Eating, Working, and Climbing Trees

Last post I spoke about Compiegne. Here is a picture that I wanted to put in the post but it would not load for some reason. It is a picture of the middle of town about two blocks from my home.

Daily Routine Mon-Fri:
Wake up at 6:30 or 7:00 depending on the day. Go for a run along the Oise, a beautiful river that runs through Compiegne. Here is a picture that I took off the internet. I will take my own pictures of the river and post them soon though.

After I get back from my run, the team of assistants meets at 8:00 to have coffee or tea and usually fresh bread. We speak about the day and who is doing what duties. At 8:30, we wake up all the people with disabilities. They all trail into the dining room and eat their own breakfast. At 9:30, most of them go off downstairs to work at Le Moulin, “the mill” that I spoke of in the last post. This is where they work five days a week. Three of the people in our home are too old to work in the Moulin and so they stay upstairs. After the others leave, it is cleaning time for the assistants. We have a chart of daily cleaning duties in order that the household is always relatively neat and clean. It is good because this fosters a desire and willingness to help in each of us.  When you see your fellow assistants cleaning, you naturally want to help. It is very productive and we get a lot done with this system. Our duties usually take until noon. From 12:00-5:00, the assistants have free time. We are allowed to do whatever we want during that time. For example, today, I went for a walk around town, meandered down to the river, and then went to Mass at a church that is 900 years old. St. Joan of Arc hid in this church the day she was captured. Yes, she was captured here in Compiegne.

At 5:00 in the afternoon, all the people come back from the Moulin at which time we meet in the dining room for afternoon tea or coffee. The French put a lot of emphasis on socializing and being together as a family during meal times. Meals are extremely important and so there is no rush during or after. You slowly enjoy the meal or coffee while your focus is on those around you. After the coffee and tea, the kitchen crew (one of us assistants  aided by one of the people with disabilities) begins to make dinner. We eatdinner around 7:30. Note: the French always have dessert after lunch and dinner. However, 9 out of 10 times it is not very sweet. They love to eatfromageblanc (white cheese) with fruit. 

Back to the routine: after dinner, dishes takes about 7 minutes because everyone has a specific assigned duty after dinner every night. For example, someone wipes of the table and sweeps the floor. Two people load the dishwasher. One person puts away the food. One person dries the dishes that were hand washed another person. You get the idea. Then, once dishes are over, we all gather into the living room for coffee or tea, whichever you prefer. This ends at 9:30 at which point we send everyone off to bed. Then it’s free time again for the assistants. Usually we just go straight to bed since the morning comes quickly.

On the weekends, we do whatever we like. One weekend, we went to see a movie at the cinema. We saw Epic. It was in French so I did not understand it as well, but it was a fun experience. Another weekend, we went to a garden in the country were you can pick anything you want and then you pay for it afterwards. We picked a ton of strawberries and rhubarb to make jam. This week we will go to pick cherries.

I love the consistency and the structure. It certainly adds peace to the home and it is especially good for the people with disabilities to have a consistent daily schedule that they can rely on.

On Tuesdays or Wednesdays, in the morning, two of us go to the grocery store. I love this! It is surprisingly fun to calculate how much we will need and to try to keep the cost as little as possible. I never thought I would like math, but this I enjoy.  Here is a picture  ofthe second refrigerator which we use only for fresh produce. This will give you an idea of how much 13 people can eat in a week.

Team Day!!!

Last week on Wednesday, we had our team day. This is the day that happens only once a year, where the team takes the day off and goes somewhere to do something fun in order to be more of a team in the home. It is also nice to take a day together where we are not working. So, as I said in my last post, I have a particularly good team. Consider it now a proven fact. We decided to go to a forest near Paris where there is a type of theme park in the forest. It is called “Sherwood Park”. This place is amazing! If you like rock climbing, tree climbing, or just a pure challenge, you would love this park! Here is a picture of part of our team strapping on the climbing gear before we started.

Words cannot describe how fun it was! You strap yourself to a thick steel cord that goes from tree to tree. You cannot get off until the end of the line. You have tons of options. Some areeasy and low to the ground and others are extremely difficult and very high in the trees. Three of us assistants wanted the challenge and so we started with a difficult one. It was absolutely a blast! It was the second most difficult run and so, at times, we would be way out into the heart of the forest at the top of a tree that was swaying in the wind. One thing that I really appreciated was that the park staff was very hands off. They mostly hung around the easy runs sincethe kids generally needed more help with their gear. But, if you wanted, you could go off on your own just like the three of us did, to the high difficult runs. They allow you to have a ton of independence. The system was very safe yet it still created a challenge.

Here are some pictures of the day. Enjoy!

My Team!

A total blast!!!

Until next time :)

Compiegne

Well, here I am in France in one of the cutest towns I have seen yet; Compiegne. Yes, it is just as a French town ought to be. With cobblestone streets, ancient Churches around every corner, an old town hall with more architecture beauty than ever, a castle in a garden in the middle of town, a river with beautiful bridges arching over it and quiet walks alongside it, little old ladies walking their dogs with umbrellas slung over their arms, young people riding their bikes one handed while holding a couple of fresh loaves of bread in the other, and last but definitely not least, the bells of all of the many Catholic Churches ringing their old yet strong and clear tolls across the city. This is Compiegne. This is where I live.

Here is a picture of the town hall.

For those of you who know her, Albertine lives not a third of a block from where this picture was taken. For those of you who do not know her, Albertine is the French girl who came to live with us last summer. She is the one who told me about L’Arche and her mom was able to help me get involved. I go to visit their family quite often on my off time since they are not even a five minute walk from my home. It is such a blessing to have a family here where I can go whenever I want or need! They treat me just like one of their family. J

They live right next door to a Catholic Church. The Church of Saint Antoine. Here is a picture of the side door to the church.

Yes. It is breathtaking.

Already, I know my way around town pretty well. People walk almost everywhere. There are tiny little cars zipping around beeping their oh-so-European-sounding-horns. This sounds terrible, but it is so much more fun hearing the European sirens then American sirens. I always catch myself smiling when I hear its two-noted song.

 

My home: Le Froment

So here’s how L’Arche works, there is one general community in which there are several (usually about 3-5) households in separate locations. These households all participate in the same daily work to earn money for L’Arche. My community, Le Levain (meaning the “leaven bread”) has five households. During the week, all of the people with disabilities (except for those who are too old or are too physically handicapped) come to the place of work. In our community, the work is making candles and mosaic heating pads for hot dishes. The name of the work place is Le Moulin (“the mill”). The name of my household is Le Froment, which means “wheat”.  Now, here is the great part; very quickly, I knew that God had a hand in putting me in Le Foment for several reasons. 1) The other assistants. They are all very good and fun people. I feel lucky to be with the team I am on because two of the five of them share the same love of our Faith. Also, there is always laughter and joy with these people. Reason #2) The people with disabilities, I am already very attached to them. In a future post, I will tell you more about their different personalities JAnd last, but most definitely not least, #3) My household lives in the upstairs apartments of the building where Le Moulin (the mill) is. While that is a great reason, it is not the third reason. In every community, there is a place of worship in the main building of work. Since my community has a very strong Catholic influence…yup! You got it! I have an adoration chapel one flight of stairs from my home! J I could not ask for more. It is wonderful to have the ability to slip down there and pray whenever. I was excited when I found out that I am not half a block from a Catholic Chapel. Little did I know!

My room overlooks the street on which we live, Rue de Paris. I have my own room on the top floor and all the way at the back. I picked this room so that I could have my own space away from the action.

Picture of the view from my bedroom window.

Until next time!