Orientation Plus

A lot happens in the span of only a few days around here, which is odd because it feels like I don’t do anything. I’m proud and content to simply do my laundry or survive a trip to the store here (which is a dangerous trek, let me tell you). Accomplishment is an easy thing to come by here it feels like. But within the last few days I’ve met a ton of people and had some fun.

The assistantship orientation was this Monday, and it was a crazy time. Nearly 200 people from all over the world were in one place to learn about our job, teaching our native tongue, and then disperse to the various corners of the academy of Nice. Half of us spoke English, but due to the rest who spoke everything from Italian to Russian, we spoke mostly French.

It’s like 20 women to every guy in the program, so that much is nice. But the few guys that are here seem to be a lot of fun too. I had a fun time either way, being challenged in my ability with French.

I went to my school for the second time yesterday, and ended up teaching a little bit. The kids in the first class weren’t expecting me, so they weren’t so talkative. They did, however, get more talkative when I was asked if I played World of Warcraft. “No,” I explained. “I don’t play it now, but I beta tested it.” This gained some popularity for me. We went on talking about video games for a while.

The second group was much more talkative, word had spread that I was here and so they were prepared. We talked about sports, and how they needed to watch college basketball, not the NBA. I can tell you what though, with the second group being equally excited about video games, don’t bother trying to teach them about Washington State or the history of anything involved. It won’t get them going nearly as well.

I’ve already made friends, Tristan, Thomas, and Quentin all play Counter Strike and all want to play with me. I’ll find out here when I get back online if they’ve added me to their Steam Friends list or not.

Today I met up with Justus Heyman, a church planter here with CA (Christian Associates). He’s living about a half hour out of Nice, and was a big encouragement to Noah and I. I asked if he would mind hanging out on a regular basis, to study scripture and such, and I think it will happen. It’s good; I need someone older and wiser around to slap me upside the head when I start acting like a moron. Something I have quite the knack for.

Now Noah is playing his guitar, singing a French translation of an English praise song. It’s nice, this place has a lot of differences with hints of familiarity. Like poorly dubbed American TV shows, or knockoffs of every game show we’ve ever had. Gotta love “Are you smarter than a 10 year old?” I’ll head to McDonald’s here in a minute to upload this Blog, but it’s the walk there which will be good I think. Time to reflect.

Noah and I talked for a while about an old friend of mine who I’ve been in poor contact with in the past few years. How this friend had all of the opportunities to find God anyone could be afforded, and how they seem to have rejected it in favor of a lifestyle that could be best described as destructive. Whether they’ve realized it yet or not, I couldn’t tell you. I hope they do though, and soon.

God’s good, loving, and holds all that’s best for us. I find it hard to justify living a life apart from that, I don’t know how you can in a logical fashion. All I have to offer my friend is my prayers, and hope that someday God joins them to himself. I love my friends, as poor as I may be at showing it sometimes, and it sucks to have to watch them throw it all away for fleeting pleasures that leave gaping wounds. Wounds that may never heal fully. In my own life, this is a testament to God’s grace and mercy, that I don’t have such wounds in any quantity or gravity worth mentioning. If only everyone were so blessed; I don’t deserve it.

If you’re wondering at all about the transformational powers of God, whether or not you claim to be a Christian and whether or not you actually are one, I’d suggest opening a Bible and reading Romans 8. It’s becoming a favorite passage of scripture for me, and I hope to memorize it while I’m here. If you’d like to hold me accountable to that, I welcome it.