The past couple of days have gone by quickly!
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| Dinner Tuesday night - "Barbecue" |
I am currently taking three online courses during B-term of
this semester, so needless to say what with the flights and trying to find a
place to stay and such, I had fallen behind on my work. However, I gave my
professors a heads up that this would probably happen, and thankfully they have
been very gracious and understanding towards my situation. Still, the entire
day yesterday (Wednesday) was spent catching up on that work!
By about 5:30, I only had one assignment left to complete,
but I was hungry, so I went on trusty google (which has been invaluable so far
to a foreigner like me) and searched for some relatively cheap restaurants
nearby. My room does not have a kitchen or anything, so I have been relying on
restaurants since my arrival. The only problem was – ALL of them were CLOSED.
Great news right? It turns out, restaurants in France will actually close shop
between 12 and 2, and reopen no earlier than 6:30! So, I took that as a sign,
and decided to finish my last assignment. By the time I was done, it was around
6:30, so I walked to the nearest restaurant – an Italian place (there are A LOT
of pizza places in this community…) which actually happened to be directly
behind the hotel. Little did I know, I was in for quite an experience…
As soon as I walked in it felt like I was tip-toeing on
glass. I have tried to be very sensitive to culture, and so I was very afraid
of doing something that would out me as a foreigner – but especially as an
American – in a negative way. I was one of the first customers of the evening,
and I was shown to a table for two next to the window. She gave me the menu,
and after a brief look I ordered an “Italian Pizza”, the only known quantity
that seemed filling. After only about a five minute wait, the waitress came
over with my pizza, and it was by far the healthiest pizza I've ever had.
Unfortunately, I had to fight the urge to pick it up and eat it like I usually
would, because I didn't know what they would think about that. So, for the
first time in my entire life, I ate my pizza with a fork and knife. (I feel
ridiculous just writing that.)
I finished my meal, and I didn’t know how they did the bill
or how tips worked, so I just waited for someone else to finish so I could
watch them or for her to come over and tell me what to do. As I waited, I
noticed that the radio seemed to rotate between French and American songs. In
fact, once I started paying attention, the first song I heard was “All About
That Base”. I took comfort in likely being the only one in the restaurant who
understood the words! Also, I noticed that I wasn’t the only one eating alone.
In America, going out to a sit down restaurant alone is like going to the
movies alone – you just don’t do it (well I do both of those things, but that’s
beside the point). But here, at least 1/3 of the tables were only occupied by
one person. There was also a tree in the middle of the restaurant...
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| A tree... |
Eventually, she came over, and without saying a word she
handed me a dessert menu. I was already pretty much decided against getting
any, 1) I can count on one hand the number of times that I’ve actually gotten
dessert at a restaurant, and 2) I didn’t have enough money for dessert. So, my plan was to look at the menu, and when she came back I would tell her
that I didn’t think I would have enough money to get anything. Bad move. Her
response was (in a confused/offended/annoyed tone), “No dessert? Not even
coffee huh?” I could just see her going home and complaining to her husband:
“One of the customers today got a meal and he DIDN’T EVEN GET DESSERT. He was
probably American. There they go again, always having to do things their own
way. This is why we don’t like them.” I had broken the glass. In an effort to
explain myself, I told her that I was staying at the hotel next door, and that
I only had €10
to spend that night because I didn’t know where/how I was eating the next day.
Apparently, I had chosen the right restaurant, because people staying at my
hotel got a 20% discount at that restaurant. So, she did some math, and found a
dessert that if I got it would come out to €10,24. Thank God for that
discount! Let’s just say I ate there again tonight and I got a meal, dessert,
and tea. We’re friends now.
The real adventure however happened after dinner. I got back
to my room around 8, and my dad told me that he had been looking at the
Church’s website, and that from what he could gather they had something going
on at the church. Earlier that day, I had e-mailed the pastor letting him know
I was in town, but I had still received no answer. The problem was that where I
am staying right now is the cheapest hotel around at €38 a night (including
breakfast – which is just bread, but I eat A LOT of it, so I’m actually pretty
full by the time I’m done), but that’s still not something my budget through my
stipend can sustain for a whole month, let alone three, and I was already
running out of money because my stipend hadn’t come yet. So, meeting him
tonight could prove beneficial because there was a chance he might suggest a
host family or cheaper housing for me.
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| Seeing the church in real life was crazy! |
I checked the website for myself, and they had an outreach
dinner that they have every Wednesday night from 7:30-10 pm. If I left soon,
after the 40 minute walk I would be able to make it in time for the last hour.
Perfect. I got dressed, got my directions set on my phone, and I left around
8:20. I got there exactly 40 minutes later with no problem, and it was crazy to
see the church in real life, after seeing it on google images so many times!
But again, there was only one problem: the gate was shut. I tried opening it
without making a scene. No such luck. The bulletin on the wall told me that I
was there on the right day, at the right time. I was cold, hungry, tired, and a
little confused. I crossed the street to look at it from a greater distance, to
see if there were any entrances I couldn’t see from up close. Still nothing. I
went back to the church, and walked around the corner, still praying for a way
in, because it was 9 at night, and if no one was inside, I had a 40 minute walk
back to my hotel, in the cold, in the dark, and alone. Prime conditions for
getting jumped. As I rounded the corner though, I saw a gate, and I thought I
had my way in. I prayed again, and the gate was unlocked! I walked up the
stairs, and I could see that there was a light on inside! So, I tried the door
handle without knocking, because if a church is open then usually the door will
be unlocked and (at least in America) you don’t have to knock. But, the door was locked. Another dead end. As I turned to walk back down the stairs, a man with a very angry face on swung the door
open and yelled “Hey! What’s going on?” “Is this the church?” I asked. “No!
This isn’t the church!” He slammed the door in my face. Apparently, the buildings are set up a bit differently,
so what I thought was the side of the church was actually someone’s house…oops.
My first week and I’ve already tried breaking into a house. I went back to the
gate at the front of the church, tried it again, but I finally accepted the fact that no one was there.
So, after a seemingly wasted hour of walking and breaking and entering, I made
the long trek across the highway back to my hotel. My first attempt had clearly been
unsuccessful. Or had it...?
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| This is a McDonald's ad I saw on the way back. Notice the disclaimer at the bottom: "For your health, practice physical activity regularly." I just feel like you shouldn't have to put that on the bottom of a food advertisement. You might as well instead just write at the bottom - "THIS FOOD WILL MAKE YOU FAT." I thought it was funny...(but then again knowing me that probably means it's not, and that I need to go to sleep.) |
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