Paris

Y'all. We are in Paris.

Not fly-to-Paris, bus-to-hotel, drop-off-luggage, get-to-train-station, train-up-to-Edinburgh Paris. But Paris.

As in, we're here for the next 19 nights.

As in, the very last city listed on that itinerary over there to the right of the screen.

Oh, Paris.

Transitions between cities are hard for me, I've found. There's the whole new layout-location-language hurdle to get over, plus one or two unexpected things thrown in. Given that this is how I speak French and that I have just been able to spend more than 5 weeks living where I can actually communicate, I have been bracing myself for Paris as foreign as well as bracing for what the unexpected would be. Location not quite where we expected, adding ten minutes of walking? Appliances not working? No internet? No grocery store nearby?...Keeping realistic expectations yet not becoming a pessimist can be a fine balance.

As it turns out, the internet is working, we are situated very near the students, and the kitchen is bigger than I thought it would be from pictures (more than one person can fit in it!!). The hiccup getting in last night was that our landlord mixed up which apartment we were coming to and was therefore waiting somewhere else. It was quite late by the time we got in and even later before Jesse got to a grocery store so that we could have some dinner (but the Monoprix is open until 11:00! Victoria!). The apartment is mostly as expected and just a little quirky.

Last night I was feeling pretty discouraged. We were exhausted, it was late, and we were hungry. I was feeding the kids Pringles and peanuts for dinner, and some of them took me up on my offer of leftover toast (Margaret's breakfast that she didn't get to from our London hotel: wrapped in a napkin, stuck in my backpack and forgotten all day).  And we were cold. One dear friend gave me a scarf for my birthday last year, saying it was something that would be very useful in Europe.  I bet neither of us expected that I would wear it to sleep in during our first night here.

But hope comes in the morning, and although I would fall asleep sitting here were I not typing, the radiators have started to keep up with the chill (there is a chance of snow Friday) and the sun is shining. Maddie has taken the kids to Luxembourg Gardens and all is quiet. I am putting together the order and powerpoint for my class tomorrow. I think I'll go and brew myself a cup of tea.

I confess that I have been dreading Paris. I can't dread it any longer, though, now that we are here. I have to choose how I'm going to live in this space and for this space of time. I have been teaching my students about pilgrimage and the wilderness and the mountaintops. I am hoping for an accurate view of my reality, Lord willing, the better to respond faithfully.

Just one more city transition to plan and look forward to--home.