Tuesday, February 26, 2008
a jam-packed last two weeks...
it's hard to believe that we've only been on the road for three weeks. the last two weeks were so packed with performances and a longer trip out to Brittany (on the northwest coast of France) that we were completely wiped-out by the end of the performance marathon (yesterday). We did 25 sessions of performances (mostly in schools) in the last week alone. and it was not possible for us to take a day off in the midst of all the performing. so we pretty much went two weeks without a break.
furthermore, i've had a hard time readjusting to being back in France and a lot of the language issues that go w/that. the struggle with the language itself is really only the tip of the iceberg. i think what's harder to deal with is all the other issues connected with it -- internal struggles which i don't really want to go into in the format of a blog. suffice it to say that it's pretty exhausting and taxing physically as well as mentally trying to keep up on a daily basis. (and that's not even counting all the performing and line-learning in French!)
needless to say, our day off today (tuesday, as of this writing) was not only greatly appreciated, but also desperately needed. i had a good day of recharging. lots of solitude, a 1 hour walk, plenty of Bible reading, praying, and worship -- the best way of refilling/re-fueling for me. i'm reminded of how desperately i need the Lord to do a new work in me on a daily basis-- not just a weekly basis.
this weekend we'll be heading to Belgium and although it's a longer trip, in many ways, i'm looking forward to it. it will be a bit of a language break for the most part as most of our contacts speak English and only one of the performances (at this time) is in French. plus, i find going to Belgium energizing -- maybe just because it's newer territory for all of us -- not just me. But also because I really want to see our work grow there and I guess I have a bit of a pioneering spirit in me. in Poland, in addition to maintaining and cultivating relationships with people we had long-standing ties with, I loved looking for new avenues of ministries and breaking into places previous teams had never been.
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that was written a week ago. we're now in belgium and i've had another really restful day off. i've had lots of heavenly sleep. :)
it's hard to believe that we've only been on the road for three weeks. the last two weeks were so packed with performances and a longer trip out to Brittany (on the northwest coast of France) that we were completely wiped-out by the end of the performance marathon (yesterday). We did 25 sessions of performances (mostly in schools) in the last week alone. and it was not possible for us to take a day off in the midst of all the performing. so we pretty much went two weeks without a break.
furthermore, i've had a hard time readjusting to being back in France and a lot of the language issues that go w/that. the struggle with the language itself is really only the tip of the iceberg. i think what's harder to deal with is all the other issues connected with it -- internal struggles which i don't really want to go into in the format of a blog. suffice it to say that it's pretty exhausting and taxing physically as well as mentally trying to keep up on a daily basis. (and that's not even counting all the performing and line-learning in French!)
needless to say, our day off today (tuesday, as of this writing) was not only greatly appreciated, but also desperately needed. i had a good day of recharging. lots of solitude, a 1 hour walk, plenty of Bible reading, praying, and worship -- the best way of refilling/re-fueling for me. i'm reminded of how desperately i need the Lord to do a new work in me on a daily basis-- not just a weekly basis.
this weekend we'll be heading to Belgium and although it's a longer trip, in many ways, i'm looking forward to it. it will be a bit of a language break for the most part as most of our contacts speak English and only one of the performances (at this time) is in French. plus, i find going to Belgium energizing -- maybe just because it's newer territory for all of us -- not just me. But also because I really want to see our work grow there and I guess I have a bit of a pioneering spirit in me. in Poland, in addition to maintaining and cultivating relationships with people we had long-standing ties with, I loved looking for new avenues of ministries and breaking into places previous teams had never been.
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that was written a week ago. we're now in belgium and i've had another really restful day off. i've had lots of heavenly sleep. :)
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
While Victor was pigging out on pancakes*...
I was eating horsemeat! Yep, you read right. We have some dear missionary friends here, the Howells, and they've had this guy named Phil staying with them for the last few months. (He's seriously considering joining Covenant Players, by the way!) Anyway, it was Phil's 36th birthday and the Howells' tradition is that the birthday boy/girl gets to choose what they'll have for dinner. So Phil, who's French by citizenship but spent most of his life in the States, asked Andrew (our host) for suggestions about a meal that would considered fairly normal to the French but exotic to most Americans (--or at least, something you could have bragging rights to). He didn't want escargot, and he's already had rabbit, but horsemeat-- yes, horsemeat, was a definite must-try. So there you go, horse steak -- cooked medium -- was what I had for dinner on Friday, the 31st of January -- and it was darn good!!! :)
*For details on the pancake pig-out fest, see www.victorwshen.blogspot.com
