Paris, day 4

December 21, 2007. Our last day in Paris. We got off to a slow start this morning. Emmaline and I were both a bit impatient with everyone: we’d planned to be out of the hostel by nine-thirty, but we were only sitting down to breakfast at nine o’clock. The eating area was so crowded that we had to split up between tables and share seats. There was a great scramble after breakfast to get all the luggage packed, the rooms cleared out, and everything taken down to the luggage holding area, which turned out to be a dank, clammy, catacomb-like basement under the hostel. An arched ceiling barely high enough to stand up under, and pipes gurgling against the stone walls. We left our luggage there, though, and set out for our last day’s worth of adventures.

While we waited on the first platform for our train, we stood in a circle and held our prayer time. This morning we went to the Eiffel Tower first. The line for the lift wasn’t too long—it didn’t have any curves in it when we arrived. The tower reared over us, sturdy on its four low arches, the sun glancing through the metal network of its body. Pigeons stalked around our feet, clattering their wings, their feathers iridescent in the sunshine. Emmaline ran up and down the queue impatiently (I joked to Charlotte that Emmaline is only our leader because she can’t stand to be still for too long). We finally decided to get out of the queue for the lift and take the stairs up as far as we could. So we bought tickets at the other pier and set out up the stairs. It was a stiffer climb than any of us expected, I think. Heather, Michaela, and Catherine struggled particularly. The metal stairs clanked under our feet. Up and up, flight after flight, the ground gradually dropping away below us. On the first platform, we found surprisingly that the viewing walkway around the edge of the platform was covered in snow—why, I don’t know, though Emmaline surmised it was to keep the walkway from being slippery (if so, it defeated its own purpose!). We climbed on up to the second platform by the stairs, and from the second platform had to take the lift to the very top. The view from the top of the tower was quite impressive. As we stepped out of the little room onto the viewing walkway, a gust of wind whipped into our hair. Walking around the platform, we could see down onto the great city, Paris, lying rosy like a living being below us. A brown rime of smog hung between the pink haze of the city and the blue sky. Looking down we could see all the places we’d visited: the Musee d’Orsay, the Louvre, Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, the Arc de Triomphe, the Seine laced with bridges. It was wonderful to be able to spot these famous places and recognize them among the crust of other buildings—the clutter of apartments, flats, restaurants, businesses, shops, veined through with streets like hieroglyphs on a tablet. We found someone to take a group picture and then went down to the second platform.

We ate our lunch on the first platform at a little round table, sharing out the remains of our food: bits of baguette, a lump of rubbery cheese, big soft grapes, Cadbury bars, etc. The familiar taste of bread and cheese, eaten shivering in the cold…. When we’d finished eating, it was back down the flights and flights of stairs again, onto solid ground. I was thankful to be on solid ground. The line for the tower stretched away in a snakey curve. We wandered past the line, across the street, down to the Seine, where we found, tucked away behind the walled bank of the river, a little Christmas market. Bright red carpet spread on the ground between the little wooden shacks, the sellers just opening their shutters to display their wares. We stopped at a stall where a man was selling scarves, and several of the girls bought some. Light clouds over the sky today; the cold was not as harsh. After awhile, we wandered up to street level again, where there was a carousel and a crepe stand. Sarah, Michaela, Charlotte, Emmaline, Heather, and Catherine all rode the carousel, but I stood and watched and took pictures—they pulled faces at me as their colorful plastic horses flashed past.

We wandered on then—over the bridge of the Seine, and up the Seine, towards the Louvre, to visit a café that Catherine Donnelly had recommended. It was good to walk outside in the open air for awhile, to stretch one’s legs. We walked past endless monuments, the Eiffel Tower looming behind us to the right across the river, and war memorials, museums, statues, etc. sprinkled to our left along the street. We walked on the sidewalk under the trees that skirt the Seine. We walked past houseboats moored at the bank, bobbing up and down, their decks covered with potted plants and lawn furniture. Finally we arrived back at the far end of the Champs Elysees. We crossed the square where the ferris wheel is, and ended up in a fancy shmancy shopping district. Five-star hotels, first-class restaurants, high-end namebrands. Sarah and Charlotte and Michaela walked at the back, oohing and aahing over the famous designer clothing shops. Emmaline and I walked in the front, shaking our heads and laughing at them. The streets were crowded with businessmen and Christmas shoppers. Many of the shops were decorated with lights and evergreen. Finally we found the café, Angelina’s, facing the main street running parallel to the Seine, the Rue de Rivoli. Immediately all of us felt very out-of-place. Like the other shops along the street, Angelina’s had its name and insignia in mosaic on the sidewalk, and on a plaque by the door. Inside, we were surrounded by gilded archways, chandeliers, plush carpets, mirrors. A waiter took us upstairs to a corner table, where we sat a bit stiffly, both from weariness and a feeling of unbelonging. Catherine wasn’t feeling well due to a sore tooth. A kind waitress bustled up to us, laughed at our awkwardness at the language, and took our order. She soon returned with it, in white pitchers: famous Angelina’s black hot chocolate for all of us, except Catherine, who’d ordered white, and Sarah, who’d ordered ice cream instead. We sipped the hot chocolate slowly out of white cups. It was as thick as chocolate sauce, and as rich—bitter, unless swirled with cream, and incredibly strong. I could only drink a few sips at a time. It would’ve been more pleasant savored over an hour’s quite conversation, perhaps, but it was still richly delicious. We sat around talking and resting, looking at the splendor around us—the sunbursts and paintings on the walls; the chandeliers; the gilt frames of the mirrors.

Finally we paid and walked to the nearest subway station, through all the fanciness. We took the metro to the Opera Garnier. The Opera Garnier was just as spectacular as we’d expected, though sadly the main part of the Opera was closed off due to renovations. It was this opera house on which The Phantom of the Opera was based, and looking at it, I was swept up for a little while. The façade was gilt, of course, with the figures of Choreography and Lyric seated on either side, resplendent. Inside, along the first entry area, were lifelike statues of famous composers—Handel, Rameau, etc. Standing at the arches of the first entry area, we could look at the famous staircase—sparkling with light, gilding, and statues. Bronze women posed at either side of the head of the stair, balancing chandeliers on their heads and arms, which fountained over them with beads of crystal. Faces stared and swirled from every inch of balustrade. Over our heads, stone masks glared down at the first entry area, their eye sockets eerily black as the light shone starkly up at them.

As we left the Opera Garnier, it was beginning to get dark. Emmaline navigated us through the metro to San Sulfice, where we found, at last, a proper Christmas market, nestled under the shoulder of a church. The trees of the market sparkled with little lights. There were rows and rows of stalls, with carpet running between. We split up to look around. A much more relaxed atmosphere than in Belfast. The sellers would actually talk to you, being friendly. There weren’t many other people around, and Christmas music was playing from one of the stalls, drifting on the night air. Heather, Catherine, and I looked at jewelry and candies. We looked at stalls of French confectionery, polished stone jewelry, pashminas, Asian flower art, Canadian beers, all sorts of odd little random things. When we met up again, Charlotte requested that we go to the train station with the bookstore so that she could buy some French comic books for her brother. So we went back to Gare Montparnesse. While Charlotte and Emmaline looked in the bookstore, the rest of us browsed in the small Christmas market behind the train station—much more grubby than San Sulfice, and not nearly as pleasant—more like a cheap wholesale tourist stop than a Christmas market. Heather found ice skaters performing, though, and that kept her happy until the rest of us were ready to go.

Then came the final piece of excitement of our trip: the race to the airport. Sarah and Emmaline wanted to go to the grocery store to buy French foods, so while they did that, the rest of us went to the hostel and took out our luggage. We managed to haul all our luggage, plus Sarah’s and Emmaline’s, to the train stop, but Sarah and Emmaline were late. Michaela and I, both on edge, started to carry things down past the ticket barriers (our tickets always malfunctioned; mine was the last to do so, but thankfully Michaela knew enough French to get it fixed before Emmaline showed up). When Emmaline and Sarah came, we raced to the train, and from that train to the next, to the next…. Tense, Charlotte panicked, Emmaline and I trying to reassure everyone, though, as I watched the hands on my watch slide past, I felt my heart sinking. At last, sweating and breathless, we caught the final train to the airport. Charlotte was dizzy, nearly fainting from hunger, so Emmaline pulled out the bread, cheese, and fruit she’d providentially bought at the grocery store, and we made a small meal, sitting on the train—the familiar taste of bread and that soft spreading cheese for the last time. Sitting there watching the city slide by, from the fancy buildings of inner Paris to the office buildings to the grimy slums and convenience stores on the outskirts, I shook my head at Emmaline.

When the train let us off at the airport, we ran from the train station to the terminal, and arrived with just seven minutes to spare at the checkout. But after we checked in, we found, to our complete dismay, that we had a twenty-minute wait to get through border security! We all managed to get through, though, and ran up to the clerk at the gate—only to be told coldly, in broken English, “You wait!” Our plane was half-an-hour late. So we sat in the airport, recovering our breath, laughing shakily in relief, and resting, until finally it was our turn to hand in our boarding passes and take the bus out onto the tarmac. We climbed the stairs onto the plane, and were again surrounded by the familiar sound of Northern Irish voices as the stewardesses gave us our safety instructions. And then the plane lifted off…

I spent the flight with my head in my arms, reliving the past four days, and dozing. When we touched down in Belfast again, I was struck with a sudden and very bad case of motion sickness. The airport seemed oddly familiar, memories of it from that dazed September day. I went through the non-EU customs alone, and met the other girls on the other side. We collected our bags, then went out to meet parents. One by one we said our good-byes. Mr. Wilson, Sarah’s father, was there to pick Emmaline, Sarah, Catherine, and me up from the airport. All of us dozed on the hour-long drive back to Coleraine. He dropped Catherine off at her house, then Emmaline and me off at the dark farm. Stepping into the kitchen, I found myself suddenly surrounded by more familiarity, by warmth—a big Christmas tree in the corner by the bay windows; cards hanging on the cabinets; lights strung in the windows; little decorations sprinkled on the shelves. Emmaline and I went up to her room and went to bed, but of course neither one of us could fall asleep immediately. We lay away for at least half-an-hour talking, reliving the trip, all its silliness and unpleasantness and strangeness. We laughed about bread and cheese, about the cold, about all the stairs we’d climbed, about the metro, about difficulties speaking French. At last we dropped off to sleep. I could still hear, in my mind, the noises of the city—the emergency sirens, the noise of cars, the patter of French.

pictures from Paris--at last!

