Bruxelles! Brussels!

Yesterday I spent an awesome day in Brussels, Belgium! I can’t believe it’s only a 30 minute train ride and this is the first time I’ve been up there. Once I arrived, I found the metro and took it to a beautiful street called Avenue Louise. The first shop in front of me when I came up the elevator was Tiffany and Co. which proves the street is classy. I met up with five American interns there and toured around the city with them all day. We started at the Notre Dame de la Chapelle, a beautiful cathedral in the center of town. We then headed to get a chocolate while walking through the outdoor flea market. Next, we stopped in the “Grand Place” which is considered to be the most beautiful town square in Europe. I must agree; it was stunning! The town hall was a very ornate building and has a tragic past: In this era, the mark of a great building was symmetry. After construction was finished on this structure, the architect was horrified to find that one end was much longer than the other so he climbed up the bell tower and jumped to his death. Next we ate a delicious Belgian waffle; definitely not overrated! The picture of me and another girl Stephanie is us touching a famous tomb; if you rub her tomb and make a wish it’s sure to come true! I would have loved to tour through the royal palace – but unfortunately I only had time to stand outside it. Well, I have much more to say but am too tired…haha

yikes!

Today was a day of insanity at work! Everyone in the department left for a daytrip and conference in the countryside and I was instructed to man the front desk and hold down the fort! Easy right? Wrong. In the previous eight hours I have answered 63 phone calls and helped even more people coming into the office! I have been able to help many but there were some who had questions I didn’t have the answers to and one or two people who became ‘’frustrated with my incompetence.’’ Oh please Madame, like it isn’t hard enough to remember the dates, instructions and answers to the most frequently asked questions in this business department in my second language! Truly though, in general I feel really good about how far I’ve come and how much I’ve learned and I’m flattered that the dean felt he could trust me to watch the department for an entire day.

Wednesday/Thursday this week

Wednesday was a busy day at work-I worked on an editing project for Professor Vaillant; the topic was on the commercial statistics of cigar consumption-not really my specialty but it was fun to read through and edit it. After work I went to Justine’s home again where her family, Marie, and I had an English lesson for a couple of hours! They were great pupils and spoke as much as they dared. I taught them the song Amazing Grace in harmony and they were so thrilled they wanted to sing it over and over! We must have done it at least a dozen times! I made a little video-I wish I hadn’t been singing though so you could hear more of them rather than me, but it was fun! They concentrated so hard on the words! We then went over lots of sentences with ‘th’ words in them since it’s a hard sound for the French to pronounce. Example: Theodore’s thigh hurts for the third time this week. We played a few games and learned a lot of vocabulary; I was pleased with how things turned out. Last night I was invited to dine with Marie Laure Bourg, a professor here, and her husband Rémi. They made a typically Alsatian meal (Alsace is a French town near Germany and in the Strasbourg region I believe, and they speak a language that is neither French nor German). I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Marie Laure and her husband and in typical French style, we stayed 3 hours at the table. She remembered my interest in the French culinary art and kindly offered me a set of dishtowels for my new apartment!

°°14th of July°°Vive la France!°°

Once again I’m painfully behind but I’ll go back to some highlights : Tuesday the 14th of July was France’s national holiday and I was invited to go see the fireworks with Angelique Derome and her family. Seeing as it’s been 20 years since the fall of the Berlin wall, the announcer recounted much of the history, mentioning several countries that contributed to the efforts and during this there were the national anthems of each country and a spectacular display of fireworks. Earlier that day I had another experience which came as quite a shock. I was walking through the city on my way to Angelique’s home when a very old homeless man approached me and asked for either a cigarette or money; I responded that I had neither and he started to tell me his life story. He has been homeless here in Lille for 15 years and was born in a nearby village. After him asking all about me and what Utah is like he looked at me and said, ‘’Could I ask you a favor?’’ I responded yes and he said, ‘’Would you please help me change my urinary sack?’’ I was in such shock I stuttered out something about not knowing how etc… and he then asked, ‘’Could you at least hold my blanket up in front of me by the bushes so that I can do it without anyone seeing?’’ How could I refuse this man with no legs and who had absolutely nothing to his name? I took a deep breath and helped him as he kindly kept talking to me. I will never forget the nauseating stench; certainly his blanket hadn’t been washed in 15 years. I don’t know how I was able to do it but I couldn’t push the thought out of my head that he was Heavenly Father’s child just as much as I was, and how disappointed He would be if I turned away from this man in need. That was an experience I’m sure I’ll never forget.

