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cskitty22222
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Name: Kitty
Gender: Female
Interests: reading, M*A*S*H, cats, music, clarinet, flute, piccolo, oboe, and i'd like to learn more woodwind instruments, but don't have the time. kayaking, dinner parties, restaurants, working out [sometimes], sleep, taking things apart, being warm, lots of different colored pens, the Steelers, getting mail, trying new things
Expertise: Trying to live with purpose and, most of the time, miserably failing.The more I learn, the more I realize I don't know.
Message: message meEmail: email me
Member Since:
3/11/2005
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| Had a conversation tonight with some of the ladies about the takeover of our lives by technology... not using such drastic terms but the idea is the same. We can no longer wait in line, watch TV or just sit around without pulling out our phones and checking Facebook and playing wordfeud. And then I rode my bike home. At night on the bike trail, there are no lights, no people, no sounds save for a little muted traffic and the wildlife. It's just you, the road, and just enough of a light to see enough of the path to keep moving forward. The river might as well have been a pond, it is so still and quiet and smooth as glass. It made me think of life... God only gives enough light to see the next step forward or the next turn in the road, and we have to wait and see what is around the corner. I feel like things have suddenly changed in the past... few weeks maybe. As long as I have lived here, I have struggled with not feeling like I am doing enough or being productive or serving enough... and suddenly I'm feeling so busy and in demand... I'm not even sure how I feel, because a lot of it is my own doing. Maybe I'll have to save writing more about this topic until I can actually express a coherent thought about it. Luke mentioned a few weeks back that one (or was it two?) of the spiritual disciplines are silence and solitude. I used to have those a lot more often, but these days I have a lot of trouble focusing on anything worthwhile. I am constantly distracting myself with things to do, dvds to watch, music to listen to, even books to read, and especially with phone apps and internet stuff. Even now I have the radio on while typing. But... getting back into writing, even electronically, is something that I know I need to do in order to get my life turned back in the direction it should be going. Clearly it's been many months since I have even touched this blog... and every time I want to start up again, I am conflicted between using this one and starting a new one. But I do not need to be ashamed of the writings that come from my past, because we all have a story and a journey, and I am not the same person I was yesterday, last week, or six years ago, so the writings from then don't necessarily portray or define who I am today. (And besides, it's quite possible that I'm the only person who actually goes back and reads people's old blog entries. Not stalking, just curious!) | | |
| We were in the UK, specifically Oxford for a work meeting that Luke had, and also we got to spend a couple of days visiting some sights in London since we had to fly to and back from that airport anyway.
The British Library was my favorite in London. I am normally not such a big fan of museums, but the Library has exhibits of significant manuscripts; for instance, really really super old fragments of Scripture and various old Bibles, Da Vinci's scientific notes, the Magna Carta and original Beatles lyrics scribbled on envelopes and cards. :) Plus Jane Austen's writing desk and original musical scores from people like Beethoven and others. That kind of stuff is fun for me, much more than paintings and dinosaurs.
We also went to see Westminster Abbey, which is one of those great big fancy stone churches that when you're inside them, you can't believe how people could possibly build such big, ornate structures before all of our modern technology and materials. This place also has memorials to (and some tombs of) a whole bunch of famous people. (Luke was most interested in the famous scientists, including Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin.) We actually were in the right place at the right time to participate in a short prayer service that took place inside one of the areas that is normally closed off to visitors. After touring the church, we went to eat fish and chips ;)
Oxford had a great covered market -- it's sort of indoors but also sort of not. They had everything there from more traditional butcher, bakery and vegetable stands (and a wonderful cheese shop) to souvenir shops and cafes. We got to visit the pub where CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien used to hang out when they were in Oxford, go to Italian, Bangladeshi and Slovak restaurants, and eat English cooked breakfasts (which were very interesting: eggs, baked beans, bacon [thicker than the bacon we're used to here], cooked tomato and mushrooms!)
