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.

The busiest week

I posted this picture last week as we packed and wrapped up our life in Budapest, Hungary.  We now live in France, just 5 minutes outside the city limits of Paris.  Welcome to our new life!

We live in Gentilly, which is pronounced closely to "Gen-tea-ye" (the "Gen" is nasal and you don't really hear the 'n').

And this is our apartment building.  For those who live in the U.S., our balcony is on the fourth floor to the far left.  (In Europe, the lobby level is called the rez de chausee, and the first floor is actually what is called the second floor in  the U.S., so here in Gentilly we live on the 3rd floor.)  You might be able to see our pine armoire out on the balcony, which is gold colored.  :-)

Ugh!  Unpacking is not my favorite thing to do.  We have way too much stuff for this apartment.  We parted with a lot before we left Budapest and as we've unpacked we are parting with even more.  So far, two moving boxes full (and overflowing) of things we've decided we can (or will) live without in order to not be cramped for the next 5+ years.

We arrived on the evening of the 8th and our belongings arrived on the 9th.   It took 6 men 1 1/2 hours to load our belongings into the truck, but there were only 2 men to unload our stuff in Gentilly.  Les Pauvres!  (The poor things!)  It took them 6 hours to unload from the truck and haul all those boxes and furniture via elevator up to our apartment on the "third floor", and they worked straight through lunch without a word.

Everything made it in good condition.  Only one small thing broke; the stem of a cheap wine glass that I used as a votive candle holder, so nothing important at all.

The 10th was Glenn's birthday.  He turned 60!  He doesn't look 60, does he?   I made him his favorite:  German Chocolate cake from a recipe I got from a friend of the family, Emogene. Since we don't have any friends here yet (doesn't that sound pitiful?), we decided to do something special -the two of us- to celebrate such a momentous occasion by WALKING from our apartment to ...

... the Eiffel Tower!  Google Maps said it should take 1 1/2 hours but it took us 2 1/2 hours because we stopped along the way to buy pastries (pains aux raisins), take a few pictures, window shop, rest on park benches and frequently double-checked our map to make sure we were going the right way!

This is the underside of the Eiffel Tower, in case you've never seen a picture of it!

From the Eiffel Tower, we strolled along the Seine River and browsed among the books and souvenirs up to Notre Dame Cathedral (another hour of walking).  We had perfect weather the whole time and enjoyed the break from all the boxes, wrapping paper and bubble wrap!  It was a very nice way to celebrate Glenn's 60 years and the good health he has!

Sunday, for our Sabbath rest my thoughtful husband asked if I wanted to walk to a Starbucks!!!

You bet!

We walked to one that was 2.9 kilometers away (1.8 miles), but a couple of days later I found out that there is one even closer that is only 1.9 kilometers away, a little over a mile away!  Should take me 15-20 minutes to walk to it!  Yea!  I can walk off the calories in my white chocolate mocha frappacino!

The Starbucks is on the left with the white lettering.

Monday morning our boss and his wife arrived at our apartment from London to help us unpack and put together furniture!  Bob helped Glenn with lots of "projects", one of which was putting together this tall Ikea cabinet for my craft supplies!

Bev helped me with unpacking boxes, lining the shelves and drawers in the kitchen, putting dishes in the china cabinet, finding places for our food items, organizing my craft cabinet and oh, so much more!  I gave her all the overwhelming tasks!

They were such a big help!  I was feeling overwhelmed by it all, but with Bob and Bev working so hard to help us get unpacked and settled in, it forced me to stay focused.  We zipped through those boxes and got so much done in 3 short days!  What a blessing they were to us!

We've been in Gentilly now for 11 days.  The boxes are unpacked and -for the most part- things are put away.  Pictures are hung on the wall but not all the clocks are up yet.  (I kind of have this thing for clocks.)  There are still "projects" to tackle, such as adding shelves to our armoires, building a box to hide all the wires for our TV, internet and telephone, arranging the books on the shelves, making curtains for the windows, getting rid of the empty boxes, disposing of the things we aren't going to keep in order to not be so cramped, buying things like a dish drainer, paper towel holder, and the list goes on and on and on.  

We really miss our basement in Budapest when Glenn is working on these projects!  He's using our balcony as work space, and though the balcony LOOKS large in the photo above, it is only about 5-6 feet wide and 11-12 feet long, and he's sharing the space with a lot of beautiful flower pots and an armoire.  

We are glad to be here but there are some things we will have to change about the way we live. Our downstairs neighbor has already come to us to complain about the noise we're making.  He said it really nicely and even brought us a copy of the local ordinances concerning making noise but I cringe now when we drop a coin or scoot a piece of furniture to try it in a different location.   I think we're going to have to invest in carpet or lots of rugs in order to cut down on the noise we make!!!

Well, maybe next week I'll post pictures of our neighborhood and some interesting sights!  See you then!