Refuge in the Storm

I have received word that my family is safe following the devastating storms that ripped through the Southeast yesterday. Dozens of tornadoes touched down across the American South. My hometown in Ringgold, GA was hit very hard and the downtown area almost does not exist. The restaurants have been battered and torn. Schools are in shambles. Many people have lost their homes and some their lives.

The repercussions of such a disaster are felt across the Chattanooga region and may affect natives of Ringgold, GA for weeks, months, maybe even years to come. I am very sad for Ringgold and I grieve with people around the area. There have been numerous recent storms that have scarred places (Katrina, the tsunamis in the Near East, etc.). We never expected anything similar to these storms, anything remotely close, to hit our area. Yet, indeed storms swept by in an unbelievable way.

The Lord is with us in all things. Wherever we may be, he is there also. He has created a magnificent plan for us and gives us strength where we feel weak. He will carry us on and permit us to persevere in all things. In our grief, He is there to comfort and restore us. The Lord Jesus is our refuge in the storm of life. We clearly see that He is by looking at the passage of the storm on the Sea of Galilee and seeing how Jesus calmed the storm. Through our faith in Him, we may be comforted as we cling to the hope in Christ.

May we hold to the truth and hope in Christ, even as we grieve for the losses both in persons and in material from these storms that have ravaged the American South.

Easter in France

My Easter in France was special in two ways: (1) I played a large part in the worship service at the Reformed Church and (2) I benefited from a large party at the Griffons that included a barbecue and fellowship with friends and family of my host family. I felt blessed in both aspects of this truly beautiful Easter weekend.

At church, I was responsible for accompanying the hymns and songs for the Easter worship service. I did so with my violin. Realizing that I had a larger responsibility than I thought, I felt humbled to be able to share my violin music with the church. It gave me joy to play the hymns with the congregation. Since the church is a small room in a building, it made the worship seem even more "homely" or intimate. In addition to playing for the hymns, I also pulled out St. Patrick's Breastplate prayer to play following the message. It's such a beautiful piece to play and I enjoyed playing for the public. The message itself was encouraging and a good solid message for Easter. At the top of my head, I don't remember the exact scripture references, but the lay leader who preached focused on how the Lord took on the sin of the world even as an innocent person to cover the sins of the world. Through actively participating in the service, I felt I was giving a good part to the service. An elderly man came up to me at the end of the service and said that the violin greatly enhanced the music for the service.

When I returned from the service, the Griffons were getting ready to welcome many people for their Easter party. We took the aperitif and had lunch and then we went to the cemetery and jardin des souvenirs (memory garden), where we paid our respects to Nathy's mother (who passed away tragically in a car accident last year close to Easter). It was a solemn moment and everyone was rather sad and not many people had much to say about Nathy's mother. I honestly had no idea what to think. I didn't know if she knew Christ or not. I hoped that she did.

While at the party, I met two young women in their early thirties, one who has dual citizenship in the US and in the EU and an Asian girl. Both of them knew English so we spoke a little bit. I enjoyed eating and drinking with them during the party. Sometimes, I feel awkward in these social settings, not just because the French but because I usually don't know the people that I see. Fortunately, I was able to enjoy conversation with these women, who were nice to talk to.

Later in the day, we had our meal, which consisted of Andouillette sausage, the boudin, fruit salads, vegetables, bread, cheese, and excellent chocolate cake with custard. It was a marvelous meal and we have continued to benefit from the leftovers even today or two days later. Indeed, it was a blessed time both at the church and at home for my Easter this year.

A week in London with the Lycee, Days 4 and 5

Shakespeare's Globe Recreated (almost to meet original specifications)

The British Museum

Day 4 :

Our fourth day in London was fun and was a slight bit more relaxed than the other days. We went to the Globe Theatre in the morning, which was a welcome change. As a literary scholar, I very much appreciated being near where the actual Globe was (the one we were in was a replica of the original completed in 1997). The museum was interesting and gave me a new sense of what Shakespearean theatre was like. Having read at least half of Shakespeare's plays, I appreciated looking around and seeing things about Shakespeare's theatre. To top it off, our guide was a really cool guy and had a good sense of humor that helped our group to understand the information and stories being told.

Following our visit to Shakespeare's Globe, we went to Covent Garden. When I thought of this place, I envisioned seeing the chapel in "My Fair Lady" at the beginning of the musical (a play inspired by George Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion") And behold, I saw it with my own eyes. It's a really nice place. We had our lunch in this area. Immediately afterwards, one of the London street performers came out and attracted a large crowd. He did tricks that were quite remarkable to see. However, as all other street performers, he basically demanded money from everyone in the square, telling everyone he wasn't paid by the city of London. Interesting but maybe not the most attractive of entertainments.

One of my colleagues and I went to the British Museum a couple hours later. We went to see the Rosetta Stone, Egyptian hieroglyphics, and mummies. For some reason, the Egyptians fascinate the French and me. We were both surrounded by hundreds of French tourists who were there for perhaps the same reasons as we were. It's a wonderful museum. I found a bookmark for my dad that has the museum edifice on it that he will like. The fatigue continued to be heavy on everyone, but soon we were in the bus on our way home.

Day 5 :

The last day was easy and not too bad in the least. My group did their filming for interviews with Londoners for their class project. They talked about the diversity of population in London, a sociological question that they explored with about three different people. Finding a person who would share was difficult, but they managed well.

Lunch and then the 12 hour trip back home. We stopped at a cafeteria on the way home to have a comforting French dinner. Everyone was pleased to have that after only having the choice of pizza, fries, and pasta for four nights in a row. A welcome change again.

