Yesterday was officially the one month mark! While it initially felt like the first week was as long as a month, my time here has started to balance out and this month mark feels right on track. I am starting to get a bit antsy and restless and my time for relaxing and laying low is coming to an end. While I have enjoyed settling in, I must venture out and explore my new home!
Not only was yesterday my one month anniversary, but it was also my brother Alex's birthday - Joyeux Anniversaire mon frère!! Five years ago to the day, I was vacationing in France celebrating my brother’s birthday with a glass of Beaujolais Nouveau!
Time is a funny concept… It has been 5 years since the last time I was here; over 2 years of longing for this journey, and now I am one month in … So much to process and explore, with endless possibilities and unknown adventures, but all with perfect precision and timing that is neither too short nor too long, but right on track with the rhythm and tune of the path we travel and trudge.
So on this day I checked the bus schedule and map and ventured out to an English speaking church in Lyon. While waiting at the first bus stop I had a friendly chat in French with a man at the bus stop who was very sensitive and patient with my broken French and tolerant to my level of understanding, tailoring his speech to encourage conversation. After boarding the second bus I arrived at the Lyon Anglican Church where I was greeted in the all too familiar and missed language of English!! A nice treat and sense of comfort and belonging, all too perfect for fitting into a community of church goers. I had the sense that I may the only North American there, as various accents permeated the room, but none sounded quite like my own. Before and following the service I met a few women who were welcoming and eager to share their experiences and information on various events and groups hosted by the church. Perhaps I have added a link to my chain of cultural connection…
Maybe the winds are changing direction, but I somehow became directionally savvy and took a completely different bus home. One I had not researched or visualized on a map, but rather had seen the stop, looked at the direction of travel, and knew that it was within the area of chez moi! Plus I was hoping to grab a bite to eat at a café or bistro and practice my ordering in French while starting a new novel in English.
I guess my entitled conveniences of North American culture have not completely subsided, as I forgot that it was Sunday and in traditional European standard, most shops, restaurants, boulangeries and cafés are closed for a day of rest. While those that are open are only open for a few hours in the morning closing at noon. So I headed home and feasted on jambon with way too much bread and cheese and settled in for a much needed sieste!!
Later that afternoon I celebrated Alex’s birthday with coffee and French pastries!! (And somehow one month in I am down 1 kg – a diet of butter, bread, cheese, chocolate and olive oil does a body good!!!) It was a good time of celebration and a realization that my understanding of the French language is improving and my deer in headlights expression is beginning to fade! I was able to participate in the conversation, with brief exchanges and simple sentences, and even more exciting I was able to follow the flow of conversation with fewer periods of misunderstanding!
The night ended with a familiar North American tradition of ordering in pizza, and playing backgammon with my dad. And so, it was a day of new experiences, discoveries and learning; while embracing and appreciating some much needed conveniences of home.
No comments:
Post a Comment