Fab fab weekend

Well, this week did a u-turn and ended on a marvelous note! I met my friend Justine after work at Les Pres metro station and she and I drove out of Lille and through Roubaix toward her home. She lives in a charming cottage style house that used to be a café many years ago. She gave me a tour of the home and we chatted with her mother Blandine for awhile. She is so kind and lively, just like Justine; I’d met her once before at the Van Peteghem’s home. Seeing as we were having crêpes for dinner, Justine and I went to work on the batter. They have a neat machine that sits in the middle of the table and cooks six crêpes at once; it’s so much more convivial this way rather than having the cook stand by the oven. We had a fun dinner and stayed at the table for hours laughing, finally calming down with an herbal tea around 11pm. I decided to take a little movie clip of everyone at the table and attached it to the blog. Blandine refused to let me go home without taking a jar of her apricot jam, a box of the tilleul-menthe herbal tea I love, and a plate of crepes, very sweet and motherly of her. She also asked if I would come and give her and Marie an English lesson on Wednesday evening and have dinner with them.
I also had the chance to look at Justine’s photos from her recent trips to India and Mali and they really made me want to visit there someday. She too wants to travel and is visiting the states for the first time in August. We both talked about where we hoped to go someday; because of the fascinating African literature class I took last semester, I am determined to visit Senegal someday. She would like to see Thailand. Her room is full of African and Indian artifacts, Buddhas, lamps, pictures-she even gave me an Indian robe to sleep in. We slept in and then this morning her cousin Vincent came to pick us up to go into downtown Lille for lunch at an Indian Restaurant. The food was delicious and the spices made our noses run. We spent the rest of the day walking around old Lille through the shops and chatting. It was a great day and I’m all worn out. À bientôt…

a crummy end to a crummy few days.

No need to see the world the rose colored glasses every day; better to be honest. It has been a downer week for the most part. I was really looking forward to today but unfortunately it didn’t turn out how I’d imagined. My friend Marie invited me to have lunch with one of her colleagues who is an English teacher and had loads of questions about Mormonism. At the moment, she (Helène) doesn’t believe in anything except that there is a little bit of good in everyone. Well, I was really excited to get to answer her questions and in the beginning it went well. I cleared up her mistaken ideas about polygamy, the prophet, and the temple. However, I soon found out that she has actually visited Salt Lake City and she had a terrible experience. She said that despite the fact that we have our own Mormon Vatican, (I’m assuming she meant Temple Square), she didn’t feel at all welcome there and got a bad impression of the members. Well, apologizing for whatever sort of experience she had, I explained that gospel is perfect, but the members aren’t. After answering some more questions, I offered her the French copy of the conference issue Ensign that I’d brought for her, but she refused it. Things ended quite awkwardly and I went back for the rest of a hectic day at work. I guess I should look for the light in the dark and mention that my friend Marie saw that on the cover of the other Ensign I’d brought one of the titles was “How to talk to your parents” and she thought she’d take the article to read to her son. This week has been an eventful week but I’ll write about it when I’m in a better mood. I figure having one out of 80 posts be a negative one is about fair.

