Life Experience

I have titled this post 'Life Experience' as this week has been full of just that. Monday presented a series of challenges to begin with. I won't go into any extreme details - as I would surely bore you, but it went somewhere along the lines of:

MONDAY

7.30  - Leave house for train station
8.30  - Should be getting on train to go to Geneva to go to youth conference with church
9.30  - Still waiting for train
11.30  - Arrival in Geneva, have subsequently missed bus
11.48  - Frantic, expensive phone calls
12. 30  - Awaiting responses from people at youth conference

                                                                  This is me

13. 30 - Apparently I have to go to church in Geneva
13.33 - Try to buy tram ticket but realise I must pay in Swiss francs... I have no Swiss francs....
13.44 - Buy ticket with Swiss francs
14.25 - Arrive at chapel

Wait....wait......wait......wait.....wait.....

Even wearing Swiss colours brought no good luck

16.00 (ish) - Two people show up at church. They're taking me to conference! YAY..... but we still need to wait for another 8 people....

16.30 - They arrive and I try to make friendly conversation with the three girls sitting in the back seat of the car I'm travelling in. They aren't interested in friendly conversation.

17.30 - Arrive at conference.................Finally. And you know, the thing is - conference was only an hour and a half DRIVE away from my house. Monday was an experience. I learnt patience that day, and when I arrived at conference and explained to some people that I was Australian, I got 'Oh! You're the Australian girl who was lost and who missed her train!!!!' I did NOT, NOT, NOT miss my train! I left home an hour before its due departure time EVEN THOUGH I live 10 minutes away from the station because I am a nervous traveller (yes, I get that from my mother and I half believe it to be a positive thing).


Conference itself was ok. I was forced to talk to a lot of people and get out of my comfort zone a little, which was good. It was great, in fact because I met so many different people and had some interesting conversations too. I was lucky to have a fantastic room mate and to meet some really lovely people from church in Lyon too.

Today it rained. It rained a lot. I nipped over to Vieux Lyon (I think I'm in love with this neighbourhood) and then over to the central part of town, then to the mall...then to the station to print some photos (that's where you go, there's a machine) and home again. I was so frustrated by the rain and the storms and having been out for so long and being hungry that arrival home was a relief. Until I got to my bedroom. Being the genius that I am, I hadn't closed the window properly - so you can probably guess the rest. Everything was sopping wet. As I am truly blessed to have a super lovely house mate, Caro helped me mop everything up. So! I went on, preparing everything. I did a lot of washing today (before it rained) and hadn't yet hung it out, so I went to hang it out....and guess what? Again, being insanely intelligent, I had decided to wash my brand new navy blue trousers with all of the white clothing that I own. Result - BLUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. All of my beautiful white shirts are BLUE and my super expensive, super lovely Peter Alexander PJs are ruined. Fantastic. So now, I am literally and emotionally a little blue (but it's all life experience, right?)

I'm excited about finally going home tomorrow. Home in this hemisphere is in Denmark - and it has been far too long since I've been back.

lots of soggy, blue love,

Alice

It's Summer in the City

On Friday morning Chloé and I woke up extremely early to take the train to Toulouse to see our dear friend, Kévin. We had the usual difficulties getting out of bed...which involve Chloé whining for a good 10 minutes and me crawling on all fours towards the kitchen (but this was scheduled into our time frame). Of course we were 10 minutes late... but we made the bus on time. We had no time to buy tickets...which usually wouldn't be a problem, but this time of course we were fined (but the finers were nice and only fined us half of the usual penalty because of our train circumstances...I think it was about 30 euros...enough to make us always buy tickets but not as bad as the 60 euro fine we'd have had otherwise). We made the train! And then 4 hours later we arrived in sunny Toulouse. I must admit that when the train stopped in places like Nîmes and Montpellier I was really disappointed that I couldn't leave the train and walk around - but I will be sure to make it back there soon (it's not very far from Lyon on the high speed train).

