dreaming

I have a friend.
Her name is Christina.
She is a dreamer.
She is teaching me to be a dreamer.
It's a lot of fun.
I am learning to dream big.
Real big.
Not that I didn't dream big before.
But this kind of dreaming goes back to your childhood.
Where the world is all mine.
What the next few years will hold is unknown.
I just know.
I am learning to dream.
Big.

Love, Me

Istanbul

So I am finally back in a semi-routine after having been on holiday for 2 weeks. It was quite funny once I said this outloud, but I called my family on Easter to visit and with my family they have started doing a 90 minute update of your life. Everyone gets a chance to share and I just happened to call them in the middle of this so I got to give a recap of what I have been up to. I asked my father, so when do you want me to start the recap since I don't see y'all? He said, February 12. I said ok, well, since February 12 I have had 4 weeks of vacation. Ha ha. Seriously?? I didn't realize that I have been on holiday SO much this year already.

Anyways, I am happy to say that I bought at ticket to Istanbul this morning!!! I am going June 17-19. My good friends from Texas invited me to join them on part of their 3 week trip around the middle east and the first stop is in Istanbul. I happily accepted!! I had to muster up the courage to ask my host mom about the dates though because I am a chicken and hate asking for favors but she said it was fine for me to take a Friday off and I was so excited to hear that!

These next few weeks hold quite a bit of traveling, which I am super excited about, because after spending a two week holiday in Paris with no plans, I am happy to resume my new life of being a world traveler. Next weekend I am headed to London for 3 days for a church conference. I am super excited, except for the exchange rate. The exchange rate for US dollars to British pounds is almost 2-1 right now so I have been trying to save my euros but its hard when you don't make much money.
Then, the beginning of June is another bank holiday here in France and so I get Thursday and Friday off and my friends and I are headed to Vannes, France for the 4 day weekend to spend some time getting some fresh air and hopefully enjoying the French beach. I love road trips and am super excited about this one.

Anyways, thought I would let you share in my excitement for the next few weeks!!!

Oh, and I am super stoked to announce that my good friend AMY from Texas booked her ticket to come to Paris yesterday. She is coming in October, not yesterday. I am so excited to welcome her to my new home and show her a good time! Anyone else who wants to follow suit is very welcome here!!!

Ok, well, I need to get ready to go to Paris tonight.... Miss you all lots, Kara

is my life really that interesting???

Hello there! I have had some random thoughts flowing through my brain over the past few days. Like, is my life really that interesting?? Now that I blog I think constantly about what would be interesting to share with you guys back home. It seems like a lot of days, my life could be a comic strip as I am constantly having to jump hurdles (figuratively), learn new trades, experience new things or I just have a stupid moment.

Par example, (that was in French), this past week I was telling my friend Maya how disappointed I was by the lack of Easter hype here. I am coming to realize that America is just super materialistic and they make every holiday into a big deal, decorating and selling stuff and creating stories lines for tv shows and movies and events all for that certain holiday. Here in France, I have seen easter chocolates being sold at grocery stores and bakeries, but small sections and not overdone like in America. Huge change. I believe in the real reason for Easter, but I was brought up with the silly Easter traditions as well, and I wanted to partake in some of those. So Maya and I came up with this grand idea of painting eggs this weekend. We went to our friends house today for brunch and lucky enough omelet's were on the menu so we "blew" the eggs out of the shell with pin pricked holes and saved them for after the brunch. Then we all sat around the table and painted our 20 easter eggs like any good American kid would do. Really, I would have loved to DYE the eggs but unfortunately for us, we didn't have dye, AND here in France, the eggs are all brown. No white ones. Weird, I know. This evening, Maya took the eggs home and created egg necklaces so tomorrow at church I will be wearing an egg necklace along with Maya and whoever else has no shame. Now I am one happy gal!!! And it was so much fun to be silly and carefree and create an experience with people who are all raised differently and come from different backgrounds and countries, to come together and share a simple and silly tradition together. It warms my heart.

