bored at the beach

Just a photo and a song

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Mon, 07 Oct 2013 02:38:00 +0000

I have no idea when and where I learned this song, but every so often it comes to mind and this time, I felt like recording it. Enjoy.

Giving thanks

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Mon, 05 Aug 2013 21:10:00 +0000

As I was reminded of yesterday, it is good to give thanks. To take time at the end (or in the middle if possible) of chaos to look for the blessings. The little things, the big things. To speak them out, to share the thanksgiving with others whose hearts are also filled with gratitude; to speak the gratitude in faith for those whose hearts are empty in the middle of their chaos.

Today, as I continue to reflect on my crazy week then lovely weekend and now realize that I have not blogged in almost 6 months, I know there are a lot of blessings, some small some big, to publicly share:

for the reality that when I am empty, there is One who is stronger
for a summer full of sensational sunsets
for chances to see a sky full of stars
for friends who are like family
for colleagues who are friends
for good music at every turn
for prayers, received and given
for rental cars, hotel rooms and great meals I can expense
for my own beater car, my own apartment and sandwiches
for nights sleeping outside
for massages afterward
for beaches and bicycles
for coffee and consignment shops
for new places to discover and favourite places to introduce to others
for a completed degree, a timely new job and an upcoming new season of education
for continued perks of travelling and taking in the beauty of Canada
for the cuddles of nieces and the high-fives of nephews
for resolution
for hope
for love
for the reality that it's good to not always be strong and it's good to surrender control

Just a song

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 04:18:00 +0000

Once again, certain songs I'm hearing keep speaking to me. I thought I'd do my own version of one of them. Enjoy.

So, about Jesus...

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 04:47:00 +0000

This evening I was trying to explain to myself what it is about living life with Jesus. I was thinking a little about the various people I used to meet while working with Global Youth Network, who would call themselves "spiritually open" and who wanted to be involved with the organization because we didn't shy away from talking openly about faith. People always loved hearing one another's "Life Story" while living on a boat in the Amazon, or sitting around campfires in Thailand and I've never had any trouble sharing the parts of mine that include God speaking to me and me choosing to follow His guidance in my life. But tonight I was thinking about just how does a committed Jesus-follower really present what it's about and why it's so much more than just being "spiritually open".

I happened to pick up a book I bought well over a year ago that I'd only read a few chapters in and tried to figure out where I was and decided to read the next chapter, titled "Union". The book is Brennan Manning's The Furious Longing of God. Perfect chapter for my mullings and here is a quote he included from John McKenzie about Jesus:

We recognize that the person whom we have encountered speaks to our innermost being, supplies our needs, satisfies our desires. We recognize that this person gives life meaning. I do not say a new meaning simply, for we realize that before we encountered this person life had no real meaning. We recognize that this person has revealed to us not only himself, but our own true self as well. We recognize that we cannot be our own true self except by union with this person. In him, the obscure is illuminated, the uncertain yields to the certain, insecurity is replaced by a deep sense of security. In him we find we have achieved an understanding of many things which baffled us. We recognize in his person strength and power which we can sense passing from him to us. Most certainly, if most obscurely, we recognize that in this person we have encountered God, and that we shall not encounter God in any other way.

I like this.

Un cuento (A short story)

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 04:16:00 +0000

So just writing that last post made me think of the short story I wrote for one of my Spanish literature courses this term. I have it in both Spanish and English, but I kind of prefer it in Spanish. (Although I don't really know how it sounds to a native speaker. My professor gave me a good mark at least.) I guess the English wouldn't be so simple if I wrote it in English originally.

The inspiration for this story was from two experiences and two women I met while working with YWAM (one in Vancouver and one in Toronto). Maybe sometime I will share the real story, but for now, here is my creative version where the two meet (and where I am not exactly a character).
Don't worry, the English translation follows!

¡Qué ejemplo!

     Ella casi no la ve: la mujer encorvada, cubierta de mantas casi parece como un montón de basura apoyándose contra el café. Es una de las noches oscuras y frías de Winnipeg y ella se ha envuelto la cara con una bufanda. Se ensimisma, pensando en el fin de semana pasado cuando alojó en su casa a una joven misionera. Hacía sólo dos meses que había asistido a la iglesia cuando hicieron un anuncio pidiéndole a alguien que proporcionara una habitación por una noche para una oradora invitada, una misionera, así que ofreció su casa. Sabía que no tenía mucho que ofrecer, pero ella podía ofrecerle su cuarto y así ella compartiría con su hija adolescente.
     Ella esperaba que no le importara a la misionera que ella fumaba, que los amigos de su hija fumarían yerba en el balcón, que tenía más gatos de lo que debería. Trataba de hacer algo para cenar, a pesar de que el día sería un día largo de trabajo. Cuando llegó a casa, se dio cuenta que no había tenido tiempo de lavar los platos de ayer, pero no había tiempo para hacerlo ahora ya que había que cocinar algo para la misionera invitada.
      Fue una comida sencilla, la conversación fue ligera y somera. Ella se preguntaba si la misionera estaba satisfecha. Observaba que la misionera parecía incómoda.
      (La misionera era alérgica a los gatos; y tenía una aversión fuerte al desbarajuste. A ella no le molestaba la suciedad en los países en vías de desarrollo, pero ella no podía comprender porque esta mujer canadiense se había ofrecido a hospedarla el fin de semana sin haber limpiado la cama. ¡Qué ejemplo de hospitalidad!)
      Actualmente cuando la mujer hospitalaria camina esas calles de Winnipeg, perdida en estas preocupaciones, se recuerda de algunas palabras que una vez leyó:
      Veía cómo los ricos echaban dinero en el arca de las ofrendas. Vio a una viuda pobre, que echó dos monedas de muy poco valor y dijo:
      — Les aseguro que esta viuda pobre ha echado más que todos los demás. Porque todos los otros echaron como ofrenda lo que les sobraba, mientras que ella, dentro de su necesidad, ha echado todo lo que tenía para vivir.
      La mujer hospitalaria y generosa cruza hacia el montón en la acera, dejar desaparecer su inquietud propia.
      — ¿Puedo invitarle a un café y un sándwich? — pregunta.
    Las dos mujeres se sientan juntas en la acera, se comulgan, comparten historias, comparten sus vidas. Aprenden la una de la otra.
      En el camino de vuelta a su casa desordenada, la mujer hospitalaria reflexiona sobre las palabras de la mujer pobre que llama a las calles, su hogar:
      — Cada mañana me levanto y doy gracias al Creador.
      ¡Qué ejemplo de gratitud!