We arrived in Mayenne at about 1:00am and everyone was so glad to be home. There really is no place like home, and for me, Mayenne is home.

A week in London with the Lycee, Day 3

Day 3:

Day 3 fortunately turned out to be better, since we went to Buckingham Palace and got to see the changing of the guard, a bigger deal than I previously thought. I have been to the changing of the guard at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington and it's a solemn ceremony. When I thought of the changing of the guard, I thought it would be something similar. Yet, of course, I recognized I was in front of a "royal" palace rather than the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The ceremony was even funnier than I expected it to be. It was a spectacle, complete with marching of the royal guard and trumpet fanfare. Perhaps even funnier was the music that came from contemporary sources such as from the musical comedy "Hairspray" ("You can't stop the beat"). I almost had an attack of laughter when I heard this music playing. What's more the entire ceremony lasted for about two hours and everyone was sweating in the heat and absorbing UV rays. ]

Through all of this, I could only think of how funny it was that even in the midst of a democracy (Parliament) in Britain, there is still this sense of tradition in the monarchy, something that shapes the conscience of the Briton. It was pretty fascinating to feel that. Britons are proud of their history, their Pound Sterling (in spite of the Euro), even the fact that they still drive on the left side of the road. My time in front of Buckingham Palace made me think of how particular the British are. Pride in the country, the tradition, the efficiency. No wonder, so many people think London is the center of the world. (After all, every country's time zone is based on GMT or Greenwich Mean Time, which is based from a town not too far from London). Yet, it also reminded me of my own pride in the United States.


After seeing the changing of the guard, we then walked up to Trafalgar Square, where we found the National Portrait Gallery. Instead of looking at the art, I went with Anne (a colleague) to buy some tea and do a little bit of shopping and went inside Saint Martin in the Fields. (This of course, reminded me of the time when Academy of St. Martin in the Fields orchestra came to Covenant College a couple years ago. It was fascinating to go inside this church that holds a history of classical music in the London area.) Our visits were followed by a bus tour around London to ease our weary feet. (Not actually sure how far we walked, but it had to be 10-11 miles a day, almost the equivalent of a theme park. In fact, so much of being in London, made me think we were inside a theme park, looking around and queuing up for attractions. Interesting reflection to think about.)

A week in London with the Lycee (Part 1) Days 1-2

This has been an incredibly busy week and yet it has been enjoyable. The bus ride to London was long but somehow the time was able to pass rather quickly. We left in the middle of the night and arrived in the middle of the afternoon Monday. The most exciting part of the trip was crossing the English Channel (La Manche), where the bus literally boarded a train car that would take us in the Chunnel (a trip that took about 35 minutes). It was one of those Mission Impossible moments where I recalled the chase on top of the Eurostar train. Pretty sweet stuff.

Day 1: Honestly, when it came to London, I really had no idea what to expect. I had seen the sites in movies, but I was not that excited about going. Not to say I didn't want to be there, it's just I wanted the adventure. And the entire week was a fascinating adventure.

When we arrived in London, we went to a large department store called Harrolds, which sort of reminded me of Macy's in New York. Everything, of course, was out of my price range. And it felt more like a museum for la mode than a store that the middle class person could see. Then again, there are people who indeed do their shopping there, namely the aristocracy of London.

After looking through Harrolds with the students, we went to the Museum of Natural History, which had dinoasaur bones and sculptures and other cool artifacts. This museum seemed to be designed for the kids. Little kids strolling with their mommies looking at a big Tyrannasaurus Rex, amusing. This museum reminded me of the pictures I had seen of collections in my science text books from the Dark Ages (fourth and fifth grade).

Later, we checked in to the hostel, which was located in a residential area of town close to Hyde Park. It was a charming area to be in. Some of the houses lining the streets reminded me of the most recent version of the "Parent Trap," or Natasha Richardson's home in London. Interesting to think about all the representations of London in film, novel, etc. and to actually be there. The hostel was well positioned and while, it had some shortcomings as far as cleanliness and the like, it was livable for the week we were there.

At the end of the day, we went to the Pizza Factory, which turned out to be the place where we would be eating the entire time. It was incredibly funny to me when we, to our surprise, found out that we would be eating pizza, pasta, and fries (with salad)the whole time. I was with French people. The French love to eat balanced meals with bread, cheese, meat, salad, and yogurt for dessert. Unfortunately, we did not get all those things with our meal plan. What was even more funny was the fact that I sort of wanted to complain as well, seeing as I have eaten these foods for seven months and like the French diet. We survived in the end, which was good.

Planning for the next day's scavenger hunt,then we went to bed.

Day 2

Day 2 was perhaps my most stressful day, given that I would have to take a group around London all by myself and try to get my bearings on a city that is enormous. My group was all girls, who were nice and kind. The scavenger hunt turned out not to be a race but rather one in which we would see the various sites around Central London. We saw Big Ben, Parliament Square, St. Paul's Cathedral, the famous toy store in Piccadilly Circus, and a few other spots that were interesting. I have some good pictures of these areas as well. We ended up getting lost trying to get back to the Auberge (hostel). And thanks to my bad navigation skills, our treasure hunt forced us in the end to cross the entire city to get back to our hostel. However, it was good even though a little tense at times, and I had to apologize to the girls who were completely worn out by the end of the day.

Things got better, however...

Mayenne in the Spring Part III

 

 

 

 

Mayenne in the Spring Part II