January in a Nutshell

Two magical things happened to me on my flight back to France from the states.  First, the woman checking my bags did not look at the scale for my second bag--which was more than five pounds overweight.  I was fully ready to pull out things like the 2lb bottle of good bbq sauce and sadly hand them back to my parents.  But a quick compliment of the woman's hair as I first walked up helped pave the way for her to look everywhere but that scale.  So I was able to bring my bbq sauce and so much more with me.

Then, for the first (and probably only!) time in my life, I was upgraded to business class for the transatlantic portion of my flight!  People have asked me how it happened, and I simply respond: "I asked for it."  First, I asked the Lord.  That's right, I prayed and asked the Maker of Heaven and Earth if He would just bless me with an upgrade so that I could sleep and not hurt my back and just have a sweet little gift from Him.  Then, I asked the ticket man in Chicago if he could, and he politely told me he could for a very large fee.  I told him I'd spent all my money on good bbq sauce and thanks for at least switching me to an aisle seat so that I wouldn't be stuck in the middle for 8 hours.  Then, as I approached the gate, they told me I had a seat change, and this was the change:

It was everything I'd hoped it would be.  I was able to lay out flat.  My back didn't hurt.  I put on the noise canceling earphones and drifted into a sweet transatlantic sleep.  Thank you, British Airways, for blessing a poor American girl.  Thank you, Lord, for answering small ridiculous prayers.

I landed in London for my long layover and met up with thecamelridingcowgirl and her parents.  We went to the town of Windsor.  It was COLD.

That's the castle of Windsor, you know, of royalty fame.  We didn't go to the castle, but popped into a pub just across the street from it that had a lovely fire.  Our plan was to sit and have tea and make plans from there.  We ended up staying for breakfast, then lunch, and just talking the whole day away by that lovely fire.  It was perfect.  Before we knew it, it was time to take me back to the airport to finish my flight home to Marseille.

I was sure I was ruined for jet lag.  See, normally the rule is, stay awake until at least 8pm on the day you arrive.  Get up at a normal morning hour the next day, push through (stay active, if possible), and you should be fine after that.  However, I stayed up until just after midnight that first landing day (it was New Year's Eve, after all!)...and then proceeded to sleep until 2 in the afternoon the next day.  Oops.  Then, because it was New Year's Day, that meant football!!!  I stayed up until 8am the following day watching one thrilling game after another.  It was totally worth it!  On day 3, when I should have been on a normal schedule by then, I slept from 8am to 2pm.  Good golly, I knew my sleep schedule was going to be off for weeks.

But then I left early on Day 4 to go to Italy, where I was able to stay up late every night talking to my friends, and drink great coffee throughout the day to push through and stay awake.  Honestly, I only had one night where I was awake when I didn't want to be.  And upon to return to France after Italy...no more jet lag.  Somehow those weird first three days worked perfect against jet lag.  Awesome!

My dad lurves tiramisu, and so I sent him a picture of this homemade dessert I had while in Italy, just to let him know I was thinking of him while I ate the best version ever of his favorite favorite.

My dad also loves gelato, even though the stuff labeled that way in America can't even touch the real thing in Italy.  Or as it ought to be named, EATaly.  Love that!  So I sent him this picture, to which he replied that I should be eating tiramisu flavored gelato.  Challenge accepted, Dad!

I was in Turin for some work meetings, but had a free day to go sight seeing with my friends, so we headed off to Aosta.  It was Aowestome.  Obligatory door photo:

Snow on the mountains all around.  Christmas market with a big ole snowman:

Fun times with these two ladies!

Seriously love that door frame on that church!!!

And challenge accomplished, Dad.  He said he could die now that I've accomplished his bucket list, haha.  Please don't die, Dad, just because I ate some tiramisu gelato.

On the train ride back from Italy, the border police got on to check that all was well.  I fell asleep and had a dream that a terrorist came in with a gun and that I was able to dive under my seat and pull the tray over my head to protect myself.  Morbid, I know.  The weird thing is, right about the time of my morbid dream, terrorists marched into the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris and killed the staff.  As I rode home on the train, I first read of the attacks on Twitter, and then heard everyone in the train car discussing it.

It was a solemn few days while we waited for the police to capture the terrorists, then the second attack happened at the Jewish market, and then the solidarity march a few days later.  Here's a view of the march in Marseille from my window:

There's a lot that could be (and has been) said about those days and after.  I've chosen to keep my opinion and thoughts about it off my blog.  I have said (and will continue to say) that I think Jesus Christ is the answer--He alone brings peace to the nations.  I continue to put my hope, faith, and trust in Him and hope that others will too.

In other (much less important) news... Marseille had one of their infamous trash strikes.  It lasted about a week, maybe a little longer.  While strikes are common here, a trash strike doesn't make much sense (at least to this foreigner), because the trash workers are going to have to pick up that trash at some point.  I guess the strike gives them a few days off?  Anyway, one street decided to make a barricade with their trash so that cars couldn't drive through:

Thankfully, it didn't last as long as the last one that I remember (which was three weeks long and in the fall when it was still hot out so everything rotted and stunk).  Another good outcome of the trash strike: I scored a dumpster dive door!

I was actually by the recycling bins, not the trash dumpsters, when I saw this lovely four pane door just lying on the ground.  I think the recent Mistral winds had caused the door to slam and break the glass.  I made sure it was flat on the ground and with the heel of my boot, I busted out all the rest of the broken glass.  Then I carried it home and up the five flights of stairs since it wouldn't fit in the elevator because it was too tall!  Not sure yet how I'll repurpose it, but it'll be fun once I do!

Add returning to work, and that was my January in a nutshell.  If it weren't for the Paris attacks, I would have said it was a great way to kick off the year!  I'm thankful for such a good month!