What an example!

She almost doesn't see her; the hunched over woman covered in blankets almost looks like a pile of garbage leaning up against the coffee shop. It's one of those dark, cold Winnipeg nights, where she has her own face wrapped up tight in a scarf. She was also lost in her own thoughts, thinking about last weekend when she hosted a young missionary in her home. She had only been going to church for a couple of months when they made an announcement asking for someone to provide a room for one night for a guest speaker missionary so she offered her home. She knew she didn't have much to offer, but she could offer her bedroom and share with her teenage daughter.

She hoped that the missionary wouldn't mind that she smoked, that her daughter's friends would probably be doing pot on the balcony, that she had more cats than she probably should. She would try to make something for dinner, even though the particular day would be a long one at work. When she got home she realized she hadn't had time to do the dishes from yesterday, but there was no time to do them now—she had to cook something for the missionary guest.

It was a simple meal, conversation was light and superficial. She wondered if the missionary was happy. She noticed that the missionary seemed uncomfortable.

(The missionary was allergic to cats; and she had a strong aversion to clutter. Dirt in the developing world didn't bother her, but she couldn't understand why this Canadian woman would offer to put her up for the weekend, but not take the time to clean off the bed! What an example of hospitality?!)

Now as the woman walks those Winnipeg streets, lost in those worries, she recalls some words she read once:

Looking up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins and said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these others gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her need put in all she had to live on.”

The hospitable and generous woman is now going over to the pile on the sidewalk, leaving her own preoccupation to disappear. “Can I buy you a coffee and sandwich?” she asks. The two women are now sitting together on the sidewalk, communing, sharing stories, sharing lives. Learning from one another.

On her way back to her disorderly home, the hospitable woman reflects on the words she heard from the poor woman who calls the streets her home: “Every morning I wake up and give thanks to the Creator.”

What an example of gratitude!

"Paying it Forward"

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 03:42:00 +0000

Since writing my last exam yesterday, I am now officially finished my degree! This morning, while driving Riley to the dog park, I was conversing with God about this debt I now have and my current lack of full-time employment (I am quickly gathering students for private tutoring, so that is at least something and I am encouraged with how smoothly that is going). I don't feel anxious or worried; God has always been so faithful to provide. But I do feel some concern (guilt, maybe?) about this debt that seems to keep growing (and will grow even more to be able to do Teacher's College in September). And of course, it's Christmas time and I'm thinking about how I can be generous from this place I am at.

At the dog park when I arrived, I got chatting a little with another "regular" who I hadn't seen as much lately. Just some small talk about the dogs (about a potential pending adoption for Riley!), about Christmas, etc. After he left, another regular came in who I also hadn't seen in awhile and we chatted a little about my upcoming trip to Chile and about Christmas. He sounded a little sad and unenthused about the season (which I certainly understand) and as I was getting ready to leave, I felt a strong sense that I should extend an invitation to he and his wife to join my family and I for Christmas dinner. (I am going to bravely host my family this year.)

This was sort of interesting because, just last night, my sister-in-law was asking me if she could invite a couple who are new to Canada and who don't really know Christmas celebration traditions. I didn't jump on the idea and thought that we should check first if our parents would be ok with extending the invitation. I think too, I was also thinking about how I had just said that my gifts to my family members this year would be the meal and I had that panic thought of, 'Oh more people?! How can I afford that?!' I honestly was caught up in these two, sort of selfish I guess, thoughts.

So here I am today, encouraging this retired man and his wife to come over, giving him my number, and not caring about these things.

I walked back to the car with Riley and on my windshield was an envelope. Capital One. Strange, are they soliciting people at the dog park? Then I realized it wasn't sealed. Inside was a note, from the first "regular" who had left before, that read, "Just paying it forward, this month you seem deserving. Have a Merry Christmas" And there was $25 in the envelope. Wow.

I knew two things for sure. God is still looking out for my needs (and he can use anyone to bless me). And it was the right thing to extend hospitality to that older man (and in turn, for my sister-in-law, to the other couple). I ran back to the dog park and asked the man for their number, so that I could make sure to call and remind them of the invitation. I still need to call my sis-in-law back.

Longing

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 04:34:00 +0000

As a child struggles to sleep on the eve of Christmas
While oppressed Israel lives for the Messiah's birth

As a family rounds the finish line of the third trimester
While a couple hopes to just make it past the first

As a groom looks for his bride to walk the aisle toward him
While a woman still dreams of ever one day being a bride

A world waits with expectant hope
While a world clings to promises, longing.