Second thing that happened today was a bit on the dramatic side. I had a "blonde" moment, ok, I lie, not one, but multiple! I stupidly forgot it was a weekend and the buses don't run past dinner time so I missed the last bus to my town. Yes, go me! I had to go home, I had no where to stay in Paris tonight, I was ready to change out of my 2 day old outfit, and brush my teeth, take a shower and rest. But how was I to get home?? I have two options when I miss my bus...call my host family or call my good friend Christina. Thankfully Christina came through for me at the last moment but before I knew the fate of my evening I had successfully bitten off all my nails. ugh. (side note: calling my host family is a bit stressful and requires precise timing because they eat dinner at 7:30, the kids go to bed at 8:30pm so I can't bother them between 7-9pm and who wants to drive to the train station after 9pm when you've just had a long Saturday? yea, me neither!)
So anyways, Christina saved my life again! She has done this several times and I really owe her a limb or my first born or something like that. Anyways, we decide to spend some time together this evening so we go back to my house first so I can grab some things (ie: Mac and Cheese because that was her payment for coming to get me tonight) and I stupidly leave my cell phone AND keys on my bed and leave the house. Smart one. The smartest part was that I didn't realize my mistake until ELEVEN PM. 23h!!! I thought I was going to die. We rushed home in hopes that my host father was still up watching tv so I wouldn't wake anyone, but seriously, who leaves their house to go out for the night without their cell phone OR keys to return home? ...ME! By the grace of God, and only Him, (I really feel God had pity on me today because my host father is not normally awake this late these days) my host father was still up AND the door had not been locked for the night. Talk about Drama. And by drama I mean a lot of internal STRESS. By this point though I had at least filed, buffed, and repainted my nails (a big deal) so I am ok now.

Anyways, needless to say, sometimes I wonder if my life was like this back in the States or if France has changed me to lead a crazy life and become crazy all at the same time?!
...maybe when your life involves depending on so many things (ie, trains, metros, buses) all coming together, life can become a little more interesting?

All I can say is that I am happy the evening is over, that I survived, and that I made a lot of great memories along the way! Tomorrow is Easter and while I am super bummed that I am not with my family and worshiping at my church back home, I am excited (trying to stay positive here) to create some more new memories and celebrate in a different way, in a different church and with different people.

Happy Easter, Joyeuses des Paque, and hope you all are having a great weekend!!!

(Pictures to come of my easter egg necklace, don't you worry!!!)

Love, me

courgette

courgette being devoured

mon amie Maya serving me water

so so happy to have gotten some fresh courgette

"sassy kara"

courgette-zuchini


Love, me

2 book recommendations

I have been spending a large amount of my time lately reading. Gosh, I love reading.

One thing about being here that I enjoy most of the time is the public transportation. When I was in college I used to drive long distances to get to school. Anyone who knows me knows I disliked small towns (ha, funny that I live in one now) and that I like the finer things in life, therefore I used to live far from where my University was and way in the heart of a nice city. I used to spend so much time driving that I would get irritated thinking about how much time I was wasting and how I wish I could have a driver or an alternative form of transportation so I could make good use of that time I had to spend traveling.

Now, the tables have turned and I am living in a small village (also known as a suburb but a small village nonetheless) instead of the city and traveling to the city, but I still spend at least an hour traveling to get into the heart of Paris every time I want to go. Since being here I have told myself time and time again that I need to make good use of that time I am sitting on a bus, train or metro as that is exactly what I had been wishing for for the past several years and that is what I have been doing.

I spent so much time listening to podcasts, music, reading, sleeping, etc, but lately, with the weather being nice and inspiring me to learn new things, I have been spending quite a bit of time reading.

All that to say, here are a few books I highly recommend. Now, take these recommendations as you wish because I have come to realize I have a very specific type of book I like to read: American heroism. haha. So if you aren't American or don't like biographies/auto biographies then you might not be as interested in these books, but I think they are worth reading and if you have the same interests in books, then I say its worth your time!!

1. When Hell Was In Session
This book is about Jeremiah A. Denton, Jr. who was a POW in North Vietnam for 7 years during the Vietnam War. He was tortured for many of those years by the North Vietnamese and refused to give up or give in. This book is incredible but also very gory. It tells of how he was put on tv at one point and blinked in morse code that he was being tortured for the world to known and the Vietnamese never caught on until after he had been released. It's incredible to learn the lengths these POW's went through to not give any information to the Vietnamese that could harm the Americans during war, but took all the penalties in the world.

