My Town: Gentilly

This has been a busy week, like they all seem to be, but this one was special because I got to visit with a friend of mine from America who now lives in Paris, not too far from me.

I met Amanda when she was a student at the Christian school where I worked before coming overseas.  We have a long history and a strong friendship that goes way back.  She is marrying a French guy that she met in America, and so we will be able to see each other often!  How cool is that!?!

Okay, I've wanted to take you on a tour of our little suburb called Gentilly.  The tan building is my apartment complex, and so as I come out my gate, we're going to turn right and go into the "city" center.  (Centre Ville)  I say "city" in parentheses because it isn't very big and it is more like a village. 

But it's my village and I love it.  This is my Boulangerie and Patisserie, and unfortunately it is just across the street from our apartment.  They have the best pains aux raisins (pastry with a creme filling and raisins) and baguette tradition graine.

Just down from our apartment building is some scaffolding under which we have to walk to get into the middle of town.  This scaffolding backs up to our apartment and the workmen must only work from 7:30 -8:30 am.  Glenn and I aren't sure what they are doing because we never see any workmen when we pass by (we only hear them banging early in the morning!) and we aren't seeing the scaffolding move.  

Further down the street is a small store that carries African food.    Yippee!

On Tuesday, Glenn and I went to the local open-air market and besides buying two huge bags of fresh fruit and vegetables, we bought a couple of take-ways of Poulet Yassa, Poulet Columbo and Thieb (flavored rice), all dishes from Senegal.  How fortuitous!

Now, we don't buy ALL our food at the market; some we buy at the local grocery store about 8 minutes away by foot.  We can buy everything we NEED, but not everything I wish ... like cheddar cheese or Trappista cheese from Hungary.  I'm not complaining, but in a perfect world ...

This is the Mayor's office, called the Mairie here in France.  The Mairie is usually the most beautiful building in the city/town.

I hate seeing graffiti on any building but I do appreciate good, colorful art!

Glenn has a goal of walking every street in Gentilly and keeps track of them.  Right now he's about 2/3rds of the way through!  This is just one of the many beautiful views we saw as we were walking through our little burg.

Not too far from our house is a sports complex with a walking track.  It's a small track; I think I'll have to walk 15 loops for a kilometer.  :-)

I don't know if you noticed the style of the buildings in Gentilly.  For the most part, they are "new" (relatively speaking), square and plain.   I miss the intricate, old buildings and their beauty, but this is my new town.

Well, that's the overview of Gentilly, my new home.  If you'd like to see more, please come for a visit.   Love to have you!

Okay, this last photo is on a totally different subject.  One of our new friends here has practically wallpapered a room or two of her apartment with colorful Bible verses.  It is quite impressive.  

This upcoming week Glenn and I start our French language classes at Alliance Francaise to help us get up to snuff on our French.  Three mornings a week, 9 am to 12 noon.

We went to Congress!

Much of this past week was spent in the northern part of France, 10 minutes from the Belgium border as Glenn and I attended Le Congrès de la FEEBF, or the Federation of Evangelical Baptist Churches of France as we would say in English.  Basically, the French Baptist Convention.  

There were some other folks with our organization at the meeting, along with the pastor from our local church and a woman from the congregation.  

It was a GREAT experience because we were able to get a good picture of the evangelical work among our 120 or so (I forgot the exact number ...) Baptist churches here in France and it was 3 days of hearing and speaking French all day long!  Glenn and I both were surprised at how much we could understand; not everything, but certainly more than we expected!!!  My vocabulary is still pretty rusty so talking to people I met was very difficult.  (I'll only speak for myself here) Once I heard the words, I recognized them and could then use them myself, but to pull words from my memory bank was quite difficult!  I need to immerse myself in watching French news and reading books in French to increase my usable vocabulary.  :-)

Each morning we were led in worship by a music group from Africa!  Oh, how I enjoyed that!!

All day long we heard reports from various churches, departments and ministries.  We even had a short presentation by two Sisters from a PROTESTANT Evangelical ORDER!   One of the Sisters was Baptist and the other from a Reformed church.  I never knew there was such a thing as a Protestant Order! 

For me, the highlight was at the end (no, not because it was over!) when they introduced three young families that have been sent from Brazil and Togo (via the U.S.) to work in France alongside the French Federation churches.  A secondary highlight was from a man in the church growth department when he said that each Baptist church should be working toward planting a church!  Oh!  May we be a part of seeing a revival in France as God's Spirit moves in the hearts of His people!

