Bonjour! No wait--Bonsoir! Nope, too formal. Uh...Salut!

In the last 48 hours, I have consumed more alcohol than I've had in my entire life...
In communion, of course! (I am from a non-drinking family and grape juice churches.) The wine served in the tiny little plastic cup with the pea-sized pieces of broken baguette in a way exemplify my first week here in France. I stepped into a similar framework as the version of Western culture I grew up in, the same trays and plastic cups--but the contents are different. The clothes are more muted, the shutters on the houses are actually functional, the food tastes better, people smile less but welcome you into their homes more. In a way, French culture seems to slow down, turn down the volume, look and appreciate (or laugh at) all the smaller details of life, whether it be the natural beauty of someone's face without all the makeup, the taste of food as you sit down and enjoy your meal, or your relationships with others as you take the time to welcome them into your life, not just a passing moment. (Alternatively, if you don't have time for meeting someone, you can just give them a blank stare and keep walking. No on-the-street hellos here!) And, of course, everywhere you go, you hear French!

Because of this, the first 48 hours of my stay here felt kind of like wandering around my own house with my eyes closed. It's not entirely unfamiliar, but it feels uncertain; I have to guess where things are; I'm sort of clumsy and keep walking into things...You get the picture. However, unlike the find-your-way-with-your-eyes-closed game I played as a kid, I am now finding my way around a new home. It has been a little stressful, not being able to communicate very much, missing food money, transportation, ect., but all of it has been mixed with a sense of wonder and a good-sized pinch of jet lag. Plus, every time I've stumbled through pronunciation or vocabulary, the people at the church have been incredibly kind and helped me

to learn and move forward. The love of God that saturates this place is something I didn't quite expect, and now it has become the thing I appreciate the most. That's really saying something, because the food here is amazing and this city is beautiful. I've spent at least six hours of this week exploring Cretiel on foot. All this to say: I don't really know what's around the next corner, but based on the last 48 hours, it's going to be even better than I thought.