2. Let's Roll
This book I just started yesterday, but I am reading it for the second time. It's another rather sad story as it was written by Lisa Beamer, the wife of one of the heroic men and women who were tragedy killed on 9-11. Her husband was on the plane who crashed into the field in Pennsylvania and she tells about his life and what an incredible man he was to all around him, but also, the great lengths he went to on that plane with the hijackers and the people aboard. I read this book when i was in high school, for the first time, and had requested to have it sent to Paris so I could reread it and I am already enjoying it again. It's an easy read but a good one.

Anyways, I hope you find these recommendations useful and I hope you are all enjoying some book under the warm sun some this week or weekend!

Love, me

i live a hard life

yesterday i had a rather pleasant day basking in the parisian summer sun of my neighbors lawn while the children played together for hours on end. how wonderful.

then i come home to a rather unpleasant discussion with my host mother. nothing to mention, just a frustrating situation that is over and done with.

and today i had the day off and spent the morning with the same neighbor has yesterday at the market in a near town and then spent hours upon hours reading a wonderful book in front of the Eiffel Tower.

some days my life is hard and other times my life is really hard! everyday I (try) to realize that the small crappy moments I may experience are nothing in comparison to the amazing memories I am making here and how blessed I really am.

Thats all, me!

Monet's Gardens

This is where I was yesterday. Later I will have to show you my painting...I am a future Monet! I found my calling in life! :-)

Anyways, I know its all pictures of flowers but the flowers were just to die for!!!

Gotta go clean now! Hope everyone has a perfect Friday!

Love, me

and the next day was better

So forgive me for last night's post if you read it. Just was one of those days where things seem to be going wrong and you seem to be misunderstood and the world just seems to be slipping through your fingertips without you having a say. Yea, so pitty party over.

Today is another day, a new day! And yes it was!

I am ever grateful for my friends here. And i say this ALL.the.freaking.time but I really mean it.

Point in case: today I had plans to go to Monet's Gardens with my friend Maya. Boy was it an adventure, but an adventure I won't soon forget!

Today Maya and I rented bikes and rode from Vernon to Giverny, had a picnic under a tree next to Monet's house, took way too many pictures, painted for hours like Monet must have done, and returned to Paris. All in a days time.

Some highlights:

1. Actually speaking in french and being understood and being able to respond back. yes, i bought our tickets in french. score!

2. sat by the pond in Monet's garden's painting away the afternoon

3. being told by an older french woman (in french) that Maya and I were the the future Monet's. haha.

4. a few different people asking if they could take our pictures because they thought it was so cool that we were sitting and painting (and we just thought i'd be fun...which it was)

It was such a nice escape for a day, because as awesome as Paris is, sometimes even the Parisians need a day away. (or the wanna be Parisians)

Does anyone know if Monet's garden's has season pass? haha.

Hope you're having a great week!!!!

Love, me

its just one of those days

its just one of those days.
too many things on my mind.
not enough answers. or time. or energy.

all i hold onto is the truth!

(I am blessed!!! because this is the truth)

...tomorrow is a new day! and by new day I mean that I am hoping to get out of the city for some fresh air. well, maybe just a little fresher.

miss you all like whoaaaaaa right now.

looked up plane tickets to texas for christmas. how does two weeks sound?

well, i am off to bed to sleep on some things. hoping to wake up fresh and renewed.

too many choises

There are just too many things that I could tell you. Probably none of them as interesting on paper as they might seem in my head, but this is my blog so I can write about nothing and get away with it.

I have two things I wish to discuss today on the "It's ALL about Kara show" right here on the Kara blog. Yes, thank you!!