Okay, since my blog update was short this week and it's been a while since I've shown you pictures of my kids and grandkids, I thought I would add them today.  

We just finished talking with Chris and Kate's family in Tennessee.  I also read 3 books to Jazmine over Skype, which I really enjoy.  However, I've got to start reading the books to myself before I read them to her to make sure the story is good and ends well!

Kari and Jonathan's family in Senegal is doing well.  They will be spending a couple of months in Tennessee this summer (around the corner from Chris's family) and Glenn and I will be there for part of the time.  We'll get to see both our kids and all the grandchildren together and although I don't want to "wish my life away" (as my mother once said), I am looking forward to us all being together once again, even if for a very short time!

See you next week with pictures of either our apartment or our little city.  (It depends on whether I get the bedroom painted or not.)

Bonne semaine!  (Have a good week!)

Cheerio!

Glenn and I have spent the better part of the month getting settled into our apartment in Gentilly, learning our way around our neighborhood, opening bank accounts, trying to get cell phones, meeting folks over meals and catching up (not yet succeeding) on emails and phone calls.

We've been into town on public transportation 3 times to meet folks so we're slowly learning how to navigate the bus, tram, metro and train system in Paris.  

I'm finding my way around the various grocery stores and enjoying discovering some things we couldn't get in Hungary.  These pre-made cookies break apart just like the Tollhouse dairy case cookies!

Amazing!  The French version of Pillsbury Poppin' Fresh Cresent Rolls!  They also have this for rolls with chocolate strips called Pains au Chocolat!  Can't wait to try them!  By the way, pain is the French word for bread.

I learned that if a bakery shop calls itself a boulangerie, they make their bread "sur place".  Here, at the Depot de Pain they just sell bread that is made elsewhere.  Good thing ... because they don't look very sanitary!

We've got similar cereals here in Paris as we had in Budapest with the exception of Kellogg's Rice Krispies and these chocolate and cappuccino crunchy granola!!  I think my son-in-law would like this cereal!

Oh, we can also buy Golden Grahams cereal here, which is one of the few cereals I enjoy.  In addition to the cereal, they also have G.G. cereal bars.  How nice for that breakfast on the go!

This is not something we had in Hungary, mustard and pickle flavored potato chips.  Don't think I want to try them.  :-)

I was planning to post pictures of things in our neighborhood but we took a trip and I decided to show you pictures from the U.K..  However, I did have 2 pictures I wanted to share with you.

This is a sign for a handicap parking spot.  It says, "If you take my place, take also my handicap."  Well said.

Last week we were politely informed by our downstairs neighbor that we were making too much noise outside the prescribed time for making noise.  He brought a copy of the rules of the apartment complex for us.  :-)  After asking us to respect the noise hours, he (slightly embarrassingly) told us he was going to be having some work done in his apartment last week, but he assured us the workers would not work during the lunch hours (12:30-3:00 pm) or after 7:30 pm.

We had the entire conversation in French.  The next day he posted a sign on the wall of the elevator apologizing to the residents for the noise from the work being done in his apartment, all written in French EXCEPT for the last sentence that says: For our American neighbors: We do apologize for the noise caused by the works.  He (it) will just last a few days.

Did he think we didn't understand what he said, even though we talked with him for 5-10 minutes?

Okay, we just got back from a trip to London to visit with 3 Member Care couples and our boss.

We thought they spoke English there but we didn't understand one of the first words we saw as we got off the plane!  Do YOU know what a travelator is???  (It's an escalator without steps.)

We spent one rainy afternoon walking around the tourist area.  This is the street that leads to Buckingham Palace.

We walked through a couple of parks and admired the gorgeous flowers.

A photo op in Trafalgar's Square.  Do yo see the point down at the base of the monument?  That's the Big Ben clock tower in the distance.

The London Eye.  No, we didn't ride it.  I don't like heights. (Glenn doesn't like things that go 'round and 'round so we don't ride anything at carnivals!)

A view across a pond with a name that I forgot.  :-(

One day we spent some time with Jerry and Kathy.  They asked what we wanted to do besides just be together.  

I told them what I'd always wanted to see .... , so we drove 1 1/2 to 2 hours outside the city to see it.

Stonehenge

... was awesome!  As you crest a hill out in the country, all of a sudden it is just THERE!  

How on earth do they get those stones on top of the others??

Temperatures were mild but it was very, very windy.  

I didn't find out how they put those stones on top of another but I did find out how they move them from one place to another!  Really ingenious!

I'll be back soon.  I hope.  I'll try, anyway.