I cannot believe it has already been a week since my
last blog post! Time is starting to move here! The first week felt like time
was dragging, this past week has flown. I experienced a lot more French this
week…I’m hoping I understood everything that happened…guess we will find out!
Sunday – I spent the afternoon at the Panthéon here
in 5ème (the Paris neighborhood I live in). I took the bus to get there, which
was nice. Sometimes it is nicer to take the bus; I can see more of the city
this way. The Panthéon was so cool! It was modeled after the Pantheon in Rome
and was originally dedicated to St. Genevieve. The building was used both as a
church and as a meeting place for intellectuals; and now as a museum. In the
basement there is a crypt with many famous French intellectuals; Victor Hugo,
Louis Braille, the Curies, Voltaire, Rousseau, and many others. As per-usual I
decided to walk home after visiting the Panthéon. On the way home I stopped at
l’Arènes de Lutèce, which is a Roman amphitheater literally right by my
apartment. I seriously love having so much history near me.
The Panthéon
The Panthéon
The Panthéon
Rousseau
The Curies
Victor Hugo
The Panthéon
Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève across the street from the Panthéon
Eiffel Tower from the Panthéon
The Panthéon
Saint-Étienne-du-Mont a church near the Pantheon
Arènes de Lutèce
Arènes de Lutèce
Monday – I didn’t do too much. I took my sweet time
getting ready and ventured out to a Monoprix (kind of like Target). I finally
bought some full size shampoo, conditioner, mousse, and hairspray (I was almost
out of my travel size bottles). While there I also found cheddar cheese!! I was
so excited; it is so hard to find cheddar cheese here, now I know where to go if
I want tacos! There is one more “supermarché” I want to check out, Lidl…I will
hopefully do it soon.
Cool building on my way to the Monoprix
Fountain on my way to Monoprix
Tuesday – It was a busy day. It started out with my
appointment at the bank to open my account. That was quite the adventure. My bank
is right by my apartment which is nice (things are so close here). The banker
didn’t speak much English and my bank vocab. is not the best. Somehow we made
it through the process. I am pretty sure I understood most of what was said,
haha. I’m really just glad that they opened the account and that I succeeded in
opening said account. After my appointment I head out to meet a friend from my
YSA Ward in Utah, Hailee Norton and we set out on an adventure to le Chateau de
Versailles. I met here at the metro stop Porte Maillot. From there we hopped on
the RER C where we had to back track a little to get onto the train going in
the right direction. That is where the real adventure started. First when we
got there we spent a minute trying to figure out how to get to the other side
of the platform, where we missed the first train. Finally we decided to exit
and come back in on the right side. So we waited for the next train…this next
train was…just crazy! It was a shorter train and guess we were at the wrong end
of the platform…so we started running to get down to the other end (along with
a bunch of other people) the train did not stop for very long maybe 30 seconds
max…so by the time we all reached the end the train doors were shut and the
train was departing. A couple that we were running with said that it was because
we were all Americans…either way it was the shortest I’ve ever seen a train
stopped at any of the metro stops. Finally the third train stopped (for like a
minute) and we were able to get headed in the right direction to Versailles.
Once we got to Versailles we walked on up to the Palace. The line to get into
the palace was super long, so we decided to go to the gardens and see the Grand
and Petit Trianons first (in Marie Antoinette’s area). There we explored both
buildings and enjoyed a little lunch at one of Angelina’s cafes on the grounds,
it was good. Then we made our way back to the Palace and met up with Kaija
(also a friend from Utah). We kind of rushed through the palace since they
needed to get back for a dinner reservation. However, we did make sure to see
the Hall of Mirrors. The train ride back was packed, rush hour! We had to stand
the whole way back…I left them at the Notre Dame and I walked home (man I
walked a lot that day). I went to sleep early that day!
Le Chateau de Versailles
Le Chateau de Versailles
Le Chateau de Versailles - Le Grand Trainon
Le Chateau de Versailles on the way to le Petit Trainon
Le Chateau de Versailles - le Petit Trainon
Le Chateau de Versailles - le Petit Trainon
Le Chateau de Versailles - le Petit Trainon - staircase
Le Chateau de Versailles - le Petit Trainon, Marie Antoinette's initials
Le Chateau de Versailles - le Petit Trainon - Louis XV initials
Le Chateau de Versailles - le Petit Trainon
Le Chateau de Versailles - le Petit Trainon - love these tree lined paths
Le Chateau de Versailles
Le Chateau de Versailles
Le Chateau de Versailles
Le Chateau de Versailles - Hall of Mirrors - so much history has happened in this room, loved it!
Le Chateau de Versailles - Napoleon Bonaparte
Le Chateau de Versailles
Le Chateau de Versailles - See I was actually there!