Oh yes, I also took the opportunity to spend the week talking in a British accent. Now that was fun. | | |
| I am thankful for a God who shows up even when I say I don't want him. He knows that despite my protests, he is the only one that I need, the only thing that I need, the only one who can lift me out of all of these holes I sink myself into... Thank you God; please help me to have a grateful attitude throughout all these days that you have chosen to give me (though still I don't know why). | | |
| Paris was... delicious. ;) The definite highlight for me was trying new and interesting and even international foods! Surprisingly, we ate at a Brazilian restaurant, Indian restaurant, a North African restaurant, Japanese sushi place, and an Italian restaurant while we were there, in addition to various cafes and such! There's also a famous ice cream shop on the central island that I got to try. Hopefully you can see the pics that we posted on Facebook from the trip; much of the food is chronicled there, such as the AMAZING desserts and yummy baguette sandwiches that we got from the bakery on the corner, the awesome cheese plate we had for dinner our last night there, and the escargot and steak tartare (which were the "new and interesting" foods of the trip, and both surprisingly delicious!)
We saw lots of things too... Luke dragged me through the Louvre while I was still mostly-asleep and exhausted from jet lag, but hey, he wanted to see it... We got an awesome tour of the Eiffel Tower! We had a great tour guide, and we got to go underground to an old radio station and tunnel that goes under the tower and nearby area, and we also got to go up on a platform in the tower that isn't actually open to the public, so that was nice to get a non-crowded view of the city... and of course great views from all sides. We also had a guided tour of the Marais, which is a very old part of town where they were surprised to find walls that were thousands of years old when renovating that part of the city in recent decades. That was also where we had the escargot, and some of the best steak I've ever had... did I tell you the food was the highlight for me? ;)
We also saw a couple of the famous old churches: Notre Dame, of course, located in the very oldest part of the city, and Sacred Heart, which is on pretty much the only hill in the city. You can get a very nice view of the city from the steps of the church, and we were there near sunset, which was nice. However, it's also a place where beggars/pickpockets/etc. congregate and try to get tourists to buy their (whatever junk they happen to be selling) or just try to get money from tourists. In some cases they are very aggressive... one guy tried to follow us and kept asking us something (I don't even remember what) but we were able to shake him. It's definitely a conflict: how do you be kind to people who are chasing after you in order to cheat you out of your money? The Eiffel Tower was another place we encountered this... people everywhere, all selling the same cheap plastic copies of the tower, and all kinds of trinkets. Near Sacred Heart, though, was where we had French onion soup and cheese fondue... mmm :)
One cool thing we did at the end of the trip was go on a cruise of the Seine across the city. It's just a recording, but they do tell you about the various buildings and bridges and their history.
From our experience, stuff we have read, and people we have talked to, it seems that we really did avoid the "rude French" stereotype by just trying to speak a little bit of their language. The more touristy places had signs and staff who spoke English, of course, but in bakeries and shops and restaurants (we tried our best to go to not-so-touristy places to eat) it was useful to just know a few words, and we were definitely carrying phrasebooks everywhere to look things up (like menu items).
It was nice being connected to the conference too. Although I did not get to go, Luke got to hear the President of France (Nicolas Sarkozy) in person as he gave the opening address for the conference. We also got to go to the natural history museum and their "Grand Gallery of Evolution", which has models and skeletons of oh so many animals, birds, butterflies, etc... We were supposed to have a banquet there, but in the words of Luke's colleague, it was an "unmitigated disaster" as they were only serving (very few, at that) snacks to a huge group of people who were expecting dinner... we ended up leaving and finding the Brazilian restaurant, lol. And the best event (well, tied with the Eiffel Tower tour, perhaps) in my book was visiting the Paris City Hall, which is more like a historic palace than an office building, and getting to see and hear a wonderful string quartet performance there. It was extremely hot (there are very few air conditioned places in such old cities with old buildings!) and at intermission we ended up getting up and opening these huge old windows.
I was so thankful for the hotel we found. Since Luke's notice of acceptance to the conference came rather late, all of the reserved rooms were taken, and we had to find our own... no small task to find a room overseas in a country that speaks another language! But we found a place, and it had a teeny elevator so we didn't have to lug suitcases up and down the small curved staircases, and-- it even had an air conditioner, which was so very welcome after walking up those four flights of stairs to get back to our room. :) It had a tv, but of course everything was in French, so we really didn't watch anything.
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I am thankful to Annette who motivated me to write something about the trip (finally)!
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| "I felt as if God was giving me a strategy on how to survive when you find yourself living in and succumbing to an arrogant, overfed, unconcerned society: Care for those who have less than you." (page 146)
Help me, God.
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