Team BBQ

Tonight we had a team “BBQ”, which ended up being a fancy dinner. Apparently their definition of BBQ is a little different than ours. All week people from the volleyball organization kept asking if we would be at the BBQ, so I assumed they were excited to show us Americans that they were having an authentic American BBQ, but nope haha.

I am still getting use to the whole courses thing for dinners. They start with drinks, wait a while...bring a first set of appetizers, wait a while...bring a second set of appetizers, wait a while...and then hours later, do the main meal. So before the next dinner party, I will eat a snack and practice my French :)

Rusty's coach's baby...of course I asked to hold her- look at those cheeks!

Palais Des Grottos

Cambrai is continuing to surprise me. Today we visited Palais des Grotto, or Palace of Grottos- a real tough translation ;) ...Ariel’s Grotto anyone? Maybe I have Disneyland on the brain because I've been wanting to go to the one in Paris so bad! I would love to visit during Halloween time or Christmas time- or both, hopefully I make it there sometime soon. But anyways, the Palace turned out to be just that. I felt like I was in a never-ending maze, but in a good way. It was like everywhere we turned, we stumbled upon a new hidden gem. There was an expansive forest filled with thick ivory, huge trees, so many shades of green, and even the tree that inspired JK Rowling's whomping willow- I'm guessing ;) We hiked around and I thought we would be miles away, but when we reached a high look out point, we could see right down to where we started, so it may not have been as expansive as it seemed haha. 

There are two parks or “Gardens” here in Cambrai. Both of them are so unique. One is right next to a high school, and seems to be the teenage hangout. It has statues throughout it, a huge gazebo, and pretty flowers- some planted in the shape of a huge butterfly. Rusty and I have been there a few times, but thought we had seen it all. The gardens sit pretty close to the center of the city, but when you enter them, it’s like you’re in a whole other world. They are so peaceful. We sat down on a bench (to eat our chocolate croissant haha) and it reminded me of being up the canyon in Utah. I felt so removed from the world...even though the park is encircled with busy streets. 

Tonight we are going to one of Rusty’s teammate’s house for dinner. It’s actually a high school player that trains with the team. I think he lives just with his dad. Rusty ran into his dad at the grocery store earlier and he invited us over for dinner. I’m not sure if they speak much English, so it should be interesting, like always! 

Church in France

I e-mailed the Bishop of the ward out here before coming to France. Fortunately, he speaks English well and was kind enough to arrange a ride for us. The only other members of the church in Cambrai happen to live like 5 minutes from us, how lucky is that?! And they have a mini-van…a rarity out here, and another stroke of luck for us, because otherwise we wouldn’t fit. I wasn’t sure who would be picking us up, but I did receive an e-mail Saturday letting me know someone would be at our apartment at 8:15am the next day. Church starts at 9am and is about 30 minutes away in a city called Valenciennes.

A girl about our age rang up to our apartment and Rusty wasn’t completely ready- per the norm :) so I buzzed to let her come up. She didn’t speak much English, so we said hello and then awkwardly waited while Rusty threw on his shoes and grabbed his tie to put on in the car. Her grandparents were in the car waiting. They also did not speak English, but were the cutest little couple. The grandpa had on a well-worn suit with three pins on his lapel- an American Flag, a Canadian Flag, and a gold bee. He managed to tell Rusty he lived in Canada for five years because his boss asked him to come there to be his driver. They played a CD of LDS church hymns the whole drive. I loved seeing their faith and devotion to the gospel. There’s just something so great about being around members when you’re somewhere that feels so foreign.

Church was held in a small square building right across from a veterinarian’s office. The floors are white tile and all of the doors are painted a robin’s egg blue, but the pictures of Christ and the bulletin board in the Relief Society room, made it feel like a typical LDS church, and made me feel right at home. They have sacrament the last hour, so relief society and gospel doctrine were translated by a girl who had served her mission in Washington DC. A guy from England translated Elder’s Chorum for Rusty and one of the missionaries (one was from California and one was from Utah) translated Sacrament.

The first counselor in the Bishopric asked us (in French) to come up and introduce ourselves at the beginning of Sacrament. The missionary who was translating for us didn’t catch what he said, so there was some confusion as we just sat there smiling and looking around haha. The British guy came up to translate our English into French for everyone, so we quickly figured out what they had asked. I introduced us, told everyone why we were here in France, how long we would be here, and where we are from. Rusty let everyone know how happy we were to see so many people (about 80) and what a blessing it was to have this ward out here. He said we didn’t know what to expect and had the congregation laughing within a couple minutes...classic Rusty, the guy who can never practice a sacrament talk- his first talk ever- and still have everyone eating out of the palm of his hand.

Another granddaughter (the girl’s younger sister) joined us for the ride home, so we put up the back seat. When we got to our apartment, the grandpa let us know “no church” multiple times; since we knew it was General Conference the following week, we understood what he meant.

I am grateful for the gospel. It brings so much joy and peace into my life. I feel so blessed to have a ward within driving distance and to have a members who are willing to go out of their way to accommodate our needs. 