Paris Dec. 17-21 2007

Paris, day 3

December 20, 2007 (partial journal entry--Chartres cathedral) Emmaline, Catherine, and I took the train to Chartres today, while the other three went to Disneyland. It was relaxing to be on our own, just the four of us, and to get out of Paris and see some of the countryside: open countryside, low rolling hills, big unfenced fields, very different from the cramped pastures and hedges of Northern Ireland. Chartres cathedral was beautiful, basking in the winter sunshine. We spent an hour or so wandering around inside it, admiring especially the intricate honeycombed sculptures around the choir stalls, with scenes from Christ's life. We looked into a couple of little bookstores near the cathedral, then walked around outside the cathedral. On the south portal, I found the four statues familiar to me from Gothic history books, particularly the two of the knight and the monk, some of my favorites for their personal detail and simple serenity. I stopped and took pictures, delighted to have found 'my' statues.

We walked on around the cathedral after awhile. At the back we found a garden with a parapet, and then a steep fall, and beyond that a beautiful view of the city of Chartres itself: a fairly large town, it seemed, with some tall buildings and big cranes, a tangle of houses rosy in the slanting afternoon light. We walked around under a series of stone arches, over to the north doorway, where we goofed around, taking pictures of each other. Some workmen were unloading supplies at the side door. One of them came up to us and started to talk to Emmaline. He asked her (apparently) where we were from in America (!), and she said, 'Oklahoma,' the first thing that came to her head, so he started to sing a song about Oklahoma in French, grinning and looking at the four of us, while we smiled and laughed a bit awkwardly. The statues on the cathedral looked down stilly. There were two women at this doorway, statues, veiled, turned as though speaking to one another. Somehow the statues on this building seem almost alive, but withdrawn.... We walked on back to the train station. The light fell between the narrow buildings, casting blue shadows.

We stopped at a tourist shop where a coat of armor stood outside the door, and I took silly pictures of the girls with it. Then we got bWe were happy, relaxed, laughing and joking as we swung along together. The serene silence of tack on the train to Paris. The other girls dozed. Back in Paris, we still had plenty of time before we were supposed to meet the others at eight o'clock. Emmaline wanted to find Montmartre and Sacre Coeur, so we set out into the subways to see what we could see. We eventually came up at a stop near Sacre Coeur. Emmaline was busy looking at her map, but Heather and I, glancing around us, were a bit taken aback by what we saw--down the street were signs for bars, dance halls, and other unsavory places, the blare of the 'red light district'. Thankfully, our route lay in roughly the opposite direction. We started up narrow side streets, up a steep hill. On the way we found an odd little Christmas market with a carousel, and a 'headless' accordion player.

At last Emmaline found the steps of Sacre Coeur, and we staggered up them, Heather and Catherine puffing along behind. Flight after flight, straight up, the ornate black iron lampstands marching like grim sentries beside us. At the top we found the basilica of Sacre Coeur: white stone tinted mauve with sunset, its domed towers flashing. From that hill we had a gorgeous view of the city below. Emmaline wanted to go inside since we were there, so we did. No photography allowed inside. We cycled silently around the edge of the building on a carpet laid down to muffle visitors' footsteps. On the great dome above the altar was a gilt mosaic of Christ; on the four pillars around the main dome were sculpted stone angels, beautiful and terrible, with wings outspread. Compared to them, the Byzantine glamor of the rest of the church seemed strangely out-of-place, a forced ostentatious piety. Candles winked on the images and icons. I was glad to get outside again.

We explored around to the side of the basilica, and ducked down a little lane lined with tourist shops, including an Irish pub. (!) We stepped into a couple of the shops, which were well-lit, and crammed with cheap goods--mugs, T-shirts, scarves, hats, posters, flags, statuettes, etc. I did buy a pashmina at one of them, and Catherine and Heather both bought scarves, while Emmaline looked around rather restlessly. By now it was almost dark. Going outside, I discovered that the sky had become a vivid almost Carribean blue, with the moon like a gilt rosette hanging above the glowing towers of Sacre Coeur. Christmas lights flashed and blinked between the buildings. Wandering on, we found ourselves suddenly in a square, the most stereotypical Parisian place we'd seen yet: surrounded by creperies and cafe bars, the square was full of artists and people sitting for portraits and caricatures. We were accosted by several of the artists asking to do our portraits, but it was cold, so we turned them down. I was beginning to be uneasy. Always wary of thieves, and remembering those glaring lights further down the hill, I was eager to be out of this area.

We finally managed to find our way down the hill, but didn't know where the nearest metro stop was. Emmaline stopped at a corner creperie to ask directions, and the man was quite kind, so we all bought crepes. I had a crepe with sugar and lemon juice--hot, oozing, and delicious, the soft pastry all wavy like the edge of a shell. We found our way down into the metro finally and decided to go in search of Christmas markets. On the airplane over, Emmaline had seen Trocadero listed as an area with markets in one of the airline magazines. So we went to Trocadero. We found ourselves in another stylish area (there seems to be no part of Paris in the centre that is not stylish in some way!) and stopped in a bookstore to ask directions. The shop owner didn't know of any Christmas markets, but we lingered in the bookstore for awhile, fascinated by the picture books and the books in French. Emmaline found a copy of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe in French, and we split the cost--I paid for half as her birthday present. It was fun to take a brief break in a safe place and browse over the glossy pages. But then we went back out again.

We made our way to the Champs Elysees via the metro, and stopped in a Quick Burger restaurant for dinner. We were all cold, and Heather doesn't like to eat meat, but we settled for it anyway. Catherine and I both had hot chicken sandwiches, which were good. Then we trailed back out into the cold to meet the girls. We'd settled on meeting them in the long entrance hall to a cinema. Emmaline read the summaries of the movies in French while we waited. Crowds circled past, so many people, so many faces. Lights, cars, signs, shop windows, Christmas lights, voices.... When the other girls arrived, they were eager to shop along the Champs Elysees. So we elected to meet together again at the first Brioche restaurant at nine o'clock. Emmaline, Heather, Catherine, and I wandered for awhile--in and out of galleries and malls, peering into shop windows, glancing at tourist stores, trying to stay warm.

We caught up with Sarah, Charlotte, and Michaela in Naf Naf, an upper-end clothing store. Emmaline and I poked fun of the expensive clothes, but she decided to stay with the other girls. Heather and Catherine wanted to shop at Zara, so I went with them on down. They both found clothes to buy, and then we walked up to the Brioche place. We managed to order food, and sat at a table in a corner, getting warm. We split a brioche pastry man between us, the warm sweet pastry melting in our mouths. Emmaline came and found us. The other girls had gone to buy crepes. We made our way back to the hostel. Emmaline, Michaela, Sarah, and Charlotte sat on the floor, laughing and talking among themselves. Heather and I sat quietly together and chatted--we talked about trees and birds, which Heather also likes, and looked at pictures with Catherine. Then we had our Bible study on Esther and made plans for tomorrow.

Paris, day 2

December 19, 2007. Another slow start today, if possible even worse than the day before. 'Not morning!' Emmaline groaned as I tried to rouse her from her mattress in the corner. Outside, though, the day was just a little bit milder. Today was our day to visit the Louvre. We set out again into the metro, Emmaline with her trusty map, which she kept perusing even while we were on the train. Always the scurry and rush to get onto the train before it pulled out, shoving in among the crowded people. Thankfully there were trains every five minutes or so, so if one train was full sometimes we waited for the next. One day when we were on the metro, a man came on with a saxophone and CD player on his back, and sang Christmas carols in French; Emmaline and some of the other girls gave him money. We went through the subway and came up at last in another maze of big halls and tunnels. All of Paris must stand on very shaky ground, for underneath it is a whole other city--restaurants, shops, metro stations, small museums, newsstands, etc.

We bought ticketes for the Louvre in a little tourist shop, and then found our way to the museum itself, through the huge dark chilly halls. Past the foundations of the original museum, into a large complex like a mall with big sparkling shops, through security, and then into the central area under the biggest glass pyramid of the Louvre. From this area led the four halls: one back the way we had come; the other three to the three 'pavilions', the wings of the Louvre, Richelieu, Sully, and Denon. The rotunda under the pyramid was at least three stories tall, with a big spiral staircase from inside the pyramid winding down like the chamber of a nautilus in the white light on the white walls. So many people.... Swarming everywhere, crawling, pushing, hurrying, drifting, wandering. We tried to settle on a time and place to meet, and went in through security.

At first we stuck together. We went straight into a gallery of medieval sculptures. Silent stone-struck faces staring placidly above our heads, eyeless gazes meditating on distances we could not see. Pieces broken from cathedrals and churches, virtues, saints, knights, patrons. Through the windows we could look out onto a courtyard where green bronze statues of boars and hounds stood, the hair on their hides green as icicles in the cold day outside, poised snarling at each other. We spent awhile with the medieval statuary, then went up a flight of stairs and found ourselves in a huge long arched gallery, like the underside of a barge, with Classical sculptures running down either side. Michelangelo's prisoners, some of them, struggling bound in stone. Muscular idealized bodies trapped in position, every sinew bulging, lunging, thrusting, leaping, or sitting tense and still. At the far end was the famous Victory, poised as though about to take flight, her wings sweeping above her headless neck. Everyone seemed to have congregated here, mostly Asians, busy snapping pictures, and it was in this huge hall that we got separated. Heather, Catherine, and I managed to stay together.