Notre Dame - My favorite sight in Paris
Notre Dame - seriously I cannot get enough of it
Wednesday – An adventure to Ikea for a rug. I met
some people who are also English teaching assistants here in Paris at the Ikea
shuttle. Yes you read that right, a shuttle run by Ikea that takes you there
and back, how awesome. We enjoyed lunch at the restaurant in Ikea, the Swedish
meatballs taste just the same as in the U.S. Then we did our shopping. I just
needed a rug but the others needed more. It was almost like being at an Ikea in
the U.S. except everything is in euro instead of dollars. The Ikea is in a
little shopping area so we walked around the area after we were finished
shopping. Then we waited for the shuttle to take us back. Let me tell you,
traveling the metro with a rug was interesting…however it must have been worse
for the one who bought a ton of stuff. I of course was spent after that
adventure so I didn’t do too much afterwards…I usually find that one adventure
a day pretty much wipes my energy out.
Thursday – First day of work!! My first day of work
consisted of signing a ton of paperwork, France the land of paperwork. After
finishing all my paperwork I met with a couple of classes of students. Then I
had lunch there…lunch at Lycée Pasteur is quite good. It includes a roll, a
salad, a yogurt, a piece of fruit, and the main entrée. They had three choices,
two meet and a vegetarian one. I had the vegetarian one; it was like a crêpe
type thing with cheese and green beans. It was so good! Then I met one other
class of students. They seem like they are excited to work with me and I with
them. I then spoke with head of the school; I will be babysitting her grand-daughter. Starting after our first holiday (which starts in 2 weeks)!! After being there I headed home and started looking at different ways
that I could help them work on their pronunciation etc.
My mail box at school!!
Friday – I had to go to meeting in Sèvres at a
different Lycée. That was fun…after getting of the metro/bus you have to walk
up a ton of stairs to get up the side of the hill to the school. It was
exhausting. Once up there it took awhile to find where the meeting actually was
located, luckily in my search I found another assistant and we found it
together. This Lycée had multiple buildings and tons of students…I’m glad I
made a new friend though. The meeting was pretty boring. A lot of it was going
over stuff I had already completed and then some teaching methods…I may have
been zoned out for most of the day…haha…They fed us lunch at this school too…nowhere
near as good as Pasteur’s lunch. They only had one option for the lunch and it
was fish…I don’t eat fish. Oh well I survived. After the meeting I came home
and took a several hour nap, woke up ate some dinner and went back to bed…I
hope once I get into a regular schedule I won’t feel so tired.
Saturday – Most of the day I just looked at
different lesson plans and relaxed. I did venture out to the market for a few
groceries. Saturday evening was General Conference. It was really weird for me
to have General Conference in the evening instead of the morning. I loved it
though. All of the talks were amazing. It was also amazing to see three new
apostles called. I loved all the talks. I felt like I was fed spiritually and
look forward to Sunday’s sessions. After Conference I went straight to bed…it
was midnight after all.
Yummy chocolate!
Streaming General Conference all the way from France!
Sunday – Today I finally did my laundry…I probably
shouldn’t wait so long so I don’t have so much to do all at once, plus this
washer/dryer takes forever to clean the clothes (1:15) and to dry (2:25)
seriously takes all day. While my stuff was washing I decided to take a trip to
le Tour Eiffel (finally). I’ve wanted to go for awhile. So I finally did. I
went to le Parc Trocadéro which is across from the tower. I strolled through
there then crossed the river to right under the tower. It was so beautiful. It
is so amazing to me that people are able to design and build such amazing
structures. All around Paris there is history that has survived the test of
time and I love it.
The Eiffel Tower - from le Parc Trocadéro
The Eiffel Tower - from le Parc Trocadéro
Me in front of the Eiffel Tower - from le Parc Trocadéro
The Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower
Just a typical experience on the metro - someone playing the accordion and then asking for money.
Most every day I stop and marvel at the fact that I really
am living my dream by taking this chance and living in a country so far away.
It still doesn’t seem real that I live in France.
Now I am watching the remaining sessions of General
Conference. As I listen to the talks and testimonies I am reminded of different
ways that I can improve in my own life. “The Lord is my light and my salvation”
and because of that I need to work to let my light shine and work to help the
Church here in France. I know that they need and will use my hands here to
strengthen the Church. I love General Conference! By the way did anyone else get chills from the Sunday A.M. closing hymn? I sure did!
A bientôt!
P.S.
If you would like to send me something I believe
that this is the address you should use.
Jenny Whiting
2 rue Guy de la Brosse
Chez Mme. d’Andréa
75005 Paris, France
