In Two Weeks

It's been two weeks since my last entry (ahhh, sorry to those who were waiting) so I'll give quick updates on what I've been up to:

1. Wed Sept 12: Sacre Coeur, Moulin Rouge, and Sicko

After French class in the morning, we decided to visit Sacre Coeur, located on top of the hill of Montmartre. It's the highest point in Paris, 129 meters above sea level, except if you were on top of the eiffel tower that is. The view was gorgeous, I wish I could've taken a panoramic view of the city from there. But this is the best that we got:


Montmartre is a city where many artists used to go to paint... Since I'll be going there again this coming Monday, I'll write more about it later. So after visiting the church, Greg and Maggie had to leave so Monica and I decided to discover more of the area surrounding Montmartre. We went downhill, lots of steps:
and found another part of town.... we literally stumbled into the red light district... since we were there, we had to take pictures. There's the red windmill. It was quite interesting to see sex shop next to sex shop next to sex shop. Monica and I agreed that we would never walk in this part of town alone after dusk.


And so we kept walking and ended up walking all the way back to Monica's host family's apartment. It was a super long walk. We stopped by to grab dinner at "Quick" which is the french equivalent of "McDo".

At night, we watched a free showing of Michael Moore's "Sicko". I thought the documentary did a good job of raising questions about the American health care system but the way that he did it was completely biased... which took away from his credibility. Basically, the American health care system was HORRIBLE while France, UK, Canada and even Cuba had spectacular systems without flaws... which is completely untrue. Still, it was very disturbing to know that there are hospitals in America who would send patients into taxis to drop them off on the streets just because they are uninsured and the hospital cannot afford to care for them. And the ultimate paradox: Insurance companies will insure those who are healthy but not those who have preexisting health conditions... Are not those who are sick in need of insurance the most?

Anyways, if you have not seen it, I recommend seeing it. I think health care will be a huge issue in this upcoming year with the elections because it's clear that we will need reforms. And plus, the increasing premiums are getting too unbearable, even for the middle class---so that's a good sign that there will be change. (I HOPE!)

2. Fri and Sat, 14-15 Sept: Reims (pronounced 'renzzs'), Champagne

Monica, Maggie, Mathilde (french student in our program) decided to go to Reims this weekend. The pictures are posted on Facebook =). We rented bikes on Friday to ride around the city, ate lunch at a park, visited a Champagne cellar and enjoyed a 'degustation'.

I was hesitant about biking because I haven't biked in years... and some of you know that I'd rather not bike on Campus, maybe it's a deeper issue in me... but I did it in Reims! I biked on the road with traffic... biked into circles (which was SUPER SCARY)... biked uphill, very strenuous... biked downhill, fun but scary not knowing if you could stop in time at the foot of the hill at the red light... at the end of the day, I was proud of myself!

We visited the Parc de Champagne, which cost 1 euro. They had something called, "L'art de la siesta". The art of sleeping. We were confused, what kind of exhibition would this be? at a park? Surprise... they had hammocks, little tents with mats, beach chairs, lawn chairs... everywhere the park was calling us to sleep. It was perfect after a glass of champagne. So we napped for about an hour.
The champagne company that we visited was Piper Heidsieck. It was very cute because there was a little train that took us around the cellar... they played very animated music, it made you want to be in a 50s commercial, smiling with shining eyes pouring a bottle of Piper Heidsieck, and saying "tah-dah"... anyways, here are some pictures:

I learned that "Champagne" can only be labeled that if it comes from this region of France and if it's made from certain grapes... three types to be exact: chardonnay, pinot noir, and pinot meuniur. There's also a special process, although not too different from wine making, that gives champagne its bubbles.

On Saturday, we visited the Cathedral Notre-Dame in Reims where they crowned the kings of France from 13th to 15th century, the Palais de Tau where the kings would stay the night before their coronation, the Cryptoportique Gallo-Roman, and Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin. All these visits were free because this was the "Journees du Patrimoine", World Heritage Weekend... so all cultural sites, sites deemed a World Heritage site by UNESCO, all museums were free all over France.. and the world I think.

At the Cathedral, we had a personal tour-guide... we simply asked for information on tours and she said, sure, i'll show you around. The cathedral has so much history! so many stories to tell, not only biblical stories but some of their stain glass windows told stories of the farmers in the vineyards and stories of the kings. It's the only cathedral where there are statues of saints on the inside of the building. It was to remind the kings of their divine calling as they leave the church after being crowned. Some of the stained glass windows were broken and replaced by just gray/off white colored glass to let more light in as more and more people learned how to read. One set of windows were designed by Chagall--very recognizable because it was flow-y. The rose windows were gorgeous, those are my favorite. This is also the Cathedral with the famous smiling angel.

The Palais du Tau was a museum of many of the kings' possessions. So much gold and silver of everything.. They even had the robes that they used to wear... it was HUGE and thick, velvet and fur... the room also had a smell, probably from the preservatives... but it was surreal to see the robe (i couldn't take pictures).

At the Cryptoportique, it was an underground market from the 3rd century. When you walked down it was just a huge hallway/tunnel and you can imagine it being a roman market. They built smaller and much narrower hallways next to the main market to keep humidity out. And it was built underground to keep the produce fresher.

Veuve Clicquot is one of the most expensive champagnes... and we visited Madame Clicquot's house from the Renaissance period. The Clicquot family have actually been living there up until twenty years ago. This house is opened once a year for visitors so we were quite lucky. They didn't have forks back then, only knives and napkins... no sugar either... (i didnt understand most of it since it was in french)

And during the in-between times while we ate, we gave each other riddles =), it was quite nerdy of us... but honestly, it was a lot of fun.


3. Sun, 16 Sept: Church and Rugby

Then the next day, I visited Trinity International Church of Paris. I was walking from the metro station to the church, unsure if I was going in the right direction when I heard ...your love is amazing, steady and unchanging... loud and blasting from the second floor of a building. And I cannot even describe what I felt... I just stood there on the street for a minute as joy swelled up in me. It was worship to God! I attended the service, which was super short compared to what I'm usually used to at Harvest and Cornerstone. I met a variety of people whom I went out with after service to watch the Rugby game with. It was France versus Namibie... and France won by a landslide. The touchdown made by Chabal was classic... He was running with the ball, while his opponents were jumping to grab him, they would miss and fall to the ground while Chabal would run over them like hurdles.. and at the very end, so close to the end zone line, one of the opponents grabbed him and he fell.... (now in rugby, you only get the touchdown if the ball touches the ground pass the line)... and half his body was over the line and half his body was not... and the ball was over!... the crowd was in an uproar... (we watched this game on t.v. at a cafe/bar). This was an exciting game because it's France's first win since the World Cup competition started... and the next big game is actually today....

4. TODAY Fri, 21 Sept: Study and Rugby

So today, I am studying all afternoon because I have my first midterm on Mon and French exam on Wed. But at 18h 30m, I'm going to go with Mathilde to reserve some seats at the bar for the game tonight... France vs. Ireland... it's going to be a tough game because Ireland's actually good. I'm excited for it =)

Oh and I've decided to spend my All Saints Holidays (oct 29 - nov 2) in Barcelona! Just bought tickets yesterday.

5. Reflections

I have some things that I want to write about values and prayer... but I will save that for next time because I gotta go study before I lose more time.

Bon journee (have a good day)!