Little thanksgivings

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 00:23:00 +0000

There were lots of things to smile at today. Lots to whisper thanks over. The buses came just as I approached the stops. This morning's test was hard, but I finished it feeling satisfied and pleased over the realization that I actually had learned things (yay Spanish vocabulary, grammar and literary movements). Had a nice, easy-going, social break between classes--didn't need to cram in another thing to read. Class lectures were light and enjoyable; got let out early. Had a test to make up after having been sick last week and the prof just let me take it home! Had time to get some groceries. (Yes, that is seriously something to be thankful for. Empty fridge.) Mayonnaise and peanut butter were on sale!! (I'd been waiting for awhile.) Came home to a yummy cornish hen perfectly cooked in sage and wine in the crockpot. Booked reward flights to Buenos Aires and Santiago for a spontaneous mid-winter vacation with family!

Insights from Dog Walking - crosspost

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 13:37:00 +0000

So, as promised, here is the blog submission to the Firebowl that I wrote recently. There's my version of a song too--the song most "on repeat" these days.

Today's soundtrack

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 02:32:00 +0000

Well obviously I have seriously neglected this blog this year! I see here that I promised to post photos of my Alberta trip in the spring, so yes, I should do that....

I wrote a little reflection for the The Firebowl community blog on the weekend (stay tuned) on the topic of "letting go"--apparently I am a little more inspired lately. Well, I certainly am making a lot more time to listen.

Those who know me well, know that music has always been an important medium of expression for me. Lately there's been a sort of dialogue going on between God and I through music, a sort of soundtrack to today. I'm discovering songs and they're really reaching into me. (One of them I recorded for the Firebowl blog entry...) I also love to share music, so...here you go. (Mostly courtesy of YouTube.) Also, once again I highly recommend Under the Radar, whose podcasts are so great and have introduced me to a lot of great music.)

"Free"
"...My strength alone will never be enough, but Your arms keep lifting me up. You tell me I've been made free. You give me everything I need to walk in my dreams..."
"Steady My Heart"
"...You're here, You're real, I know I can trust You...I'm not gonna worry, I know that You've got me right inside the palm of Your hand..."
"Pour Out"
"...Your words are a lamp unto my feet when I walk down these dark and lonely streets. You are all I need."
"Called Me Higher"
"I could hold on to who I am and never let You change me from the inside...I could be safe here in Your arms and never leave home, never let these walls down. But You have called me higher, You have called me deeper and I will go where You lead me, Lord."
"All the Way My Saviour Leads Me"
"...Can I doubt His faithful mercies?
Who through life has been my guide
Heavenly peace, divinest comfort
Ere by faith in Him to dwell
For I know whate'er fall me
Jesus doeth all things well."
"I Will Trust You"
"I know Your heart is good, Your love is strong, Your plans for me are better than my own and I trust You."
"To Those Who Wait"
"You say You’re good to those who wait...You can do more in my waiting than in my doing I could do..."
"Dawn to Dusk"
"Tomorrow's freedom is today's surrender..."

And ANOTHER one from All Sons and Daughters...my current alarm clock song...
"Wake Up"
"Here we stand, our hearts are Yours. Not our will, but Yours be done."

Nudgings and choices in faith

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Fri, 11 May 2012 23:12:00 +0000

This post is just a link to my contribution at the Firebowl communal blog. It is indeed kind of neat how, being asked to reflect on a topic (last month, "Joy") and reading others' reflections can serve and minister to my own heart. If you haven't already, take a read.

(Expect some awe-inspiring photos to be posted soon! Just got back from six days in Alberta!)

Openness and Trust

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 02:46:00 +0000

French Pop Culture: Old Cartoons!

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:24:00 +0000

I've been realizing just how many of the cartoon characters that I was into as a kid, whether from books or tv, are French! When I arrived here in September, I saw ads for the Tintin movie and was excited to see it since I remember reading all the Tintin books (in English) I could get my hands on from the public library as a kid. Well, I have learned that books like these are called "albums"

at the Marché de Noël

and there are tons of them from all kinds of series and I want to buy so many and bring so many home (stupid baggage allowance)! There is currently a "Marché de Noël" in Tours, where they sell hot wine with cinnamon (instead of apple cider like we have in Canada), crepes, arts and crafts AND there is a stall of used books where there are tons of these "albums". Of course the popular Asterix (I never did get into that one as a kid, although I tried), Boule and Bill, but I also saw Babar the elephant who I remember reading at my Great Aunt and Uncle's when I was little, but who I didn't realize, was French!

I also had an epiphany that the Barbapapas are French too! I don't know from where exactly, but I have a very faint memory of the Barbapapas...not sure if it was books or the tv show, but they were great how they could change into any shape as needed. And, now having learned more French, I realize that Barbe à Papa, mean's "Dad's beard" which also means, "Cotton Candy" or "Candy Floss"!

Sept. @ a Festival with some Barbe à Papa

The other day, my housemate, her daughter and her daughter's little friend (they are 5) got singing children's French songs and then ended up searching on YouTube for the "générique", or theme song, for various cartoons. I noticed, first of all that these cartoons seemed from the 70s or 80s and was amazed that these little girls knew them so well. So I am kind of excited to discover these little gems from "my generation" that still have a place in today's culture in France.

It is interesting too, because the three "dessins animés" that they wanted to find and sing along to are of the old Japanese animated cartoon style, like my old favourites of Astro Boy and even Inspector Gadget, although I think these ones are even older! I definitely had never heard of "Au Pays du Candy", or "Tom Sawyer" or "Heidi", but it is so cute that they are such seemingly cultural staples here, amongst all of the other cool cartoons and cartoon books. (The lyrics of the theme songs are cute too.)