We wandered into an ornate room (stark contrast to the sterile severity of the Victory's hall) full of mirrors with a painted ceiling, and out again, and down a hall with windows looking onto a hall far below, lit from skylights above, where people were busy examining statues at desks while other statues and stone plaques stood swathed in plastic, jumbled about. We found ourselves finally in the Italian art: Donatello and his peers, silent peaceful madonnas and saints with everlasting halos. And from there into another great hall, long, white walls hung with the most famous of paintings: huge canvases hung above and below each other. Da Vinci's 'Virgin of the Rocks', Caravaggio's 'Fortune-Teller', etc. I stood in front of the 'Fortune-Teller' for a long time, lovingly watching the light falling on the faces, the careful craftsmanship of the brushstrokes.

Interspersed throughout the crowd were artists with easels, copying the paintings. The crowds swirled to and fro, circulating up and down the hall. In a packed side gallery we found the 'Mona Lisa', a small hazy canvas hanging behind a glass casing, smiling mockingly at the Asian tourists taking pictures. Not overly impressed, we wandered on. Our own reflections looked back at us from the mirrors interspersed among the paintings in the main hall; here and there were archways with busts under them. Heather and Catherine were tired, so we sat down, and lo and behold, Michaela and Sarah wandered up, and at last Emmaline and Charlotte, laughing and breathless, having been lost in the museum for the past hour or so. We came together in a knot to talk and sort ourselves out. The others hadn't yet seen the 'Mona Lisa', so I showed it to them. Then Heather, Catherine, and I went on to try to find the Egyptian, Greek, and Roman art. We lost Sarah and Michaela again. We went through a couple of huge galleries with more ornate ceilings and an embossed band around the edge of the ceiling, gold gods and goddesses and cupids and florals, and paintings on the ceiling itself. In one gallery, whose walls were painted maroon, were big Neoclassical canvases by people like David, of Napoleon crowning his queen, of scenes from Roman legend. We made our way out, back past the Victory, and into the galleries we'd stepped into before. Ornate: ceilings, walls, all painted, all gilded, stylized faces staring down at us. Strange contrast with the actual content of these galleries, which held endless glass cases of Greek and Roman pottery, red and black flat figures, and Egyptian artefacts--sphinxes, falcons, coffins, tablets stamped with hieroglyphs. The exotic jumble on the ceilings was weird, even somehow inappropriate, compared to the stark simplicity of the ancient pieces, which were strangely sinister in their out-of-placeness. These galleries were hardly crowded. The sun slanted through the windows, glancing off the ruddy figures on the vases. Still figures, silence.

At last we made our way out. Catherine and Heather were already tired and dazed, so they elected to find a bench and sit for awhile. I went back into the museum to see if I could find the others. Charlotte and Emmaline were sitting placidly waiting for me by the Victory; Michaela and Sarah, as it turned out, had gone to join the other two. Emmaline decided to have a look round on her own, while Charlotte and I, still eager to see more paintings, set off to look for some Vermeers that I'd heard about. On our way in the Richelieu wing, we came upon a huge glass-roofed atrium housing more statues. There was something calming about this place. Hardly any crowds here, and the blue light quietly filling the great hall, the statues standing scattered about. We paused and rested for awhile, looking at it, refreshing our eyes on the distances. Then we went on. I glimpsed a gallery with Sumerian art in it, so I stopped to take a picture briefly of a sitting statue, and then we went on. We rode escalators up to the top floor, where we successfully found Vermeer: a philosopher with a map and a lace-maker. We stopped to admire them for awhile, then went in search of the painting of the Magdalene with her skull and candle. But we ended up getting lost in a maze of obese Flemish art, heavy long faces, and so we rode the escalators down again.

We wandered quietly into the atriums of statues, and walked around them for awhile. I examined four statues of great horses with flying manes, and Charlotte found a series of statues portraying a girl (Diana?) growing up. Cloistered archways opened up all around, and through them I caught glimpses of other statues, mostly medieval funeral monuments. At last we met up with Emmaline and the others again, sitting on the little crowded bench outside the Sully wing. The Louvre: Like wandering through A History of Western Civilization.

We picked ourselves up, went back down through the tunnels, and came up at last in the big plaza encompassed by the wings of the Louvre. Here the pyramids and the fountains, the broad shallow aquamarine pools of the fountains encrusted with ice. Seagulls were floating, rather amusedly, on the cold water. We took pictures of each other--of Emmaline swinging on a lamppost, of all of us standing in front of the glass pyramids. The sunshine slanted goldly over the ornate facades of the buildings: perfect proportion and order covered over with statues, branching plants cut in stone, faces staring stilly down, hands braced holding the distinctive emblems--sceptres, lyres, spears, books.

We gathered ourselves together at last, laughing and happy in the sunshine, and descended into the metro again. Emmaline and her everlasting map managed to navigate us to the train to the chateau of Versailles. The train was a big double-decker train, and we found seats up on the second level. Sitting in the sunshine, we ate our lunch, pulled bit by bit out of Emmaline's Spiderman backpack: sweet soft baguettes, triangles of velveeta-like white cheese, Gala apples, etc. No one had quite enough to eat, but it was enough to keep going at least. And it was simple, eaten sitting in the sunshine with my friends around me. Catherine fell asleep. I watched the city slide by.

We reached Versailles in about half-an-hour and had a brief walk from the train station to the road which the chateau heads. Up the big road to the chateau itself. The chateau is undergoing renovation work, so we had to pick our way over the broken pavement. Emmaline took a picture of us under the ornate ironwork gateway. The mid-afternoon sunshine slanted over the buildings. The light in France is different: In Paris, it's very light, so intensely light, the lightest light; here, now, less white, more gold, as though the facades of the buildings were all gilded and glowing back to the sun. We bought tickets in one wing, where the rooms were plain, simple white and blue walls, fireplaces, mirrors; then proceeded toward the main core of the building, but just as we were getting ready to go through security, Heather discovered that she'd lost her ticket. Emmaline groaned. Charlotte laughed under her breath, 'Emmaline is being the big scary mother!', and Emmaline took Heather back to buy another ticket.

The rest of us went on in. We went up a grand staircase and looked into the royal chapel, so incredibly ornate that it would be difficult to worship there, even the silver organ pipes decorated. From there into a special exhibition of silver. Dim room after dim room, lit by faux candles, which seemed to flicker in the gloom. The walls were brocaded and velveted and hung with tapestries; the floors were tesselated; and the furniture...! Silver, silver, silver, silver tables, silver chairs, beds with hangings woven with silver thread and crowned with tufts of ostrich feathers, silver cupids, silver fire guards cast in the shapes of lions, silver candlesticks, mirrors framed with silver.... The ornateness was overwhelming and unnecessary. We came out finally into the famed Hall of Mirrors: the huge panes of mirrors down the left, and the floor-to-ceiling windows down the right. Between each window and each wall of mirror were bronze statues, women in flowing garments balancing candlesticks, and overhead sparkled crystal chandeliers tiered with hundreds of drops. At the far end of the room were rather realistic printed cardboard copies of the thrones and candles where the Louises would've sat. We were reunited with Emmaline and Heather here, and went on into the next wing of the building. More ornate rooms. Marie Antoinette's bedroom suite; the big painting of Napoleon crowning his queen, etc.

At last we were out, out again into the straight pure cold of the afternoon. Good to be out of the close baroque rooms at last, out of the dense cloying sensuality. We walked down toward the gardens behind Versailles. Dusk was falling. The sun set quickly over a distant hill, leaving the gardens lying in a powder-blue twilight. Emmaline, Charlotte, and I walked together. Behind us, the great chateau sat still glowing silently in the pale blue dusk, as though the sandstone was still giving back the day's warmth. We strolled down the gravel walks. Past a round pool, down to the long flat shining lake. The statues and fountains along this main walkway were swathed in heavy green canvas, bundled up against the cold. The hedges and young trees were bare, their branches stiff against the sky. In the distance tall sycamores stood straight against the chill blue sky, black slender lines veining the sky. In the lake was a statue of Poseidon rising out of the water, his horses' manes foaming chilly. Somehow seeing the naked torsos of the statues made me feel colder.... Poseidon and his chariot were coming up out of the black ice of the flat lake, protruding from the ice.

The other girls gradually caught up with us, Sarah and Michaela wandering up behind. We strung out along the graveled pathways. We walked past great arcades of sycamore trees, planted in stark straight rows, their branches arching interlaced overhead. Silence....--grey, aqua, silver-blue, mauve. Frost furring the dark black-green grass. A few white swans grazing beside the lake. The chateau standing glowing in the distance. Emmaline, Charlotte, Sarah, and Michaela played with the ice, kicking it over the lake. Sarah, Charlotte, and I were cold, so we turned around and started to walk back up to the chateau. The stillness of the gardens arched over us. Sterile lanes stretching away on either side. Strange to me: That the same people who made the overwhelming tangle of chambers and gilding could lay out this garden in its mathematic simplicity. Dusk had lingered but dark was coming quickly. The lights came on suddenly on the chateau. Charlotte, Michaela, Catherine, Heather, and I stood looking around for Sarah and Emmaline, who suddenly jumped out at us, screaming--we all laughed, our voices echoing on the frosty air, our breath pealing away. We walked out of the chateau grounds, back onto the train. We stopped briefly to look at the Versailles municipal building, lit up and crusted with statuary like a wedding cake.

Then back on the train. We went to Paris again and got off at Notre Dame, which also was lit up for the night. Michaela knew a good restaurant in this area, and as it turned out it was right near the metro. Two cafes, side-by-side, their awnings poking out like low fluttering wings from the tall buildings. Waiters standing at the doors called to us in French, inviting us in--we deliberated for a moment, then went inside the second one. Inside, we found warmth. It was uncrowded, and the waiters were patient and friendly with us as we tried to decide what to eat and how to navigate the language. It was an Italian restaurant. I had spaghetti; the others had pizza; Emmaline had a 'French burger'. We sat eating and chatting. A jazz band, saxophone and bass, struck up in the glassed-in porch under the awning.

At last we got back to the hostel. Emmaline and co. went grocery shopping. Then we had a long Bible study, discussing Esther, and God's providence throughout the book.