First, yesterday I thought it would be a fabulous idea to wear nearly 4 inch heels around Paris.
(I'm not quite sure this needs much explaining but I will...)
So since my family is out of town and left me their car I had the opportunity to sleep in my bed for the first time on a Saturday night in who knows how long. I go to church every Sunday in Paris and since the buses are not very frequent on Sundays here, I usually stay in the city at my weekend home so I can make it on time. Well, because I had the car I was in control of myself yesterday. (funny to be relearning freedom at age 24, but it is bliss). Well, I thought I knew my schedule for yesterday, church, lunch, bowling, dinner... ok, I can dress cute and wear heels and that'll be that! HA! Boy, was I wrong!
1. My friends decided we were going to eat lunch at jardin du Luxenburg. not too far from the location of the church but long enough.
2. then they decided to grab subway (one of the 3 fast food restaurants in Paris so its not like we had much of a choice) but didn't want to wait in one line so decided to walk to the other side of the worlds largest park to stand in another line.
3. In walking through the park I had to walk on cobble stone streets, soft grass, AND most of the time it was dusty pebbles. Yes, exactly my kind of exercise.
4. Only to get to the other side of the park and find that the line at this subway was equally as long if not longer than the other one. Oh joy!
5. After the park (and my much needed break from walking) we headed off to bowling. The one thing about this awesome park is that its so large there are no metros very close, so yes, more walking on all those aforementioned types of ground.
6. And then we get to the metro only to go down under and half to walk a few city blocks to get to the right line. (i am not complaining, only explaining)
7. ok, this is getting boring....long story short, nothing was close to the metros.. nothing!

I contemplated stealing the bowling shoes at one point because I was so determined not to have to walk another step in 3.5 inch heels. Sure I'd be out a pair of cute heels but I'd also have happier feet. Atlas, I gave back the bowling shoes and reluctantly put on my really "cute" shoes. (they weren't so cute at this point in the day)

Besides the fact that I will never again try to suck it up just to look cute, it was a fabulous day. It was hot as heck (except, not as bad as Texas), beautiful day for a picnic in the park (along with every other Parisian and tourist), and I experienced another first yesterday: bowling in Paris. And dinner last night can't even be put into words. Not at all. All I can say is that every day and every week I am amazed at the incredible people I continue to meet (except I already knew all these people) and get to know better. Last night reminded me of being at home with my friends: the jokes, the laughs, the meals shared, the no walls up, no caring about what anything thought before you opened your mouth... except this time, it wasn't just my American friends, it was new awesome incredible friends from all over the world.

**side note: can I just mention to you how amazed I am time and time again when I realize when I am eating meals with friends who many nationalities are represented around the table. Last night was 4. Usually the number is higher, but in a group of 7, 4 nationalities is a lot, in my opinion.


Ok, well, now I forgot the 2nd thing I was going to discuss with you so I will leave it at that! My holiday has already started off with a bang and its been nothing out of the ordinary, just amazingly awesomely my life. I dare you all to come and join in with me... come July I will have spare space!!!

I feel blessed. because I am.

<3 me

Au revoir et bonnes vacances

As of about 20 minutes ago I said AU REVOIR and BONNES VACANCES to my family and they left on holiday. And I am sitting in my room with the window opening listening to the birds chirping (and a little country music, i'm from texas, y'all) so excited about having the house to myself for a week! ONE WHOLE WEEK!

(and i did i mention they left me the car, also??)

So let's see how little money I can spend this week while maximizing the fun. yes!



And on a side note, I just have the most awesome friends here. I have really been homesick which is a weird feeling because I have no desire to go back to Texas right now. I think homesick for the comforts of home? food, people, lake houses, floating the river, FREEWAYS (sad, but true), my car, etc.
but, this is what one friend wrote to me on facebook:

"France is the most beautiful place on earth for God called u there to use u! He has amazing plans for u over here: just rejoyce about how blessed and highly favored u are lil'sista!!"

Anyways, some days I really miss the comforts of Texas and being in America, but on those days I am reminded why I am here and just how blessed I am.

Alright, well, I'm off to start my vacation myself....

CHEERS to some R&R spent at home, and by home i mean PARIS, and by Paris, i mean, my home!!!

Love, me

hier

yesterday i found out some wonderful news.

thanks to my investigative skills. not really, but because i took the time to look into some paperwork, I was able to take away one of my stresses right now. yay!

So i apologize in advance but this isn't that interesting to people who don't live in paris or don't really know places with metros, but here we go.

so I have a metro pass, its a student one. with this student pass it enables me to travel anywhere in Paris during weekends and holidays, the rest of the week mon-friday i only have the ability to travel between zones 4 and 5 which is where i live. the center of paris is zones 1-2, you can see a problem here, yea? it costs about 8 euros round trip to get from where i live to paris, and on my income, thats not really feasible. anyways, I have been stressing some lately about this summer when I move to Paris and how I'm going to get around because the family I am going to be working for was not going to supply me with a metro pass for the center of paris and i'm trying to save money, not waste it all. Well, i looked into my paperwork for my metro pass yesterday and found out that my current family has paid for my metro pass up until september 1 of this year, even 2 months after i am no longer with them, AND from july 1-august 31 is a holiday therefore with my already paid metro pass i will have access to all of paris, including the center zones where I will be living.