Road Trip Day 7, Final Day: Return to Tours via Carcassonne

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 11:10:00 +0000

Tuesday, November 1 is Toussaint holiday, or All Saints Day in France and Spain and it was my last day of holidays before having to go back to school, so that day we basically just drove back to Tours. Alanna had noticed that the town of Carcassonne was somewhat en route, and since we both had heard of this place because of the board game of the same name (one of those German board games), we were intrigued. Once again, we turned to Rick Steves for an excellent tour description and we really enjoyed this amazing old, fortressed town.

Definitely take a read of the google link there about the town. Note, that the ss are pronounced as "s", not as "z". There is a folk story that tells of a woman named Carcas who, when the city was under siege, threw a pig over the wall causing the attackers to assume that the city still had enough supplies (or else why would they waste a pig?) and that there was no way that they'd be able to win so they gave up and left. Then the city sounded the bells, from which "son" came and from the two, Carcas-son, came the name. Apparently.
Here is a statue of the lady right beside the drawbridge!

Not a lot to say, just a lot of pictures to post again!

Rick informed us that we could see red bricks that are remnants from the original wall from Roman days. (See next picture.) This was consistent with what I had learned in my History of Tours class, since there are remnants of a Roman amphitheatre in Tours, and there is a noticeable difference between Roman-built walls and walls built in the Middle Ages. At Carcassonne, the second wall was added in the Middle Ages.
(These next photos are credit to Judy again because my camera battery died again at this point.)

We enjoyed some regional food at a restaurant within the walls and then realized we were kind of behind again and still had a long way to drive! (Behold the map!)

At some point when we were supposed to switch onto another autoroute, I missed the entrance and the GPS (who we had named Ginger P. Sky by this point--and had her becoming the petite-copine of Rick Steves) recalculated. We just followed along this new route and well, it was VERY dark and VERY windy (as in, winding around)! We were still a couple of hours south of Tours and, although I have no idea what roads we were on and what dark villages (small-town France is very quiet after 19:00) we went through, we never actually lost any time! Good ol' Ginger.

And thus concludes the Road Trip adventure. The next day, I went back to school (starting with another lesson out on the streets about Tours' history) and my friends went shopping! I ordered some escargots at dinner for them to taste and the following day, we had a little adventure on the Tours bus in the rain, searching for some final French wares for them.

Amazing that a month has passed already and I have since visited another castle near Tours; wandered around a nearby village, some vineyards and a wine cave; learned lots more neat things about Tours' history; had a couple of tests and a class presentation on the ban on Muslim women wearing integral veils (I forget what we would say in English instead of "integral"); ate a French seafood platter (apparently this is a thing one must do); went skating and ate some Lebanese mezzés (that was last night); and, travelled to Switzerland and had an amazing time visiting some old friends!

So there are obviously photos to share and things to write, but well, I have been seriously procrastinating studying for my upcoming exams (three next week), researching for two upcoming presentations and other homework. So those posts will come another day.

Road Trip Day 6: Barcelona

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 12:55:00 +0000

For my program at Wilfrid Laurier University, I had to take a course on cultural aspects of France, Spain and Germany and from this class, I learned some about Barcelona and Catalonia. In particular, I learned a lot about the 19th-20th century architect Antoni Gaudí and had seen a lot of pictures of his unique works in Barcelona. So I recommended to the gals that we check out at least two of them: Parc Güell and Sagrada Família and on Monday morning we set out to find our way into the city by commuter train from our suburb. Before that though, I wanted to re-park. The night before had been a little stressful trying to fit into tight spaces in the underground lot. It had been impossible in fact, so I made up a space. Fortunately, there was a new one open that I could take Monday morning. Phew, European parking--stresses me out a bit even to write about it!

We found the back entrance to Parc Güell, which demanded a very long and steep climb. There were escalators, but my companions preferred the stairs (I did a combination, preferring not to start my day off all sweaty :) and I am certain they are in better shape than I!) This picture kind of shows the height and the steepness.

The park was what I expected, but the crowds were insane and we found ourselves not enjoying this introduction to Barcelona.

But it is quite pretty and unique.

Sitting on the cold benches and taking photos of the mosaic was kind of fun

We found as quiet of a way possible out of the park and wandered some streets. We noticed some graffiti in Catalan that seemed a little angry at tourists and maybe just at everything. (Interesting that both places we visited in Spain are not historically Spanish--Catalonia, like Vasco, having a history and story of its own.)

Back on a more main road, we saw loads of tourists again, including people riding double-decker tourist buses. It was a good reminder of how much I preferred our methods of touring. We carried on in search of the famous, unfinished cathedral, the Sagrada Familia. Gaudí certainly had lofty ambitions in designing this church--it is so big and sooo different.

The back

The front

The lines to go inside were too long for us, so our next destination was the famous Las Ramblas, basically a long walkway of open-air markets and such. We went to the waterfront (after reaching the Atlantic the day before, we needed to get to the Mediterranean) where we chose somewhere to eat--a Chinese restaurant! (There weren't a lot of affordable options and we did manage to try some tapas later that evening.)

See, more crowds!

This is the Catalonia flag

We tired of Las Ramblas and went in search of the Gothic Quarter of the city. We heard a commotion a little ways off and saw lots of yellow shirts and as we approached, we realized that a flash mob had broken out. I tried catching some on video.

In wandering around the Gothic Quarter, we didn't do much except a little shopping, watched some kids dressed up for Halloween and I messed around with my night time photography of the Barcelona Cathedral.

All in all, a successful day--a whirlwind tour again of a major tourist destination, but I think we were all satisfied with the taste of Barcelona we experienced. Did you notice, there was no driving this day?!

