Soo, long time no talk, everyone! We've actually been sort of busy lately, as we're trying to do all of our planning for our last and final journey. We're sorry we haven't been keeping updates like we said we would, but working 12 hours a week doesn't allow for much free time... But seriously, Saturday, April 21st we begin our approximately 6-week long trek through Europe. We'll try to get another post in before then, and also show a calendar of our plans!
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Derek and Collin in front of the Mumm building
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January, in a nutshell, was cold and long. After two weeks of holidays, it was like going back to school at Harding after Christmas break. Except without the friends to look forward to or the new classes. No, we just had the bright, smiling faces of our students, eager to learn, and the bustling town of Chaumont waiting for our return. (Yes Sheldon Cooper, that was sarcasm...) Luckily January did bring a few rays of sunshine.
Early on in January, tired of working after a couple weeks, we decided to take a weekend trip with our friend Collin, another English assistant in our same Académie. He's a few hours north of us, right on the border of Belgium, so we met halfway in Reims. We didn't have much time, but we knew the perfect thing to do: a Champagne tour! After all, we are in the "Champagne-Ardenne" region. Technically, a drink is ONLY champagne if it's made in this region. Otherwise, it's just sparkling wine. So, we walked to this company, G.H. Mumm, in the city and were informed all about their champagne for an hour and a half or so. Needless to say, we've managed to deepen our appreciation for champagne since then.
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Samples of their champagne bottles
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| We got a free glass to sample at the end! Derek and Collin chose "Brut" which is more bitter and Brittany chose "Doux" which is sweeter (just like her) |
The second ray of sunshine on our cloudy month of January was Parcours Alpha. It's a sort of phenomenon that started in England and has made it's way to France. It's a 12 week "program" mostly geared towards people who are curious about religion, and our church in Chaumont decided to start it here. After much debate about whether we should go, we elected to dedicate our Friday evenings to Alpha. Each week, we all (there are currently about 20 people) gather at the church for a delicious meal, listen to an exposé about a certain theme, and then have a discussion about that theme. To be honest, the meal and a chance to practice our French were our main motivators. We were a little hesitant about losing our Friday nights at first. But then we realized we actually had nothing else to do anyway, and our only 2 friends would already be at Alpha, so we really wouldn't be making a sacrifice. One weekend in February, we had a retreat at an adorable little town about 45 minutes away.
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| This is where we stayed--it used to be a monastery, and now it's a very modern, fixed-up inside welcome center! |
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| A cute little path we found to walk on |
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| Marie-Lorraine and Thomas. Notice the paths made by sheep in the background. |
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| We stumbled across this llama during one of our walks in the countryside. He wasn't too keen on posing, though. |
With only one Friday left, we're certainly glad we chose to do the Alpha Course. Even if we've already encountered the themes in church or at Harding, usually we discuss something that gets us thinking about theology every week. Not to mention the wonderful people we've met, and the delicious food we've tasted :)
