Back to life, back to reality
I've been infused with an energy that only comes from warm spring sunshine! I love this time of year; I love that the days are getting longer, with the sun waking me up in the morning earlier and the evenings getting longer as well. Je craque (I go crazy) for trees blooming with buds like pink cottonballs. I just want to be outside every minute. Today at lunchtime I sat out on my balcony in the sunshine for the first time since probably October.
Yesterday was quite the busy day. I received a call while I was in Lyon, telling me my carte de sejour was ready at the police station in Merignac, where I live. I don't know why I have to apply for my long-term visa at the police station, but that's the system. I went early to pick it up and I have to admit, I felt a certain satisfaction when I slid the plastic card in my wallet that makes me legal for another year in France. This year's picture is slightly better than last year's, at least. It has to be in black and white; you're not allowed to smile, and you have to have your bangs pushed back, so your whole face is visible. I look like a cadavre, all in shades of grey with my face somber. But last year's picture was even worse, because it was an ID photo left over from 2004 when I weighed about 50 pounds more than I do now!
I had to rush to the store to buy groceries and then rush back home to clean my apartment, because yesterday afternoon, I hosted my first ever Bible study for the women's club I joined several months ago. Only one woman came (to our knowledge we're the only Christians), but I'm going to do a study on Ecclesiastes ("Searching for Meaning in Life") so we're hoping some of the Jewish women may come next month.
I have a pile of work that I'm catching up on, since I've come back from Lyon. This is tax season and I'm trying to schedule my churches for my furlough. My plan to email the pastors has proved to be a decent start. I've booked about ten churches without having to make expensive phone calls. Many of the pastors have agreed that email is a great way to work out the details of a missionary schedule.
In other news . . . another one bites the dust! I can tell I'm coming to the end of a term because all my clothes are starting to give up the ghost. This morning I said goodbye to another favorite tee-shirt. When I put my arm through the sleeve, the entire seam ripped clean away. I've had this "Hard Rock Cafe Amman" tee-shirt since roughly 1999, so I guess after years of wearing it, then sleeping in it, then working out in it, it has the right to be retired.
Also in other news . . . the host of this free site, blogger.com, has made some changes lately, so my posts may look a little different. I like to put my French words in color, but it won't give me that option. I'm trying to figure out why.
Yesterday was quite the busy day. I received a call while I was in Lyon, telling me my carte de sejour was ready at the police station in Merignac, where I live. I don't know why I have to apply for my long-term visa at the police station, but that's the system. I went early to pick it up and I have to admit, I felt a certain satisfaction when I slid the plastic card in my wallet that makes me legal for another year in France. This year's picture is slightly better than last year's, at least. It has to be in black and white; you're not allowed to smile, and you have to have your bangs pushed back, so your whole face is visible. I look like a cadavre, all in shades of grey with my face somber. But last year's picture was even worse, because it was an ID photo left over from 2004 when I weighed about 50 pounds more than I do now!
I had to rush to the store to buy groceries and then rush back home to clean my apartment, because yesterday afternoon, I hosted my first ever Bible study for the women's club I joined several months ago. Only one woman came (to our knowledge we're the only Christians), but I'm going to do a study on Ecclesiastes ("Searching for Meaning in Life") so we're hoping some of the Jewish women may come next month.
I have a pile of work that I'm catching up on, since I've come back from Lyon. This is tax season and I'm trying to schedule my churches for my furlough. My plan to email the pastors has proved to be a decent start. I've booked about ten churches without having to make expensive phone calls. Many of the pastors have agreed that email is a great way to work out the details of a missionary schedule.
In other news . . . another one bites the dust! I can tell I'm coming to the end of a term because all my clothes are starting to give up the ghost. This morning I said goodbye to another favorite tee-shirt. When I put my arm through the sleeve, the entire seam ripped clean away. I've had this "Hard Rock Cafe Amman" tee-shirt since roughly 1999, so I guess after years of wearing it, then sleeping in it, then working out in it, it has the right to be retired.
Also in other news . . . the host of this free site, blogger.com, has made some changes lately, so my posts may look a little different. I like to put my French words in color, but it won't give me that option. I'm trying to figure out why.