hello there

I am still here. and still writing in this blog.

This past weekend I went to London for a church conference and it was incredible. It blew my mind. I will have to write about that sometime soon. That and what is on my mind a lot these days go together so when I have the time to sit down and put into words everything I am going through, I will. Just for you!
Anyways, London was good, but the whole time I was missing my city, Paris. It's crazy how much I am in love with a city. It was so strange to be in a city where I spoke and understood the language 24/7, it was strange to not understand the metro system, or wake up and be able to grab a fresh baguette. But I managed to enjoy myself and made some great memories along the way.

So speaking of London, the tube system there is horrible. Anyone from London might disagree but come to Paris and you will realize I am speaking TRUTH. In London there are about 5 tube lines (thats an exaggeration, there are more, but it seems like 5) and the tube is small and slow and you get an announcer person who tells you everything about everything at every stop along the way. Holy moly. I felt like I was in the midget subway in London compared to Paris. It was cleaner, but it was so small and so quiet. So strange. Oh, and it is super expensive. Glad I don't live there. Complicated transportation is not my idea of fun when you know what uncomplicated transportation looks like. Yea, I'm speaking of Paris.

So on Saturday evening my friend and I were on the same Eurostar back to Paris which was to leave at 7pm from the center of London and we were staying in zone 4 where the conference was being held. We decided to allow for a little over an hour to get to the center of London and get ourselves situated in case any problems arose along the way. zone 4, if you are wondering, is the suburbs. So we go to the tube station, pay, walk down, make sure we headed the right direction, and wait. The tube's done run that often (compared to Paris) so we waited about 15 minutes for a train. Then the train stops, opens doors, we get on, and the announcer comes on and says there is a problem on the line and the train will not be moving. Until further notice. Yipee!!! ...not. The tube runs on electricity and supposidly the electricity was down. How awesome. Plan B? Oh, we did not have a plan B. After waiting patiently to see if it might start running again sometime soon, I started to panic, looking at my watch and thinking to myself....WE HAVE A TRAIN TO CATCH. This really kind English police officer was very helpful and kept trying to give us options or ask for information from the Tube people but to not avail, we were stuck and we had no clue what to do. Plan B ended up being that we had to hail a taxi. Well, how cool is that? We paid for the tube (which let me remind you is expensive) which didn't work, we didn't get reimbursed, and now we have to pay for a taxi to the center of the city? Fun. About 20 hours later we found a taxi, had found an ATM to withdraw money, and headed on our way. At least we could explain in english to our taxi driver that we were in a major hurry and to drive as fast as possible PLEASE. He did just that and was so kind, and actually, I felt like he was taking on our stress at one point. Poor guy! When I say we were in a hurry, i meant, we had 20 minutes to get somewhere that normally takes 30. Then we hit traffic. Gotta love traffic. I contemplated getting out and running but figured it really would not be faster. Long story short, we made it to the train station 10 minutes before our train was scheduled to leave (we were supposed to be there at least 30 in advance), ran through security (literally), cut people in line (politely) and when we hit the line to have our passports checked and stamped there were about 50 people ahead of us. My friend and I found a guy working there who was so gracious to let us cut in line and then escorted us up the ramp to our train where it awaited us. Not 5 minutes after we boarded our train did it leave. Whew! I feel all the emotions again just writing it for you. And the best part of it all, my friend and I were able to find seats together! :-) Needless to say, I had never been to happy to see Paris, ever.

So, now I am back in town and enjoying the lovely weather we have around here. The countdowns are starting:

3 weeks until my next holiday: Vannes, France (roadtrip!)!!

5 weeks until Istanbul!

6 weeks until I move into Paris and have finished my first job in France!

6.5 weeks until Romania (for work)!

Anyways, among the fun things I am getting to do in the near future comes a few things I am still unsure of: visa, job, living, money, etc. There are a lot of unknowns still in my future. But the cool thing about this situation is that I am confident that I am here for a reason and that One who brought me here has not abandoned me and He will continue on working through me.
It's easy to get overwhelmed here as I have noticed, thinking of all the things you have to do to do anything. The government is a handful of 'who-knows-what' and trying to find a job, a place to live and get a visa all at the same time can seem like an unfeasable task, but I was reminded in the Bible in Isaiah 9:6 that the government will be on his shoulders. God is bigger than the French government. He has already conquered my visa situation!!! Hallelujah!!!

Anyways, enjoy your Wednesday!!

Love, me