How To Eat French Food: Volume I

Ok, so sometimes you learn the hard way.

Tuesday night, I went out to dinner with a few friends. Wright and I both ordered grenouille...frog legs! Not even kidding, it was like the lower half of a bunch of frogs sitting on my plate. They tasted really good though. I tried to eat them with a fork and knife, as I am always doing my best to be proper and elegant, but eventually gave up and just treated the legs kind of like chicken wings.

So it was messy.

After the waiter cleared our plates, he brought out two white mugs. He said, "Pour vous qui avez mange des grenouille. Pas de the." Which means, "For those who ate the frog legs. Not tea."

Well, Wright and I look in the mugs, which were full of lemons and warm water. Someone at the table made a comment about cleansing the palette. So Wright and I started drinking the warm lemon water. Wright downs all of his, and I'm about three sips in. I'm mid sip, and I hear the waiter come up behind me and go, "Oh, pas pour boire! C'est pour laver les mains!"

"Not a drink! It's for washing your hands!"

I felt like the biggest idiot in the world. But I laughed pretty hard about it afterward. And am laughing now as I write this.

Today I left my house at 6:40am. Our Normandy trip began today! Our first stop: Les Caves de Mercier, a really old and famous champagne company. Les caves are literally caves underground where the champagne is stored and fermented, etc. Lots of vineyards give tours and tastings, and Mercier puts on quite a show.

It was like an amusement park, for serious.

First, a short film with three screens and surround sound. Next, the elevator ride down into the cave. The elevator had a clear glass wall so we could see sculptures of Bacchus and mannequins of men making wine and champagne, all built into the elevator shaft. Next, a roller coaster. Not even kidding.

Ok, so not exactly a roller coaster, but a tram on auto pilot that drove us around the caves while the guide talked. We finished with a tasting...best champagne I've ever had. I think also the only champagne I've ever had.

After lunch, we took a guided tour of Notre Dame de Reims. Absolutlely beautiful. A wonderful example of a gothic style church. The stained glass windows were gorgeous, the high ceilings were mind boggling, the sculptures on the facade were amazing. I could have spent all day in the church. I think I could have sat for hours and just stared at the windows and the ceilings.

I did a bit of praying when I was supposed to be listening to the tour guide, but it was about the best thing I could have done for me at that moment. I needed some me and God time in a church, and today definitely helped.

Its essentially Thursday. Saturday will mark three weeks in France. Wow. Its been a slow and fast time here so far. And even though parts of it have been hard, I'm beginning to recognize what I think I kind of knew in my heart all along: I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be. I think I've said it before, but said it without really meaning it.

God, always faithful, has been showing me everyday and I'm finally, truly, completely beginning to accept it: this is exactly where I'm supposed to be.