Photo: "You have to be careful of words"
It's day 5 of our six week sojourn à Paris, and we have lots to be thankful for...Jon likes his French classes, and is doing his homework every night...I have a job starting next week teaching Business English...and we have a little apartment in a nice part of Paris. We're only here for 2 weeks as the tenant is returning to Paris earlier than expected, so we have to move to another place that's closer to Jon's school and the centre of Paris, but probably will be smaller than this place. We've been told that it's not unusual to live in studio apartments that are the size of a hotel room.
We haven't done loads of exploring yet - we've been busy finding our way to school/job interviews and getting over jet lag (still waking up early in the mornings) We've also both felt a little sick this week, which is not surprising given that we spent about 20 hours in a small shared space with 300 people on the way over here. However we did get out to the beautiful parc des Buttes Charmont this afternoon, walking very quickly to warm up in the chilly Paris air. It felt much colder than 15 degrees!
Last night we had our first taste of Parisian neighbourly hospitality. Actually I think this is quite rare, but our apartment building only has 5 tenants, and the guy opposite us met me on the stairwell and invited us to his place for a drink with his friends. We ventured over after dinner (we figured we had no excuse as it wasn't far to go) and were introduced as 'les australiens'. It was a great chance for Jon to practise his French, especially listening skills - not easy when there are loads of people talking at the same time. We chatted with a lady who was really interested in our trip as missionaries to Burkina Faso.
She was surprised that we are 'real' Christians who have a 'real' faith...and this led to me trying to explain in French why we believe in Jesus and why you can't work your way into heaven and what the idea of 'grace' is. It was really hard! And made me realise I need to learn a lot more French vocab to do with Christianity and what I believe in and why I believe it, so I can explain my faith.
We found a reformed evangelical church around the corner from us, and visited there on Sunday. We went to their Easter services and a special 'pre-Good Friday' supper last night (note: blog has been updated since this post was written 2 days ago!) It was lovely to meet some French Christians!
Cathlin
See a couple more of our Paris pics here:
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| à Paris (first week) |
4 comments:
How exciting that you were able to talk about Jesus already!
Sounds like you guys have been working really hard so far. Remember to enjoy yourselves. x
It is so very encouraging that you have been able to speak of your faith (in French) so quickly. Love the images of the cemetery... Oscar Wilde WOW!! The images of the cross is beautiful. Jon back at school???????
Love Pete and Vini
This blog is fantastic. Very glad you made it safely and are settled into the apartment (for the next two weeks at least). Amazing that God gave you that opportunity to speak to the French woman about your faith. Cath, your job sounds great. Jon, it sounds like you're immersed in the language. We are all praying with you.
Back at school today, Pete, after the Easter Weekend...although the 3-hour French church service on Sunday was a language lesson in itself.
Thanks to everyone for their encouraging comments, and congrats to Trish for being the first postee (or is that poster)... Jon.
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