Salut!

On Monday me and Fifi set out for Orleans.  I used my new satnav and took the A roads.  Wonderful!  Satnavs really are FANTASTIC and makes driving so much less of an ordeal!  Anyway, the road from Tours to Blois is really beautiful.  You follow the Loire all the way and are surrounded by beautiful sceanery.  A lovely drive.

2 hours later I arrived in Orleans to help with the move of my friends Jean-Aime and Myriam and my favourite little French girl, Eliette!

They are moving to join a church plant in the extream subburbs of West Paris.  I’m excited for them but I’m sad too!  we are going to be 4hrs apart so it will be difficult to get to see them.

The move seemed to go well.  Here are a few pictures of the chaos!

 

 I’m back in France after a lovely lovely holiday!  Tunisia was an adventure!  The heat, the shops, the culture, the men…everything was new to us.  I’m very glad I didn’t go on my own!  I hadn’t seen Rachel for 5 years but we picked straight up from where we had left off  - a sign of a good friendship!

The temperatures rose to 43 and it was HOT!  When we were down by the beach the breeze was lovely and the sea was warm, but when we adventured farther afield it simply baked us!  Everything was blue and white.  It was beautiful.  The sky was a blue I’d never seen before - love it!

 

It was a bit scary dealing with the men.  I think about day 3 we realised that you looked no one in the eye and didn’t respond to any comment.  

We visited a few mosques and it was fascinating to learn more about the practicalities of Islam.  Reading books is one thing, but seeing it for yourself is another.  It really inspired me to go further with my reading and see if i can learn Arabic.  God has certainly moved my heart for my Muslim neighbours here in France.  (At 10%, there are more practising Muslims in France than any other religion.)

 

Rach and I were seated on a table with another couple in the hotel resturant.  We had the most amazing talks with them about Jesus.  Please pray for this young couple, they are searching for Truth.  Please pray that nothing distracts them.

An just to prove I was in North Africa…here is the obligatory photo of me and a camel!!

 

A trust fund in the UK gave me some money to go on holiday!  Yay!!    So tonight I’m flying to Stanstead and then early tomorrow morning my friend Rachel and I are flying out to Tunisia!

 It’s the first time I’ve left Europe, my first time in Africa, and my first real hotel holiday!!  I’m REALLY looking forward to it.  I chose Tunisia becuase during my time in France I have got to know many north Africans and their culture facinates me.  The food is yummy and the sun shines!

So I’m off!

I’ve not written a prayer letter this week as usual.  I thought it would be nice to do it when I get back and have some holiday snaps to share with you. 

 

Anywhere that is not in ‘La region Parisienne’ is called ‘Province’.   The Parisians are quite scornful of anybody who comes from here.  When I left Orleans people kept warning me, ‘Oh…it’s going to be different in Paris.’

 How they were right!  No more long leasurly meals, so more peace and quite, no more nipping out in the car…

But here in Tours, I’m back in Province - And I’d forgotten how nice it is!  I drove to church this morning in calm.  No cars honking, no undertaking, no craziness.  I was able to park in a carpark with loads of room - the sheer luxuary!

After the service I was invited to a BBQ.  I expected it to be Paris style, ie over in 2hrs becuase everyone has to rush off somewhere.  Oh, no…remember, I’m in Province.  We were on the patio of an old farm house out in the country, a long drawn out meal in the sun and then a walk in the woods while stopping to gobble up the wild raspberries.  I finally arrived home at 6.30pm.  Lovely!  I had forgotten how relaxed life outside Paris is…or I didn’t realise how stressful living in the city was.

I think I’m going to like it here!  

Wow - the last 48hrs have been HECTIC!

Friday night people came out of the woodwork to help me move!  It was really wonderful and actually quite good fun!  We were finished by 10.30pm and had a picnic of pizza and wine on the floor and then slept in the empty appartment.

