April News: No…I don’t speak French…yet

The Notre Dame: I took this after exploring it during their good Friday service. Its an interesting place...

My First Impressions of the French Culture!

There food is amazing!!!! Their understanding of flavour in small portions is great.

There coffee….yeah not good. I went up and down the aisle of the super market just trying to find something from Italy, because coffee is definitely not their major gift to the culinary and beverage world.

Apparently like most of the world….they drive on the wrong side of the road! It took me awhile to get used to crossing a road just remembering which way to look first. But just riding around on a bicycle a bit has helped me orientate myself to their system of driving.

I was able to escape to Paris for a weekend. And yes it is Amazing!! God gave me permission to be a tourist and just relax. Even though I didn’t see that much, because I was hanging out with the people from YWAM Paris a lot, the little bits I did see were great. What has struck me is for the first time being in a culture that is so super old! South Africa is such a young country compared to places in Europe, and for us our “old buildings” are still pretty young compared to the ancient architecture that is around in Europe.

My highlight was going into the Notre Dame during their Good Friday service, I didn’t join in, but they were allowing tourists in. The church its self is amazing! The little details on the walls and just little nooks and little side chapels that you can just sit in and just enjoy was fun. But to hear the pipe organ being played, and knowing that the piece of music was written before the revolution, when Christianity was still prominent in France and God was moving was incredible. I had a moment with God during that time, it has definitely been my tourist highlight so far. And that famous tower…Table Mountain looks better!

When I first arrived, one of the students said “Steve there are two statements in French you need to know to survive here…they are; I don’t understand and I’m hungry”

It is taking me awhile to adjust to European culture. I am definitely an African boy!! Meetings here start 5 min before the agreed time of starting, they leave houses unlocked, you can walk down the street with headphones on, and playing on your cell phone with out the fear of being mugged. Transport arrives on time, trains don’t break down. Internet is very fast, systems work, and they have this thing called indoor heating which confuses me to bits. I woke up one morning, saw that the sun was out, it felt very warm inside, so I put on my board shorts, a t-shirt and some slops (jandels, flops, sandles) and walked out side and got the shock of my life at how cold it was!!!! I forgot that indoor heating keeps places warm and confuses those of us who have never had it before, who judge the temperature outside by how it feels inside.

But my heart for Europe is growing, and I am definitely looking forward to doing more work in this incredible continent, and getting to know more of it. Gods heart for Europe is incredible, and seeing his heart for France and being able to be apart of seeing it realised is an opportunity that I am grateful for.

God bless

Steve

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