Paris, day 1

December 18, 2007. Today was our first full day in Paris. Some sort of irony: We were in one of the greatest cities in the world, and all too tired to appreciate it! We stayed in a youth hostel, the Hotel Auberge, just off the Ledru Rollin metro stop, down a little side street. We had three rooms: 313, a four-person room, 407, a very warm two-person room (nicknamed "the sauna"), and 405, a cool two-person room. Catherine, Heather, Charlotte, and Sarah slept in 313, and Emmaline, Michaela, and I slept in 405--every night we moved a mattress from 407 and put it on the floor for Emmaline; all our luggage and things we kept in 407.

This morning became the pattern for most of our mornings. Charlotte came upstairs and banged on our door to wake us at about seven-thirty or so. We got dressed in stages, in various places--some of us in the showers down the hall, some of us in the rooms. Charlotte, Sarah, and Michaela all had to blow-dry and straighten their hair, and used 405 and 407 for that purpose, while Catherine and Heather got ready downstairs. We always had to rush to get away, and we were always ready long after the time we'd planned the night before. At about eight o'clock we went downstairs for breakfast. The hostel served breakfast, but it turned out to consist of one baguette per person, a hot drink, and strawberry jam or butter to go on the baguette. We would find a table and sit, shivering a little in the chilly downstairs rooms, sipping our hot drinks. Various internationals would come in and out. During our stay in Paris, there always seemed to be large groups of Asian tourists about, chattering away busily and moving in flocks, like starlings.

After breakfast, we went upstairs for a brief quiet time of prayer before beginning the day. We're doing a Bible study on Esther, so this morning we read the first in the series of studies, basically just a summary of Esther. When we had spent awhile praying, we set out on our day's activities. Before we'd gone to Paris, we'd prepared a whole itinerary for each day. The morning outside the hostel was a spectacular December morning: cold, dry, crystal clear, with a high pale blue sky, and and intensely clear sunshine, streaming down over the tall buildings. It must've been at least twenty-five degrees Fahrenheit. Here all the buildings seemed cleaner, grander, bigger. We descended into the metro. Every time we tried to get in, it seemed, someone's metro pass would malfunction. Emmaline finally got into the habit of going last so that she could get help in French from someone when one of our tickets didn't work. We would all manage to get through somehow or other, and go from Ledru Rollin to Bastille, where the walls were all decorated with scenes from the Revolution. The tunnels in the metro were always plastered with posters, for perfume, movies, art exhibitions, etc. Often, especially in Bastille, there were performers in the tunnels, sometimes only one, playing the accordion, other times bands, playing Christmas carols. Each stop had a slightly different character to it. One had historical displays about famous Parisian performers; another had historical notices about the building of the metro; others specialized in certain art.

From Bastille we went to to Notre Dame, our first sight of the trip--coming up out of the heavy, stale-smelling tunnels into the morning, with the cathedral before us and the Seine alongside. The water was translucent jade green, flowing in its canal. Seagulls wheeled and turned above the river. We crossed the street to the cathedral. The plaza in front of it was crowded, but we made our way across, under the corroding statue of Charlemagne, past the big Christmas tree, to the doors. Inside at last, under the figured portal, the serene saints on the doorjambs eyeing us. The cathedral was crowded but hushed inside. As we walked up the right side of the nave, along the chapels, it was hard to gauge the size of the place. Chapel after chapel, patterned windows with delicate interlaced colors, geometric and floral patterns. The chapel of Jean d'Arc, her statue gazing upward, hands clasped over her spear, the light slanting over her armor. Around the transept, the chapels with their ceilings painted with golden stars on blue backgrounds, past a nativity scene, past an old chandelier, past a delicate model of the cathedral, down the other aisle--and here, a sense of the hugeness.

We went out after awhile, back out into the morning chill. We walked down over a bridge and down to the walkway along the Seine. Gargoyles sprung out of the high pillars of the church; bronze figures of saints stood poised on the high steeple; the sun slanted over the windows as though their stone paning was frozen rippled water. We walked along in the sunshine for awhile, laughing, trying to keep warm. Finally we bought tickets for a Batobus, one of the hop-on-hop-off riverboats, and set off on a tour down the Seine. The boat had a glass arched ceiling and walls, and was comparatively warm inside--thankfully, for all of us. We chugged down along the Seine. We went past houseboats and under bridges. Some of the big boats were fitted out as restaurants and bars, and as the day got later, we could see people dancing and eating inside them. We got off at Champs Elysees, just in front of the big black bridge, with the faces of river-gods gilt along its sides and the great statues on their pedestals, one at each corner of the bridge--horses with flying manes and women beside, their arms and bodies flashing in the sunshine. We walked around toward the Champs Elysees. It was so cold that none of us could properly enjoy any of it. We walked between two enormous buildings that both seemed to be on the grandest scale possible, decorated with Classic statues--Apollo and his horses and other great statues, such a profusion of faces and drapery standing on corners and cornices that it seemed as though a strong wind was constantly blowing over them. Grandiose, ornate, exotic, completely sensual.

At last we reached the Champs Elysees. A big boulevard, cars whizzing up and down. A double row of trees ran down either side, bare in the winter sunshine that sparkled on the lights strung through their branches. At one end was a ferris wheel; at the far end was the Arc de Triomphe. We crossed the street and wandered and wandered, going up and down through the narrow streets leading off the Champs Elysees. Emmaline would dash off to see if she could find a place for us to sit and eat, while the rest of us wandered aimlessly. Heather was feeling ill with a cold, and Charlotte was feeling faint (Charlotte was almost always hungry). At last Emmaline found a cafe on a small side street. It was a little cafe, with two floors, the walls painted cool blue and white. The man and woman running the cafe were very kind to us. The cafe was crowded and there was nowhere for us to sit, so we stood crowded and rather scared in a corner and waited until the crowd had gone. Emmaline disappeared, and I was nervous, not knowing any French whatsoever; the other girls all dazed with cold. But Emmaline came back just in time, and we ordered our food. The man who served us was very kind, and we all ended up sitting at a small round table on the second floor, crowded together with our food. I had pasta with broccoli and ham and olive oil--delicious and hot. It was pleasant to eat the simple food and sit together quietly, piecing ourselves together after the cold. When we finished eating, we went back outside. We walked over the bridge leading to the Champs Elysees with the gilt statues on it, and then got back on the boat. We road the boat around to the Eiffel Tower, which seemed much stockier than I'd imagined it would be, looming against the pale sky.

We got off at the Musee d'Orsay. As I found out later from Mrs. McCollum, the Musee d'Orsay is actually an old train station, converted into an art museum. It reminded me in some ways of The Phantom of the Opera, big rounded buttresses, masks, faces, names of French cities, gilded clocks. We walked along under the enormous thick walls, under the huge statues. In front of the museum were statues of animals, captured lifelike, the sun glancing off their bronze hides. We had to go through security to get in and then pay for tickets. The woman at the counter looked at me as though I were an idiot when I didn't understand her and she had to speak in English. Inside through the gift shop ('Librarie') at the front, and then into the great central hall: a huge arched glass ceiling running the length of the building, resting on curved metal pieces gilded and carved. Down the length of this great hall were placed statues, and galleries led off on either side.

Everyone was thankful to be in the warmth for a change, and Emmaline was thankful not to be in charge. :o) So I took the map and led us through the museum, to the galleries I thought were best. Early Impressionists first: Millet, 'The Gleaners', and a beautiful painting of a shepherdess; Corot; early Monet, still, serene rural paintings. From there through other galleries--more early Monet, the famous paintings of garden parties and the woman in the white spotted dress with the veil. Back into the hall now, at the far end, where is the statue from the Opera Garnier of the god of music with his tambourine and the laughing muses around him. Charlotte and Emmaline found a model of the opera house. From there up to the third floor, and here we found the classic Impressionists: Monet, Manet, Degas, Van Gogh. Degas's models of dancers and the 'Little Dancer'; his paintings of studios and dancers. Monet's paintings of the woman standing on the hill with the umbrella, of haystacks and cathedrals, and, of course, the waterliles. It was amazing to me to see these paintings at last, to stand in front of them and look at the thick brushstrokes, the colors congealing into patterns of light and shadow. I found a statue the twin of the washerwoman statue in the little art museum in San Antonio. We were all strung out through this gallery, Heather, Catherine, and I going ahead; Emmaline and Charlotte (Charlotte trying to educate Emmaline; Charlotte and I were the two main art lovers in our little group) bringing up the rear. Heather and I found a room toward the end of the gallery where the Degas pastels were housed: lovely fair, intimate scenes of dancers with the light slanting over their faces, caught suspended in fleeting movements. Restful to wander between the paintings, watching the way the light changed in each one--as when my eyes are tired and focus fuzzily on the world. Drifting from scene to scene.

And also out the windows glimpses of the city, the endless crust of buildings rising up and up, blue and mauve and salmon as the sun set, and far away, on a distant curve of hill, the round minaret-like towers of Sacre Coeur, crowning the city. On this level, between the windows, were great statues of men and women, seated in their robes, staring with blind eyes from their shadowed pedestals at the city as it lay basking in the evening. At last we managed to gather together in the room with the Van Gogh paintings. We had to hurry out of the museum in order to catch the last boat. Michaela and Sarah trailed along behind us, and as we were waiting for them, we stepped briefly into a room we glimpsed off to one side--an incredibly Baroque room, all mirrors and gilt and curves and florals, chandeliers hanging from golden floral loops. We caught the boat in time and spent an hour just sitting and riding it back around to the Champs Elysees. I sat with Catherine and Heather, who were both exhausted, while Charlotte, Michaela, Sarah, and Emmaline goofed around, sucking jolly ranchers. Heather was feeling very sick with a cold and sat with her head on her knees, while Catherine and I talked quietly.

