Parents Visit!

My parents came to visit! 

We ate a lot of delicious food, some of it spicy...

and some not! 

 

but basically: lots of delicious food.

We visited Hampton Court Palace, and it was super pretty and historical. 

Look at all that sun! Go England! 

And we saw trees! My parents had forgotten what trees looked like. Right now they're all hidden under snow in Boston... (disclaimer: not all trees in London are this cool)

It was a great trip and I was sad to see them leave. 

BACKLOG: Marching through Southall

Happy New Year!!

It's hard to believe it's 2014, and that I've been in Southall four full months! It seems like November and December whizzed by me, and now I'm here in January trying to catch my breath. In the spirit of slowing down, taking stock, and heading into a new year on a clean slate: I'd like to share here some interesting parts of my last two months.

First: Marching.

So it's a thing in Southall to 'march' or parade down the broadway. Every religious group here in Southall has their own march. In November I saw thousands of Sikh believers march down the broadway with their holy book, celebrating their great Guru's birthday. Not only did they march, but they handed out TONS of free food--samosas and pakora, fruit, water, and sodas. I stood on the side of the road and watched the procession pass, amazed at the color and sheer amount of people.

Then came my turn: the Jesus March in mid-December brought out all the Christians in Southall and the surrounding areas. We followed the three wise men on a large truck covered in christmas lights, and sang christmas carols. Celebrating Christmas on Southall Broadway meant feeling a part of a greater community of believers in Jesus. That night on the broadway, a street I usually as a foreigner feel self conscious walking down--I was one of the crowd. Together with my family of believers, we sang and praised our heavenly Father together. It's a moment I still hold onto.

More soon, blogger friends! Thanks for reading!

"Wait, What?"

 My grocery store wishes me a Happy Diwali.

 Lunch with a friend in my neighborhood involves eight different types of curry.

 A two hour trip via train takes me here, to Cambridge,

where I can see this...

 and this.

Living in a new culture is hard. Anyone who has tried, or who as even thought about it a second could probably tell you that. But what I didn’t expect was the slow-burning sensation of getting used to living life in a radically new culture. At first, things were shocking, and also kind of exciting. And some days I still have ‘honeymoon’ moments of living in Southall. For instance, recently my college friend came to visit, and we had a delicious South Indian lunch (pictured above). Yay Little India!

But then there are other days when the little differences stick like sand to wet skin. Think about getting sand off your feet with a dry towel: you could sit there, rubbing until your feet get red, but there would always be just one more grain of sand hiding between your toes. Some days it’s conversations in Hindi that go straight over my head. Some days it’s sounds of Bhangra music from passing cars, the smell of curry that hangs in my neighborhood, or all of the women I see on the street wearing headscarves. These are all beautiful pieces of living in Southall. But in my human brokenness, sometimes I can only see them as unfamiliar, representing a culture I don’t yet understand.

So after about two months of living in Southall, it was nice to get away and spend a few days touring Cambridge. My friends and I rambled around the banks of the ‘Cam’ drinking in all the colorful trees, statuesque buildings and trying not to get hit by students on bikes. We ended the day at Evensong at Kings College Chapel, an experience so beautiful it was a real gift. Thanks, Father!

This is my life now!

So I landed in London...

It's been two weeks since I stepped off the plane at Heathrow, which is still hard for me to believe!  

Here we are, the three apprentices (Me, Whitney and Danielle) with our pile of luggage, ready for adventure!

We arrived! England! And true to England, it was rainy and cold...

And then I learned this very British truth, any day the sun comes out in London is THE BEST DAY EVER.

My first night in my flat I found the BIGGEST spider I've ever seen. After freaking out, I killed it. Mary: 1, London Spiders: 0. Let the games begin.

Two days after I arrived, my new friend S took me on a tour of Southall: down the packed broadway, to the Asha shop for a wonderful curry lunch (my first curry in London!) and lastly to the important trains/bus stops. This was the first day I knew I was in Little India! 

When you live in Southall, this is typical mail. 

My Lunch! And it only cost .50 pence!

 The first day of MAP we had the task of feeding eight of us lunch for £4, and so after some deliberation we decided on a loaf of bread, a large hunk of cheese and a roll of "Ham & Pistachio" meat. It was cheap, and everyone survived. Success!

Here are my new friends, with their .50 pence lunches...