We found Kévin, had a fantastic, well-priced lunch and then left him so he could go back to work...and Chloé and I went exploring in the city. Well, we intended to explore the city. It was so ridiculously hot that we made it as far as the 10th century church and then had to get out of the heat. We opted for a café opposite the church - which we hoped would be air conditioned, would have cold drinks etc. I was SO excited about the prospect of a smoothie. SO EXCITED. This so called 'smoothie' was juice that had been thrown into a blender - not even any milk! And our cups weren't even filled up! They charged us 2.50 euros for each one as well! Anyway, we stayed in the café for a few hours and then went to the church. It was surprisingly, comfortably cool in the church and the paintings and relics within were astonishing. There were still paintings within that had been done in the 10th century! To get to another part of the church there was a small admission fee that we were prepared to pay. The guy at the counter said 'are you students?' so we said yes, and then he let us in for free - which apparently doesn't usually happen. Check this out.

Toulouse is a cute little town with lots of people and sweet little windows and renaissance sculptures like this one here.

For people in Australia who are currently not enjoying the winter months, I feel for you - really. I can't stand winter...but while you're busy dreaming about summer... let me remind you how awful it can be. Take, for example, exhibit A to remind you:

After a day of walking in the heat and having no little beach, pool or a mere shadow to be at a normal temperature in - this is what happens....

It was here that I taught Chloé the expression 'desperate times call for desperate measures'

Still not convinced that super hot weather is no better than cold weather? Look at this one. It was taken after 10pm at night....IT WAS MORE THAN 30 DEGREES! AT NIGHT! NIGHT TIME! NO SUN! Check out the guy's face behind me.

And here you see, for the finale, IT IS HOT -

So, in spite of the heat, we are TRYING to enjoy our time here in this town with Kévin. Today we had lunch out, saw a film (in a room without air conditioning in 38 degree heat), spent a lot of time on public transport and listened to each other complain about the heat (expect Kévin and Chloé kept saying 'we can't complain! It'll be snowing soon'. I am trying not to think about snow for now....

So sloppy, sweaty hugs from stinking hot Toulouse. One day left here and then I'm off on a YSA camp (with church) near Switzerland, in the alps for 5 days. Until then, :-)

La Vie Lyonaise

Todays original plans were as follows:

- Clean room

- Do laundry

- Print photos

- Meet Chloé at the station

- Eat

- Go to university

                             I succeeded to do three of these things. I'm not saying which ones so that there is minimal judgement passed. On the contrary, I was RIDICULOUSLY DISAPPOINTED when I arrived at the place that I was supposed to 'present my self as soon as possible on arrival at Lyon' was completely closed. There was no way in. Anyway, I sent them an email back - go figure. I've been here two weeks and I tell you I've already had enough of French bureaucracy. Chloé and I walked along the quai and complained about about the 35 degree heat. When we crossed the bridge, we saw two pools. I could have died. You see, the reason why summer is so fantastic (usually) is because with summer comes going to the beach and lying on a tiled floor eating watermelon. Summer in the city isn't nearly half as fun. Your options are:

A. Go to the pool

B. Laugh at the funny sounds your voice makes when you stick your face into a fan

or C. Shower every 2 hours

                                          As you can see.... Chloé and I weren't thrilled about the trek along the quai that came with my university being closed. Thanks a lot Mr sir administration at Université Lumière, you made our summer's day difficult and the wind didn't help either! If only you knew what it's like to be a girl in a skirt on a windy day.... Anyway, it was beautiful, I can't deny that.

