Happy Easter!

Hello everyone! As I am writing this, I am sitting in the Gare de Lyon train station in Paris. I am on vacation this upcoming week, and I reserved tickets to travel to Grenoble where I will stay with Pauline, a French girl who stayed with my family for three weeks this past summer. However, due to a strike, my train was cancelled, and I am now waiting to take a train for which I have no ticket and may very well have to stand for my three hour trip. Ah….Paris.

I realized it had been a while since I’ve updated my blog, so I thought I would take advantage of my long layover. Since I last wrote, I’ve had another round of visitors! My friend Siri and her boyfriend John came to visit me from Sweden last week (for those of you who don’t know Siri, Peter and I spent Christmas with her family this past year).

In Sweden, the universities had their week off last week, and so Siri and John decided to travel to Angers. We all met at the CIDEF (the Centre International des Etudes Francaises) where we studied French together. This trip for them was a pilgrimage of their relationship – coming back to see where they started – and they got a chance to see me! They stayed with Catherine during the week and everyone really enjoyed it. Siri and John appreciated Catherine’s cooking skills, and Catherine enjoyed having some company during the week.

Although I had to work during the week that they were here, I was able to do a little bit of traveling with them. We went to Tours, a town about an hour away from Angers. It’s most known for being a central location for tourist trips to the neighboring castles in the region. Some of you might also be familiar with St. Martin de Tours, a soldier who cut half of his cloak to give it to a poor man. He was from the town of Tours, and eventually became a bishop there. His remains are in his basilica at Tours.

In addition to the little trip we did together, we shared several meals together. They introduced me to a local sandwich restaurant in Angers that was positively AMAZING. I had a sandwich with rotisserie chicken, roasted potatoes, cheese, mushrooms, and a delicious sauce. I definitely have to make another trip there before I leave. I also invited them to dinner with me so they could meet my neighbors. Of course, we also ate several times together at Catherine’s house. It was so nice to see them again.

The following weekend was Easter! I went to a Vigil Mass on Saturday evening with Elena, the lectrice from Paraguay, at St. Madeleine’s church close to my residence. It was a beautiful service. We started outside the church on the main steps with a bonfire in a grill. All the parishioners huddled around to listen to the priest. While it was an impressive sight, the bonfire made me nervous; the wind was really strong, and the embers from the flames were flying everywhere. I was so worried that someone would get burned or have his/her hair catch on fire (I actually had to knock an ember out of a lady’s hair standing next to me!).

When the priest had finished with the reading and his prayers and blessings, he lit the main altar candle from the fire. This gesture was to symbolize Christ’s light and love in the world. Afterward, we all proceeded into the church singing, and after a blessing, the priest lit the parishioners’ candles around him. Within minutes, the dark church was glowing with the light from our candles. I love this Mass because the symbolism is so simple yet profound; Christ’s love is like the lighted candles: glowing and filling dark places in the world.

When the Mass was finished (two hours later!), they had hot chocolate and brioche (a kind of sweet bread) for the parishioners. Several parishioners welcomed Elena and me to the parish, and we got to talk to the priest. They were so sincere and welcoming; I was definitely feeling the Easter spirit!

On Easter Sunday, I was invited to Benoite’s family’s home to have an Easter lunch with them. They also had an uncle, an aunt, and some cousins over for the feast. I remember walking in and hearing the minor chaos around me; I miss the noise that comes with being in a family. It was so refreshing to be able to a part of their Easter.

They had just finished the Easter egg hunt when I arrived, and so we had some little munchies before starting the main meal. We had a traditional French Easter meal with lamb and veggies. For dessert, we had a chocolate cake and lemon meringue pie – both fresh from the oven. However, the real sweets didn’t come until coffee, where they opened up all the chocolate! I have never seen so much chocolate in my life. I was amazed by Benoite’s brother, Louis, who ate at least 10 pieces of Ferrero Rocher chocolates.

While we were drinking coffee, we decided to play a game of Cranium. I was really nervous about playing since it’s such a culturally and vocabulary centered game, but I did really well! My team was even in the lead for a little while! It certainly helped to boost my confidence in French, although, quite honestly, the Renault family helped me out quite a bit.

The next day, Easter Monday, I had another lunch invitation. Anne Marie, a friend of Catherine, invited Catherine and me to have an Easter lunch with her. She made rabbit (ironically enough!), and it was divine. I also had the best champagne I’ve ever tasted; I made sure to take a picture of the bottle for future reference.

I know rabbit sounds a little strange to be eating at Easter, but in the French tradition, there is no “Easter Bunny.” Their tradition is that the bells from their churches go to Rome to get chocolates. Between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, the church bells do not ring in France because the Catholic churches do not have Mass during the period between Jesus’ death and His resurrection. The children believe that the bells have flown to Rome to get chocolates. As the bells return, they drop the chocolates in the families’ yards, which the children have to find later.

Anyway, back to my Monday agenda! After lunch, Anne Marie took Catherine and me to the Bouchemaine, where the Loire and Maine rivers (the rivers after which the region was named) meet. It was a sunny day, and walking along the riverside was so relaxing. I certainly had a wonderful Easter weekend; I am very blessed here in Angers to know so many warm, welcoming people who are willing to share special moments with me.

My classes resumed on Tuesday, and it was another typical week of teaching. I only have two more weeks of teaching before I return to the U.S. – I can’t believe how quickly the time has flown by! After this week in Grenoble, I will have less than three weeks left in Angers. Wow.

I will be sure to write again before I leave and tell you all about my trip to Grenoble. Hopefully, the rest of it will be a little less complicated than the beginning. I hope you all had a happy Easter and are doing well! A la prochaine, et bonne semaine!