Dusk fell around us and lights began to come on in the buildings and the streets. On the back deck of the boat a couple was standing locked in each other's arms, watching the scenery go by. Emmaline and Sarah went out onto the deck to take pictures. We chugged under bridge after bridge, each one different from the last. One bridge had fierce eagles standing with spread wings; others had rows of faces, with curled beards and flowing hair, grimacing down on the river; others were carved with letters, or were simple springing arches from one pillar to another. The buildings loomed over us on either side. We could see into the lighted windows--the insides of fancy apartments and offices, mirrors and curtains. Catherine and I sat quietly and watched the canals slide by, the small bare trees, and the half-moon shining stilly out of the blank blue sky. Staring at the light rippling on the water, I slipped into a sort of daze. Like staring at a Monet painting, each blue wave catching a curve of orange light. It seemed as though we were sailing from one picture postcard to another, sitting there quietly.

At last the boat stopped at the Champs Elysees, the same quay where we'd got off earlier in the day for lunch. As we got off the boat, the steward, who'd seen us several times today, laughed and called after us, 'Vive Irelond! My favorite beer is Kilkenny's!' The girls laughed as we walked away, though someone muttered, 'Why does no one understand the difference between Ireland and Northern Ireland?' We walked back to the Champs Elysees. By now it was quite dark, and the trees were all lit: the first row, right by the road, was hung with lights that blazed like falling stars so that the trees seemed to be dripping great globules of white light; the second row was hung with little pale blue twinkle lights. Headlights blazed on the road, and at the far ends, the ferris wheel and the Arc de Triomphe glowed at each other, the Arc lit orange and massive at the high end of the road, with the shops in between. We walked up the Champs Elysees toward the Arc de Triomphe. The broad sidewalks were crowded. On either side were big stores, restaurants, and cinemas, blazing with light. The moon above seemed unreal, staring down with its white eye out of a starless sky at this man-made galaxy. Streetlights, store windows, Christmas lights, the Arc, all glowing white and blue and orange. Fancy clothing stores, Mercedes Benz auto dealers, galleries and malls, McDonald's, Quick Burgers, coffeehouses, etc. We ducked into a pharmacy (of which there seem to be quite a lot--Emmaline always stopped to ask directions in pharmacies because they were most obvious, marked by flashing green crosses mounted above the door) so that Heather could buy tissue for her streaming nose. Back out on the main boulevard, we continued up toward the Arc. People constantly bustled and swirled around us. Crowds of Asian tourists, Parisians in high boots, strange men and women wearing fluorescent wigs, dressed in skanky pub clothes and looking at once very disdainful and very miserable.

We wandered around at the top of the boulevarde trying to find a way to get to the Arc, and at last we ducked down into a metro tunnel, which took us underneath the perilous roundabout that runs around the Arc. We came out in cold tunnels, and from cold tunnels to the area under the Arc itself. Some sort of military ceremony was going on, soldiers in uniforms with gold braid playing bagpipes and laying wreaths at the flame burning under the arc. The arc was covered on all four corners with huge statues commemorating military victories, frozen Nikes with flying banners and streaming hair, shouting silently and sweeping great muscled arms upward. All day the cold had pursued us, and it was no different here. Some of the girls, Charlotte in particular, were almost senseless with the cold. Emmaline, Heather, Catherine, and I decided to climb to the top of the Arc. We bought tickets and set off on the endless spiral staircase: flight after flight, a continuous twisting circle, taking us up and up. Heather and Catherine staggered along behind. The narrow shaft echoed with our footsteps. We went through one low long cold hall at the top, then through another hall, with a small museum inside, and then at last out onto the top of the Arc itself. Paris spread below us, sprawling as far as the eye could see on all sides: an infinite map of lights, gridded with streets spread like rays with the Arc at their centre. We could see the ferris wheel, the Eiffel Tower (which started to sparkle with white lights on the hour, and which swept the city with a spotlight), the cluster of skyscrapers away beyond the Arc, like broken lit columns of a ruined city. Directly below us was the roundabout. Emmaline and Catherine took pictures of the tangled traffic below, cars crushed together like beetles swarming on a tree trunk. Lights and lights and lights, the rushing veins of streets, the sparkling freckles of windows and doors, the orange glow from streetlights, the white glare highlighting the Champs Elysees and the Eiffel Tower, and the moon staring down on it all. We took pictures of each other, and then descended the spiral staircase. At the bottom, we wandered around under the Arc for awhile, then went to find Charlotte, Sarah, and Michaela, who had taken shelter, shivering, in the tunnels under the Arc.

At last we went to find some supper. We came back out into the freezing cold of the Champs Elysees and walked to a Brioche Doree bakery, standing huddled together in line. Emmaline had to order food for Heather, Catherine, and me--neither Heather nor Catherine were confident enough with their French, and I of course was completely clueless. We went upstairs to the second floor of the bakery and found a round table, where we sat and rested and ate. I had salmon quiche (weird) and hot chocolate, and a galette with caramel and apple inside. Light food, not very satisfying, but much better than nothing, and nice in its own fancy, flaky way. We sat with long, exhausted silences, stunned from the cold, though as we warmed up, we laughed and talked more--joking about hypothermia, etc.

At last we pulled ourselves together and, after brief debate (we'd been planning to go up the Eiffel Tower), we went back to the hostel. I was dumb with discomfort, my legs cold, my shoulders and neck sore. We took the way back to our hostel, by now becoming familiar, the sour-smelling tunnels branching away on either side, the colorful advertisements, the stairs and stairs and stairs: Bastille, the never-ending flight of stairs on the Creteil line, to Ledru Rollin. Back at the hostel, we dumped our things. Then Emmaline, Michaela, Charlotte, and I went to a nearby grocery store, Monoprix (rather like M&S--!), to buy food for the next day.

Back at the hostel, I took a shower (313 had its own shower; the other rooms had showers down the hall, so 313, being the biggest and handiest, became our meeting area). The girls sat around, laughing and talking. Heather collapsed on her bunk, and Catherine sat busily texting Daphne. We had a brief Bible study, and then I went directly to bed.

stop and think

Now Playing: Tchaikovsky, Pathetique Symphony, first movement, Adagio-Allegro Non Troppo.

It seems like a long time since I've updated on here, but from reading other people's blogs, there have been far more interesting and important posts to read about, so you all haven't been suffering.

I feel as though my mind has been left behind somewhere. Maybe I set it down on the counter in the post office this morning before I went running and forgot to pick it up. It cost me exactly five pounds twenty-eight pence to post all those letters and cards, but well worth it, hopefully. Now I just wish someone would mail me my mind back again, and then I'd be in better shape.

This morning I walked out with Emmaline to her ten o'clock class. We usually meet Charlotte and Sarah W. on the sidewalk outside Renwick, and they walk with Emmaline over to Queen's, while I split off to go running. It was cold this morning, our breath hanging on the air, Charlotte's fingers numb even in their fuzzy gloves, she said.

The gardens have been laid away for winter now. A sort of stillness and hush over them. The rose beds pruned back, their flowers picked or pulled away by frost. The oaks and chestnuts bare, their few lingering leaves lying on the green lawn. Winter comes like the lifting of a mask, as though the fiesta face of summer were slowly peeled back to reveal this sombre barrenness. The sun is always at a slant, and seagulls veer on the chilly wind against the variable sky. Rain comes down over Cave Hill and then blows away again, leaving the light still lingering--morning is laced with shadows like afternoon, and afternoon is as blue-grey as dusk.

I went running and then came back to Renwick for lunch. No bread, so I had to walk down to the Centra to buy some. A soft white loaf, half-baked, and carried back to Renwick through a sudden cold downpour, the uneven sidewalks slick underfoot. The trek rewarded with a rather soggy peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich. The afternoon whiled away with a paper, a paper that proceeded by fits and starts, with many interruptions, nosing at the argument and then scurrying away again, never quite taking the bait. I shall have to tease it some more this evening and see if I can coax the rough draft into something logical.

Catherine came in at one point to ellicit advice about going to the library. I drew her a map. Emmaline came in at two-thirty and sagged down on my bed, watching me with her big blue-green eyes. So dull all day that I couldn't stop smiling like a fool when I saw her come in, and could sit and laugh at her lazy complaining about lunch and groaning about how untidy her half of the room is. She knows I'm laughing at her, and laughs at herself.

When I had finished the paper, at about four o'clock, I finished and wrapped up the box that I'm sending back to the States. It seems pitifully small. How can one pack up deep gratitude to one's parents and concerned love for one's friends into a twelve-by-fourteen-by-four cardboard box, patched together many times with brown tape?

Listening to Tchaikovsky now makes me remember Tulsa and going to the Signature Symphony concerts, as it always does. Memories are such odd things. Once when I took out my new ESV Bible, I had such a vivid flashback to Summer Conference that I could taste and smell and hear it all again, right down to the clatter of ladles in the cafeteria and the face of the mandolinist in the worship band and the feel of scorching white sand underfoot. And last night when I talked to Syneva, I could almost smell again the warm air in her car, seeing out the windows the autumn neighborhoods around Woodward Park.

Linsey just came in to ask for blue-tack. The walls around my desk are jammed with pictures, letters, and cards. Flat Matildas, photographs on the bulletin board, Psalm 91 in Jenny S.'s scrawly handwriting, bits of verses in colored pen that I've done myself, a verse from Catherine, a finger painting from Mary, colorful birthday cards, Kathryn's wooden cross, the funny little colored cards that Syneva tucked in among the bags of tea she sent me when I first got here.

Such is life. Looking at the little clock on my computer wondering when supper is, agonizing helplessly as to why all the rough drafts I've written so far have been so difficult and whether these imposing professors will be merciful when they grade them, wishing I weren't so tired. It's my goal tonight to go to bed by eleven-thirty. Renwick Bible study usually lasts until eleven o'clock. I'd forgotten how addictive socializing with people is--I enjoy just sitting in a room of people, listening, and it's hard to get up and be disciplined and go to bed, when you know that they're all still sitting down there, and can hear the voices coming up through the floor, and can wonder how many more times like this you'll have before you'll have to leave.

Friends keep getting left behind like that mind of mine, little constellations of them sprinkled over the face of the earth. I need to keep looking forward to Heaven, but right now everything seems far too large. Being twenty-one sounds so grown-up. Did someone forget to debrief me about being an adult? These papers are all too big; the time goes by too quickly; I can't make friends the way I want to because I don't have the energy or courage to love enough; I am confused about decisions and afraid to commit to anything.