Fausta

The movie I saw tonight with Didier, Marie, and Jacqueline (Didier’s mother) was a Peruvian production called Fausta -- in Spanish with French subtitles. It definitely wasn't a comedy-- the tragic lifestyle in Peru is hard to watch; however, I am glad I saw it. The main character, Fausta, is in search for a way to bury her mother but she cannot afford a casket. She takes on extra work but then is later cheated out of her pay. She lives in constant fear, as her mother did, due to the violent way the women are treated in the villages outside Lima. There is the most beautiful piano song called Cyrene that I wish I could find but it is nowhere on the internet. The principal actress played her role well as a virtually silent, scarred, tender and beautiful young woman. This film won the Golden Bear prize in Berlin this year which is a big deal. The title in English is The Milk of Sorrow.

French Film Festival

This week is the French Film Festival and a big percentage of the population flocks to the theaters. Didier and Marie have taken me to see two of the premiering movies: a comedy “Tellement Proches” (A little like “With Six You Get Eggroll”) which was absolutely hilarious! Secondly, “Fais-moi Plaisir” a romantic comedy which was quite fun too. We saw one Wednesday and the other Friday. They were sweet to let me tag along with them when their kids are out of town. We also went to dinner Friday night in the square in front of Notre Dame de la Treille and it was delicious! I had a pepper tart and salad and took a picture to prove how pretty the presentation was. Marie and Didier are truly two of the kindest people I have ever met. Marie is an artist and I had previously asked her if I could buy one of her paintings that she could bear to part with and when she had me over for dinner last Thursday she had me choose one and then gave it to me as a wedding gift! It is an orange abstract canvas and I’m so pleased to have it. I just got a nice surprise-In the English lesson notes that one of the girls gave back to me from Wednesday, each of the girls wrote me a little message! One says, “Very Tank-you Haleigh. I like you” How darling! Things are going superbly here besides the heat and humidity which is barely bearable. I cannot believe I only have one month left!