I refused to get a drink at the 'Ayers Rock Bar' which we consequently found next to a black swan...maybe they imported it from home... who knows? So anyway, we had an unintentional, rather pricey soda at the bar next to it. We did some necessary shopping on the way home (school supplies, oh boy!) and then made tortillas for dinner. As Caro, Aziz, nor Thomas was there - we lit some candles and enjoyed our meal time. (For those of you reading this who are not French, it is important that you understand that meals here are sacred. The French eat VERY VERY VERY slowly, savouring every texture and flavour... and put aside a lot of time to eat properly. I do not eat very quickly. I'm not just saying that either, I don't! But here I consciously eat slowly so that I'm not awkwardly gawking at everyone else at the table for 20 minutes while they finish chewing). When my house mate, Caro told me how horrified she was when she saw people in New York EATING AND WALKING AT THE SAME TIME, I knew that my hypothesis was correct (and yes, even though I don't know science, I know what hypothesis means, sciencey friends). Meal time is a sacred practice. Anyway, maybe Chloé and I did it a little wrong this evening, make up your own minds...

Tomorrow we're off to Toulouse! I can't wait! I need to go...it's late. I need to pack my suitcase! I need to ....do many things and above all wake up before 6am, but I can do it!

Be back soon with stories from the South

Alice


PS. The font and spacing is a little different today - please don't be too disappointed by the blog's appearance. It'll be better soon.

Fériés et le Ménage

Following the French tradition, several days a year are dedicated to the observation of Catholic holidays. Essentially this means that every store in the nation shuts itself for these particular 'jours fériés'. Being well informed by my house mates, I knew about the public holiday that fell on August the 15th (the Assumption of Mary). I was particularly worried, however on Sunday night when I realised that we had no food left. None. Nothing. NADA. Although I was kind of excited about the prospect of going grocery shopping. I think that going to a supermarket in a different country is always amusing...you find different things, things are ordered differently... here for example, there is an entire aisle dedicated to cheese (this is not including the deli section) and TWO, I repeat, TWO aisles for yoghurt alone.

I wrote my list, and was particularly excited about going grocery shopping... mainly to look at all the different cheeses and different types of yoghurt. Knowing that Monday was a férié, I did my research to see which supermarkets would be open. Luckily the one we usually go to at La Part Dieu was! YAY! So after a long skype conversation with Alex, I set off on my cheese adventure. On arrival, there was a small sign on the front of the store saying 'Closed August 15' NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! We had no food. I miserably went back to our neighbourhood. Everything, and I really mean EVERYTHING was shut... but I eventually found a small bakery that was open! Bread! So we didn't starve to death after all.

This morning Caro and I went early to the supermarket and did a HUGE shop... getting home was a little difficult, but we survived. A little bruised, a little embarrassed, but we survived. We had a lovely lunch and then - it began. The huge project of cleaning the kitchen. I don't believe, in all honesty that the window frames etc have been cleaned in the last 30 years. We'd decided to buy a cupboard to replace the bookshelf we were storing our food on, so the boys went to buy it, while Caro and I stayed back and started to clean. It is so grossssssssssss, but we are making some progress. Here are some pictures of 'Project Kitchen'.

So as you can see, our little kitchen is not the prettiest thing in Lyon.... BUT! We are doing our best! By the end of the cleaning, our black windows were white, and our white hands black, but without pain there can be no beauty! We are now undertaking the strenuous task of assembling the new storage unit.

Here is the final result!!! IT LOOKS LIKE A KITCHEN! (if uncertain of difference, compare with previous images).

Tomorrow is lunch with Nettra Pan in the old part of town, some exploring, and a meeting with the real estate agent. Tomorrow's highlights are already obvious.

I've started dreaming bits and bobs in French. I think this is a good sign. Still learning a whole lot of vocabulary that my French teachers in high school didn't prepare me for, such as

* Blue tack - Patafix
*Pumpkin - Citrouille
*Freezer - Congélateur
*Paper towel - Sopalin
*Christmas Tree - Sapin
*Laundry Powder - Lessive

As I left my camera's battery charger in Germany (well done me), taking quality photos is a little difficult for the moment, so excuse the poor quality of the photos I've taken with my phone!

- Alice

C'est les VACANCES!!!

