Good Times Had by All!!

Hello from Massy, France.


Massy is the town where our school is at. The school is small, but there are about 50 others here studying with us. I am definitely being challenged. I understand the concepts being taught in my class since they are mostly review...however my teacher talks SOO fast! The first day she talked very slowly...and then I guess the 2nd day I think she had too much sugar before coming to class and ZOOOOM away she went! She is very animated which makes class fun sometimes.

So overall I am working very hard, learning, reviewing, and doing the homework we are given everyday. But don't worry, there is plenty of time for fun! :-P

Last weekend I went to EuroDisney and I thought I would share some of those photos. Also included are photos from our American soiree (we had tacos, chips and salsa, applepie with ice cream, and we line danced!) As well as pictures from the British soiree that took place tonight! Hope you enjoy them!

Thanks to those of you I have heard from in the last few weeks and I will attempt to reply to all of your emails...but there are many of you I would love to hear from. Now you know about the fun I'm having here...what are you doing? :-) Thanks again to you all!


Katie, Jeff, and I

Check out the guns! :-P

Crash's Coaster

Buzz Lightyear ride! I am a level 4!

Castle

Cotton Candy at the end of the day!

Amazing!

Fireworks!!!!

American Soiree

Line Dancing

Showing the Cotton Eyed Joe

Dosey-Do

Electric Slide

British and Netherlands Soiree

Dancin in the garden to Spice Girls!

Peek-a-boo

The Queen of Netherlands



Regine, the woman on the left, is my teacher

So there was a blue wig around....

Goodbye Marseille...

Well...at least for the next 3 weeks! :-)

Tomorrow I am headed to London for 3 days of wonderful vacation in a place where they speak English! Don't get me wrong...I am really comin along with the French, but it will be nice to understand everyone for a couple days. In fact it will probably be a little bit of a shock! :-P

After 3 days in London, Katie, Del, and I are off to Paris for a 3 week language school. We will be participating in an intense language course on a campus just outside of Paris. We will probably be doing alot of reveiw which will be wonderful since I am shocked when I realize how much I have forgotten! Also, we will have some free time so we are planning on getting out to see a few places...Normandy and Versaille being two of those.

So we are hoping that our French skills prove strong enough to survive the classes. Also there will be some side sessions that we are hoping will prove very helpful. The 2 I am taking are Biblical French and Singing in French (it is actually a little different than speaking).

So if you think about it, please pray that we will be safe in all the traveling we do in the next few weeks and that we are able to recall our French and remember what new stuff we learn while in the classes.

I love you all and thanks to those of you who have sent letters, emails, or facebook messages!

Marseille is....

Well lets just sum up whats goin on in Marseille right now!

Marseille:

...is HOT and HUMID! No air conditioner...temperatures in the upper 80s and 50% humidity makes for too much sweating. Now I know that those of you sittin back home in Phx in the 115 degree heat are laughing at me...but it really is very different. I mean....when just sitting at my house I start to sweat! No moving needed! I really don'tt like sweating unless I'm going for a run or have some other good excuse to be sweating :-) But...I'm not gonna complain cause you in Phx and just as hot as me...and I have friends in places that are even hotter than that!

....is pretty different during the summer. Alot of people go on vacation so our schedule is pretty free right now...but thats doesn't mean there still isn't stuff to do. A typical day for me includes

• a morning run,
• cool down in the park (cause its cooler than my apt) where people like to walk if they aren't working or where people like to bring their lunches to eat,
• go home and eat some lunch,
• clean up and go meet one of my language partners or if its Wed. we have an english club
• spend a little more time out in the community...shopping, going to our neighborhood boulangerie (bakery), going to a cafe, shopping for fruits and vegetables (I think the lady at the stand is starting to recognize me now! yeah!)
• and then I come home, make some dinner and call it a night

May seem like a simple schedule...and it is, but we are still concidering many other ways to get involved in the community, some of which we might try to start soon...and some of which won't start until September when school starts back up and people return from vacation. But as for now, there are alot of people out and about...hanging out in the shade at the park...eating ice cream and things resembling icees

....is a place for weird stories to happen. Replacing a light bulb the other night I slightly electrocuted myself... which then caused the circuit to blow for all the lights in our house. Would have been ok, but apparently something happened when it shocked me and when I tried to put the new bulb in with out touching the exposed wires this time....it sparked and blew BOTH the breakers for our house. So after flipping all the power back on, I promtly stopped trying to replace that lightbulb.

...will not be my home for 3 weeks in July and August. Katie, Del, and I are headed to Paris for an intensive French school where we will basically have an intense reveiw of the French that we have already learned a nd probably learn some new stuff too.

....is the site of our new English club held every Wed. night at 5 PM!!! This is exciting news. Basically we meet every week and speak English with whomever would like to come for 1 hour! Its a great way to get to know people and help them with their English.

....campuses are a great place to find language partners. I have had 16 responses to my fliers I put up on the campuses. I am hoping that those 16 responses will lead to about 5-6 weekly partners. We meet for about an hour, once a week, and speak half english and half french, so we are helping each other on language. Once again...a great way to meet people. I have met some really great people through the fliers! YEAH!!!

...is my home for now. I am enjoying the time I get to explore Marseille. There is still so much that I haven't seen in this town or in the towns surrounding it! However, I do miss all of you at home. All of you at the newly named West Greenway Bible Church (very excited about that by the way!). And although I am enjoying my new home, things can get quite lonely here at times... so, PLEASE, send me messages...facebook messages (apparently the newest fad at the WG)...emails...cards...packages!!!