Saturday morning we were up early.  The boys and the van left at 8.30am which left me and Hilary 1.5hours to empty the apprment of all the little things lying around and clean it from top to toe.  It was a chaos!  I completely undertimed and we were running around like headless chickens: smearing paint on marks on the wall with our hands, filling holes with paper, and trying to cram everything into my tiny car!  

We finished with 5 minutes to spare - Phew!

A lady from the agency came and we handed over the keys.  I should get all of my caution back becuase she said the flat is in a better state now than when I moved in!

Then the trauma really started.  We set off for a 2hr journey to Tours to meet the group there at 1pm who were going to help me cram all my worldly belongings into a 4m2 space.  Except, things didn’t go to plan.  We were nose to tail most of the way in the baking sun, cramped up in an over loaded car.  In the end it took us 5.5 sweaty hours to arrive at the storage facility.  The men had long finished and were waiting impatiently for us as the van had to be back in Orleans for 6pm!

In the midst of all this I realised that the bag with my knitting, phone charger and camera cable have been packed away in the container.  So no text messages, scarves or photos from me for a while! 

Phew - hot, sweaty and tired.  But God is good.  Nothing major went wrong and everything fitted in the container.   

I promised myself a little trip into Paris if I managed to get most of the packing done a day early.  So with this motivation and the stiffling heat locking me in my flat, I got on with it!

So this morning I headed off, for the last time, into Paris.  How blessed I have been to live in this wonderful city for the past year.  I LOVE IT!  I went to the Opera Garnier to join a guided tour.  It was very interesting and deffinetly worth doing if you’re ever there.  

I’ll certainly be back to Paris, as often as I can.  But living 15mins from the centre has really been fantastic.  I’m going to miss all the exhabitions, the beautiful buildings, the beautiful people, the hustle and bustle and laid back atmosphere.  However, I will not miss rush hour, commuting, the pollution, continual noise and bizarre, smelly people on the metro!

   Bye Bye

I cannot believe the parcel woman.  I had taped a big sign on the door saying ‘Collisimo - Please RING THE BELL’.  I just happened to look out of my window and I see the yellow van pull up and the woman get out.  I think, this is it!!  I’ll see what she does.  She rang a bell in the house, I could hear it faintly, but it wasn’t my bell - And then she started to get back in her van!!!!!!!! 

At this point I went running out onto the pavement and called her back.  I could not believe it.  (As Victor would say.)  I asked ‘Why didn’t you ring the bell’?  She replied, ‘I did’.  

I took her over to the door.  There are only 4 bells and each has the occupants name actually on the button itself, so you can’t confuse them.  I pointed out that my bell has my name on it.  ‘Oh, that’s yours is it, I rang the other one.’  ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!  She then continued to insist that she came yesterday and I wasn’t in.  Was she doing it on purpose?  Is she just really really dumb?  Who knows.  But becuase of her of I have lost about 100€ of packages this year.  Crazy.

 

Usually I love France.  When I need to get something done I dislike it!

So you heard my insurance company moan.  Well, here we go again! 

All year I have not been getting parcels.  It has only just dawned on me what’s happening.  I’m in a house split into 4, so we have a joint postbox.  The post office don’t like this and even though there is a door bell they won’t ring it and say the parcel is un-deliverable.

This all came to light a few weeks ago when UPS were delivering a computer part.  Fortunatly with UPS you can telephone and actually speak to someone.  It was sorted out within 24hrs.

I’ve ordered a satnav so that I don’t waste hours getting lost in Tours.  (I’ve been promising myself one for ages and I’ve finally taken the plunge.)  Anyway, AGAIN the parcel is undeliverable.  Usually they have to come back a 2nd time.  So I’ve emailed them, been to the post office (again) and stuck a big notice on the door saying "Parcel Man, Please Ring The Bell".  We’ll see what happens.  I’ll be very annoyed, not to say very lost, if it doesn’t get to me tomorrow.