Hello Everyone! Sorry to be posting so late, I got home late both Sunday and yesterday and hadn't been able to post until now.
So last week as the title says, was a very calm, not-stressful week. We've basically finished all of the bulletins and all of the filing of the bulletins so I was working mostly on Agora. I did get called out by my boss, as some of you know mornings and I do not get along. So Hamdi came up and asked me if I'd changed my hours and I said no, that I was just late and so she reminded me that being punctual was a part of my work as well. So since then I'm happy to report that I haven't been late this is due to the fact that I purchased a horrendous alarm app on my phone called Step Out 2. It forces me to get out of bed and either walk 10 or 20 steps and/or have to match a picture that I have previously taken in another part of my house. Then I can shut off the alarms that at night seem okay, but in the morning are the most annoying things. Ugh. But it is effective so that's what I get to use now. Yay.
Because a Biscoff McFlurry is Happier than the step out alarm
On a happier note as a group, we've started having weekly meals together. So basically every Tuesday we make food. For the first one I made Chicken Pesto Pasta and salad. It was very good!
Not Actual Recipe or Size or Pot or anything other than looking similar to what we ate since I forgot to take a picture
On the work front, I basically did all of the same things, decachtage, bulletins, filing, sorting, working on Agora, doing Skype interviews with students. The only abnormal things were that on Wednesday I basically didn't do anything because Hamdi was in a meeting from 9:30am-12:30pm. So when I got there Jakob had already finished what she had given him, and no one else in the department needed our help! So we sat and did nothing. We also went to a faculty meeting that Hamdi asked us to be there for. I made a couple comments and later Hamdi praised me for taking the initiative to give another perspective when called upon to due so. Truly all of my conversation courses at BYU can be thanked for the responses I gave, because they were all basically practicing forming opinions while talking so as to have a discussion. I wasn't ever allowed to take the middle ground. I always had to choose a side and so it was for this meeting. There is discord in the ranks about special cases of students and validating semesters. One side thinks that if the student recieved 4 out of 4 credits his semester is automatically validated, however the other side says that even if the student recevies 4/4 credits, if his average for the semester is less than 10 his semester isn't validated. It's a very controversial topic right now, in the department. However it also highlights a cultural trait, the French can have a discussion and disagree violently with each other and come away at the end making sure they are still on for drinks that night. They come away from disagreements as fast of friends as they were when they started. It's very interesting to see it in action as I watched each side interact with one another before and after the meeting.
I also got to go into the oldest building on Campus this week. They were giving a test and Hamdi had to go to the fac de medcine so we went with her. It's a really cool building, they renovated the inside so it's very nice and kind of like a museum.
This week I also asked Hamdi about my accent, she said that I do sound Swiss because of the cadence and rhythm that I speak with. She also said for the most part I only have subtle accent except when I'm saying a word I don't know. Then it is quite apparent that I'm not a "french speaker" for lack of a better term. So that was my week.
We went to Primark this week and I bought this cute sparkly flip-flops for 2 euros
On Saturday, I went to the Jardin des Géants, Parc Matisse, Musée des Cannoniers, and the Rapelle-toi Barbara Exhibit at the Maison Natale de Charles de Gaulle.
One of the giants (géants)
Isn't it a GORGEOUS Garden??!!
The Canonniers Museum
The Canonniers Museum tells the history of the standing cannoniers here in Lille. A standing cannoniers means that they stayed in one place and protected it instead of moving around with the infantry and the army. So it had a lot of cool maps and artifacts. It was a fun little Museum.
This is Saint Marie de la Magdalene Chapel. It is on the way to Charles de Gaulles House
I just walked around the outside since I couldn't go in
Here's a hidden door I didn't notice before when I went through.
This Exposition was a video/photograph exhibit that tells the stories of women who lived through WW2. It was very interesting and the title of the exhibit makes reference to a poem by the same name written by Jacques Prévert in the 20th century.
The different places to sit and watch the different stories
Here's the street fair that was going on as I was walking home
Then Sunday was Regional Stake Conference with President Uchtdorf. It was very good, They talked alot about ministering or "le service pastoral" as it is called here. Then we went over to that sister's house again for a barbacue. I figured out her name is Dee (or at least that's what people call her).
All in all a great week even though it was a bit slow.
Have a Fantastic Week!!
P.S. Our video got sent out this week, so you all get to enjoy it too. Please do not share this video with anyone or anything, I don't have the rights to the images and it is purely for your private enjoyment. I will take it down if I see or suspect misuse.
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