I am going to repost my email for those of you that might not be on my email list...if you would like to be on the email list let me know!

godlymelody@hotmail.com

Thankyou all so much for your prayers...but please let me know how ya'll are doin! Love you guys!

Maroon 5!

Wednesday, May 28th we went to a concert in town. It was a French DJ and the American group, Maroon 5. We got there and we were able to get a spot about 15 feet from the stage! That was awesome. Of course it was raining! So here we are…all 5 of us that went…plus bout 1000 of our closest friends J packed like sardines trying to protect ourselves from the rain that varied between a mist and Pouring. Of course, when you put up your umbrella, the closest 6 people push to get under that umbrella, which then causes you loose your footing and lurch in one direction…which THEN causes you to poke your neighbor in the eye with your umbrella and them to respond with some VERY angry French comment! Oops!

So, I thought I would share these pictures with you! It was really fun! And come to find out, instead of just cheering for an encore…the French sing! They have these little chanting songs that they also sing at soccer games that they sing to show they want an encore. So enjoy the pictures!





We had fun!

So for those of you who may not be familiar with French fashion...if you don't have an umbrella here, you simply fashion a hood out of a grocery sack!

There were SO many people there!

Katie just can't WAIT for the concert to start!

Questions anyone?

Thankyou for all of your interest in my Blog! I have had so many encouraging responses both through the blog site as well as by email. God is doing a great work in my life and I really want to share it with you, however it might take a few posts. So keep reading!

Also I wanted to let you know that I am available to answer any questions that you have. I have not had the opportunity to meet all of you that have my blog. I know that some of you may have questions about what I do or where I am…or whatever. So, I’m going to suggest that you email me. That way I can answer your question directly. My email is:

godlymelody@hotmail.com

If you have a question, please email me instead of posting it in a message simply because if you post a message, I have no way to answer you back. Since you are not required to enter an email address or even a name, I don’t have a way to answer your questions and some I might rather answer in a personal email than using a post.

Well, email me if you have any questions…and make sure that you’re checkin my blog to catch up on the happenins in Marseille.

Love you guys!

Oh my soul rejoice!!

"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of our participation in the gospel from the first day until now. For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus."
~Philippians 1:2-6

Stealing words from Paul to open up there! :-P Man God is good. I don't want to say that he has really been working the last week. cause I feel like he has really been working every day since I got here...but from a human perspective, the work he has been doing in the last couple weeks has been REALLY encouraging! :-) I will share more in a later blog, but I just want to ask that you PRAISE God with me and thank him for his faithfulness to watch over his children, hear their cries, and answer their prayers! Hallelujah! Thank you for your prayers!!! Please know that God is hearing them and answering them!

I want to leave you with the words of the song that inspired the title for my blog!

I love you Lord,
And I lift my voice!
To worship you,
oh my soul REJOICE!

Take joy my king,
in what you hear!
May it be a sweet sweet sound
in your ear!

Music...my home sweet home!

So it is right now 2:31 AM and i just got back from one of the bars in town where Tiffany and I went to go and see a few bands play! It was a really great show! It was at a very small venue, but a great atmosphere to be in! Plus, Tiffany (who speaks French unlike me! :-P) read on the front window that on Wednesday and Thursday nights, this place has an open mike night!! Exactly what I've been thinking about doing! How perfect! So I'm gonna be looking into that in the next few days and see how I can incoporate those open mike nights into my summer plans.

I have decided that musicians are the same all over! I went to a music store near my house...walked in saw all the instruments, the books....and the guy with long hair flowing over his shoulders who worked in...where else...the guitar section of the store! The guys tonight...definitly a child of the 80s...long hair in a ponytail...but MAN can he play guitar! His riffs were SOOO incredibly fast! GEEZ! The Bass players in the bands were Obviously the relaxed goof balls of the group! The first band that played, their bass player was really good, and he rocked back and forth as he played with a big smile on his face! :-) Anyone at the WG want to guess who he reminded me of? (If David Brandon doesn't not read my blog...someone tell him to look it up!)

Anyway, I felt kind of awkward at first, cause there weren't many people there and I wasn't with the band :-), but as the music started and I saw the love that these people had for their art, I felt right at home! Right there in the Dan Racing bar. It was encouraging to see people who could actually play the guitar, but just to hear the music, and relize its not all that different from American music (although I must admit it was a little strange hearing the guy sing...and almost yell the rock song...in French?).

This is the second concert I've been able to go to since I've been here and I really enjoyed it! I am hoping that this summer will be filled with many opportunities to go to concerts and explore the life of the clubs and bars that I haven't been able to explore because or our morning language classes. Doing these music things really makes me feel at home and as if there is actually a place in Marseille where I belong! :-D...despite language barriers.

I dropped the ball on the updating every two days...and both Lisa and my mom reminded me to write..and I still forgot. I believe Katie's most recent quote was "Courtney, do you have the memory of a goldfish?" This might be true!

I know there aren't any big reports in this email...but i just ask that you rejoice with me in the fact that I have found a place to play at open mike nights (and I think they even have a piano!) and that our time at the concert went so well.

Pray that I will find a couple of bands that I can follow, simply to get in with their groupies :-) And pray that I will be able to be disciplined and get together a set of music that I can play at an open mike night.

Thanks guys for all your prayers!

NOTE: Ladies, if you ever come to France, don't make eye contact with a gentleman in the club...cause he just might come over and play an invisible piano for you while dancing....