A plethera of invites by the Van Peteghems

Last weekend was a so joyful because…my family came! My Grandma Koller, Aunt Kathie, and sister Hillary came to visit for two days on their way home from Spain! I had awaited this weekend the whole trip and it was wonderful to be with them! Unfortunately there were train mixups so they didn’t arrive until late Friday night but we still had time to go to my favorite little student restaurant. The next day I took them to the university to meet Dean Van Peteghem and show them around. Then I took them through Old Lille to Notre Dame de la Treille and the little monastic artisan shop that’s in the basement. We made a quick stop at one of the modern Russian exhibits for Lille XXL. Next we took a bus tour that gave us a good dose of history. Then, to hold up tradition of always getting our hair done while on vacation, we went to a startling modern salon called “Nouvel Hair.” The décor there was eclectic – things hanging from the ceilings and walls, crushed mirrors pieced together, etc… We came out looking lovely! We then strolled back through Saint Maurice’s Cathedral and admired the stained glass and paintings. That night I took them to one of my favorite restaurants called Tramonata and to my delight everyone thought it was delicious. The next day we went to church and I translated for Grandma while a missionary translated for Hilly and Kathie. Then, we took a boat tour down the Deûle river. Suffice it to say that the boat was not simple to navigate, but once we got the hang of it we enjoyed looking at the ducks, homes on the bank, and even a stork! Following that, we spent three hours in the Palais des Beaux Arts (Museum of Fine Arts) which is the second biggest in France next to the Louvre. A kind man offered us tickets for free and we had a nice chat with him afterward. We thoroughly enjoyed seeing the Rodin sculptures, Rubens paintings, and other lesser known Flemish artwork. That evening, we all went to Les Compagnons de la Grappe, a restaurant on a hidden terrace tucked back away from cars and noise. We thoroughly enjoyed eating “la langue du chat” literally “Cat’s tongue” but is really a great cut of beef. The next morning when they left to fly home I was sad to see them part without me. I’m so glad we could spend the weekend together! I’ll have to get Hilly’s pictures to upload on here since we mostly used her camera.
Continuing on, this week has been a fabulous one full of invitations and interesting outings! Tuesday night I went to the end-of-year cocktail for all the professors and employees and the president of the university, Therèse Lebrun, spoke. I had the chance to shake her hand afterward; the dean introduced me to her, and it was slightly ironic because I said, “Je suis ravie d’être ici parmi vous à la catho,” and she replied, “We are thrilled to have you interning here and hope you feel welcome.” Haha…we were both trying to accommodate for the other. It was neat to see all the colleges unite together since all the departments aren’t situated on a campus like ours are. After the speech there were the most beautiful hors d’oeuvres and champagne (or apricot juice for the pregnant women and oh yeah, for me :)) Later that night I walked with Didier to a museum where we met his wife and kids and toured through what is called the “Gare Saint Sauveur” – They have taken an old train station and created a time traveling hotel where each room is from a different decade. It was fun to see the 60’s-70’s rooms all decked out in orange, lime green, waterbeds, fake wood, shag carpet, old radios, etc… They had typical shows of the eras playing on the room’s TV’s and pictures of celebrities of the time period hanging on the walls. Unfortunately I couldn’t take any pictures so the picture is just one off the internet. Then we went for a drink and a snack in the lobby of the classiest hotel in Lille called the Hospice Gantois.
The next day Marie Van Peteghem and I had agreed to exchange an English lesson from me for a little sightseeing. So, I had three eleven year old pupils: Agathe Van Peteghem, Camille Lepoutre, and Alix Dilly. They were as cute as can be; for two hours we spoke half English half French and played guessing games, learned “Row Row Row Your Boat” etc…Then, I went with their mothers to visit the Bouvines Cathedral. This church is where the Battle of Bouvines took place which I learned is the battle which ended the twelve year war between France and England. It then led to King John of England being forced to sign the Magna Carta. Inside I learned that this is the only church in France where the stained glass windows are of war scenes, not religious depictions. The inscription picture is Latin for "Catholic University" and the statue is the matron saint of the University I believe, & I thought both were pretty as I was walking to work one day. I’ll call it quits for now and finish updating later xo à bientôt

A continual warm welcome...

Still catching up: last week Stephanie Lecocq said she figured that with Kami being gone I might be lonely so she invited me to spend the night with her kids. Their names are Jeanne (Like Joan of Arc: Jeanne d’Arc) and Romeo. They are as sweet as can be – Stephanie was so embarrassed that when we got home her house was in a whirlwind and she didn’t have any food except fish sticks but I assured her I was just thrilled to be with a family and none of that mattered. So we made the best of dinner and then Jeanne asked if I would color with her. She then made me a giraffe bracelet with her new birthday bead kit, a very sweet gesture seeing as there is only one giraffe bead. She tied it so tight hoping I would never take it off :), and honestly, it took an entire day of tugging periodically to get it loose.

Guernica

These have been a busy couple of weeks but that’s how I like it. Last Monday I had the opportunity to sit in on one of Dr. Aliocha Lasowski’s lectures and I must say that it was an absolutely enthralling two hours. He hardly used his notes, and he began by mentioning all the reasons and justifications for war. He moved into several specific wars and battles and dissected what led to their successes and failures. Finally, he brought in Picasso’s Guernica paintings. They are a series of depictions that Picasso claims were not symbolism, but realism; he felt this portrayed the horror of the effects of war. The painting I posted is the most well known. I remember reading about the Guernica series in Chaim Potok’s book My Name is Asher Lev, but didn’t realize that they were such influential works. Dr. Lasowski went over the efficacy of various communist regimes, the war on terrorism, and France’s “Battle of Bouvines.” I was slightly embarrassed when he asked for my input in the middle of the lecture. As soon as the students heard my accent they turned around and stared and the girls behind me started to whisper. Later they asked where I was from and they had heard about the Utah “desert”. I believe this lecture was comparable to something one would hear in a history class at Cambridge or Yale.