Road Trip Day 5: Pays Basque/Pais Vasco and the Pyrenées

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 10:13:00 +0000

Sunday morning, we got up confused! The alarm on my iPod seemed to have sounded an hour later than I set it for, but when I looked at it, it DID say 7:00. Judy's watch said 8:00. So we turned on the tv in the hotel room and it also said 7:00. So I started thinking, did we drive across a time zone last night?! Then someone suggested (I think it was Mel, clever girl) that the clocks must have gone back--it was the last weekend in October after all. So that made sense and we carried on (although, I would find myself confused again later that evening).

We got up ready for another full day in the car, but we were anticipating some extreme beauty. A month before, when this idea for the road trip came up, I had googled "driving in Europe" and found some recommended places at this Guardian newspaper link that had one recommended drive that could work for us: Basque Country. Doing some reading in Rick Steves' again (this time, since Basque is in both countries, we had to read both the French book and the Spain book that Judy brought, although the Spain book wasn't a Rick Steves book and just wasn't the same), we learned that the people from Basque speak a language called Euskara and that this language is unique without any connection to any other languages (it is not a latin language, for example, like the French and Spanish that surround its speakers)! Very interesting. Euskara has a lot of k's and z's and here is a bilingual sign at the beach in San Sebastián.

We were not disappointed with the drive and before we arrived to our lunch destination of San Sebastián, we discovered the beauty that is Biarritz, in French Basque.

This photo does not do justice to the amazing view of the ocean and the Pyrenées. We decided that we would try to get to the beach and we did! Amazing...I was suddenly quite overdressed!

We started up really high and then made our way down. The waves were incredible and mesmerizing. Some absolutely monstrous and killer waves. I tried making a video...

We continued on in search of Spain! We arrived, but we don't know exactly when since there was no welcoming sign. We were following signs for San Sebastián, or "Donostia" as it seemed to be called in Euskara and at some point we noticed that there was no more French. San Sebastián was also gorgeous: we passed through the city centre quickly in search again of the beach, but both were beautiful. We reached our goal for lunch, but since it was a Sunday, it was hard to find anything open and we ended up only finding a döner place...really cool ordering shawarmas from a Turkish guy in Spanish Basque...he seemed to speak a zillion languages!


This is a creative shot by Judy...some girls were just wandering the streets on their own, eating ice cream

We still had a long drive ahead to make it just west of Barcelona for the night, but a beautiful drive! Albeit, kind of scary with speeds of 100 km/h through the Pyrenées! Since I was driving, these following shots are courtesy of Mel.

Photo Credit: Mel Horst

Once out of the mountains, things were a lot more barren and not so photogenic, but as the day passed on, it got pretty again.

Nice shot, Mel!

The time confusion came up again at this point, when we found ourselves crossing the Greenwich (Prime) Meridian that evening. There was a digital clock posted after we crossed it that had us all of

sudden an hour ahead of where we had just been! Then a few kms later, there was another clock that had us an hour behind again! This happened a couple of times and was very confusing!

When we finally arrived to the hotel in Rubí, a sort of suburb city to Barcelona, we were still in the time zone we left in Bordeaux that morning and the clock change theory had stuck. (It was confusing too, because in North America, the clocks didn't end up going "back" until a couple of weekends later.) How does an iPod know, by the way? It's the most amazing thing to me. When I walk around in Tours, the map application is able to locate me sometimes too! (I'm not connected to anything, so it blows my mind. Most amazing prize that I won...the dictionary apps that I bought have been such lifesavers too!)

Here is our day's long, but beautiful route.

Road Trip Day 4: Chenonceau, Chinon and driving a lot

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 09:47:00 +0000

I'm obviously getting further and further behind on this blog as day four of this road trip was a month ago now! And every weekend since, I've been able to do something pretty cool...so there is even more stuff to blog about and cool pictures to add! But lots of exams and things are coming too...and there is less than one month left here...I'll do my best to chip away at blogging!

So after our night at my place here in Tours, we decided to visit a couple of the famous castles in the Loire Valley (I blogged a bit about this in October). First stop was the famous Château Chenonceau.

Oh I had been able to charge my camera at this point!

There were wasp's (?) nests in the tower

Last week in my History of Tours class, we learned more about this castle, so it was neat to apply that to what I had seen a month ago. Chenonceau represents three phases of architecture: medieval, the beginning of Renaissance which is a mixture of medieval styles too and then official Renaissance style. The guy who had it built worked for various French kings, so had to earn his social status. He started building Chenonceau where a fortified castle had been and left a tower from this castle, thus representing the older architectural style.

As you move from the tower into the castle, the style is the mixed one, with Renaissance ideas brought from Italy and implemented for the first time in France. Things such as a the straight staircase--one of the first in France.

There were gorgeous flower arrangements and tapestries like this everywhere throughout the castle.

We spent ages wandering around this castle, admiring the decor and the fireplaces!

Judy loving the real fire

Mel admiring the velour walls and wood ceiling

And Alanna admiring something in the gallery

Chenonceau is also known as the Ladies Chateau since a few women had a lot of say in its construction over the years. The original guy's wife had a hand in its design. He lost ownership to the king to pay off debts and then the next king, Henri II, offered Chenonceau to his mistress, Diane de Poitiers. She was the one who wanted to add to the castle and commissioned the building of the bridge part over the river (see picture above) and she started the nice gardens. But when Henri died and his wife, Catherine, became Regent, Diane was kicked out. Catherine really took the castle over and had more added to it, such as the gallery over top of the bridge, which, being the latest addition, has a different architectural style. In the first picture above, you can see the sort-of "dormer windows" in the gallery and according to my professor, the further to the left the building goes, the more Renaissance the design is (more decorative for example).

The gardens were really nice too and we had a great time wandering around.

There you can see the original tower and then the castle (left).