Don't get me wrong; it's not that I'm miserable here. In fact over the past month or so I've started to settle in much more and focus on life here instead of being quite so homesick. I'm thankful now that I chose to do a full year instead of just a semester; otherwise, I would just have been getting adjusted to life in another country before I had to leave again. The work I do is enjoyable. I've loved being able to study the heroic themes and poetry of Anglo-Saxon literature this semester, and reading Sir Gawain and the Green Knight over the past couple of weeks was a joy. The language is so rich, each word with connotations and shades of meaning that echo across the years. I wish I could bring those down and give them to each of you, make you understand what a wealth we have, a language of interconnected thoughts, where one word reflects off of and onto another, as disorienting as a house of mirrors and as dazzlingly wonderful as a French chandelier.

So now the symphony is almost over. Suitably dark. And this entry should be over as well.

Remember Zephaniah 3:17. All this has a purpose. It is not "vanity of vanities". It is a privelege and a joy, one more soul on the way to giving Christ pleasure and glory.

Oh, my! It's snowing...

... WHITE RABBITS!

Lunch in the Belfast Christmas Market with Emmaline and Heather, 11/27/07

Lunch in the Christmas Market

"my cup overflows"

November 25, 2007. (journal entry) I got up at about nine o'clock this morning at the Wilsons' house in the guest room. I did devotions, etc. Claire and I had to hurry down our breakfast in order to go with Mr. Wilson to the church at ten o'clock to help set up. Sabbath school today--I was with Claire in her systematic theology class, after the usual Psalm and prayer for opening exercises, which always involves all the classes, including the adults. After class, we went into the sanctuary for worship. Catherine Donnelly, Pastor Donnelly's daughter, handed me a birthday card as we were going in; Mrs. Millar and Mrs. Dick both gave me birthday presents. I was quite surprised. But then Pastor Donnelly's children's address during the morning service turned out to be about birthdays--and in the middle of it he stopped, asked if anyone had a birthday, found me (thanks to Mrs. Wilson's pointing), and wished me a happy birthday in front of the whole congregation! I was quite overwhelmed and would have preferred to disappear.... The service was very good, about God's work of revival in Nineveh after Jonah's preaching.

After the service, Claire's grandmother came up and gave me a gift; lots of Claire's friends gave me cards. I was utterly taken aback and astonished by the overflow of goodness. Even Mrs. Donnelly gave me a present; Pastor Donnelly came up and asked me, in a jolly fashion, for forgiveness. As we were finally going out the door to the car, Heather bounced up and gave me a hug. Good to see her again. We're planning to go down to the Christmas market in Belfast for lunch on Tuesday. Back at the Wilsons' house, while Mrs. Wilson served the roast and Mr. Wilson made the gravy, Claire and I sat down excitedly in the kitchen to open the cards and presents. So much. A wealth that dizzied and utterly humbled me. The family and I sat down to the usual solid, hearty Sabbath lunch of roast, potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, chick peas, and gravy. And afterward, Mrs. Wilson and Claire came in with a cake and candles, and sang and took pictures. All very happy, and the cake, a white vanilla one, was delicious. When we had finished eating, Claire and I cleaned up the kitchen and washed the dishes. Outside little birds were feasting at the bird feeders.

Claire and I went to our separate rooms when the job was done to rest. The afternoon was cold and cloudy, low mist hanging over the hills. After I finished my journal entry, I curled up in bed and slept until five-thirty. I woke up then, packed up, and sat under the blanket reading God’s Ultimate Purpose (commentary on Ephesians) until Claire knocked on my door. We went downstairs and had some tea. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson were already hurrying out the door, but Claire and I had to wait for Calvin, who was still sleepy. The evening was misty, a thin mizzle falling over the low hills. At church, there was a prayer meeting at six-fifteen, then the evening service. After the service, I chatted some with an older gentleman named Mr. Martin, I think—it turned out that he used to be an English major, but that he switched and has been teaching math at school for years. Claire and I went with Mrs. Wilson back to the house fairly quickly after the evening service, to prepare food for the Psalm sing at nine o’clock. While Claire moved chairs in the parlor, I helped Mrs. Wilson slather butter and strawberry jam onto scones, and set out trays of goodies (little squares of chocolate cakes, rice crispy bars, and chocolate-and-peanut-butter squares, fruitcake squares, etc.).

At nine o’clock, people started to arrive, and the Psalm sing got underway at about nine-fifteen, presided over by Mr. Wilson. The parlor, a long, low room on the side of the house, was quite full of people, though everyone had a seat. The plush armchairs and the sofa were full, the piano bench occupied, and the dining room chairs all taken. Heather was there, as were Pastor and Mrs. Donnelly with two of their friends from Wales, and about twenty others. The singing was very good, roundly filling the room, with the basses and tenors just to my right and the altos and sopranos curving round the room to my left. As Mrs. Wilson said later, “Your birthday has put everyone in a good mood!” It was a delightfully happy time, everyone singing away, with murmurs and laughter between Psalms. Catherine Donnelly and Claire’s friend Allison presented. Psalms of thanks and praise, for the most part, were the ones requested, though Calvin asked for Psalm 119X--apparently boys over here are just as enthusiastic about that Psalm as some other boys I know....

After the Psalm sing, Mr. Wilson led us in prayer, and then Calvin, Claire, Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, and I served tea, orange juice, scones, and “tray bakes” (as Calvin informed me, the scones always have to be served first). Mrs. Wilson was very flustered and worried that things weren’t going just so, but whenever I went into the parlor, everyone seemed to be having a very good time. At last, when the food had been served, we joined the group in the parlor. I sat with Heather and Calvin and laughed as they slagged each other back and forth. When the last person had left, Claire, Mr. Wilson, and I drove back to Belfast. At Renwick, Mr. Wilson and Claire helped me carry things upstairs. It was about eleven o’clock. I said good-bye to them and put things away.

After everything had found a place, I sat down at my laptop to call home. I talked briefly to my mother. Skype kept breaking up, so finally I decided to try to call the home phone with Skype. While I waited for it to connect, I opened the bigger box from the college Bible study in Stillwater. To my complete amusement, instead of packing it with Styrofoam packing popcorn, someone had packed it with real popcorn—I could smell it through the cardboard! Just as I managed to get the box open, I was able to get on the phone with my father, but only briefly before the Renwick internet connection gave out. Disappointed, I sat back, but decided to open the box. I sorted through it, and burst out laughing as I raked through the stale popcorn. Such a bunch of silly people! And the things they had packed…. Food, mostly, done up in plastic bags. Pecans from Laura; something which I suspect to be cake mix; a whole sack full of hard candy and bubble gum; cinnamon cookies (again, smelled through the plastic); Hershey’s chocolate; hot chocolate; watermelon chewing gum; a mug; post-it notes; granola bars; chapstick; blue and green play-dough in little tins; sticky tack; a parcel in blue-and-green paisley paper form Laura; stickers; letters galore…. I opened only one, a card with a letter from Ruth and a card signed by the whole Bible study inside. Signed in typical fashion, too, which made me want to weep and laugh at the same time. I have seldom known such love, such generosity. It is hard for me to believe in such love. This is God’s love, my Father’s love, the love that died for me, reminding me of His power with a touch of humor. I am not worth such love—and I know that they are not, either; this is God loving God, and choosing to do so through us. Overwhelmed, humbled, I went to bed at about twelve-thirty. (11:12 a.m.; 11/26/07)

An (un)Expected Party, Part II

Now Playing: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe soundtrack by Harry Gregson-Williams. Track 11, "The Stone Table".

Continuing on....

I went up to my room and read through articles for the class on Beowulf, listening meanwhile to the music for "The Nutcracker"--appropriately festive, it seemed to me. After I finished the articles, I had about fifteen minutes in which I curled up on my bed and dozed under a blanket. The room seemed very big and dark and cold. At about six forty-five, I could hear feet pounding up and down the stairs. Linsey and Catherine knocked on my door. "It's time," they said, and we hurried down.

When I stepped into the kitchen, I was amazed: The glaring fluorescent lights were off, and in the corner a floor lamp shed a pleasant household glow. The two tables had been pushed side-by-side to make a square, and in the middle three candles were burning. Scattered over the tables were Thanksgiving decorations in the form of fake cloth leaves and little statues of Pilgrims and Indians. The napkins had been folded in elegant fan shapes. Paper pumpkins hung from the cupboards; a paper turkey perched resplendent on the wall under the clock; a big banner reading "Happy Thanksgiving!" was strung between the windows. Emma, Rachel, Daphne, and Deborah were already in the room. Catherine, Linsey, and I sat down at the table, and the other people in Renwick trickled in. Once we were all seated, we bowed our heads, and Andy M. gave thanks.

The meal really was a feast. To start off, everyone had a little plate of fruit--gushingly juicy honeydew melon with strawberries and raspberries in a sweet red sauce. The silence was a bit awkward at first, but when it was time to carve the turkey, there was plenty of laughter. Deborah called for "a male" to do the job, and Phil rose to the task. The turkey must've weighed at least twenty pounds, sitting resplendent on the counter, dripping butter and fat with stuffing. Eventually Emmaline and Deborah took over from Phil, and Rachel, and Daphne handed out the plates with portions of white meat, while Emma took all the other good things out of the ovens, to be passed around the table. Regular stuffing out of the turkey, moist and hot; cranberry-and-lemon stuffing; mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, and "chips" with sausages (have to get the Northern Irish flair in there...!); peas and corn; green beans; sweet potatoes; cranberry sauce. I was sitting between Linsey and Samuel. Samuel, Andy L., and Matthew were all dubious about the sweet potatoes, but I convinced them to try some, and they actually liked it. We had sloeur (fizzy grape juice, basically) to drink. The meal was absolutely delicious--the only thing missing being Laura's dinner rolls and my mother's corndish. :o)

There was a long contented silence while everyone ate. The candles flickered on the table, and we handed around the deep dishes. Then stories started to come out about how the meal had been made, everyone laughing: Emmaline had carried the floor lamp and a pumpkin pie all the way from Donegall Road (about half-a-mile) to Renwick. The boys joked about how if she'd been thinking hard enough, she would've been able to light her way to Renwick with it. Daphne had christened the turkey Fred, and on Tuesday night, when she and Rachel were preparing to bake it, Emma and Ian had been fascinated with the turkey's innards and had amused themselves with dissecting the lungs, kidney, and heart. Rachel and Daphne had spent two hours in Tesco Monday afternoon buying the needed supplies, and had been made fun of by the cashier because of their two loaded shopping carts. And so on....

