So I hate blogs. I never remember I have one, and then by the time I remember SOO much has happened that it's overwhelming to think of an update. BUT I'll give it a try because it's been such a fun two weeks I feel like I should share my joy!
DISCLAIMER: here is more information than you want to know; feel free to skip through and just look at pictures - it won't hurt my feelings :)
WEEK 1 - you know about Budapest. Will and I had so much fun staying with the Coppages (their mission page is www.coppages.org ) they have a really neat ministry and Will and I made it onto the latest blog update so check it out!
Easter consisted of: Easter baskets (!), an Easter Egg hunt (I think I saw Will knock out a 4-year old for an egg) a pleasant hillbilly-golf/ladder ball tournament (double elimination, Shannon and I came in 2nd place!), and GREAT food! Oh and an Easter service in Hungarian at the Coppages' church! And yet it was so good to go "home" (don't get me started on how fluid that word is lately) but it wasn't so good to leave people I love :(
FRIDAY - Upon my return to Aix, I had Friday all to myself to recover. Totally needed. I sat outside most of the day - doing nothing and loving every minute.
SATURDAY - My parents arrived! I got them set up in their centre-ville-view apartment which I borrowed from fellow CEA students who were out of town. Right away my parents broke out the PEANUT BUTTER, REESES, VENISON JERKY, and OREOS they brought along with SPRING CLOTHES! It was like Christmas! I changed into a skirt toute de suite and we headed out to see the town! We walked ALL over - even parts of town I hadn't been yet! We grabbed some french pizza at one of my favorite pizza stands and went our separate ways for the night. I think they went to bed at 8pm :)
SUNDAY - We met up in the morning for french church while my mom could understand most, my dad played on his new Kindle most of the time (he says he was reading the Bible, but there's no telling). We did sing "Shine Jesus, Shine" in French which tuned my dad in for a few minutes. After church we (Matt, his parents, Will, Elea, Sher, me and my parents) all went to Paul, a local sandwich shop, for lunch and took it to eat in the town square. It was a beautiful day with lots of friends, an accordion player for entertainment and nice café seating!
So the best part of Sunday was the dinner. My host family invited Matt's and my parents over for dinner that night. It was a very dynamic group of people! Charles and Eve don't speak any english and Matt's dad and my dad don't speak ANY french; needless to say there was a lot of both languages going on. It was a great evening of magic tricks, food, mafia and one measly Charles explosion. It was kind of funny for Matt and I saying goodnight to our parents and staying at "our house"!
MONDAY - We had a low-key day. A slow morning and it was raining so we ended up going to Carrefour (equivalent to a wal-mart in the States) and exploring the bus system of Aix! Dad and I also pulled together information for snowboarding...continue on...
TUESDAY - snowboarding! Dad rented a car and we drove to the closest Alps that were open (they start closing around Easter and we were a week late!). Manon (my host sister) even joined us! I didn't realize how helpful that would be until the man at the rental place started taking to us and she responded :) So we drove about 2.5 hours, hit the slopes from 9-2pm - it was amazing. The sun was shining, it was snowing up past the tree-line and we only had one minor issue. My dad, Manon and I all went on one of the back hills trying to get to the peak and we found ourselves mounting a t-bar (that you put between your legs and it pulls you up) the main problems being 1) I've never ridden a t-bar and dad's never ridden one on a snowboard 2) it ROCKETED you out. I mean I'm not trying to be dramatic, but it was like a theme park ride! I could not stay on, and even my Dad and another woman fell trying to get on. Unfortunately for my dad, who didn't want to leave me behind, it was just not going to happen for me, so my dad and I ended up HIKING up the hill we had just snowboarded down - talk about rough. It was about a 45 degree angle up, above the tree-line, in the thin air, on icy snow, in snowboard boots - I know I sound whiney, but I just wanted you to see the perseverance I thankfully inherited from my dad.
WEDNESDAY - FRIDAY - Wednesday we left for PARIS. We got in pretty late on the train and went straight to our hostel. We grabbed some sandwiches from a street vendor and crashed for the night. Thursday we woke up early for a big day in Paris (cause we only had one day!). We started our journey at the Sacré Coeur which was right near our hostel which was huge! and the architecture was astounding! We also got our first glimpse of Le Tour Eiffel from high up on the hill. After surviving the "sex" street of Paris walking with my parents (way awkward dad, I am your daughter and you are not allowed to make jokes about strip clubs), we treated ourselves to Starbucks (coming soon to Marseille!). It was my first time in a french starbucks which was SO fun and you'd understand if you know my passion for coffee and obviously french!
After a good dose of caffeine, we found our way over to gander at Le Moulin Rouge and finally made our way to L'arc de Triumphe! Holy cow! I have come to the conclusion that every town in Europe has an arch, but this one takes the cake! Looking down Le Champs Elysées was absolutely superb! It was everything I'd heard about and more! My french textbooks came to life right before y eyes and even more as we walked toward Le Tour Eiffel! As soon as it came into view I was in awe, I mean, at least half of my awe was from the media and world fame, but the other half was genuine. It was much bigger than I expected and much more majestic too. Once you got past all the street vendors (all selling the EXACT same thing) it was awesome. We ended up meeting up with a couple from our church back home and explored with them!
After Le Tour Eiffel we continued through Le Jardin des Tuileries to Le Louvre (bien sur!) and finished off our day with good ol' Mona and Venus de Milo. The next morning we woke up at 4:30am to catch our train back to Aix
This is pretending not to be too tired to love the Mona Lisa :/
Oh and I forgot - they asked me if I would please be the new exhibit at the Louvre. I'm not sure how the officials feel about me climbing on their future-famous-art-work-displays...
FRIDAY (after returning) - After avoiding an international crisis on the train because of the strike going on, we made it back to Aix and found time to explore Marseille! The pictures below are from the Château D'If and the boat ride out.
SATURDAY - It was at this point that we started taking the volcano seriously when matt's parents' Saturday flight was canceled, so we decided to explore more of Southern France while keeping our spirits high. Matt's parents, Will and his dad, brother and sister, along with my parents and I all made our way to the Mediterranean Sea off the shores of CASSIS. It was a gorgeous day with plenty of sun, sand and gelato!
SUNDAY - We decided to hike around Sainte Victoire (not up it this time, my poor legs needed a break!) Dad decided to be tour guide even though I was the only one who'd been there before (dads. typical.) and we ended up running into some very friendly french people (shocking i know!) who informed us we were on the path to montez st. victoire (climb it!) which is not what we wanted...sooo after taking a big group picture with nice french people (see below) we continued on the RIGHT path.
After Sunday we weren't quite sure when the parents would get home, but Matt and I started up classes again Monday. So our parents are having the time of their lives (thankfully the two couples get along great!) we found them housing with some wonderful MTW missionaries in Marseille and are keeping in touch via skype from a 20km distance...life is so fascinating! Ok that's it for now. Countdown: just over 3 weeks left in Aix!