From Chenonceau, we drove to the town of Chinon, known for its wine and for its castle. It is more of a defensive castle, with ramparts and walls, rather than the fancy, country-home type castle that Chenonceau is. We wandered around, trying to find our way in the walls. Took some pictures, then agreed to not bother to pay to go inside (having had our share of castle touring--there had been Versailles just a few days earlier too) and considering we had a long drive ahead.

We wanted to get as far south as possible that day, with Bordeaux as the goal, but we were way behind in our time! But we did it (sadly, our on-the-road dinner left much to be desired. The girls can attest that French mac and cheese at a service station is not so good)! And we successfully found a super cheap hotel right off the highway. Here's a nice artsy pic from the hotel window the next morning.

Road Trip Day 3: Mont-Saint-Michel and Dinan, Bretagne

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 14:44:00 +0000

Friday was another full day! Full of amazing sites. After a somewhat overpriced breakfast at the hotel during which I tried to get the girls to try all the cheese, no matter how smelly, we set off for the nearby Mont-Saint-Michel. Even though it was still morning, the tourists were flocking in. And once we arrived, it was not surprising to see why. What an amazing place! We just started climbing, up and up, with no clear direction and when we eventually reached the abbey (I think in English we would also call it a monastery) we started reading Rick Steves self-guided tour notes. I will just proceed to post a lot of pictures and if you want to know more about this amazing place, click on those links I just put. My camera battery was still dead at this point, so these pictures were mostly all taken by Judy.

From Mont-Saint-Michel (seriously, read those links, particularly Rick's if you want a short and interesting overview) we carried on to see what we could of Brittany (Bretagne, in French), neighbour to Normandy and home of cider and crepes!!! Again, if you don't know much about Brittany, know that the Bretons are of Celtic heritage and, take a read of the wiki link there. Since we still had to make it back to Tours Friday evening, we took the Autoroute most of the way and exited a little before Dinan so to see a little something of Brittany. The different style of architecture was very evident, particularly in that the buildings seemed made of dark, small stones. Dinan was gorgeous and there was a lot to see by just wandering around. The town is surrounded by walls and we walked along the Ramparts for awhile. (Ramparts was a word we came across more than a couple of times in our journey.) Again, here are some photos courtesy of my companions.

And of course we had to try out some cider and crepes (galettes).

Mine is the heaping one in the background

It is also important to pay attention to the people around. These are a couple of pictures I really wanted to take, so thanks once again, Judy!

There was still a three and a half hour drive left to get back to my house for the night. Yes, a full day indeed.

Armistice Day in France

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 23:07:00 +0000

Seeing Juno Beach just two weeks ago was quite well-timed to personally commemorate Remembrance Day this year and I also wanted to attend some kind of service today in Tours. My housemate figured there would be something, but she didn't know any details. I saw that something was happening at the Saint Martin Basilica that had a little something to do with remembering the First World War but a lot more to do with this guy around whom Tours seems to have formed (something I've been learning all about in this neat History of Tours course I'm taking and something that I will eventually blog about). Finally I found some details on the local newspaper's website and this morning I went to check it out.

Apparently there is a "Monument to the Dead" in a square I pass every day that I never noticed! I still didn't see it since there were people all around and I found myself more interested in the various French military standing around.

Air Force I think. There is a large training base near Tours and this was the largest group represented.

Regular ol' infantry I figured.

Some very young looking navy guys

We thought these would be the officers. Hanging out by the carousel

And...no idea!! But they had swords!

I missed the laying of wreaths and lighting of a flame, but saw a bunch of military personnel get decorated and heard a group of children sing the Marseillaise. There was a marching band, but they didn't seem formal enough to be military. And they played some peppy music, including something that resembled the Last Post (I just learned that that was British and Commonwealth tune). Then, we all paraded through the downtown to the City Hall where we heard the mayor give a speech. Some people looked down from balconies as we paraded by and I have images of what it might have been like on the actual Armistice Day.

There were no poppies, there was no silence at 11:00 and we were just following this marching band in a random parade down the street at that time. There weren't a lot of people overall and we were quite up close and personal with the navy hanging out at City Hall.

It's more and more apparent to me that the Second World War memory is so indeed very different in France than what I know as my own Canadian "memory" and this French commemoration of Armistice Day felt very different than what is so familiar for me in Remembrance Day. Yes, there was the same attention given to lives lost in current conflicts as is becoming more and more a part of Canadian Remembrance Day, but overall it did not feel as familiar of an event as I thought it may. Yes, we were on the same "side" in the two world wars, but the memory is different. And you might think that here in this city that was bombed and occupied, there would be a greater solemnity to the commemoration of lives lost, but I did not sense this. My reflection on this is not entirely formed, but I can't help but think of a sentence that a French person said to a British friend of mine here this week: "Oh yeah. The Second World War. We won that." To which the Brit was thinking, "Um, yeah didn't we help you out with that just a bit?!"

Road Trip Day 2: Rouen, Normandy and Juno Beach

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 16:00:00 +0000

Thursday morning we set to work figuring out how to get the GPS working and after reading various online forums (thanks, Google) we realized that we needed to reconfigure it for France and then we had to just wait for about 20 minutes, without moving, for it to locate itself. What a relief since our whole idea had been to just drive around and figure out our trip as we went.


Photo Credit: Alanna Martin, @ Mont-Saint-Michel

Around this time, my camera battery died and I didn't have the right charger with me. So I would have to rely on the photo-taking skills of my companions throughout our entire journey in the north. Fortunately, they are very skilled and well, we were a little paparazzi-ish sometimes! Lots of great photos to choose from. Here's some photos a couple of us took of each other taking photos throughout our trip.

