2 July-4 July

Marseillaise (French national hymn) museum

 Park

 Arc de triomphe

 Giraffe with books inside it

St Paul's church

Jeanne d'Arc statue

View of Marseille from Notre Dame de la Garde!  One of those little islands out there is Chateau d'If

Notre Dame de la Garde up on the mountain

DELICIOUS fruit tart

My favorite french foods at the moment: 

-Bonne Maman jam

-homemade honey

-fresh fruit (cherries, orange)

-Baguette

-Herbes de Provence

-Cheese! (Camembert, Roquefort, Parmesan, Chevre)

Goat cheese (chevre)

At the manier--where I do a lot of work..it is so beautiful and I'll take more pictures soon!

Celebrating 4th of July with a Subway sandwich, barbecue chips, chocolate chip cookie

On our way to the soldes (sales)

 
My roommate Stephanie and I!

If you want to write me, my address is

Melissa Richardson (bénévole)

Les Petits Frères des pauvres

6 Rue de Provence

Marseille 13004

FRANCE

2 juillet

In the morning, I had a weekly planning session with Veronique (shortened to Vero).  I also called the people I am visiting this week to set up rendez-vous days and times.  Then I went into the main part of town to buy a monthly transportation pass and also to buy a SIM card for my phone that I bought over here.  You’d think at the Virgin media store, you’d be able to buy a Virgin phone card…but no.  They sent me to the Tabac where I bought a 5 euros worth of some sort of phone credit.  I’m still super confused on how it works…but my phone is working and texting and calling so that’s enough for me.  I also bought some little gifts for Mme Elena and Mme Graziani that I was visiting this afternoon.  Mme Elena doesn’t see or hear very well but she is a self-declared “gourmande” and so loves tasty things.  I bought her some Bonne Maman cherry filled cookies.  Mme Graziani doesn’t have air conditioning and just has a fan that she sets in front of her chair.  She has a wooden hand fan but I’m guessing that that hurts her wrist after a while.  So I bought her a two euro battery powered hand fan that she can use to keep cool during this hot summer. 

I went back to the Manier to pick up gift boxes from the government for the Madames I was visiting.  I also met up with a benevole (volunteer) whose name I can’t remember now.  But he was a super kind man that loved talking and telling me about the areas of Marseille that we drove through.  He showed me a mountain top where Marcel Pagnol apparently hiked and wrote about one time.  Everyone here loves Pagnol  since he is from Marseille. 

We visited Mme Elena and she told us about how she had fallen the day before and couldn’t get him.  Luckily she has a little chain that she wears with a big red button that calls the firemen.  So then the firemen came and helped her back up.  She told us she fell 5 times yesterday…but I think she perhaps meant 5 times total throughout her life…she admits herself that her memory isn’t the best.  Next we visited Mme Graziani and she really liked the hand fan I gave her.  She told us she never goes out because she is scared of falling and not being able to get back up. 

In the evening, Stephanie and I went out to the center area of town.  We saw the Arc de Triomphe which is much smaller than Paris’ but still cool nonetheless.  We walked around and tried to find this pizza restaurant that my guide book told us about.  We found it but it was closed on Mondays.  We found ourselves in a sketch part of town and I just felt dirty and not good so I told Stephanie we had to leave and just go somewhere else to find dinner.  She felt the same and we went and saw St. Paul’s church, also known as the Réformes church.  Then we took the tram back to the area of town where we live which is much nicer and feels much safer even though it’s not that far away from where we were.  We ate at this pasta restaurant where you pick your type of pasta, the sauce you want, and the cheese you want and then they give it to you in Chinese-looking take away box.  It was quite yummy!  We sat out on the patio with some hippies from Senegal who were playing guitar. 

I did better! I actually took some pictures today.  People still tell me about that 80s French song Mélissa when I am introduced to them…funny. 

3 juillet

I love being able to learn every moment.  I am learning new words every day and solidifying grammar principles or words that I’ve been taught in school.  I’m also trying to have more flowing sentences with transition words and common spoken phrases to make my conversations less choppy or abrupt.  

This morning I had a list of people in nursing homes to call and see how they were doing (called suivi téléphonique).  I was kind of nervous to do this because it’s harder to understand people on the phone and it’s also hard to know what to talk about when you’re talking to someone for the first time and you don’t have an established, trusting relationship yet.  A lot of the people I called didn’t answer but the people I did talk were very nice.  I would say to them in the beginning “je vous telephone de prend de vos nouvelles”  which is I’m calling you to see what news you have or what’s happening in your life.  I asked one lady if she had any children and she said “Je n’ai personne” (I have no one).  I responded “Mais vous avez les petits frères”  (You have us at the petits frères) and she responded “Heureusement” (thankfully).  I talked to another lady that told me things were not going well and she was sick…when I asked her what was wrong or what hurt, she said “J’ai mal partout” (I hurt everywhere).  I talked to a lady that is 100 years old! She is so chipper and nice and demanded to know what news I had for her. 

For lunch I found a boulangerie (bakery) and got a pizza provencale that ended up having this funky tasting fish on it, but also had delicious fresh tomatoes and black olives.  The best part of the meal though was this beautiful fruit tart…it was so divine.  The custard/yogurt in the middle was delicious as well as the crust as well as the beautiful fruit.  I would eat one of these everyday if possible. 

