Week 3 Summer-y

Foreword: I recently discovered that I forgot to bring my camera battery charger, so I didn't take any pictures this week. I could take some of my classmates' pictures from Facebook but they're not that great. That and I'm too lazy. And most of the recent stuff hasn't been posted yet. But I'm determined to post at least once a week, so if anyone wants a play-by-play of my life, read on. Also, I will hereafter refer to our school/institute building as "Saint-Merri," the name of the street it's on, because everyone calls it that and it's easier.

Sunday Went to our ward in Versailles for the first time. Although it's about 9 miles south of us, it takes an hour and a half to get there because we have to take a train east to to edge of Paris and then switch lines. Makes for a long Sunday, but I love church! Everyone was so sweet to us despite the fact that some of the girls make no effort to speak French...kinda bugs. It was nice to meet in a real chapel in a real ward with cute children and everything. (Is it bad that the talk I could understand easiest was the one given by an American?...I'll work on it.) Met Sis. Jones, an American who has lived with her family in Versailles for 18 years! The de Martenes' oldest son, who happens to be really good-looking, ate dinner with us. Since you all wanted to know. :)

Monday Pretty uneventful. Went to class, went home and fed ourselves dinner because Quentin was the only one home, then watched some TV with him.

Tuesday Same, except we ate with M. de Martene and Quentin. More entertaining conversation. Quentin likes to make fun of us and I think most of the time we don't catch it because he mumbles. Sometimes we just smile and nod.

Wednesday Had our second fine arts class, this time in the Louvre. We'll be meeting there for the next few weeks. Lesson 1 was Mesopotamian, Greek & Roman art. Took a lunch break and then Dr. Welch's class met back at the Code of Hammurabi (how often can you say you met at the Code of Hammurabi?) and had a fascinating discussion of some of the artifacts we hadn't already looked at. That stuff is right up his alley. Jacqueline & I have to go back tomorrow to pick an artifact on which to write a paper relating to the BoM...should be interesting. I love the Louvre! Can't wait to go back and see more every week. (Plus I can get in free whenever I want with my student pass...without waiting in line!) Spent the rest of the afternoon reading and people-watching in a huge park, the Jardin de Luxembourg, then went to the Welches' to call home and share the very fresh, very yummy bread they had just gotten. :) Hurried home for dinner, where there was another missionary letter waiting for me. Yay! Thanks, Kristin!

Thursday Another long but fun day. Finished our discussion of L'Ecole des Femmes, our first play, in the Molière class. In Dr. Welch's class, discussed parallelism in the BoM and he told us the story of how he discovered chiasmus on his mission in Germany, complete with a slideshow of pictures. Then J & I and our friends Diane and Sarah bought pastries and ate them under the Eiffel Tower. And moaned with happiness at how good they were. And took pictures. No wonder we looked so obviously American that a guy walked by and said, "Good lunch!" I think he was just jealous. Then J & I did the Place de la Concorde "walk," which included the French White House (the Elysée Palace), the American, British, and Colombian embassies, pricey boutiques like Chanel, Cartier, and Hermes lining the Rue Faubourg St Honoré (2000-euro vest, anyone?), and Place de la Concorde and the famous 3000-year-old Luxor Obelisk in the center. It was getting dark and we were just in time to see the obelisk light up from where we finished with a stroll through the Jardin des Tuileries. Went back to Saint-Merri for Institute and stayed for choir practice afterward with the adorable Hawaiian senior sister missionary who's in charge of the Easter program.

Friday Slept in...went to Saint-Merri for another choir practice with just the BYU girls, then spent the afternoon doing a walk in a neighborhood called the Marais, which the school borders on. Saw some cool hôtels with cute gardens, a beautiful church called St. Paul's, remnants of the old city wall from the 12th century, the Jewish neighborhood, scratched the surface of the Musée Carnavalet, and visited Victor Hugo's old place in the Place des Vosges, Paris' oldest square. Whew! Then we headed to Versailles for the ward Valentine's Day shindig. It was way fun, and guess what the dinner was? Mexican!

Saturday Spent all day at home chilling and doing homework, then went to Saint-Merri for the YSA Valentine's dance. Two dances in a row was kind of weird after not going to dances for so long. It was a painful reminder that I can't dance. And they really like techno music. But we also heard "La Bamba" and "Cotton Eye Joe" both nights, which made me feel more at home. I decided we'll have to teach them the real dance sometime, the spoke-line version.

Today Church was good. My goal was to only speak French and meet at least one new person. So I sat down next to a unfamilar girl in Sunday School only to find that she's German and doesn't speak any French. But we had a good conversation anyway. :) I did get to meet a few people and bond with the adorable little girl of the American lady who spoke last week, Margie. Met the de Martenes' other son at dinner. His mother seemed very happy to point out that he's a few days older than me. And that wasn't the first time she told me. Interesting. Had the best dessert ever...it was similar to ice cream cake. The homemade crème brûlée a couple weeks ago wasn't bad, either. :) I was reminded how funny Quentin is. I missed that kid over the weekend when we weren't here much.

Here's a map I threw together if you want to see where everything is.

That's it for now. Hope everyone had a nice Valentine's Day with their sweetie! Tommy, hope you had a good birthday and I'm glad you and Doris got to go to Oregon! Matthew, I can't wait to get your letter!