We've done a lot of planning but not a lot of doing these past few days. One of my first missions here in France made me realise that there's a least one French stereotype that in fact is reality - that is that they have an absolute obsession and love for paper work. Opening a French bank account was never going to be an easy mission, that's certain. The first time we went, the papers that we had to prove my address weren't good enough because they weren't originals and we needed Caroline's original means of identification. Yesterday we went with an original letter from Aziz, his actual passport and a letter from the land lord. The lady wasn't at the bank. Nobody was there. We took this opportunity of a free afternoon to visit the park near my apartment. The park is absolutely amazing. It was created the same year as Central Park and is of a similar size...in the middle of the city. Although I haven't really had a lot of time yet to explore it, I know that there's a zoo there, lots of little streams and playgrounds, places to buy crêpes, you can go cycling....

In brief, it was very GREEN, it was very calm  in spite of the fact there there were many people there and I finally had some time to relax and forget about paperwork for a bit. I think I'll be going there often. Here are some pictures:

As Chloé forgot her National Identity Card, she was unable to buy some necessary things, go to the bank...etc. This posed a few issues and essentially mean that she had to return to Grenoble to get it. She had to go back anyway because she just moved into a new apartment and doesn't really have much. As Ikea was involved, a chance to see Grenoble and to keep my dear friend company, I decided to follow her. Grenoble is stunning. From every one of Chloé's windows you can see mountains. The town is really nestled in between the mountains. Today we had some beautiful weather as well.

So today's first mission: BANK. The first time we went we had to make an appointment, so we went back at 4 pm for the appointment. We presented the documents. the original passports, the letter that Aziz had written, the letter from the land lord. It wasn't enough. They didn't accept the letter from the land lord, but instead wanted a bill with Aziz's name. Seriously.... after 45 minutes of uming and ahhing and trying to work out the issues, we made the account and then came to the conclusion that Caroline has to send some papers proving that I live in the apartment to the bank, so that they can verify everything. Seriously it was fortunate that the guy helping us was particularly good looking, or Chloé and I would have gone completely insane. Anyway, as you can tell - French bureaucracy = not friendly, nor simple.

Yesterday I had the chance to talk to Gladie! After 3 years.. When I called and spoke to her in French she had no idea who I was at the beginning and when she realised she said 'Alice! Mais tu parles le Français !' We're making plans! I can't wait. From Thursday on I'm going to be very busy... a trip to Toulouse to see Kévin with Chloé, then 5 days in the alpes, a night at home and then another 5 days away...in Denmark and then classes start...but it's summer, and I won't have much opportunity to see faces and places soon so...


 it's the time to make the most of everything!

Les 'expériences'

After the difficulties that Chloé and I had getting to and from Ikea the other day, I suppose it's evident that I wasn't thrilled about trying to find my way to church on Sunday morning. Thankfully it's not very far at all and Chloé and I went together on Saturday evening to make sure I knew the way for the following morning. Everything went extremely well. I arrived there ok and everyone was very, very nice. I enjoyed meeting new people (even if there were several Americans who had no capability to speak French at all). Getting to church was fine. I had remembered from the night before. It was getting home again that was a slight issue. I took the Metro, got off at the right stop.... had a little difficulty getting home, but eventually found my way, once I found the bus stop.

Yesterday afternoon I got to see.... Nettra Pan! It was fantastic! After 3 and a half years I finally got to see her again! It was so cool to have her come over to my place and just spend some time together talking and catching up. It's such a coincidence that her grandparents live in the same neighbourhood as me. I really hope I'll see more of her. Coming back here after walking Nettra home I was lost...but then thankfully my house-mate, Aziz came and found me after I called to say that I was lost. Chloé just laughed when I came back home.