Danielle is clearly unsure of the deliciousness she was about to enjoy! Yummm mixed meat!

At the end of my first full week and a half in London, Danielle and I took a walk to St. Pauls. Because we live in London now. (!!)

What's Happening?

Summary: I am moving to London in 30 days, to live and work in Southall.

What you will find below: posts from my time with a French missionary, Summer of 2011. And some pictures from this past year at home.

What's happening next?

Something like...

Experiments in trusting God more than I am comfortable with.
Learning how to live and work in a lifestyle of this trust I can't take credit for.
Definitely pictures.
Hopefully some good stories.

Here we go!

XO

Is it raining in there? It's raining out here, too. --Winnie the Pooh

Today is gloomy, windy and rainy.  And possibly the end of the world. 

What more reason to be thankful for a fall filled with blessings. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the last few months.

September

  

October

November

What? I'm back in MA?

Echoing my friend Monica's last post that was titled "What? That just happened?" I've been home for a week and still feeling whiplash from the last three weeks in France.

After working and feeling blessed by about a million little and big conversations at the language school I was thrown into my last position as a counselor at camp TED head first.

I wrote this blog during TED but neglected to post it, here goes:

I have to be honest; it was hard to switch into my final role as camp counselor. Over the course of this internship, I’ve had the chance to occupy the role of houseguest, intern, work group member and dinner guest. Staying with three different French families made me helpless to my own schedule—I didn’t know when I would eat, go out or have time to myself. This was definitely a chance to practice being patient with others and myself, by the third home, I was anxious to have my own room and space at the language school.

At the school, being a part of the work group was easy. We hung out with Thierry and Phillip, and completed light manual labor. Each night we were dinner guests, at either a french family or a missionary home, an awesome opportunity to meet people and hear their stories.

One of the families I loved meeting with were the Kroners. They are at the language school to learn French to head to the country of Chad. I remember sitting in their living room hearing about how God pulled them to consider missions, and then showed them that He wanted them to move to Chad. Listening to Mrs. Kroner I could see how much care they're taking while living out their call to missions. Each step is taken in faith, bathed in prayer and with the utmost attention on the welfare of their boys. I liked listening to them and hearing about their heart for God as a family.

The day we traveled up the road to Champfleuri was full of anticipation. Over the past two years Monica and I have come to see Champfleuri as basically the best place on earth. We've met God here in various ways, and we were excited to see God move again this year.

I thought being a camp counselor would be the easiest of all my roles this internship, because it’s a role I already know how to do, and in some ways I can see that it is easier. Compared with other years, I am not as intimidated by the French kids. Usually the first day when they all arrive fills me with excitement and fear—they are “other” and I am the norm. But for the past four weeks I’ve been the outsider in a foreign land, so when I saw them arrive it was natural—of course there are French kids: I’m in France!

However getting used to the hectic pace of camp life and be a good counselor has taken a toll on me and the other two interns. We’ve been learning to trust each other and get along in a new environment. It has definitely been harder than we imagined.

[Editors note: looking back, its probably good I didn't end up blogging during TED--I think my posts would have been mostly me complaining about being tired...]

Let me tell you what it’s like to work at an English learning French Camp.

Mornings include a prayer meeting, breakfast, small groups and a big talk. During mealtimes it’s the counselor’s job to sit amongst the French campers and get them to speak English. Breakfast is definitely the hardest meal to facilitate conversation because the kids are tired and don’t want to speak English. When I woke up today, I wanted to fall right back asleep. Every evening after the kids go to bed the counselors have a meeting called the “Cinqieme” or the fifth meal of the day. During the Cinquieme we debrief about the day, have some food, and prep for the next day. Last night’s meeting was long, so I didn’t get to bed until 12:00. [See what I mean?!]

Monica and I were definitely not disappointed in one way: we met God again, we saw Him really run this camp, and we were awe struck that we could be a part of it all.

Kids wanted to talk about God. Everyone was singing the songs. There were hardly any discipline issues. Everyone was happy to be together and there were very few cliques. It was definitely a mountain top time for many people, and now that its over, I know we're all sad TED is over.

As I'm back in the swing of life at home, I'm trying to remember the great and small ways I saw God work over the past two weeks and thank Him for it all. Its hard being at home. It's hard to discover what's 'normal' now. More on this in my next post.