This is such a blessing!!! It seems so small but I really see this as such a huge blessing because its like someone telling you people in Texas, "you're gas is paid for for the next two months". Wouldn't you be happy??? i thought so!

So basically, I am one happy gal right now!!! One stress down, and focusing on the positive...

AND its holiday starting....TONIGHT!!!!!! for one week I am family free, kid free and am on my own... hallelujah!!!

Love, me

je suis la

I am back!!! Not that I was really gone that long, but it feels like a while that I was without my computer.

Anyways, a lot, as usual, has been going on in my life over here.

The weather has completely changed and its is so beautiful here. 60's and 70's F and in the sun even warmer. The awesome thing about Paris weather is that its never really THAT hot. All you have to do it duck under a tree and its cool again. I am sitting here writing with my windows open, listening to the sounds of nature and using all the natural light that will pour into my itty bitty room. I rarely use lamps or lights anymore. If anything, the sun is so bright that most afternoons I have to pull down my shutters so my room doesn't burn down.

This weather has also given me a chance to recover from my horrible, no good, very bad week which was how I would describe last week for me. There was not one main thing that happened, just a series of frustrating events, my mind playing mean tricks on me and just uninspired moods. But with this awesome weather has brought some awesome moods which lead to me being productive, positive and living for today, as opposed to sleeping the day away.

I just got back from taking Antoine to foot (soccer) and I was thinking and walking and looking around and it hit me, I realized that THIS is exactly why I love where I am. France in general, but Paris, is just a beautiful place. I know I live in the suburbs which at times can be even more beautiful because there is more green and nature surrounding me, but when it hits spring, the flowers bloom, the trees bloom. DUH Kara. But seriously, being from Houston and then living in Dallas, not much stays alive for too long. There is so much concrete and not much greenery, and if there is, it struggles to stay alive. Here, the grass is green, the flowers are in full bloom, and its just absolutely beautiful. It makes the fact that I have to walk up a steep hill everyday worth it.

Next week I have a week off and I have decided to stay in Paris and in my town. At first I was a little bummed by this decision because its the first GOOD holiday weather since I've been here and I'm staying HERE. WHy not travel? I mean, I traveled when it was snowing outside for Christmas, then I traveled to Italy when it was raining constantly and semi-cold, and now the weather is incredible and I'm not traveling? But you know, the more I thought about it, the more I realized how much I am going to enjoy spending time in my town without anyone at home to bother me or having to worry about picking up kids or going to French class. I am going to enjoy spending time in Paris uninterrupted without having to worry about finding someone to stay with at night. And I am going to take advantage of this beautiful weather and take day trips. Where you might ask? Oh, just some of the most beautiful places around... I will be returning to Versailles, of coarse. So close and yes, so beautiful! And FREE! (for me) I hope to take a bike with me and explore the gardens that way. And then last fall I took a trip to Giverny to see Monet's Gardens and unfortunately it was already after the weather had changed to fall and the flowers were no longer beautiful, so I am hoping to make a return trip there. Other than that, spring has given me and i am sure the rest of Paris, the motivation and inspiration to get up out of our beds, away from our tv's and computers and go explore and sit at the parks and read books under trees and walk down the Seine, and eat on the patios. Hmm, this is making my mouth water just thinking about it.
So after all, I am no longer down or bummed about not leaving Paris. Actually, I am the complete opposite...looking forward to my wonderful week of bliss ahead!!!

Anyways, later today or tomorrow I plan on taking pictures of the amazing trees and flowers that are blooming all around. It would only be right for me to do this since I have shown you the different seasons as they have come since I have been here. It's incredible to see the changes in seasons since I have never before experienced that. Wow! All I have to say is that God is one incredible God who sends us gifts in the form of beautiful nature constantly. Just take a moment to look around, even in a city such as Houston, there is beautiful nature everywhere, if you take the time to notice.

Well, i miss y'all all dearly but I can't say I want to come home right now, haha. With spring here and summer approaching, I am so excited about the here and now and the upcoming...

Love, me