Today....Lyon. It is AMAZING here. So, so, so beautiful. It isn't as big as I expected either. The older part of the city is simply spectacular. There are two rivers that flow through the city are really picturesque and there are also 2 hills that surround Lyon. On one is a big, old church which is very well known and very beautiful. I was lucky enough to be able to explore with Chloé and Caro (my house mate) who is Lyonaise (from Lyon) and knew a lot about the history and about the different parts of town. She spoke with her grandma who helped her prepare a little tour. It was fantastic. For lunch we ate at a very reasonably priced café near le Croix Rouge (an area) where when I ordered a panini, they put it in my hand and didn't give me a plate....interesting. Here's a picture of my first French dessert. It was fantastic.

We crossed a river by a bridge and then went on to explore the winding alleyways of Vieux Lyon. Full of tourists (I heard many Australians there too) but simply beautiful. I bought a book in English about Lyon at a cute little book store.

Caro and Chloé also liked a store that had different music boxes displayed by the street. This is a video I took of them trying to listen to the different tunes. Look at Chloé's expressions!

We climbed the hill with the basilica situated on top. It was just incredible and we were so lucky with the weather as well. From there you can see the entire city. We could see where we lived, the city's central station...the park, everything and the church was just astounding.

Afterwards we went to see some Roman Ruins (Lyon was first founded by the Roman Empire...a long time ago) and then we went to Place de Bellecours. It's a big open space with a statue of Louis 14th and a big sign that says ONLY LYON. I then went to a church activity and got to meet even more people which was really cool. After that I found my way home (WITHOUT GETTING LOST!!!!)

There you have it, some experiences in Lyon!

A skip, hop and a jump away

I had a fantastic time with Jurek... as you might have guessed. We went shopping in Holland, on Tuesday and then went to the most AMAZING cathedral in Cologne. There's something about old buildings that has always drawn me to them. I think that in Europe as well it's even more incredible... because the buildings are just so old and to think about my European ancestors who were walking around the same streets and seeing the same things goodness knows how many years before is pretty powerful. We just don't have that in Australia. This cathedral took more than 640 years to build. Imagine starting a project like that and thinking you would never see it finished....Looking at the size of the cathedral (one of the largest in the world) it was incredible to think that it wasn't made with modern machinery either. Just mind-blowing.

We also had 'essen' (German for food) in a town called Essen with Jurek's friend, Marco at a restaurant where there were a whole lot of Australian signs and things. It was really strange to see, but it was nice there, a lovely warm evening and we all sat outside and talked until the restaurant closed.

The area in Germany where Jurek lives used to be a big area of production. Even now there are a lot of factories and I believe that industry is still pretty strong in the region. He told me that about 20 years ago, however (and I can't quite remember how) but a lot of the industry stopped and there were high numbers of unemployment. Anyway, a lot of the structures which were initially used were then left empty and untouched....they just stayed that way for several years, but in recent times people have started doing cool things with them. We went to a museum which was in a HUGE old cylinder that held gas. It was so tall! I think i read it was about 100 metres high. Anyway, there was a really great exhibition that we went to inside that had pictures of natural, beautiful things on one floor, and then beautiful, man-made things on the next floor. It was awesome....and I felt quite at home there too, as you can see...

That night Jurek took me to a 'park' to show me how an old factory had been recycled. Amongst this so called 'park' was an old, abandoned steel factory. It was so cool! There was an outdoor cinema, lots of different coloured lights, a kid's playground...and it was safe too. An old tank formerly used for production is now used for people to practice diving in. It was really cool. The next day we went to Dusseldorf, ate at an amazing place where you order Italian food and then they make it for you...in front of you, on the spot and the pricing was reasonable as well.

Friday, yesterday was a big day. We left home early, took a train to Cologne and from there I went to Brussels with my HUGE, heavy suitcase and another reasonably heavy one. Getting on the train was fine, because Jurek was there and able to help me, but getting off was an issue because there were so many other people trying to get off as well. I was last off, people were yelling and it was hard to get the suitcases down, but in the end a nice girl helped me. Again on the fast train to France there were people to lend a hand and I chatted to the guy next to me who helped me with everything when I arrived at Lyon (THANK GOODNESS). On arrival, Chloé was supposed to meet me at the platform but I couldn't find her, then someone told me that I had to go down and that she'd be there...so I did....still no sign of Chloé...so then I panicked and called Nettra (the only other person I knew in Lyon apart from my house mates...whose numbers I didn't have), but she wasn't around and anyway.... eventually Chloé found me (she got lost).

