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One Close to Another, Part 3: Routines

After we got back from the trip to see the parishioner, I went for a run. As I was getting changed I had the thought that this is familiar. I'm getting dressed upstairs in a Close and about to go run alongside a river. So, my place is 62 steps up a spiral staircase. My legs are going to be great by the end of the summer. I went for a run and didn't go as far as I expected to; I turned a bridge early, but I kept a very nice pace that I think I would've been able to sustain had I not turned early. Tomorrow I try that route again.

I cooked dinner after that. I had a pizza tonight and I will again tomorrow night. I only ate half. After last nights I needed to only eat half. I had some sandwiches from the grocery store for lunch. And now I'm trying to get some routines into place. I need to not eat dinner at 2100, thought I might just during the week. I want to get up early tomorrow, and I don't think that should be a problem. I'll get up to run, of course. And today I journaled at a cafe as part of my wandering. I wrote some thank you notes, too. Writing will be part of my routine, though I'm keeping that one and this one. Someone later in life will have to compare the two versions.

Running and eating are going to be part of routines. The Office will re-join my routine when the rest of my day has a routine. I'm about to sit down with my cook book and plan my menu for the rest of the week so that I can go grocery shopping tomorrow and then I'll go again on Saturday for more of next week. I don't know what I'll eat yet, but I want to experiment with a lot of different recipes through the summer. I'm very excited about cooking! And I'm very excited about sleeping and having a normal sleep schedule again.

One Close to Another, Part 2: Settling

I got into the office and the Dean was not in, but my upstairs neighbor was. His name is Zach, but not the Dean Zach. Zach the music guy. He did a great job welcoming me and helping me find where I was going. He brought me up the tower and carried a bag. My room is amazing. I say room when it's really three-ish. It's a studio, but it feels enormous! I have pictures that I'll try to upload tomorrow. I think every three days I'm going to drop pictures. Maybe I can find a theme to them or something.

So I found my place and got a shower. In Atlanta I'd bought a razor and shaving cream since I hadn't had a chance to shave in the morning craziness, but by this point I felt really gross. Showered, dressed, and then went down to look for the Dean. I found him, and he was in a meeting so I was given a time to come back. I did and we went to a cafe down the hill and had a glass of wine each.

While we were doing that we were looking at the Eiffel Tower. Amazing view just down the street. It still hasn't totally hit me that I'm in Paris. This morning it hit me that I'm going to be here three months. I love the number of lamps in my room. So, after our glasses of wine I was back to my place and then back to the Deanery for dinner. We had some wine there and then went to an Italian place. I took a picture of my food for almost an inside joke. It was very good, though, and the service was great.

I slept the latest this morning I will probably sleep all summer. I think I got up at 1000 or 1100, which was still 0300 or 0400 back in New York, so I wasn't sleeping till normal time, but it was late. I can't believe it's 2200 here; it's still so light out! When I got up I went down to the Dean's office to check in and was told to roam. This week or so is going to be roaming: getting acquainted with the places and the people, then we'll get into big activity.

So I roamed. I was looking for an Apple store that doesn't exist, and I found a grocery store. I got some stuff for today and now think I should've gotten some for tomorrow. I may go back and get it; it's open till 0000, but that's only two hours away! Just some cereal and milk. I had a great time there. I don't know how to cook and plan on learning some this summer. I realized at the grocery store that I don't know how to cook because I've never had to. I want to, though, so this should be fun.

After wandering I went back to the Dean's office to make a pastoral visit. It wound up not happening, but I got a nice bus ride.

One Close to Another, Part 1: Arrival

I moved on to a close asisde from General Seminary's yesterday. It's much smaller, but there is a cute little garden. I'm at the American Cathedral in Paris! I got here about 2:30 yesterday afternoon and have had a good time thus far. I can't believe it's 9:30 here. I'm going to make myself go to bed soon to fight jet lag stuff. I'll try to keep this brief but will probably fail.

Getting here was something of a disaster except it wasn't. I was hyper stressed because some things got a little out of line, but everything worked out and I made it. I had to go to a doctor before I left and that took more than twice as long as I expected between wait time and time spent with a healthcare professional. Then I was late getting Mom and still needed to throw stuff into my suitcase. We got the stuff and I opted to take the Groome shuttle that was 30 minutes later than my initial plan, and Mom and I got to have lunch, which was nice.

I got to Atlanta sooner than I'd planned given the new shuttle, and that was a big relief. We boarded late, but left on time. My flight to Barcelona was great. I watched The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and cried within the first few minutes. There will be another blog post about it coming, as soon as I see it and can take some notes. And then I slept. I woke up in Barcelona and commenced my second non-crisis.

Flying here with baggage is a lot easier than flying to Tuxtla. In Tuxtla I had to pick up my bags and re-check them. Here I did not, they went all the way to CDG with me...except I hadn't believed the desk agent in Atlanta when she said they would be in Paris, so I waited and looked for my bag. I finally realized it wasn't coming and then I went through security again and then sprinted down my terminal to get to my gate on time.

I made it and my flight was a breeze. I slept heavily through a good part of it. I woke up to the flight attendant nudging me to put my seat back up. My bag came relatively quickly, I called mom to check in, and I was on the RER without incident. When I got off the train I looked at a map and said, "So I have to cross the bridge and just keep going." When I got above ground I could see the spire and there was no question about where I was going. And so I went, thankful that I'd only been allowed to check one bag. While packing for three and a half months with vestments in a checked bag and carry on is potentially difficult, I remember dragging two bags from the train to the hotel three years ago, and I'm glad I didn't have to repeat that.

Pray For Our Enemies

‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." - Matthew 5.43-48

I'm going to bed because I can't handle any more "rot in hell" statuses on Facebook about the potential death of Osama bin Laden.

Let us pray for our enemies not just in life, but also in death.