked in boiling water and finally, it has been fried, just to make sure no part of it is left fresh and unused. Speaking French day and night is mentally exhausting although I have to give myself credit for the first couple of days when vocabulary I didn’t even know existed managed to find itself churning out of my mouth. I arrived in Paris last Monday. After having met my house mates, sorted my stuff etc. We had a welcome meeting in the school I am working/ studying at. This is one of the most limit stretching, thought provoking programmes I have ever taken part in. I found out (among many things) that from January onwards, we will be visiting different churches all over France every weekend, doing performances including mimes, dramas, songs, dances etc. I also found out that PE has been reinstalled in my life...always a plus! Life here is so different to life at uni. We shop as a house, every evening one person cooks for everyone else, we all do the housework together (it’s amazing to live in a clean house, a pointer for future house mates in fourth year ;P), it’s essentially the epitome of a communal life style. Obviously, I have made quite a few errors in conveying what I mean, seeing as French is not my mother tongue. One rather highlighted event was when I was trying to explain that I had a cobra wrapped around my neck when I was in India. However, instead of saying cou, which is the French word for neck... I pronounced the “ou” sound a tad more than I should have, resulting in “cul” which basically means your behind. I essentially told a crowd of French people whom I had only met hours before, that 4 years ago in India I had a snake wrapped around my arse...not the greatest moment of my life!

Other non linguistic highlights have been when we were sent off on our “Sparteam”, which essentially was a day of military camp training. This consisted of a light warm up which included press-ups (I can only do one) sit ups, and other wonderful running trips. We then had to climb over ridiculously high walls, swing across a river by a rope, and finally....La buse! La buse is designed to get you to surpass your limits and your phobias. It’s essentially a tunnel, big enough for a person to get through, but one can only pass through it by lying prostate on the ground, and then dragging themselves by their elbows. There is not enough space for you to sit up, or even crawl. This tunnel also has muddy water running through it, and a fine selection of insects and spiders living within it. Our task was to get the whole team from one end of it, to the other. I have to say, it’s probably the most terrifying thing I have ever done in my life, seeing as I am both arachnophobic and claustrophobic, however, as soon as I was in, I shut my eyes, and started praying. You could see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I didn’t open my eyes, as the light’s proximity was an illusion. The tunnel was much longer than it seemed. However, I survived, apparently gaining a spider web with a massive spider on it along the way, (my new French buddies managed to get it off my head without telling me it was there, Praise God), and despite being shaken up, I was so glad I did it. As they say here... nous sommes ici pour connaitre dieu, et surpasser notre limites! (we’re here to get to know God, and to surpass our limits, be they physical, emotional, psychological etc.)

This week I have had a drama class, guitar lessons, and today we’re scheduled for PE. I will keep you all up to date, but I think it’s safe to say, this is and will be one of the best experiences of my life. I’m anxious to see how things pan out, whether my French will get any better (please God!), how God will work in our lives, what talents we will discover, and what other impossibilities will become possible.

A bien tôt tout le monde! A la prochaine fois !

Bisous xxx

One month, two days, and a few hours to go!

So, I was asked by various people to start a blog about the coming year. I could have spent time e-mailing everyone individually, pouring out my soul into dozens of letters... but as my Italian Grandma says, "Dio vede e provvede", God sees and provides! In this case he enlightened me to the wonders of Blogging.  So, for those of you who love me enough to want to follow my Parisian life, here you have it, "A year in the streets of Paris"...it does sound more romantic in French though!


I'm going to work/study in a christian organisation called CIJEM Force. I recently received an E-mail from them asking me to confirm that I am physically able to take part in Film production, Hip Hop dance lessons, vocal training and other various music related shenanigans. For those of you who know  me will know that at the sight of these, jumping up and down in my seat was well called for! So, hopefully when I return , I shall be fully equipped to start a career in the West end... ahh...il serait la vie!


With that I shall leave you all, and only continue to bombard you with information once I actually set foot in that beautiful country, so au revoir et a bien tôt!


xxx