Everyone finished eating at about the same time, except Matthew. Phil, Ian, and Andy M. teased him mercilessly, and applauded when he finished his last bite.

Then the plates were cleared away, and the next course was served. Emma and Deborah and Emmaline had been in charge of the desserts, and had made enough to feed an army. Emma had baked a pavlova, which had risen up to the top of the oven--she had decorated it with a beautiful pattern of strawberries and green grapes in white fluffy whipping cream. Emmaline had baked a real pumpkin pie; Deborah, not particularly fond of pumpkin pie, had baked a chocolate cake with "Pumpkin Pie" written on it in red icing. Rachel and Daphne had bought a tiramisou, which occasioned considerable questioning--no one knew what it was exactly, and Andy M. (who knows everything, apparently) had to explain it to Matthew at least three times, and subsequently teased Matthew about getting tipsy on the coffee liqueur. There was also a dish with cream and fruit, and an enormous cheesecake, courtesy of Emma, decorated with maltesers. And ice cream....

So that was our Thanksgiving meal. Everyone sat quietly when they had finished eating, content and quiet. After a pause, Phil led us in thanking all the girls who'd worked on the meal, then Rachel and Daphne in particular--then me, just for being here (which seemed quite odd). And once that applause had died down, I thanked all of them, not quite sure what to say, for showing me Christ's love and being so generous.

Then the boys all rocketed away to the common room to watch the England vs. Croatia football match, while Rachel turned on the fluorescent lights, and we began the process of cleaning up. Andy M. came in after five minutes, and he helped Emma wash and dry the seemingly-endless heaps of dishes. All three sinks were in use: Linsey and Catherine in the pantry scrubbing away at the greasy baking trays; Andy and Emma washing plates and silverware; Daphne and Deborah soaping out the pots and pans while Emmaline and Rachel put the food away. I wiped off the table, packed up the decorations, and cleaned the floor a little bit, as well as helping to put away the clean dishes.

It only took us about twenty minutes to clean the kitchen--when we were done, it was almost as clean as it had been when I came to Renwick that day back in September.... We all wandered into the common room to watch the last twenty minutes of the match. Daphne and I nearly fell asleep in the corner. But it was very amusing to listen to Phil "interact" with the commentators and make fun of the England coach. Of course everyone was cheering for Croatia, and when England lost, and the English coach sat staring desolately at the "pitch" (soccer field), all the boys laughed. "He's going to get sacked. I'll buy you a paper tomorrow, E--, and you can read the headlines" Phil said gleefully when I made fun of him.

When the match was over, we played games. Deborah split us up into four teams. Andy M., Catherine, and I were on a team together. The first game was a competition to see how fast each team could complete a word search and unscramble a list of scrambled words. Andy M. and Catherine worked on the word search while I decoded the words, and our team won. Then we had a scavenger hunt: Deborah had hidden 45 laminated cards with pictures of turkeys on them all over the house. She had hardly done explaining before we had all burst out the door of the common room, cheering and whooping and making turkey sounds. The house creaked like a ship at sea as we stampeded all over it, looking for the turkeys, which were hidden in various places: inside the kettles in the kitchen; inside the hot presses; behind the curtains; on the top beams of the doors; in the pages of the guest book, etc. In the end we only found 40 of the 45 turkeys, and my team only had 12--Rachel's team found 13, the highest count. The last game was pin-the-nose-on-the-pumpkin. This turned out to be incredibly good fun. Rachel produced a thick orange tasseled scarf with which to bind the victim's eyes. Emmaline went first. Deborah tied the scarf on her, Emma spun her around, and then (not allowed to touch her) guided her by talking her to the smiling pumpkin man stuck to the wall. Meanwhile, of course, everyone else shouted and made a racket to confuse Emmaline, but it didn't work too well. Next up was Rachel's team, and then my team--and of course Andy M. and Catherine decided that since it was "my day", I had to go. So Catherine spun me round and round, and then talked me over to the wall (despite the yelling of the boys) to put the nose plump on the spot. Linsey, guided by Daphne, was last. After all four teams had gone, we decided to play it again--this time, without any guidance. It had been Phil's idea, so of course everyone shouted for Phil to get up and take the first turn. Deborah tied the scarf round his eyes and put the nose in his hand, and he was off.... We all sat and nearly died laughing. Andy L. and Samuel shouted all sorts of things to confuse Phil, while the rest of us sat and laughed and laughed. Phil made the whole business funnier by staggering around exaggeratedly like a drunken pirate, with the scarf swishing over his shoulders. When he hit the wall, he said, "Alright, let's do some math," and did a ridiculous version of the Pythagorean theorem--he actually managed to get the nose pretty close, by putting his thumbs at the corners of the piece of paper and guessing the distance. After he went, Rachel went. While Deborah was tying the scarf on her, Phil whispered to all of us to get up and switch seats so that she couldn't steer by the sound of our voices--we did it with as little giggling as possible; even so, Rachel, standing shakily in the middle of the room after having been spun, said, "I have a bad feeling that everyone has changed places on me!" She groped toward a softly-upholstered chair and started to feel it for reassurance. "What's this?" she muttered, "Someone's leg?" "Stop, that's my wee brother!" Phil roared, and we all shouted out laughing again. Then Deborah started to call to her, guiding her, and Rachel moved toward the sound of her voice--nearly out the door of the common room, while the rest of us, including Deborah, laughed, until Rachel figured out the hoax. She, too, managed eventually to get close to the nose. Catherine came next. When she had been spun, she was so dizzy that she was actually about as tipsy as Phil had pretended to be. She fell over and lay on the floor laughing; she almost ran into the TV (the boys made a big deal out of that); she crashed over the table; she nearly held Samuel's hand, and she finally blundered her way to the wall, pink with laughter.

After that game, we all settled back with aching sides for Deborah to count up the score. Three teams were tied--we sat and thought about a tie breaker for awhile. Phil suggested that we could get a box of "Big Issues" (the magazines that the beggars sell on the sidewalk) and see who could sell them fastest, which made everyone laugh. But finally we decided that whoever could find the most of the 5 missing turkeys would win. Catherine was the first to find one, and thanks to that (and because it was "my day") we were finally awarded the prize: a bag of Starburst bursts, with a gooey outside and a creamy inside. Catherine. Andy, and I each took one, and then handed it on--the bag made it twice round the room before it was empty.

We were all in much too high spirits to settle down, so we tried to think of another activity. Board games and parlor games were suggested; someone else asked for a DVD; someone else suggested playing hide-and-go-seek outside (but it was raining). So finally we decided to play hide-and-go-seek inside with the lights off. We all put a foot (or a crutch, in Matthew's case) in a circle, and Phil got down on his hands and knees and bounced his hand over our shoes as he ran off some ridiculous rhymes, most of which I'd never heard before, to determine who was going to be "it". The lot fell to Rachel. I said good-night to Andy M., who was going to bed (I had to be thankful--he had obviously been exhausted most of the evening, but had manfully stayed with us the whole time). We turned the lights out and ran, shouting and laughing, into the rest of the house. Emmaline and I hid in our room. I crouched down in the bay window behind the curtains and waited. We could hear Emmaline and Daphne as they came upstairs, laughing and shouting. They burst into Linsey's room next door and found Linsey and Catherine; then came blundering into our room with their cellphones on shouting, "Ha! Found you!" They did find me, and I followed them on the ensuing wild goose chase. Andy L. was hiding behind the sofa in his room, and Samuel was lying on top of their dressers. Emma was in her room, and helped us find Ian, who was out on the fire escape; Phil was in the hot press behind the heater.

Back downstairs again for another round. Andy L. was selected to be "it", and again we all disappeared. I crawled into the cupboard under the stairs and curled up, contented, in the dark. I waited... and waited... and waited.... No noise, no one came. I heard someone coughing beside me in the dark. I was startled until I heard a cellphone buzz and realized that Emma was sitting on the outside under the stairs, by the payphone. Finally I heard Emmaline and Rachel come out of hiding, and a lot of outraged laughter. I crept out of the hidey-hole and found Andy L. and Matthew sitting and watching TV: they hadn't bothered to look for anyone at all...! And to top it all off, Emmaline had never been found from the next round. Rachel and Daphne had been hiding beside each other in the cupboards in the utility room; Samuel was discovered on the topmost shelf of the hot press, etc.

Finally, Deborah, Matthew, Samuel, Emmaline, Catherine, Daphne, Rachel, and I trickled into the common room. We sat around joking and talking. Rachel and Daphne and Catherine sat on the floor; they wanted me to read them a story. They handed me one of the Thanksgiving story books Emmaline had brought up. I flipped through it, pretending to read it, but telling them a ridiculous little tale about three mice (coincidentally named Emmaline, Daphne, and Rachel). Then Deborah took the book. In her best school marm style, she started to read to us, in the same high, fluffy voice a teacher has, asking questions as she went along, and making us put up our hands. Daphne and Rachel poked each other and told random little stories to answer the question, just like certain other small children I know, while Matthew and Samuel pulled faces behind Deborah's back. Catherine and I pretended to be "teacher's pets", while Emmaline grimaced back at the boys. We could hardly contain our laughter, but we all pretended to be little kids while Deborah read severely. Even she couldn't keep from cracking sometimes, though, especially not when Daphne and Rachel got going....

Eventually, Deborah gave up, her classroom misbehaving shockingly. We sat around talking for awhile. I was far too tired to stay awake much longer. Pleasantly full, my sides still aching from all the laughter I'd done this evening, the hyperness from the scavenger hunt and hide-and-go-seek having died down, I went over to Rachel and thanked her for a lovely evening. "Enjoy your American sleep," she laughed at me as I went out the door, and I laughed back. I went upstairs to bed. Emmaline came up shortly after, having apparently been told to enjoy her "half-American sleep" (!). We sat up chatting for a bit before we turned off the lights.

