The Adventures of Jen

This is your life - are you who you want to be?

Monday, January 30, 2006

i forgot to say something

so its rained like a total of 10 days here in marseille since ive been here. most of the time its nice. but however, i have gone through 3 umbrellas. i just broke my third one yesterday. and it was new!!!!! the wind here is so strong. so i need to buy another umbrella. making it 4 umbrellas for 10 days of rain... the one yesterday was snapped in half. i am walking along, minding my own business when all of a sudden the top part just flies away. with out me. there was no mary poppins action. but my mouth is hanging open in shock and then i chase it down. thinking, i bet i can fix this. there are people in their cars lookign at me like im a weirdo.

im going to invent a SUPER UMBRELLA. one that withstand winds of 300mph.

today raquel and i went for a run. it was perfect running weather. and we ran for maybe 30 min and it was easier than i thought. i guess im not in as bad shape as i thought.

however, i was rudely reminded of of of the 2 reasons i dont run in france. (the first reason.. im lazy) but the second reason is becuase i hate when people comment to me or whistle or whatever. you dont talk to me on the bus or metro so really what do you people have to say when i am running. exactly. dont whistle. dont say things. just keep on walking.


ok well i am heading over to my neck of the woods. it will be nice when i finally just move in here.

have a good day

good times in france

So last week was a good week. I was busy, and it was good. Tuesday night, we had our small bible study group lik usual. it was at vero's place. my students were fun. i asked them all a question at the beginning of class "if you could have any superpower, what superpower would you chose and why? my favorite answer was "the ability to eat anything and as much as i want without getting fat" you know what? thats the super power i would choose. many of my students said they already had that power, to them i responded, yeah i had the same power when i was in high school...its short lived.

thursday there was a suicide in the metro. raquel was on one of the metro trains and they all had to be evacuated becuase somewhere in the other part of the metro there was someone who committed suicide. it was really a somber time because it just makes me sad that someone could be so unhappy as to thro themselves in front of a metro. i cant imagine how the conductor is taking this or the others who saw.

friday i went to raq and rach appartment (soon to be mine as well) and we twatched 7 years in tibet. but we all kept getting phone calls so it was more like 17 years in tibet.

sat morning i got up and got ready and went to a students house to meet her family. some students may come to the US this summer for 3 weeks so i was there to meet her family. it was really nice and we had Raclette! it was a nice time. then i was soo full. and i went back to the apartment and took a nap. it was like 6pm. then ruth lise and olivier called wanting to know why we didnt come over for the little cheese party. so raquel and i went and it was fun. i didnt eat... i was too full. then we played jungle speed. this is a great game. i love playing it and i won!!!!!

that night i slept over at Ruth lise's and we joked around and stayed up late. it was good. and we were talking before bed, and it was then i realized that my french has gotten a lot better. it was really natural to just sit there and listen to her and have conversations without really thinking. in fact, this weekend i spoke a lot of french and its easier. now it is rare that i say something and noone understands, or i cant say what i want to say. the family on sat told me that i dont speak like a french person, but i speak naturally and easily and better than most. so that was encouraging...

then sunday we went to church. vero came to our church as well. after church we had a group meal. like usual. then i studied some japanese and read my bible before a little soiree. then i went to meet with some french people, a kenyan, and my chinese friends. we had crepes... go figure i ate a ton again. and it was really nice. there is a girl at my church who is french and shes goign to teach french in china for a couple of months, so we had this gathering for her.

then i came home and talked with the r girls. we analyzed our personalities and apparently i am an otter and have a sanguine personality. after reading about it, i agree


today i am pretty serious about getting stuff done becuase this will be another busy week and i am going to montpellier next weekend. then the weekend after that im goign to toulouse and then after that, lyon.

oh yeah... guess who has a 5 year high school class reunion this summer?! thats right! me! i am excited. you know it should be interesting as i invented post-its. (if you know where the post it idea comes from, i love you and you are awesome!)

Thursday, January 26, 2006


taboo! Posted by Picasa


may, marie christine, rith lise, me and harry Posted by Picasa


some of my students. they love english cant you tell? Posted by Picasa


xuelian and me! Posted by Picasa


this is a cookie/candy store in marseille. i cant go here often.... Posted by Picasa


my crazy students..... Posted by Picasa


this was at a christmas party we had with a bible study. we played broomrag. good times! Posted by Picasa


crazy girls Posted by Picasa


christmas eve party harry, marie christine, me and ruth lise! Posted by Picasa


me cooking!  Posted by Picasa


me playing broom rag! Posted by Picasa


heres me and leah.. its almost like she's here with me in france. thanks for the package! Posted by Picasa


christmas giftts! a hat and a singing cow! Posted by Picasa


me with a new scarf made especially for me! Posted by Picasa


me with corn soup...my favorite from yuki and yayoi! thank you! Posted by Picasa


me with a fish from leah Posted by Picasa

Monday, January 23, 2006

sunday

sunday, yesterday, i went to church and had lunch with a group of my friends afterwards. then we went hiking! it was great. we hiked for a relly long time. its so great that the weather has been good and that marseille has lots of great things to do.


ok well i am off to plan lesson plans! hope you enjoy the pictures!


here's toulon in a glance Posted by Picasa


the view in the day Posted by Picasa


this is at toulon. i was falling.. hahah Posted by Picasa


the sunset Posted by Picasa


boats Posted by Picasa


some friends Posted by Picasa


friends who went hiking after church! Posted by Picasa


victor Posted by Picasa


christian, ruth lise and i forgot the other girls name. this is when we went hiking at the calanques on sunday Posted by Picasa