Adventures in France: Avignon et Les Bonnes Conversations

Day Fifty-Five

I didn't realize how long ago I updated. Some notable things:

Tried a "Korean" barbecue buffet in Lyon. But nothing about it was Korean--except that we had an individual grill on the table to cook the meat. All the food, soup, and sauces were either Chinese or Japanese. I was so excited on our way there, words can't express how dissapointed I was haha. Plus it was 24 euros. Eeeek! Most expensive meal I've paid for but it would've been well worth the cost for some good Korean food! Alas, it was not so. But the company was good. Went with my friends Elsa and Jihui from class and we talked for a long time about various things, mostly the food and also surprisingly religion! I told them I attend an international church and Jihui was interested in coming! Found out she lived in San Diego for three years in middle school and that it's easier for her to read the Bible in English than in Korean! Weird! But she told me that the Bible in Hangul (Korean language) is more traditional with formal words and harder to understand than in English. --Follow up: I brought her to my Bible study on Friday and so she was able to have fellowship and practice her English!
Visited Avignon (town in southern France) just for the day on Saturday. I didn't even look at a map before buying my train tickets and came to find out it's so close to Marseilles!! But the ticket was so cheap--who would've known. This town is considered a UNESCO World Heritage site because of Les Palais des Papes there. I learned that for several decades in the 14th century, the Great Schism took place where there was a Vatican pope and an Avignon pope. The French pope resided in Avignon, in a grand palace. It's incredibly large and long ago much of the walls inside were covered with colorful murals--a few remain but are well faded over time. That was very neat to see. Also while there we visited an indoor market, Les Halles, where we saw a free cooking demonstration by a top chef of Avignon and had a free sample! That was cool because I was able to ask the elderly women watching what was going on and they were happy to chat for a while too.
My host parents went skiing in the Alps this weekend so Anish and I had to cook, which was really fun! Sunday for lunch we cooked veal with spices, potatoes, and vegetables. Neither of us had cooked veal before but it turned out delicious, haha. Thank goodness! We had a good talk over our meal, once again the topic of religion came up. He is purposeful in all things. Anish comes from a Hindi background but when he was younger decided he couldn't follow Hinduism and so I asked him about that and he asked me about my Christian background. I am always open to learning about other religions and talking about different beliefs, so that was very cool. I'm not a Biblical expert or anything but I hope I was able to relate to him with sincerity the focus of Christianity--Jesus.
If I am in Lyon on Sundays, I make at trip to the Sunday farmers' market along the river. It really does go on for several blocks and after walking back and forth to compare all the prices, I bought 7 large grapefruits, 3 cucumbers, and bananas for around 7 euros. The grapefruits here are sweeter than in the states and I know they're healthy--so I'm trying to eat one a day! :)

This week I have two tests and a presentation, but I expect the presentation to be fun. We had to choose a public figure, so Jihui and I chose Walt Disney! Then Friday I'm headed to Germany to visit my cousin Megan and her husband for Easter weekend. Very excited!