The apartment is really nice. It's comfortable, I have everything that I need here and in a fantastic location. It only takes about 10 minutes to get to Lyon's main central station (and who can complain about that?) I think it might even be this city's answer to Parkville. That's cool. I haven't had a lot of time to explore the area yet. Yesterday we did some grocery shopping with Caro (a girl who is living in the apartment but about to do a semester's study in Lebanon) and then I made a pavlova and we had ravioli au gratin (yes...I know it has a lot of cream). It was great, as we had a lot of time to talk and get to know each other a bit. I'm so relieved to be here in a country where I can understand what people say and to have somewhere stable to call home. Chloé and I made a huge trek to Ikea today. To cut a long story short, we went past my university which was cool, got to Ikea a lot later than we planned, Chloé was struck down with pain in one of her legs and couldn't walk for a while but then she was ok. I bought some things, like towels, bedding...a lamp...etc and then because it was going to take a long time to get home we figured we'd take a taxi (The apartment is about 10 minutes drive away, and at the moment more than an hour by public transport at the moment because they're doing work on the tram lines during the summer months). The taxi driver told us 25 euros which we thought was expensive but we went anyway because...well we didn't have too much choice. It was 45 euros. I was really annoyed about it... but what could we do?
We went to my church tonight to see how to get there, how long it takes etc. It's actually not very far and easy to get to as well. That's something I'm very pleased about.

Well we really need to eat...as it's already 10 pm and it's been a huge day (as you can probably tell) so I shall post soon. Love from France,

Alice

PS. I changed the name of my blog. I thought this sounded better and now everyone understands it too!

Farewells and Nice to see yous

Susan and Brian left for their cruise last Friday. They went to Rome for 2 days and then from there were going to go on a cruise around some Greek islands. It was a very quick goodbye - as their shuttle arrived 10 minutes earlier than expected. Saturday we went shopping and I bought a couple of 'essentials' from H&M eg. rain coat and jogging pants. Also, I bought some really nice shoes, completely leather for US $64 on base. They were so cheap! Fossil ones as well. I had my first butter and chive pretzel and then we went grocery shopping at the commisary (that's the American supermarket on the base).

Yesterday (Monday), I cooked up a storm. Chicken ratatouille and Pavlova. Unfortunately here passionfruit doesn't exist, so the pavlova had raspberries, blueberries and kiwi fruit on top. It was still very nice. Jurek arrived at around 1.30 in the afternoon. It was so strange to see him and to have everyone together, but I still enjoyed it. After lunch we all said our goodbyes....Allie didn't take it so well, and then we left.

On the way back to Jurek's home we stopped in a really beautiful town right on the Rhine called Koblenz (Mum I am sure that you've been there). It was just so cute. I couldn't stop taking photos of it. I've including some pictures in this post. The big monument is of Kaiser Wilheim the 1st I think? He united the German states.

Jurek has such a beautiful home! I really thought that Earl and Wanda's house was the nicest I'd ever seen and coolest in terms of architecture (do NOT tell them, Dad) but this outdoes it. I'll take some photos so you understand. His parents are such lovely people.... and the language barrier is very funny.
Jurek and I haven't killed each other yet...but it hasn't yet been 24 hours, so we will see how that goes.

Today is either Holland or Cologne. It's beautiful weather today (finally)!!! FINALLY FINALLY! It almost feels like summer! I'm so excited. Maybe today I won't have to wear a cardigan.

Anyway, I shall post another blog before leaving for Lyon on Friday.

Miss you,

Alice