@ Chenonceau

Photo credit: Judy Martin

We did some exploring on foot in Rouen, first checking out the very tall and impressive gothic church around the corner from the hotel. Turns out, it wasn't the famous cathedral, but the Abbaye Saint-Ouen. It was closed over the noon hours, so we just wandered around the outside a bit.

Rouen had a lot of medieval colombages style buildings, a lot more than Tours, and it was a very cute downtown.

Photo Credit: Judy

We continued wandering, trying to find various sites of interest, recommended by our trusty friend Rick Steves. Judy brought along the travel book we had used in 2007 and once again, Rick proved to give us some great background narrative to various places we visited. We didn't use his recommendations for accommodations in the same way we had four years ago and instead we found ourselves logging onto www.booking.com whenever we could find free WiFi, which ended up being at McDonalds more than I'd like to admit. The place we booked ON Thursday afternoon FOR Thursday night (yes, it was that kind of trip!) was through this site and it was a great little hotel in a tiny place called, Beauvoir (the place is so small that that link is actually for the hotel!).

Credit: Judy. Oh hey, that's our car there too!

But that was obviously our final destination on Thursday and there was still a lot to see on the way there. So in Rouen, we finally found the Notre Dame Cathedral of Rouen. Even though it is very, very big and very, very tall, for some reason it seemed hard to find. There were a lot of tall spires around Rouen and the entrance to this cathedral seemed to elude us!

Credit: Alanna

Then we finally found the square where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake and the church and monuments that are now there.


Credit: Judy

After burning some rubber, I did make it out of the scary, steeply-inclined parking lot and we were on to the direction of the sea! We hoped to make it somewhere near Mont-Saint-Michel (we still hadn't booked the hotel in Beauvoir and didn't until we find internet at a McDonalds around 5 pm!) and we knew we wanted to find some Normandy Beaches from WWII, particularly Juno Beach because of its Canadian significance. Rick Steves also mentioned Honfleur as being a worthwhile Normandy town to pass through, and so we did!


Credit: Judy

We also saw the impressive Bridge of Normandy from a distance.

Credit: Judy

It was a fun drive, jumping off of the Autoroutes and winding around some remote roads (still with 90 km/h speed limits!) and seeing some quaint Normandy villages.

When we finally got to the beaches, it was dark! But we made it!

Credits: more from Judy!

And then, finally in our nice quad room, Judy put the pots of gourmet French yogurt on the windowsill and we went to bed. It was the second of many more packed-full days to come.

Credit: Alanna

Road Trip Day 1: Tours to Versailles to Rouen

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 17:48:00 +0000

In 2007, I had the privilege of travelling around France, Switzerland and Italy with three friends and I wrote all about it in this blog starting with the post post here (click)! We ended the road trip that summer in Versailles and here are my thoughts and photos from that trip. This time in France, my slightly different group of four started our 7-day tour of France and Spain in Versailles. I rented a wonderful car from Europcar again, this time through the discounted website of Auto Europe (they served us well in 2007 and their prices are still the best)! Here are Mel and I posing beside our suave car.

It is an Opel Insignia--I finally got to drive a French car! It was very nice.

So on Wednesday, I drove Jenelle and I to Versailles (from which she was continuing on to Paris) where I was meeting Judy, Alanna and Mel. Jenelle and I were trying to avoid driving on any toll roads, but right outside of Tours, we came across a strange detour that instructed us to go back to Tours! It seemed ridiculous and we weren't the only drivers who decided to ignore the signs and find their own way. We were following this little red car and ended up at a farm! The driver of the red car was asking the farmers where to go and we learned that we really did need to follow the detour signs! I decided to just take the Autoroute with its tolls after all, at least for a bit until we could find another highway.

There's not much new to write about Versailles this time. The leaves were changing colours and there were no flowers; they'd added a couple of ugly, modern sculptures. And we were able to go inside this time. Here's a statue of the the guy responsible for Versailles with a bird on his head!

That curved copper thing in the background is one of the new items

He liked his gold.

They changed the tree pruning since last time.


My camera battery died inside Versailles right around this photo...

We ended up leaving Versailles a little later than we planned and we still had a ways to drive to our planned destination of Rouen, the "historic capital of Normandy".

We also couldn't get our GPS working right! Mel had brought a Canadian GPS on which she had made sure to upload European maps, but it wasn't locating the satellites at all! And we didn't have any maps so we had to do our best to figure out how to find the suburban hotel we had in mind. We ended up missing it and ended up in downtown Rouen. Fortunately we found a quad room available at the Hôtel Versan that was reasonably priced and right where we ended up! It also seemed to be right near the main attraction of Rouen, the cathedral. Or so we thought--that is the next day's story. The only downside was the angle of incline on their underground parking--I went to bed feeling quite nervous about the forthcoming and inevitable ascent.

But we arrived successfully, got settled in and set out to wander around and find somewhere to eat at 9:00! Something that would fit everyone's craving for vegetables and salad (apparently the other three had been lacking in this department during their three previous days of travel and in Paris). We asked some locals for their advice, but didn't end up taking it (they sent us to a place that served tapas, but no salad) and instead found the very nice Restaurant 16/9 who made some mean salads (huge!) and amazing cheese and spinach ravioli and served some nice wine! All in all, a little crazy and stressful at times (particularly concerning the GPS) but all-around good first day!

7 Days, 2807 kms, 4 Canadians around France and Spain...

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 00:28:00 +0000

Some of you will know that I have been negligent in the blogging department because I have been driving a lot lately! France has holidays at the end of October and beginning of November and I had the pleasure of receiving some friends from Canada and of travelling around with them! Anticipate lots of blogs, details and photos to come!