I went back to le manier to meet up with Albert who took me to visit people at a nursing home.  He introduced me to lots of people that I had a difficult time understanding when they talked…it’s just hard when their tongue can’t stay in their mouth or they have minimal amounts of teeth.  So I did a lot of smiling and enchantés.  We were in this one area talking to some ladies and there was also this lady that wasn’t all there in the head and she kept making noises and scooting her wheelchair up to people which would annoy the other people there.  The others would shush her or tell her to be quiet and were obviously irritated and would scoot their wheelchairs away from her.  It was kind of amusing.  Then this same slightly crazy lady wheeled up next to me and told me she was going to give me her shirt and she was trying to pull it down off her of course with no success.  Then she started looking at and touching my skirt and told me it was pretty and that she wanted it.  Then she told me it looked like a tablecloth…compliment?  She kept staying there by me and looking at me.  I looked over my shoulder one time to see if she was still there and her eyes locked onto mine and she just had the most beautiful brown eyes and saw straight into her soul for a split second…knowing that she was there even it her actions didn’t manifest it.  I felt in that split second a connection with her because we are both a part of humanity.  I am no better than her just because I am not strapped into a wheelchair talking nonsense.  We are both infinitely loved by God who knows and sees our true souls when the world does not.  I am grateful for this moment and perspective that I gained from it.  We walked by a little choir made up of residents that was practicing for a performance at an event.  We also went by and chatted with a group of old ladies crocheting and knitting.  They were all going to town making lots of different things and munching on cake.   I talked to a lady for a while that was crocheting and doing the same stitch that I do to make afghans.  She was using lots and lots of different colors for a scarf she was making.  We visited a centenaire (100 yrs old) and also a gentleman that is known for falling in love with the summer Caucasian interns of les petits frères.  He asked me if I was married or if I had a boyfriend.  He was a prisoner in Russia during WWII and showed off the Russian that he had learned.  He also knew some English which was amusing to see him use and be so excited when it was right and I understood. 

On the way home, I stopped by the fruit market and bought some delicious cherries and oranges.  Then I went to the grocery store and bought a baguette because you can never get enough of that delicious bread.  In Paris, I would buy the same cheese everytime I went to the store (Boursin) because I know I loved it.  But I’ve recently decided to take advantage of the easy access and cheap prices of all these cheese here.  So far I’ve had gouda, camembert(cow’s milk), fromage de chèvre (goat’s milk), and Roquefort (sheep’s milk).  Roquefort is quite strong but is bearable with bread.  My favorite so far has been gouda and chèvre. 

Stephanie and I went to the institute that night to use the internet and hang with people.  I played uno, speed, and California speed with Jared.  I love talking and hanging out with Elder and Sister Rutman and talking to them about their experiences.  They have been serving for 3 months in Marseille running the YSA program.   They work so hard every day to study French and learn about the culture so they can know best how to help and relate to the JA’s.  JA is the abbreviation for young adults (jeunes adultes).

4 juillet

Happy happy 4^th of July!  I miss the smell and the feeling and the happenings of 4^th of July.  I wasn’t in the US for it last year either…maybe next year. 

I had an earlier start to the day today and met a benevole at a tram stop at 9.  I jumped into her car and met her three cute kids.  We drove into a lower class housing complex area and went to a maison de retraite.  We visited a sweet man that is paralyzed but still has all his brains and whits about him.   When I walked in, he was watching a Mary Kate and Ashley European adventure movie on tv and later he told me he liked cartoons and started watching Garfield, ha.  He started talking flawless English as soon as I met him.  Come to find out that he lived in England for 20 years.  He went to school and got a Masters in marketing, got married, and had kids all in England.  He is Moroccan but has lived throughout Europe.  He speaks English, Arabic, French, and Dutch.  It felt weird to be having a conversation in English but it worked out fine.  I’m still trying to figure out the best way to talk with these people because I don’t want to be fakely always happy because I know that they truly deal with tough situations.  But I also want to help them by making them happy and bringing life and light into their lives.   

I came back home and had a few extra hours to catch up on journaling and make lunch.  Then I went to Carrefour to help Stephanie get a European cell phone.  I had a final rendez-vous with Monsieur Chineaud at a different maison de retraite.  He is a sweet Parisian with a beautiful flower garden on his patio.  He told me that he worked for 50 years as a cook for bourgeois families.  He is a self-taught cook and cooks only French food..none of that foreign food from anywhere else.   

On the way home from work, I decided to have as American a meal as possible for dinner.  So I went by subway and got a ham and turkey sandwich, barbecue Lays chips, and a chocolate chip cookie.  It made me feel like I had at least done something to commemorate the day.  Back at home when were making and eating dinner, Stephanie and I soul sang our favorite patriotic hymns/songs and tried to translate them into French which was a fail. 

The nationwide sales that are mandatory for all stars started today and go until the first week of August.  Us three BYUers walked around a bit near 9:00 but unfortunately, all the stores were closed.  Which is fine because I found out that prices are cheaper towards the end of the soldes period. 

We got some slushies to add a little bit of a win to a failed excursion.  We sat on the steps of the Carousel at Place de General de Gaulle and looked out over La Canabière and Le vieux port.