I haven't had that much fun in a long time.... Christ's joy and the fellowship of His people are truly something for which to be thankful!

A Northern Irish Thanksgiving

An (un)Expected Party

Now Playing: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, "The Nutcracker". Track 14, "Act II: Final Waltz and Apotheosis".

It all started last Wednesday evening. A bunch of us were sitting around in the common room before supper, talking, studying, etc. It was Rachel's birthday, so we'd just had a cake and sung to her. I was sitting next to Catherine, and brought up the subject of having the other American study abroad students over for a meal. I've been wanting to do that for quite awhile, but have never had just the right opportunity. "What would you think if we did it next Wednesday?" I asked. Catherine nodded. Since Rachel was sitting right there, I asked her if that would be alright (since she's the warden, it seemed only fair to get her permission). She looked at me wordlessly for a minute. "Ummm...." she said. "I think the committee is coming over that night or something," Phil put in vaguely from the other side of the room. As they were discussing it, I realized that the next Wednesday would be the day before Thanksgiving. I'd overheard the other students talking about having a Thanksgiving meal of their own, so I thought to myself that the plan wouldn't work anyway. I went innocently upstairs to study. About five minutes later, Rachel knocked on my door. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" she asked. She proceeded to tell me that they had been planning a surprise Thanksgiving celebration in honor of my birthday for next Wednesday night. "I didn't want you to think we didn't want your friends over here or something. If you'd rather do something with them, that's fine," she said, "That's why I didn't know what to say--I actually couldn't think of anything when you suggested that," she chuckled. As I listened, I put my hands over my mouth: regret for having spoiled the surprise, complete and utter astonishment and excitement, and amusement at myself for having put Rachel wordless. I finally managed to get out something to the effect that I wasn't going to plan anything anyway, and Rachel went out.

So the cat was out of the bag. I felt pretty bad about having ruined the secret, but soon things became much too amusing and exciting to feel regret any more.... Knowing the secret made the the ensuing "surprise" more delicious. It became a running joke. Ian came down to breakfast the next morning and hinted, "So, E--, I hear you've ruined your surprise." "What surprise?" I said, and grinned. Naomi at small groups said something similar, and I retorted, "I'm trying very hard to forget! So don't say anything!" and put my hands over my ears. Any time Catherine or Linsey asked me whether I was excited or not, I'd pull a blank look, and then the three of us would laugh.

On Monday morning, as Emmaline and I were gathering our things to get on the train for Belfast, I asked her if I could help her carry anything. She let me carry her laptop, but I was forbidden to know anything about a mysterious black back which she took charge of herself.

On Tuesday morning, I went downstairs to eat breakfast and couldn't find our milk (it had been used for tea after Bible study the night before). Looking through the refrigerators to find the milk, I discovered instead an enormous fowl done up in yellow plastic residing placidly on the middle shelf of one of the refrigerators. And there was an unaccountably enormous heap of white plastic Tesco bags in the corner of the counter in the utility room, which seemed to have accumulated suddenly overnight.

Tuesday evening, all the Renwick girls went out to see a production of a musical, to celebrate Rachel's birthday. When we got back, I drifted into the kitchen, where Daphne and Rachel were starting to cut up heaps of carrots. My natural urge was to ask if I could help, but when Emmaline asked me to carry her things upstairs, I meekly obeyed, and strictly kept myself out of the kitchen (despite tantalizing bursts of laughter and smells) for the rest of the evening.

On Wednesday morning, Emmaline got up early and mysteriously disappeared downstairs. Before I went down for breakfast, I asked her if the kitchen was "safe", and she grinned at me. It was, though a whole flock of pots and pans had oddly taken flight and settled on top of the refrigerator and freezer in the utility room. Sitting in my room studying before my ten o'clock class, I could smell something wonderful down in the kitchen, but kept myself to my books.

It was raining on Wednesday when I went to my classes. The Discovering Old English classes were really good today, all about Old English poetry (so far we've just been doing grammar work or prose) and "The Battle of Maldon". For once I was completely engaged in the lecture. To make the day better, after the tutorial, I walked out with one of the girls in the tutorial and had a nice chat with her--I hadn't talked to her before, and it was good to make another connection.

I splashed back to Renwick in the rain, only to find, as an added piece of delight, two packages waiting patiently for me in the hall, a large square cardboard one and a smaller one done up with masking tape. "I'm so jealous," Linsey said as she saw me coming up the stairs. I was too happy to do anything but grin at her, though I restrained myself admirably and didn't open them: birthday presents are to be opened on birthdays, not before. :o) I spent the hour until communal lunch studying, wrapped up in a blanket in the room. (Normally I would've gone running, but because of added reading to do this week and the papers posted online, I didn't feel I could take the time.)

During communal lunch, I chatted with Linsey and Rachel. We had meat pie and "chips" for lunch, which was good. The usual crowd of former Renwick girls wasn't there, but a bunch of boys came to eat, suit up, and go to play in the Renwick football match this afternoon. After lunch, Linsey and Catherine asked me if I'd like to go shopping with them. Emmaline had warned me beforehand that they were going to invite me out, and that I'd probably be wiser to go with them, so I accepted, and five of us (Linsey, Catherine, Rosemary, Heather, and I) set off in the rain to catch the bus to the City Centre. (I ended up very much regretting not having taken my camera, but perhaps I'll go back and take pictures to show you all....)

We sat at the back of the bus as it lurched down the narrow wet streets, and got off in front of City Hall. The City Hall lawn has been completely covered by booths and stalls set up for the Christmas market, a tradition (apparently) in big European cities. We splashed across the street, through the big wrought iron gates, and into the market. A maze of little freshly-built wooden sheds, smelling sweetly with the wet. Goods from around the world. We stepped into a booth where silk brocaded Chinese shirts and jackets were being sold, jewel-bright colors like flocks of butterflies. Across the sidewalk was a booth with counters stacked full of bars of aromatic French soaps, in a spectrum of creamy colors. We spent at least fifteen minutes smelling all the different soaps: mango, opium, rosemary, coconut, cream, clove, tangerine, strawberry, melon, mint, cinnamon, lavendar. Down the way were jewelers' booths with sparkling sterling silver rings and necklaces, and round the corner from that was a spread of Dutch plants: tulip and amaryllis bulbs for sale; plants in tubs--fox berries, ornamental cabbages, hollies, their leaves sparkling and glossy with the rain. Another sweetly-smelling booth, this time full of Christmas candles, scented snow berry or vanilla or cinnamon. We walked past a corner booth where a huge metal disc holding sausages, hamburgers, bratwursts, and other unidentifiable (but greasy) pieces of meat were spinning slowly over hot coals. We walked past a hamburger stall and a food tent, past stalls selling curry and Thai noodles, past stalls selling French crepes and pancakes, past an Irish pub in a little wooden barn, past French chocolatiers and boxes of Irish fudge. So many smells.... We stopped to eye a stall full of Russian nesting dolls, the counter just above our eye level so that the plump, smiling wooden toys beamed down at us. Small children sucking candy, women in saris, men in heavy boots, pushed around us in the rain. We looked into a stall selling hand bags, and Catherine bought a khaki messenger bag with pink Japanese-style flowers scattered all over it. We walked past another stall run by a Greek Orthodox convent, full of icons and crucifixes elaborately painted and inlaid with gilt, and across the way, stalls selling teddy bears that were hot water bottles. A stall full of glittering silver Christmas tree baubles. A stall full of stuffed animals. A long, low shack containing wooden African masks, coarsely-woven African textiles, and heavy wooden African necklaces. The smells from frying pans dripping grease, crepe griddles sizzling with oil and sugar, and woks simmering with bean curd and spices, lingered in the cold wet air. Overhead, on the side of the City Hall, the big ferris wheel (dubbed the "Belfast eye") revolved slowly, its arms sparkling. As we worked our way back round to the gates again, we passed a stall selling pashminas, and I bought one, pale blue and gold, a lush, luxuriously heavy wrap.

Out of the Christmas market, we went down the main street toward the Castlecourt mall. On the way, we stopped at an ATM. I tried to hold my umbrella over both Heather and Rosemary, neither one of whom had umbrellas. Before we went into the mall, we stopped at an entertainment store, where Linsey and Catherine looked for a DVD for Emma, but were unsuccessful. The mall inside was jazzed up with Christmas decorations. We split up to go our separate ways: Rosemary to buy a battery for her watch; Linsey to shop for Christmas gifts in Debenham's, where she works (and has an employee discount); Catherine about her own mysterious affairs. Heather and I moseyed down the long open atrium to the jewelry stalls, poking around among the sparkling, shining things. As we worked our way back to the doors, where we were to meet the others at four o'clock, we passed a smoothie bar. Heather had never had a smoothie before, so we stopped and bought smoothies, and sat and sipped them on a bench. Hers was mango, and mine (true to form) was berry. Heather chatted happily about clothes, going on holiday with her family, wearing uniforms to school.

We met the others at about four-thirty. Rosemary was late, as it turned out, which gave Catherine enough time to buy a cup of hot chocolate before we went back out into the cold. When we stepped out of Castlecourt, we discovered that the Christmas lights up and down the thoroughfare had been turned on: strings of white and gold stars overhead, tiny blue lights glittering in the young bare trees, big white stars and sunbursts shining on the walls of City Hall, standing majestically at the far end of the thoroughfare. The shops up and down the street were brightly lit, a mosaic of tiny pieces of glowing glass inset in the tall dark buildings. We stopped at a bodyworks shop so that Rosemary could buy some coconut soap, and Catherine stepped into an accessory store just next door to buy a gift for one of her friends. We took the bus back up to the stop near Renwick. Rosemary and everyone else went straight into the kitchen. "So, you're going to go study now?" Rosemary laughed at me as I started to climb the stairs. "Yes. Hard," I laughed.