Of course we snuck (is that a word?) pictures and video in the car...

A French Birthday Party

So remember the volleyball fan and his daughter who picked us up from the airport when we first arrived in France? Well, that night, the daughter- Celine, told us her 18^th birthday was in two weeks and invited us to her birthday party.

The night of her party came and it happened to be the same night as Rusty’s first scrimmage. I thought we were going to have to miss it, but Celine told me to message her after the game and that her boyfriend, George, would come pick us up. So, at 9pm George and Celine’s sister Claira showed up at our apartment and chauffeured us to the party, which was about 15 minutes away. I had imagined a small gathering at their house, but I was so wrong. We arrived to a local hall they had rented out. Celine was wearing a floor-length, formal gown with her hair in an up-do. There were name cards at the dinner tables (including ones that said “Rusty L.” and “Kaity L.”), a DJ was playing music with fog and lights, and Celine gave a speech, which she had typed up. Courses were served throughout the night- and by ‘throughout the night’ I mean until the wee hours of the morning! The hors d'oeuvres were handed out at 11pm, and the main course was served at 1am. Apparently this is normal here in France. Try as I might, I was not able to hold out until dessert; we ended up leaving at 2am without getting to try any birthday cake. If we didn’t have church so early the next morning, I may have stayed just so I could have dessert :)

The DJ organized a game like musical chairs, but before they could grab a chair when the music stopped, they were given instructions to go find something like a pen, a sock, etc. and they couldn’t return to their seat until they had it. They also played a slideshow of Celine, and the DJ went around asking people how they know her and what they think of her (I only know this thanks to a couple from Bulgaria, who translated for us).

So come to find out, Celine’s mom is the leader of the volleyball team’s fan group, aka the Blue Eagles. Celine’s Uncle appeared to be the biggest fan- tracking down his daughter to translate for him, so he could let us know, wherever the team goes, he goes and he brings his drums with him. I’m excited to see the Blue in Eagles in action this season!

Bonjour France

We arrived to France at about 7pm on September 13^th, after about a four hour delay at LAX. For once, I didn’t even mind the delay. I was excited for France of course , but the U.S. just has so much to offer; toilet seat covers, people speaking English, menus I can read...so, I soaked up my last few hours of not being the foreigner.

Rusty was searched at the Salt Lake Airport for like 20 minutes...they wiped his hands and his bag with those strips that test for bombs and they both came back positive!...They tested different electronics in his bag and never found what the problem was, but let us go anyway...does that seem safe to you?...

We flew Norwegian from LAX to Paris and to our total shock, we discovered meals were not included with your airfare. They cost extra! I didn’t even know airlines could do that. The team (who booked our flights), claimed that they didn’t know that either...I wonder about that…But anyways, it ended up being our luckiest flight yet- the guy sitting next to me moved seats because his TV wasn’t working, which meant Rusty and I got the whole row to ourselves. It got even better when the flight attendants just started bringing me free meals! The guy who moved seats must have ordered food and since I was sitting in his window seat, I reaped the benefits :) I plead ignorance though because I was woken up from a deep sleep to a lady asking “Beef or Chicken?” I was so out of it, I could barely open my eyes, but said “Chicken” and from then on, food kept coming lol. I would say that was a pretty good start to our French adventure :)

We arrived at Charles De Gaulle airport and got a message from Rusty’s coach saying that he had come to the airport a few hours ago (when our flight was supposed to arrive), but had to leave to get to practice, so someone else would be there to pick us up. We walked out to the pick-up area to find an older man and his daughter, who was holding a cardboard sign that said RUSTY LAVAJA. The daughter- Celine, is 18-years old, and after [sort of] communicating with her during the car ride, we found out that they are big fans of the volleyball team.

We have been here about a week now and are finally getting settled in. We have been to five different grocery stores just to see what they have, Celine and her boyfriend George took me to a home goods store, we’ve tried different pastries, and have eaten at a few different restaurants- although, our first meals here were Subway (multiple times) and McDonald’s (multiple times)…You can take the girl outta America, but you can’t take America outta the girl, Am I right?

Cambrai is just how I imagined living in France would be. Boulangeries (bakeries) on every block, people constantly carrying baguettes home in paper bags, narrow streets lined with the cutest apartments. I love the architecture here; the tall arched windows with shutters, the wrought iron balconies, the window boxes filled with geraniums- so pretty!

I am trying to learn French as quickly as possible because not many people speak English. I took three years of French in High School and to my surprise, it has actually helped! I can semi-communicate with people (and by semi, I would say 30 percent of the time haha), but merci beacoup Madame Colvin! I’m always thinking, ‘If only she could see me now, living in France, speaking French!’ The team sets up a French tutor for all of the foreigners, so Rusty and I will start lessons in a couple weeks, which I am super excited about. I really need to work on my French accent because even when I am saying the correct word in French, people don’t understand- c’mon people, work with me! ;)