Here we are, over-dressed on the coast of Biarritz in French Basque--this was a one of those places we pleasantly stumbled upon and loved! Picture mountains to the opposite side...more photos to come...but this was Day 5, so you will have to wait until I post deets about the North (Normandy, Brittany, etc.).

Autumn Promenade

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:27:00 +0000

The weekend was beautiful and I took the opportunity to go for some long, exploratory promenades. I found some discrete "impasses" very close to my home that are little shortcuts to the adjacent town of Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire (literally, a five minute walk to a new city) and found lots of opportunities for photo taking. There really ARE fall colours and changing maple leaves in France and I'm enjoying myself immensely in this beautiful French autumn. Enjoy some of my favourite photos.

These signs mean that I am now leaving Saint-Cyr and entering Tours

Trees seem a lot older and more interesting here.

This is someone's back garden. They had raspberries too!

There are still a lot of flowers in people's gardens--particularly roses and some hollyhocks.

There were a lot of interesting clouds combined with a lot of jet streams on Saturday.

Commercials and Cranberries

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 11:41:00 +0000

I've recently had an epiphany to the fact that cranberries are native to North America. I probably already knew this, but it's striking me lately because of a commercial that is airing here a lot at the moment and because my French housemate has been buying Ocean Spray cranberry juice lately and remarking at its goodness as though it is a newly discovered thing. The bottles here are a lot smaller than in Canada and kind of expensive and the first thing I noticed was the label "Cranberry" since in Canada, our bilingual label says "Canneberge". I questioned my housemate and then my French dictionary about it and neither knew of this "canneberge" word so I made the exciting discovery that it is a Canadian word. (Seriously, I really do dig language things like this. And the origins of plants and such--kinda neat, I think.) So yeah, France says "cranberry" with a French accent.

One day I decided to find this Ocean Spray commercial online so that I could post it and that's when I found a lot of other Ocean Spray commercials...some of you may know those Straight from the Bog commercials in English with the two cranberry farmer guys standing in the bog with the cranberries...well apparently they exist in England and Australia too. In all of them, the two guys have a kind of North American farmer accent. Funnily, the French one has two guys who are meant to be from Québec, so their accents definitely stand out on tv here. I've assumed that they're not really from Québec and that they are some French actors imitating Québecois and in my YouTube search, I found that Quebec has its own version of the commercial in which they actually ARE Québec guys, with farmer accents (I'm assuming). Here they are...whether you speak French or not, you should be able to hear the difference between the two. Also, you may be able to pick out the two different ways that they pronounce "Ocean Spray"--the France one says, "Océ-an Spray" while the Québec one says it in English. The French imitation of the Québec accent commercial is actually a little easier for me to understand than the actual Québec one.

#1 Québec

#2 France

And just for fun, here's another French commercial that's on right now that's kind of fun (and there's no talking, so you'll get it)!

Modes of Transportation

noreply@blogger.com (Beth) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 12:29:00 +0000

So the other day, I saw a twenty-something women riding one of these in a skirt. -->

Then, shortly after, saw one of these weird things.

These are not things you see everyday in Canada and it got me thinking about writing this blog entry. I was just going to grab more google images, but then I looked through my own photos and realized that I already have some of my own shots of transportation methods here! I wish I had a shot of the woman on the scooter. Speaking of "scooter", I've recently realized that that word can signify many things in my Canadian English. The above, "push scooter" and then the following Vespa-type "scooter"

This is my own photo meant to display an interesting corner...a Medieval style building, and various methods of transportation. Note the car in the process of parallel parking--a staple to any driving here.

We also call these "scooters" and I've seen a couple of these here, just motoring down the road or sidewalk, whatever was most convenient.

This is not my photo obviously.

But that analysis of "scooter" types is slightly off-topic and I will continue on now...

You've seen some photos of cars (and another scooter) in this blog post and yes, cars are definitely around. As you imagine, most are a lot smaller than in North America. Here is a glimpse of the tiny Nissan I drove to La Rochelle a couple of weekends ago.

And here are some cars (a little larger), parked outside of my apartment building. (Yes this is where I live!)

Parked behind my building, are a lot of these! A classic and popular French car. I'm hoping that we get a Renault for our upcoming road trip, because I have yet to drive any French model.

Ok, then we have the ever popular bicycle! (You saw some already parked at that corner in the shot above.) Here's another attempted artsy shot from my first week here.

And, as evidence that bicycles are ridden in La Rochelle too, here was another artsy shot attempt.

Since La Rochelle is at the sea, one also finds boats! Imagine!

Above and below you can also see the always popular choice of...

This is a random man walking in Vieux Tours

...walking. In September, I was doing a lot of this! Then I got sick. And school got busier, so I bought a bus pass! And now, this is my primary method of transportation.

Notice that it is one of those "accordion" buses, AKA "articulated" buses. And notice the ever-present construction, making way for the future...

This is obviously not my photo! That is the City Hall in the background.

...TRAM!

This is the front of the Palais de Justice and behold another, yet non-articulated, bus.

Nearly every day, I go here...

...beside the Round About and bus stop called...

..."Trois Rivières. (Look, the sun isn't that high yet...it's quite cold in the mornings on my way to school.)

This is across the street, where I get off the bus (or get on, if I'm heading north to the supermarket or mall). La Chevalerie is a Tabac, or convenience store that sells tons of magazines and newspapers and it has a little bar in it too. Definitely a different combination than what one sees in Canada.

And then we have...

...the gypsy caravan! I haven't seen many of these (just this one, in fact, at a bizarre fair thing).

And finally, the bull. (Also not too common, but found at bizarre fair things.)